Press Release
For Immediate Release:
January 26, 2006
NEC Musicians Appear at Kennedy Center Conservatory Project, February 17
Six young musicians from New England Conservatory will be showcased at the Kennedy Center’s Millenium Stage Conservatory Project in Washington D.C., Friday, February 17 at 6 p.m. Performances take place in the Terrace Theatre of the Kennedy Center and are free and open to the public.
An initiative of Performing Arts for Everyone, the Conservatory project takes place in February and May and is designed to present the best young musical artists in classical music, jazz, musical theater and opera from the nation's leading undergraduate and graduate music schools. The early evening series creates an ongoing showcase for the nation's exceptional young talent and introduces Washington audiences to young musicians destined to have important careers.
NEC students who will be performing are: soprano Ji Young Yang ’06 G.D., collaborative pianist Vincent Planès ’07 D.M., violist David Kim ’07 G.D., and the Tel-Aviv Trio, which is currently enrolled in NEC’s Professional Piano Trio Training Program.
The program follows:
Joaquin Turina: Poema en forma de Canciones
Ji Young Yang, soprano
Vincent Planès, piano
Georges Enesco: Concertstück
David Kim, viola
Vincent Planès, piano
Brahms: Trio for Violin, Cello, and Piano in C-minor, Op. 101
The Tel-Aviv Trio
Matan Givol, violin
Ira Givol, cello
Jonathan Aner, piano
Background of the Artists
Originally from Korea, soprano Ji Young Yang is a second year Graduate Diploma student at NEC, where she studies with Patricia Misslin and is the recipient of the Wendy Shattuck Presidential Scholarship for Vocal Studies. Ms. Yang began her formal studies at Seoul National University as a student of Hye-Yeon Seo, and then continued at the Manhattan School of Music, where she earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees with Patricia Misslin. At age sixteen, she was a participant at the Salzburg summer festival, where she studied with Thomas Quasthoff, and, more recently, participated at the Songfest summer program, where she worked with Martin Katz, Graham Johnson, and John Harbison.
Her most recent appearance was in the role of Beth in Mark Adamo’s Little Women with the Conservatory’s Opera Theater and, this spring, she will appear as Despina in NEC’s production of Mozart’s Cosi fan Tutte.. Ms. Yang was just awarded a place in the prestigious Merola Opera Program of the San Francisco Opera for the summer of 2006, and was also selected as a semi-finalist in the New England Regional round of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
Born in Annecy, France, Vincent Planès received his early musical education in Annecy and in Geneva, and earned a Diploma from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Lyon. As a recipient of the Société Générale and the Lavoisier scholarships, he was able to pursue his studies in the United States, attending Indiana University’s School of Music, where he earned a Performer Diploma and Master of Music degree as a student of Distinguished Professor Menahem Pressler. He is currently a doctoral candidate in collaborative piano as a student of Irma Vallecillo at New England Conservatory and has recently won the Presser Music Award.
An avid chamber music performer, Mr. Planès founded and is co-Artistic Director of the Festival de Musique de Chambre du Larzac (France) along with fellow pianist Jean-Sébastien Dureau, and was a founding member of the contemporary music ensemble Aïsthésis.
Violist David Kim earned his Bachelor of Music degree in 2005 from NEC and is currently pursuing a Graduate Diploma here as a student of Kim Kashkashian and Carol Rodland. Last summer he shared Second Prize in the William Primrose Memorial Scholarship Competition and won second prize in the Irving M. Klein International String Competition. This year, he is one of 17 musicians chosen to join Lincoln Center’s Chamber Music Society II, a two-year chamber music residency with concerts in Alice Tully Hall and the Rose Studio. Also, this season, he will join the Musicians from Ravinia tour in March with concerts in Boston, Philadelphia, Miami and Chicago. And he will participate for the second time in Music@Menlo’s winter quarter residency in the Silicon Valley.
Composed of Jonathan Aner, Piano; Matan Givol, Violin; and Ira Givol, Cello, the Tel-Aviv Trio performed together for the first time in 1994 when the musicians were still in their early teens. The players were reunited in 1998 under the auspices of the Jerusalem Music Centre. At the centre, they have worked with artists such as Miriam Fried, Isaac Stern, Leon Fleischer, Bernard Greenhouse, Steven Isserlis, and members of the Emerson and Julliard Quartets.
The trio won First Prize at the Concours International de Musique de Chambre de Haute Alsace and was a prize-winner of the Vittorio Gui International Chamber Music Competition in Florence, the Città di Trapani International Chamber Music Competition, the Joseph Joachim and the Erst-Klassik Competitions in Germany. Most recently, it was Third Prize-winner at the prestigious 2003 Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition.
Already well established as concert artists, the trio has performed in many Israeli and European concert halls and played live broadcasts on European radio. Issued on the Jerusalem Music Centre’s JMC label, the trio’s first CD features works by Haydn, Ben-Haim, and Chausson.
For more information on the Conservatory, visit NEC on the web at: www.newenglandconservatory.edu
ABOUT NEW ENGLAND CONSERVATORY
Recognized nationally and internationally as a leader among music schools, New England Conservatory offers rigorous training in an intimate, nurturing community to 750 undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral music students from around the world. Its faculty of 225 boasts internationally esteemed artist-teachers and scholars. Its alumni go on to fill orchestra chairs, concert hall stages, jazz clubs, recording studios, and arts management positions worldwide. Nearly half of the Boston Symphony Orchestra is composed of NEC trained musicians and faculty.
The oldest independent school of music in the United States, NEC was founded in 1867 by Eben Tourjee. Its curriculum is remarkable for its wide range of styles and traditions. On the college level, it features training in classical, jazz, Contemporary Improvisation, world and early music. Through its Preparatory School, School of Continuing Education, and Community Collaboration Programs, it provides training and performance opportunities for children, pre-college students, adults, and seniors. Through its outreach projects, it allows young musicians to engage with non-traditional audiences in schools, hospitals, and nursing homes—thereby bringing pleasure to new listeners and enlarging the universe for classical music and jazz.
NEC presents more than 600 free concerts each year, many of them in Jordan Hall, its world- renowned, 100-year old, beautifully restored concert hall. These programs range from solo recitals to chamber music to orchestral programs to jazz and opera scenes. Every year, NEC’s opera studies department also presents two fully staged opera productions at the Cutler Majestic Theatre in Boston.
NEC is co-founder and educational partner of “From the Top,” a weekly radio program that celebrates outstanding young classical musicians from the entire country. With its broadcast home in Jordan Hall, the show is now carried by more than 250 National Public Radio stations throughout the United States.