Red Cedar Chamber Music: Old Friends

A friendship rekindled after more than 30 years! Choong-Jin Chang, principal violist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, joins violinist Miera Kim and cellist Carey Bostian in a program for violin, viola, and cello. A classmate of Miera’s at the Curtis Institute of Music in the late 1980’s, Choong-Jin and Miera reconnected a few years ago when the Philadelphia Orchestra performed at Hancher Auditorium. This is a rare opportunity to hear an artist with an international career up close and personal!  The program includes works by living composers Ingrid  Stölzel , Andrea Casarrubios, and Michael Kimber, Beethoven’s String Trio Op. 9, No. 3, and features the viola as soloist as we give the Red Cedar treatment to Bach’s Sonata No. 2 in D Major for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord Obligato.

 A native of Seoul, Korea, Choong-Jin (C.J.) Chang has been Principal Viola of the Philadelphia Orchestra since 2006. He made his performance debut as a 12-year-old violinist with the Seoul Philharmonic as grand prize winner of the Yook Young National Competition. At age 13, he moved to the U.S. to attend the Juilliard School of Music. He subsequently studied at Temple University and at the Curtis Institute of Music, from which he received degrees in both violin and viola. His primary teachers were Jascha Brodsky and Joseph DePasquale. Mr. Chang is also a respected teacher; among his former pupils are members of the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra, as well as winners of major competitions. He currently serves as Viola Professor at the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University and as an artist/faculty at the Aspen Music Festival and School.

This series of concerts is made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts, The Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation, Farmers State Bank, the City of Marion, Hills Bank, AEGON Transamerica Foundation, the Giacoletto Foundation, the McIntyre Foundation, and the Grandon Foundation. Additional support comes from United Fire Group and Friends of Red Cedar Chamber Music.

Artist sponsorship is generously provided by Simmons Perrine Moyer Bergman PLC and Juanita Dennert.