The Greenwich Village Orchestra
This season’s featured artists
Na-Young Baek — Cello
At the tender age of 15, Korean-born cellist Na-Young Baek became the youngest winner in the history of the prestigious Choong Ang Times competition in Korea and was awarded the “Virtuoso Prize” at the first Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians in Moscow, Russia. Winner of the Philadelphia Orchestra’s Greenfield Competition, Ms. Baek made her American debut with the orchestra in 2000. She has appeared as a soloist with the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, the DuPage Symphony Orchestra, the Seoul Philharmonic, and the Korean Chamber Ensemble, and has performed at major venues all over the world, such as the Academy House in Philadelphia and the Rheingau Musik Festival in Frankfurt, Germany.
Ms. Baek was a prizewinner in the Gyeongnam International Competition (in memory of Isang Yun), and was awarded first prize in both the Hudson Valley Philharmonic Competition and the Holland-America Music Society Competition. She was invited to perform with the Verbier Music Academy, the Kronberg Academy, and in the Sarasota Music Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, and the International Cello Congress in Manchester, England. Her recital appearances include a New York City debut at Carnegie Hall and on the Dame Myra Hess Concert Series in Chicago.
An avid chamber musician, Ms. Baek has been invited to participate in the prestigious Marlboro Music Festival, the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, the Casals Festival in Prades, France, the Aspen Music Festival, and the Isaac Stern Seminar in Israel. She was also featured at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Salle Gaveau in Paris, Cadogan Hall in London, and on NPR’s “Performance Today”. Recent chamber music concerts include tours with “Musicians from Marlboro” and the East Coast Chamber Orchestra (ECCO).
As a pupil of Orlando Cole, Aldo Parisot, and Colin Carr, Na-Young holds degrees from The Curtis Institute, The Juilliard School, Yale University, and Stony Brook University. Currently, she is a member of the Sejong Soloists, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, the East Coast Chamber Orchestra, and the Metropolis Ensemble, and is on the faculty of Kean University.
Pierre Vallet — Guest Conductor
Photo by Fadil Berisha
French conductor Pierre Vallet opens the 2011-2012 opera season at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona making his conducting debut in Spain. His Metropolitan Opera debut follows in December. Maestro Vallet will conduct new productions of Faust at both theaters.
Maestro Vallet’s conducting debut was also in the French repertoire, conducting Massenet’s Manon at the Bolshoi in Moscow. Since then, he has also conducted Tännhauser at the Opéra national de Paris at the Bastille, sharing the run with his longtime musical colleague Seiji Ozawa. In Japan, the conductor has led productions of Verdi’s Otello and Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin at Tokyo Opera Nomori. He has conducted a wide range of repertoire at the Saito Kinen Festival Matsumoto including: Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, and most recently, Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle featuring Matthias Goerne in the title role. Pierre Vallet was honored to make his debut in Beijing and Shanghai, conducting Bluebeard’s Castle, on the Saito-Kinen Festival Matsumoto’s historic inaugural tour to China.
As a conductor, and previously as a chorus master, he has demonstrated a passion for the choral masterworks. Reviewing the 2010 performance of Britten’s War Requiem by the visiting Saito Kinen Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, James R. Oestreich praised Pierre Vallet’s choral preparation in The New York Times: “The Japanese choruses — the SKF Matsumoto Choir and Children’s Choir and the Ritsuyukai Choir — performed superbly, with powerful fortissimos and breathtaking pianissimos, and they articulated the Latin texts admirably.” He also served as chorus master for La Damnation de Faust, and assisted on Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, and Schonberg’s Gurre-Lieder at the Saito Kinen Festival in Japan. In 2011-2012, Pierre Vallet will make his conducting debut at Tokyo Cantat, Japan’s most prestigious choral festival.
Pierre Vallet made his orchestral conducting debut at the Spoleto Festival in 2009 performing Respighi’s Trittico Botticelliano and Mendelsohn’s Symphony No. 3 (“Italian”). Audiences in Charleston, South Carolina also enjoyed his 2010 performances of Fauré’s Pavane, Roussel’s rarely-performed Concerto for Small Orchestra and Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony. He is joining the Greenwich Village Orchestra this season to conduct a performance of Elgar’s Sea Pictures, Op. 37.
Pierre Vallet is in demand as a collaborative pianist by the most renowned vocalists of today. This season he joins tenor Roberto Alagna for a recital at the Vienna State Opera. He performed with Denyce Graves for President Clinton at The White House, and collaborated on the PBS special “Denyce Graves: A Cathedral Christmas” which featured holiday music recorded at the National Cathedral in Washington DC. He has also performed in concerts with sopranos Natalie Dessay, Maria Guleghina and Ying Huang, and baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky.
A citizen of the world, Pierre Vallet makes his home in New York City.
Jennifer Johnson Cano — Mezzo-Soprano
Photo by Matthu Placek
Mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano is recognized for her naturally lustrous sound as well as a fresh and appealing presence on symphonic, operatic and recital stages. A 2011 Sara Tucker Study Grant Recipient, Ms. Cano joined The Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at The Metropolitan Opera in 2008 and made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 2009-2010 singing a Bridesmaid in Le nozze di Figaro and Sandman in Hansel and Gretel. This season she bowed as Wellgunde in the Met’s new production of Das Rheingold and performed Ludmilla in The Metropolitan Opera and The Juilliard School’s joint production of The Bartered Bride conducted by James Levine. As First Prize winner of the 2009 Young Concert Artist International Auditions, she has already given stunning recital debuts in both New York City at Merkin Hall and Washington, D.C. at the Kennedy Center. “Ms. Johnson Cano is effortlessly likable, but in both her voice and her manner there is also a hint of something steely, even intimidating. Character — individuality, a taste for risk — is the attribute some find lacking in young American singers, but Ms. Johnson Cano has it: an honesty and assurance so impressive that you want to call it bravery.” — The New York Times
Ms. Cano begins the 2011-2012 season with her third residency at the Marlboro Festival and in concert with the Metropolitan Opera’s summer recital series in Central Park and Brooklyn Bridge Park. She appears at The Hollywood Bowl with Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Choral Fantasy, returns to the New York Philharmonic for Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with Alan Gilbert and sings Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the World Doctors Orchestra in Washington DC. In September she will perform Schoenberg’s arrangement of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and tenor Paul Groves conducted by George Manahan. She returns to the Met as Wellgunde in Das Rheingold and Götterdammerung, Sandman in Hansel and Gretel and Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly. She takes part in Carnegie Hall’s Neighborhood Concert Series in recital with pianist Christopher Cano and will sing a concert of Mozart arias at the Mecklenburg Festival. In May Jennifer Johnson Cano also makes her Carnegie Hall debut with Franz Welser-Möst and the Cleveland Orchestra in a concert performance of Strauss’ Salome.
Ms. Cano made her debut with the Chicago Opera Theater as Kate Julian in Benjamin Britten’s Owen Wingrave in 2009. In 2011 she returned to Chicago to perform Schumann’s Frauenliebe und Leben as part of the company’s new production He/She. “Jennifer Johnson Cano brought a sincerity and emotional depth to these beautiful songs that made the texts’ occasional excesses seem completely irrelevant. With a rich voice, ease of technique and expressive delicacy, Cano conveyed the varied elements of Schumann’s cycle from the rapt wonder of Du Ring an meinem Finger to the excited joy of her impending marriage (Helft mir, Ihr Schwestern) and the rush of maternal joy in An meinem Herzen, an meiner Brust.” — Chicago Classical Review. After two seasons as a Gerdine Young Artist with Opera theatre of St. Louis, Ms. Cano made her principal artist debut in 2008 as The Muse/Nicklausse in Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffman.
As a Young Concert Artist winner, she was awarded the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival and Princeton University Prizes and gave recitals throughout the United States, including Boston, Philadelphia, Houston and Chicago. She toured with Musicians from Marlboro singing Respighi’s Il Tramonto and Cuckson’s Der gayst funem shturem that were recorded and made available on CD. She has been part of the Ravinia Festival’s Steans Institute received a 2009 Sullivan Foundation Award.
Jennifer Johnson Cano is a native of St. Louis, Missouri and obtained her bachelor’s degree in Music from Webster University in St. Louis and her master’s degree from Rice University in Houston, Texas. She currently resides in New York City.
Hye-Jin Kim — Violin
Photo by Janette Beckman
Describing the artistry of violinist Hye-Jin Kim, Winner of the 2009 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, The Strad lauded her “…supremely musical playing, well-thought out, yet of the moment.” Ms. Kim’s sensitivity to the expressive and contextual components of the violin repertoire enables her to transport audiences beyond mere technical virtuosity, and this remarkable musical depth and passion led to her First Prize at the 2004 Yehudi Menuhin International Competition when she was only nineteen.
During the 2010-11 season, she made her recital debut at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall on the CAG winners series, and she also gave numerous recitals throughout the northeast. As concerto soloist, she performs with the Tulsa Signature Symphony (Tchaikovsky), Minnesota Sinfonia (Vivaldi), and with the Pan Asia Symphony (Sibelius) in Hong Kong. A passionate chamber musician, Ms. Kim’s collaborative appearances include Music at Menlo, Madison Chamber Music Festival (GA), Chamber Music at Gretna, Kansas City’s Sunflower Festival, and a spring 2011 tour with Musicians from Marlboro.
Ms. Kim has performed as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra under the direction of Christoph Eschenbach, and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra led by Gerard Schwarz, as well as with the BBC Concert Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hannover Chamber Orchestra, where she led the ensemble in Mozart’s A Major Concerto of at the age of 12. She has appeared in major venues throughout North America, Europe and Asia, including the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater, Kimmel Center Verizon Hall, Salzburg’s Mirabel Schloss and St. John’s, Smith Square, London. At the invitation of Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, she was honored to perform at the U.N. Headquarters in both Geneva and New York. Ms. Kim has also served as a cultural representative for Korea in Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan through concerts and outreach opportunities.
In addition to her prizes in the CAG and Menuhin Competitions, Ms. Kim has also won the Philadelphia Orchestra Concerto Competition, the Virtuosos of the 21st Century in Moscow, and was awarded the Kay H. Logan Chamber Music Award. A rising force in the chamber music world, Ms. Kim’s festival appearances have included Marlboro, Ravinia, Music from Angel Fire, and Prussia Cove’s Open Chamber Music. She has collaborated with renowned artists such as Paul Biss, Miriam Fried, Gilbert Kalish, Kim Kashkashian, Ida Kavafian, Jaime Laredo, Menahem Pressler, Mitsuko Uchida, and the members of Guarneri, Juilliard, Miami, and Orion String Quartets. Ms. Kim has served as concertmaster of both The Curtis Symphony Orchestra and the New England Conservatory Philharmonia.
Dedicated to engaging local communities to share her music, Ms. Kim strives for a more direct presence with audiences via more intimate concert appearances. These efforts have included concerts for public school students, performances for people with special needs, and frequent programs for senior citizens.
Born in Seoul, Korea in 1985, Hye-Jin Kim began her violin studies with Dong-Hyun Kim at the age of 8. When she was 14, Ms. Kim entered The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, studying with Jaime Laredo and Ida Kavafian. She earned her Masters degree studying with Miriam Fried at Boston’s New England Conservatory as a recipient of NEC’s prestigious Emma V. Lambrose Presidential Scholarship. Ms. Kim plays a Gioffredo Cappa violin, crafted in Saluzzo, Italy in 1687.
Beyond her musical activities, Ms. Kim is an avid reader of classic literature, with particular interest in the writings of 19th century British authors. During her travels, she has toured the homes and haunts of the Bronte sisters, Jane Austen, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and C.S. Lewis. Ms. Kim also enjoys needlepoint embroidery and spending time with her friends and family, both in Korea and the US.
Farkhad Khudyev — Guest Conductor
Originally from Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Farkhad Khudyev first studied violin and composition with Zinaida Ahmedzhanova and Vera Abaeva at the Special Music School for the most gifted musicians in the country. He distinguished himself at the age of 10 as the youngest performer ever selected to play with the National Violin Ensemble of Turkmenistan directed by Harold Neimark, and at 12 he won a scholarship to attend the New Names Festival in Suzdal, Russia, which was sponsored by the Moscow Conservatory. He was named as one of the most promising young musicians at the festival. Mr. Khudyev has performed in Ashgabat, Suzdal, Moscow and Odessa (Ukraine), as both a soloist and as a member of the Violin Ensemble of Turkmenistan.
Mr. Khudyev came to the United States in 2001 on a full scholarship from the Interlochen Arts Academy, where he studied with Paul Sonner, Michael Albaugh and Yoshikazu Nagai, then completed his Bachelor of Music degree on a full scholarship at the Oberlin Conservatory studying with Milan Vitek and Bridget Reischl. He received his Master’s degree in orchestral conducting from the Yale School of Music where he studied with Shinik Hahm. Mr. Khudyev is the winner of the coveted Grand Prize and the Gold Medal of the 2007 National Fischoff Chamber Music Competition as the member of Prima Trio. He has toured the United States and Europe receiving highly acclaimed reviews as both a violinist and composer. He is a recipient of an honorable mention for the 2004 ASCAP Foundation, held in May 2004 at Lincoln Center in New York, for his symphonic work Turkmenistan. In June 2006, he won a prize at the 30th Annual Glenn Miller Competition, held in Clarinda, Iowa, the legendary musician’s birthplace. His other awards include the Neil Rabaut Prize, Yale Chamber Music Society Competition Winner, and a debut performance of his trio Fleeting Miniatures at the Tribeca New Music Festival in New York.
Mr. Khudyev has served as the Music Director of the New Haven Chamber Orchestra and of the Saybrook Orchestra at Yale University, the Assistant Conductor of the Yale Philharmonia, the New Music New Haven ensemble and the NOYO Orchestra, as well as a guest conductor of the Yale Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Khudyev was a finalist for the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra Assistant Conductor positions as well as the finalist for Music Director of the New Jersey Youth Symphony Orchestra, semifinalist for Music Director of the American Philharmonic positions and the Alternate Conductor for the Cleveland Orchestra Assistant Conductor position. Recently, Mr. Khuydev was invited to be one of ten semi-finalists from around the world to participate at the First International Chicago Symphony Orchestra Sir Georg Solti Conducting Competition and Apprenticeship with Riccardo Muti. Currently, Mr. Khudyev serves as the Artistic Director and Conductor of the New Jersey Intergenerational Orchestra and the Principal Guest Conductor of the National Orchestra of Ashgabat.
Robert Hayden — Violin
Robert Hayden began studying the violin at age 10. Just a few years later he participated in the New York State School of Orchestral Studies where he was tutored by Norman Carroll, former concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Throughout his high school career he performed in numerous orchestras and music festivals and also participated in a European tour at age 16. At 17 he received a perfect score at the New York State School Music Association’s annual competition. Later that year he was selected to attend the illustrious Tanglewood Institute as a member of the Young Artist’s Orchestra where he performed under world-renowned conductors including Seiji Ozawa and Andre Previn. During his senior year of high school he served as concertmaster for several orchestras, and was the only student from his school to be selected to attend both the All State and All Eastern conference orchestras.
After high school he pursued a Music Performance degree at Boston University where he studied with Yuri Mazurkevich. He also attended the Chautauqua Institution music program, performing in the Music School Festival Orchestra. Additionally he performed in numerous chamber ensembles and master classes under world-famous pedagogues such as Joseph Silverstein and Sergiu Luca.
During the mid 1990’s he took a break from classical music to pursue his interests in songwriting. For several years he regularly performed at several Boston nightclubs, including Club Passim. He also had the opportunity to open for nationally-recognized artists such as Jen Trynin and Hamell on Trial. He released a solo CD in 1999.
Upon moving to New York several years ago he re-dedicated himself to his love for classical music by joining the Greenwich Village Orchestra’s first violin section in 2006. In August 2009 he was named as concertmaster of the Greenwich Village Orchestra. He also participates in numerous chamber music groups throughout New York.