Event Calendar
Tchaikovsky’s 5th!
Sunday, April 27, 2025, 2:00 pm
SEASON FINALE!
Diane Wittry, conductor
Gaeun Kim, Cello (2024 Schadt String Competition Winner)
CLARICE ASSAD "Frankenstein" World Premiere
AULIS SALLINEN Cello Concerto, Op.44
PIOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 5
Clarice Assad Bio
A powerful communicator renowned for her musical scope and versatility, Brazilian-American Clarice Assad is a significant artistic voice in the classical, world music, pop, and jazz genres. The Grammy Award–nominated composer, celebrated pianist, inventive vocalist and educator is acclaimed for her evocative colors, rich textures, and diverse stylistic range.
What motivates Assad? What drives her passion and creativity? Writing and playing music that inspires and encourages audiences’ imaginations to break free of often self-imposed constraints is just the beginning. She endeavors to harness the incredible and intangible power of music to connect people and transform lives through original works, commissions, and education programs that give voice to everything from the impact of climate change to issues of social justice, gender equity, and the empowerment of young voices.
With her talent sought-after by artists and organizations worldwide, the polyglot musician continues to attract new audiences both onstage and off. In the recording arena, Assad has released seven solo albums and appeared on or had her works performed on another 34. Her music is represented on Cedille Records, SONY Masterworks, Nonesuch, Adventure Music, Edge, Telarc, NSS Music, GHA, and CHANDOS. Her innovative and award-winning VOXploration education series on music creation, songwriting, and improvisation has been presented throughout the world.
The prolific composer has more than 70 works to her credit, including numerous commissions for Carnegie Hall, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Boston Youth Orchestra, Chicago Sinfonietta, San Jose Chamber Orchestra, the Bravo! Vail Music Festival, and the La Jolla Music Festival, to name a few. Her compositions have been recorded by some of the most prominent names in classical music, including percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, and oboist Liang Wang. Assad’s music has been performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony, Queensland Symphony, and the Orquestra Sinfônica de São Paulo. She has served as a composer-in-residence for the Albany Symphony, the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, New Century Chamber Orchestra, and the Boston Landmarks Orchestra. Her works are published in France (Editions Lemoine), Germany (Trekel), Brazil (Criadores do Brasil), and in the U.S. by Virtual Artists Collective Publishing (VACP), a publishing company she co-founded with poet and philosopher Steve Schroeder. Assad recently wrote the soundtrack to Devoti Tutti, a documentary by Bernadette Wegenstein, and is composing the music for a ballet by award-winning choreographer Shannon Alvis.
As a performer, Assad has shared the stage with Bobby McFerrin, Anat Cohen, Nadia Sirota, Paquito D’Rivera, Tom Harrell, Marilyn Mazur and Mike Marshall, among others. She has performed at internationally renowned venues and festivals including The Netherlands’ Concertgebouw, Carnegie Hall, Belgium’s Le Palais des Beaux-Arts, Le Casino de Paris, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and the Caramoor International Jazz Festival.
Assad also strives to expand the sonic palette of the voice, including immersing audiences in the music as active participants and by electronically altering sounds, “like one of those cooks who can turn any four random foodstuffs into a feast” (Classical Voice North America).
She takes the immersive experience outside of the concert hall with the innovative and accessible VOXploration, which she created in 2015. The program offers a creative and fun approach to music education through meaningful, interactive experiences. It has been carefully curated to work equally well with participants of any age or musical background. It has received numerous grants and awards from Brazilian foundations such as CAIXA CULTURAL and SESC, as well as American organizations New Music USA and the McKnight Foundation. Assad has given master classes, residencies, and workshops throughout the United States, Europe, and the Middle East.
Born in Rio de Janeiro, Clarice Assad is one of the most widely performed Brazilian concert music composers of her generation. The recipient of numerous honors and awards, amongst them an Aaron Copland Award and several ASCAP awards in composition, she holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Roosevelt University in Chicago, and a Master of Music degree from The University of Michigan School of Music.
Guaem Kim Bio
Hailed as a “cellist with a warm and rich sound, combining playfulness with impeccable technique” (New York Concert Review), Gaeun Kim is renowned for her musicality, versatility, and stage presence. With over 130 performances annually, she is among the most in-demand musicians of her generation.
She began giving concerts at age 10 after winning the First Prize and a Special Award at the Antonio Janigro Competition in Croatia. Since then, she has won top honors at the Liezen International Competition, the David Popper International Cello Competition, and the East Coast International Competition. She was recognized as a “Samsung Foundation Rising Star” and a Louis Vuitton Foundation Artist. Her recent honors include First Prizes at the 2024 Schadt String Competition, France International Competition, and Juilliard Concerto Competition. As a soloist, she has performed with orchestras in Europe, the United States, and her native Korea, including the Helsinki Philharmonic, Lahiti Sinfonietta, Zagreb Soloists, Santa Cruz Symphony, and the Seoul Chamber Orchestra.
In the 2025/26 season, Gaeun will perform at notable venues, including Lincoln Center, Musiikkitalo, Lotte Concert Hall, and the Seoul Arts Center. She will also appear at the Seoul Spring Music Festival, Music in the Vineyards, and Moritzburg Festival, where she will perform and lead masterclasses.
A Juilliard graduate studying under Richard Aaron, Joel Krosnick, and Darrett Adkins, Gaeun actively promotes contemporary music, premiering works by composers such as Fazil Say, Katie Jenkins, and Seounyun Kim. Her dedication to broadening the cello repertoire and bringing new perspectives to classical and modern pieces has been praised by her peers and critics alike.
THE FRANKENSTEIN PROJECT
The world premiere of “Frankenstein” by ASA Composer-in-Residence Clarice Assad was in fact composed by many hands. Community members were invited to submit short melodies, chord progressions, or rhythms and Assad skillfully stitched them together. Participants were asked to think about parallels between Frankenstein as written by Mary Shelley and the concept of AI (artificial intelligence) in today’s world. Previous compositions by Clarice Assad also written in this way include "Mosaic Variations" (2022) and "Tapestry" (2023).
Composers who contributed to “Frankenstein”
Natan Albuquerque
Xavier Alleyne
Jade Anderson *
Sergio Assad
Clarice Assad
Mal Baker
Ava Bloomfield
Pierre Bohemond
Charles Bond *
Evie Braden
Tim Brown
Dominic Caban *
Jessenia Calle *
Ma Carney
Kalu Coelho
Emmett Cook
Dylan Coverdale
Ayeika Cruz *
Keith Donadghue
Mark Doncsecz
Cristian Francois *
Emma Francois *
Aline Goncalves
Geo Harrington
Edwin Herrera *
Nadia Herrera *
Joseph Iorini
Maia Jarrett
Joseph Justesen
Sage Kau man
Jamie Kaufman
Kevin Kiernan
Corinne Kite-Dean
Isong Lee
Larry Lipkis
Isaias Mora Lopez *
Zach LoPresti
Daniel Maeda
Tom Maher
Adianez Maldonado *
Letitia Malvarez
Rafael Martini
Tim Mengel
Miara Moraes
Melynda Morrone
Angela Mosley
Sean O'Boyle
Robin O'Brien
Isabela Ortiz *
Alec Quier
Jaxen Rash *
Julie Rice
Betzaida Rodriguez *
Ravi Seenarine
Liam Sheer
Gianna Stravopoulos
Adrian Suero *
Carlos Henrique Toni
Maria Clara Valle
Daniel Velez *
Dionna Vereen
Gaia Wilmer
Gri n Woodard
Rafael Zambiazz
* Indicates El Sistema Lehigh Valley student