Jiyoung Lee, cellist
www.jiyoungleecellist.com

Korean Cellist Ji Young Lee is known for her evocative interpretation and emotional depth in sound. Her solo performances include Korea’s Seoul Symphony Orchestra, New York’s Hudson Valley Philharmonic, New Jersey’s Bergen Philharmonic, New York Classical Players, The Juilliard Orchestra, and Seoul National University Orchestra.

Her interest in collaborations with dance and theatrical genres has made her debut with New York City’s Fall for Dance with Orion String Quartet, Brooklyn Dumbo Dance Festival, and worked with the Ensemble for Romantic Century at BAM Fisher, which was featured at The New York Times, and at The American Institute for Economic Research.

She was frequently featured in solo rectials at The Foundation for Chinese Performing Arts Summer Concert Series in Boston, Harvard Club in New York City, and appeared in Lincoln Center’s Wednesday at One series and The Korea Society in New York.

As a passionate chamber musician, she performed with Shmuel Ashkenasi, Borromeo Quartet, Roberto Diaz, Pamela Frank, Kim Kashkashian, Soovin Kim, Steven Tenenbom, and Peter Wiley in chamber music performances at Caramoor’s Evnin Rising Star Series, Curtis on Tour Series, Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival, La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest, Music from Angel Fire, Music at Menlo, and Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute. Her performances also appeared in Perlman Music Program, Sarasota Music Festival, Verbier Festival Academy in Switzerland, Seiji Ozawa Academy in Switzerland, and the Great Mountain International Festival, Korea.

Born in Seoul, Korea, she learned piano before turning to the cello. Ms. Lee holds Bachelor’s degree at the Curtis Institute of Music, Master’s degree and Artist Diploma at The Juilliard School. Her teachers included Peter Wiley, Timothy Eddy and Joel Krosnick. She also attended masterclasses in London to study with Ralph Kirshbaum and in Interlaken with David Geringas.

Currently, Ji Young is pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts at the New England Conservatory with Laurence Lesser, while serving as the founder of the non-profit organization, Back Bay Chamber Music Society. She plays a cello by Raphael and Antonio Gagliano, 1853.


 Dina Vainshtein, piano
 

photo: Susan Wilson

Pianist Dina Vainshtein collaborates with some of the most promising musicians of our time. Now based in Boston, she is the daughter of two pianists, and studied with Boris Berlin and Arthur Aksenov at the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music in Moscow. At the 1998 International Tchaikovsky Competition, she received the Special Prize for the Best Collaborative Pianist.

She came to the United States in 2000 to attend the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she worked with Vivian Hornik Weilerstein and Donald Weilerstein. She soon found numerous performing opportunities in the US, from Alice Tully Hall and Weill Recital Hall in New York City, to the Caramoor Festival, Music at Menlo, the Ravinia Festival, the Music Academy in the West at Santa Barbara, not to mention tours of Japan, China, Europe, and Russia.

Bob McQuiston reviewed the recent Naxos release of Emile Sauret’s violin showpieces featuring Michi Wianko and Vainshtein: “She couldn’t have a better partner than Ms. Vainshtein, who plays the perfect supporting role in these fiddle-dominated pieces. More specifically, she exercises a perfect balancing act between artistic reserve during bravura violin passages as opposed to compelling dramatic assertiveness when the piano is spotlighted.” Vainshtein made another acclaimed Naxos recital disc with Frank Huang, the concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic.

For nearly a decade, Vainshtein has been affiliated with the New England Conservatory. For many years she worked with Benjamin Zander in his renowned interpretation classes. Maestro Zander praised their collaboration as “the perfect partnership; [she is] the ultimate professional.”
 

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