Honors Ensembles 2012-2013
KUBRICK QUARTET
Composed of four deeply musical characters, Kubrick Quartet is dedicated to presenting the string quartet literature with color, virtuosity, and sincerity. Formed in 2011 at the Peabody Conservatory, Kubrick Quartet has been selected as one of the school’s Honors Ensembles for two consecutive years in 2011 and 2012, and has displayed a high level of performance both technically and musically in its short time as a quartet. The group has participated in the Juilliard String Quartet Seminar and the Beethoven Institute in the summer of 2012, as well as performances in Baltimore and New York City. In both masterclasses and coachings, Kubrick Quartet has worked with the Takacs, Orion, Jupiter, Juilliard, and Brentano String Quartets as well as Soovin Kim, Ara Gregorian, and Colin Carr. Come January 2013, they will participate in the Robert Mann String Quartet Institute in New York City.
Avid advocates of their art, the quartet also works actively to reach new audiences in their community in Baltimore. Their most recent projects include being part of Classical Revolution Baltimore and the Ivy Bookshop concert series.
All members of Kubrick Quartet are currently pursuing either Bachelor or Masters degrees at the Peabody Conservatory. Their mentors include Michael Kannen and Maria Lambros.
Orin Laursen, Violin
From Durham, North Carolina, 19-year-old violinist Orin Laursen is an active performer of chamber music as well as the solo violin repertoire.
His accomplishments include winning the 2008 Durham Symphony Competition, the 2007 NC Symphony Youth Concerto Competition (junior division), the 2007 NC ASTA Solo Competition (junior division), the 2005 Peter Perret Youth Talent Search (senior division), and the 2003 Winston-Salem Symphony Youth Talent Search (junior division). In 2007, Orin participated in the 39th annual New York String Orchestra Seminar under conductor Jaime Laredo, collaborating with pianists Yefim Bronfman and André Watts in two Carnegie Hall concerts. He has also appeared as a soloist with the Saint Petersburg Symphony Orchestra, the Winston-Salem Symphony, the Durham Symphony, and the Tar River Orchestra. Orin was first violinist and founding member of Goat String Quartet, with which he performed from 2002 to 2010.
Orin currently attends the Peabody Conservatory, where he studies with Victor Danchenko. He plays a violin made in 2005 by Barrington, Illinois maker Tetsuo Matsuda.
Alan Choo, Violin
Described by The Straits Times Singapore as a musician with "an intoxicating brew of poetry and dare-devilry", 22-year-old violinist Alan Choo is emerging as a promising young name for the future. He was the 1st prize winner of the National Piano and Violin Competition 2011, Artist Category, making him the first Singaporean violinist to win this accolade since 2001. He has also performed as a soloist with the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Festival Orchestra and Singapore Chinese Orchestra, amongst others. His recital with Tokyo-based pianist Miyuki Washimiya in August 2011 was listed in The Straits Times as “the debut recital of the year”. He is currently Assistant Concertmaster and Principal of the Peabody Symphony Orchestra, and has also been Associate Concertmaster of the World Youth Orchestra of the Singapore Games and the Singapore National Youth Orchestra, amongst others.
Alan started learning violin at the age of 6. At the age of 15, he was admitted into the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore where he completed his undergraduate studies under Alexander Souptel. He is currently pursuing his Masters in Violin Performance at the Peabody Institute of The John Hopkins University, under the tutelage of renowned pedagogue Victor Danchenko. He plays on a 1850 V. Postiglione on loan from The Rin Collection, Singapore.
Dian Zhang, Viola
22-year-old violinist and violist Dian Zhang is a probing musician who is dedicated to bringing and revealing the essence of the music he plays to the public through performance. A winner of various competitions, Dian was the winner of Marbury Competition at Peabody in 2009, the ASTA Competition for the Los Angeles Area in 2006, the 8th Annual Young Artists Concerto Competition sponsored by the Torrance Symphony in 2004, a recipient of Fe Bland Scholarship Foundation in 2008, and many others. He has also performed in recitals in the Los Angeles area as well as a solo engagement with the Torrance Symphony.
Dian has studied with Xue Wei and Alice Schoenfeld and he is currently a Masters student at Peabody Conservatory studying with esteemed pedagogue Victor Danchenko.
Javier Iglesias Martin, Cello
20- year-old cellist Javier Iglesias Martin is an exciting solo and chamber music performer as well as an active orchestra player.
The Spanish cellist began playing cello at the age of 7 with Eduardo Palao and Adolfo Gutierrez and gave his solo recital debut at the age of 16 and concerto debut at the age of 17 with the Elgar Cello Concerto. He has performed in masterclasses for Steven Doane, Lluis Claret, Jens Peter Mainz, Richard Aaron, Timothy Eddy and Gary Hoffmann, and as a chamber musician for the Brentano String Quartet, Orion String Quartet, Emerson String Quartet and Jupiter String Quartet. He has also performed chamber music with artists such as Ronald Leonard, Joan Kwon and James Dunham in the Heifetz International Music Institute 2012. A prize-winner in many competitions, his accomplishments include winner of the Hazen Chamber Music and Solo Competition, Curso Ciudad de Toledo Competition, Best Academic Music Record in Madrid in 2009, and recently 3rd prize in the Mary Lasley Graham Scholarship Competition.
Javier is also an active orchestral musician, having participated as principal cellist in Orquesta Ciudad de Alcala, Joven Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid and Festival junger Kunstle Bayreuth, and in collaborations with orchestras such as JONDE and Orquesta Filarmonia. He is the principal cellist of the Peabody Concert Orchestra. He will be participating in the 2012 New York String Orchestra Seminar in December.
He is currently a junior at Peabody Conservatory, studying with world-renowned soloist and professor Amit Peled.
CENTRE STREET QUARTET
The Centre Street Quartet was formed in 2011 by Michelle Shin (violin), Lucinda Chiu (violin), Dmitri Yevstifeev (viola), and Timothy Mar (cello) at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. They are all currently sophomores studying with Victor Danchenko, Keng Yuen Tseng, Victoria Chiang, and Alison Wells, respectively. The quartet’s playing has been described as “…compelling to watch and listen to.” As a quartet they have worked with such esteemed musicians as Maria Lambros, Michael Kannen, Seth Knopp, Violaine Melançon, and members of the Orion, Jupiter, Cavani, and Cassatt string quartets. In 2012, Centre Street Quartet was selected as one of the Honors Chamber Ensembles at the Peabody Institute.
Michelle Shin, violinist of the Centre Street Quartet, began her musical studies with her father at the age of four. In 2002, Ms. Shin was accepted into the Juilliard Pre-College Division where she studied with Masao Kawasaki and Stefan Milenkovich. She claimed first prize in the New York Music Competition for Violin in 2003 and performed Lalo Symphonie Espagnole in Carnegie Weill Hall. Her appearances with the Ureuk Symphony Orchestra in Merkin Concert Hall in New York included new pieces along with standard repertoire. Ms. Shin performed Paganini Concerto No. 1 with the Sewanee Festival Orchestra after winning first place in the Sewanee Summer Music Festival Concerto Competition. Throughout the years, she has performed in masterclasses of Aaron Rosand, Cho Liang Lin, Dmitri Berlinsky, Irina Tseitlin, and Soovin Kim. Most recently, Ms. Shin attended the International Violin Mastercourse in St. Petersburg where she was chosen to perform Tchaikovsky Concerto and then Prokofiev Concerto No. 1 with the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra. She currently studies with Victor Danchenko at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University.
Lucinda Chiu, violinist of the Centre Street Quartet, was born in 1993 in Hong Kong and began her violin studies at the age of five. After studying with Russell Kan at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Ms. Chiu moved to Los Angeles in 2006 to continue her musical studies with Richard Schwabe at the Colburn School as a pre-college student. In the past years, Ms. Chiu has won prizes in the Hong Kong Schools Music and Speech Association Competitions and the Music Teachers’ Association of California String Scholarship Competition. During the summer of 2010, she attended Heifetz International Music Institute, studying under Catherine Cho, Mark Kaplan, Daniel Philips, and Pamela Frank. Ms. Chiu has taken leadership positions in orchestras since high school and is currently the associate concertmaster of the Peabody Concert Orchestra. She is in her second year of undergraduate studies in the studio of Keng-Yuen Tseng at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University.
Dmitri Yevstifeev, violist of the Centre Street Quartet, is from Cleveland, Ohio, and is currently completing an undergraduate degree in Viola Performance under Victoria Chiang at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. Currently, Dmitri is a member of the Centre Street Quartet, one of a select few groups awarded the title of Honors Ensemble at Peabody. He also serves as associate principal in the Peabody Concert Orchestra. In addition, Dmitri is a recipient of the Young Artist Certificate from his study at the Cleveland Institute of Music in the Young Artist Program. Among other activities, Dmitri has performed and studied with such esteemed professors as Victoria Chiang, Jeffrey Irvine, Carol Rodland, Ralph Fielding, George Taylor, and Marc Anderson, and has performed in masterclasses held by Heidi Castleman, George Taylor, Kirsten Docter, and Kerri Ryan. He has also studied chamber music extensively under teachers including Michael Kannen, Maria Lambros, and members from the Cavani, Casatt, Jupiter, Orion, Shanghai and Ying String Quartets.
Timothy Mar, cellist of the Centre Street Quartet, began studying the cello at the age of seven and is currently pursuing a degree in Cello Performance at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University in the studio of Alison Wells. Timothy’s playing has given him the opportunity to perform in multiple orchestras and at music festivals all across the country. Constantly seeking to bring chamber music to the community, Timothy has also recently become involved with Classical Revolution and the Seattle-based chamber collective Parnassus Project. In addition, Timothy is a passionate performer of new music and has given the world premieres of several pieces, including, most recently, a piece written for him by composer Andrew Posner. Timothy’s past teachers include Rajan Krishnaswami and Lauren Root. He has also participated in masterclasses by Hans Jørgen Jensen and Anthony Elliott. Timothy plays on a 2010 Michael Doran cello.
