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Click here for Classical Crossroads' Website |
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CLASSICAL
CROSSROADS, INC.
Peninsula
Symphony's (artists' bios as of concert date) |
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Friday,
September 9, 2016 at 12:15 p.m. Peninsula
Symphony's
Pianist Recently named a "Recommended Artist" of the Beverly Hills National Auditions, fast rising seventeen-year-old Caroline Ho will open the 2016-2017 season of Classical Crossroads' "First Fridays at First! ~ fff" series. Caroline will be entering her final year at Santa Monica High School in fall 2016. As winner of the 44th Annual Edith Knox Performance Competition, Caroline Ho was awarded $1,500 and performed Tchaikovsky's Concerto No. 1 with Peninsula Symphony in June 2016. She joins illustrious past top winners who have included such noted artists as piano virtuosos Alan Gampel and Rufus Choi, NY Philharmonic Principal Associate Concertmaster Sheryl Staples, violin virtuoso Linda Wang, Salastina Music Society co-founder and violinist Kevin Kumar, Beverly Hills National Auditions winner, pianist Esther Keel, and Caroline's piano teacher Anders Martinson. Although primarily a cellist until four years ago, Caroline has recently won many local, regional, and statewide piano competitions. As a result, in addition to the Peninsula Symphony, she has appeared as concerto soloist with the Brentwood-Westwood Symphony Orchestra, the Palisades Symphony, and the Culver City Symphony Orchestra.
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Friday, May 5, 2017 at 12:15 p.m. Peninsula
Symphony's
Cellist In cooperation with the Peninsula Symphony, Classical Crossroads is presenting the winner of the 45th Knox Competition in recital on the First Fridays at First! ~ fff series. Nicholas Mariscal is a 24-year-old cellist currently pursuing a Graduate Certificate at the University of Southern California with cellist Ralph Kirshbaum. He received his Master's degree from USC in 2016, after earning his Bachelor of Music degree at Indiana University under the tutelage of Eric Kim in 2014. He has won a number of competitions and awards and has had numerous distinctions as a cellist, including concerto performances at the Aspen Music Festival, performing Tan Dun's Snow in June, and at Indiana University, performing Gubaidulina's Canticle of the Sun for solo cello and choir, as well as Beethoven's Triple Concerto. He is the recent First Place winner of the 2017 Edith Knox Competition in Los Angeles, as well as the winner of the 2016 USC/Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Mock Audition, leading to a performance as a member of the LACO cello section.
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Friday, May 4, 2018 at 12:15 p.m. Peninsula
Symphony's
Pianist In cooperation with the Peninsula Symphony, Classical Crossroads presents the winner of the Knox Competition in recital on the First Fridays at First! ~ fff series. Sixteen-year-old Victor Shlyakhtenko has been studying piano at the Colburn Community School of Performing Arts in Los Angeles under the direction of Teresa de Jong Pombo since the age of five. His most recent honors include winning the Music Center's Spotlight competition and First Place and a Special Prize for the best performance of a piece from Années de Pèlerinage in the 2016 Los Angeles International Liszt Competition. Victor has appeared as a piano soloist with the Orange County Symphony, Los Angeles Doctors Symphony, Boulder Chamber Orchestra, Huntington Beach Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Collective of Orange County, South Coast Symphony, as well as the Colburn Youth Orchestra and Colburn Concert Choir. Victor is a recipient of the Richard D. Colburn scholarship at the Colburn School.
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Friday, May 3, 2019 at 12:15 p.m. Peninsula
Symphony's
Violinist In cooperation with the Peninsula Symphony, each year Classical Crossroads presents the winner of the Knox Concerto Competition in recital on the First Fridays at First! series. This year's winner is 16-year-old violinist Audrey Park, who attends West Ranch High School in Stevenson Ranch CA. She will perform the Sibelius Violin Concerto with the Peninsula Symphony on Sunday, June 30, 2019. In addition to her recent win of Peninsula Symphony's Edith Knox Performance Competition, Audrey was the winner of the Santa Clarita, San Fernando Valley, Gail Newby, and Parness concerto competitions, as well as numerous other instrumental competitions. She was selected to participate in NPR's nationally syndicated program From the Top, and was invited to participate in Glenn Dicterow's, Cho-Liang Lin's, and Jan Sloman's masterclasses. Audrey performed with guest artists Hilary Hahn, Gil Shaham, Adele Anthony, Cho-Liang Lin, and Kyoko Takezawa at the La Jolla Music Society Summerfest. Audrey currently studies with Ms. Linda Rose.
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Friday,
October 2, 2020 at 12:15 p.m. Peninsula
Symphony's
Pianist Seventeen-year-old senior at Diamond Bar High School, Mi-Hyun Suh is currently studying piano with noted pianist Rufus Choi. As the First Place winner of the 2020 Knox Concerto Competition, Mi-Hyun will be performing a concerto with the Peninsula Symphony. She'll receive a scholarship of $1,600 from the Peninsula Symphony and an honorarium of $1,000 from Classical Crossroads for this solo recital. |
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Friday, June 3, 2022 at 12:15 p.m. Peninsula
Symphony's
Cellist Nineteen-year-old cellist Mei Hotta, from Torrance, California, has been featured as a soloist on NPR's From the Top, and subsequently was invited to collaborate with Pink Martini in a performance at the Hollywood Bowl. She was invited back to From the Top to collaborate with pianist Peter Dugan and violinist Vijay Gupta. She was also featured in USC's Piatigorsky Festival's Young Artist Workshop as its youngest member and soloist. She studies with renowned cellist of the former Tokyo Quartet Clive Greensmith, pursuing her Bachelor of Music degree at the Colburn Conservatory of music. |
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Friday, May 5, 2023 at 12:15 p.m. Peninsula
Symphony's
Pianist A native
of Los Angeles, Cameron Akioka
is the Silver Medalist at the |
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Friday, May 3, 2024 at 12:15 p.m. Winner of the 2024 Peninsula Symphony
Violinist
Violinist
Ezra Shcolnik is pursuing a Bachelor
of Music degree at the Colburn Conservatory, where he
studies with Robert Lipsett. This season, Ezra appears as
a soloist with several orchestras in Southern California,
including the Colburn Orchestra, the Pasadena Community
Orchestra as the top prizewinner of the 2024 Young Artist
Competition, the Peninsula Symphony as the top prizewinner
of the 2024 Knox Competition, and the San Fernando Valley
Symphony. Previously, he appeared with the New Mexico
Philharmonic. Ezra is also a composer whose music has been
performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, USC Thornton
Edge, and Colburn Academy Virtuosi. At age twelve, he
performed a composition of his own as a soloist with the
Performance Santa Fe Orchestra.
An active orchestral musician, Ezra serves as concertmaster of the California Young Artists Symphony and in various principal positions with the Colburn Orchestra. He has also served as associate concertmaster of the Aspen Chamber Symphony and the Performance Santa Fe Orchestra. Summers have found Ezra studying chamber, solo, and orchestral repertoire under the guidance of esteemed artist faculty at the Aspen Music Festival as the recipient of several fellowships, as well as at the Perlman Music Program. Outside of music, Ezra enjoys exploring new places and eating good food.
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Winner of the 2025 Peninsula Symphony Cellist ~ with ~ Pianist Emerson (Yul) Yang is a junior at Northwood High School in Irvine, California, and an accomplished cellist recognized in national and international competitions. He was one of six American semi-finalists in The XI International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians (2022) and has won top prizes in competitions such as the Edith Knox Performance Competition (2025), Grand Virtuoso International Music Competition (2021), and South Coast Symphony Young Stars of the Future (2023). A dedicated performer, he has been featured in the Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra (2022–2024) and the California All-State Orchestra (2023, 2024). He will be featured on From the Top Daily Joy (April 2025, Earth Day). Yul has studied at the Musique Chambre en Normandie Académie Musicale in Vernon, Normandie under Michel Strauss and Jan-Ype Nota. He is currently studying cello with Sarah Koo Freeman. Outside of music, he is a competitive swimmer and a Kendo 1st-kyu holder.
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Click here for Classical Crossroads' Website |
Ezra’s
collaborative pianist 