Musician

Benny Kim, violin
Cathy Meng Robinson, violin
Scott Lee, viola
Keith Robinson, cello

For over twenty years, the Miami String Quartet has been one of America’s top-rank chamber ensembles. Highlights of recent seasons include performances in New York at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, the 92nd Street Y, and the Kennedy Center, as well as engagements in Philadelphia, Boston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, New Orleans, San Francisco, Seattle, and St. Paul. International highlights include appearances in Bern, Cologne, Amsterdam, Istanbul, Lausanne, Montreal, Rio de Janeiro, Hong Kong, Taipei, and Paris. The Quartet has served as resident ensemble at the Kent/Blossom Music Festival, and has appeared at Chamber Music Northwest, Mostly Mozart, Ravinia, the Brevard Festival, Rutgers Summerfest, Music from Angel Fire, Virginia Arts Festival, and the festivals of La Jolla, Santa Fe, and Pensacola.

Formed in 1988, the Quartet has also won recognition as laureates of the 1993 Evian Competition, 1992 Concert Artists Guild Competition, 1991 London String Quartet Competition, and as the 1989 Grand Prize Winner of the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. Winners of the 2000 Cleveland Quartet Award and Chamber Music Society Two ensemble of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center from 1999-2001, the Miami String Quartet has been in residence at Hugh A. Glauser School of Music at Kent State University since 2004.

The Miami String Quartet has commissioned and premiered works from (Bruce) Adolphe to (Ellen Taaffe) Zwilich – as well as Ricky Ian Gordon, Annie Gosfield, Philip Maneval, Roberto Sierra, Robert Starer, Augusta Read Thomas, Joan Tower, and Peteris Vasks. They have recorded music of Fauré, Saint-Saëns, Ginastera, and Vasks; their most recent recording comprises two quartets of Joan Tower for Naxos.

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Viola

Scott Lee has established himself as one of the most exciting and unique violists. His exceptional musicality and virtuositic playing distinguish him as one of this generation’s quintessential artists. New York Times described his playing as “flawless technical resources combines them with an assured sense of musicianship, a remarkable and auspicious talent.” Also, hailed as “the superstar of his generation” by the String Magazine.

Winner of the 1996 Concert Artists Guild Competition, he became the youngest winner in the Competition’s 50 year history. Mr. Lee has been a top prize winner in the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition, the William Primrose Viola Competition, and the Corpus Christi (TX) Young Artists Competition. He has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras, including, the Kansas City Symphony, San Diego Symphony and L.A Chamber Orchestra. Other orchestral performances include the Longmont Philharmonic, and the International Sejong Soloists. In recital, he has performed at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and Merkin Hall in New York, Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Scott Lee has been a featured soloist at the International Hindemith Viola Festival and at the 22nd and 24th International Viola Congresses.

Scott Lee is also an extremely active chamber musician. In summer 2011, Mr. Lee joined the Miami String Quartet. Recent highlights of Mr. Lee’s chamber music concert schedule include performances at the El Paso Music Festival, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Chamber Music Northwest, OK Mozart Festival, Newport Chamber Music Festival, La Jolla Summerfest, Ravinia Festival, Savannah Music Festival, New York City’s Bargemusic, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Musicians from Marlboro, Merkin Concert Hall, and Taiwan’s National Concert Hall, Alice Tully Hall, The Gardner Museum in Boston and the Metropolitan Museum, the Marlboro Festival and in numerous chamber music venues across the United States. He has also collaborated with members of the Guarneri, Juilliard, Orion, and Miami String Quartets, and performed with members of the Beaux Arts and Mannes Piano Trios. His chamber music partners have included such renowned artists as Cho-Liang Lin, Nai-Yuan Hu, Gil Shaham, Hilary Hahn, Ralph Kirshbaum, David Soyer, Peter Wiley, and Gary Hoffman.

Mr. Lee joined Miami String Quartet and became the newest member of the quartet in 2011. The quartet has recorded for BMG records in their release of two string quartets by Alberto Ginastera and String Quartet No.1 and No.2 by Peteris Vasks which was dedicated and premiered by the Miami String Quartet.

Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Mr. Lee began his music studies on the violin at age eight studying with Chia-Rong Lin. He took up the viola at age thirteen, and came to the United States the next year to study at the Idyllwild Arts Academy in California, where his viola teacher was Donald McInnes and his violin teacher was Alice Schoenfield. He has studied with Michael Tree at the Curtis Institute of Music and at The Juilliard School where he studied with Paul Neubauer.

He is now Professor of Viola at the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Conservatory of Music and a faculty member at the McGill International String Quartet Academy in Montreal.

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Viola

Phillip Stevens, violist, is currently a member of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and is Affiliate Professor of Viola at Metropolitan State University of Denver. In addition to joining the Colorado Symphony in 1996, Phillip has performed with the Rochester Philharmonic, the Ann Arbor Symphony, and the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra.

Phillip also teaches privately, and is active in educating youth through the programs of the Colorado Symphony, Up Close and Musical, and Friends of Chamber Music. Phillip formally began his musical education in his hometown of Kansas City, Missouri, went on to receive his Bachelor’s degree at the University of Michigan studying with Yitzhak Schotten, and completed graduate work at Northwestern University under Peter Slowik. During this time, he won first prize in the Viola division of the 1994 National ASTA Music Competition, and spent his summers studying at the Aspen Music Festival.

While in Chicago, Phillip’s chamber music career began as a founding member of the Sheridan Chamber Players. Currently, he participates annually in the Chinitimini Chamber Music Festival in Corvallis, Oregon, and is very active playing chamber music with various ensembles in the Denver area. In March 2010, Phillip performed in recital at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall as part of the DCINY Distinguished Concert Artist Series.

Follow Phillip Stevens and the Ivy Street Ensemble:
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Cello

Keith Robinson, cellist, is a founding member of the Miami String Quartet and has been active as a chamber musician, recitalist, and soloist since his graduation from the Curtis Institute of Music. Robinson has had numerous solo appearances with orchestras throughout the U.S. including the New World Symphony, The American Sinfonietta, and the Miami Chamber Symphony, and in 1989 won the P.A.C.E. “Classical Artist of the Year” Award.

His most recent recording released on Blue Griffin Records features the Complete works for Cello and Piano with his colleague Donna Lee. Fanfare Magazine wrote: ” I have sampled several CD’s (of the works for cello and piano by Mendelssohn) and found them very fine, but my gut feeling is still to go with Robinson and Lee. This one is, quite simply, amazing”. Lynn René Bayley – Fanfare Magazine. He has performed the complete works for Cello and Piano by Beethoven on many occasions with her as well. As a member of the Miami Quartet he has recorded for BMG, CRI, Musical Heritage Society and Pyramid recording labels.

In 1992, the Miami String Quartet became the first string quartet in a decade to win First Prize of the Concert Artists Guild New York Competition. The Miami String Quartet has also won recognition in competitions throughout the world; as laureate of the 1993 Evian Competition, 1991 London String Quartet Competition, and as the 1989 Grand Prize Winner of the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. In 2000 the Quartet received the prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award and was named to the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society Two Program as well.

Keith regularly attends festivals across the United States, including those in Santa Fe, [email protected], Kent/Blossom Music Festival, Mostly Mozart, Vail Music Festival, Savannah Music Festival, and the Virginia Arts Festival. Highlights of recent seasons include performances in New York at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, engagements in Boston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, New Orleans, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Paul, and Philadelphia . International highlights include appearances in Bern, Cologne, Istanbul, Lausanne, Montreal, Rio de Janeiro, Hong Kong, Taipei and Paris.

Keith hails from a musical family and his siblings include Sharon Robinson of the Kalichstein Laredo Robinson Trio, and Hal Robinson, Principal Bass of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Keith plays a Carlo Tononi cello made in Venice and dated 1725.

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Clarinet

Deborah Marshall, clarinet, has performed with artists ranging from Peter Serkin to Yo-Yo Ma. She lived in Germany for 22 years where she performed with many of the country’s best-known orchestras. She served on the faculty of the Hochschule fur Musik in Munich and the Richard Strauss Conservatory for 14 years and has coached and given master classes throughout Europe, in addition to playing with the Bavarian Radio Orchestra.

The following 11 years were spent in Budapest and Moscow, where she continued her active career as soloist and chamber musician. She has recorded for practically every German broadcasting corporation, as well as Austrian Radio ORF, Swiss Radio SRG and Radio Orfeo Moscow. She now resides in Boulder, Colorado, with her husband, the writer and librettist, Douglas Penick.

Follow Deborah Marshall’s work on her website deborahkaymarshall.com