April 7, 2013
The Jewish Heritage Museum of Monmouth County Presents

"Mostly Mendelssohn
plus Darius Milhaud
in a Century of Classical Music"

Featuring
The Bravura Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble

Chiu-Ling Lin, piano
Deborah Gers, clarinet
NaYoung Yang, violin
Courtney Kaita, cello
Constance Kaita, piano

Program
Fanny Mendelssohn Das Jahr: 12 Character Pieces
Darius Milhaud Caprice for Clarinet and Piano
Darius Milhaud Concertant for Clarinet and Piano
Felix Mendelssohn Piano Trio No. 2 in C minor

Return to 2012-13 season

"Great impact, not only with her exceptional virtuosity, but also with her ability to capture the intent of the composer" ... "great sense of style - emotional strength - impressive quality in performance..."  This is how composers and critics described Chiu-Ling Lin - internationally renowned pianist and educator - after her tour as the United States Information Agency's Artistic Ambassador to Latin America. An energetic and passionate performer, Dr. Lin plays before enthusiastic audiences around the world. Dr. Lin made her Carnegie Recital Hall debut as the winner of the East and West Young Artist Auditions. She has soloed with fourteen orchestras, including the Atlanta Symphony, the Chicago Civic Orchestra, the Singapore Symphony, and the Des Moines Symphony. Appearances in New York, Boston, Chicago, England, Canada and throughout the Far East have featured Dr. Lin's unique mix of music by Chinese and Western composers. Her virtuosity is showcased in a new CD, "Portraits of China." Dr. Lin is a residence of West Windsor. She was the past-President of the Bravura Philharmonic Orchestra Board, and is the President of the New Jersey Music Teachers Association. 

Deborah Gers, principal clarinetist of the Bravura Philharmonic Orchestra, received her M.M. from the University of Cincinnati Conservatory of Music where she was a student of Thomas LeGrand, Emil Schmachtenberg and Carmine Campione; and her B.M. from Eastern Kentucky University where she studied with Earl M. Thomas. She was also a student of the late Joe Allard. An active performer and teacher, Deborah won her first orchestral position at the age of 19. Ms. Gers has performed and recorded with groups such as the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Network for New Music, Lexington Philharmonic, West Virginia Symphony, Trenton Symphony, Riverside Symphonia, and the Pennsylvania Sinfonia. She has performed with artists as Dave Brubeck, Henry Mancini, Dinah Shore, Mitch Miller, Lionel Hampton, Eric Kunzel, Gunther Schuller and Michael Gielen. Deborah has performed and taught extensively in the Pennsylvania /New Jersey region including the University of Pennsylvania and Westminster Conservatory. She has a private studios in Flemington, NJ. Her students have been selected to All-State Bands in four states: Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. 

Born in 1996, violinist NaYoung Yang studies violin with Dr. Ann Setzer at the Juilliard Pre-College and with Dr. Eugenia Choi. NaYoung debuted as a soloist at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts as a winner of the 2010 New York International Music Competition, and has played as a soloist with the NJIO Symphony Orchestra, the Baroque Orchestra of New Jersey, theCamp Orchestra of Westminster Conservatory, and the Island Chamber Symphony in New York. In her second appearance with the Island Chamber Symphony in April 2013, NaYoung will perform the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35. She has performed in a few master classes including one with the legendary violinist Mr. Joseph Silverstein in 2012. NaYoung has won more than a dozen national and international music competitions, most recently the second place in the 2013 Monmouth Symphony Orchestra Young Artist Concerto Competition.
 
NaYoung is currently the concertmistress of the Bravura Youth Orchestra, and a member of the Baroque Orchestra of New Jersey and the Bravura Philharmonic Orchestra. NaYoung is a junior at Biotechnology High School in Freehold, where she is President of School News, the editor of School Yearbook, and Director of Information of the School Technology Organization.

22-year-old cellist Courtney Lin Kaita is a graduate from the University of Michigan under the tutelage of Richard Aaron where she received a double degree in cello Performance and Applied Mathematics. Her former teachers have included Qiang Tu, Irene Sharp, Marnie Kaller, and Julie Albers. Courtney was a first prize winner in the New Jersey Music Teachers Association Young Artists Competition, and has represented New Jersey numerous times in the Music Teachers National Association Strings competition. Courtney has appeared as a soloist with the Edison Symphony, Manalapan Battleground Symphony, High Mountain Symphony, and the Bravura Philharmonic. She has also given solo performances in Alice Tully Hall of Lincoln Center, Weill Recital Hall of Carnegie Hall, and Merkin Concert Hall. She has received an Honorable Mention in the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra Young Artist’s Concerto Competition, which enabled her to give a solo performance in the State Theater in New Brunswick, NJ. Courtney was featured as a Rising Star for the first Beijing Music Festival, performing in venues including Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Ministry of Culture. Her performance was broadcasted on China Central Television across China.

Courtney lives in New York City and enjoys recording and improvising with fellow musicians. She is an active member in the Bravura Philharmonic, as a section cellist and as one of its primary marketing designers.    

Pianist Constance Lin Kaita is a Freshman in a double degree program in Music and Creative Writing at the Peabody Conservatory and Johns Hopkins University.  She is student of Yong-Hi Moon.  Her former teachers were her mother, Chiu-Tze Lin, Chiu-Ling Lin, and Ingrid Clarfield.  Constance made her orchestral solo piano debut with the Westfield Symphony when she was nine years old.   She has also performed as a soloist with the Bravura Philharmonic Orchestra, Shanghai Chamber Musicians Orchestra, the Philadelphia Biblical University Orchestra, Ambler Symphony Orchestra and the Olney Symphony.  Constance was a featured Rising Star in the Beijing Music Festival. She performed in the prestigious Forbidden City Concert Hall and the People’s Congress Hall in Beijing, Grand Theatre and the Oriental Arts Center in Shanghai. Her performances were broadcasted on National Television across China. Constance was the featured pianist invited to perform at the United Nations headquarters celebrating the 30th anniversary of U.S. – China diplomatic relations. Constance has performed in master classes for Lang Lang, Gilbert Kalish, Enrique Graf and Philip Kawin.