Bowdoin Virtuosi

New for 2010!

The Bowdoin Virtuosi program invites a select number of the most accomplished young artists worldwide to perform with Festival faculty and to participate in the summer study program as will benefit their artistic growth and careers in individually designed programs.

Applicants to the Bowdoin Virtuosi program must be winners of major international competitions and/or performers having played significant recitals or concert appearances with major orchestras. All fees are paid for selected applicants.

 

2010 Virtuosi Announced

RAY CHEN, Violinist, won the Grand Prize of the 2009 Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competition in Brussels, Belgium, bringing him prestigious concert engagements, a recording contract, and a three-year loan of the “Huggins” Stradivarius from the Nippon Music Foundation.

Other awards include First Prizes in: 2008-09 Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York (he makes his Washington debut at the Kennedy Center and his New York debut at Merkin Concert Hall under the auspices of Young Concert Artists.), the Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition (2008), the National Kendall Violin Competition in Australia (2005) and the Australian National Youth Concerto Competition (2002). Concerto performances with the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra in St. Petersburg and at the International Rostropovich Festival with the State Symphony Orchestra of Baku, Azerbaijan. 

In 2005, he was accepted to the Curtis Institute of Music, where he continues to study.

 

DAVID COUCHERON, Violinist, was recently named concertmaster of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. He has worked with conductors such as Robert Spano, Alan Gilbert, Michael Tilson Thomas, Simon Rattle, Mstislav Rostropovich, David Zinman, Roger Norrington, Simone Young, and Charles Dutoit, and performed as a soloist with orchestras including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, the Sendai Symphony Orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra. 

Some of his awards and recognitions are first prize at the Concorso Internazionale di Musica "Citta di Pinerolo” Competition in 2009 (Turin, Italy), first prize at The Princess Astrid Competition in 2002 (Trondheim, Norway), and Third Prize at the Manchester International Violin Competition in 2005 (Manchester, U.K.).  Mr. Coucheron plays a 1725 Stradivarius.

Mr. Coucheron earned his Bachelor of Music degree from The Curtis Institute of Music, his Master of Music from The Juilliard School, and his Master of Musical Performance from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

 

BEN KIM, Pianist, became the focus of international attention after he won First Prize in the 55th Munich International Music Competition in 2006. He has garnered critical acclaim for his engagements at venues including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Berlin Konzerthaus, and the Warsaw Philharmonic Hall. Recent orchestral engagements include performances with the Bavarian Radio, Central German Radio, Baltimore, Hermitage State, and Ulsan Symphony Orchestras.

Highlights of his 2009-10 itinerary include a tour through Japan with the Brno Philharmonic, as well as his debuts in Germany. Mr. Kim will also be performing a series of concerts with the Jupiter String Quartet, one of America’s leading young quartets.

Mr. Kim completed an accelerated Bachelor of Music degree program at the Peabody Conservatory and is a candidate for the Artist Diploma program, the school’s highest distinction.

 

SUYOEN KIM, Violinist. As a soloist, Ms. Kim has worked with renowned conductors such as Kurt Masur, Eliahu Inbal, Myung-Whun Chung, Steven Sloane, Jan Latham-Koenig, Peter Ruzicka, and Walter Weller.  She has been featured throughout her native Germany with orchestras such as the German Chamber Philharmonic, the Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Munich Symphony Orchestra.  She has also given concerts in Korea, Sweden, Denmark, France, Italy and Austria.

Prizes include: Fourth Prize at the 2009 Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition of Belgium in Brussels, First Prize at the 2006 Hannover International Violin Competition, the Prize of North Rhine-Westphalia in 2005, and First Prize at the 2003 International Violin Competition Leopold Mozart in Augsburg where she also won the audience prize and the prize for the best interpretation of contemporary music.

Ms. Kim is doing her graduate studies at the Academy of Music and Theater in Munich. She plays a violin made in 1742 by Camillus Camilli on loan from the German Musical Instrument Fund of the German Foundation.

 

PUHAN WANG, Pianist, is a prizewinner in numerous international competitions, including the 46th ARD International Music Competition in Munich, in which he won the third prize as well as the  Baerenreiter Publishing House special prize, and was the youngest prizewinner in the history of the competition. In 2001, Wang became the youngest finalist in the 11th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in the United States.

Wang has appeared as a soloist with major orchestras in China and abroad, such as the China Symphony Orchestra and the Beijing Symphony Orchestra in China; the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra in the United States; the Bavarian Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra in Germany; the Baltic Philharmonic Orchestra in Poland; and the Israel Symphony Orchestra, the Israel Chamber Orchestra, and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in Israel.

Since 1998, Wang has studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater, Hannover.