KMF

MEET THE ARTISTS
Ji-Eun Kang piano	Praised as " Lyrical and superb pianist" by Washington Post and “Mastery Pianist with a huge palette of colors and gestures at her disposal” by San Francisco Classical Voice, Ms. Ji-Eun Kang’s international concert appearances have been at such venues like Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, United Nations, Alice Tully Hall, Concerti il Cocumella Series in Sorrento, Italy, Seoul Arts Center Grand Hall and Sejong Cultural Center. Ms. Kang was a resident artist at the Aspen, Music Academy of the West, TCU/Cliburn, Gilmore Keyboard International Festival, Yellow Barn Music Festival and the famed Wilhelm Kempff Beethoven Interpretation Course in Positano, Italy. Her upcoming engagements for 2007 season will be a recital with violinist Chee-Yun, a concert with Penn Sinfonietta, her return engagement to the Old First Series in San Francisco with all-Beethoven program and solo recitals in Philadelphia and Seoul, Korea. As a chamber musician, Ms. Kang is a founding member of the Adorno Ensemble and the Rose of Sharon Artists and she is invited by the Quad City Arts Festival to present chamber music workshops and concerts in 2007 season. Ms. Kang is the top prize winner of the international competitions like Washington, Olga Koussevitzky, Chopin-Koszciuszko, TCU Cliburn/Fort Worth Symphony Soloist Competition, Korea Music Foundation 's Debut Recital Award, Seoul Arts Center’s Rising Star Recital Award, Seoul Chamber Music Competition and Joong-Ang Music Competition. She received degrees from the Juilliard School (BM (1996)), (MM (1998)) and has a Doctor of Musical Degrees as a full fellowship fellow of the Michigan State University (2003) and studied with Kyung Sook Lee, Abbey Simon, Maria Curcio Diamond and Yong-Hi Moon. As well as teaching at the University of Pennsylvania, Ms. Kang also serves as a faculty at Settlement Music School in Philadelphia.
Na-Young Baek cello	Winner of the Philadelphia orchestra competition, cellist Na-Young Baek has made her American Debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 2000. She has performed as a soloist with numerous orchestras such as Hudson Valley Philharmonic, DuPage Symphony Orchestra, Academy Symphony, World Symphony Orchestra, Suwon Philharmonic, and the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. As an active recitalist, and one of the most recent recitals include the Dame Myra Hess concert, which was broadcasted, live in Chicago. Native of South Korea, she started the cello when she was 10. Shortly after, she became the 1st prize winner of E-Wha music competition. Prior to studying abroad in USA, she had already won numerous prestigious competitions including the Special prize of Virtuoso at the 1st Tchaikovsky Competition for young musicians, the Grand prize of Se-Gye Times competition, and the youngest 1st prize winner in history of the Choong Ang Times Competition. She came to USA to study at the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music as a pupil of Orlando Cole. Her study continued at the Yale University for the Mater’s degree with Aldo Parisot who also taught her for the Artist Diploma program at the Juilliard School. During the study, she has won a top prize at the 1st Gyeongnam International Competition(Isang Yun in memoriam), and the first prizes at the Hudson Valley Philharmonic Competition and the Holland-American Society Competition, where she was awarded a use of a Koen Padding cello for a year. She just earned her doctorate at the Stony Brook University where she specialized on Baroque music. As an active chamber musician, she was invited to many music festivals, such as Marlboro Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Great Mountain Music Festival, Verbier Academy, Schuleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Banff Centre for Arts, Issac Stern Seminar, Piatigorsky Seminar, Sarasota Music Festival, and the New York String Seminar where she worked with countless world-renowned players and conductors. Currently an active member of International Sejong Soloists, she plays on Joannes Gagliano cello generously loaned by Sara Sant’ambrogio, a cellist of Eroica Trio.