New York Classical Players is thrilled to announce two great artists, Siwoo Kim and Nikki Chooi as concertmasters for the 2018/19 season.
Mr. Kim is one of the founding members of NYCP and Mr. Chooi appeared as a guest concertmaster during the 2017/18 season.
Described as “richly expressive and technically assured” (Calgary Herald) and “vigorous and colorful” (New York Times), Nikki Chooi came to national attention as the Grand Award winner of the Canadian National Music Festival and the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal Standard Life Competition in 2004. Mr. Chooi is a First Prize Winner of the 2013 Michael Hill International Violin Competition and the 2009 Klein International Competition, and a Laureate of the 2012 Queen Elisabeth Violin Competition. His solo appearance in recent years includes performing with the Pittsburgh Symphony, National Orchestra of Belgium, Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie, and St. Petersburg State Symphony in Russia and many more. His recitals were performed in various regions including New York, Chicago, Canada, and Belgium. Mr. Chooi has served as a concertmaster of New York's Metropolitan Opera Orchestra during the 2016/17 season and has appeared as a guest concertmaster with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Houston Symphony, and the Moritzburg Festival Orchestra. Mr. Chooi gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, CBC Radio, the Sylva Gelber Foundation, and the Victoria Foundation.
Siwoo Kim, “incisive” and “compelling” (Zachary Woolfe, New York Times) and noted for “stylistic sensitivity and generous tonal nuance” (John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune), has been internationally featured as a guest artist at the Tivoli Festival in Denmark, the Bergen International Festival in Norway, the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival in South Africa, and with Ensemble DITTO in South Korea. Mr. Kim has performed chamber music with Itzhak Perlman, Joyce DiDonato, Jeremy Denk, Kim Kashkashian, and members of the Guarneri, Juilliard and Takacs String Quartets. As a founding member of Quartet Senza Misura, celebrated for “whip-smart performances” (Alex Ross, The New Yorker), he has performed at an array of venues such as Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Seoul Arts Center, La Fundacion Juan March in Spain, and the Simon Bolivar Conservatory of Music in Venezuela. Mr. Kim took a second place at the 2010 Corpus Christi International Competition for Piano and Strings, where he was also awarded special prizes for the best performance of solo Bach and violin performance. He has also been named top prizewinner in the California, Chengdu, Crescendo, Hellam, Ima Hogg, Juilliard, Schadt, Sejong, and WAMSO competitions. Mr. Kim gave the world premiere performance of Samuel Adler’s violin concerto and has been recording the work in Germany last season to coincide with the composer’s 90th anniversary.
***
The former concertmasters include Josef Spacek (2010/11 season), currently concertmaster at the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, and Robin Scott (2011-2017), who is a first violinist in The Ying Quartet and violin faculty at Eastman School of Music.
***
New York Classical Players is the region’s only professional orchestra sharing exclusively free performances. Comprised of creative and virtuosic young musicians, NYCP’s adventurous programming shares familiar masterpieces, bold new commissions, and unexpected musical treasures. Each season, thousands of NYCP concertgoers experience both the dynamic power of the orchestral repertoire and the versatile intimacy of chamber performance. NYCP is proud to collaborate with some of the world’s most renowned musicians, including Kim Kashkashian, Cho-Liang Lin, Stefan Jackiw, Sumi Jo, Alex Kerr, Donald Weilerstein, and Chee-Yun, and is under the baton of Music Director and Founder Dongmin Kim. For more information, please visit NYCP online at www.nycpmusic.org.
Media Contact
Sarah Angello, general manager
sarah@nycpmusic.org