About the Music Director

As a high school student, violist David Yang used to fall asleep with a string quartet score by his pillow and an LP spinning away on the turntable. Now, admired for his intensity, honesty of musical expression, and passionate communication, David has been heard throughout North America and Europe in collaboration with members of the Audubon, Avalon, Borromeo, Brentano, Cassatt, Lark, Miro, Muir and Tokyo String Quartets and Apple Hill Chamber Players, Trio Solisti, Dautremer and Eroica Piano Trios along with Bonnie Hampton, Pamela Frank, Eliot Fisk and Wendy Warner. He has studied with many of the finest string quartets today including the Amadeus, Colorado and Vermeer String Quartets and members of the American, Cleveland and Juilliard String Quartets with coaching by Josef Gingold, Karen Tuttle, Julius Levine, Robert Mann and Felix Galimir. David was raised in New York City and has studied with Martha Strongin Katz, Heidi Castleman, Karen Ritscher and Steve Wyrczynki and also has a Master's degree in architecture. He is currently Artistic Director of the Newburyport Chamber Music Festival near Boston, MA (http://www.newburyportchambermusic.org/). As an active advocate of new music he has premiered dozens of works in the last few years including the commissioning of new works. In his role as leader of the Philadelphia-based storytelling music troupe Auricolae, he has developed a residency program to foster the creation and performance of new compositions by public school students in Philadelphia and the surrounding region. David is also founder of the Philadelphia Viola Society and member of the elite Philadelphia-based ensemble 9th Street Chamber Project, which consists of some of the finest emerging young artists on the East Coast. A highly sought after chamber music coach and director of chamber music at the University of Pennsylvania and the Main Line Chamber Music Seminar, he also coaches at Settlement Music School in Philadelphia and Swarthmore College. He now lives in South Philadelphia with his two daughters, Eliana Razzino and Alessandra Pierson Yang. He plays on a viola made by the viola da gamba maker Johannes Tielka in 1670 and originally owned by Brahms' friend Joseph Joachim.

Other Penn Chamber Coaches

Michael Sheadel has performed in the United States and Europe as both soloist and collaborative pianist. A co-founder of the flute and piano ensemble The Hamilton Duo, he has also appeared as ensemble pianist with the Chestnut Brass Company, Encore Chamber Players, Hildegard Chamber Players, Network for New Music, Orchestra 2001, and the Settlement Contemporary Players. An avid performer of contemporary music, he has participated in the regional and world premieres of numerous new works. Dr. Sheadel earned degrees in piano performance from the Eastman School of Music, the Peabody Conservatory, and Temple University. His principal teachers were Maria Luisa Faini, Walter Hautzig, and Harvey Wedeen. His varied teaching experience has included adjunct faculty positions at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland and Temple University. In addition to the College House Music Program, he also teaches for Philadelphia's Settlement Music School and maintains an active private studio.

Michele Kelly is the flutist with Relâche, a respected ensemble for "downtown" new music. The group performs over thirty concerts annually, and presents in excess of six world premiere commissioned works each season. She has worked directly with many of today's most innovative composers in the creation of new works, including Guy Klucevsek, Leroy Jenkins, and Mark Hagerty. The New York-born, Houston-raised flutist is highly regarded as a clinician, ensemble coach, and studio teacher. In addition to her participation in the college house music program, Michele also continues her series of workshops, master classes, and recitals involving her own teaching studio. She received her M.Mus. from the University of Michigan, where she also earned a unique post-Master's Specialist degree in chamber music performance. Her teachers include Keith Bryan and composer/theorist/flutist Cynthia Folio. The daughter of noted abstract expressionist painter James Groff lives with her family in the Fairmount section of Philadelphia.

Cellist Karen Meier is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music with further studies at the Julliard School of Music. A former member of the Augusta Symphony Orchestra, she performs with Musica 2000 and teaches at the Settlement Music School and Temple Music Prep. She has extensive chamber music performance experience and her cello teachers include Metta Watts, Orlando Cole and Joel Krosnick.

Critically acclaimed as a “musician’s pianist,” Matthew Bengtson has a unique combination of musical talents ranging from extraordinary pianist, to composer, analyst, and scholar of performance practice, and thus is in demand as both a soloist and collaborator. In 1998 he won the La Gesse Fellowship, and was presented in concert in France and Italy, at the French Embassy in Washington, DC, at Thomas Jefferson’s home Monticello, and in solo recitals at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in New York City. Mr. Bengtson has participated in many American music festivals, such as the Aspen Music Festival, the Summer Institute for Contemporary Piano Performance (SICPP) at New England Conservatory, and the Classical Era Workshop and Baroque Performance Institute (BPI) at Oberlin Conservatory. In Europe, he studied at the Internationale Sommerakademie “Mozarteum” in Salzburg, Austria, and the Centre Acanthes in Avignon, with Claude Helffer. At the American Conservatory at Fontainebleau, France, he studied with Philippe Entremont, Philippe Bianconi and Frédéric Aguessy. In Salzburg, he performed Boulez’s Sonata no. 1 in the Wiener Saal, and at Fontainebleau, he was awarded the Prix de la Ville de Fontainebleau for his performances. In addition to his extensive concertizing, Mr. Bengtson serves on the faculty of Settlement Music School in Philadelphia, and the piano staff of the Curtis Institute of Music.

A native of South Korea,  Ms. Ji-Eun Kang was praised by Washington Post as a "Superb and lyrical pianist" with her performance at the Kennedy Center. She also got acclaiming reviews from New York Concert Review,San Francisco Classical Voice, Charleston Courier and Fort Worth Star Telegram. Since then, she has extensive performing experiences throughout the US,Europe and Asia. Ms. Kang has played at the Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, United Nations, Seoul Arts Center and many more prestigious venues. She has degrees from the Juilliard School (BM (1996)), (MM (1998)) and a Doctor of Musical Degrees as a full fellowship fellow of the Michigan State University (2003). Ms. Kang is a winner of various prestigious International Piano Competitions such as Washington International Piano Competition, Olga Koussevitsky International Piano Competition, New York Chopin Competition, Fort Worth Symphony/Van Cliburn Institute Concerto Competition. She was a resident artist at the Aspen Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, Yellow Barn Chamber Music Festival, Gilmore International Keyboard Festival and the famed Wilhelm Kempff
Beethoven Interpretation Course in Positano, Italy. As well as teaching in the College House Music Program and Penn Chamber, she also serves as a faculty at Settlement Music School.

Beverly Shin made her solo debut with the Houston Symphony at age 17 and has since appeared with numerous orchestras throughout the United States.  As an active chamber musician, she has performed at Bargemusic, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, The Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, the Banff Centre for the Arts, Yellow Barn, Kneisel Hall and the Newburyport Chamber music Festival.  She has collaborated with such artists as Anton Kuerti and Ruth Laredo, as well as members of the Borromeo, Chicago, and Kronos Quartets.  Ms. Shin has been Professor of Violin at the University of Memphis and Donald Weilerstein's teaching assistant at the Cleveland Institute of Music in addition to the first violinist of the Ceruti Quartet. She has attended Curtis, the University of Pennsylvania, the Cleveland Institute of Music and New England Conservatory. In 2004, she was one of the first musicians to receive an Albert Schweitzer Fellowship, for which she is developing experimental outreach programs in under-served Boston elementary schools.

Yumi Kendall, Assistant Principal Cellist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, studied with David Soyer, cellist of the Guarneri String Quartet. While at Curtis, where she completed her Bachelor of Music degree in May 2004, Ms. Kendall held the Institute’s Jacqueline du Pré Memorial Fellowship and was the recipient of a merit-based full-tuition scholarship. She has served as principal cello in the Haddonfield Symphony, the American Youth Philharmonic, and the National Orchestra Institute. Ms. Kendall began studying cello at age five; made her recital debut at age seven in Boulder, Colo.; and in 1998 made her orchestral solo debut with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Since that time, she has performed on numerous occasions in the Washington, D.C. area, including a solo appearance with the cellists of the National Symphony Orchestra in a tribute concert honoring Mstislav Rostropovich. Her participation in summer festivals and institutes includes the Summer Music Institute at the Kennedy Center, the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, Music from Angel Fire, the Verbier Festival, the Taos School of Music in New Mexico, Encore School for Strings, and the Marlboro Festival. Ms. Kendall is also a member of the Dryden String Quartet, which includes her brother, violinist Nicolas Kendall, a member of Time for Three; their cousin Daniel Foster, principal violist of the National Symphony; and Nurit Bar-Josef, concertmaster of the National Symphony.

Recipient of several awards and honors, Ms. Kendall won first place in the Friday Morning Music Club Competition, first place in the National Symphony Orchestra Young Soloists’ Competition, and the judges’ commendation award at the Johansen International Competition. She resides in Center City Philadelphia.

Thomas Kraines frequently performs as a duo with his wife, violinist Juliette Kang, as well as with the Boston based chamber ensemble Mistral and the free improvisation duo Dithyramb. He has performed his own compositions across the country, with musicians such as Awadagin Pratt, Maria Jette, and Wayman Chin. He has also been on the faculty of the Longy School of Music, the Peabody Conservatory, Princeton University and the Yellow Barn Festival, and has performed at the Moab Music Festival, Spoleto Festival, Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, Caramoor, Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, and many others and is a graduate of the Curtis Institute and the Juilliard School.