Meet the Artists

Praised for her “enthralling performances” (Culver City Observer), pianist Dr. Dawoon Chung is recognized for her lyrical artistry, thoughtful musicianship, and enduring commitment to artistic collaboration. A versatile performer, she is equally at home as a soloist and chamber musician, though it is in the intimate dialogue of chamber music that she finds her greatest artistic inspiration. Her performances have brought her to audiences throughout North America, Europe, and Asia, where she is admired for performances of sensitivity, depth, and expressive nuance.

As a soloist, Dr. Chung has appeared with the Indiana University Orchestra and the Gwangju Philharmonic and is a prizewinner of the Choon-Choo, Sookmyung University, and Indianapolis Matinee competitions. Recent performance highlights include recital appearances at Carnegie Hall and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, as well as chamber performances with the Solera Quartet in Los Angeles and the Rocky River Chamber Music Society in Cleveland.
A passionate collaborator, Dr. Chung has been featured at internationally acclaimed festivals including the Aspen Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, International Chamber Music Festival in Paris, Scotia Festival of Music, Kirishima International Music Festival, Eumak Choon-Choo Festival, and the Boonville Festival. Following one of her performances at the Boonville Festival, theBoonville Daily Newsobserved that “all eyes and ears were mesmerized by the tone coming from the stage.”

Dr. Chung earned her Bachelor of Music, Master of Music, and Performance Diploma from Indiana University, where she served as a Teaching Assistant. She subsequently completed the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Southern California under the guidance of the acclaimed pianist and conductor Jeffrey Kahane. Her principal teachers have included Shigeo Neriki, Edward Auer, Evelyn Brancart, Emile Naoumoff, Norman Krieger, and Jeffrey Kahane.

Now based in Cleveland, Ohio, Dr. Chung maintains an active performing career as a collaborative pianist, chamber musician, and recitalist. She performs regularly with distinguished instrumentalists throughout Ohio and beyond, fostering meaningful artistic partnerships through a shared passion for chamber music and collaborative performance.

is the first violinist of the internationally acclaimed Dover Quartet. He was appointed concertmaster of The Cleveland Orchestra in May 2025. An active soloist and chamber musician, Link has earned top prizes at numerous competitions, including the Johansen International Competition in Washington, D.C., and the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition in England, where he was featured in The Strad magazine.
As a member of the Dover Quartet, Link won first prize and all special awards at the 2013 Banff International String Quartet Competition, as well as the gold medal and grand prize at the 2010 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.

Link has performed with many of the most distinguished artists of recent decades, including Emanuel Ax, Marc-André Hamelin, Peter Serkin, Leon Fleisher, Leif Ove Andsnes, Edgar Meyer, Michael Tree, Avi Avital, and Ray Chen, appearing in major concert halls around the world. He has also been featured at leading festivals such as the Marlboro Music Festival, Ravinia Festival, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Rosendal Chamber Music Festival, Schwetzingen Festival, and Rheingau Musik Festival, among others.

A graduate of both Curtis Institute of Music and Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, Link studied with renowned violinists Joseph Silverstein, Pamela Frank, and Frank Huang. He joined the Curtis faculty in 2020.
Link plays a fine Peter Guarneri of Mantua violin, generously loaned to him by Irene R. Miller through the Beare’s International Violin Society.

was appointed principal horn of The Cleveland Orchestra in May 2019. He previously served as assistant principal horn of the Washington National Opera/Kennedy Center Opera House orchestra, where he was the youngest member ever to win a position with the ensemble, at the age of 19. He completed his bachelor of music degree from New York's Juilliard School in May 2019, where he was a student of Julie Landsman and recipient of the Kovner Fellowship.

Born in Leonardtown, Maryland, in the Chesapeake region, Mr. Silberschlag comes from of a family of sixteen professional musicians across several generations. He is the third generation of his family to attend the Juilliard School. He made his debut in Italy at age 9, with news of the performance appearing on the front page of Italy’s newspaper La Stampa.

As soloist, Nathaniel has performed with the Juilliard Orchestra, Bulgarian Philharmonic, Romania State Symphony, New York’s Little Orchestra Society, and the Chesapeake Orchestra. He has also played concerts with a variety of ensembles, including the New York Philharmonic and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.Since 2007, he has been a full participant fellow at Italy's Alba Music Festival, and also attended the Eastern Music Festival in 2016. He is also a member of the New York Festival Brass Quintet.

The Escher String Quartet has received acclaim for its profound musical insight and rare tonal beauty. A former BBC New Generation Artist and recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, the quartet has performed at the BBC Proms at Cadogan Hall and is a regular guest at Wigmore Hall. In its home town of New York, the ensemble serves as season artists of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

Highlights of the 205-2026 season find the Escher Quartet performing in many of the great venues and organizations in the United States, including Alice Tully Hall, The Morgan Library, Ensemble Music Society Indianapolis, Buffalo Chamber Music Society, Arte Musica Montreal, Clark Library Los Angeles, and the Savannah Music Festival, among others. In addition to their North American engagements, the quartet returns once again to Wigmore Hall for a BBC live broadcast recital as well as other engagements in Germany and continental Europe.

The Escher Quartet has made a distinctive impression throughout Europe, with recent debuts including the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Berlin Konzerthaus, London’s Kings Place, Slovenian Philharmonic Hall, Les Grands Interprètes Geneva, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, and Auditorium du Louvre. The group has appeared at festivals such as the Heidelberg Spring Festival, Budapest’s Franz Liszt Academy, Dublin’s Great Music in Irish Houses, the Risør Chamber Music Festival in Norway, the Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival, and the Perth International Arts Festival in Australia. Alongside its growing European profile, the Escher Quartet continues to flourish in its home country, performing at the Aspen Music Festival, Bravo! Vail, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Bowdoin Music Festival, Toronto Summer Music, Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, OKM Festival, Chamber Music San Francisco, Music@Menlo, and the Ravinia and Caramoor festivals.

The Escher Quartet achieved critical success last season in their performances of the entire cycle of string quartets by Bela Bartok in single concert format, both at Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. Their Bartok project was featured in the New Yorker in a substantial report by Alex Ross. Recently, the Escher quartet has had successful releases of multiple albums -including string quartets by Pierre Jalbert and the Escher’s studio recording of the complete Janacek quartets and Pavel Haas quartet no. 2 with multi award winning percussionist Colin Currie (BIS Label). Recordings of the complete Mendelssohn quartets and beloved romantic quartets of Dvorak, Borodin and Tchaikovsky were released on the BIS label in 2015-18 and received with the highest critical acclaim, with comments such as “...eloquent, full-blooded playing... The four players offer a beautiful blend of individuality and accord” (BBC Music Magazine). In 2019, DANCE, an album of quintet’s with Grammy award winning guitarist Jason Vieaux, was enthusiastically received. In 2021, the Escher’s recording of the complete quartets of Charles Ives and Samuel Barber was met with equal excitement, including “A fascinating snapshot of American quartets, with a recording that is brilliantly detailed, this is a first-rate release all around” (Strad Magazine). The quartet has also recorded the complete Zemlinsky String Quartets in two volumes, released on the Naxos label in 2013 and 2014.
Beyond the concert hall, the Escher Quartet is proud to announce the creation of a new non profit, ESQYRE (Escher String Quartet Youth Residency Education). ESQYRE’s mission as a non-profit classical music organization is to provide a comprehensive educational program through music performance and instruction for people of all ages. In addition to their non-profit work, the quartet has also held faculty positions at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX and the Univerity of Akron, OH.

Within months of its inception in 2005, the ensemble came to the attention of key musical figures worldwide. Championed by the Emerson Quartet, the Escher Quartet was invited by both Pinchas Zukerman and Itzhak Perlman to be Quartet in Residence at each artist's summer festival: the Young Artists Program at Canada’s National Arts Centre; and the Perlman Chamber Music Program on Shelter Island, NY.
The Escher Quartet takes its name from the Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher, inspired by Escher’s method of interplay between individual components working together to form a whole.

Praised by The Strad for its “incredible ensemble” and “imaginative ideas” and by The Washington Post for its “vivid engagement” and “ripely Romantic playing,” the Lysander Piano Trio is celebrated for its inventive programming and polished artistry. Their debut album, After A Dream (CAG Records), earned acclaim from The New York Times for its “polished and spirited interpretations.”

The Trio has performed at prestigious venues such as the Kennedy Center, Spivey Hall, and the Kravis Center, and has appeared at festivals including the Bard Music Festival, Copenhagen Summer Festival, and Music Mountain. Highlights of the 2025-26 season include debuts at Peggy Rockefeller Concerts and Chamber Music Monterey Bay, as well as returns to series like Music at Kohl Mansion and Mobile Chamber Music.

Committed to expanding the piano trio repertoire, the Lysander Trio has premiered works by composers such as Udi Perlman, Gilad Cohen, and Reinaldo Moya. Their 2021 album, Mirrors, featuring Jennifer Higdon’s Love Sweet, was praised by Gramophone for its “finely honed ensemble values.”

Formed at The Juilliard School, the Trio has earned top honors at competitions including the Fischoff and Coleman Chamber Music Competitions. In 2025, the ensemble welcomed cellist James Kim, continuing its tradition of dynamic collaborations and innovative programming.

Born in the Bay Area, Alexi Kenney has built much of his musical life on the East Coast, with formative studies at the New England Conservatory in Boston and participation in the Bowers Program at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He has also appeared as a soloist with ensembles including the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Chamber music remains central to his work, and he is a frequent presence at festivals around the country. Kenney is also a founding member of Owls, an unconventional quartet described by The New York Times as a “dream group.” 

Away from the stage, he enjoys hojicha, has a strong interest in modern design and architecture, and loves baking for friends. He’s also known for long walks in whatever city he’s visiting, often accompanied by podcasts or the music of Bach.

A Gilmore Young Artist and winner of Salon de Virtuosi,Janice Carissahas “the multicolored highlights of amature pianist” (Philadelphia Inquirer) with playing that “conveys a vivid story.” (Chicago Classical Review). She has appeared on stages including the Sydney Opera House, Carnegie Hall, the United Nations, the Kennedy Center,Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, and the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.Following her Philadelphia Orchestra debut at age sixteen, she has played with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the Pittsburgh, San Diego, Nashville, Kansas City, Houston, and Jakarta symphonies, as well as the Minnesota and Florida orchestras and ProMusica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus, among others. Janice’s passion for chamber music has led her to Bravo! Vail, where she was a piano fellow, and Newport Classical where she was a 2026 Festival Artist.
Born in Indonesia, Janice came to the U.S. in 2013 to study at the Curtis Institute of Music on full scholarship and later earned her master’s degree from The Juilliard School. Away from the piano, she is an avid foodie and photographer

The “life-enhancing” Pavel Haas Quartet (Arts Desk) is revered across the globe for its richness of timbre, infectious passion and intuitive rapport. Playing “as if their lives depend on it” (The Times), the quartet perform at the world’s most prestigious concert halls and has received numerous high-profile awards for its recordings, firmly establishing them as one of the world’s foremost string quartets.

Highlights of the 25/26 season include returns to the Musikverein, Vienna; Philharmonie de Paris; Pierre Boulez Saal, Berlin; Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg; Muziekgebouw, Amsterdam; Konserthuset Stockholm and Wigmore Hall. Further afield, the Quartet returns to Taiwan’s National Concert Hall and the Seoul Arts Center, and tour North America in March 2026.

 Renowned as the leading interpreter of Eastern European chamber music masterpieces, the Quartet was named as Ambassador for the Year of Czech Music in 2024. From 2025 until 2027, the Pavel Haas Quartet is Artist-in-Residence at Smetana's Litomyšl Festival, alongside the Czech Philharmonic.

 The Quartet regularly appears at major venues including Wigmore Hall, London; Philharmonie, Berlin; Konzerthaus and Musikverein, Vienna; Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg; Tonhalle Zürich; Philharmonie de Paris; Accademia di Santa Cecilia; BOZAR, Brussels; NCPA Beijing; LG Arts Centre and Seoul Arts Center, Seoul and Carnegie Hall, New York. In celebration of its 20th anniversary, the Quartet appeared on the cover of The Strad and was the featured interview in BBC Music Magazine. The latter named it among the “10 greatest string quartet ensembles of all time,” describing the Quartet as “stylistically powerful and richly sonorous, [and] known for its passionate and fearless performances.”

 The Pavel Haas Quartet records exclusively for Supraphon. In September 2025, the Quartet releases its next album of Martinu String Quartets Nos. 2, 3, 5 and 7.  The Quartet has received five Gramophone Awards for its recordings of Dvořák, Smetana, Schubert, Janáček, and Haas. For its recording of Dvořák’s String Quartets No. 12 “American” and No. 13, it was awarded the coveted Gramophone Recording of the Year in 2011. The Sunday Times commented: “their account of the ‘American’ Quartet belongs alongside the greatest performances on disc.”

 Since winning the Paolo Borciani competition in Italy in 2005, further highlights early in their career have included being nominated as ECHO Rising Stars in 2007, participating in the BBC New Generation Artists scheme between 2007–2009 and being award the Special Ensemble Scholarship by the Borletti-Buitoni Trust in 2010. The Quartet is based in Prague and studied with the late Milan Škampa, the legendary violist of the Smetana Quartet. They take their name from the Czech-Jewish composer Pavel Haas (1899–1944) who was imprisoned at Theresienstadt in 1941 and was tragically killed at Auschwitz three years later. His legacy includes three wonderful string quartets.

 Veronika Jarůšková – 1st violin, Marek Zwiebel – 2nd violin, Šimon Truszka – viola, Peter Jarůšek – cello

“Passion, precision, warmth, a gold blend: these are the trademarks of this excellent Israeli string quartet.” 

 Such was the Times’ (London) impression of the Jerusalem Quartet. Since the ensemble's founding in 1993 and their debut in 1995, the four Israeli musicians have embarked on a remarkable journey of growth and maturation. Their expansive repertoire and extraordinary depth of expression have firmly established them as a distinctive voice in the string quartet tradition. At the heart of their sound lies a warm, full, and deeply human tone, paired with an egalitarian balance between high and low voices. This approach allows the quartet to combine individual expression with a transparent and faithful presentation of the composer’s work. It also drives their ongoing refinement of interpretations of the classical repertoire, while encouraging explorations of new musical territories.

 The Jerusalem Quartet is a regular and cherished guest on the world’s most prestigious concert stages. The year 2025 marked the Quartet’s 30th anniversary, which the ensemble celebrated with a special focus on Shostakovich’s 15 quartets, presented across 10 cities worldwide, including St. Paul, MN; Cleveland, OH; Portland, OR; Concertgebouw Amsterdam; Beethovenfest Bonn; Philharmonie Cologne; and Tonhalle Zurich.

 Highlights of the upcoming 2025/2026 season include two North American tours, as well as extensive performances across Europe, with concerts at renowned venues such as the Konzerthaus Wien and Wigmore Hall in London. Another season milestone for the Quartet will be a series of quintet concerts in Europe in spring 2026 with celebrated pianist Elisabeth Leonskaja, taking place at prestigious venues including the Gewandhaus in Leipzig and the Alte Oper in Frankfurt.

 The Jerusalem Quartet’s recordings have received numerous awards and accolades, including the Diapason d’Or and the BBC Music Magazine Award for Chamber Music. Previous Harmonia Mundi releases include a unique exploration of Jewish music in Central Europe between the wars, featuring a collection of 1920s Yiddish cabaret songs from Warsaw performed with Israeli soprano Hila Baggio, as well as the second volume of their complete Bartók cycle released in 2020. Today, the quartet records exclusively for BIS, with their first release for the label in 2025 featuring Shostakovich Quartets No. 2, 7 & 10.

Pianist Wu Han, recipient of Musical America’s Musician of the Year Award, enjoys a multi-faceted musical life that encompasses artistic direction, performing, and recording. Co-Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since 2004 as well as Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Silicon Valley’s Music@Menlo since 2002, she also serves as Artistic Advisor for Wolf Trap’s Chamber Music at the Barns series and Palm Beach’s Society of the Four Arts, and as Artistic Director for La Musica in Sarasota, Florida. She is the Founder and Artistic Director of ArtistLed, classical music’s first artist-directed, internet-based recording label. A recipient of the Andrew Wolf Award, she was mentored by some of the greatest pianists of our time, including Lilian Kallir, Rudolf Serkin, and Menahem Pressler. Married to cellist David Finckel since 1985, Wu Han divides her time between concert touring and residences in New York City and Westchester County.

Co-Artistic Director of CMS since 2004, cellist David Finckel has performed on the world’s stages in the roles of recitalist, chamber artist, and orchestral soloist. The first American student of Mstislav Rostropovich, he joined the Emerson String Quartet in 1979, and during 34 seasons garnered nine Grammy Awards and the Avery Fisher Prize. In 1997, he and pianist Wu Han founded ArtistLed, the first internet-based, artist-controlled classical recording label. In 2022, Music@Menlo, a summer chamber music festival in Silicon Valley founded and directed by David and Wu Han, celebrated its 20th season. He is a professor at both the Juilliard School and Stony Brook University, and oversees both CMS’s Bowers Program and Music@Menlo’s Chamber Music Institute. Along with Wu Han, he received Musical America’s 2012 Musicians of the Year Award.

American violist Matthew Lipman has made recent appearances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, American Symphony Orchestra, Munich Symphony Orchestra, and Minnesota Orchestra. He has performed recitals at Carnegie Hall and the Zürich Tonhalle, and has recorded on the Sony, Deutsche Grammophon, Cedille, and Avie labels. An alum of CMS’s Bowers Program, he performs regularly on tour and at Alice Tully Hall with CMS. An Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient and major prize winner at the Primrose and Tertis International Viola Competitions, Lipman is on faculty at Stony Brook University. He performs on a 2021 Samuel Zygmuntowicz viola.

Winner of a 2009 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Arnaud Sussmann has recently appeared as soloist with the Vancouver Symphony and the New World Symphony. As a chamber musician, he has performed at the Tel Aviv Museum, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Dresden Music Festival, and the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC. He has also given concerts at the Moritzburg, Caramoor, Music@Menlo, La Jolla SummerFest, Mainly Mozart, Seattle Chamber Music, Chamber Music Northwest, and Moab Music festivals. An alum of CMS’s Bowers Program, Sussmann is Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach and Co-Director of Music@Menlo’s International Program, and teaches at Stony Brook University. In September 2022, he was named Founding Artistic Director of the Boscobel Chamber Music Festival. Mr. Sussmann plays a 1731 Stradivarius violin on loan from a private owner.