MET ORCHESTRA QUINTET

TREETOPS CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY

Greenwich-Stamford, Connecticut

Tel. 203-979-6051 / 6052

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Met Orchestra Quintet

Yoon Kwon, Violin
Nancy Wu, Violin
Katherine Fong, Violin
Dov Scheindlin, Viola
Joel Noyes, Cello
Leigh Mesh, Double Bass

2007-2008 Season performances at Treetops CMS

SEPTEMBER 8, 9 Sat at 6 pm & Sun at 4 pm		ANTHONY NEWMAN AND FRIENDS, WITH YOON KWON AND JOEL NOYES Details

APRIL 5, 6 Sat at 6 pm & Sun at 4 pm		MET ORCHESTRA QUINTET Details

Met Orchestra Quintet

Yoon Kwon, Violin

2007-2008 Season performances at Treetops CMS

SEPTEMBER 8, 9 Sat at 6 pm & Sun at 4 pm		ANTHONY NEWMAN AND FRIENDS, WITH YOON KWON AND JOEL NOYES Details

APRIL 5, 6 Sat at 6 pm & Sun at 4 pm		MET ORCHESTRA QUINTET Details

Described by Dorothy DeLay as a violinist with “staggering imagination” and “one of the most expressive tones I’ve ever heard”, violinist Yoon Kwon’s compelling musicianship and dynamic stage presence have won the hearts of audiences around the world. Her performances have earned her critical acclaim across four continents, garnering remarks such as “magic that transcends mere pyrotechnical flash”, “infinitely beautiful sound… holding an audience spellbound”, and “utterly assured and carefree…a talent that kept us enchanted throughout”.

Yoon Kwon began her professional career in 1993 as a thirteen-year-old, youngest winner in the history of the New Jersey Symphony Young Artists Auditions joining the roster of IMG Artists, alongside such artists as Itzhak Perlman and Joshua Bell. She has since concertized extensively as soloist with major orchestras and in recitals and chamber music appearances with distinguished musicians. Today, still only in her mid-twenties, Yoon Kwon is a seasoned artist with a remarkable and excitingly versatile career. In addition to her solo appearances, she is currently the youngest first violinist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, a member of the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society Two, and the lead violinist of her own jazz ensemble, Emergence, appearing regularly in New York City’s jazz clubs.

As soloist, Ms. Kwon has appeared abroad with such orchestras as the Cologne Philharmonic, Warsaw Philharmonic, (it’s 100th season opening gala) Orquesta Sinfonica de Teatro Colon (Argentina), Euro-Asian Philharmonic, Vancouver Symphony, Istanbul State Symphony, and the Mexico State Symphony Orchestra, to name a few. Her numerous US appearances include performances with the symphonies of Cincinnati, Chicago, Colorado, Greenville, Houston, Honolulu, Phoenix, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, St. Louis, and Wichita, and others. Among the conductors she has collaborated with are James Conlon, Lawrence Foster, Sergiu Commissiona, Paavo Jarvi, Haermann Michael, Stefan Sandering, Alan Gilbert, Tandeuz Strugala, Gurer Aykal, David Lockington, Andre Raphael Smith, and Enrique Batiz. Her recital credits are also numerous: Ravinia Rising Stars Series, St. Louis Great Artist Series, La Jolla Discovery Series, and Aspen Winter Series. During the 1998-2003 seasons, under the auspices of Columbia Artists Community Concerts, Yoon and her sister, pianist Min Kwon, undertook extensive tours of joint recitals and master classes across the US. Yoon Kwon is also a frequent performer at summer festivals, including Marlboro, Aspen, Santa Fe, La Jolla, Tanglewood, Vancouver, Rome and Cassamagiore (Italy), Kuhmo (Finland), and Interlaken, Verbier (Switzerland), collaborating with such distinguished musicians as Andras Schiff, Pinchas Zukerman, Richard Stolzman, Midori, Felix Galimir, Cho-Liang Lin, Robert McDuffie, Daniel Blumenthal, Carter Brey, and members of the Guarneri, Juilliard, and Emerson string quartets.

Yoon Kwon released her debut CD on the BMG/RCA Red Seal label in Korea in 1997 to critical acclaim, becoming the first Korean artist to record for the label. She has also recorded You and Me, an album of solo and duo works with pianist Min Kwon, Anthony Newman’s Sonata for Violin and Piano with the composer at the piano. She can be also heard on a jazz album entitled Phoenix on the Songlines label. Yoon Kwon’s captivating and passionate performances have been seen and heard by television and radio audiences worldwide. Ms Kwon has been a feature performer on CBS TV’s New Year’s Eve Peace Concert hosted by Maya Angelou, and broadcast from New York’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine. She has also been featured on NBC TV (USA), TV Stuttgart and WDR (Germany), KBS and SBS TV (Korea), and numerous FM stations across the US.

A native of Seoul, Korea, Yoon Kwon began her musical studies at the age of three, studying the piano. At the age of six, she began studying the violin, and two years later was accepted into the Juilliard School, where she studied with the late Dorothy DeLay. In 1997, at the age of the 17, she was the youngest winner in the history of The Juilliard School Concerto Competition, resulting in her Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center debut later that year. Ms. Kwon received her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees as well as the prestigious Artist Diploma from The Juilliard School where she studied with Dorothy DeLay, Hyo Kang, Cho-Liang Lin, and Donald Weilerstein. She was the recipient of the Avery Fisher Stradivarius on loan from The Juilliard School and Sennhouser Guarnerius del Gesu on loan from the Stradivari Society. She also enjoys teaching, and has taught at Columbia University’s Young Musicians Program, Kuhmo International Music Course in Finland, and as assistant to Cho-Liang Lin, at The Juilliard School.

More information at www.yoonkwon.com

Nancy Wu, Violin

2007-2008 Season performances at Treetops CMS

APRIL 5, 6
Sat at 6 pm & Sun at 4 pm

MET ORCHESTRA QUINTET
Details

Nancy Wu has served as Associate Concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra since 1989. A native of New Jersey, she grew up in Los Angeles where she studied with Manuel Compinsky and performed as a soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the age of 13. As a pupil of Gennady Kleyman, she graduated from Stanford University and thereafter was a Fulbright scholar at the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna under the tutelage of Rainer Küchl. She was a member of the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, and from 1987 to 1988 was principal second of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. She has performed frequently with the MET Chamber Ensemble and has been a guest artist of the Linton Music Series in Cincinnati, the Manchester Music Festival, the Chamber Music Society of Martha’s Vineyard, the Salt Bay Chamberfest and Music from Salem. Ms. Wu has been a coach for the UBS Verbier Festival Orchestra since its founding in 2000. She lives in Pleasantville, New York, with her husband, double bassist Leigh Mesh and their two children, Guinevere and Wolfram.

Katherine Fong, Violin

2007-2008 Season performances at Treetops CMS

APRIL 5, 6
Sat at 6 pm & Sun at 4 pm

MET ORCHESTRA QUINTET
Details

Violinist Katherine Fong, a native of Amarillo, Texas, began playing at age 4. She has been a member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra since 2000. She has served as Principal 2nd Violin under the baton of Placido Domingo and has played with many of the greatest singers in the world . Comfortable in many musical genres, Katherine is eager to lead a multifaceted existence as an orchestral musician, chamber musician and rockstar violinist. Katherine’s 2006-07 season in addition to the Met opera season included an appearance as soloist with the East Texas Symphony Orchestra in a premiere of Robert Sirota’s “Epiphanies” for solo string quartet and orchestra; featured violin soloist on The Today Show with Andrea Bocelli; backup violinist to Jill Scott on Late Night with David Letterman; playing electric violin, and a 5-string Zeta, as well as singing backup vocals with various rock bands in NYC clubs and on tour in Ireland; emulating Jean-Luc Ponty with The Mahavishnu Project at BB King’s; and a string quartet recital at The Bruno Walter Auditorium at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center.

Katherine has toured Japan, Germany, and Switzerland with the Met Orchestra and has performed with the Met Chamber Ensemble and Maestro James Levine at Carnegie and Zankel Hall. As a founding member of the Acacia String Quartet (1998-2000), Katherine was a finalist in the 1999 Young Concert Artists Competition, winning the Baerenreiter Prize. The quartet also participated in the 1999 Isaac Stern Workshop, where its first performance on the stage of Carnegie Hall was praised by the New York Times as being full of “youthful enthusiasm and sheer technical proficiency”. As a soloist, Katherine has given recitals at Harvard University and Columbia University’s Miller Theater. She has participated in the Aspen, Taos, Salzburg and Luzern summer festivals.

Katherine received a Bachelor of Music from the New England Conservatory, where she studied with Eric Rosenblith, and continued her studies with Cho-Liang Lin and Joel Smirnoff at the Juilliard School, where she received her Master of Music degree. Katherine currently lives in Soho in New York City and when not playing the violin enjoys acting classes, Italian language classes, yoga and an obsession with HBO On-Demand.

More information at www.katherinefong.net

Dov Scheindlin, Viola

2007-2008 Season performances at Treetops CMS

APRIL 5, 6
Sat at 6 pm & Sun at 4 pm

MET ORCHESTRA QUINTET
Details

Acclaimed by the New York Times as an "extraordinary violist" of "immense flair," Dov Scheindlin has been violist of the Arditti, Penderecki and Chester String Quartets. His chamber music career has brought him to 28 countries around the globe, and won him the Siemens Prize in 1999. He has appeared as soloist with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Berlin, the Paris Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and the Munich Philharmonic. Mr. Scheindlin has recorded extensively for EMI, Teldec, Auvidis, Col Legno, and Mode, and won the Gramophone Award in 2002 for the Arditti Quartet's recording of Sir Harrison Birtwistle's Pulse Shadows. As a member of the Arditti Quartet, he gave nearly 100 world premières, among them new works by Elliott Carter, György Kurtág, Thomas Adès, and Wolfgang Rihm. He has also been broadcast on NPR, BBC, CBC, and on German, French, Swiss, Austrian, Dutch and Belgian national radio networks.

Dov Scheindlin was raised in New York City, where he studied with Samuel Rhodes and William Lincer at the Juilliard School. He has taught viola and chamber music at Harvard, Wilfrid Laurier University and Tanglewood. He has regularly participated in summer festivals such as Salzburg, Luzern, and Tanglewood, and has performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Met Chamber Ensembles. His chamber music partners have included members of the Juilliard, Alban Berg, Tokyo, and Borodin String Quartets, as well as concertmasters of many major symphony orchestras.

Dov Scheindlin currently lives in New York where he is a frequent performer with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. He plays a viola by Francesco Bissolotti of Cremona, made in 1975.

Joel Noyes, Cello

2007-2008 Season performances at Treetops CMS

SEPTEMBER 8, 9 Sat at 6 pm & Sun at 4 pm		ANTHONY NEWMAN AND FRIENDS, WITH YOON KWON AND JOEL NOYES Details

APRIL 5, 6 Sat at 6 pm & Sun at 4 pm		MET ORCHESTRA QUINTET Details

Cellist Joel Noyes joined the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in 2002. An avid chamber musician, Joel has frequently appeared throughout the United States at such prestigious venues as Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, and Bargemusic, Ltd. During recent summers, he has performed at festivals including Marlboro Music, La Jolla Summerfest, Sarasota, Taos, and Music from Angel Fire. He has collaborated with many of the world's leading chamber musicians, including Gilbert Kalish, Kim Kashkashian, Ida Kavafian, David Soyer, Steven Tenenbom, and Peter Wiley.

Born into a musical family, he began playing the cello at the age of three under the tutelage of his father. In 2001, Joel graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where he studied with David Soyer. While at Curtis, he was chosen principal cellist of the Institute's orchestra, and frequently played in the Philadelphia Orchestra. His other teachers have included Richard Aaron at the Cleveland Institute of Music and Marc Johnson of the Vermeer Quartet.

In his spare time, Joel dabbles in photography and musical improvisation.

Leigh Mesh, Double Bass

2007-2008 Season performances at Treetops CMS

APRIL 5, 6
Sat at 6 pm & Sun at 4 pm

MET ORCHESTRA QUINTET
Details

Leigh Mesh, Associate Principal Double Bass, joined the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in 1993. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, he began his professional career with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra and later played with the Indianapolis and Chicago Symphony Orchestras. He has taught master classes at the New World Symphony in Miami, the Cincinnati Conservatory, the Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music. Mr. Mesh is the double bass coach of the UBS Verbier Festival Youth Orchestra in Verbier, Switzerland. He has been a guest artist with the Linton Chamber Music Series, the Pensacola Classicfest, the Chamber Music Society of Martha’s Vineyard, the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego, and the Salt Bay Chamberfest. Mr. Mesh has performed with the MET Chamber Ensemble, the Caramoor Virtuosi, and the Brentano and Tokyo String Quartets. He lives with his wife and two children in New York, and pursues cycling and skiing whenever he can.