Carol Ou 歐逸青, Cellist

A versatile artist, cellist Carol Ou is known for her “fiery, marvelous” and “meltingly melodic outpourings” (Boston Globe) and her “wonderfully pure cello tone and incisive technique” (The Strad).

A founding member of the Buswell-Ou Duo, Ou often appears in solo, chamber music, and concerto performances with violinist James Buswell. As the cellist of the Carpe Diem String Quartet, she frequently tours all over the U.S., performing an eclectic mix of classical string quartet repertoire with many crossover genres of music. Ou has collaborated with celebrated artists such as Midori, Hillary Hahn, Kim Kashkashian, Timothy Eddy, Pascal Rogé, András Schiff, Raul Juarena, and Jayme Stone at the Marlboro Music Festival, Summerfest La Jolla, Australian Festival of Chamber Music, Austin Chamber Music Center, Nevada Chamber Music Festival, and other noted music festivals.

At ease with the diverse music styles of the last five centuries, Ou regularly programs traditional European masterworks with more eclectic works in concert. She has recorded three of the most beloved cello concerti by Haydn, Tchaikovsky, and Elgar, and premiered several new compositions written for her. She gave the first performance of Hsiao Tyzen's Cello Concerto in Taipei and collaborated with Hsiao on the premiere of a number of solo and chamber music works throughout the U.S. and Singapore. American composers such as Richard Toensing and the late Daniel Pinkham have also dedicated works to her. Other unusual works that she has performed include Tan Dun's Ghost Opera for string quartet and pipa, Peter Sculthorpe's string quartet with didjeridu, and Reza Vali’s Calligraphy No. 4 for string quartet and Persian santoor.

In the 2012–2013 season, in her new role as Carpe Diem String Quartet’s cellist, Ou has collaborated with the Latin Grammy winner and master of the bandoneon Raul Juarena in Piazzolla’s 4 Seasons of Buenos Aires. With banjo sensation Jayme Stone, she has performed repertoire as far ranging as Bach’s Art of the Fugue, West African praise songs, Bulgarian dances, and bluegrass fiddling music.

Since 2007, Ou has also been chamber music director of the Heifetz International Summer Music Institute in Wolfeboro, N.H. and Staunton, Va. In addition to her regular teaching duties, Carol Ou has traveled extensively to give cello and chamber music masterclasses in Germany, Spain, Luxembourg, Argentina, Ukraine, Australia, Taiwan, Canada, and throughout the U.S.

Ou's solo recordings are all issued by the Chi-Mei Foundation in Taiwan. Her chamber music recordings of the 20th-century repertoire can be found on the Naxos and CRI labels. Her recording of Walter Piston's Chamber Music, issued by Naxos, won the 2001 Chamber Music America Best Chamber Music CD award.

B.A., magna cum laude,Yale University. M.M., M.M.A., D.M.A., Yale School of Music. Studies with Ronald Leonard, Janos Starker, Aldo Parisot. Former faculty of Yale, MIT, Harvard University, Gordon College (director of strings, chamber music, and orchestral studies).

Pi-hsien Chen,  陳必先 pianist

Ms. Pi-Hsien Chen was born in Taiwan and came to Cologne when she was nine years old. One year later, she was admitted in the class of Hans-Otto Schmidt-Neuhaus. At the age of 21, she won the first prize at the ARD-International-Piano-Competition in Munich, later on the first prizes at the A.Schönberg-Competition in Rotterdam and at the J.S.Bach-Competition in Washington D.C.

She performed with important orchestras, such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC-Symphony-Orchestra, the Concertgebouw-Orchestra, the Zurich-Tonhalle-Orchestra and all German Radio-Symphony- Orchestras. Conductors, with whom she has worked, were Bernhard Haitink, Paul Sacher, Sir Colin Davis, Charles Dutoit, Marek Janowsky, Hans Zender and Peter Eötvös. She was partner of Hermann Baumann, Pierre-Laurant Aimard, Wolfgang Meyer and Augustin Dumay a.o.

Ms. Pi-hsien Chen took part in numerous music-festivals: she gave performances in the Schwetzinger Festspiele, the London Prom's, Huddersfield Festival, the Osaka Festival, the Hong-Kong-Arts-Festival, the Festival d'Automne Paris, Musica Strasbourg, the Festival Wien Modern, the Triennale Cologne, in the German Pavillon of the EXPO 2000 in Hannover, the L'Antheron Piano Festival in France and at the Sao Raimundo Nonato in Piavi, Brasil.

Her increasing interest and engagement for contemporary music grew in the co-operation with composers as Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Gyorgy Kurtág, John Cage and Elliott Carter. Since 1983, Pi-hsien Chen was a professor for the piano at the Musikhochschule, Köln and continues teaching at the Musikhochschule Freiburg since 2004. Regularly she is giving international master classes like in Boston, US (Walnut Hill Festival) or Helsinki, Finland (Sibelius Academy).

In 2012, she performed Music of Changes by John Cage and Second Sonata by Pierre Boulez to celebrate Cage’s 100 year anniversary in Berlin. In 2013, she performed the all Schoenberg piano works and works by Lei Liang in Ultraschall Festival in Berlin. She was artist in residence in the 2nd Contemporary Music Festival in Taipei, where she premiered four programs of contemporary music. She appeared in Lucerne Festival with George F. Haas.

Kenneth Radnofsky, Saxophonist

Saxophonist Kenneth Radnofsky has appeared as soloist with leading orchestras and ensembles throughout the world, including the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and New York Philharmonic under the direction of Kurt Masur, Jerusalem Symphony, Dresden Staatskapelle, Boston Pops, Taipei and Taiwan Symphonies, New World Symphony, BBC Concert Orchestra, Marlboro Festival, Portland String Quartet, and Moscow Autumn, a Russian new music festival.

Radnofsky made his Carnegie Hall debut with the New York premiere of Gunther Schuller's Concerto with the National Orchestral Association. Radnofsky also gave the world premiere of Schuller's Concerto with the Pittsburgh Symphony, with both of the highly acclaimed performances conducted by the composer. David Amram's concerto Ode to Lord Buckley is dedicated to Radnofsky, who premiered the work with the Portland Symphony under Bruce Hangen. He has performed on numerous occasions with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, appeared as soloist with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project under Gil Rose (Hovhaness, Olivero, Gandolfi concerti), and performed with the Boston Classical Orchestra under Steven Lipsitt.

Of his 100+ commissions, American composers who have written for Radnofsky include Schuller, Amram, James Yannatos, Michael Gandolfi, Michael Colgrass, Donald Martino, Milton Babbitt, Ezra Sims, Chris Theofanidis, Michael Horvit, John McDonald, Larry Bell, Roger Bourland, Allen Johnson, Elliott Schwartz, Pasquale Tassone, Armand Qualliotine and an innovative commission of Pulitzer Prize winning composer John Harbison for a Sonata, premiered Dec. 3, 1995 by forty-three saxophonists in different locations around the globe in an effort organized by Radnofsky, entitled World-Wide Concurrent Premieres, Inc. (WWCP). Mr. Radnofsky is Founder of WWCP, and has created a network of musicians commissioning today’s finest composers. Yang Yong, Christian Yufra, Juan Ruiz, Jaime Fatas, Shih-Hui Chen, Andy Vores, Lei Liang, Vincent Plush, Georgy Dmitriev and Jakov Jakoulov have also written for Radnofsky, with concerts in Istanbul, Rome, Taipei, Havana, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Mexico City, Montreal, Caracas, Manchester, UK, Beijing, Shanghai, and elsewhere.

Concurrent with his frequent performing and over 30 years of teaching, Radnofsky has designed and implemented a saxophone program for Venezuela with saxophone professor Claudio Dioguardi. He has given masterclasses throughout the U.S. and in Brazil, Israel, China, and Turkey. Radnofsky is committed to outreach internationally, nationally, and locally; his editorial on the topic was published in the Christian Science Monitor. Radnofsky has given literally thousands of outreach performances. They include a teaching component and investment in community to which he is deeply committed. He is President of the Boston Woodwind Society, an organization dedicated to fostering the development of talented young woodwind players, succeeding its founder, the late Matthew Ruggiero, and co-founder, with Michael Couper, of the woodwind music publishing house RCEditions.

Current solo CD releases include David Amram's Ode to Lord Buckley (NewportClassic Recordings), Debussy's Rhapsody with the New York Philharmonic (Teldec 13133/Apex), Radnofsky.com (Boston Records 1043), Fascinatin’ Rhythms (Boston Records 1044), Gandolfi Fantasia (BMOP/sound 1028), Donald Martino’s Saxophone Concerto (New World 80529-2), Michael Colgrass’s concerto Dream Dancer, (Mode 125), and Elliott Schwartz's concerto Mehitabel’s Serenade (Albany-Troy 646). He is featured soloist with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, in Franz Waxman’s A Place in the Sun under John Mauceri’s direction (Philips 4321092).

Yinfei Wang 王寅飛, pianist

Yinfei Wang began his piano studies in Shanghai at the age of four. Shortly thereafter, he was awarded top prizes in several national competitions in China. He made his first public appearance at the age of 7 in the Shanghai Concert Hall. At the age of 11, he recorded in the “Shanghai Conservatory of Music: Seventieth Anniversary Gala Album” as the youngest performer with some of the most famous Chinese musicians. Since then, he has performed throughout China, Singapore, Spain, Australia and the United States.

Among his accomplishments include the top prizes in the 2005 Sandner Cross-Taiwan Straight Piano Competition, the 2009 Jacob Flier Piano Competition, the 2011 Shande Ding Piano Competition in Shanghai, 2012 5 towns piano competition in New York, 2016 Chopin Piano Competition in Connecticut. In 2014 Wang was one of eight finalists in the 61st Washington International Piano Competition. In 2015, he was awarded first prize in the 2nd Gershwin International Piano Competition in New York. He made his orchestral debut as soloist in the Chopin f minor Concerto with the Hudson Valley Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Mr. Vladimir Feltsman. In the spring of 2010, Yinfei was chosen to perform the Mozart Concerto in d minor (K.466) with the Manhattan School of Music Symphony Orchestra under the baton of the renowned pianist/conductor Phillipe Entremont.

Mr. Wang has worked with many world renowned pianists in the masterclasses, including Hung-Kuan Chen, Stephen Hough, Lang Lang, Robert Levin, Russell Sherman, Fou T’song, among others. An avid chamber musician, Mr. Wang was chosen as a winner of the annual Lilian Fuchs Memorial Chamber Music Competition three times at the Manhattan School of Music. Mr. Wang has also attended many music festivals, including the International Piano Festival in Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Music Festival at Walnut Hill in Boston, and PianoSummer at New Paltz International Institute and Festival.

Mr. Wang received his Bachelor’s degree from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, his Master’s degree and Professional Studies Certificate from the Manhattan School of Music as a student of Mr. Phillip Kawin. He is currently in the Doctoral Program at Manhattan School of Music, where he is continuing his studies with Mr. Kawin.

Jean Huang 黃竹君, violinist

Described as “a consummate artist,” violinist Jean Huang has concertized throughout the United States and Taiwan. Praised for her poised and expressive playing, Jean enjoys playing both standard repertoire and new music, and she is constantly searching for new ways to reach audiences. Huang is especially passionate about performing underplayed pieces; as a violinist living in the 21st century, she enjoys the process of looking for new color and extending the short history and limited geography of violin repertoire. Huang believes music has the ability to provoke the wildest imagination, and she often looks for a three-way connection between the composer, the performer, and the audience while performing. Huang writes her own scholarly program notes for each concert, using her knowledge to enhance the musical experience.

Chu-Chun Jean Huang holds both Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Violin Performance with honors from the New England Conservatory (NEC), and is currently a doctoral candidate at the conservatory. A native of Taiwan, Jean started playing the violin at age five and by age twelve had won a prize at the National Taiwan Concerto Competition. Huang has studied in the United States since age fifteen. She graduated with honors from Walnut Hill High School of the Arts, while also studying at the NEC Preparatory School from 2005 to 2008, where she worked with the late Marylou Speaker Churchill. In addition, she participated and toured in China with the NEC Youth Symphony Orchestra conducted by Benjamin Zander. In 2014, Huang enrolled in the Doctor of Musical Arts program at NEC with a merit scholarship, studying with James Buswell, Jennifer Frautschi, and Peter Zazofsky. In fall 2016, she excelled and passed all her doctoral qualifying exams to become the youngest doctoral candidate in her class.

A keen chamber musician, Huang has attended the Heifetz International Music Institute, Vianden Music Festival in Luxembourg, and Orford Music Academy. She has performed alongside world-renowned musicians such as Nicholas Kitchen and Pi Hsien Chen.

Sam Ou 歐維聖, cellist

Cellist Sam Ou came to the United States from Taiwan at age 4, and began his cello studies at age 9. He has been a pupil of several renowned cello teachers, including Gretchen Geber, Eleanore Schoenfeld, and Aldo Parisot. After completing his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Music degrees in New York from Columbia University and The Juilliard School in their double degree program, Ou moved to Boston to study with Laurence Lesser at New England Conservatory of Music, where he graduated with a Doctorate of Musical Arts. His dissertation while studying at NEC was entitled "In Felix's Footsteps: An Examination of Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel's Approach to Her Chamber Music."

Ou is extremely fond of playing chamber music. While a student at NEC, he founded the NEC String Trio, which won the NEC Honors Ensemble Competition, was featured on Boston’s WGBH radio station, and was the resident chamber ensemble at the Musicorda Music Festival. As a former member of the Huntington Piano Trio, Ou performed extensively throughout New England and traveled to Poland, giving concerts in Poznan and Zakopane. He has studied with several inspiring chamber music coaches including Toby Appel, Emanuel Ax, Neil Black, Earl Carlyss, Norman Fischer, Felix Galimir, Christoph Henkel, Lewis Kaplan, and Emma Tahmisian.

Ou has also collaborated and performed with the Borromeo String Quartet, James Buswell, James Dunham, Patricia McCarty, Paul Neubauer, Heiichiro Ohyama, and Marcus Thompson. He performed Yehudi Wyner's Tanz and Maissele with violinist Lucy Chapman, clarinetist Bruce Creditor, and the Pulitzer prize-winning composer at the piano at The Center for Jewish History in New York.

Ou has performed in several music festivals, including Tanglewood, Sarasota, Musicorda, Santa Fe, and La Jolla. He has been a visiting lecturer, performer, and cello teacher at Fu-Jen University in Taiwan, where he conducted solo and chamber music masterclasses, and performed with Fu-Jen faculty musicians. As a participant of Fu-Jen’s 18th Century Piano Literature Symposium and the International Strings Literature Symposium, he presented papers on the chamber music of Beethoven and Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel. Ou has also coached undergraduate chamber ensembles and orchestral cello sectionals at Tufts University.
Awards and scholarships Ou has received include the Rome Festival Concerto Soloist Award, the Rosemary Scales Prize for best cello concerto performance at the Kingsville International Young Performers Competition, the Chi-Mei Music Scholarship from Taiwan, the ARTS Level II Award from the National Foundation for the Advancement in the Arts, and the Joseph Schuster Memorial Cello Scholarship from the Young Musicians' Foundation.

Ou is currently a faculty member at NEC’s Preparatory School. He also maintains a private teaching studio, and in the summer, he teaches in Belmont, MA at Music on the Hill, a chamber music program for young musicians.
B.A., Columbia University. M.M., The Juilliard School. D.M.A., New England Conservatory. Cello studies with Laurence Lesser, Aldo Parisot, Eleanore Schoenfeld, and Gretchen Geber; chamber music with Emanuel Ax, James Buswell, Earl Carlyss, Norman Fischer, Felix Galimir, Heiichiro Ohyama, and Lucy Chapman; masterclasses with Bernard Greenhouse, Lynn Harrell, Christoph Henkel, and Ronald Leonard.