NPR : Performance Today -- PT Young Artists-in-Residence -- International Sejong Soloists : Biography

Praised as a "top notch conductor-less string orchestra" by the Washington Post, International Sejong Soloists (ISS) was created in New York City in 1995 and met with immediate success. Since its inception, ISS has given over 150 concerts throughout the United States and the Far East. Uniquely comprised of today's leading young soloists, International Sejong Soloists is known for its cohesiveness, beautiful sound, and refreshing musical style performing string orchestral works as well as solo and chamber repertoire. Its fourteen members hail from eight different nations: Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and the United States. Each has a distinguished reputation as a soloist and chamber musician, confirmed by prizewinning performances at prestigious international competitions (including the Yehudi Menuhin, Queen Elisabeth, Indianapolis, Naumberg, Jacques Thibaud, Paganini, Wieniawski-Lipinski, Hannover, Nielsen, and Rostropovich competitions). This New York-based ensemble tours worldwide under the musical direction of Hyo Kang, a renowned professor of violin at The Juilliard School.

ISS has given critically acclaimed concerts at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center, the 92nd Street Y, Suntory Hall in Japan, Seoul Arts Center in Korea, the National Arts Theatre in Taiwan, and in the Rising Stars Series at Ravinia. They were appointed ensemble-in-residence at the Aspen Music Festival in 1997, a post they still hold today. Continually performing to capacity audiences, ISS has collaborated with artists such as Joshua Bell, Sarah Chang, Kyung Wha Chung, Vladimir Feltsman, Leon Fleisher, Lynn Harrell, Sharon Isbin, Cho-Liang Lin, Carmen Pelton, Gil Shaham, Kyoko Takezawa, Benita Valente, and Eugenia Zuckerman. The ensemble has been featured regularly on National Public Radio's Performance Today and was broadcast live on WFMT in Chicago from the Aspen Music Festival. ISS has also been heard on New York's WQXR Radio and seen on the Discovery Channel and WGCU Public Broadcasting in Florida. Also, ISS was invited to perform in celebration of the holidays on CNN's American Morning with Paula Zahn in December of 2002.

At the invitation of World Cup 2002 Committee, ISS performed for Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Congress representing 204 nations in Seoul, Korea. The ensemble's recently completed tours include the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico and the Taipei International Arts Festival in Taiwan. Future engagements include the Manchester International Cello Festival in England, and U.S. tours. ISS will serve as ensemble-in-residence at the new Great Mountains Music Festival and School in the Korean ski town, PyeongChang, in July 2004.

International Sejong Soloists is known for their breadth of repertoire, which includes well-loved classics and contemporary works written by composers across the globe. The ensemble confirmed their commitment to new works by commissioning Murmurs in the Mist of Memory, a composition by Augusta Read Thomas. The work, for eleven solo strings, was premiered at the Aspen Music Festival in 2001. ISS has given several additional premieres, including the New York and Aspen premieres of Earl Kim's Dear Linda in 1999 and 2001 and the New York premiere of José Bragato's Graciela y Buenos Aires-Concerto for Cello and String Orchestra in 2002. ISS has recorded works by Eric Ewazen on the Albany Records label.

ISS is involved in a vast array of outreach programs, providing lectures, demonstrations and master classes while on tour. They have introduced classical music to underprivileged elementary school students throughout Mississippi, in addition to providing master classes for university students in Alaska and Pennsylvania.

International Sejong Soloists is sponsored in part by the Samsung Foundation of Culture, which also extends a generous loan of several instruments to the ensemble: the Guarnerius del Gesù violin "ex-Moeller," Cremona (1725); the Antonio Stradivarius violin "ex-Strauss," Cremona (1708); a Gasparo da Sálo viola, Brescia (ca. 1590); a Matteo Goffriller cello, Venice (ca. 1715); and a Luigi Mantovani bass (ca. 1810). The ensemble has made two recordings for the Samsung Classics label.

Hyo Kang, artistic director

The artistic director of the International Sejong Soloists, Hyo Kang, has made numerous concert tours in the United States, Europe, Asia, Canada, and Central America as both violin soloist and chamber musician. As a member of the highly acclaimed Theatre Chamber Players of the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC for over twenty years, he has given many works their American premieres and enjoyed musical collaborations with such artists as Leon Fleisher, Pina Carmirelli, Walter Trampler, and André Watts.

Mr. Kang, a world-renowned violin teacher, has been on the faculty of the Juilliard School since 1978 and has given master classes in the United States, Korea, and Japan. He has also been on the faculties of the Aspen Music School in Colorado since 1978 and the Nagano Aspen Music Festival in Japan since 1994. He was a visiting professor at the Seoul National University in 1994 and served as a judge in several international competitions, including the Wieniawski-Lipinski in Poland. His students have distinguished themselves with top prizes at the world's most prestigious competitions and are performing with major orchestras worldwide. Mr. Kang's former students include Gil Shaham, Sarah Chang, and Chee-Yun, among many others. Hyo Kang was born in Seoul, Korea and graduated from The Juilliard School where he studied with Dorothy DeLay. He was most recently the subject of a Korean Broadcasting System documentary titled, "Teaching Genius-Juilliard Professor, Hyo Kang." The governor of Gangwon province asked Mr. Kang to bring the first international music festival to PyeongChang and appointed him as the music director in March 2003.

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