Artist Spotlight – 2024-2025 Season

Our soloist for September and November include one familiar face and three new ones. Violinist Randall Goosby appeared during our socially distanced COVID season. Violinist Benjamin Baker, cellist James Baik and pianist Chaeyoung Park appear with the MSO for the first time to perform Beethoven’s Triple Concerto in Beethoven & Blue Jeans on November 9th & 10th.

Randall Goosby returns to perform Barber’s Violin Concerto on Sept. 21 & 22. Since he performed with us in 2000, his star has been on a remarkable rise. We are thrilled to have him back! He began violin studies at the age of 7 and made his solo debut with the Jacksonville (FL) Symphony at age 9. At the age of 13, Randall was the youngest participant ever to win the Sphinx Concerto Competition. He is a recipient of Sphinx’s Isaac Stern Award and has made two appearances at Carnegie Hall as part of the organization’s Young Artist Development Program. The New York Times raved that in his Carnegie Hall debut performance of Ysaye Solo Sonata No. 3, he “exerted a masterly level of control and lavished an exquisite tone…his performance won him a deserved standing ovation for its sheer virtuosity.”

Randall has been featured on National Public Radio’s “From the Top,” and he has been honored as a Rising Star of the Stradivari Society. Randall was a prize winner at the 2018 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, leading to his addition to the artist roster of Young Classical Artists Trust in London. As YCAT’s inaugural Robey Artist, in partnership with London Music Masters, Randall mentors and works closely with young musicians in schools around the UK. He is also a recipient of a career advancement grant from the Bagby Foundation. He has spent his summers studying at the Perlman Music Program, Verbier Festival Academy, and Mozarteum Summer Academy, among others.

As a soloist, Randall has performed widely throughout the USA, having appeared with the Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and the New World Symphony Orchestra, among others. He has also given recitals at such venues as the Kennedy Center (Washington D.C.), Kaufman Center (New York City), and Wigmore Hall (London).

 

Benjamin Baker, a New Zealand native, has moved audiences around the world with his musicianship, with recent performances as far afield as Lebanon, Albania, Siberia, China, Australia, New Zealand, Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela, and throughout the United Kingdom and United States.

He has performed as soloist with the Royal Philharmonic, English Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Bristol Metropolitan Orchestra, Sinfonia Cymru in Wales, National Children’s Orchestra in Manchester, Auckland Philharmonia, Maui Pops Orchestra, South Carolina’s Long Bay Symphony, Charleston Symphony, and Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.

Since winning 1st Prize at the 2016 YCA Susan Wadsworth International Auditions in New York and 3rd Prize at the Michael Hill Competition in New Zealand in 2017 Benjamin has established a strong international presence. Described by the New York Times as bringing “virtuosity, refinement and youthful exuberance” to his debut at Merkin Concert Hall, he is much sought after as soloist and chamber musician. Since his recital debuts on the Young Concert Artists Series at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and at New York’s Merkin Concert Hall, sponsored by the Peter Jay Sharp Prize, he has also given recitals and performed chamber music at Wigmore Hall, New York’s Caramoor Center, Haydn’s Ferry Chamber Music Series, New York’s Morgan Library & Museum, Ithaca College, Evergreen Museum & Library, Ravinia Festival, Washington Performing Arts, Pepperdine University, Buffalo Chamber Music Society, and the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival.

Highlights of Benjamin’s 23-24 season included debuts with the London Philharmonic Orchestra playing Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante alongside violist Jordan Bak, BBC National Orchestra of Wales playing the Barber Concerto under Ryan Bancroft, and the world premiere of Matthew Kaner’s Violin Concerto with BBC Scottish and Ryan Wigglesworth. As part of Young Concert Artists’ special season finale performance Benjamin will also make an appearance at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall in May 2024.

 

Cellist James Baik has been described as “an undeniable authority,” and possess “a real warmth emerging in lyricism… and displays mixture of sonic mastery and interiority,” by Belgian newspaper Le Soir, after his astounding performance at the 2021 Queen Elisabeth competition. Recently, James was a finalist at the 2019 Stulberg International String Competition and would go on to receive the first prize at the prestigious Irving M. Klein International Competition. He made his debut solo appearance in 2015 with the Houston Civic Symphony Orchestra and the Clear Lake Symphony in Saint-Saens’ Cello Concerto No. 1. In 2018, James won the DePaul Concerto Competition, reached the finals at the Johansen International Competition in Washington D.C and Baik rounded the year by being named a YoungArts finalist, participated at YoungArts Week in Miami and awarded the grand prize at the Walgreens National Competition, resulting in a performance of the Schumann Cello Concerto with conductor Dr. Allen Dennis at Northwestern University.

Highlights from recent and upcoming performances include the Dvorak Cello Concerto with the Colburn Orchestra, under the baton of Sir Andrew Davies at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Haydn’s Cello Concerto in C Major with the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie with conductor Vahan Mardirossian, a performance of Brahms’ Double Concerto alongside violinist Gabrielle Després and the Peninsula Symphony under the baton of Mitchell Sardou Klein, and chamber music performances at the Ravinia Festival, the Music in the Vineyards Festival in Napa Valley, and Nevada Chamber Music Festival, where he is an invited guest artist. In 2021, James, alongside his colleagues’ violinist Ray Ushikubo and pianist HyeJin Kim, performed the Beethoven Triple Concerto with the Pasadena Symphony under the baton of David Lockington, where he also performed a new work for two celli with the conductor as composer and cellist.

 

Chaeyoung Park has been praised as a passionate pianist who “does not play a single note without thought or feeling.” (New York Concert Review). Embracing a broad range of the classical music literature, her programs feature works ranging from the early French Baroque by Rameau to Beethoven sonatas to new music by living composers including South Korean classical composer, Unsuk Chin. Through Park’s various roles as a recitalist, chamber musician, and concerto soloist, she has performed at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, Bravo! Vail Music Festival, Tongyeong International Music Festival, Ravinia’s Bennett Gordon Hall, Symphony Center’s Orchestra Hall, as well as live-streamed concerts presented by the Gilmore Rising Stars series, the Carlsen Center, and the Lied Center of Kansas virtual series during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As winner of the 2019 Hilton Head International Piano Competition, Park is the first female Korean pianist to receive First Place in the history of the competition. She subsequently presented her solo recital debut at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall and performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 with the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra under the baton of John Morris Russell. Her debut album on the Steinway label (to be released in soon), highlights diverse aspects of her artistry and her commitment to sharing hidden gems of the piano repertoire. It features the complete set of Musica Ricercata by Ligeti, as well as the more traditional, beloved masterpiece, Piano Sonata No. 3 by Brahms.