Gyehee Kim

Violinist/Korea

FEATURED SOLOIST 2017

Korean violinist Gyehee Kim won First Prize and two additional special prizes at the prestigious 2016 George Enescu International Violin Competition, one of which was the iPalpiti Prize to attend the iPalpiti Festival.  She is also the prize winner of several international competitions, including Munetsugu Angel International Violin Competition (2017, First Prize, Audience Prize and Central Aichi Symphony Orchestra Prize), Torun International Violin Competition (2016, Second Prize and Best Performance of Bach Special Prize), Isang Yun Competition (2014, Seong-Yawng Park Special Prize), International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians (2009, Third Prize) and Gnessin International Competition for Young Pianists and Violinists (2008, First Prize and Virtuoso Special Prize).  At the age of nine, she won the Grand Prize at the Korean Chamber Orchestra competition, becoming the youngest winner in the competition’s history, and, a year later, she made her Seoul recital on the Kumho Prodigy Concert Series.  She has since won numerous national music competitions.  Additionally, she has performed with numerous orchestras such as the George Enescu Philharmonic, Russian Symphony, Torun Symphony, Bulgaria Pleven Philharmonic, Sudettic Philharmonic, Euro-Asian Philharmonic, Central Aichi Symphonoy Orchestra and more.  She has also been invited to perform at international festivals such as the George Enescu Festival (Romania), Moscow Meets Friends (Russia), Cichej Muzyki (Poland) and the iPalpiti Festival (USA), and she was invited to participate in the 2017 Kronberg Academy Violin Masterclasses & Concerts.  Kim currently studies at Seoul National University under Young Uck Kim, and previously studied with Joseph Silverstein, Sunny Lee and Bon-jiu Koo.  Kim plays on the “Rainville” Antonio Stradivarius 1697, kindly loaned by Munetsugu Collection. Website

Jacopo Giacopuzzi

Pianist/Italy-USA

 As a soloist as chamber musician, Jacopo has performed at major festival and venues throughout the U.S. and Europe. He is a winner of 14 international competitions including the International Piano Competition San Dona` di Piave, Ibiza International Piano Competition, International Liszt Competition in Los Angeles, and the Beverly Hills National Auditions. Jacopo has taught at the Conservatory of Verona E.F. Dall’Abaco, worked as collaborative pianist at the Royal Conservatoire of Brussels, has been performing regularly in collaborative duos with international instrumentalists, and, most recently, formed Solo Due with pianist Konstantin Soukhovetski with a premiere at the Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center Protostar Series in the fall of 2021.  Born in Italy to a family of pianists, Jacopo studied in Weimar at the Liszt Hochschule, earned his first Master`s Degree in Piano performance, Master`s in Sound Design (with Mauro Graziani) at the Conservatory of Verona in 2012, obtained his Diploma at the International Piano Academy of Imola Incontri col Maestro with Leonid Margarius, and completed his studies in Piano Performance from University of Southern California (2016) with Kevin Fitz-Gerald. After attending the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, Jacopo found himself embraced by this loving community and makes Santa Barbara his home, surfing at sunrise before heading to his piano. Verona is still his home as he continues his international career. His most recent musical engagements take him every year to Harmos Festival in Portugal, iPalpiti festival in Los Angeles, Pianofest in the Hamptons and at the Maui Chamber Music Festival in Hawaii. He  has  been  invited  to  serve  on  competition  juries  and  to  give  presentations, masterclasses and concerts throughout the world.  Jacopo was selected as an iPalpiti artist for the 2016 iPalpiti Festival of international laureates in Los Angeles and since, has been an active member as a musician as well as great web and graphic design staff.  He is also a talented photographer and film maker.