Mozart Piano Trio K. 542
Brahms Piano Trio No. 2 C Major
American violinist Sean Lee is one of few violinists who dare to perform the complete 24 Caprices of Niccolò Paganini in concert. A recipient of Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Career Grant, Lee has captured the attention of audiences worldwide, with performances described by the New York Times as “breathtakingly beautiful”.
Lee’s ongoing educational YouTube series, “Paganini POV”, utilizes modern technology to share a unique perspective on violin playing. In January 2022, Lee and pianist Peter Dugan released selections from Niccolò Paganini’s 24 Caprices as arranged by Robert Schumann, as an EP and video series titled “Paganini X Schumann: 9 Caprices”, after giving the first performance of the complete 24 Caprices in the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s 52-year history.
Lee’s debut album was released by EMI Classics, and reached the iTunes top 20 classical bestsellers list. In 2018, Lee collaborated with pianist Peter Dugan to release a second album, SONGBOOK, featuring songs from all over the world from classical to jazz. As a soloist, Lee has appeared with orchestras including the San Francisco Symphony, Jerusalem Symphony, Israel Camerata Jerusalem, and Utah Symphony, and recital appearances have taken him to Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Festival di Carro Paganiniano of Italy, and Vienna’s Konzerthaus. A top prizewinner at the “Premio Paganini” International Violin Competition, Lee embraces the legacy of his late mentor, violinist Ruggiero Ricci, who made the first solo recording of the 24 Caprices in 1947.
Lee has collaborated in performances with Itzhak Perlman, Sir James Galway, Deborah Voigt, and members of the Emerson and Guarneri String Quartets. With the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Lee has performed numerous times at Lincoln Center, as well as on tour internationally at venues including the Lobkowicz Palace in Prague, Czech Republic; LG Arts Center in Seoul, Korea; Shanghai Concert Hall in Shanghai, China; and the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg, Russia. Lee also performed for PBS’s first international production of Live from Lincoln Center, “Odyssey: The Chamber Music Society in Greece”.
Lee currently resides in the Capital Region of New York State. Born in Los Angeles, Lee studied in Southern California with Robert Lipsett of the Colburn Conservatory, and with violin legend Ruggiero Ricci. Moving to New York City at age 17, Lee studied at the Juilliard School with the internationally acclaimed Itzhak Perlman. At the Juilliard School, Lee earned both Bachelor and Master of Music Degrees, and received the William Schuman Prize upon graduation.
Lee performs on violins made by Samuel Zygmuntowicz in 1995 and David Bague in 1999, and a bow made circa 1890 by Joseph Arthur Vigneron.
Cellist Jia Kim, chosen as a recipient of the prestigious 2017 Leonore Annenberg Fellowship Fund, began her cello studies at the age of ten in Korea where she has won first place in the Korean Music Association Competition, the National Symphony Orchestra Competition of Korea and the Young Musician Foundation's National Debut Concerto Competition. Since then Ms. Kim has taken the stage in cities across the United States, South America, Europe and South Korea. Her performances have been reviewed by the New York Times, Vermont Today, South Florida Classical Review, and have been broadcast on WQXR, PBS and KMZT Classical.
As a passionate and active chamber musician, Ms. Kim has worked with renowned artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Robert Mann, Kim Kashkashian, Frans Helmerson, Robert Spano, Emmanuel Villaume, John Williams, as well as members of the Juilliard String Quartet, Cleveland Quartet, Takacs Quartet, Orion String Quartet, and guest appearances with the East Coast Chamber Orchestra (ECCO), The Knights, and A Far Cry. She has taken the stage at venues including Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Chicago Symphony Center's Orchestra Hall, Miami's Arsht Center, Valle De Bravo in Mexico, Toronto's Royal Conservatory, Walt Disney Concert Hall, The Korea Society in NYC, Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Al-Hussein Cultural Center at the National Music Conservatory of Jordan, and many more.
Ms. Kim is a recipient of numerous awards including the Jack Smith Memorial Award, Most Promising Young Talent at the 2005 Pasadena Showcase House Instrumental Competition in California, and Performing Arts Scholarship at the Cerritos Center of Arts Education. She received a full scholarship to the Crossroads School in Santa Monica and the Colburn School in Los Angeles.
As a teenager, she spent five summers at The Perlman Music Program Summer Music School in Shelter Island which gave her life-changing musical experiences. She has also been invited to participate at Académie musicale de Villecroze, Kneisel Hall, White Mountains Music Festival, Sitka Music Festival, and The Perlman Music Program's Chamber Music Workshop, where she was invited to tour with Itzhak Perlman in Israel, Toronto, Mexico City, Virginia Beach, and Miami.
A devoted educator, Ms. Kim has worked with students from the Cleveland Institute of Music, American Academy of Jordan, Tel Aviv Conservatory of Music, Grand Valley State University, and has been invited to do a Visiting Artist Residency at the University of Hawaii and College of William and Mary. In 2016, she served as Tone Judge for the Violin Society of America Competition.
Ms. Kim serves on the Faculty of The Juilliard School pre college division, The Mannes School of Music, The Perlman Music Program, and New York Youth Symphony’s Chamber Music program.
Ms. Kim is the cellist of the award-winning Aeolus Quartet.
As Artistic Director of Chamber Music Stowe in Vermont and Central Chamber Series in NYC, Ms. Kim is committed to connecting with a wider audience through the powerful language of chamber music.
She is forever grateful to her mentors and teachers Ronald Leonard, Toby and Itzhak Perlman, and Joel Krosnick, with whom she studied at The Juilliard School for a Bachelor and Master Degree in Music. Ms.Kim performs on a Testore cello made in 1748 and a cello by Samuel Zygmuntowicz.
Eliot Goldmund (born Euntaek Kim) is a New-York based American pianist, conductor, and composer, whose musical prowess has been lauded as “nimble” and “colorful” (Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times) and a“real pianistic talent.” (Roy Westbrook, MusicWeb International)
Native of Incheon, South Korea, Eliot moved to the U.S. at the age of 13, after sweeping all of the major piano competitions in his native country. Eliot went on to become prizewinner and participant in numerous competitions, including The 2007 Queen Elisabeth Competition, The 4th International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians, The 2001 Oberlin International Piano Competition, and The Center for Musical Excellence Grant. Eliot was also the main feature of the 2005 PBS documentary, titled “Euntaek Kim and Performance of Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy.”
Eliot received his undergraduate and graduate degrees fromThe Juilliard School where he studied under Jerome Lowenthal. When Eliot was admitted to The Juilliard School at the age of 16, he was awarded the“Presidential Distinction,” which denoted the highest score awarded among the applicants auditioned in the year. He went on to complete his Artist Diploma on a full scholarship at Yale University under the tutelage of Boris Berman. Before college, Eliot was enrolled at the Pre-College Division of The Korean National University of Arts, where he studied under Bokhee Chang and Jongpil Lim; and The Juilliard School Pre-College. Eliot also studied privately underthe legendary Chinese pianist Yin Chengzong and was coached by Samuel Adler, Audrey Axinn, Ronald Copes, John Corigliano, Mario Davidovsky, Ilya Itin, Joseph Kalichstein, Joel Krosnick, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Seymour Lipkin, RobertMcDonald, Charles Neidich, Matti Raekallio, and Mark Steinberg.
As a concert pianist, Eliot has made solo appearances in venues across the globe, including Belgium, Canada, China, Italy, South Korea, and the United States. As a chamber musician, Eliot has collaborated with members of Aeolus, Calidore, Enso, Escher, Parker, and Ying quartets. Eliot’s collaborations with Heartbeat Opera and Cantata Profana, based in New YorkCity, in their modernized rendition of Beethoven’s Fidelio in May 2018 was praised by The New Yorker, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. Eliot’s tantalizing appearances in June 2018 at the catacomb of Green-WoodCemetery in Brooklyn, NY, as a part of the world premiere of David Hertzberg’s new chamber opera The Rose Elf, were lauded by WQXR as “the best opera event of 2018.” Eliot’s exquisite performances can be heard in his debut solo album,“Debut - CME Presents Vol. 3: Russian Piano” under the MSR Classics label, as well as in “Hertzberg: The Rose Elf” (under Meyer Media LLC) and “The WakeWorld” (under Tzadik label).
Eliot’s 2024-2025 season will include all piano sonatas and sonatinas by Sergei Prokofiev, as part of his ongoing project to record all piano works by the composer. He is proud to continue the legacy of his mentor Boris Berman, who first recorded all of Prokofiev’s piano music.