Evermay Concert Series

Japan-Taiwan Friends of Music Concert Series

Ko Sugiyama (violin)
Keng-Yuen Tseng (violin)
Daisuke Yamamoto (violin)
Andy Lin (viola)
Nan-Cheng Chen (cello)
Ryo Yanagitani (piano)

BIOGRAPHY

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Ko Sugiyama

Violin

Appointed Visiting Producer

Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra/Washington National Opera Orchestra Assistant Concertmaster Ko Sugiyama has been described as "the possessor of a highly communicative, intense tone" by the West Palm Beach Arts Paper and the Miami Herald describing his performance of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto as "a performance that wedded technical facility with a star soloist's musical personality, breathing fresh life into this thrice-familiar warhorse."

Ko's first solo performance with orchestra was at the age of 7 for the Suzuki Music Association of California and has gone off to perform with orchestras such as the Young Musicians Fpundation (YMF) Debut Orchestra, the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra and most recently with the New World Symphony on numerous occasions. As soloist and/or chamber musician, Ko has performed in North America, Europe, Asia and has collaborated with artists including members of the Tokyo, Cleveland, and Keller String Quartets, Nicholas McGegan, Jeremy Denk, Daniel Blumenthal and Ole Akahoshi. He has performed at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall and the 92nd Y's Kauffman Concert Hall in New York City, the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and Severance Hall in Cleveland, OH, among others.

Ko received his Bachelors from the Cleveland Institute of Music while studying under Paul Kantor. During his time in Cleveland he was also a member of the CIM Intensive Quartet Seminar receiving coachings from Peter Salaf and the Cavani String Quartet. He continued on with his studies at the Juilliard School receiving his Masters of Music studying with Masao Kawasaki along with chamber music coachings from Fred Sherry, Sylvia Rosenberg, and Darett Adkins. 

Previous to being the assistant concertmaster of the KCOHO/WNOO, Ko spent four years as a fellow with the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, Florida.

BIOGRAPHY

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Keng-Yuen Tseng

Violin

Appointed Visiting Producer

A native of Taiwan, Keng-Yuen Tseng began studying the violin at the age of five and made his performing debut at the age of seven. Upon his arrival in the United States in 1980, Mr. Tseng was awarded a full scholarship to the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Erick Friedman and Glenn Dicterow.

Mr. Tseng has won numerous top prizes at national and international competitions, both in the United States and abroad. In 1990, he received the award for best interpretation of a new composition at the Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow, and three years later, he won the Silver Medal at the 1993 Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competition in Belgium. He has received prizes at the North Carolina and New Jersey Symphony Artist Competitions and the Washington International String Competition, among others.

Mr. Tseng has performed in recital and as a concerto soloist throughout the United States, Europe, Central and South America, and the Far East. Orchestras with which he has appeared as soloist include the National Orchestra of Belgium, the Noordholan Philharmonic, the Koninklijk Philharmonic Orkest van Vlaanderen, the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, the Simon Bolivar Orquesta Sinfonica, the Tibilisi Symphony Orchestra, the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra, the Taiwan Symphony, and the National Symphony Orchestra in Taiwan, among others. He has appeared at prestigious venues such as the Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Belgium, and the Theatre Des Champs-Elysees in Paris. His 1995 performance in Beijing was televised throughout China.

A dedicated teacher, Mr. Tseng is currently teaching at Peabody Institute of the John Hopkins University, as well as Chair in Strings, Yong Siew Toh Music Conservatory, NUS, at the Peabody Institute. He travels to his native Taiwan several times each year, where he conducts masterclasses, seminars, and mentors a growing list of prize-winning students. In addition, Mr. Tseng serves as the Artistic Director of Shuan Yin International Music Festival and is a recording artist under Dynamic and SYArts labels.

"An active Player who thrives on the contact between orchestra and soloist… Tseng also succeeded brilliantly as recitalist, he drew the audience away from a competition atmosphere." - The Strad Magazine

"Here is the real thing, commanding presence, interpretive ideas, a fully throughout conception of the music from beginning to end… Here are musical ideas and performance skills wedded in most convincing fashion." - Fanfare Recording Review

BIOGRAPHY

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Daisuke Yamamoto

Violin

Appointed Visiting Producer

Violinist Daisuke Yamamoto, known for exhibiting "immense virtuosity and probing musicianship," is originally from Marietta, GA. Concertmaster of the Richmond Symphony since 2013, he has been featured as a soloist on several occasions since his arrival, including a performance of the Theme from Schindler's List for the Holocaust Remembrance Concert, which will be broadcast statewide. Other performances include Saint-Saëns' Introduction and Rondo capriccioso, Ravel's Tzigane and Vivaldi's "Autumn" from The Four Seasons. He recently completed his tenure as a violin fellow of the New World Symphony. While at New World, he soloed with the orchestra, performing Bruch's Scottish Fantasy. He has also collaborated with Jaime Laredo in a performance of Vivaldi's Concerto for Four Violins. While at New World he was hand-picked by Michael Tilson Thomas to participate in the Thomashefsky Project, an homage to Tilson Thomas's grandparents who were pioneers of the American Yiddish Theater. The project was recorded for DVD and was aired on PBS' Great Performances. He was also invited to Medellín, Colombia, where he led sectionals and masterclasses as well as performed Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5 with the Orquesta Filarmónica de Medellín.

An avid orchestral performer, he has performed with many orchestras across the US, including The Cleveland Orchestra on numerous occasions both on tour and in Cleveland, New World Symphony, and the Spokane Symphony. As a concertmaster, he has led the New World Symphony on several occasions both at the New World Center and the Adrienne Arsht Center, Spokane Symphony, Youngstown Symphony Orchestra, Blossom Festival Orchestra and the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra. His performances have taken him to many great concerts halls in America and Europe, including Carnegie Hall, Severance Hall, Benaroya Hall, Suntory Hall, Festspielhaus and the KKL Luzern Concert Hall. He has worked with such notable conductors as Michael Tilson Thomas, Franz Welser-Möst, Fabio Luisi, Osmo Vänskä, Nicholas McGegan, Robert Spano, Jeffrey Tate and David Zinman. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with Robert McDuffie, Ida Kavafian, Peter Wiley, Steven Tenenbom, Jasper String Quartet, members of The Cleveland Orchestra, Tokyo String Quartet, Duo Patterson and Jerry Wong.

 

 

BIOGRAPHY

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Andy Lin

Viola

Appointed Visiting Producer

Taiwanese born violist and erhuist (Chinese violin), Wei-Yang Andy Lin, is recognized as one of the most promising and the only active performers who specialized in both western and eastern instruments.  Praised by The Strad "The great Molto adagio…..elicited some of the night's most sensitive work, especially from Wei-Yang Andy Lin on viola." and New York Times "Taiwanese-born violist Wei-Yang Andy Lin..…is also a virtuoso on the erhu, and he gave a brilliant performance."  He is the artistic director and co-founder of the New Asia Chamber Music Society.  Andy came to the U.S. in 1997 to attend the Idyllwild Arts Academy and holds his bachelor's and master's degrees from The Juilliard School with full scholarship, and received his Doctor's degree in Musical Arts from SUNY Stony Brook also with full scholarship.  His former teachers have included Donald McInnes, Michael Tree, Toby Appel, Hsinyun Huang, Katherine Murdock and Daniel Panner.  Andy has won numerous competitions including Taiwan National Viola Competition, the Idyllwild Concerto Competition, First Prize in the 2008 Juilliard Viola Concerto Competition and subsequently made his Lincoln Center solo debut at the Avery Fisher Hall (now David Geffen Hall) with the Juilliard Orchestra.  He was also the winner of the 2009 SUNY Stony Brook Concerto Competition.  He has also appeared as soloist with orchestras such as Yonkers Philharmonic Orchestra, Orford Academy Orchestra, Incheon Philharmonic, New York Classical Players, and Children's Orchestra Society.  

In addition to his solo career, Andy is an avid chamber musician and is a founding member of the award winning string quartet, the Amphion String Quartet.  The quartet was a winner of the 2011 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition and was on the roster of the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society CMS2 Program from 2013~2016.  The quartet has released their debut album with the Nimbus Records in England, in which the album was selected by the New York Times as "The Best 25 Classical Music Recordings of 2015."  Andy is also a member of the Musicians of Lenox Hill and serves as principal violist of the New York Classical Players and the Solisti Ensemble.  He has also served as a principal violist of the International Sejong Soloists.  He has been invited to perform chamber music with Itzhak Perlman where The New York Times described "Mr. Perlman, playing first violin..… answered in kind by the violist Wei-Yang Andy Lin."  

In addition to his accomplishments as a classical musician, he is also a world recognized professional erhu player.  He has recorded film music for a number of movies and short films, including "The Blood Brothers" and the award winning short film "Daughters" (Best Original Score at NYU Tisch Film Festival).  He has performed the erhu solo part at the U.S. Premiere of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies' "Kommilitonen!" with the Juilliard Opera Production, as well as the world premiere of Jeeyoung Kim's "Engraft" for solo erhu and string orchestra with Solisti Ensemble at Carnegie Hall.  He also premiered Winnie Lan-In Yang's "Fantasy for Erhu and Strings" with the New York Classical Players.  He has been invited by the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra of the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago to play the solo erhu part in "Iris dévoilée" by Chen Qi-Gang.  He has also appeared as an erhu solo in the U.S. Premiere of Yeow-Kwon Chung's "Red Cliff" Piano Concerto with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia.  In fall 2017, he performed a haegeum concerto "Choosang" on the erhu with Busan Metropolitan Traditional Music Orchestra at the Busan Maru International Music Festival in Korea.  He has recently performed an erhu concerto "Wild Grass" by Wenjing Guo with the Juilliard Orchestra at its Focus! Festival final concert at Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center in which it was featured on the New York Times, this also made him the only person in the Juilliard history who performed concertos with the Juilliard Orchestra on both western and eastern instruments.  He has also been invited by the Metropolitan Museum to give recitals at their Gallery Concert Series and Patrons Lounge Concert.  He has appeared at OK Mozart and Chamber Music Northwest festivals, as well as a recital at the Caramoor Center for the Music and the Arts.  He also performs annually at the Spring Celebration presented by the Chinese Cultural Arts Institute in Harrisburg Pennsylvania.  Andy plays on a viola made by one of his best friends Jacob Ho. (www.andylinviola.com)

BIOGRAPHY

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Nan-Cheng Chen

Cello

Appointed Visiting Producer

Cellist Nan-Cheng Chen's performance was recently described as "personable and smile-inducing" and "fine playing" by Washington Post in 2014 and "Beautiful Tone" by New York Concert Reviews in 2011, Nan-Cheng is passionate about sharing music with music lovers. At only age of 29, Nan-Cheng is the executive director and founder of the New Asia Chamber Music Society (NACMS), a member of Sonic Escape, Chen Trio, Ensemble 101, and many other active music ensembles in New York City. An active soloist, Nan-Cheng has collaborated with Simon Bolivar Orchestra, National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, Queens Symphony Orchestra, Metro-West Symphony, Classic Orchestra of Taichung, Quincy Symphony and Symphony Pro Musica, which received a review that states: "It was the kind of performance one might hear live only once a decade", from Worcester Telegram and Gazette. 

Among Nan-Cheng's many honors and awards are first prize in the 2010 Queens Symphony Concerto Competition, 2009 Lillian Fuchs Chamber Music Competition, 2006 International Chamber Music Ensemble Competition, 2005 Quincy Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, 2004 Hsin-Tian Temple National Cello Competition in Taiwan, and 2003 Metro-West Concerto Competitions. He also won prizes in 2010 Long Island Conservatory Young Artist Competition, 2006 Fischoff National Chamber Competition and 1999 Taiwan National Cello and Piano Competition. Nan-Cheng has also been featured on NPR's From The Top national radio broadcast in 2006, performing with its host, pianist Christopher O'Riley. During the summer, Nan-Cheng has been invited to music festivals such as Canada's Banff Centre, Sarasota Music Festival, Heifetz Institute, Encore School for Strings, and Kneisel Hall. He was a guest-performing artist at Chautauqua Summer Music Festival, a Kaplan Fellow at the Bowdoin International Music Festival and served as a teaching artist at the Annual Music Festival of Walnut Hill. As an educator, Nan-Cheng has given masterclasses at Penn State University, University of Wisconsin, University of Calgary as well as prominent universities in Panama, Colombia and Taiwan.

A Native of Taiwan, Nan-Cheng has earned Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School, studying with Joel Krosnick, renowned cellist of The Juilliard String Quartet. Nan-Cheng Chen came to United States at the age of twelve and attended Idyllwild Arts Academy in California, studying under Eleonore Schoenfeld. He then entered the New England Conservatory Preparatory Program to study with Mark Churchill before attending the Juilliard School. Nan-Cheng is currently a doctoral candidate at CUNY Graduate Center under the guidance of cellist Marcy Rosen and teaches as an adjunct faculty at CUNY Queens College. 

Nan-Cheng Chen's recent musical journeys features over a hundred performances including several solo and chamber concert tours throughout North American, South America, Europe and Asia. Recent highlights including a sold-out concerts with National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan and Taipei Symphony Orchestra's Chamber Orchestra playing the Schumann Cello Concerto and Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations. 

BIOGRAPHY

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Ryo Yanagitani, D.M.A.

Piano

Hailed by the Washington Post as "a pianist's pianist," Ryo has established himself as one of Canada's shining artists. His success includes winning the gold medal at the 10th San Antonio International Piano Competition, where he was also given special recognition for a performance of the complete Chopin Ballades. He is the grand prize winner of the Hugo Kauder International Piano competition and a laureate of the Minnesota International Piano-e-Competition, the Dr. Luis Sigall International Piano competition in Vina del Mar (Chile), and the Hilton Head International Piano Competition.

Ryo has made concerto appearances with orchestras around the world, including the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Montreal Metropolitan Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Hartford Symphony Orchestra, the Moroccan Symphony Orchestra, and the Tokyo Kioi Symphonietta. His performances have taken him to such venues as the Kennedy Center, The National Gallery of Art, Library of Congress, Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, and Salle Cortot in Paris among others.

In addition to his solo career, he is much sought after as a chamber musician, performing in a wide range of settings from the duo sonata repertoire to large ensembles. Ryo is frequently invited as guest pianist to chamber music festivals across the US, in the capacity of both lecturer and collaborative pianist. He also presided as one of the core members of the Evermay Chamber Ensemble.

A recipient of many scholarships and awards, Ryo has been endowed twice by the Canadian Arts Council with a grant as an Emerging Artist, and is a recipient of the Arthur Foote Scholarship from the Harvard Musical Association. He was also awarded the Sony Foundation of America Career Grant through the Salon de Virtuosi of New York, and a Washington Award by the S&R Foundation of Washington DC. He has also been an artist-in-residence of the Maxwell Shepherd Fund of Connecticut. Ryo is increasingly recognized not only as a performer but as a pedagogue, and is in demand as adjudicator to competitions and as masterclass clinician in North America and Asia. He has also released two solo CDs consisting of works by Chopin and Debussy, as well as a CD in collaboration with the cellist Dai Miyata in Japan.

Ryo Yanagitani received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Yale School of Music under Boris Berman, a Bachelor Degree in Piano Performance from the University of British Columbia under Doctor Henri-Paul Sicsic, and an Artist Diploma from the Cleveland Institute under Sergei Babayan. He was an instructor for the Chamber Music Program at Yale, and was a visiting Assistant Professor of Piano at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. He currently holds the title of Artistic Director of the Ryuji Ueno Foundation in Washington DC.