January 21, 2019
ARTS CULTURE & ENTERTAINMENT
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 11
Chamber Music Northwest announces artistic directors
Chamber
Music
Northwest
has
announced it new artistic directors —
Gloria Chien and Soovin Kim. A husband
and wife team, both are internationally
renowned performers and experienced
music presenters. The two will succeed
current artistic director David Shifrin
after his final Summer Festival in 2020.
The pair will perform under Shifrin’s
artistic leadership at Chamber Music
Northwest’s 2019 and 2020 Summer
Festivals before succeeding him as artistic
directors in the fall of 2020. In the interim,
they will begin their own artistic planning
for their first Chamber Music Northwest
Summer Festival in 2021.
Chien and Kim are co-artistic directors
of the Lake Champlain Chamber Music
Festival, which was founded by Soovin in
2009. Gloria is also the artistic director of
the String Theory chamber music series in
Chattanooga, Tennessee, which she
founded in 2009, and has been director of
the Chamber Music Institute of the
Music@Menlo Festival since 2010.
Pianist Gloria Chien
Taiwanese-American pianist Chien
began playing the piano at age five in her
native Taiwan. She travelled to the United
States in high school to study at Walnut
Hill School for the Arts and at the New
HUSBAND & WIFE TEAM. Chamber Music
Northwest has announced it new artistic directors,
Gloria Chien (right) and Soovin Kim (left). A husband
and wife team, both are internationally renowned per-
formers and experienced music presenters. The two
will succeed current artistic director David Shifrin after
his final Summer Festival in 2020. (Photo courtesy of
Chamber Music Northwest)
England Conservatory with Russell Sher-
man and Wha-Kyung Byun. She made her
orchestral solo debut at the age of 16 with
the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Chien is in demand as a collaborator for
recitals, with string quartets, and at major
chamber music festivals. She regularly
performs in the United States at venues
such as Alice Tully Hall, Jordan Hall, the
Library of Congress, and the Phillips
Collection, and abroad she has recently
performed at the Dresden Chamber Music
Festival, Seoul Arts Center, and the
National Concert Hall in Taiwan. Gloria
was part of the Bowers Program at the
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
and continues to regularly perform as an
artist-member.
According to The New York Times, Chien
has become known not only for the
“elegant ripples and shadings” of her
nuanced playing, but also as an educator
and leader of arts organizations.
Violinist Soovin Kim
Korean-American violinist Soovin Kim
enjoys a broad musical career as a
recitalist, concerto soloist, chamber
musician, presenter, and educator. His
international concert career was launched
after winning first prize at the Paganini
International Competition when he was 20
years old. He subsequently was the
recipient of distinguished prizes such as
the Henryk Szeryng Career Award, the
Avery Fisher Grant, and the Borletti-
Buitoni Trust Award.
Soovin regularly performs a range of
repertoire that includes solo Bach and
Paganini works, Beethoven and Ives
sonatas, Mozart and Vivaldi concertos
without conductor, Bartok and Webern
quartets, and new world-premiere works
almost every season. He performed for 20
years as the 1st violinist of the Johannes
String Quartet and recently formed the
Chien-Kim-Watkins piano trio with Gloria
Chien and cellist Paul Watkins.
To learn more, call (503) 223-3202 or
visit <www.cmnw.org>.
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