Chamber Music by Candlelight
Sunday, February 27th, 2022 at 7:30pm
Concert presented in-person and livestreamed on YouTube.
The concert is FREE and open to the public, but registration is highly-suggested
Register here > > >
Covid-19 Safety Policies
Proof of Full Vaccination or Negative PCR Test Required
Proof of full COVID-19 vaccination or proof of a negative PCR test result for COVID-19 on a sample collected within 72 hours is required for admittance to the concert venue.
Masking Required
In keeping with public health and local government guidelines, facemasks, fitted properly over the nose and mouth, are required to be worn at all times in the concert venue. We strongly encourage the use of N95, KN95 or KF94 masks. A limited supply of KN95 masks will be available at entrances to the venue.
Please arrive early to present proof of vaccination or negative PCR test result to our volunteers at the entrance to the church.
PROGRAM
MINIATURES, OP. 75a
Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)
1. Cavatina
2. Capriccio
3. Romance
4. Elegie
Kevin Smith and Ivan Stefanovic, violins
Helen Hess, viola
TRIO FOR FLUTE, CLARINET, AND BASSOON
Rosy Wertheim (1888-1949)
I. Allegro risoluto
II. Adagio
III. Scherzo
IV. Allegro con spirito
Christine Murphy, flute; Vitor Trindade, clarinet; Schuyler Jackson, bassoon
PIANO QUARTET IN E-FLAT MAJOR, OP. 47
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Sostenuto assai – Allegro ma non troppo
Scherzo: Molto vivace – Trio I – Trio II
Andante cantabile
Finale: Vivace
Agnes Tse, violin; Colin Sorgi, viola; Lachezar Kostov, cello; Wan-Chi Su, piano
The concert is FREE and open to the public, but registration is highly-suggested
Register here > > >
Covid-19 Safety Policies
Proof of Full Vaccination or Negative PCR Test Required
Proof of full COVID-19 vaccination or proof of a negative PCR test result for COVID-19 on a sample collected within 72 hours is required for admittance to the concert venue.
Masking Required
In keeping with public health and local government guidelines, facemasks, fitted properly over the nose and mouth, are required to be worn at all times in the concert venue. We strongly encourage the use of N95, KN95 or KF94 masks. A limited supply of KN95 masks will be available at entrances to the venue.
Please arrive early to present proof of vaccination or negative PCR test result to our volunteers at the entrance to the church.
PROGRAM
MINIATURES, OP. 75a
Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)
1. Cavatina
2. Capriccio
3. Romance
4. Elegie
Kevin Smith and Ivan Stefanovic, violins
Helen Hess, viola
TRIO FOR FLUTE, CLARINET, AND BASSOON
Rosy Wertheim (1888-1949)
I. Allegro risoluto
II. Adagio
III. Scherzo
IV. Allegro con spirito
Christine Murphy, flute; Vitor Trindade, clarinet; Schuyler Jackson, bassoon
PIANO QUARTET IN E-FLAT MAJOR, OP. 47
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Sostenuto assai – Allegro ma non troppo
Scherzo: Molto vivace – Trio I – Trio II
Andante cantabile
Finale: Vivace
Agnes Tse, violin; Colin Sorgi, viola; Lachezar Kostov, cello; Wan-Chi Su, piano
MUSICIAN BIOGRAPHIES
HELEN HESS, VIOLA
Helen Hess is one of the newly appointed section violists of the Baltimore Symphony. She has spent the last three years as a Fellow with the New World Symphony in Miami, FL under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas. Helen is a former principal viola for the Civic Orchestra of Chicago as well as one of eight Civic musicians chosen to participate in the pilot season of the orchestra’s Citizen Musician Fellowship. In a Civic performance in the spring of 2013 she was featured alongside Yo-Yo Ma, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant, in Strauss’s Don Quixote. She has played with a number of other orchestras in the Midwest including Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra, Illinois Symphony Orchestra and Dubuque Symphony Orchestra, and has played as a member of the Artosphere festival in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
While at New World, Helen had the opportunity to mentor local high school students through in school coachings, sectionals and side-by-side performances. In her last year she participated in their partnership with the Iberacademy in Medellín, Colombia where she taught private lessons and led sectionals for the orchestra. She has also traveled to Guangzhou, China to act as adjunct faculty in the Youth Music Culture Guangdong workshop. In that role Helen provided another level of leadership between participants and faculty, as well as participating in all performance aspects of the workshop: chamber ensemble, Silk Road Band and orchestra.
As a chamber musician Helen has attended festivals such as The Meadowmount School of Music and the St. Lawrence String Quartet Chamber Music Seminar at Stanford. During her time in Chicago, Helen and fellow musicians collaborated with choreographer Lin Kahn on her dance piece, SEVEN, arranging and providing music for a number of the dances.
Originally from White Plains, NY, Helen received her Bachelor’s degree from The Boston Conservatory and her Master’s Degree from DePaul University School of Music. Past teachers include Rebecca Eckfeld, Patricia McCarty and Rami Solomonow.
SCHUYLER JACKSON, BASSOON
Schuyler Jackson has performed with the BSO since 2014. He earned a Bachelor’s degree from The Hartt School at the University of Hartford in 2013, and joined the BSO while still a graduate student at Manhattan School of Music. While pursuing his degrees, Jackson was selected as a bassoonist for the National Repertory Orchestra, New York String Orchestra Seminar, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and National Orchestral Institute.
Jackson has performed as guest principal bassoon with the Seattle Symphony and with the BSO. Jackson has also performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Minnesota Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Washington National Opera, Buffalo Philharmonic, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, and Bach in Baltimore. Jackson is an avid chamber musician and loves to perform new or lesser-known chamber music works with his colleagues.
Jackson frequently works with young musicians through his own private bassoon studio, as well as through the BSO’s OrchKids and Music Box programs. Jackson has given masterclasses at the University of Maryland, The Hartt School, and the BSYO. Jackson’s primary teachers include Marc Goldberg, Roger Nye, Rebecca Noreen, Judith Buttery, James Lotz, and Hunter Thomas.
LACHEZAR KOSTOV, CELLO
Lachezar Kostov has appeared as a soloist in some of the world's leading concert venues such as Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Gewandhaus in Leipzig, and Oji Hall in Tokyo. He was the National Winner at the 2006 MTNA Young Artists Competition and has won numerous prizes including the Cello Award at the Kingsville Competition in 2005, the Grand Prix at the International Music and Earth Competition in Bulgaria, and the concerto competitions at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and Rice University. In October 2011 Lachezar Kostov and pianist Viktor Valkov won the First Prize and all the special prizes at the Third International Liszt-Garrison Piano and Duo Competition in Baltimore, MD.
Mr. Kostov has appeared as a guest soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States, Japan, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom and Bulgaria. Mr. Kostov is represented as a member of the Kostov-Valkov Duo by Pro-Piano Management. Hailed by European and American critics for “the awesome purity of his playing”, and described as “prodigiously skilled protagonist”, he made his official debut at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall in 2009, performing rarely heard works for cello and piano by Ellen Zwilich, Nikolay Roslavets, and Dimitri Kabalevsky. In 2012, following his participation at the Texas Music Festival, he performed the Second Cello Concerto by C. Saint-Saens, under the baton of Carl St. Clair, and in 2013 he performed Dvorak's famed cello concerto in the legendary Gewandhaus in Leipzig, accompanied by the Academic Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Horst Forster. Mr. Kostov’s first commercial CD was released by NAXOS in 2011 and was immediately featured in “The Strad Magazine”, and “American Record Guide”. In 2016 he released a second CD, containing award-winning transcriptions by the Kostov-Valkov Duo of works by Franz Liszt, as well as virtuoso arrangements from the operas Carmen, and The Barber of Seville.
Lachezar Kostov has appeared as a guest artist at the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival, La Jolla Summer Fest, Cactus Pear Music Festival, and is also a guest faculty at the Texas Music Festival in Houston. He has performed alongside musicians such as Jon Kimura Parker, the Tokyo String Quartet, Martin Chalifour, Cho-Liang Lin, Stephanie Sant'Ambrodgio, Lucy Robert, Aloysia Friedmann, James Dunham, and Desmond Hoebig. Mr. Kostov plays on a modern cello made by his friend, luthier Sam Matthews in Houston. Prior to his appointment with the Baltimore Symphony he was a tenured member of the San Antonio Symphony, and also performed regularly with the Houston Symphony. His major teachers include Bogomil Karakonov, Aldo Parisot, Norman Fischer, and David Grigorian; he has appeared in master-classes with Yo-Yo Ma, Steven Isserlis, and Bernard Greenhouse.
Lachezar is an avid single-malt Scotch whisky collector, an aspiring runner, conductor, and pianist, and has flown as a co-pilot to General William “Bill” Anders (Astronaut Bill Anders from Apollo 8), on Mr. Anders' private plane. A passionate Pickleball player, Lachezar has garnered two gold medals in Pickleball tournaments in the Baltimore area.
CHRISTINE MURPHY, FLUTE
Christine Murphy joins the Baltimore Symphony as Assistant Principal Flute in 2019, appointed by Music Director Marin Alsop. Prior to her appointment, Christine received a Master’s degree from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. She also holds an undergraduate degree in Political Science from Columbia University, where she was a student in the Columbia Juilliard Exchange. As an active orchestral and chamber musician, Christine has appeared at venues including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Alice Tully Hall, and Chicago’s Symphony Center. Additionally, she has been awarded solo prizes from organizations including the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts, the National Flute Association, and the Chicago Flute Club. As a concerto competition winner, she has appeared with orchestras including the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, the NSO Summer Music Institute Orchestra and the Kishwaukee Symphony Orchestra. In recent summers, Christine has appeared at the Sarasota and Aspen Music Festivals. Born in Chicago, Illinois, Christine began playing the flute at age 7. Her primary teachers include Leone Buyse, Robert Langevin, and Donald Peck.
KEVIN SMITH, VIOLIN
Kevin Smith, a native of Dallas, Texas, joined the Baltimore Symphony as Acting Assistant Concertmaster in 2015. Mr. Smith earned his Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance as a student of Julia Bushkova at the University of North Texas. At the Cleveland Institute of Music, he earned Master of Music degree in the studio of Stephen Rose, Principal Second Violin of The Cleveland Orchestra. While attending CIM, Mr. Smith was awarded the 2015 Helen C. Webster Award for Outstanding Graduate Student. As a chamber musician, he has been coached by the Cavani, Juilliard, Shanghai, and Takács Quartets, and studied under Peter Salaff of the Cleveland Quartet. He has attended the Mimir Chamber Music Festival, the Round Top Festival Institute, and the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan. Mr. Smith has performed under the acclaimed conductors, Franz Welser-Möst, Osmo Vänskä, and Valery Gergiev. Before joining the Baltimore Symphony, Mr. Smith was a member of the Akron and Canton Symphony Orchestras, acted as concertmaster for the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra, and has performed with The Cleveland Orchestra. In his free time, he enjoys traveling, reading, and playing golf.
COLIN SORGI, VIOLA
American violist Colin Sorgi joined the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra viola section in 2018. Born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, Colin holds degrees from both the Peabody Conservatory and Indiana University studying violin and viola with renowned musicians Herbert Greenberg and Jaime Laredo. He has also worked extensively with violinist/violist Pinchas Zukerman. He made his solo debut at the Aspen Music Festival in 2012 and has since been heard as soloist and in recital on the stages of Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Chicago Cultural Center, Canada’s National Arts Centre and at the 2012 Naumburg International Competition, among others. In August 2015, Colin made his European debut at the prestigious Lucerne Festival in Switzerland giving the European premiere of the concerto “Forever and Ever” by Tod Machover (Musical America’s 2015 Composer of the Year) – a performance The Guardian (UK) hailed as having "unwavering conviction – subtle, striking and moving.”
Colin’s first commercial recording alongside pianist Jooeun Pak, released in October 2012 on the IUmusic label for the Latin American Music Center, featured premiere recordings of works by living Latin American composers and was a finalist for the 2012 Latin Grammy Nomination. Fanfare Magazine described the recording as "a tour de force of stamina, virtuosity and rhythmic precision." From 2006 to 2016, Colin was the founder and artistic director of Baltimore's critically acclaimed SONAR new music ensemble, named Baltimore City Paper's "Best Classical Group" in 2014. Colin was also a frequently–commissioned composer whose works have been performed by orchestras and ensembles around the country and internationally.
An advocate of community engagement and arts education, Colin has held a number of staff, creative and teaching positions for the BSO’s OrchKids program since 2012. He has also worked as graphic designer and marketing consultant and for a number of arts organizations including OrchKids, the San Antonio Symphony, Lake George Music Festival, McDaniel Music Institute and the National Philharmonic, among others.
IVAN STEFANOVIC, VIOLIN
Ivan Stefanovic was born in Belgrade, former Yugoslavia, and began his violin studies at the age of five. At sixteen, he came to the United States to continue his education at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with David Cerone, Victor Danchenko, David Updegraff, and Cathleen Winkler. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree in 1989 and an Artist Diploma in 1991, both with honors, from the Cleveland Institute of Music. In 2003, the Cleveland Institute of Music awarded him an Alumni Achievement Award “in recognition of outstanding accomplishments in the fields of Violin Orchestral and Chamber Music Performance.”
Mr. Stefanovic joined the second violin section of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in 1991 under David Zinman, moving up to a third chair position a year later. In 2004, Yuri Temirkanov named him Assistant Principal Second Violin. He was named Associate Principal Second Violin by Marin Alsop in 2012.
As a soloist and chamber musician, Mr. Stefanovic has won many first prizes in local and national competitions in Yugoslavia. He has performed numerous times as a soloist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of Radio and TV Belgrade and the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra. He has made live recordings for Radio and TV Belgrade, Radio Yugoslavia, and WCLV in Cleveland, in addition to numerous solo and chamber music recitals in Yugoslavia, Spain, and the United States.
Mr. Stefanovic is Principal Second Violin of the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, a baroque violinist in Pro Musica Rara, and a co-founder and co-Artistic Director of “Chamber Music by Candlelight,” a series featuring BSO members. He is a violin teacher and chamber music coach, and conducts orchestra sectionals, at both the Preparatory Department of the Peabody Conservatory of Music and Baltimore School for the Arts. He has conducted master classes in the United States and Japan, and is a member of the Clipper Mill Quartet.
At the invitations of their respective Music Directors, Ivan has served numerous times as Guest Concertmaster with Ft. Wayne Philharmonic and Symphony Orchestra Augusta (GA). He has served on the faculty as a coach and a conductor at Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music, Peabody Utah Summer Music Festival and School, and Peabody Chamber Week. He was chosen to be a member of the All-Star Orchestra, comprised of some of the best orchestral players in the country, in a PBS taping in August of 2014.
Mr. Stefanovic plays on a violin made by Nicholas Lupot in 1810, on a generous loan from the private collection of the family of Marin Alsop.
WAN-CHI SU, PIANO
Internationally acclaimed pianist Wan-Chi Su has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in Asia, Europe, and throughout the United States. She has played major venues including Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York, Salle Cortot in Paris, and Taiwan National Concert Hall. Recently, Ms. Su appeared in the Washington National Cathedral with the Post-Classical Ensemble, as a soloist in the concert “Cultural Fusion: The Gamelan Experience” and was praised by the American Scholar, “…played with sensitivity and imagination.”
In duo with cellist Ismar Gomes, Ms. Su has toured the United States, giving concerts in Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. This has included the Harbor Front concert series, Encore concert series, Youngstown State University, Loyola University, Old Town Hall, the Odean Chamber Music series, the Barns of Rose Hill, and other notable halls. Additionally, Ms. Su travels for the Piatigorsky Foundation, bringing music to unconventional venues, such as public schools, nursing homes, and retirement communities, where there is typically less access to live classical concerts. Ms. Su is sought after for collaborations with venerated musicians, which have included members of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, violinist Hebert Greenberg, cellist Michael Kannen, baritone William Sharp, trumpeter Joe Burgstaller, pianists Seth Knopp and Benjamin Pasternack, and others.
Ms. Su performs a wide range of repertoire, from Baroque, Classical, Romantic, 20TH century to Contemporary. She has premiered music by prominent active composers, such as Curt Cacioppo, William Weigel, and Aaron Malone; she has also enjoyed working with celebrated composers like George Walker, Aaron J. Kernis, Ying-Chen Kao, and others. Steeped in an array of styles, Ms. Su collaborates regularly with the dance department at the Peabody Institute (both performing and arranging music), accompanies dozens of instrumental and vocal recitals each year, and has served as music director for the Episcopal Church of the Holy Covenant since 2013. A dedicated educator, Ms. Su currently serves on the piano faculty of the Park School of Baltimore and maintains a small private studio.
Decorated with numerous awards, Ms. Su won first prize in the Taiwan Cultural Cup Invitational Piano Competition. On the collegiate level, she won first prize in the Taiwan National Student Music Competition in Piano. She has also been a semi-finalist in the San Jose International Piano Competition, the Art of Duo Competition, and the Liszt-Garrison Duo Competition, and a finalist in the Harrison L. Winter Piano Concerto Competition. Further, she has been invited to numerous international music festivals, including the Taos School of Music, the Beethoven Institute, both the Icicle Creek Piano Festival and the Icicle Creek Chamber Music Festival, the NTSO International Piano Program in Taiwan, and the Paris Piano Program in France.
Born in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Ms. Su began piano lessons at age four. She earned a bachelor’s degree in piano, minoring in French horn, at the National Kaohsiung Normal University in Taiwan, followed by a Master of Music and a Graduate Performance Diploma at the Peabody Conservatory, studying with Seth Knopp. She has performed in masterclasses for many artists, including Leon Fleisher, Richard Goode, and Gil Kalish. Ms. Su is currently a doctoral candidate at Peabody, under the tutelage of Benjamin Pasternack.
VITOR TRINDADE, CLARINET
Vitor Trindade was appointed as the second clarinet of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in June 2019.
He is currently pursuing his Artist Diploma at the Colburn Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of Yehuda Gilad. In 2017 he finished his undergraduate studies at the Academia Nacional Superior de Orquestra in Portugal with Nuno Silva as his teacher.
Vitor is a prize winner in many national and international competitions such as the Pasadena Showcase, Julian Menendez, Czech Art, Saverio Mercadante and Lisbon Clarinet competitions.
He attended the National Repertory Orchestra festival in 2018 where he was chosen to perform as a soloist, and in 2019 he participated in the Music Academy of the West festival in Santa Barbara.
Mr. Trindade collaborates regularly with the Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra and the Lisbon Contemporary Music Group.
AGNES TSE, VIOLIN
It has been said that violinist Agnes Tse’s musical journey began in her baby stroller when she was transfixed by a performance of Herbert von Karajan conducting on TV. She had to wait until she was four before receiving a size 1/8 violin as a toy and the violin has been her closest companion ever since.
While recently completing her Master of Music degree at The Juilliard School as a student of Lewis Kaplan and Joel Smirnoff, within one remarkable two-week span, she worked with the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle and was offered a position with the Baltimore Symphony under Marin Alsop.
A native of Hong Kong, Ms Tse has appeared as a soloist with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and the Pan Asia Symphony Orchestra. A participant of the New York String Orchestra Seminar at Carnegie Hall, she has been heard at the Music Academy of the West, Tanglewood Music Center, Bowdoin International Music Festival and the International Summer Academy, Mozarteum Universität Salzburg; where she studied with Pierre Amoyal and Zakhar Bron.
An avid chamber musician, she has appeared in Juilliard’s ChamberFest and London Symphony Orchestra’s Discovery Day where she performed in a string quartet with David Alberman, Principal Second Violin of the LSO. Her chamber music mentors include Emanuel Ax, Pamela Frank, Yo-Yo Ma and the Juilliard and Takács quartets. She has also performed with the two contemporary music ensembles at the Juilliard School, AXIOM and New Juilliard Ensemble.
Ms. Tse was a former Co-Concertmaster of the Juilliard Orchestra, Assistant Concertmaster of the Symphony in C and has been a substitute player at the New York Philharmonic and Princeton Symphony Orchestra. Outside of music, she enjoys walking around the streets of New York City to discover flea markets, antique stores, handmade gift shops, cafés and restaurants.
Helen Hess is one of the newly appointed section violists of the Baltimore Symphony. She has spent the last three years as a Fellow with the New World Symphony in Miami, FL under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas. Helen is a former principal viola for the Civic Orchestra of Chicago as well as one of eight Civic musicians chosen to participate in the pilot season of the orchestra’s Citizen Musician Fellowship. In a Civic performance in the spring of 2013 she was featured alongside Yo-Yo Ma, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant, in Strauss’s Don Quixote. She has played with a number of other orchestras in the Midwest including Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra, Illinois Symphony Orchestra and Dubuque Symphony Orchestra, and has played as a member of the Artosphere festival in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
While at New World, Helen had the opportunity to mentor local high school students through in school coachings, sectionals and side-by-side performances. In her last year she participated in their partnership with the Iberacademy in Medellín, Colombia where she taught private lessons and led sectionals for the orchestra. She has also traveled to Guangzhou, China to act as adjunct faculty in the Youth Music Culture Guangdong workshop. In that role Helen provided another level of leadership between participants and faculty, as well as participating in all performance aspects of the workshop: chamber ensemble, Silk Road Band and orchestra.
As a chamber musician Helen has attended festivals such as The Meadowmount School of Music and the St. Lawrence String Quartet Chamber Music Seminar at Stanford. During her time in Chicago, Helen and fellow musicians collaborated with choreographer Lin Kahn on her dance piece, SEVEN, arranging and providing music for a number of the dances.
Originally from White Plains, NY, Helen received her Bachelor’s degree from The Boston Conservatory and her Master’s Degree from DePaul University School of Music. Past teachers include Rebecca Eckfeld, Patricia McCarty and Rami Solomonow.
SCHUYLER JACKSON, BASSOON
Schuyler Jackson has performed with the BSO since 2014. He earned a Bachelor’s degree from The Hartt School at the University of Hartford in 2013, and joined the BSO while still a graduate student at Manhattan School of Music. While pursuing his degrees, Jackson was selected as a bassoonist for the National Repertory Orchestra, New York String Orchestra Seminar, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and National Orchestral Institute.
Jackson has performed as guest principal bassoon with the Seattle Symphony and with the BSO. Jackson has also performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Minnesota Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Washington National Opera, Buffalo Philharmonic, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, and Bach in Baltimore. Jackson is an avid chamber musician and loves to perform new or lesser-known chamber music works with his colleagues.
Jackson frequently works with young musicians through his own private bassoon studio, as well as through the BSO’s OrchKids and Music Box programs. Jackson has given masterclasses at the University of Maryland, The Hartt School, and the BSYO. Jackson’s primary teachers include Marc Goldberg, Roger Nye, Rebecca Noreen, Judith Buttery, James Lotz, and Hunter Thomas.
LACHEZAR KOSTOV, CELLO
Lachezar Kostov has appeared as a soloist in some of the world's leading concert venues such as Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Gewandhaus in Leipzig, and Oji Hall in Tokyo. He was the National Winner at the 2006 MTNA Young Artists Competition and has won numerous prizes including the Cello Award at the Kingsville Competition in 2005, the Grand Prix at the International Music and Earth Competition in Bulgaria, and the concerto competitions at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and Rice University. In October 2011 Lachezar Kostov and pianist Viktor Valkov won the First Prize and all the special prizes at the Third International Liszt-Garrison Piano and Duo Competition in Baltimore, MD.
Mr. Kostov has appeared as a guest soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States, Japan, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom and Bulgaria. Mr. Kostov is represented as a member of the Kostov-Valkov Duo by Pro-Piano Management. Hailed by European and American critics for “the awesome purity of his playing”, and described as “prodigiously skilled protagonist”, he made his official debut at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall in 2009, performing rarely heard works for cello and piano by Ellen Zwilich, Nikolay Roslavets, and Dimitri Kabalevsky. In 2012, following his participation at the Texas Music Festival, he performed the Second Cello Concerto by C. Saint-Saens, under the baton of Carl St. Clair, and in 2013 he performed Dvorak's famed cello concerto in the legendary Gewandhaus in Leipzig, accompanied by the Academic Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Horst Forster. Mr. Kostov’s first commercial CD was released by NAXOS in 2011 and was immediately featured in “The Strad Magazine”, and “American Record Guide”. In 2016 he released a second CD, containing award-winning transcriptions by the Kostov-Valkov Duo of works by Franz Liszt, as well as virtuoso arrangements from the operas Carmen, and The Barber of Seville.
Lachezar Kostov has appeared as a guest artist at the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival, La Jolla Summer Fest, Cactus Pear Music Festival, and is also a guest faculty at the Texas Music Festival in Houston. He has performed alongside musicians such as Jon Kimura Parker, the Tokyo String Quartet, Martin Chalifour, Cho-Liang Lin, Stephanie Sant'Ambrodgio, Lucy Robert, Aloysia Friedmann, James Dunham, and Desmond Hoebig. Mr. Kostov plays on a modern cello made by his friend, luthier Sam Matthews in Houston. Prior to his appointment with the Baltimore Symphony he was a tenured member of the San Antonio Symphony, and also performed regularly with the Houston Symphony. His major teachers include Bogomil Karakonov, Aldo Parisot, Norman Fischer, and David Grigorian; he has appeared in master-classes with Yo-Yo Ma, Steven Isserlis, and Bernard Greenhouse.
Lachezar is an avid single-malt Scotch whisky collector, an aspiring runner, conductor, and pianist, and has flown as a co-pilot to General William “Bill” Anders (Astronaut Bill Anders from Apollo 8), on Mr. Anders' private plane. A passionate Pickleball player, Lachezar has garnered two gold medals in Pickleball tournaments in the Baltimore area.
CHRISTINE MURPHY, FLUTE
Christine Murphy joins the Baltimore Symphony as Assistant Principal Flute in 2019, appointed by Music Director Marin Alsop. Prior to her appointment, Christine received a Master’s degree from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. She also holds an undergraduate degree in Political Science from Columbia University, where she was a student in the Columbia Juilliard Exchange. As an active orchestral and chamber musician, Christine has appeared at venues including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Alice Tully Hall, and Chicago’s Symphony Center. Additionally, she has been awarded solo prizes from organizations including the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts, the National Flute Association, and the Chicago Flute Club. As a concerto competition winner, she has appeared with orchestras including the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, the NSO Summer Music Institute Orchestra and the Kishwaukee Symphony Orchestra. In recent summers, Christine has appeared at the Sarasota and Aspen Music Festivals. Born in Chicago, Illinois, Christine began playing the flute at age 7. Her primary teachers include Leone Buyse, Robert Langevin, and Donald Peck.
KEVIN SMITH, VIOLIN
Kevin Smith, a native of Dallas, Texas, joined the Baltimore Symphony as Acting Assistant Concertmaster in 2015. Mr. Smith earned his Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance as a student of Julia Bushkova at the University of North Texas. At the Cleveland Institute of Music, he earned Master of Music degree in the studio of Stephen Rose, Principal Second Violin of The Cleveland Orchestra. While attending CIM, Mr. Smith was awarded the 2015 Helen C. Webster Award for Outstanding Graduate Student. As a chamber musician, he has been coached by the Cavani, Juilliard, Shanghai, and Takács Quartets, and studied under Peter Salaff of the Cleveland Quartet. He has attended the Mimir Chamber Music Festival, the Round Top Festival Institute, and the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan. Mr. Smith has performed under the acclaimed conductors, Franz Welser-Möst, Osmo Vänskä, and Valery Gergiev. Before joining the Baltimore Symphony, Mr. Smith was a member of the Akron and Canton Symphony Orchestras, acted as concertmaster for the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra, and has performed with The Cleveland Orchestra. In his free time, he enjoys traveling, reading, and playing golf.
COLIN SORGI, VIOLA
American violist Colin Sorgi joined the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra viola section in 2018. Born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, Colin holds degrees from both the Peabody Conservatory and Indiana University studying violin and viola with renowned musicians Herbert Greenberg and Jaime Laredo. He has also worked extensively with violinist/violist Pinchas Zukerman. He made his solo debut at the Aspen Music Festival in 2012 and has since been heard as soloist and in recital on the stages of Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Chicago Cultural Center, Canada’s National Arts Centre and at the 2012 Naumburg International Competition, among others. In August 2015, Colin made his European debut at the prestigious Lucerne Festival in Switzerland giving the European premiere of the concerto “Forever and Ever” by Tod Machover (Musical America’s 2015 Composer of the Year) – a performance The Guardian (UK) hailed as having "unwavering conviction – subtle, striking and moving.”
Colin’s first commercial recording alongside pianist Jooeun Pak, released in October 2012 on the IUmusic label for the Latin American Music Center, featured premiere recordings of works by living Latin American composers and was a finalist for the 2012 Latin Grammy Nomination. Fanfare Magazine described the recording as "a tour de force of stamina, virtuosity and rhythmic precision." From 2006 to 2016, Colin was the founder and artistic director of Baltimore's critically acclaimed SONAR new music ensemble, named Baltimore City Paper's "Best Classical Group" in 2014. Colin was also a frequently–commissioned composer whose works have been performed by orchestras and ensembles around the country and internationally.
An advocate of community engagement and arts education, Colin has held a number of staff, creative and teaching positions for the BSO’s OrchKids program since 2012. He has also worked as graphic designer and marketing consultant and for a number of arts organizations including OrchKids, the San Antonio Symphony, Lake George Music Festival, McDaniel Music Institute and the National Philharmonic, among others.
IVAN STEFANOVIC, VIOLIN
Ivan Stefanovic was born in Belgrade, former Yugoslavia, and began his violin studies at the age of five. At sixteen, he came to the United States to continue his education at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with David Cerone, Victor Danchenko, David Updegraff, and Cathleen Winkler. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree in 1989 and an Artist Diploma in 1991, both with honors, from the Cleveland Institute of Music. In 2003, the Cleveland Institute of Music awarded him an Alumni Achievement Award “in recognition of outstanding accomplishments in the fields of Violin Orchestral and Chamber Music Performance.”
Mr. Stefanovic joined the second violin section of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in 1991 under David Zinman, moving up to a third chair position a year later. In 2004, Yuri Temirkanov named him Assistant Principal Second Violin. He was named Associate Principal Second Violin by Marin Alsop in 2012.
As a soloist and chamber musician, Mr. Stefanovic has won many first prizes in local and national competitions in Yugoslavia. He has performed numerous times as a soloist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of Radio and TV Belgrade and the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra. He has made live recordings for Radio and TV Belgrade, Radio Yugoslavia, and WCLV in Cleveland, in addition to numerous solo and chamber music recitals in Yugoslavia, Spain, and the United States.
Mr. Stefanovic is Principal Second Violin of the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, a baroque violinist in Pro Musica Rara, and a co-founder and co-Artistic Director of “Chamber Music by Candlelight,” a series featuring BSO members. He is a violin teacher and chamber music coach, and conducts orchestra sectionals, at both the Preparatory Department of the Peabody Conservatory of Music and Baltimore School for the Arts. He has conducted master classes in the United States and Japan, and is a member of the Clipper Mill Quartet.
At the invitations of their respective Music Directors, Ivan has served numerous times as Guest Concertmaster with Ft. Wayne Philharmonic and Symphony Orchestra Augusta (GA). He has served on the faculty as a coach and a conductor at Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music, Peabody Utah Summer Music Festival and School, and Peabody Chamber Week. He was chosen to be a member of the All-Star Orchestra, comprised of some of the best orchestral players in the country, in a PBS taping in August of 2014.
Mr. Stefanovic plays on a violin made by Nicholas Lupot in 1810, on a generous loan from the private collection of the family of Marin Alsop.
WAN-CHI SU, PIANO
Internationally acclaimed pianist Wan-Chi Su has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in Asia, Europe, and throughout the United States. She has played major venues including Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York, Salle Cortot in Paris, and Taiwan National Concert Hall. Recently, Ms. Su appeared in the Washington National Cathedral with the Post-Classical Ensemble, as a soloist in the concert “Cultural Fusion: The Gamelan Experience” and was praised by the American Scholar, “…played with sensitivity and imagination.”
In duo with cellist Ismar Gomes, Ms. Su has toured the United States, giving concerts in Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. This has included the Harbor Front concert series, Encore concert series, Youngstown State University, Loyola University, Old Town Hall, the Odean Chamber Music series, the Barns of Rose Hill, and other notable halls. Additionally, Ms. Su travels for the Piatigorsky Foundation, bringing music to unconventional venues, such as public schools, nursing homes, and retirement communities, where there is typically less access to live classical concerts. Ms. Su is sought after for collaborations with venerated musicians, which have included members of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, violinist Hebert Greenberg, cellist Michael Kannen, baritone William Sharp, trumpeter Joe Burgstaller, pianists Seth Knopp and Benjamin Pasternack, and others.
Ms. Su performs a wide range of repertoire, from Baroque, Classical, Romantic, 20TH century to Contemporary. She has premiered music by prominent active composers, such as Curt Cacioppo, William Weigel, and Aaron Malone; she has also enjoyed working with celebrated composers like George Walker, Aaron J. Kernis, Ying-Chen Kao, and others. Steeped in an array of styles, Ms. Su collaborates regularly with the dance department at the Peabody Institute (both performing and arranging music), accompanies dozens of instrumental and vocal recitals each year, and has served as music director for the Episcopal Church of the Holy Covenant since 2013. A dedicated educator, Ms. Su currently serves on the piano faculty of the Park School of Baltimore and maintains a small private studio.
Decorated with numerous awards, Ms. Su won first prize in the Taiwan Cultural Cup Invitational Piano Competition. On the collegiate level, she won first prize in the Taiwan National Student Music Competition in Piano. She has also been a semi-finalist in the San Jose International Piano Competition, the Art of Duo Competition, and the Liszt-Garrison Duo Competition, and a finalist in the Harrison L. Winter Piano Concerto Competition. Further, she has been invited to numerous international music festivals, including the Taos School of Music, the Beethoven Institute, both the Icicle Creek Piano Festival and the Icicle Creek Chamber Music Festival, the NTSO International Piano Program in Taiwan, and the Paris Piano Program in France.
Born in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Ms. Su began piano lessons at age four. She earned a bachelor’s degree in piano, minoring in French horn, at the National Kaohsiung Normal University in Taiwan, followed by a Master of Music and a Graduate Performance Diploma at the Peabody Conservatory, studying with Seth Knopp. She has performed in masterclasses for many artists, including Leon Fleisher, Richard Goode, and Gil Kalish. Ms. Su is currently a doctoral candidate at Peabody, under the tutelage of Benjamin Pasternack.
VITOR TRINDADE, CLARINET
Vitor Trindade was appointed as the second clarinet of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in June 2019.
He is currently pursuing his Artist Diploma at the Colburn Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of Yehuda Gilad. In 2017 he finished his undergraduate studies at the Academia Nacional Superior de Orquestra in Portugal with Nuno Silva as his teacher.
Vitor is a prize winner in many national and international competitions such as the Pasadena Showcase, Julian Menendez, Czech Art, Saverio Mercadante and Lisbon Clarinet competitions.
He attended the National Repertory Orchestra festival in 2018 where he was chosen to perform as a soloist, and in 2019 he participated in the Music Academy of the West festival in Santa Barbara.
Mr. Trindade collaborates regularly with the Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra and the Lisbon Contemporary Music Group.
AGNES TSE, VIOLIN
It has been said that violinist Agnes Tse’s musical journey began in her baby stroller when she was transfixed by a performance of Herbert von Karajan conducting on TV. She had to wait until she was four before receiving a size 1/8 violin as a toy and the violin has been her closest companion ever since.
While recently completing her Master of Music degree at The Juilliard School as a student of Lewis Kaplan and Joel Smirnoff, within one remarkable two-week span, she worked with the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle and was offered a position with the Baltimore Symphony under Marin Alsop.
A native of Hong Kong, Ms Tse has appeared as a soloist with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and the Pan Asia Symphony Orchestra. A participant of the New York String Orchestra Seminar at Carnegie Hall, she has been heard at the Music Academy of the West, Tanglewood Music Center, Bowdoin International Music Festival and the International Summer Academy, Mozarteum Universität Salzburg; where she studied with Pierre Amoyal and Zakhar Bron.
An avid chamber musician, she has appeared in Juilliard’s ChamberFest and London Symphony Orchestra’s Discovery Day where she performed in a string quartet with David Alberman, Principal Second Violin of the LSO. Her chamber music mentors include Emanuel Ax, Pamela Frank, Yo-Yo Ma and the Juilliard and Takács quartets. She has also performed with the two contemporary music ensembles at the Juilliard School, AXIOM and New Juilliard Ensemble.
Ms. Tse was a former Co-Concertmaster of the Juilliard Orchestra, Assistant Concertmaster of the Symphony in C and has been a substitute player at the New York Philharmonic and Princeton Symphony Orchestra. Outside of music, she enjoys walking around the streets of New York City to discover flea markets, antique stores, handmade gift shops, cafés and restaurants.