Westmont Academy for Young Artists
For ages 12-18
August 7th-11th / August 14th-19th
faculty for 2023 TBA...
Faculty
Han Kim
WAYA Artistic Director,
Violin
Ruth Lin
Westmont College Music Department Chair, Conductor
Daniel Gee
WAYA ensemble coach
SBYouth Symphony Conductor
Joanne Kim
WAYA Administrative Director,
Clarinet, Wind coach
Christopher Ahn
Cello
Hyo Jin Lee
Piano
Laura Walter
Aural Skills lecturer, Flute
Andrea Di Maggio
Flute
Guest Teacher, Chamber Music Coaches and Teaching Assistants
Eric Heidner
Brass
Samila Aquino Holt
Teaching Assistant
Junia Work
Teaching Assistant
Kim "gave the audience a rich sampling of his versatility. Kim has an expressive temperament: his playing is irresistibly dynamic and colorful. The [program] revealed Kim's sure ear, clean articulation, and maturity of interpretation." CASA Magazine
Violinist, Han Kim is an award-winning and internationally accomplished artist who has performed to critical acclaim in numerous countries on four continents. He has been praised by many audiences around the world for his passion, sensitivity and charisma. His playing is described as a "musical gift of rare beauty" The Korea Times. His knowledge and versatility allow him to perform a diverse mix of musical styles ranging from the standard works to avant-garde contemporary repertoire.
Dr. Kim has concertized extensively as solo performer, duo-recitalist and chamber musician. In the United States, he has performed in some of the nation’s most prominent venues including Alice Tully Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Boston Symphony Hall, Weill Recital Hall and Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, Cutler Majestic Theater, Jordan Hall, Kaufmann Concert Hall, and The Kennedy Center. Performances have also led him to institutions and festivals including Académie Internationale de Courchevel, Boston Conservatory, Columbia University, Le Domaine Forget International Music Festival, The Juilliard School, Longy School of Music, Manhattan School of Music, Mannes College, Meadowmount School of Music, Morningside Music Bridge, Musicorda, New England Conservatory, and Stony Brook University. He has appeared as soloist with orchestras in the US and abroad performing standard concertos to contemporary world premieres.
As a Promessa Records Artist he has released Encore Favori, a solo CD featuring a dozen encores and virtuosic showpieces, and will be recording the next album in 2020. He is Founder and the violinist of The Finehouse-Kim-Yhee Trio.
His passion for sharing musical knowledge and experience to young musicians has taken him to many different parts of the world. As an avid educator, he has given lectures, workshops and masterclasses nationally and internationally on technique, innovative practice methods and performance. He devotes a considerable amount of time to traveling for clinics as well as maintaining an internationally active recording and performance schedule. At Westmont College, he is Head of Strings and teaches alongside his wife, Joanne Kim, a clarinetist. He is Founder and Director of Westmont Academy for Young Artists and is on the faculty at Chamber Music Society of Santa Barbara and InterHarmony International Music Festival in Italy. He has served as Chair of Adjudicators of the New York International Music Competition and is currently the string adjudicator for Santa Barbara Music Club Scholarship Awards.
Dr. Kim has earned his Doctor of Musical Arts in violin performance under a fellowship grant. His Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in violin performance are from The Juilliard School where he was a merit scholarship recipient. His influential teachers and mentors include Roman Totenberg, Sally Thomas and Pamela Frank. He has worked with distinguished chamber music artists including Emerson, Guarneri, Juilliard, and Orion String Quartets.
He is a Bella Rosins Artist and performs on a Carlo Antonio Testore of 1721.
His CDs can be purchased at the Westmont College bookstore and hanjoannekim.com.
In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his wife and dog, Dolce, exploring restaurants in Santa Barbara, playing pool, and gardening.
A native of Los Angeles, Christopher Ahn has appeared in solo and chamber music performances across the U.S. as well as abroad in Europe, Australia, South Korea, South Africa, Canada and Central America. Recent performances include solo recitals at the Brand Library and Art Center, UCLA, California State University, Dominguez Hills, and Santa Monica College. He has also performed chamber music on the Dilijan, L’Ermitage Foundation, Music Guild, Trinity Lutheran, and Chapman University concert series, and has performed numerous times for live radio broadcasts on the Sundays Live recital series at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Chris has enjoyed frequent collaboration with the Lineage Dance Company, most recently presenting a performance of the Bach Cello Suites with dance choreography on the Brand Library and Art Center Dance Performance series. He has also worked closely with several Los Angeles based composers, premiering new works for solo cello and chamber ensemble on new music series throughout the Los Angeles area.
Chris has been invited to summer programs at the Aspen Music Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Banff Centre Masterclasses, Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival, and the Rencontres Musicales Camerata Lysy in Montepulciano, Italy. He has collaborated with members of the St. Lawrence, Ysaye, and Amar string quartets, and has performed in masterclasses for such distinguished musicians as Anner Bylsma, Ralph Kirshbaum, Lynn Harrell, Rohan de Saram, Paul Katz, Raphael Wallfisch, Matt Haimovitz, Ani Kavafian, Ida Kavafian, and members of the Takacs, Cleveland and Borodin string quartets.
Chris pursued his studies at UCLA, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and the University of Michigan, where his principal teachers included Antonio Lysy, Richard Aaron, Stephen Geber, and Colin Carr. He resides in Los Angeles, where he maintains an active and varied freelance career playing with orchestras, chamber ensembles, and recording for film and television. He was appointed Principal Cello of Opera Santa Barbara in 2018, and he currently serves as a member of the string faculty at Westmont College.
Clarinetist, Joanne Kim, has concertized as solo performer and chamber and orchestral musician in many parts of North America and Asia. Her performing career began in her late teens with the honorable Stamas Scholarship Fund from the New York Philharmonic offering her a new clarinet for her studies and concerts. She has performed with New York Soloist Ensemble, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Korean Chamber Orchestra, Astoria Symphony, New Jersey Philharmonic Orchestra, Chelsea Symphony, and the Santa Barbara Symphony.
Concerts have led her to renowned venues including Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Symphony Space, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Massey Hall, Glenn Gould Studio, Toronto Centre for the Arts, Roy Thompson Hall, Merkin Hall, and Granada Theatre. She has also performed at colleges, conservatories and festivals including Royal Conservatory of Music, Mannes College, Columbia University, Manhattan School of Music, Queens College, Hunter College, Wilfred Laurier University, University of Western Ontario, Ball State University, New School University, Long Island University, Late Romantics Festival, Waterloo Windfest, and Centre d'arts Orford.
Dr. Kim has earned her Doctor of Musical Arts in clarinet performance at Manhattan School of Music with a fellowship under the tutelage of Mark Nuccio. Her Bachelor of Music is from Mannes College, and Master of Music degree with merit scholarship in the prestigious Orchestral Performance Program is from Manhattan School of Music.
As a passionate educator, Dr. Kim travels to give lectures and classes while maintaining an active performance schedule. She performs with her husband, Han Soo Kim, a violinist, and is a member of the Sonos5winds, the wind quintet-in-residence at Westmont College. Dr. Kim is on the faculty at Westmont College, Santa Barbara City College, Westmont Academy for Young Artists, and InterHarmony International Music Festival in Italy.
Andrea Di Maggio, flutist, has been praised for her “stellar playing and social grace” by the Santa Barbara Independent and is in demand as both a teacher and an performer in the Santa Barbara area. Andrea graduated from San Jose State University in 2001, summa cum laude, with a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Performance where she studied with Paris Conservatory, French flutist, Isabelle Chapuis-Starr. While attending San Jose State University, she won many Bay Area instrumental performance competitions. Andrea was granted a teaching position at Arizona State University during 2001-2002, and while completing her first year of graduate school, she taught private lessons to the undergraduate flute majors, implemented and taught a flute course to music education students, and performed in faculty recitals. Andrea transferred to the University of California, Santa Barbara in Fall 2002 to study with Jill Felber on a full scholarship. She graduated with honors with a Masters Degree in Instrumental Performance in 2004. Andrea has performed in masterclasses with Robert Stallman, Tadeo Coehlo, Michel Debost, and Jill Felber. Andrea regularly performs in solo and chamber music recitals and is a founding member of Sonos Montecito, the Woodwind Quintet-in-residence at Westmont College. Andrea maintains a small and competitive private flute studio, with students winning awards from the Santa Barbara Music Club and The Music Teachers Association of California. Andrea performs on a silver Miyazawa Boston Classic flute with gold and platinum headjoint. For more information please visit www.dimaggiomusic.com.
Dr. Ruth Lin conducts the Westmont College Orchestra and serves as the Music department chair. Dr. Lin is an award-winning teacher and works with orchestras and conductors from around the country and around the world. She has presented at the College Orchestra Director Association Conference, and has co-authored an article for Association of Lutheran Church Musicians magazine, In Tempo. She earned her bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL
Prior to her time at Westmont College, Dr. Lin was the Director of the Symphony Orchestra at Gustavus Adolphus College, where she also taught classes in classes in Conducting, Music Theory, Arranging, and a First Term Seminar in Film Music. She also served as the conductor of the Repertory Orchestra with the Minnesota Youth Symphonies.
Dr. Lin was one of the ten Conducting Fellows at the Juilliard Conducting Workshop for Music Educators where she had the opportunity to work with Virginia Allen, Assistant Dean for Orchestral Studies at The Juilliard School, JoAnn Falletta, Music Director of the Buffalo Symphony Orchestra and Virginia Symphony Orchestra, and Eugene Corporon, conductor of the Wind Symphony and Regents Professor of Music at the University of Northern Texas College of Music. Dr. Lin performed as a Debut Conductor with the National Symphony Orchestra as part of the National Conducting Institute where she had the opportunity to work with Maestro Leonard Slatkin and led the National Symphony Orchestra in concert.
Internationally, Dr. Lin has conducted the Xiamen Philharmonic in Xiamen, China, and the Musica Sinfonietta in Penang, Malaysia. Nationally, Dr. Lin was the conductor of the Iowa String Teachers Association High School Honors Orchestra, Wyoming All-State Orchestra, North Dakota Strings Festival, and the South Dakota All-State Orchestra. In Minnesota, she has conducted the Middle Level Honors Orchestra with MNsota, Central Lake Conference Honors Orchestra and the Northwest Suburban Conference Honors Orchestra. Additionally, Dr. Lin has conducted several world premieres, including "Faith and Perseverance," a commissioned work written specifically for the Gustavus Symphony Orchestra to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the College by Dr. Chen Yi, a Pulitzer Prize Finalist composer. Most recently in 2020, Dr. Lin commissioned and premiered “"Fanfare for a Weapon-Free World” by Steve Heitzeg, an Emmy award-winning composer.
Dr. Lin was born in Zhang Zhou, China. She immigrated to the United States with her family at the age of 10 and began her musical studies on the piano at the age of five. She earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University in Music Education and Music Technology. While working on her undergraduate degree, she studied piano with Alan Chow and had the opportunity to perform Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No.1 with the Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra as the Concerto Competition Winner. Still active as a pianist and performer, she was featured on the Dame Myra Hess Series on WFMT in March 2007, as part of the Lin-Kontorovitch piano duo and performs regularly in the Chicagoland area. Recordings of Dr. Lin's four-hand piano performances could be found on http://www.classicalconnect.com/#/browse/performers/76
Starting her professional debut at age 13 with Seoul Sinfonietta, Pianist Hyo Jin Lee has performed widely to critical acclaim throughout the United States, France, Australia and Korea.
Dr. Lee performed in concertos with the W Philharmonic, Korean Symphony, Gangnam Symphony, Korea Senior Symphony, Cheongju City Philharmonic Orchestra, and Los Angeles Doctors Symphony. In addition, she gave her recitals at Auditorium Gilles de la Rocque (Chourchevel, Paris), Steinway Hall (Sydney, Australia), Harvard Sanders Theater, Jordan Hall (Boston), South Hampton Cultural Center, Staller Center (New York), Seoul Arts Center, Kumho Art Hall, and Sejong Cultural Center (Seoul).
As a collaborative pianist, Dr. Lee has worked with musicians including Emerson Quartet, Colin Carr, Nicholas Cords, Lawrence Lesser, and Miriam Fried to name a few. She pursued her music education in the United States starting in high school, studying with the world-renowned pedagogue Wha Kyung Byun and Russell Sherman, and continued to train at New England Conservatory of Music. She completed her Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree and Graduate Diploma at the Conservatory with academic honors. She was also a recipient of the prestigious Adele Bramson Ganick Endowed Scholarship for demonstrating excellence in piano performance. She then went on to complete her Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance at Stony Brook University with Gilbert Kalish.
Dr. Lee held the position of Lecturer at Seoul National University and Korea National University of Arts. She is currently on the faculty at Music Academy at Seoul Arts Center.
Flutist Laura Walter has performed widely across the United States, and is an active adjudicator at prestigious competitions. Her students have gone on to successful careers as musicians, doctors, scientists and major symphony conductors. After studying flute, piano, and jazz extensively in the Midwest, she played with the Lexington Philharmonic (KY), Dayton Philharmonic (OH), Springfield Symphony (OH) and Richmond Symphony (IN). She then furthered her studies with Peter Lloyd of the London Symphony, and Kyril Magg of the Cincinnati Symphony. Her M.M was earned at the University of Kentucky, and she now performs with the Santa Barbara Symphony, Opera Santa Barbara, and other chamber groups in the Santa Barbara and Los Angeles area. Alry Publications has published several of her pieces for flute choir, and an etude book written to highlight difficult orchestral flute passages. She has taught at Wright State University, Miami Valley Music Academy, and been a featured guest lecturer at the Dayton Philharmonic.
Ms. Walter has been on the faculty of Westmont College for over 20 years. She has recorded over a dozen CD’s with various artists, performed on the Today Show, and for Oprah, as well as with Henry Mancini, Doc Severinsen, Yanni, Steve Allen and others. Her solo album “The Nature of Nurture” has won critical acclaim. Recently she was featured on a recording of J.S. Bach’s Mass in B Minor with the Santa Barbara Master Chorale, and locally premiered “Cut Pieces” with Ursula Gallenkamp, performance artist. As a piccoloist in John Luther Adams’ ground breaking “Inuksuit” for 48 percussionists and 3 piccolos, she performed at the Ojai Music Festival, in a tree.
Formerly the Executive Director of The Richards Institute of Education and Research, a non‐profit group, she continues working with teachers and children, especially at‐risk youth, using the experience of interactive play to develop motivation, intelligence, literacy, emotional stability and beauty. She is the regional coordinator of Education Through Music (ETM) and leads workshops for teachers to incorporate the arts into the current STEAM philosophy, integrating song, movement and play into daily activities for a more effective classroom. Traveling extensively in the summers, she continues working with young musicians across the US and Japan, at Fine Arts camps and workshops. A special interest in trauma has led her to the exploration of the uses of music and art in healing, creating empathy, and hope.
Junia Work is a sophomore at Westmont College, where she is majoring in music. She has studied violin with Kaori Atkins, Mary Beth Woodruff, and Dr. Han Soo Kim, and has attended summer festivals across the country. She began playing in ensembles in elementary school with Junior Strings, and after many years in Santa Barbara Strings has joined the Westmont Orchestra. She has received scholarships from the Performing Arts Scholarship Foundation and the Santa Barbara Music Club. As she especially enjoys chamber music, she has played in several chamber ensembles, both locally and at festivals, and hopes to continue to learn and grow as she studies at Westmont.
Eric C. Heidner currently teaches private trombone lessons at Westmont College. A native Santa Barbaran, he is in his sixth year as the Director of Bands at Santa Barbara City College, where he directs both the SBCC Concert Band and the "Good Times" Jazz Ensemble. Before recently joining the faculty at the college, he held the position of Director of Bands for Santa Barbara High School for five years. In addition, he has worked with a great many local school music programs, including those of Dos Pueblos High School, Arroyo Grande High School, Bishop Diego High School, and numerous public elementary and parochial schools. He holds a B.M. in trombone performance from UCSB (studying under Bill Booth), as well as an M.A. in musicology. He earned his teaching credential from Westmont College in 1997. As a professional brass instrumentalist, he has worked with Doc Severinsen and has played for such people as Dizzy Gillespie and former President Ronald Reagan, and has served as both principal hornist and principal trombonist to the SBCC Concert Band between 1992 and 2003.
Daniel Gee is Assistant Professor of Music at Westmont College, where he conducts the College Choir and Chamber Singers. Actively and equally engaged in both choral and orchestral worlds, Gee currently serves as Associate Conductor of Orange County’s Choral Arts Initiative and as Assistant Conductor for the Long Beach Symphony. His breadth of conducting experience has ranged from professional ensembles to church and community groups, as well as educational settings. Recent engagements, locally and abroad, have included guest conducting the Global Harmony Symphony of Orange County, coaching cello sectionals for the Pasadena Youth Symphony Orchestras, and leading vocal and conducting masterclasses at the 2018 Simpósio de Música hosted by the Assemblies of God Denomination in São Paulo and Jundiaí, Brazil. He is grateful to include Jo-Michael Scheibe, Cristian Grases, Eckart Preu, Larry Livingston, and Michael Shasberger, among many others, as his conducting mentors. Gee received his Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music.
As a composer, Gee has fulfilled several commissions for ensembles in the Santa Barbara and Los Angeles music communities, including the Santa Barbara Quire of , the Westmont Orchestra and College Choir, and the Westridge School Chamber Orchestra. His choral music has been published by Colla Voce Music on the Jo-Michael Scheibe Choral Series. Significant composition mentors have included Sean Friar, Morten Lauridsen, and Steve Butler.
A proud Westmont alumnus of 2013, Gee was a Monroe Scholar and graduated as First Senior, with departmental honors in both music composition and philosophy. He was a recipient of the Lilly Graduate Fellowship, and was a plenary session panelist for the Lilly Fellows Program 2020 National Conference. While studying at the University of Southern California, he served as Associate Conductor of both the Apollo Men’s Chorus and the Oriana Women’s Choir, for which he commissioned and premiered a new choral work for treble voices and piano by composer Emma Lou Diemer.
Website: danielgee.co