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2013 Season 

     Violinist Benjamin Beilman’s “handsome technique, burnished sound and quiet confidence showed why he has come so far so fast” (The New York Times).  He is the recipient of both a 2012 Avery Fisher Career Grant and a 2012 London Music Masters Award.  His numerous accolades have thrust him onto stages across North America and Europe as soloist with the Edmonton Symphony, L’Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal under Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the Kansas City Symphony and the Tonhalle Orchestra in Switzerland under Sir Neville Marriner.  In addition to his Wigmore Hall solo recital debut, Mr. Beilman appears in recitals at the Mostly Mozart Festival, Merkin Concert Hall, at the Candlelight Concert Society, The Friends of Music Concerts, at the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpmmern in Germany, and as part of the Rising Stars Series in Basel, Switzerland.
      First Prize Winner of the 2010 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, Mr. Beilman performed acclaimed debut recitals in the Young Concert Artist Series in New York, sponsored by the Summis Auspiciis Prize, and in Washington, DC at the Kennedy Center. He was also awarded YCA’s Helen Armstrong Violin Fellowship and three performance prizes.
      He has appeared as soloist with L’Orchestre Symphonique de Québec at the International Festival at Domaine Forget; with the Malaysia Philharmonic, the Hilton Head and Billings Symphonies; and performed the Jennifer Higdon Violin Concerto with the South Dakota and Glens Falls Symphonies.  Recital appearances include the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society as recipient of Philadelphia’s 2010 Musical Fund Society Career Award, the Buffalo Chamber Music Society, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, MusicFest Vancouver and the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts in Illinois, among others.
     An avid chamber musician, Mr. Beilman has multiple performances with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center as a new member of their CMS Two roster.  He has participated numerous times in the Marlboro Music Festival, and toured with “Musicians from Marlboro.”  He has also appeared at Music from Angel Fire Festival, the Verbier Festival, and on Ravinia’s “Rising Stars” series. 
     As First Prize Winner of the 2010 Montréal International Musical Competition and winner of the People’s Choice Award, Mr. Beilman recorded his first CD of Prokofiev’s complete sonatas for violin and piano released on Analekta in 2011.  He also won the Bronze Medal at the 2010 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, where he was awarded the prize for the best Bach performance and best performance of the Mozart sonata; First Prize in the 2009 Schmidbauer and Corpus Christi International Competitions in Texas, where he was awarded the special Bach prize; the Gold Medal at the Stulberg International String Competition; the Grand Prize of the American String Teachers Association Competition in 2007 and Third Prize  in the 2006 Johansen International Competition for Young String Players.  Mr. Beilman was a winner of the Astral Artists’ 2009 National Auditions and the Milka/Astral Violin Prize.
     Mr. Beilman made his Philadelphia Orchestra debut with conductor Rossen Milanov in June 2009, performing Beethoven’s Romance.  He was a 2007 Presidential Scholar in the Arts and recipient of a Gold Award in Music from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts.  He has been heard on National Public Radio’s “Performance Today” and “From the Top;” on WQXR’s McGraw-Hill “Young Artists Showcase;” and Chicago WFMT’s “Impromptu.” 
     Mr. Beilman graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music in May 2012 where he worked with Ida Kavafian (YCA Alumna) and Pamela Frank.  He worked previously with Almita and Roland Vamos at the Music Institute of Chicago.

     Taiwanese-American violist Che-Yen Chen has established himself as a prominent recitalist, chamber and orchestral musician.  Currently the violist of the Formosa Quartet, the Myriad Trio and Camera Lucida, Mr. Chen is also the principal violist of the San Diego Symphony and the Mainly Mozart Festival.  He maintains a highly active career as both a performer and educator.
    Noted by the Strad Magazine as a musician whose "tonal distinction and essential musicality produced an auspicious impression," Mr. Chen has been the recipient of international acclaim, winning first prize at the 2003 Primrose International Viola Competition and the "President Prize" of the 2003 Lionel Tertis Viola Competition.  A founding member of the Formosa Quartet, which won first prize and the Amadeus Prize at the 10th London International String Quartet Competition.
    Mr. Chen is a former member of the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society Two, and has toured with Musicians From Marlboro following several seasons of his participation at the Marlboro Music Festival.  His many festival appearances include performances with La Jolla Summerfest, Kingston Chamber Music Festival, Seattle Chamber Music Society Summer Festival, and Taiwan Connection, among numerous others.  He has also appeared as guest principal violist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
    A native of Taipei, Mr. Chen is a four-time winner of the National Viola Competition in Taiwan.   He came to the U.S. in his teens to matriculate at the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School, studying with such luminaries as Michael Tree, Joseph de Pasquale, Karen Tuttle and Paul Neubauer.  He has since taught and performed at Interlochen, Mimir Chamber Music Festival, National Youth Orchestra of Canada, and has also served on the jury of the 13th Primrose International Viola Competition in 2011.  Chen has served on faculties of McGill University, University of California San Diego, San Diego State University, Indiana University South Bend, and currently at California State University Fullerton.  He joined the viola faculty of the USC Thornton School of Music in 2012.

     David Jolley has thrilled audiences throughout the world with his “remarkable virtuosity” (New York Times), and has been hailed as “a soloist second to none” by Gramophone Magazine.  He has traveled extensively in North and South America, Europe, East Asia, and Japan, sustaining an active performance career. A chamber artist of unusual sensitivity and range, Mr. Jolley has frequently collaborated with such groups as the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, the Guarneri Quartet, the American String Quartet, the Beaux Arts Trio, Musicians from Marlboro, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.  Mr. Jolley is a member of the virtuoso quintet “Windscape,” and is also a founding member, now Emeritus, of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, with whom he toured widely and made over two dozen recordings for the Deutsche Grammophon label. A frequent soloist with orchestras, Mr. Jolley has appeared with symphonies across the U.S. and internationally. He most recently peformed with the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra in Enschede, where he performed Joseph Swenson’s Horn Concerto, The Fire and the Rose. His keen interest in enlarging the solo horn literature has led to the composition of many new works for him, including Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s Concerto, which Mr. Jolley premiered with Orpheus at Carnegie Hall. Other memorable works composed for Mr. Jolley include Twilight Music by John Harbison, Dust and Shiver by George Tsontakis, and George Perle’s Duos for Horn and String Quartet, premiered by Mr. Jolley and the Orion String Quartet at Alice Tully Hall.  He most recently premiered the Concerto for Horn by Lawrence Dillon with the Carolina Chamber Orchestra. Mr. Jolley has six solo recordings under the Arabesque label, including Mozart Concerti and Strauss Concerti with the Israel Sinfonietta.  He is on the faculty of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Mannes College of Music, and Queens College-CUNY.  

    Violinist David Kim was named Concertmaster of The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1999. Born in Carbondale, Ill., in 1963, he started playing the violin at the age of three, began studies with the famed pedagogue Dorothy DeLay at the age of eight, and later received his bachelor's and master's degrees from The Juilliard School. In 1986 he was the only American violinist to win a prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.
    Highlights of Mr. Kim's 2012-13 season includes festival performances, masterclasses, recitals, and solo appearances with orchestras in California, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, New Jersey, France, and Japan. In January 2013, he led The Philadelphia Orchestra in a week of all-Mozart programs without conductor and in April 2013 will perform as soloist for all of the Bach Brandenburg Concertos, also with The Philadelphia Orchestra.
     Mr. Kim also serves as concertmaster of the All-Star Orchestra in New York City - gathered at the invitation of conductor Gerard Schwarz, and made up of leading musicians from major orchestras across the United States. Beginning in January 2013, PBS will air a series of ground breaking programs committed to education and designed to showcase symphonic masterpieces as well as exciting new American works.
     As a highly sought-after pedagogue, Mr. Kim presents masterclasses at schools and institutions such as Juilliard, the New World Symphony in Miami, Princeton, Yale, the Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra in Japan, the Korean National University of Arts, and universities and colleges across the United States. He also serves as Artist in Residence at Eastern University in suburban Philadelphia and in May 2011, was conferred the Doctor of Humane Letters degree, honoris causa.
     Mr. Kim was founder and, for 20 years ending in 2008, artistic director of the Kingston Chamber Music Festival at the University of Rhode Island, from which he was also awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Arts in 2001. In conjunction with the Kingston Chamber Music Festival, Mr. Kim founded an annual outreach program that took him to elementary schools, performing and speaking about classical music in an effort to cultivate future audiences. In the state of Rhode Island alone, he performed for well over 12,000 young people during his tenure there. Mr. Kim continues to devote a portion of his schedule each year to bringing classical music to children and visits numerous schools in the Philadelphia area each season.
     Mr. Kim appears as soloist with The Philadelphia Orchestra each season as well as with numerous orchestras around the world. Conductors with whom he has performed include Kazuyoshi Akiyama, Myung Whun Chung, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Charles Dutoit, Christoph Eschenbach, Rafael Frubeck de Burgos, Vladimir Jurowski, Peter Oundjian, and Wolfgang Sawallisch. He also appears internationally at festivals such as MasterWorks (USA) and Pacific (Japan), and is a member of the Kumho Art Hall Chamber Music Society in Korea.
     The latest additions to Mr. Kim's discography are The Lord Is My Shepherd, a collection of sacred works for violin and piano with pianist and composer Paul S. Jones and Encore, a collection of recital favorites with pianist Gail Niwa.
     His instrument is a J.B. Guadagnini from Milan, Italy ca. 1757 on loan from The Philadelphia Orchestra. Mr. Kim resides in a Philadelphia suburb with his wife Jane and daughters Natalie and Maggie.

     Cellist Priscilla Lee, a 2005 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient, began music studies at the age of five and made her solo debut in 1988 at the Southwestern Youth Music Festival.  Ten years later she made her debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic performing the Saint-Saens Cello Concerto.  She has also appeared as soloist with the American Youth Symphony, the Crossroads Chamber Orchestra, the Palisades Symphony and the Saddleback Chamber Orchestra. She is a recipient of the Gregor Piatigorsky Memorial Scholarship and the John Williams Scholarship from the Young Musicians Foundation and also received the Los Angeles Philharmonic's prestigious Bronislaw-Kaper Award.  She has participated in master classes for Bernhard Greenhouse, Lynn Harrell and Gary Hoffmann.
     Ms. Lee made her New York chamber music debut in 2003 at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall as a member of the Grancino String Quartet.  She collaborated with Arnold Steinhardt in Philadelphia and Boston to celebrate Human Rights Day, performing Messian's "Quartet for the End of Time."  She participated in the opening concert at Zankel Hall in New York City with John Adams and premiered Osvaldo Golijov's "Ayre" with Dawn Upshaw in Zankel Hall, Jordan Hall in Boston and most recently at the Barbican Center in London. This past year, Ms. Lee has been on two “Musicians from Marlboro” tours.
As a chamber musician, Ms. Lee has participated in the Marlboro Music Festival, Bargemusic, the Caramoor "Rising Stars" series, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Taos School of Music, Moritzburg Festival concerts in New York, the Dawn Upshaw/John Harbison and Emerson String Quartet workshops at Carnegie Hall, and Music from Angelfire, N.M.
     A native of California, Ms. Lee studied with Ronald Leonard at the Colburn School of Performing Arts and in 1998 went on to the Curtis Institute of Music to study with former Guarneri String Quartet cellist David Soyer.  She recently received a master’s degree in music from the Mannes College of Music where she studied with Timothy Eddy. She has been chosen to be a member of Chamber Music Society Two for the 2006-2008 seasons. Priscilla is a founding member of Trio Cavatina, with pianist Ieva Jokubaviciute and violinist Harumi Rhodes.

     Jasmine Lin began violin studies at age four.  Since then she has appeared as soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of Brazil, Symphony Orchestra of Uruguay, Evergreen Symphony of Taiwan, and National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, and in recital in such cities as Chicago, New York, Nova Scotia, Rio de Janeiro, and Montevideo.  She was a prizewinner in the International Paganini Competition and took second prize in the International Naumburg Competition.  The New York Times describes her as an "unusually individualistic player" with "electrifying assertiveness" and "virtuosic abandon".
      As a chamber musician, Ms. Lin has been a participant of the Marlboro Music Festival and the Steans Institute for Young Artists at Ravinia, and has toured extensively in the United States as part of the Chicago String Quartet, in China as part of the Overseas Musicians, and in Taiwan as a member of Taiwan Connection Music Festival.  She has been an adjunct faculty member at Northwestern University and DePaul University and was a faculty member of the Taos School of Music in New Mexico.
      Ms. Lin is a founding and current member of the Formosa Quartet, which won first prize in the 2006 London International String Quartet Competition.  The Formosa's critically-acclaimed recording of works by Mozart, Debussy, Wolf and Schubert on the EMI Debut Series was released in January 2006.  The quartet performs in major venues around the world including the Chicago Cultural Center, the Library of Congress, Caramoor Festival, Cornell University, Maui Classical Music Festival, Taipei's Novel Hall, BBC In Tune, and Wigmore Hall.
      Ms. Lin is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music.  She gave her New York debut in Merkin Hall, where the program included her poetry set to music.  Her poem "The night of h's" received Editor's Choice Award from the International Poetry Foundation, and her poetry/music presentations have been featured in Chicago, at Cornell University in Ithaca, and on radio in Taipei, and have resulted in collaborations with composers Dana Wilson, David Loeb, and Thomas Oboe Lee.
      In the 1999-2000 season, Ms. Lin was Second Assistant Concertmaster of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.  In addition to her activities with the Formosa Quartet, she is a member of Trio Voce with cellist Marina Hoover and pianist Patricia Tao, as well as a member of the Chicago Chamber Musicians, whose Composer Perspectives series won the ASCAP award for adventuresome programming.  She received a Grammy nomination in 2007 as part of CCM's Grammy-nominated CD of works for winds and strings by Mozart.  She is on the faculty at Roosevelt University and a proud native of Chicago.

Ayano Ninomiya’s second New York recital took place at Merkin Concert Hall in October 2008 and garnered this praise: “Her technique is equal to all challenges, secure, effortless and unobtrusive; her tone is lovely, pure, and variable in color and intensity” (New York Concert Review).     Ms. Ninomiya was selected first violin of the highly acclaimed Ying Quartet in 2010,  joining siblings Janet, Phillip and David Ying for the quartet’s busy calendar of performornaces, including a recent tour in China.      Second-prize winner of the Walter W. Naumburg International Violin Competition, in 2003, Ms. Ninomiya’s 2004 debut recital at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall was described as “deeply communicative and engrossing” (The New York Times).  The winner of Astral Artists’ National Auditions in 2003, she is also a prizewinner of the 2006 Tibor Varga International Violin Competition, and the winner of the S&R Washington Award and the Lili Boulanger Memorial Award.  As the recipient of the 2005 Beebe Fellowship, Ms.Ninomiya lived in Budapest, Hungary, until 2007, where she studied at the Liszt Academy of Music and researched scores at the Bartok Archives.     Ms. Ninomiya made her debut as soloist on Opening Night of the Boston Pops 1999 season under Keith Lockhart and was praised for her “great sweetness of tone, dazzling bow work, and intensity of expression” (Boston Herald). In 2007 she had the unique opportunity to lead the Haddonfield Symphony Chamber Orchestra in rehearsals as well as soloist in a performance of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons.     Her recital debut at Boston’s Jordan Hall on the BankBoston Emerging Artist Series in 1997 was described as “technically dazzling, intensely musical, questing in spirit and passionate in expression” (Boston Herald).  She has been featured since then on the Rising Stars series at the Ravinia Festival, at the Gardner Museum in Boston, on the Sanibel BigArts Series in Florida, on the Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series in Chicago, and in her Philadelphia debut recital under the auspices of Astral Artists.  As the 2002 JAL Classic Special New Artist, Ms. Ninomiya gave a five-city recital tour of Japan, including a debut recital at Tokyo’s Suntory Hall.     An enthusiastic chamber musician, Ms. Ninomiya gave a piano trio recital with pianist Claude Frank and cellist Clancy Newman in 2007.  Ms. Ninomiya joined Musicians from Marlboro for their 2005 tour of France and 2004 U.S. tour, and has performed with the Young Artists from the Steans Institute of the Ravinia Festival, for the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, on New York City’s WQXR, Metropolitan Art Museum, and Bargemusic.  A regular artist at the Marlboro, Ravinia, Caramoor, Moab and Bridgehampton festivals, Ms. Ninomiya was a founding member of the Amaryllis String Quartet, which won the Fischoff Competition (Junior Division), performing with Yo-Yo Ma and Pamela Frank.      Ms. Ninomiya graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College with a joint degree in Music and French in 2001, where she was also awarded the David McCord Prize and won the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra Concerto Competition.  She holds a master’s degree from The Juilliard School.  Her teachers and coaches include Robert Mann, Miriam Fried, Michele Auclair, Hyo Kang, Robert Levin, and Eszter Perenyi.  Currently residing in New York City, she has been a volunteer tutor for at-risk high school students at the East Harlem Justice Center and a volunteer teacher assistant at the Lighthouse Music School.     Ms. Ninomiya is the grateful recipient of a generous loan of a Stradivarius violin from a private donor. Gail Niwa, piano       Gail Niwa's "brilliant insights" and "power, eloquence and striking sound color" have made her an audience favorite throughout the world. Ms. Niwa won high praise for her New York recital debut at Alice Tully Hall, and her recitals at Orchestra Hall in Chicago on the Allied Arts Piano Series and at the Ambassador Auditorium's Gold Medal Series in Pasadena. She also received outstanding reviews for her solo appearances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in February 1995, performing the Schumann Piano Concerto with Sir Georg Solti conducting. Among her recent solo engagements are performances of the Brahms Concerto #2 with the San Luis Obispo Symphony and Beethoven's "Emperor" Concerto with the California Philharmonic. She has been soloist with the Utah, Memphis, Fort Wayne, Augusta, Columbus, Reno, Evanston and Grant Park Symphonies and has given recitals at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Washington's Kennedy Center, and in Athens, Montreal, Seoul, and St. Louis.       In 1991 Ms. Niwa created a sensation by becoming the first woman ever to win the Gold Medal at the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition. She was also awarded the Audience Prize and the Chamber Music Prize. Ms. Niwa has also won major prizes in the International Chopin Competition, the Mae Whitaker Competition and the Washington International Competition.      Ms. Niwa can be heard in Fantasia 2000 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Saint-Saens "Carnival of the Animals". She has also collaborated with violinist David Kim on recordings for the Musical Heritage Society and Teldec labels and with the late bassoonist Bruce Grainger on the Centaur label.      The daughter of professional musicians, Ms. Niwa was born in Chicago. She began piano studies with her mother and made her orchestral debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at age eight. She earned her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees on scholarship at the Juilliard School as a student of Adele Marcus. She is the founder and Artistic Director of Chamber Music at Great Gorge, a concert series in northwest New Jersey, and continues to delight audiences with both her solo and chamber playing. Talea Ensemble      “Championing works like these, and playing them with a compelling lucidity, are precisely what Talea Ensemble does best.” -New York Times      The Talea Ensemble has been labeled “...a crucial part the New York cultural ecosphere” by the New York Times and has given many important world and US premieres of new works by composers including Pierre Boulez, Tristan Murail, James Dillon, Pierluigi Billone, Hans Abrahamsen, Stefano Gervasoni, Marco Stroppa, and Fausto Romitelli. The Talea Ensemble has performed at the Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt, Wien Modern, Contempuls, Spectrum XXI Festival, Nevada Encounters of New Music (NEON), La Ciudad de las Ideas (Mexico), Art Summit Indonesia (Jakarta), and the International Contemporary Music Festival of Lima, Peru. Radio broadcasts of performances have been heard on ORF (Austria), HRF (Germany), and WQXR’s Q2.  As an active collaborator of new music Talea has joined forces with the Austrian Cultural Forum, Consulate General of Denmark, Korean Cultural Service NY, Italian Cultural Institute, and the Ukrainian Institute.  Assuming an ongoing role in supporting and collaborating with student composers, Talea has served as ensemble in residence at Harvard University, Columbia University, Stanford University, Ithaca College, Cornell University and New York University. Talea has recorded works on the Living Artists Label, Gravina Musica, Tzadik, and a forthcoming release on New World Records. Recently commissioned composers include Anthony Cheung, Christopher Trapani, and Georges Aperghis.  For more information, please visit www.taleaensemble.org. Burchard Tang, viola      Burchard Tang began his musical studies on the violin at the age of 3 and, at 16, switched to viola , studying with Choong-Jin Chang, principal viola of the Philadelphia Orchestra. He continued his musical education at the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Joseph de Pasquale, former principal violist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Upon graduation, he was appointed to the viola section of the Philadelphia Orchestra. As a chamber musician, Mr. Tang has appeared at many of the country’s top festivals, including Marlboro, Ravinia, Music from Angel Fire, Seattle and Caramoor. He has toured with Music from Marlboro, and the Brandenburg Ensemble. As the winner of the 1992 Albert M. Greenfield student competition, Mr. Tang appeared as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra. He has also appeared with the Temple University, and Temple University Music Prep Orchestra, where he presently is on faculty, teaching viola and chamber music. Natalie Zhu, piano       The recipient of both 2003 Avery Fisher Career Grant and the Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award, pianist Natalie Zhu is a winner of Astral Artistic Services' 1998 National Auditions. The Philadelphia Inquirer heralded Astral's recent presentation of Ms. Zhu in recital as a display of "emotional and pianistic pyrotechnics." The recital was later broadcast on National Public Radio's "Performance Today."       Ms. Zhu has performed throughout North America, Europe, and China as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. She has performed in the United States with the Pacific Symphony, the Concerto Soloists Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the Astral Chamber Orchestra, the Bergen Philharmonic, and with the Colorado Philharmonic National Repertory Orchestra. Ms. Zhu made her European debut in 1994 at the Festival de Sully et d'Orleans in France, and has toured in Austria, Holland, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, France and Turkey.       She collaborated with renowned violinist Hilary Hahn, stepping in for pianist Garrick Ohlsson in several performances of Ms. Hahn's October 2000 U.S. tour. Subsequently, Ms. Zhu and Ms. Hahn have maintained a partnership to this day with tours of the U.S., Europe, and Japan, including a hugely successful Carnegie Hall recital debut. The duo recorded the Mozart Sonatas for the Deutsche Grammophon label.       Natalie Zhu has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the grand prize in the both the 1988 and 1989 Young Keyboard Artists Association Competition. She was the first prize winner in the Johanna Hodges Piano Concerto Competition in 1988 and 1991, having also received its 1991 Concert Series Award. In 1994, she was the top prize winner in the first China International Piano Competition. An active chamber musician, she is a frequent soloist at the Amelia Island Festival and has appeared at both the Great Lake Music and Marlboro Music festivals. In the year 2000 she was a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Festival.       Ms. Zhu began her piano studies with Xiao-Cheng Liu at the age of 6 in her native China and made her first public appearance at age nine in Beijing. At age 11 she immigrated with her family to Los Angeles, and by 15 was enrolled at the Curtis Institute of Music where she received the prestigious Rachmaninoff Award and studied with Gary Graffman. In 2001 she joined the Curtis faculty as staff pianist. She received a Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music where she studied with Claude Frank.           For further information, go to www.nataliezhu.com.