SEAN LEE, violin

With performances described by The New York Times as “breathtakingly beautiful”, violinist Sean Lee is quickly gaining recognition as one of today’s most talented young artists, having received top prizes in the “Premio Paganini” International Violin Competition and the Young Concert Artists, Inc. International Auditions.

As the winner of the Juilliard Concerto Competition, Lee made his New York City concerto debut at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall with conductor James DePreist and the Juilliard Orchestra. He has also appeared as a soloist with the Orchestra Del Teatro Carlo Felice, Westchester Symphony, Bedford Chamber Players, Peninsula Symphony, Torrance Symphony, and Redlands Symphony. As a recitalist, Lee has performed at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall in New York City, the South Orange Performing Arts Center in New Jersey, on the Sundays Live series at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and on the Artists Ascending series in Memphis, Tennessee.

An equally involved chamber musician, Lee has performed at Ravinia Festival, Music@Menlo, Maui Classical Music Festival, Sarasota Music Festival, and Montecito Summer Music Festival. Lee also performed for four seasons as a founding member of the LK String Quartet, drawing praise from The New York Times as “…fiery and propulsive, with striking unanimity…”, and from The Washington Post for “warm tone, elegant finish, a vivid engagement with the scores’ drama and ensemble that was tight as a drum.” Lee has appeared in a variety of chamber music configurations at venues including the Kennedy Center, Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Americas Society, Le Poisson Rouge, and Alice Tully Hall. Lee performs regularly with the Metropolis Ensemble, an ensemble based in New York which commissions and premiers works from today’s leading composers. Other chamber music collaborations include performances with Paul Katz, Vivian Weilerstein, Ron Leonard, Miriam Fried, and Itzhak Perlman.

After studying with renowned violin pedagogue Robert Lipsett and legendary violinist Ruggiero Ricci, Lee studied at the Juilliard School under the tutelage of the internationally acclaimed Itzhak Perlman for a Bachelor of Music Degree and Master of Music Degree, and graduated as a recipient of the William Schuman Prize. During his studies, Lee led the Juilliard Orchestra for four seasons as one of its concertmasters for performances under the batons of David Atherton, James DePriest, Xian Zhang, Alan Gilbert, and David Robertson for performances at venues including Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Shanghai Grand Theatre, and Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts.

In addition to his performing life, Lee is a dedicated educator. As a recipient of the Starling Fellowship, Lee serves as teaching assistant to Itzhak Perlman at the Juilliard School, and has also taught chamber music and been a substitute conductor at the Pre-College Division of the Juilliard School. In 2010, Lee also joined the faculty of Music@Menlo’s Chamber Music Institute, and is a member of the violin faculty of the Perlman Music Program, where he was a student since 2003.

ROHAN DE SILVA, piano

Rohan De Silva’s partnerships with violin virtuosos Itzhak Perlman, Cho-Liang Lin, Midori, Joshua Bell, Benny Kim, Kyoko Takezawa, Vadim Repin, Gil Shaham, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, and Julian Rachlin have led to highly acclaimed performances at recital venues all over the world.  With these and other artists he has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall and Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center, Library of Congress, Philadelphia Academy of Music, Ambassador Theater in Los Angeles, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Wigmore Hall in London, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the Mozarteum in Salzburg and La Scala in Milan and Tel-Aviv, Israel.  His festival appearances include the Aspen, Interlochen, Manchester, Ravinia and Schleswig-Holstein festivals, the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan, and the Wellington Arts Festival in New Zealand. He performs frequently with Itzhak Perlman and was seen with Mr. Perlman on PBS’ Live from Lincoln Center broadcast in early January 2000.  In September 2009, Mr. De Silva performed with Mr. Perlman in Mexico City and in recital at the Moscow Conservatory.  Mr. De Silva regularly tours the Far East with Mr. Perlman, and in October 2011, they travel to Asia for performances in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.  The 2011-12 season will also see them together in recital across the United States, including stops at Boston’s Symphony Hall, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, and Washington’s Kennedy Center Concert Hall.  Mr. De Silva and Mr. Perlman recently performed at the State Dinner for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, hosted by President George W. Bush and Mrs. Bush at the White House. 

Mr. De Silva, a native of Sri Lanka, began his piano studies with his mother, the late Primrose De Silva, and with the late Mary Billimoria.  He spent six years at the Royal Academy of Music in London as a student of Hamish Milne, Sydney Griller, and Wilfred Parry.  While in London, he received many awards including the Grover Bennett Scholarship, the Christian Carpenter Prize, the Martin Music Scholarship, the Harold Craxton Award for advanced study in England, and, upon his graduation, the Chappell Gold Medal for best overall performance at the Royal Academy.  Mr. De Silva was the first recipient of a special Scholarship in the arts from the Presidents Fund of Sri Lanka.  This enabled him to enter The Juilliard School, where he received both his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees, studying piano with Martin Canin, chamber music with Felix Galimir, and working closely with violin pedagogue Dorothy DeLay.  He was awarded a special prize as Best Accompanist at the 1990 Ninth International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.  He received the  Samuel Sanders Collaborative Artist Award presented to him by Itzhak Perlman at the 2005 Classical Recording Foundation Awards Ceremony at Carnegie Hall.

Mr. De Silva joined the collaborative arts and chamber music faculty of The Juilliard School in 1991, and in 1992 was awarded honorary Associate of the Royal Academy of Music.  In 2001, he joined the faculty at the Ishikawa Music Academy in Japan, where he gives masterclasses in collaborative piano.  Radio and television credits include The Tonight Show with Midori, CNN’s “Showbiz Today”, NHK Television in Japan, National Public Radio, WQXR and WNYC in New York, and Berlin Radio.  He has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, CBS/SONY Classical, Collins Classics in London, and RCA Victor.