Student Spotlight: 2024/25 NEC Fellows
Each season, A Far Cry collaborates with the New England Conservatory (NEC) to offer outstanding student musicians a unique opportunity to join our ensemble as guest Criers! This year’s competition welcomed a talented cohort of student applicants and we’re thrilled to introduce two of our exceptional winners, violinist David Carreon and cellist Jiyoung Lee, who will join the Criers in performing George Enescu’s Octet for Strings in C major, Op.7 (arranged for string orchestra by Crier Rafael Popper-Keizer) this evening.
Our other three winners, violists Yeh-Chun Lin, Sachin Shukla, and cellist Jonah Kernis, will join the Criers on our January 31st, 2025 concert, Daybreak, performing Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68 (arranged for String Sextet by Michael Gotthard Fischer; adapted for String Orchestra by Crier Michael Unterman).
Join us in celebrating their talent! Together, we're building a community that values creativity, collaboration, and the transformative power of music.
David Carreon is a Filipino-Australian violinist who currently resides in Boston, Massachusetts. He was introduced to the violin by his piano teacher, Ms. Cheryl Mason, who had always believed in the importance of learning a second instrument. As a result, David began his violin studies at the age of 4 and is currently undertaking a Master’s degree at the New England Conservatory with Kristopher Tong, where he is a Dean’s scholarship recipient. He holds a Bachelor’s degree from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music where he studied under Goetz Richter on full scholarship. Here, he was the winner of the 2021 Sydney Conservatorium Concerto Competition, Academic Merit Prize, Dean’s List nominee and two-time recipient of the George and Margaret Henderson Scholarship.
As a soloist, David has performed widely in recitals and competition across Australia and the United States. He made his concerto debut at the age of 15 with the Sydney Youth Orchestra Philharmonic and has since then appeared with the Eastern Sydney Chamber Orchestra and Sydney Conservatorium of Music Symphony Orchestra. Most recently, he was the winner of the 2024 Sydney Eisteddfod Doctors Orchestra Scholarship valued at $10,000. David has also been a prize winner in the Kendall National Violin Competition, Marcus Edwards Prize, 2MBS Fine Music’s ‘Young Virtuoso Award’, and Dorcas McClean Scholarship. He has performed in masterclasses with Hilary Hahn, Midori Goto, Benjamin Beilman, Nicola Benedetti, Mark Gothoni and Maestro Ola Rudner.
The orchestral career of David’s has spanned almost 20 years. As a concertmaster/principal, David appears regularly with the Sydney Concert Orchestra, Atlantic Symphony, Willoughby Symphony, Ensemble Apex, and Omega Ensemble. In November 2022, alongside Maestro Roger Benedict, David was the concertmaster of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music Symphony Orchestra which toured internationally to Europe. They performed a range of concerts in Manchester, Birmingham, London, Berlin and Leipzig. Currently, David has been fortunate to lead both the New England Conservatory Chamber Orchestra and Philharmonia throughout 2023-24. He has worked with esteemed conductors such as Hugh Wolff, Fabian Russell, Jin Kim, Richard Gill, and Nicholas Milton AM.
David is also a dedicated chamber music performer. As part of the Dawson String Quartet, he toured Berlin, Hannover and Salzburg in 2023. The quartet received masterclasses at the Universität der Künste, Hochschule für Musik Hannover, and Universität Mozarteum with Gregor Sigl, Oliver Willie and Rainer Schmidt respectively. In June 2024, they were awarded the inaugural Orvieto Musica String Quartet Residency in Italy. David has been awarded both the NEC Chamber Honors as well as Community Performance and Partnership Ensemble Fellowship. Earlier this year, David was selected as one of five NEC students who were invited to Duke University for a chamber music residency.
David currently plays on a 1716 Joseph Filius Guarnerius on generous loan from New England Conservatory.
Korean Cellist Ji Young Lee is known for her evocative interpretation and emotional depth in sound. Her solo performances include Korea’s Seoul Symphony Orchestra, New York’s Hudson Valley Philharmonic, New Jersey’s Bergen Philharmonic, New York Classical Players, The Juilliard Orchestra, and Seoul National University Orchestra.
Her interest in collaborations with dance and theatrical genres has made her debut with New York City’s Fall for Dance with Orion String Quartet, Brooklyn Dumbo Dance Festival, and worked with the Ensemble for Romantic Century at BAM Fisher, which was featured at The New York Times, and at The American Institute for Economic Research.
She was frequently featured in solo recitals at The Foundation for Chinese Performing Arts Summer Concert Series in Boston, Harvard Club in New York City, and appeared in Lincoln Center’s Wednesday at One series and The Korea Society in New York.
As a passionate chamber musician, she performed with Shmuel Ashkenasi, Borromeo Quartet, Roberto Diaz, Pamela Frank, Kim Kashkashian, Soovin Kim, Steven Tenenbom, and Peter Wiley in chamber music performances at Caramoor’s Evnin Rising Star Series, Curtis on Tour Series, Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival, La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest, Music from Angel Fire, Music at Menlo, and Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute. Her performances also appeared in Perlman Music Program, Sarasota Music Festival, Verbier Festival Academy in Switzerland, Seiji Ozawa Academy in Switzerland, and the Great Mountain International Festival, Korea.
Born in Seoul, Korea, she learned piano before turning to the cello. Ms. Lee holds Bachelor’s degree at the Curtis Institute of Music, Master’s degree and Artist Diploma at The Juilliard School. Her teachers included Peter Wiley, Timothy Eddy and Joel Krosnick. She also attended masterclasses in London to study with Ralph Kirshbaum and in Interlaken with David Geringas.
Currently, Ji Young is pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts at the New England Conservatory with Laurence Lesser, while serving as the founder of the non-profit organization, Back Bay Chamber Music Society. She plays a cello by Raphael and Antonio Gagliano, 1853.
