Program and Artist Biography

Winner of the 2006 Avery Fisher Career Grant, American violinist Erin Keefe is praised as a compelling artist who combines exhilarating temperament and fierce integrity. A top prize winner of several International Competitions, she recently took the Grand Prizes in the Valsesia Music International Violin Competition, Italy; the Torun International Violin Competition, Poland; the Schadt Competition and the Corpus Christi International String Competition, and she was the Silver Medalist in the Carl Nielsen, Sendai, Japan, and Gyeongnam, Korea, International Violin Competitions, resulting in performances and immediate re-engagements in the United States, Europe, and Asia.

A member of Lincoln Center's prestigious Chamber Music Society Two program for the 2006-09 seasons, Ms. Keefe has performed with the Brooklyn Chamber Music Society and appears regularly as a guest artist with the Boston Chamber Music Society and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

Ms. Keefe earned a master’s degree from the Juilliard School and a bachelor’s degree from the Curtis Institute. Her teachers included Ronald Copes, Ida Kavafian, Arnold Steinhardt, Philip Setzer, Philipp Naegele and Teri Einfeldt.

Ms. Keefe plays on a Nicolo Gagliano violin from 1732.

Acclaimed for the stylish refinement of her performances, Canadian pianist Lucille Chung was born in Montreal and made her debut at the age of 10 with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. In 1989, she took first prize at the Stravinsky International Piano Competition. The same year, Charles Dutoit invited her to join the Montreal Symphony Orchestra’s tour to Asia as soloist. Ms. Chung has since performed with over 50 leading orchestras around the world including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Moscow Virtuosi, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, KBS Orchestra, Israel Chamber Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic, Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerífe, Staatskapelle Weimar, UNAM Philharmonic (Mexico), Lithuanian Philharmonic, Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, Flemish Radio Orchestra, Belgrade Philharmonic, Fort Worth Symphony as well as all the major Canadian orchestras. She has appeared with conductors such as Krzysztof Penderecki, Vladimir Spivakov, Peter Oundjian, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Ms. Chung graduated from the Curtis Institute and the Juilliard School before reaching the age of 20. She continued her studies in Europe with Maria Curcio-Diamand, Arthur Schnabel’s last student; at the Universität Mozarteum, Salzburg; Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt, Weimar; and Accademia Pianistica, Imola, Italy, where she worked with the late Lazar Berman. She also worked with Spanish maestro, Joaquín Achúcarro.

Ms. Chung has given solo recitals in the finest concert halls in over 30 countries including New York’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, Washington’s Kennedy Center and Phillips Collection, the Chicago Cultural Center, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Wigmore Hall in London, and Madrid’s Auditorio Nacional. Festival appearances include the Felicja Blumental International Music Festival in Israel, ChangChun International Piano Festival in China, International Keyboard Institute and Festival in NYC, MDR Sommer Festival in Dresden, Bard Festival in NY, Ottawa Chamber Music Festival and the Santander International Festival, where she recently premiered the 6 Piano Etudes by I. D. Martínez. She made her Verbier Festival debut in July 2009, performing alongside Emanuel Ax and Alessio Bax.

Among Ms. Chung’s awards are the prestigious Virginia Parker Prize given by the Canada Council of the Arts, and the Honors Diploma awarded by the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy. Ms. Chung was recently named honorary professor of the Jilin Arts College in China, and is on the faculty of the Meadows School of the Arts in Dallas. She and her husband, pianist Alessio Bax, live in New York City and are artistic co-directors of the Joaquín Achúcarro Foundation.