Pictured above: Julius Quartet

Centrum is pleased to announce the winners of the 2019 Centrum Chamber Music Workshop auditions. Selected by Artistic Director for Chamber Music Lucinda Carver and Program Manager Gregg Miller, the 10 winning artists are invited, all-expenses-paid, to attend the 2019 Chamber Music Workshop at Centrum, held June 7–15 at Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend to work with the renowned American String Quartet.

“Centrum is thrilled to welcome ten of the country’s top emerging talents to our community,” says Dr. Carver, who also serves Vice Dean of the Division of Classical Performance and Composition at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California. “Each year, the competition for an invitation to this workshop is a premium in the field. It is a privilege to work with some of the finest professional quartets, as the American String Quartet, in propelling young careers to a new level.”

Katelyn Vahala is a first year Master of Music student studying piano performance at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music. A Da Camera Society Young Scholar in Residence, Ms. Vahala has performed extensively as a chamber musician. As a member of the Callisto Trio, Ms. Vahala was a prize winner at the 2016 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. The trio was the youngest ensemble to place in the forty-three-year history of the competition. Alongside her chamber music pursuits, Ms. Vahala enjoys an active schedule in accompanying and teaching in the Los Angeles area. She currently works with and accompanies young violinists and cellists at the Pasadena Conservatory of Music.

Known for “great imagination and extraordinary musicality” (Shantou Daily) in his playing, classical pianist Lam Wong made his debut with Liszt: 12 Études d’exécution transcendante at the age of 14. Mr. Wong is now a recipient of the Eckstein Fund at Northwestern University, where he is currently pursuing his Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance degree, studying with James Giles. Mr. Wong earned his Master of Music degree at Yale School of Music, and he was a recipient of the Mary Clapp Howell Scholarship, the Harry B. Jepson Scholarship, and the Stephen & Denise Adams Scholarship. Mr. Wong earned his Bachelor of Music degree at Manhattan School of Music, and he was a recipient of the First Initiative Hong Kong/China Scholarship, and the China-Manhattan Scholarship.

Hailed as a “captivating young string quartet,” the Julius Quartet is rapidly gaining renown in the chamber music world. Formed in the fall of 2012, the group held a special residency as the Boston Conservatory’s Honors String Quartet. The quartet was recently appointed as the Peak Fellowship Ensemble-in-Residence at the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University, and previously served as the Graduate Quartet-in-Residence at the John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University, where they worked intensely with the celebrated Shanghai Quartet. Recognized for their high level of artistry, the group was awarded First Prize at the Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition, First Prize at the first annual MA-ASTA String Quartet/Quintet Competition by unanimous vote and was nominated for the Harvard Musical Association’s Arthur Foote Award.

The Corylus Quartet was formed in 2017 at the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) and is one of three string quartets selected to participate in the Advanced String Quartet Program at CIM. They have worked with members of the Emerson, Orion, Danish, Miami, Ehnes, and Cavani Quartets. In February of 2019, at the invitation of Sharon Robinson, the quartet performed in the Music for Food Benefit Concert directed by Kim Kashkashian in Cleveland, helping to provide 1,500 meals for hungry families in Northeast Ohio. The Corylus Quartet had the privilege of being chosen as a semifinalist of the Plowman Chamber Music Competition in March 2019.

Founded in 2015, the Centrum Chamber Music Workshop fosters the highest level of training and coaching for pre-professional chamber musicians in community with leading faculty chamber musicians. Each year, two select string quartets and two pianists from the country’s leading programs are invited to work for a week of rigorous coaching and performance with a world-renowned quartet-in-residence and artistic director Lucinda Carver. Participants appear in public master classes and performances focused on predetermined repertoire featuring one string quartet and one piano quintet. Admission to the workshop is merit based and highly competitive. Past participants have included students from Curtis, Juilliard, Eastman, USC, Indiana University, Rice, CIM and the New World Symphony.