Events
Boston, MA 02115-4702
Korean-American cellist Sydney Lee has established herself as an artist of refined elegance and profound sincerity. She garnered recognition when she claimed both first prize at the 2022 Washington International Competition and 2nd prize at the 2022 Classic Strings International Competition. Most recently, she was awarded the inaugural $50,000 Gurrena Fellowship from Meadowmount School of Music.
Sydney has continued to perform extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia in many of the world’s leading venues, including the Kennedy Center, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, and Konzerthaus Berlin.
Sydney is the founder of the Galvin Cello Quartet, which has rapidly been building an international profile following their silver medal win at the 2021 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Furthermore, they have earned the distinction of joining the Concert Artists Guild roster as winners of the esteemed 2022 Victor Elmaleh Competition. The quartet’s upcoming 2023-24 season include performances at New York City’s Merkin Hall, Newport Classical, and Ravinia Music Festival.
Boston, MA 02115-4702
The youngest cellist ever to win First Prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition, Zlatomir Fung is poised to become one of the preeminent cellists of our time. Astounding audiences with his boundless virtuosity and exquisite sensitivity, the 24-year-old has already proven himself a star among the next generation of world-class musicians.
A winner of the 2017 Young Concert Artists International Auditions and the 2017 Astral National Auditions, Fung has taken the top prizes at the 2018 Alice & Eleonore Schoenfeld International String Competition, the 2016 George Enescu International Cello Competition, and the 2015 Johansen International Competition for Young String Players, among others. He was selected as a 2016 US Presidential Scholar for the Arts and was awarded the 2016 Landgrave von Hesse Prize at the Kronberg Academy Cello Masterclasses.
Fung was a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship Winner in 2022 and awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2020. He was named to WXQR’s Artist Propulsion Lab in 2023. Fung has been featured on NPR’s Performance Today and has appeared six times on NPR’s From the Top. He was appointed to the faculty of The Juilliard School in 2024.
Boston, MA 02115-4702
First Prize winner of the 13th Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition, 1st Prize winner of the 14th National Sphinx Competition, and Gold Medalist with High Distinction at the 5th Manhattan International Music Competition, violist Paul Laraia has established an international career performing as soloist and chamber musician. Acclaimed by the Strad for his “eloquent” and “vibrant” playing, Paul has been soloist with major orchestras such as the Pittsburgh Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Filharmonica de Bogata, New Jersey Symphony, Nashville Symphony, New Haven Symphony, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Sphinx Virtuosi, and has been featured soloist at London’s Wigmore Hall, the Shalin Lui Performance Center in Rockport MA, the 40th International Viola Congress, the Kennedy Center in DC. As of 2023 Paul has joined the faculty of the Boston Conservatory at the Berklee School of Music.
Boston, MA 02115-4702
Carol Rodland enjoys a multi-faceted international career as a concert and recording artist and teacher. First prize winner of the Washington International Competition and the Universal Editions Prize winner of the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition, she made her solo debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra as a teenager. Ms. Rodland performs regularly with her sister Catherine as the Rodland Duo, and with pianists Marcantonio Barone and Tatevik Mokatsian.
Ms. Rodland is Professor of Viola and Chamber Music at the Juilliard School and has previously held professorships at the Eastman School of Music, New England Conservatory, and the Hochschule fuer Musik “Hanns Eisler” Berlin. She is also an Artist-Faculty member at the Perlman Music Program, the Bowdoin International Music Festival, and the Karen Tuttle Coordination Workshop. In 2009 she founded “If Music Be the Food…” Benefit Concerts, a fully volunteer community endeavor which raises awareness and support for the hungry in the local community through the sharing of great music. (www.carolrodland.com and www.ifmusicbethefood.com)
Boston, MA 02115-4702
Natasha Brofsky is cellist of the Naumburg Award-winning Peabody Trio, which has performed on leading chamber music series throughout the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.. The trio has been heard on numerous radio broadcasts, and has recorded on the New World, CRI, and Artek labels. She has performed as a guest artist with numerous ensembles, including the Takacs, Prazak, Cassatt, Norwegian, Jupiter, Ying, and Borromeo quartets. Brofsky has held principal positions in the Norwegian Radio Orchestra and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra under Iona Brown. She was also a member of the Serapion Ensemble, performing with the group in Germany and Austria, and the string trio Opus 3, which performed throughout Norway.
She has given master classes at many schools, including San Francisco Conservatory, Peabody Conservatory, and Boston University. She has taught at Barratt-Due’s Institute in Oslo and at the University of Colorado-Boulder and the Heifetz Institute. She has been on the faculties of the Yellow Barn Festival (Vermont) since 2001 and the New England Conservatory since 2004.
