Astral Artists Names New Winners
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Artswatch
Astral Artists Names New Winners
Peter Dobrin, Inquirer Classical Music Critic
Astral Artists has announced new arrivals to its roster. The five musicians, plus one string quartet, will be showing up on Astral's programs, and will receive other career assistance from the Philadelphia-based group.
The newbies are:
Flutist Julietta Curenton, 28, trained at the Juilliard School and the Royal Northern College of Music of Manchester, England.
Pianist Sara Daneshpour, 22, a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and the Second Prize winner of the 2007 William Kapell International Piano Competition.
Flutist Angel Hsiao, 25, a graduate of the Conservatoire Royal de Musique in Brussels and now a doctoral candidate at SUNY Stony Brook.
The Jasper String Quartet, winner of the Silver Medal at the 2008 and 2009 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition and currently the graduate quartet-in-residence at the Yale School of Music.
Pianist Andrea Lam, 28, graduate of the Yale School of Music and the Manhattan School of Music and a semifinalist in the 2009 Van Cliburn Competition.
Violinist Kristen Lee, 23, a master's student at Juilliard.
I'm wondering why fabulous young Columbian clarinetist Benito Meza's name was not on this list? Although technically he won the Astral audition last year, his name still isn't on the list this year. Incidentally he will be performing at the Astral Benefit Gala in Philadelphia on March 27th. Do yourself a favor and go hear him play. You will be blown away!— deesponies- Happy to hear that as of today Benito Meza's name has been added at last.— deesponies
Peter Dobrin is a classical music critic and culture writer for The Inquirer. Since 1989, he has written music reviews, features, news and commentary for the paper, covering such topics as the Philadelphia Museum of Art at the Venice Biennale, expansion of the Curtis Institute of Music, the Philadelphia Orchestra's bankruptcy declaration in 2011, Philadelphia's evolving performing arts center and the general health of arts and culture.
Dobrin was a French horn player. He earned an undergraduate degree in performance from the University of Miami, and received a master's degree in music criticism from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, where he studied with Elliott Galkin. He has no time to practice today.
