Hessler Duo

August 7, 2019, 12:15 pm

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Violinist Yun-Ting Lee and collaborative pianist Younjung Cha who form the Hessler Duo perform a live recital from the Chicago Cultural Center for this Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert broadcast featuring works of Brahms, Debussy, and Joachim.



The Hessler Duo was formed by pianist Youn-Jung Cha and violinist Yun-Ting Lee. The name of the duo originated from the street the two lived on as housemates while they were students at the Cleveland Institute of Music. As a duo, they have performed in the Midwest, with concerts at the University of Iowa, St. Ambrose University, and Augustana College.

Taiwanese-American violinist Yun-Ting Lee has been a member of the second violin section of The Cleveland Orchestra since 2014. Mr. Lee holds Bachelor and Master degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he was a recipient of the Dr. Bennett Levine Memorial Award in Chamber Music. His primary teachers at CIM were William Preucil, David Cerone, and David Updegraff. He has also worked extensively with Phyllis Skoldberg and Ming-De Zhang.

Mr. Lee has appeared as soloist with the Music Academy of the West, Phoenix Youth Symphony, Cleveland Institute of Music, Spoleto Festival USA, and National Repertory Orchestra, Sullivan County Chamber Orchestra, McConnell Arts Center Chamber Orchestra, and the Phoenix Symphony.

Mr. Lee’s experience as concertmaster includes Spoleto Festival USA and CIM Orchestra. He also performed as guest concertmaster for Symphony Orchestra Augusta, Georgia in the fall of 2011. Principal 2nd violin appearances include Arizona Musicfest Orchestra and National Repertory Orchestra. He has also played as associate musician with the San Diego Symphony, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

Yun-Ting won a position with the Minnesota Orchestra in 2012, and has been a member of Canton Symphony Orchestra and CityMusic Cleveland. He is an alumnus of the New York String Orchestra Seminar, the Holland International Music Sessions, Encore School for Strings, and the Pacific Music Festival.

Korean pianist Youn-Jung Cha has been praised for her playing as “personal and heartfelt ” (Paul Schenly). Cha has performed numerous concerts in the United States and South Korea to critical acclaim. Ms. Cha maintains an active performing schedule, appearing in Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, California, Missouri, Minnesota, New York, Virginia, and Washington D.C in the United States, as well as Busan and Seoul in South Korea. Ms. Cha performed for the New Music tours, visiting schools including the University of Cincinnati, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, University of Minnesota, University of Missouri–Kansas City, and University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has been invited to perform in music festivals including the National Music Festival, and Zenith Chamber Music Festival.

In addition to her wide range of performing repertoire from Baroque to contemporary music, Cha specializes in works of German composers, especially those of Brahms and Edward Marxsen (composition and piano teacher of Brahms). Her DMA recording project, Selected Piano Works of Eduard Marxsen, Brahms’ Composition

Teacher, provides recording of selected piano works by Eduard Marxsen. She will be

the first pianist to have recorded both sets of Marxsen’s mature piano music, Op. 4 Six Etudes for the Left Hand and 100 Variations on a Folk Song.

Ms. Cha completed her Masters Degree in Piano Performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music and is currently completing her doctoral studies under Uriel Tsachor at the University of Iowa. She has worked at Western Illinois University as a staff accompanist in Macomb, Illinois, and is currently working as a piano faculty at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa.

Artist biographies and photographs courtesy of IMF Chicago.

  • Romanze from Drei Stücke, Op. 2, by Joseph Joachim

  • Violin Sonata No. 1, Op. 78, by Johannes Brahms
    Vivace, ma non troppo
    Adagio
    Allegro molto moderato

  • Beau Soir, by Claude Debussy