Resident lecturer and director of family concerts for CMS since 1992, Bruce Adolphe is a composer of international renown, much of whose output addresses science, history, and the struggle for human rights.

Resident lecturer and director of family concerts for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since 1992, Bruce Adolphe is a composer of international renown, much of whose output addresses science, history, and the struggle for human rights. His works are frequently performed by major artists, including Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, Fabio Luisi, Joshua Bell, Daniel Hope, Angel Blue, the Brentano String Quartet, the Washington National Opera, the Metropolitan Opera Guild, the Human Rights Orchestra of Europe, and over 60 orchestras worldwide. Among his most performed works are the violin concerto I Will Not Remain Silent, the violin/piano duo Einstein’s Light, and Tyrannosaurus Sue: A Cretaceous Concerto.  

Praised as an “artist of enormous prowess” (Verbier Festival Newsletter) with “lots of clarity, confidence, and wisdom” (New York Concert Review), pianist Sahun Sam Hong brings his colorful style and riveting energy to the solo, chamber, and concerto stage. He was the winner of the 2017 Vendome Prize at Verbier, and received second prize at the 2017 International Beethoven Competition Vienna. He was also a recipient of a 2021 American Pianists Award. A sought-after interpreter of the duo and chamber repertoire, Hong has been invited to perform at major chamber music festivals including Marlboro, Music@Menlo, Ravinia’s Steans Institute, Taos, and Four Seasons. In addition to performing, he is a prolific arranger of chamber music and orchestral works, and his innovative transcriptions are performed all over the world. He is a founding member of ensemble132, a chamber music collective that presents his transcriptions on annual tours. In 2024, he begins his tenure as a member of CMS’s Bowers Program. At the age of 16, Hong graduated from Texas Christian University, studying with John Owings. He also studied for six years with Leon Fleisher at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. Hong is currently based in New York City, and continues his studies with Yong Hi Moon at Peabody.

Praised by The Strad as an “utterly dazzling” artist, violinist Danbi Um captivates audiences with her virtuosity, individual sound, and interpretive sensitivity. She is a Menuhin International Violin Competition Silver Medalist, a winner of the prestigious 2018 Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant, and a recent top prizewinner of the Naumburg International Violin Competition. Recent and upcoming engagements include appearances with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia and her Washington, DC, recital debut at the Phillips Collection. This season will also see her return to the Rockport, Moab, Saratoga Performing Arts (SPAC), Santa Fe, and North Shore Music Festivals, as well as her debuts at the Cleveland Chamber Music Society, Chamber Music San Francisco, and the Mostly Music, Newburyport, La Musica (Sarasota), and Chelsea Music Festivals. In addition, she embarks on a duo recital tour with guitarist Jiji to Delaware, Houston, New York, and Nova Scotia. Her debut album, Much Ado: Romantic Violin Masterworks, will be released in fall 2023. Past concerto engagements include appearances with the Israel Symphony, Auckland Philharmonic, Vermont Symphony, and Dartmouth Symphony. Born in Seoul, South Korea, Ms. Um moved to the United States to study at the Curtis Institute of Music, where she earned a bachelor’s degree. She also holds an Artist Diploma from Indiana University. Her teachers have included Shmuel Ashkenasi, Joseph Silverstein, Jaime Laredo, and Hagai Shaham. She is an alum of CMS’s Bowers Program and plays a 1683 “ex-Petschek” Nicolo Amati violin, on loan from a private collection.

Lizzie Burns is a sought-after and experienced bassist who performs regularly in chamber orchestras, continuo sections, rhythm sections, and new music ensembles. She has recorded for major motion picture soundtracks and record labels, has given dozens of world premieres, is a member of The Knights and A Far Cry, and is on faculty at the Hartt School of Music and the Mannes Conservatory at The New School. She draws inspiration from her colleagues and feels fortunate to work with the International Contemporary Ensemble, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, New Century Chamber Orchestra, New Orchestra of Washington, New York City Ballet Orchestra, The Knights, and A Far Cry. As an experienced historical bassist she has performed with the Handel and Haydn Society and Teatro Nuovo. She has premiered compositions by Julia Wolfe, Caroline Shaw, Pauline Oliveros, Andy Akiho, and Jörg Widmann, among many others. She has recorded for the Sony Masterworks, Naxos, and Nonesuch record labels and can be heard on the soundtracks of popular motion pictures including the HBO series Succession. As an alum of Ensemble Connect, a rigorous two-year fellowship program based at Carnegie Hall, she is an experienced teaching artist who equally enjoys engaging with audiences from the stage of Carnegie Hall as she does performing in homeless shelters and incarcerated communities, and working with public school students in the Bronx. Burns attended New England Conservatory and Boston University. Her primary teachers were Don Palma and Ed Barker, to whom she is eternally grateful.