Miami String Quartet

Part of the Heartland Chamber Music Festival.

Program

• F. Schubert – String Trio in B-flat Major, D. 471
  Benny Kim, Violin I Scott Lee, Viola I Peter Wiley, Cello
• A. Mozart – Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, K. 493
  Benny Kim, Violin I Scott Lee, Viola I Peter Wiley, Cello I Chih-Long Hu, Piano*
• Robert Schumann – Piano Quintet in E-flat Major, Op. 44
  Benny Kim, Violin I Chia Fei Lin, Violin* I Scott Lee, Viola I Peter Wiley, Cello I Sean Chen, Piano
  *Festival Faculty Artists

Benny Kim, Violin

Whether playing in the intimate setting of a string quartet or performing a concerto on the stage of a concert hall, Benny Kim’s “emotional depth and musical carriage are his real drawing cards. His is a style that touches the peak of romantic violin playing.” (The Washington Post) Known for his versatility as soloist, chamber musician and teacher, Kim has been described as having “titanium technique” and producing “exquisite, pearly colorations.”

In past seasons, Kim has performed with the symphony orchestras of Chicago, Boston, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Detroit, Houston, Utah, Denver, San Diego, and Phoenix. Internationally, he has performed with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the Orquésta Sinfonica Nacional de México, and the major orchestras of South Africa. He has been a regular at the festivals of Aspen, Bravo! Vail Valley, Chamber Music Northwest, Music from Angel Fire, Santa Fe, Savannah, SummerFest La Jolla, Tucson, and Vancouver.

Scott Lee, Viola

Scott Lee has established himself as one of the most exciting and unique violists.  His exceptional musicality and virtuosic playing distinguish him as one of this generation's quintessential artists. Winner of the 1996 Concert Artists Guild Competition, he became the youngest winner in the competition’s 50-year history.

Lee has been a top prize winner in the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition, the William Primrose Viola Competition, and the Corpus Christi (TX) Young Artists Competition. Lee has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras, including, the Kansas City Symphony, San Diego Symphony, and L.A Chamber Orchestra. Other orchestral performances include the Longmont Philharmonic, and the International Sejong Soloists.

In recital, he has performed at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and Merkin Hall in New York, and Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Lee has been a featured soloist at the International Hindemith Viola Festival and at the 22nd and 24th International Viola Congresses.

Peter Wiley, Cello

Peter Wiley enjoys a prolific career as a performer and teacher. He is a member of the piano quartet, Opus One, a group he cofounded in 1998 with pianist Anne-Marie McDermott, violinist Ida Kavafian, and violist Steven Tenenbom. Wiley attended the Curtis Institute of Music as a student of David Soyer. He joined the Pittsburgh Symphony in 1974. The following year, he was appointed principal cellist of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, a position he held for eight years.

From 1987 through 1998, Wiley was cellist of the Beaux Arts Trio. In 2001, he succeeded Sover, his mentor, as cellist of the Guarneri Quartet. The quartet retired from the concert stage in 2009. Wiley has been awarded an Avery Fischer Career Grant, was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1998 with the Beaux Arts Trio, and in 2009, with the Guarneri Quartet. He has participated in leading festivals, including Music from Angel Fire, Chamber Music Northwest, OK Mozart, Marlboro, Santa Fe, Bravo! Great Lakes, and Bridgehampton. Wiley teaches at the Curtis Institute of Music and Bard College Conservatory of Music.

Sean Chen, Piano

A “thoughtful musician well beyond his years” (The Republic), pianist Sean Chen shares his “alluring, colorfully shaded renditions” (New York Times) and “genuinely sensitive” (LA Times) playing with audiences around the world in solo and chamber recitals, concerto performances, and master classes. He won the 2013 American Pianists Awards, placed third at the 2013 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, and was named a 2015 Annenberg Fellow. Chen is the Jack Strandberg/Missouri Endowed Chair Professor of Piano at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory.

Chen has performed with many prominent orchestras, including Fort Worth, Indianapolis, Kansas City, San Diego, Knoxville, Hartford, Louisiana Philharmonic, Milwaukee, North Carolina, Pasadena, Phoenix, Santa Fe, and New West Symphony Orchestras, as well as the Chamber Orchestras of Philadelphia, Indianapolis, and South Bay. He has collaborated with esteemed conductors such as Leonard Slatkin, Michael Stern, Gerard Schwarz, Nicholas McGegan, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Marcelo Lehninger, and James Judd. Solo recitals have brought him to major venues worldwide, including Jordan Hall in Boston, Subculture in New York City, the American Art Museum at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., the National Concert Hall in Taipei, Het Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and the Salle Cortot in Paris.

Chia Fei Lin, Violin

Violinist Chia Fei Lin joined the Kansas City Symphony in 2014 and served as the acting assistant concertmaster from 2018 to 2023. Lin grew up in a musical family; she began studying piano at age 4 with her mother, a high school music teacher. She found the instrument of her life at age 6 and won the prestigious Taiwan National Youth Violin Competition at age 15. Her debut as a soloist was playing Sarasate’s Zigeunerweisen with her school orchestra at age 14. Lin has performed in festivals and summer programs around the world: Salzburg Mozarteum Academy, Aspen Music Festival, and Sun Flower Music Festival, to name a few. After graduating from the National University in Taipei and the Cleveland Institute of Music, Lin finished her study at UMKC where she received her Graduate Teaching Assistantship and Doctor of Musical Arts degree.

As a native Taiwanese, Lin feels a strong connection to her mother country. She was invited to perform in the Taiwan Connection Festival from 2007 to 2009, where she served as the principal second violinist and collaborated with world-renowned musicians such as Nai Yuan Hu, Robert Levin, Dong-Suk Kang, and Jian Wang. Lin has also given numerous recitals and chamber music concerts in Taiwan.

As a chamber music enthusiast, Lin is a founding member of the FIAMA Quartet and Quartet Le Monde, which have been performing actively in Kansas City in concert series hosted by JCCC Ruel Joyce, Rolling Hills Presbyterian Church, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and Heartland Chamber Music. Quartet Le Monde was one of the featured artists of the JCCC Ruel Joyce recording project in 2020.

As an educator, Lin is a founding faculty member of Heartland Chamber Music of which her husband, Jackie Lee, serves as the artistic director. Since the summer of 2001, Heartland has been her favorite summer activity, coaching chamber music and witnessing the passion of chamber music made by the young musicians. Lin lives with her husband and two boys in Kansas City. Besides music, they enjoy exploring good restaurants. Lin credits her violin playing to all her teachers and especially to Wen-Liang Yiu, Cheng-Tu Su, and Benny Kim.

Chih-Long Hu, Piano

A native of Taiwan, pianist Chih-Long Hu‘s performance career was launched after receiving honors, including the Taipei National Concert Hall Arising Star, the Chi-Mei Artist Award, and prizes from the Mauro Monopoli International Piano Competition in Italy, the Concurs International De Piano D’Escaldes-Engordany in Andorra, the Takamatsu International Piano Competition in Japan, and San Jose International Piano Competition in California.

An active performer, Hu performs extensively in Asia, Europe, and America, appearing as a concerto soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. His recent performance highlights include concerto performances of Rachmaninov’s Paganini Rhapsody, Mozart Concerto No.9, Schumann’s Concerto in A, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, solo and chamber recitals in China, Taiwan, Korea, Indonesia, Ireland, Canada, and throughout the U.S. Hu’s performances have been broadcast in “Performance Today” through NPR stations across the U.S., as well as in Taiwan, China, and Japan. His CD albums, “Formosa Caprices,” “Complete Rachmaninov Etudes-Tableaux," and “Goldberg Variations” have received critical acclaim.

Recipient of the UT Chancellor’s Excellence in Teaching Award and named “Teacher of the Year” by Tennessee Music Teachers Association, Knoxville Music Teachers Associations, and Appalachian Music Teachers Association, Hu is a committed and passionate teacher. He strives to cultivate and inspire curiosity in human expression and to help his students discover their individuality through the music. His students have won numerous prizes from international and national competitions, and have been accepted to prestigious universities and conservatories after studying with him.

Hu is involved with the community and has served in various professional organizations and on committees. He is frequently invited to give lectures and master classes, as well as to judge international and national competitions. Hu has served as the Artistic Director of St. Andrews Piano Academy and Festival International in New Brunswick, Canada.

Hu holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts in piano performance from the University of Michigan, a master’s degree from Taipei National University of the Arts, and a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from National Taiwan University. His piano teachers include Arthur Greene, Hung-Kuan Chen, and Tai-Cheng Chen. Hu is currently the Sandra G. Powell Endowed Professor of Piano and the keyboard area coordinator at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.