Announcing the 2024 Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival Fellows!
GMCMF welcomes eight Fellows to the 2024 Festival! Fellows will perform alongside faculty in the 2024 Artist Faculty Series, premier the two winning works from the 2024 Call for Scores, and perform in community performances and events. Fellows will also have chamber music coaching responsibilities during the festival. Welcome to GMCMF!
Spencer Adler’s musical life began at age three, listening to his grandmother play pieces from Debussy’s Children’s Corner. Since then, he has shared the stage with artists such as Midori, Jinjoo Cho, Jane Glover, Michael Stern, and JoAnn Falletta. He made his concerto debut in 2023 with the National Repertory Orchestra, where he served as co-principal cellist. Praised for his "excellent technique and expressivity" in Periódico AM León, Spencer was also principal cellist of the Aspen Opera Theatre and the Yale Symphony Orchestra. An advocate for new music, he performed Philip Glass’ fifth string quartet in Glass Through Light, a 2022 multimedia production that won Yale’s Creative and Performing Arts Award. Spencer earned a B.S. in Chemistry from Yale University in 2023, where he studied with Ole Akahoshi. He is now pursuing his master’s degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music with Richard Weiss.
A native of Greenville, North Carolina, violist Andy Billings has appeared at Festivals such as Madeline Island Chamber Music Festival, Bowdoin International Music Festival, the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music, Encore Chamber Music Institute, and Chamber Music on the Hill. As a passionate chamber musician, Andy has collaborated with artists such as Colin Carr, Emanuel Gruber, Jorge Richter, and Carmit Zori. Andy received a bachelor's degree in music performance from East Carolina University where he studied with Ara Gregorain and Hye-Jin Kim and completed the fellowship program with the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival. He is currently completing his masters degree in music performance at Rice University in Houston, Texas studying with Ivo Van-der Werff. In his free time, Andy enjoys running, swimming, and trying new restaurants in Houston.
Dawn Kim, a New York City-based violinist, is currently pursuing her Master of Music at The Juilliard School. Dawn made her Carnegie Hall debut at the age of 11, as the winner of American Protégé Music Competition. Dawn has performed at various summer festivals since, such as Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Yellow Barn Young Artists Festival, and the Bowdoin Music Festival. Committed to music education, she served as a fellow for the Morse Artist Teaching fellowship and the Music Advancement Program at Juilliard, working with non-profit music programs and mentoring students in orchestra. She also enjoys teaching her private studio. Dawn began violin at the age of 6 in Korea, joining Juilliard's Pre-College Division when she was 12. She earned her Bachelor of Music under the tutelage of Laurie Smukler and is completing her Master’s degree with Joseph Lin.
Violinist Jusun Kim is currently pursuing a Master of Music at the New England Conservatory with Soovin Kim. She debuted with Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra in 2016 and released her debut album in 2017. Jusun won first prize at the Singapore Violin Festival Competition, special prize at the Tibor Varga Competition for Young Violinists, first prize at the Euro Asia Competition in Spain, third prize at the Arthur Grumiaux Violin Competition and grand prize at Music Journal Competition. She has performed as a soloist with the Kremerata Baltica Chamber Orchestra, the Hemu Orchestra, the Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra, the Cheongju Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Korea National Institute for the Gifted in Arts Orchestra. She gave a debut recital at Kumho Art Hall in 2017 and made her European debut at the Korean Cultural Center Belgium and European Union in Brussels in 2022.
Cherin Lee began playing the violin at four years old, and is currently completing a Master of Music in Violin Performance at the New England Conservatory of Music as part of the Harvard/NEC dual degree program. In 2014, she was the winner of the English Family Prize for Young Instrumentalists, and performed the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. She has also performed as soloist with conductor Patrick Pickett and the Queensland Pops Orchestra, being an audience favourite at the 2014-2017, 2020 New Year’s Eve Gala Concerts at the Queensland Performing Arts Complex (QPAC), as well as at the 2015 Viva Italia Supremo Concerts. Additionally, Cherin has had extensive experience leading orchestras and chamber groups, performing in various places in Italy, Austria, Czechoslovakia. Cherin was also the concertmaster of the 2017 Australian Combined Schools Music Festival Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Melbourne Symphony Orchestra conductor Benjamin Northey.
Violinist Da Young (Rachel) Lim is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Stony Brook University under the tutelage of Jennifer Frautschi and Philip Setzer as the recipient of a full tuition scholarship and Teaching Assistantship. She is currently a member of the Tillandsia Quartet, formed at Stony Brook under the mentorship of the Emerson String Quartet. She has also participated in Gilbert Kalish’s Piano Trio Chamber Intensive Program. Rachel has featured as a performing artist at festivals that include Tanglewood Music Center, Yellow Barn Young Artists Program, and Music@Menlo Young Performers Program. She has performed in masterclasses led by Joseph Silverstein, Hilary Hahn, Daniel Chong, Jennifer Koh, Orion Weiss, the Horszowski Trio, the Muir, the Orion, and the Escher String Quartets. Rachel received her BM degree at the New England Conservatory, and MM degree at the Yale School of Music as the recipient of the Julia Havemeyer Scholarship and Fellowship. Her previous mentors include Soovin Kim, Syoko Aki, and Marc Rovetti.
Violist Syara Robert made her solo debut twice with the UTA Symphony Orchestra and the UNT String Institute, where she performed the Walton, Bartok Concertos and Hindemith's Trauermusik. Syara is an active chamber musician and performer that has held fellowship positions at Colorado College Summer Music Festival, PRISMA, Domaine Forget Chamber Music Intensive, Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival and Toronto Summer Music where she collaborated with artists such as Yura Lee, Saeunn Thorsendotter, Huw Watkins, Richard Lester and members of the Dover and New Orford String Quartets. Syara received her Bachelors and Artist Diploma from The University of Texas at Arlington and the Conservatoire de Musique du Quebec de Montreal, where she studied with Catherine Forbes and Jocelyne Bastien respectively. She recently graduated with a Graduate Diploma at the University of Ottawa with Michael Van der Sloot and will begin her Master’s degree at the Eastman School of Music this Fall under the tutelage of Phillip Ying.
Wangshu Xiang, a dynamic cellist based in New York City, enjoys an active performance career. She has performed at renowned festivals like Music@Menlo, Strings Music Festival, and Colorado Music Festival, and won awards such as the 2023 Lillian Fuchs Chamber Music Competition. In 2019, she embarked on a recital tour with the "Sound of Laurel" Series in seven Chinese cities, celebrating the music of Franck, Chopin, and Saint-Saëns. As the former member of the Marian String Quartet, she won the Gold Prize at the 17th Saint Paul String Quartet Competition, leading her to debut at the Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in 2022. At the Manhattan School of Music, she held the principal cello position in both the Symphony Orchestra and Philharmonia Orchestra under conductor George Manahan. Wangshu performs on a 1926 Réne Bailly cello.