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Mimir Chamber Music Festival Artists

Hailed equally by audience and press for her "profound musicality, refined sensitivity and wide colour palette“, German born pianist Sonia Achkar has performed in concert halls worldwide such as Mannheimer Rosengarten, Stuttgarter Liederhalle, Gewandhaus zu Leipzig, Semperoper Dresden, Philharmonie Ludwigshafen, Beethovenhalle Bonn, National Center for Performing Arts Beijing (China), Shanghai City Theater and His Majesty’s Theater Perth (Australien). As a...
Japanese pianist Rieko Aizawa was discovered at age 13 by the late Alexander Schneider on the recommendation of pianist Mitsuko Uchida. Schneider engaged her as soloist with his Brandenburg Ensemble at the opening concerts of Tokyo's Casals Hall; later that year, Schneider presented 14-year-old Ms. Aizawa in her U.S. debut concerts at the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall, performing Mozart's Concerto No. 12 in A Major, K. 414, with his New York String Orchestra. Praised by...
Combining exceptional lyricism and insight with consummate technique, Alessio Bax is without a doubt “among the most remarkable young pianists now before the public” (Gramophone). He catapulted to prominence with First Prize wins at both the Leeds and Hamamatsu International Piano Competitions, and is now a familiar face on four continents, not only as a recitalist and chamber musician, but as a concerto soloist who has appeared with more than 100 orchestras,...
The New York Times hailed Evelyn Chen as "a pianist to watch," praising her "brilliant technique, warm, clear tone, and exacting musical intelligence." Ms. Chen’s recent engagements have included performances on five continents at venues including David Geffen Hall and Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, Symphony Hall in Boston, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, Wolf Trap near Washington DC, the Mozarteum in Salzburg,...
Born in Montréal, Canadian pianist Lucille Chung has been acclaimed for her “stylish and refined” performances by Gramophone. Since her debut at age 10 with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, she has toured with Charles Dutoit in Asia and performed with over 65 leading orchestras around the world including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Moscow Virtuosi, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, KBS Orchestra, Israel Chamber Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic, Orquesta...
Nathan Cole, First Associate Concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, is at the forefront of online music education. He has worked with thousands of violinists of all levels, through his website natesviolin.com. Nathan has appeared as guest concertmaster with the orchestras of Cincinnati, Houston, Minnesota, Oregon, Ottawa, Pittsburgh, and Seattle. He was previously a member of the Chicago Symphony and Principal Second Violin of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. A...
Pianist Brian Connelly’s performances span an exceptionally broad range of historical and modern repertoires. Born in Detroit, he studied with famed Bartók protégé Gyorgy Sandor and with American virtuoso Theodore Lettvin. Brian directs the ensemble Context. Now in its 25th season, Context is devoted to performing a wide range of chamber music on historical instruments appropriate for each era. He has collaborated with many of today’s most...
Described by critics as “scintillating” and celebrated for her “rich, expressive playing” (MusicalAmerica), violinist Francesca dePasquale is the First Prize winner of the 2010 Irving M. Klein International String Competition and recipient of the prestigious 2014-2016 career grant from the Leonore Annenberg Fellowship Fund for the Performing and Visual Arts. Earning her the 2015 Classical Recording Foundation Young Artist Award, her self-titled debut...
Joan DerHovsepian holds the position of Associate Principal Viola of the Houston Symphony Orchestra. She joined the viola section of the Houston Symphony in 1999, hired by Christoph Eschenbach, and began her current position with the HS in the fall of 2010. She is an Artist Teacher of Viola at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, instructing students in viola orchestral repertoire and chamber music. She has given master classes in the study of orchestral...
Kirsten Docter ’92, is associate professor of viola at Oberlin Conservatory of Music. First prize wins at the Primrose International and American String Teachers Association Viola Competitions launched her on a career that includes a 23-year tenure with the Cavani Quartet, concerts on major series and festivals throughout North America, Europe, and Australia, and numerous appointments as a master class clinician and teacher. During her time as violist of the...
Since first self-presenting and performing Beethoven’s 32 Piano Sonatas at the age of 18, Adam Golka has immersed himself in studying the master’s works. He has studied Beethoven under the guidance of masters such as Leon Fleisher, Alfred Brendel, Sir András Schiff, Murray Perahia, and Ferenc Rados. In 2011, Adam performed a cycle of all five Beethoven concerti with the Lubbock Symphony, with his brother Tomasz at the baton, and last summer, he made his...
Bassist Erik Gronfor has been a member of the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra since 2001, and has held the title of Assistant Principal as of the 2010 season. He is also a founding member of the ROCO chamber orchestra. Erik previously help the position of Principal Bass in the Charleston Symphony and Albany Symphony Orchestras. Erik lives in Houston with his wife Joan DerHovsepian and daughter Clara. He studied at the Curtis Institute of Music and the Rice University Shepherd...
Will Haapaniemi is proud to have attended Mimir festival in the summer of 2008. A graduate of New World Symphony in 2010, Will joined Kansas City Symphony in 2012, and finally Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 2014 alongside his wife and violinist Heidi Han. Will wanted to be a violinist from the time he was little more than 2 years old, when he saw Itzhak Perlman play on Sesame Street. Many other interests competed with practice time–some of his favorites being the...
Korean violinist Hae Jeong Heidi Han first picked up a violin at the age of 5. Born and raised in Korea, she continued her studies with JaeKwang Song while attending Yewon School of Arts. When Heidi was 13, her family moved to Vancouver, BC, Canada, and she continued her studies with Robert Davidovici. While in Canada, she served Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra as a concertmaster and won first prize of the Kiwanis Competition, Burnaby Clef Concerto Competition, and the...
Jun Iwasaki was appointed concertmaster of the Nashville Symphony by Music Director Giancarlo Guerrero at the beginning of the 2011/12 season. A graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music ’s prestigious Concertmaster Academy, he has been hailed for his combination of dazzling technique and lyrical musicianship. In a review of Iwasaki’s performance at the Mimir Chamber Music Festival, the Fort Worth Star Telegram called him “ the magician of the evening....
Latvian concert violinist Sophia Kirsanova performs a unique repertoire of Latvian classical composers and is recognised as a promoter of new works. Sophia has enjoyed a diverse career, having performed as a soloist with major symphony orchestras, held title chairs in professional ensembles, presented recitals and made numerous chamber music appearances in Europe, Australia and Israel. Besides traditional and standard repertoire, Sophia explores and programs new,...
Two-time Grammy nominated violinist Jesse Mills enjoys performing music of many genres, from classical to contemporary, as well as composed and improvised music of his own invention. Since his concerto debut at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, Mr. Mills has performed throughout the U.S. and Canada. He has been a soloist with the Phoenix Symphony, the Colorado Symphony, the New Jersey Symphony, the Green Bay Symphony, Juilliard Chamber Orchestra, the Denver Philharmonic, the...
Pianist John Novacek regularly tours the Americas, Europe and Asia as solo recitalist, chamber musician and concerto soloist; in the latter capacity he has presented over thirty concerti with dozens of orchestras. John Novacek’s major American performances have been heard in New York City’s Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts ’ Avery Fisher Hall and Alice Tully Hall, 92nd Street Y, Columbia University’s Miller Theater, Merkin...
Mark Nuccio began his position as principal clarinet with the Houston Symphony in the 2016–17 season after 17 years with the New York Philharmonic. He also serves on clarinet faculties at both Northwestern University in Chicago and the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music. Mark joined the New York Philharmonic in 1999 as associate principal and solo E-flat clarinetist; he served as acting principal clarinet with the orchestra from 2009 to 2013. Prior...
Canadian violinist and composer Stanislav Pronin was born in Moscow, Russia and began his violin studies upon his immigration to Israel at the age of 8. His first teacher was his grandfather, Veniamin Pronin, a student of Pyotr Stoliarskiy and former Professor at the Odessa Conservatoire. Stanislav continued his studies at Indiana University with Nelli Shkolnikova and Jaime Laredo, as well as composition lessons with Professor Sven-David Sandstrom, and later at the...
Stephen Rose is Principal Second Violin of Cleveland Orchestra, a position he has held since 2001. He joined the Orchestra in 1997 as a member of the first violin section and made his solo debut with the Orchestra in 2011. He again appeared as a soloist with the orchestra in 2013 and 2018. He has also been heard in solo appearances and chamber music concerts throughout North America and Europe, Asia and Australia. From 1992-96, Mr. Rose was the first violinist of the...
Cellist Karissa Shivone joined the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra during the 2016-2017 season at age 21. She comes to Pennsylvania most recently from Southern California, where she enjoyed performing regularly with the Los Angeles Philharmonic as a substitute cellist under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel, Semyon Bychkov, Leonard Slatkin, and John Williams. Originally from Seattle, Shivone made her solo debut at age 15 performing with Gerard Schwarz and the Seattle Symphony as a...
Fort Worth native Thomas Shivone, a bass-baritone, has received critical acclaim for both singing and acting in opera, concert, and recitals. He performed the roles of Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro, Nick Shadow in The Rake's Progress, Dulcamara in L'elisir d'amore, Don Magnifico in La Cenerentola, Masetto in Don Giovanni and over 40 more roles and productions while at the Curtis Institute of Music. He has performed the roles of Karl Marx/Lister in the World Premiere of Kevin...
Critics have described American cellist Brinton Averil Smith as a “virtuoso cellist with few equals,” hailing him“a proponent of old-school string playing such as that of Piatigorsky and Heifetz” Smith’s debut recording of Miklós Rózsa’s Cello Concerto with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra received widespread international critical acclaim, with Gramophone praising Smith as a “hugely eloquent, impassioned...
Pianist, Annie Stankovic, enjoys a varied and exciting career as a chamber musician, recitalist, and coach. Stankovic has worked as a coach and pianist with Opera Philadelphia, Opera Carolina, Fort Worth Opera, North Carolina Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Stony Brook Opera, the Occasional Opera Company, Aspen Opera Theater Center and the Merola Opera Program. She has an affinity for complex and contemporary operas, and actively seeks to feature the works of living composers...
Trina Struble was appointed principal harp of The Cleveland Orchestra in October 2007. She joined the Orchestra as assistant principal harp in 1992, after graduating from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music with a bachelor’s degree in both harp and violin. She subsequently earned master of music degrees in harp and violin from the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM). At Oberlin and CIM, her harp teacher was Alice Chalifoux, former principal harp of The Cleveland...
Brant Taylor’s varied career includes solo appearances and collaborations with leading musicians throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. He was appointed to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra by Daniel Barenboim, having previously been cellist of the Everest Quartet, prizewinners at the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, as well as a member of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Taylor made his...
Violinist Oksana Murashova Thompson enjoys a varied career of orchestral, chamber and solo performance. She also has engaged in extensive teaching at high school and tertiary levels, including current appointments at the University of Melbourne Conservatorium of Music and the University of North Texas College of Music, where she was a teaching fellow. Born in Latvia, Oksana has performed frequently with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Opera and was Principal Second...
Violinist Curt Thompson performs throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Australia as a concerto soloist, recitalist, concertmaster, and chamber musician in such prestigious venues as Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, Salle Gaveau (Paris), Teatro Naçional de Costa Rica (San José), Shanghai Concert Hall, and others. Thompson’s debut recording of the violin sonatas by Charles Ives (Naxos) has received outstanding reviews worldwide, including...
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