Jaram Kim, Violin
A laureate of the 2000 Yehudi Menuhin International Young Violinists Competition, Jaram Kim made her debut at the age of six in GwangJu Namdo Art Concerto Hall. After receiving the Keum Ho scholarship, Jaram came to the United States to study at the Juilliard PreCollege in the studio of Hyo Kang and made her New York concerto debut performing with the Jupiter Symphony under the baton of Maestro Jens Nygaard.
Jaram graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music with a Bachelor of Music degree in 2007 from the studio of Ida Kavafian; while at Curtis she performed under the baton of conductors including Christoph Eschenbach, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Otto-Werner Mueller. Then in 2008, she began her graduate studies at the Yale School of Music under the direction of Ani Kavafian. In 2009, Jaram moved to Italy to continue her studies at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole in Florence under the tutelage of M. Pavel Vernikov, and in 2010, Jaram joined the studio of M. Salvatore Accardo at the Accademia Walter Stauffer Fondazione in Cremona, Italy.
Christopher Schmitt, Piano
Described as "carefully colored" and "sensitive" by The Washington Post, pianist Christopher Schmitt was also hailed as a “formidable talent” and “mature beyond his years” by The Santa Barbara News-Press, regarding his performance of Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1. Having completed his doctorate at The Juilliard School in 2016, he has been sponsored for concerts by The Chopin Foundation of the United States, The Stecher and Horowitz Foundation, and The Embassy Series. He performs at the festival Málaga Clasica in Spain, as well as in July of 2016 in his own concert series in Barcelona, Classics in Catalan. A collaborator with cellist Kian Soltani on NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts in March 2019. Dr. Schmitt currently resides in Washington DC, and as pianist of “The President's Own" US Marine Chamber Orchestra, performs regularly in the White House and in concert halls across the Washington DC metropolitan area, leading a multifaceted career as chamber musician, pedagogue, and soloist. In 2024, he founded the Classical Arts Society of Washington, where he hopes to share the Beauty of classical music with the world through engaging public concerts, educational outreach initiatives, and the cultivation of a core community of classical music lovers.