Repertoire
Beethoven: Sonata in E-Flat Major, Op. 12 No. 3 (1798)
Bartók: Sonata No. 2, Sz.76 (1922)
Brahms: Piano Trio No. 2 in C Major, Op. 87 (1882)

About the Artists

Violinist Kyung Sun Lee is professor of music in violin at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. She captured a bronze medal in the 1993 Queen Elizabeth Competition, sixth prize in the 1994 Tchaikovsky Competition, first prizes at the Washington and D’Angelo International Competitions, and third prize in the Montreal International Competition, where she also won the Audience Favorite and Best Performance of the Commissioned Work prizes. Subsequent to winning these awards, Lee has enjoyed ever-increasing popularity as a performer and received high critical acclaim. The Strad praised her “exceptional tonal suavity and expressive intensity in equal measure,” while Harris Goldsmith declared, “Godard’s Concerto Romantique could not have had a more outstanding soloist than Kyung Sun Lee” (New York Concert Review Inc.). In addition to being in demand as a soloist and chamber musician, Lee is an accomplished teacher and clinician. After becoming assistant professor of violin at Oberlin Conservatory in fall 2001, then associate professor at the University of Houston in fall 2006, she has been professor at Seoul National University since 2009. Lee taught for two summers at the Aspen Music Festival and has also been on faculty at the Bowdoin Music Festival and the Heifetz International Institute. In recent, years she has been in demand as a judge of violin competitions including the Joachim International Violin Competition Hannover, Seoul International Competition, and Singapore International Violin Competition. She studied at Seoul National University, Peabody Conservatory, and The Juilliard School. Her teachers have included Sylvia Rosenberg, Robert Mann, and Dorothy Delay. Lee plays a Joseph Guarnerius violin from 1723 and is music director of Changwon International Chamber Music Festival and Seoul Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra.

Pianist Xak Bjerken has appeared with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Spoleto Festival Orchestra, Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra, the Schoenberg Ensemble, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Disney Hall. He has performed at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Glinka Hall in St. Petersburg, the Konzerthaus in Berlin, and for many years performed throughout the United States as a member of the Los Angeles Piano Quartet. He has held chamber music residencies at the Tanglewood Music Center, Spoleto Festival, and Olympic Music Festival. He is the director of Ensemble X, a new music ensemble at Cornell, and has served on the faculty of Kneisel Hall, the Eastern Music Festival, and at the Chamber Music Conference at Bennington College. Bjerken has worked closely with composers György Kurtág, Sofia Gubaidulina, Steven Stucky, and George Benjamin, and has premiered piano concertos by Stephen Hartke, Elizabeth Ogonek, and Jesse Jones, a recording of which was released by Naxos in 2021. He released his first solo recording on CRI in 2001 and has since recorded for Koch International, Chandos, Albany Records, Artona. He recently released his third recording for Open G Records, presenting solo and chamber works by Steven Stucky. Bjerken is professor of music at Cornell University, where he codirects Mayfest, an international chamber music festival, with his wife, pianist Miri Yampolsky. He studied with Aube Tzerko at the University of California at Los Angeles and earned master’s and doctoral degrees from the Peabody Institute as a student of and teaching assistant to Leon Fleisher. Bjerken is the proud father of Misha (bassist), Anna (singer), and Maya (athlete and stargazer).

Peter Stumpf is professor of music (cello) at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Prior to this appointment, he was principal cellist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Stumpf’s tenure in Los Angeles followed 12 years as associate principal cellist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. His professional orchestral career began at age 16 when he joined the cello section of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the Curtis Institute of Music (CIM) and an Artist Diploma from the New England Conservatory. A dedicated chamber music musician, he is a member of the Johannes String Quartet and has appeared on chamber music series on several continents. He has performed with the chamber music societies of Boston and Philadelphia and at the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico, as well as such festivals as Marlboro, Spoleto, and Aspen. He has toured with Music from Marlboro, the Casals Hall Ensemble, and pianist Mitsuko Uchida. He has collaborated with pianists Leif Ove Andsnes, Emmanuel Ax, Jorge Bolet, Yefim Bronfman, Radu Lupu, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Andras Schiff, and Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and with the Emerson and Guarneri String Quartets. Concerto appearances have been with the Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Boston Philharmonic, among many others. As a recitalist, he has performed at the Universities of Hartford, Syracuse, and Delaware, at Jordan Hall in Boston, and at the Philips and Corcoran Galleries in Washington, D.C. Most recently, he performed J. S. Bach’s Six Suites for Solo Cello on series in Philadelphia and Los Angeles. His awards include first prize in the Washington International, Graham-Stahl, and Aspen Concerto Competitions, and second prize in the Evian International String Quartet Competition. As a teacher, he has served on the faculties of the University of Southern California, Hartt School of Music, and New England Conservatory, and he was guest artist faculty at CIM, Yellow Barn Music Festival, and Musicorda Summer String Program.