Who We Are
Founding Artistic Directors
Ran Dank, Concert Pianist
Soyeon Kate Lee, Concert Pianist
Technically dazzling and intellectually probing artistry exemplify Ran Dank’s pianism and musicality. He is a deeply engaging performer in recital, chamber music, and with orchestra.
Dank begins the 2018/19 season with returns to the Santa Fe and Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festivals, and the Cooperstown Summer Music Festival where he plays a duo recital with pianist Soyeon Kate Lee. They repeat their duo concert at the Yale School of Music. Ran plays guest weeks this season with the Eugene, Toledo, and Hawaii Symphonies. Recitals include a return to the Pro Musica San Miguel de Allende, a duo recital with Augustin Hadelich on the Linton series in Cincinnati, and a special performance with commentary of Frederic Rzewski’s The People United Will Never be Defeated on the San Francisco Performances Pivot series.
In recent seasons Ran Dank has performed with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, the Portland and Spokane Symphonies, and with the Kansas City Symphony and Michael Stern for their season finale in June 2018. He played chamber music with the Amernet Quartet at Maverick Concerts and duo recitals with Soyeon Kate Lee for the Hilton Head Symphony and the Cleveland Piano Competition. Solo recitals include those at Ravinia, the Gilmore, the Philip Lorenz Keyboard series in Fresno, and Town Hall in New York presented by People’s Symphony.
Ran Dank studied with Ursula Oppens and Richard Goode at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York as a Chancellor’s Fellow. He is Assistant Professor of Piano at University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He was on the Young Concert Artists roster in 2009 and in a subsequent New York recital debut sponsored by YCA and the Jerome L.Greene Foundation at Merkin Hall. He is a laureate of the Cleveland and Sydney International Competitions, the Naumburg Piano Competition, and First Prize winner of the Hilton Head International Piano Competition.
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First prize winner of the 2010 Naumburg International Piano Competition and the 2004 Concert Artist Guild International Competition, Korean-American pianist Soyeon Kate Lee has been lauded by The New York Times as a pianist with “a huge, richly varied sound, a lively imagination and a firm sense of style,” and by the Washington Post for her “stunning command of the keyboard.”
Soyeon Kate’s 2018/2019 season includes recitals in Durango, Colorado at Music in the Mountains, Cooperstown Music Festival, New York’s Bargemusic, Yale University’s Horowitz Piano Series, return performances at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and Connecticut’s Music Mountain Festival, and concerto performances with the Peninsula Symphony in Los Altos, CA, and Mozart’s Concerto No. 21, K. 467 with the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra.
Lee has been rapturously received as guest soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, symphony orchestras of Columbus, Bangor, Boca Raton, Wyoming, Bozeman, Cheyenne, Napa Valley, Scottsdale, Abilene, Naples, Santa Fe and Shreveport in the United States; the Daejeon Philharmonic Orchestra (South Korea), Ulsan Symphony Orchestra (South Korea), Orquesta de Valencia (Spain) and the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional (Dominican Republic), including performances under the batons of Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Jahja Ling, Jorge Mester and Otto-Werner Mueller.
Recent recital appearances include New York City programs at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall and Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Lincoln Center for the Performing Art’s Alice Tully Hall, Washington’s Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Cleveland’s Severance Hall, the Ravinia Festival’s “Rising Stars” series, Auditorio de Musica de Nacional in Madrid—part of a 13-city tour of Spain, tour of the Hawaiian Islands, Krannert Center, Herbst Theatre, and Finland’s Maanta Music Festival.
An active chamber musician, Soyeon Kate Lee frequently collaborates in many chamber music festivals throughout the United States, including the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and Music Mountain, and has been a member of the coveted Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society Two program where her performance of the Mozart Piano Trio was broadcast on PBS Live from Lincoln Center.
A Naxos recording artist, her discography spans Scarlatti Sonatas, Liszt Opera Transcriptions and two volumes of Scriabin works, with upcoming releases of Clementi Sonatas, as well as another volume of Scarlatti Sonatas. Ms. Lee’s recording of Re!nvented under the E1/Entertainment One (formerly Koch Classics) label garnered her a feature review in the Gramophone Magazine and the Classical Recording Foundation’s Young Artist of the Year Award.
A second prize and Mozart Prize winner of the 2003 Cleveland International Piano Competition and a laureate of the Santander International Piano Competition in Spain, Soyeon has worked extensively with Richard Goode, Robert McDonald, Ursula Oppens, and Jerome Lowenthal. A graduate of The Juilliard School, Ms. Lee was awarded every prize given to a pianist at Juilliard, including the William Petschek Piano Debut Award at Lincoln Center and the Arthur Rubinstein Award.
Ms. Lee is the co-founder and artistic director of Music by the Glass, a concert series dedicated to bringing together young professionals in New York City. A Yamaha Artist, Ms. Lee is an Associate Professor of Music in Piano at the Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music. She lives in Cincinnati with her husband, pianist Ran Dank and their children Noah and Ella.
Board
Jon Carter
Partner
Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Jessica Ciralsky
Ophthalmologist
Weill Cornell Medical Associates
Ran Dank
Concert Pianist
Joyce Kung
Attorney
Sive, Paget & Riesel PC
Edward Lai
Ophthalmologist
Weill Cornell Medical Associates
Soeun Nikole Lee
Deputy Director
ICC International Court of Arbitration, SICANA, Inc.
Korean Pop Recording Artist
Author
Attorney
Soyeon Kate Lee
Concert Pianist
Carolyn Starrett
VP, Professional Services
Flatiron Health
Nick Zager
Managing Director
Evercore ISI
Our Distinguished Advisory Board
Richard Goode
Jerome Lowenthal
Ursula Oppens
Pianists extraordinaire
and beloved teachers
Richard Weinert
President
Concert Artists Guild
Susan Wadsworth
President
Young Concert Artists
Eugenia Zukerman
Phenomenal Flutist
amazing friend and mentor
Wine
For several seasons, we have collaborated with the knowledgeable team at Nolita Wine Merchants to pair the perfect wine with our musical menu. Visit them online or at their beautiful shop at 227 Mulberry Street in NYC.