Concert
Week of April 20, 2019
Violinist Kate Hatmaker is the co-founder and Executive/Artistic Director of Art of Élan, a San Diego-based chamber music organization committed to bringing innovative classical music to diverse audiences (www.artofelan.org), and has been a violinist with the San Diego Symphony since 2006. She has played with a wide variety of American orchestras, including the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the New World Symphony, and has also performed at the Breckenridge Music Festival, the Vail International Dance Festival, and La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest. She is a frequent chamber music recitalist and guest clinician and has been a featured soloist with numerous orchestras in North America, including the San Diego Symphony. A passionate advocate for innovation in the arts, she has been invited to speak at Carnegie Mellon University, UC San Diego, San Diego State University, and Point Loma Nazarene University, among others. She completed her Master of Music degree at Carnegie Mellon University and her undergraduate training at both the University of Iowa and the Sorbonne University in Paris, France, graduating Phi Beta Kappa with high honors and degrees in both Political Science and French.
Julie Smith Phillips, Principal Harpist of the San Diego Symphony, is one of the most prominent American young harpists today, performing as both an orchestral musician and a concert artist. Gaining international recognition for her performing style and diverse repertoire, Ms. Phillips was the Silver medalist winner in the 2004 USA International Harp Competition and Bronze medalist in 2001. She made her National Symphony Orchestra debut in 2003 and has been honored in numerous competitions throughout the country.
An active recitalist and soloist with orchestra, Ms. Phillips’ appearances include performances with the San Diego Symphony, the New World Symphony Orchestra, the South Dakota Symphony, the West Los Angeles Symphony, the Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra, the National Repertory Orchestra and the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra. She has been the featured recitalist for the 2006 American Harp Society National Conference, the 2007 USA International Harp Competition and was a Guest Artist for the 2010 Young Artist Harp Seminar in Rabun Gap, Georgia.
Equally experienced as a chamber and orchestral musician, Ms. Phillips collaborates with renowned musicians across the country. A founding member of the San Diego-based Myriad Trio, she regularly appears in chamber concerts and has performed abroad in Italy, Japan, and Taiwan. During the 2006-07 season she was the Acting Principal Harpist of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and prior to that held the position of Principal Harp for the New World Symphony Orchestra.
As a teacher, Ms. Phillips maintains a private studio and works with students of all ages. She is a certified instructor in the Suzuki method and is the Adjunct Harp Professor at the University of San Diego.
Ms. Phillips has a solo album, The Rhapsodic Harp, which is available from her website, www.harpjas.com, as well as a recording with The Myriad Trio, entitled The Eye of Night. Attending the Cleveland Institute of Music, she received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in harp performance where she studied with Yolanda Kondonassis. Her other primary teachers have included Alice Chalifoux and Patrice Lockhart. A native of Hastings, NE, Ms. Phillips began studying the harp at age eleven.
San Diego Symphony Orchestra violinist Pei-Chun Tsai of Taiwan, is a first-prize winner of the Tainan Violin Competition and went on to win the first prize of the Taiwan National Violin Competition twice. She made her solo debut in Carnegie Weill Recital Hall in 1997. She has performed as a soloist and a chamber musician in the Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center and the National Concert Hall in Taiwan. Pei-Chun has participated in the Yellow Barn and Taos summer music festivals in the United States as well as the Holland Music Session in Amsterdam.
Ms. Tsai completed her degree in violin performance at The Juilliard School where she studied with Joseph Fuchs. In addition, she has studied extensively with Earl Carlyss, Daniel Phillips, Harvey Shapiro, and Sally Thomas. She received her DMA in violin performance from the City University of New York in 2010 with her doctoral thesis “Richard Strauss’ Violin Writing in His Early Years from 1870 to 1898- The Influence of the Violin Sonata.”
In addition to her performing career, Ms. Tsai is a devoted teacher. As a scholarship recipient at The Julliard School, she was on the faculty of the pre-college division and has been on the faculty as a Lecturer in Violin at San Diego State University since 2011.