Following the huge success of our prior residencies with the Enso, Calder and Miro quartets since 2015, Centrum is honored to welcome the PACIFICA QUARTET as “Ensemble in Residence” for its 2018 workshop week. Two emerging pre-professional quartets and two accomplished pianists will be invited as participants for this unique and immersive experience.  Audiences are encouraged to join us, meet the artists, and witness public master classes and student showcase recitals as an “up close and personal” glimpse into the training and preparation of concert-level performances.

2018 Workshop Events
Joseph F. Wheeler Theater

Wednesday, June 13 – 7:30 p.m.
Free Public Master Class (Quintets)

Friday, June 15 – 7:30 p.m.
Student Showcase Concert ($10)
(Quartets and Quintets)

Saturday, June 16 – 7:30 p.m.
Student Showcase Concert ($10)
(Quartets and Quintets)

Belka Quartet

Described in performance as “emotionally gripping” by ClevelandClassical, the Belka Quartet (Beatrice Hsieh and Charles Gleason, violins; Serena Hsu, viola; and Daniel Blumhard, cello) was established in the fall of 2014. In its first season together, the Belka Quartet won first place in the 2015 Darius Milhaud Performance Prize Competition, and was featured in the Music in the Galleries series at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Beatrice Hsieh, violin
Violinist Beatrice Hsieh is currently pursuing an undergraduate degree with Joan Kwuon at the Cleveland Institute of Music; previously, she also studied with Joel Smirnoff. In Fall 2018, Beatrice will begin graduate studies at the Yale School of Music as a fellowship student. Beatrice has soloed with over a dozen orchestras across the United States, and is a prizewinner of various competitions, including the Fischoff Competition and YoungArts. She has performed at venues both in the United States and abroad, including Carnegie Hall, Severance Hall, the Kennedy Center, Royal Albert Hall (BBC Proms), the Kimmel Center, and the Mariinsky II Theatre. She has appeared on Cleveland’s WCLV, Spokane Public Radio, and NPR’s “From the Top,” among others, and held artist residencies in Minneapolis/St. Paul and Cleveland. This past season, she appeared with the Coeur d’Alene Symphony and the CIM Orchestra as winner of their respective competitions, won the Tuesday Musical Association Performance Scholarship Competition, and performed in master classes for James Ehnes, Ilya Kaler, and the Danish, Emerson, and Takacs Quartets, among others. Upcoming highlights include performances with the CIM New Music Ensemble and a solo appearance with the Case Western Reserve University/CIM Baroque Orchestra, in which she has served as Concertmaster on baroque violin. At CIM, Beatrice has participated in both the Intensive Quartet and Intensive Duo Seminars as a founder of the Belka Quartet and the Hsieh Duo, respectively; the Belka Quartet currently serves as the CIM Apprentice Quartet, holding a Young Artist Residency with the Cleveland Chamber Music Society for the 2017-18 season. Beatrice has also served as Concertmaster and Principal Second of the CIM Orchestra, and was recently Associate Principal Second of the 2017 New York String Orchestra Seminar. As an avid chamber musician, she has attended various fellowship and intensive programs, including Kneisel Hall Chamber Music, to which she will return for a second summer; Madeline Island Chamber Music String Quartet Fellowship; Robert Mann SQ Institute; Juilliard SQ Seminar; Centrum Port Townsend Chamber Workshop; Cambridge International String Academy; and NYO-USA. In Fall 2017, she was also featured as Rising Artist of the Alpenglow Chamber Music Festival. Beatrice plays on a violin on generous loan from the Chi Mei Cultural Foundation.

Charles Gleason, violin
Charles Gleason is a 22-year-old violinist from Columbus, Ohio. He has studied extensively with Stephen Sims and Columbus-based jazz violinist Christian Howes. He was a long-time participant in the Chamber Music Connection in Worthington, Ohio under the direction of Deborah Price and was a member of the Columbus Symphony Youth Orchestra under conductor Peter Stafford Wilson, where he served as concertmaster for the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 seasons. He has performed in masterclasses for Vadim Gluzman and James Ehnes, and performed in chamber ensembles at the Schubert Club, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and at the Tivoli Theatre in Chatanooga, Tennessee as part of the From the Top radio series. Charles began attending the Cleveland Institute of Music in the fall of 2014 with teacher David Updegraff. Now in his senior year, he currently studies with Joan Kwuon and is coached in chamber music by Peter Salaff and the members of the Cavani Quartet.

Serena Hsu, viola
Violist Serena Hsu is a junior at The Cleveland Institute of Music studying with Jeffrey Irvine. She is an alumna of the Chamber Music Connection in Worthington, Ohio where she was a fellowship student. As a member of CMC, her ensembles won 2nd Place in the OSTA Chamber Music Competition, advanced to the quarterfinals of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, performed on NPR’s From the Top, and won Silver Medal at the 2015 Saint Paul String Quartet Competition. She was a 2015 YoungArts Merit Winner. Her ensembles at CIM have participated in the McGill International String Quartet Academy and the Intensive Quartet Seminar. Serena additionally won First Prize and the Bach Prize at the Ohio Viola Society Solo Competition in 2015, Honorable Mention in 2016, and First Prize in 2017. She was a finalist at the 2016 American Viola Society Competition and a semi-finalist of the 2017 Cecil Aronowitz International Viola Competition. Serena has attended Music@Menlo Chamber Music Institute, the Summer Music Institute Young Artists Program, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Heifetz International Music Institute, and the Fontainebleau School. In Fall 2017, she studied abroad at the Paris Conservatoire with Jean Sulem. This summer, she will attend Kneisel Hall Chamber Music as a Young Artist Fellow.

Daniel Blumhard, cello
Cellist Daniel Blumhard is a senior currently pursuing his Bachelor’s degree in Cello Performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music under the tutelage of Dr. Melissa Kraut. Blumhard is an alumnus of the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy in Interlochen, Michigan, where he studied for three years with Crispin Campbell and graduated with honors. While in attendance at IAA, Blumhard performed at such venues as Orchestra Hall in Detroit, the Symphony Center in Chicago, Constitution Hall in Washington, and Alice Tully Hall in New York. Blumhard was one of a select few musicians at IAA chosen to perform with the world-renowned Orpheus Chamber Orchestra as part of a cross-disciplinary production revolving around Arnold Schoenberg’s Transfigured Night. As a passionate chamber musician, Blumhard was a member of the Mazel Trio and received the Silver Medal in the Junior Division of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition in 2013. As the Cleveland Institute of Music’s Apprentice Quartet for 2018, Daniel Blumhard and the Belka Quartet work and study with numerous pillars of the chamber music community, including Peter Salaff of the Cleveland Quartet as well as the Cavani Quartet in the Cleveland Institute of Music’s Intensive Quartet Seminar program. As part of the Belka Quartet, Blumhard has also performed alongside prominent chamber musicians Andres Diaz, Geoff Nuttall of the St. Lawrence Quartet, and Roger Tapping of the Juilliard Quartet, in addition to studying with members of the Brentano, Pacifica, Dover, Mendelssohn, Tokyo, Juilliard, and American String Quartets. Daniel Blumhard has performed in master class for eminent cellists Paul Watkins, Anthony Ross, and Amir Eldan. Previous teachers include former Principal Cellist of the Cleveland Orchestra Stephen Geber as well as David Diehl and Jesus Morales. When not performing or studying, Daniel enjoys reading classic literature, hiking in the woods, playing Super Smash Bros Melee, and brewing a fresh cup of coffee.

Alison Hsieh, piano

Hailing from North Wales, Pennsylvania, Alison Hsieh is a current student of Virginia Weckstrom Kantor at The Shepherd School of Music as a Piano Chamber Music and Accompanying major. She was a previous student of Kathryn Brown and Dr. Daniel Shapiro in the five-year dual Bachelor and Master’s degree program at The Cleveland Institute of Music as a Piano Performance major. Hsieh has performed with the Lansdowne, Old York Road, and Ambler Symphonies as both piano and cello soloist, and was a past recipient of the Advanced Study Scholarship from the Settlement Music School (Philadelphia, PA) and The Cleveland Institute of Music Institutional Scholarship (2012-17).

She has participated in master classes presented by pianists Hugh Sung, Hae-Sun Paek, Leon Bates, Lydia Artymiw, Martin Canin, Matti Raekallio, Emma Tahmiziàn, Paul Schenly, John Perry, William Preucil and Pamela Frank, as well as chamber musician James Dunham. Since a young age, she has had an active interest and passion for collaborative playing. After receiving her Master’s in Piano Chamber Music and Accompanying, she is looking to pursue a DMA in either Piano Performance or Collaborative Piano. In her spare time, she enjoys contemporary literature and baking desserts.

Tomomi Sato, piano

Japanese pianist Tomomi Sato enjoys her diverse career as a highly sought-after solo and collaborative pianist of various genres, ranging from classical to jazz and global popular music.

A prizewinner of 2013 Seattle International Piano Competition, Tomomi has performed in the US, as well as in Europe, Asia, and South America. Her recent engagements as a classical pianist include a performance in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, a broadcasted solo recital at LACMA’s Bing Theater as a part of their Sunday’s Live Series. She is also a festival artist for the inaugural season of Mellon Music Festival in Davis, CA. Her recently attended festivals include the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, Dino Ciani Festival and Academy in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, California Institute of Music in Engers, Germany, among others.

Tomomi’s interests in crossing genres has additionally taken her to China, where she performed a holiday show that reflected the American pop culture, and to Brazil, where she was participated in GLOMUS, a performing festival that exchanges culture and music from all over the world. She has also served as a musical director and keyboardist for musical theatre productions including Into the Woods, Grease, Footloose, Urinetown, and Avenue Q.

Currently based in New York City, Tomomi is pursuing her Master of Music degree in Collaborative Piano at The Juilliard School, where she studies with Jonathan Feldman and Margo Garrett. She holds a Bachelor and a Master of Music Degree in Piano Performance from University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, where she was a Graduate Teaching Assistant and received the Keyboard Studies Departmental Award for both degrees, given to the most outstanding graduate. Her past teachers include Bernadene Blaha, Dr. Mark Sullivan, and Kazuko Yasukawa.

Persephone String Quartet

The Persephone String Quartet was formed at the beginning of January 2018 and is configured of four undergraduate freshmen studying under the direction of Guy Ben-Ziony at the Jacobs School of Music.

Byron Fulop Laing, violin
Byron Fulop Laing is a Jacobs Scholar at Indiana University Jacobs School of music, studying with Professor Mauricio Fuks. Previously, Byron was a merit scholarship fellow at the Music Institute of Chicago’s Academy where he studied with Almita Vamos. Byron previously studied with Kathryn Gray in Portland, OR, and with Paul Kantor in Houston. Byron has appeared as soloist with the Oregon Symphony Orchestra, Portland Metro Arts Orchestra, and the Portland Youth Philharmonic. He appeared live on WFMT Chicago’s “Introductions” with the Akros Piano Trio, and has performed as a featured soloist on Portland’s All Classical Radio 89.9. Byron attended the Meadowmount School of Music for three summers, studying with Amy Barlowe and Gerardo Ribeiro, and was one of 8 Young Artists selected from across the country for the 2014 McDuffie Center Labor Day Chamber Music Festival in Macon Georgia. Byron has performed in solo and chamber masterclasses for many distinguished artists including Ida Kavafian, Daniel Phillips, Charles Castleman, David Halen, and the Jasper and Miro Quartets.

Selena Janzen, violin
Selena Janzen is currently an undergrad at Indiana University, Jacob School of Music. She has studied under many teachers in the past including Lydia Miller, Lucia May, Francesca Anderegg, Peter McGuire, and now with Sang Mee Lee. She has played in masterclasses with Geoff Nuttall and Sally O’Reilly. She has also attended summer music festivals yearly since 2012, which include Jacob’s School of Music Summer String Academy, Stringwood, Bravo, Green Lake Festival of Music, and Minnesota All-State Orchestra. She has gained much chamber music experience at most of these festivals, as well as in a year long chamber group with Bruce Coppock in 2015-2016. Selena has been a part of many youth orchestral groups in the past such as South Dakota Symphony Youth Orchestras 2009-2012 and Minnesota Youth Orchestras 2013-2015. In Selena’s senior year of high school she was the Associate Concertmaster of the Mankato Symphony Orchestra where she learned many vital skills to playing in a professional orchestra. Selena has placed in multiple solo competitions in the past. She was in 3rd place for the Music Association of Minnetonka Young Artist Competition 2016; 2nd place in Junior High Strings Division Young Artist Scholarship Competition – Thursday Musical 2014; honorable mention with a performance certificate for the Mary West Competition 2012 & 2015; and received 1st place in Junior division Kevin Kaine Young Artist Competition 2012.

Sofiya Kyrylyuk, viola
Sofiya Kyrylyuk was born June 7th, 1999 in Bucha, Ukraine. At the age of four, she moved to the United States and began studying violin a year later. She added viola to her priorities when she was twelve. Her current teacher is Atar Arad at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. Kyrylyuk has held principal positions in numerous student and professional orchestras. Being a laureate of countless national and international competitions (including Co-Overall Winner in the Walgreens National Concerto Competition and 2nd Place in the Enkor International Competition), she has had the honor of soloing with orchestras both on violin and viola all throughout Illinois. Sofiya has performed in many well-known concert venues such as the Chicago Symphony Center, Ravinia’s Bennett-Gordon Hall, Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, and countless others. Sofiya Kyrylyuk performs on a fine viola by Lawrence Furse, 1988, on generous loan from the Rachel Barton Pine Foundation.

Travis Scharer, cello
Travis Scharer is currently a first-year undergraduate cellist at the Jacobs School of Music studying under cellist Eric Kim. Prior to this, Travis resided in Salem Oregon, and was the principal cellist of the Metropolitan Youth Symphony, and studied under cellist Marilyn DeOliveira of the Oregon Symphony. Throughout his High School career, Travis won numerous competitions including the Wiscarson Young Artist Competition, OSAA State Solo Competition, as well as taking third in the Eugene Symphony Young Artist Competition. In the summers, Travis has attended many music festivals, including the Marrowsone Music Festival, Texas Music Festival, and Meadowmount School of Music. As a chamber musician, Travis has received coachings from members of the Pacica, and Artemis string quartets, and has collaborated with former violist of the Philadelphia Orchestra Stephen Wyrczynski. Travis has also participated in masterclasses for artists such as Claus Kannigiesser, Thomas Mesa, Harriet Krijhg, and Desmond Hoebig. Previous mentors also include Noah Seitz, and Jonathan Koh.