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Our 2008--2009
Past Seasons: |
The Borromeo String Quartet
Formed in 1989 at the Curtis Institute of Music, the Quartet studied as a group at the New England Conservatory of Music. The Quartet received top prizes in the 1990 International String Quartet Competition in Evian, France. In 1991, the ensemble won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions. The Borromeo Quartet was awarded Chamber Music America's Cleveland Quartet Award in 1998 and received Lincoln Center's Martin E. Segal Award in 2001. In 2000 they completed two seasons as a member of Lincoln Center's Chamber Music Society Two and served as Ensemble-in-Residence for the 98-99 season of National Public Radio's Performance Today. This season the Aaron Copland House honors the Borromeo's commitment to contemporary music by creating the Borromeo Quartet Award, an annual initiative that will premiere the work of important young composers to audiences internationally. Nicholas Kitchen, violin, began his study of violin at Duke University. At age 16, he went on to study at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, and subsequently, the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Mr. Kitchen is Artistic Director of the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival. In addition to his work with the Borromeo Quartet, he performs as a member of the Music From the Copland House Ensemble. Mr. Kitchen received the Albert Schweitzer Medallion for Artistry and the Presidential Scholar in the Arts award. He plays the A. J. Fletcher Stradivarius, a violin purchased expressly for long-term loan to him by the A. J. Fletcher Foundation of Raleigh, NC. Kristopher Tong, violin, was born in Binghamton, New York to parents from Hong Kong and Taiwan. He began his violin studies in a public elementary school program in the Johnson City School District before moving to Salt Lake City, Utah, when he was 11. He was later concertmaster of the Utah Youth Symphony for two years. He received his Bachelors degree at Indiana University in Bloomington. In 2005, he completed his Masters Degree at the New England Conservatory of Music. Mr. Tong has an older sister, Melissa, who is an accomplished violinist, and a younger sister, Jessica, who dances with the famed Hubbard Street 2, a contemporary dance company in Chicago. Born in Tokyo, Japan, violist Mai Motobuchi started playing violin at age five. Upon receiving her Diploma from Tenrikyo Institute of Music in Japan, she was awarded full scholarships to study viola at Michigan State University, where she received her Bachelor of Music. She earned her Master of Music degree at Rice University in Houston, and then earned an advanced performance diploma from Internationale Meisterkurze Koblenz in Koblenz, Germany. Ms. Motobuchi won the first prize in the 1989 All Japan MBS Youth Music Competition, and in the 1990 and 1991 All Japan Ensemble Competition. In the United States, she won the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition (Junior Division), the Henri Kohn Memorial Award from the Tanglewood Music Center, and received several awards as a student at Rice University. Ms. Motobuchi joined the Borromeo String Quartet in 2000. Yeesun Kim, cello, made her orchestral debut in her native Korea at the age of 13 with the Korean Broadcasting Service Symphony. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, with advanced degrees from the New England Conservatory of Music, Ms. Kim currently serves on the faculty of the New England Conservatory in the cello and chamber music departments. In addition to her work with the Borromeo Quartet, she is a member of the Pamela Frank-Yeesun Kim-Wu Han piano trio. |
