SPOTLIGHT: STUDENT PERFORMERS

For Arun Asthagiri, music is a form of self-expression that provokes. The audience should be enriched by beauty but also challenged by it. In constant dialogue with the artist, the listener should escape the ordinary and realize a portion of truth through the fantastical. As a performer, this immediate musical epiphany is what Arun aims for – a direct and irresistible provocation of truth through music. Currently, Arun studies at the New England Conservatory with Prof. Nicholas Kitchen, violinist of the Borromeo String Quartet. He has found his chamber music experience at NEC deeply rewarding, performing works by Bartok, Mendelssohn, Brahms and Dohnanyi with wonderful colleagues. He was awarded First Prize and the Overall Gold Prize in the Chamber Music Foundation of New England’s international competition as a member of Trio Fulmineo in 2020. He also plays an active role as a leader in large ensembles, having served as the concertmaster of the NEC Symphony Orchestra for Beethoven Symphony No. 5 as well as concertmaster for numerous works with NEC Prep’s Youth Philharmonic Orchestra. Seeking out ways to continue to enrich his musical life during the pandemic, Arun performed in a masterclass for Augustin Hadelich and was invited to work with Stefan Jackiw in his “Stefan’s Sessions” virtual series. During the summers, Arun has enjoyed attending the Bowdoin International Music Festival and the Aspen Music Festival and looks forward to his fellowship opportunity at the Madeline Island Chamber Music Festival this summer.

Noah Berz is a violinist from Brookline, MA, and a senior in high school at the Cambridge School of Weston. He began playing violin at age four, and in 2014, after several years of Suzuki training, started at the New England Conservatory (NEC) preparatory school where he now studies privately with Julianne Lee. Noah currently plays first violin and co-concertmaster in NEC’s Youth Philharmonic Orchestra (YPO) with conductor David Loebel. As a dedicated chamber musician, he plays in a string quartet as part of the Honors “ChamberMusicLab” at the Rivers School Conservatory. This year his quartet worked on a piece commissioned by Chen Yi called Song of Spring, and they premiered it at the 43rd Annual Seminar on Contemporary Music for the Young at the Rivers School. In the past Noah has participated in NEC’s Chamber Music Intensive Performance Seminar (CHIPS) and has played in a number of other chamber ensembles through NEC, Greenwood Music Camp, and Berkshire Summer Music. He has also performed in a number of masterclasses for such distinguished musicians as Donald Weillerstein, Joseph Silverstein, Eugene Kim, Patinka Kopec, Sheila Feikowsky, Mayumi Seiler, and David Gillham. In 2019 and 2020, Noah won first prize at the Rondo Young Artists Competition and was a second prize winner at the Roman Totenberg Young Musicians String Competition in 2016. He has performed in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York, and Symphony Hall, Jordan Hall and the Tsai Performance Center in Boston. In the fall he will attend the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University as a student of Kathleen Winkler.

Violinist Yebin Yoo is one of Australia’s finest emerging artists, gaining a reputation for her musical sensitivity, spirituality, and intimacy. She was the youngest-ever winner of the Gisborne International Music Competition, as well as winner of the Australian Concerto and Vocal Competition, Australian National Youth Concerto Competition, National 3MBS ‘The Talent’ Competition, Preston Youth Concerto Competition, and was named the Inaugural ‘Young Performer of the Year’ at the Abbotsford Convent. She has appeared as a soloist with Symphony S.O.N.G. under the baton of Shinik Hahm, South Melbourne Symphony, Preston Symphony Orchestra, Queensland Youth Symphony, Melbourne Youth Orchestra, Townsville Festival Orchestra, as well as many regional orchestras across Australia, performing Brahms, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, Mendelssohn, and Khachaturian concertos. An avid chamber musician, she has been invited to Heifetz on Tour with the Borromeo Quartet, Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival, Ashkenasi/Kirshbaum Chamber Music Seminar, Lucas Parklands Festival, New England Conservatory Honors Program, Ravinia Festival and many more. She currently studies under Miriam Fried at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.

Laura Licata is a Project STEP and New England Conservatory Preparatory student under the study of Magdalena Richter. When she was 7 years old she won a concerto competition at the Claflin Hill music school. Last year, she played Giga, Bach Partita in D minor at the Haynes Convention Center and she also won third place in NEC’s Concerto Competition. She is currently playing with the Boston Ballet in the next generation collaboration. Her skills in orchestral music have placed her in the Youth Symphony Orchestra at NEC at 13 years old. She lives with her parents and her dog named Patches.