Ryan Meehan | Violin
Violin Faculty
Artistic Director & Co-Founder VVSA
Violinist Ryan Meehan has been hailed for his “singing tone” (New York Times) “remarkably polished and sophisticated playing” (Chicago Tribune). As a member of the Calidore String Quartet he is a recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant, a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship, Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award and is a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist. Ryan is also a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Ryan regularly performs in the most prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Wigmore Hall, Berlin Konzerthaus, Cologne Philharmonie, Seoul’s Kumho Arts Hall and at festivals, including the BBC Proms, Verbier, Ravinia, Mostly Mozart, Music@Menlo and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The Calidore have recorded five commercial recordings. Ryan serves as artist-in-residence at the University of Toronto and University of Delaware. His violin students have been accepted to prestigious institutions such as the Colburn School, Indiana University, Hochschule for Musik and Theater in Munich and Stony Brook University. Additionally, he has mentored several fine string quartets which have gone on to win top prizes in the Banff International Competition and Fischoff Competition. He is a graduate of the Colburn School Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles. His teachers include Almita and Roland Vamos, Robert Lipsett, Arnold Steinhardt, Julia Fischer and Amy Schwartz Moretti.
Gabriela Fahnenstiel | Piano
Piano Faculty
Artistic Director & Co-Founder VVSA
Hailed for her performances of “rarely seen passion” (Laufenburg, Südkurier), pianist Gabriela Fahnenstiel has performed to international acclaim as soloist and chamber musician. As a concerto soloist she appeared with the Orchesterverein Bad Säckingen and the ‘Orquesta Sinfónica de la Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas’ (OSUAT) in Mexico. Furthermore, she plays recitals throughout Europe and the United States and was a prize winner at the national German competition “Jugend musiziert”. In 2013 recorded her debut CD with works of Mozart, Chopin and Liszt.
She has appeared in chamber music performances with esteemed artists as the Calidore String Quartet and violinist Julia Fischer. As a protogé of Julia Fischer, Gabriela performed at the German Cultural Award in Munich and at the Festival “Julia Fischer and Friends”. Her performances have been featured at such prestigious summer festivals as the Aspen Music Festival, the Weimarer Master Classes and the International Academy of Music in Lenk, Switzerland.
She holds a Bachelor’s degree with distinction from the University of Music in Basel, Switzerland and a Master’s Degree from the Manhattan School of Music. Her principal mentors include Viera Fischer, Prof. Adrian Oetiker, Dr. Lisa Yui and Prof. Solomon Mikowsky.
Augustin Hadelich | Violin
Masterclass Series
Augustin Hadelich is one of the great violinists of our time. From Adès to Paganini, from Brahms to Bartók, he has mastered a wide-ranging and adventurous repertoire and is often referred to by colleagues as a “musician’s musician.” Named Musical America’s 2018 “Instrumentalist of the Year”, he is consistently cited around the world for his phenomenal technique, soulful approach, and insightful interpretations.Mr. Hadelich will appear with over 25 North American orchestras in the 2019/2020 season, including the symphony orchestras of Boston, Cleveland, New York, Montréal, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Houston, Oregon, Seattle, Toronto, and numerous others.International highlights of the 2019/2020 season include performances with the Philharmonia Orchestra (London), and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra (Hamburg), as well as engagements with the BBC Philharmonic, Danish National Symphony, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Finnish Radio Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic, WDR Radio Orchestra Cologne, and the Bavarian Radio Chamber Orchestra.
Wu Han | Piano
Masterclass Series & Career Lecture
Named Musical America’s Musician of the Year, pianist Wu Han ranks among the most esteemed and influential classical musicians in the world today. Leading an unusually multifaceted artistic career, she has risen to international prominence as a concert performer, artistic director, recording artist, educator, and cultural entrepreneur. Wu Han appears annually at the world’s most prestigious concert series and venues, as both soloist and chamber musician. She tours extensively with cellist David Finckel and in trios with Philip Setzer.
Together with David Finckel, Wu Han serves as Co-Artistic Director of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS). Under her artistic leadership, CMS is celebrating three global broadcasting initiatives bringing chamber music to new audiences around the world, via partnerships with Medici TV, Radio Television Hong Kong and the All Arts broadcast channel. She is the founding Co-Artistic Directors of Music@Menlo, the San Francisco Bay Area’s premier summer chamber music festival and institute. Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts recently appointed Wu Han Artistic Advisor for Chamber Music at the Barns. She is the first Artistic Advisor to hold the position for two full seasons. In the Far East, Wu Han serves as founding Co-Artistic Director of Chamber Music Today, a festival in Seoul, South Korea.
Wu Han’s wide-ranging musical activities include the launch of ArtistLed, classical music’s first musician-directed and Internet-based recording company. BBC Music Magazine recently saluted the label’s twentieth anniversary with a special cover CD featuring David and Wu Han. Through a variety of education initiatives, she has received universal praise for her passionate commitment to nurturing the artistic growth of countless young artists. Under the auspices of CMS, she also led the LG Chamber Music School from 2009-2018, which served dozens of young musicians in South Korea annually. From 2013 to 2018, she led an intensive chamber music studio at the Aspen Music Festival and School.
Frank Huang | Violin
Masterclass Series
Frank Huang joined the New York Philharmonic as Concertmaster, The Charles E. Culpeper Chair, in September 2015. The First Prize Winner of the 2003 Walter W. Naumburg Foundation’s Violin Competition and the 2000 Hannover International Violin Competition, he has established a major career as a violin virtuoso. Since performing with the Houston Symphony in a nationally broadcast concert at the age of 11 he has appeared with orchestras throughout the world including The Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony, NDR Radio Philharmonic Orchestra of Hannover, Amadeus Chamber Orchestra, and the Genoa Orchestra. He has also performed on NPR’s Performance Today, ABC’s Good Morning America,and CNN’s American Morning with Paula Zahn. He has performed at Wigmore Hall (in London), Salle Cortot (Paris), Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.), and the Herbst Theatre (San Francisco), as well as a second recital in Alice Tully Hall (New York), which featured the World Premiere of Donald Martino’s Sonata for Solo Violin. Mr. Huang’s first commercial recording — featuring fantasies by Schubert, Ernst, Schoenberg, and Waxman — was released on Naxos in 2003. He made his New York Philharmonic solo debut in June 2016 leading and performing Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons and Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires. In 2017–18 he led the Orchestra from his Concertmaster chair in works by Mozart and Tchaikovsky, and performed with the Philharmonic as soloist in Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole at Bravo! Vail.
Mr. Huang has had great success in competitions since the age of 15 and received top prize awards in the Premio Paganini International Violin Competition and the Indianapolis International Violin Competition.
Mr. Huang‘s teachers included Donald Weilerstein, Fredell Lack and Robert Mann. He currently serves on the faculty of the Juilliard School.
Arnold Steinhardt | Violin
Lecture Series
Born in Los Angeles, Arnold Steinhardt began his studies with Karl Moldrem, Peter Meremblum, and Toscha Seidel and made his debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at age fourteen. At the Curtis Institute of Music, he studied with Ivan Galamian and later with Joseph Szigeti.
In 1958 Mr. Steinhardt won the Leventritt Award and appeared as soloist with major United States orchestras, such as the Cleveland Orchestra, where he was invited by George Szell to serve as assistant concertmaster (1959 to 1964). When the Guarneri String Quartet was founded in 1964, Mr. Steinhardt became its first violin, a post he held through the group’s retirement in 2009.
Mr. Steinhardt continues to perform throughout the world and has made many recordings as soloist and with the Guarneri Quartet, about which he has written the widely acclaimed bookIndivisible by Four. His latest book, Violin Dreams, appeared in 2006. He writes a monthly blog, In the Key of Strawberry.
Mr. Steinhardt teaches at the Bard College Conservatory of Music and the Colburn School of Music; he joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1968.
Benjamin Beilman | Violin
Masterclass Series
Born in 1989, American violinist Benjamin Beilman is winning plaudits across the globe for his compelling and impassioned performances, his deep rich tone and searing lyricism. The Scotsman has described him as “a remarkable talent, delivering playing of rare insight and generosity, as captivating as it is gloriously entertaining” and the New York Times has praised his “handsome technique, burnished sound, and quiet confidence [which] showed why he has come so far so fast”.
During the Beethoven celebrations in 2020, Beilman will perform the Beethoven Concerto with the Budapest Festival Orchestra conducted by Janowski, the Wroclaw Philharmonic and their Music Director Guerrero on tour across Poland, the Orchestra Metropolitain (Montreal) with Han-Na Chang and with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse in Sokhiev’s closing concert as Musical Director. Other highlights in 19/20 include debuts with the Danish National Symphony, Gürzenich (Cologne), Tonkünstler (Vienna), Antwerp Symphony orchestras, in the US with the Utah Symphony and Minnesota orchestras, and his return to the London Chamber Orchestra to play/direct.
Beilman studied with Roland and Almita Vamos, Ida Kavafian and Christian Tetzlaff.
Jinjoo Cho | Violin
Masterclass Series
Violinist Jinjoo Cho is an artist model of the 21st-century. Since her concert debut at age 7, she has been numerously recognized as the 1st prize winner of world’s most prestigious competitions such as the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, Montreal International Musical Competition, Buenos Aires International Violin Competition, Alice Schoenfeld International String Competition, and a laureate of 2011 Isang Yun International Music Competition. As a charismatic female solo artist, a vibrant and engaging chamber musician, a devoted teacher, an innovative artistic director, and a published writer, Jinjoo is redefining what it means to be a consummate classical artist in the modern society.
Jinjoo can be found performing in distinguished international venues and festivals alike Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, Aspen Music Festival, La Jolla Music Society, the Herkulessaal of Munich, Schwetzingen SWR Festspiele, Seoul Arts Center, and Teatro Colón of Buenos Aires, with world’s leading orchestras and musicians as The Cleveland Orchestra, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, Seoul Philharmonic, Orquesta Clasica Santa Cecilia de Madrid, Phoenix Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, James Gaffigan, Michael Stern, Kent Nagano, Peter Oundjian, Tan Dun, Jaime Laredo, Sharon Robinson, Tito Muñoz, Mathieu Herzog, Itamar Golan, and Roger Tapping. She regularly tours with creative programs that include works of living composers and lesser-known repertoire.
A passionate teacher, Jinjoo is on the violin faculty at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University and has previously taught at the Cleveland Institute of Music and Oberlin Conservatory. She is also the Founder/Artistic Director of ENCORE Chamber Music, an intensive summer training program for talented young performers in Cleveland, and regularly gives master classes worldwide.
Jinjoo is an alumna of Cleveland Institute of Music (BM, MM, PS) where she studied with Paul Kantor and Jaime Laredo.
Virtuosi Virtual Summer Academy 