CORE ENSEMBLE

Since its inception in 2007, the backbone of our Festival has been the core ensemble. Among the finest performers in the US, their careers have grown in stature and accomplishment over the years, and we are lucky and delighted they continue to make Lexington their Festival home!

First Associate Concertmaster Nathan Cole, who joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2011, has appeared as guest concertmaster with the orchestras of Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Houston, Ottawa, Seattle, and Oregon. He was previously a member of the Chicago Symphony and Principal Second Violin of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.

A native of Lexington, KY, he made his debut with the Louisville Orchestra at the age of ten while studying with Donna Wiehe. After eight years working with Daniel Mason, Cole enrolled at the Curtis Institute of Music. In addition to his studies there with Pamela Frank, Felix Galimir, Ida Kavafian, and Jaime Laredo, Cole formed the Grancino String Quartet, debuting in New York’s Weill Hall. Several summers at Marlboro enriched his love of chamber music.

While in Chicago, Cole taught at Roosevelt University and coached the Chicago Civic Orchestra. He is currently on the faculty at the Colburn Community School for Performing Arts, with classes at the Colburn Conservatory and USC. His articles and photographs have appeared in Strings, Symphony, and Chamber Music magazines. Additionally, the Nathan Cole School of Violin includes a video curriculum of all major orchestral excerpts, plus concertos, etudes, and fundamental lessons. Visit him at natesviolin.com.

Akiko Tarumoto began her violin studies at age five. Her principal teachers have been Masao Kawasaki, Dorothy DeLay, and Glenn Dicterow. A native of Eastchester, New York, Tarumoto studied at the preparatory division of the Juilliard School and received her Bachelor’s degree in English and American Literature with honors from Harvard University in 1998. In 2000 she received her Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School and joined the second violin section of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

In 2004 she was appointed to the first violin section of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Barenboim. While in Chicago, she performed on the Rush Hour and Chicago Symphony chamber series, at the Winter Chamber Music Festival at Northwestern University, and on the MusicNOW contemporary series.

Tarumoto returned to the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the fall of 2011 as a member of the second violin section, and was appointed to fifth chair of the first violin section in March 2015. In January 2017 she was named Assistant Concertmaster. She is a frequent performer on the LA Phil’s Chamber Music and Green Umbrella series and has been featured as a soloist with the orchestra. She has been heard on the radio stations WFMT in Chicago and KROQ in Los Angeles, and received a platinum record for her participation in the Weezer album Make Believe. Tarumoto has performed in the summer festivals of Aspen, Taos, and Spoleto, Italy. She has also appeared at the Mimir Festival in Fort Worth, Texas, and at the Chamber Music Festival of Lexington in Kentucky.

A native of Maryland, Burchard Tang joined The Philadelphia Orchestra in September 1999. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in May 1999 from the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Joseph dePasquale, retired Philadelphia Orchestra principal viola, and Choong-Jin Chang, the Orchestra’s current principal viola. Mr. Tang has served as principal viola with the Curtis Symphony and the New York String Seminar, and he has performed with the Brandenburg Ensemble.

A 1993 winner of the Philadelphia Orchestra Albert M. Greenfield Student Competition, Mr. Tang performed with the Orchestra as a soloist in a Student Concert in November 1993. Other honors include the Temple University Preparatory Division Concerto Competition and second prize in the Senior Division of the Fischoff Competition in 1996 (this is the premier Chamber Music competition in the US). As a chamber musician, Mr. Tang has appeared at many of the country’s top festivals, including Marlboro, Ravinia, Music from Angel Fire, Seattle, and Caramoor. He is a founding member of the Dolce Suono Ensemble. He is currently on faculty at Temple Music Prep, where he teaches viola and chamber music.

Associate Principal Cello Priscilla Lee joined The Philadelphia Orchestra with the start of the 2016-17 season. A 2005 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient, she began studying at the age of five and made her solo debut in 1998 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. A native of California, she studied with Ronald Leonard at the Colburn School of Performing Arts and in 1998 went on to the Curtis Institute of Music to study with David Soyer. In 2005 she received a Master of Music degree from the Mannes College of Music, where she studied with Timothy Eddy.

Ms. Lee has participated in the festivals of Marlboro, Santa Fe, Seattle, Delaware, St. Denis in Paris, Kingston, Lexington, and Taos. She was a member of Lincoln Center’s Chamber Music Society Two from 2006 to 2009. She was a founding member of Trio Cavatina, a piano trio that won the Grand Prize at the 2009 Naumburg International Competition. The Trio made its debut at the New School and Merkin Hall’s Rising Star Series, along with Boston’s famed Jordan Hall and Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall. Ms. Lee was the principal cello of both Opera Philadelphia (2014-16) and the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia (2015-16). She resides in Newtown Square, PA, with her husband, Philadelphia Orchestra violist Burchard Tang, and their two daughters.

ALESSIO BAX, PIANO

Combining exceptional lyricism and insight with consummate technique, Alessio Bax is without a doubt “among the most remarkable young pianists now before the public” (Gramophone). He catapulted to prominence with First Prize wins at both the Leeds and Hamamatsu International Piano Competitions, and is now a familiar face on five continents, not only as a recitalist and chamber musician, but also as a concerto soloist who has appeared with more than 150 orchestras, including the London, Royal, and St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestras, the New York, Boston, Dallas, Cincinnati, Sydney, and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestras, and the NHK Symphony in Japan, collaborating with such eminent conductors as Marin Alsop, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Sir Andrew Davis, Fabio Luisi, Sir Simon Rattle, Yuri Temirkanov, and Jaap van Zweden. He also serves as Artistic Director of Tuscany’s Incontri in Terra di Siena festival. 

At age 14, Bax graduated with top honors from the conservatory of Bari, his hometown in Italy, and after further studies in Europe, he moved to the United States in 1994. A Steinway artist, he lives in New York City with pianist Lucille Chung and their daughter, Mila. He was invited to join the piano faculty of Boston’s New England Conservatory in the fall of 2019.

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