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Lauded for her “impeccable technique and artistic interpretation” [The Columbian], pianist Melinda Lee Masur has performed on all three stages of Carnegie Hall, at London's Wigmore Hall and Purcell Room, the Berliner Philharmonie, Leipzig’s Gewandhaus, at the Ravinia Festival, Festival Les Muséiques Basel and in Boston’s Symphony Hall. She has given recitals in cities from Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei, Toronto and New York, to London, Copenhagen, Berlin, Paris, Kiev and Leipzig. Masur has performed as soloist with orchestras such as the Harvard Bach Society Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic, Kiev Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Shenzhen Symphony and Macao Youth Symphony.
An avid chamber musician, Masur has performed with such artists as Augustin Hadelich, Alban Gerhardt, Fanny Clamagirand, Adrian Brendel, Thomas Quasthoff, as well as the Verona, Ivalas, and Balourdet Quartets. She is pianist and founding member of The Lee Trio, praised worldwide for its “gripping immediacy and freshness” and "rich palette of tone colours" [The Strad]. The Trio has given world, American and European premieres of piano trios by composers including Edmund Finnis, Uljas Pulkkis, Nathaniel Stookey, Philip Lasser, Jane Antonia Cornish, Nicky Sohn, & Sylvie Bodorova and garnered awards such as the Recording Prize at the Kuhmo International Chamber Music Competition in Finland and the Gotthard-Schierse-Stiftung grant in Berlin. The Trio has recorded for the Delos and innova labels and their most recent album release, Midsummer Night Magic (https://www.chelseamusicfestival.org/records/midsummer-night-magic), was met with critical and audience acclaim.
Together with her husband, Ken-David Masur, she serves as Artistic Director of the Chelsea Music Festival, an annual summer music festival in New York City praised by The New York Times as a “gem of a series” and frequently featured amongst its Best Classical picks of the season. The Festival is known for its thematic programming of works ranging from baroque to contemporary to jazz, and combining the performing, visual, and culinary arts.
A graduate of Harvard University and the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover, Germany, Masur is passionate about educating the next generation of musicians. Masur has served on the faculty at the University of Chicago and Boston University, and given masterclasses at colleges & universities such as the Lewis & Clark College, University of Utah's School of Music, Gordon College, Biola University, Wheaton College, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee's School of Music, and the Gheorghe Dima National Music Academy in Romania. Masur is the Director of Piano Chamber Music and Co-Director of the Young Artists Piano Program at the BU Tanglewood Institute. She currently serves as Lecturer in Piano at Stanford University and serves on the piano chamber music faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Melinda Lee Masur is a Steinway Artist.
“A major musician of tremendous stature, a deeply probing artist.” (Dr. Tom Wendel, late Chair of the American Beethoven Society.)
The New York Concert Review has praised her performance as “truly extraordinary...inexhaustible variety of touch...breathtaking.” As a winner of the Artists International Li-shan Hung made her New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in 2003 to great acclaim, which led to a return in 2005. Her performance of Cesar Franck’s Prelude, Chorale, and Fugue was cited as “perhaps the finest performance of this piece I’ve ever heard” by Timothy Gilligan in the New York Concert Review.
An active soloist and a chamber musician, Li-shan Hung has appeared internationally in such venues as Salle Gaveau in Paris, Cultural Center in Munich, Rachmaninoff Hall in Moscow, Shriver Hall Concert Series in Baltimore, Orpheus Classical Music Series in Chicago, Steinway Society of the Bay Area Recital Series in San Jose, Sejong Cultural Arts Center in Seoul, and National Concert Hall in Taiwan. Lishan has made guest appearances with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra, Stockton Symphony, MasterWorks Festival Orchestra, Palo Alto Philharmonic, Sheboygan Symphony, and Hunan Symphony Orchestra in China. She has collaborated with many distinguished artists including Menahem Pressler, Bin Huang, and Delta David Gier. Her performances have been broadcast on Television and Radio stations in Maryland, Virginia, Wisconsin, San Francisco, Seoul, Taiwan, and so on.
Hung has been invited as a guest artist and presented master classes at universities and festivals in the U.S. and Asia, including Vanderbilt University, Ball State University, Youngstown State University, Bowling Green State University, University of Northern Florida, Chinese University of Hong Kong, National Taiwan Normal University, and Xinghai Conservatory in China. She was also a MTNA Indiana State Conference artist in 2015. During the summer she teaches at MasterWorks Festival in Virginia and Cremona International Music Academy in Italy.
A native Taiwanese, Hung obtained her Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees from Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University, where she studied with the renowned pianist Ann Schein. In addition, she worked with Jorg Demus, Grant Johannessen, and the Alban Berg String Quartet, and performed in master classes with Abbey Simon, Paul Badura-skoda, Sergei Dorensky, and Evgeny Malinin.
Dr. Hung now serves as Professor of Piano and the Area Director of Keyboard Studies at Biola University.
Fung Ho, violinist, served as Concertmaster for the West L.A. Symphony Orchestra from 1992-2001 and was Concertmaster for the Burbank Chamber Orchestra (now Burbank Philharmonic Orchestra) from 1992-97. He is currently the Music Director and Conductor of the Olympia Philharmonic Orchestra and Olympia Youth Orchestra. He has also guest-conducted concerts being held at the University of Southern California (USC). World premieres of works by Darren Bloom, Hong Diep, Amanda Harberg, Dr. John M. Kennedy, Dr. Daniel Kessner, Frank Ezra Levy and Masatoshi Mitsumoto were also given to his credit in conducting different orchestras in venues such as the Walt Disney Concert Hall and Zipper Hall. Mr. Ho moved to Los Angeles in 1984 from New York City where he served as Concertmaster for both the Brooklyn Chamber and Queens Philharmonic Orchestras. He has also given solo and chamber music recitals in New York, Los Angeles, Vancouver, and Minnesota.
Besides keeping a busy schedule performing, Mr. Ho also maintains a studio of young and talented students. He was President of the Los Angeles Section of the American String Teachers Association (ASTA) and also served as President of the West San Gabriel Valley Branch of the Music Teachers Association of California (MTAC). Mr. Ho holds a Master’s Degree in Music in Violin Performance from the Manhattan School of Music in New York where he studied with the late Carroll Glenn. Later on, in Los Angeles, he researched pedagogy and repertoire with the late Noumi Fischer. Besides his music degrees, Mr. Ho also holds an MS degree in Hematology and BS degree in Biology.
Currently, Fung Ho is on the violin faculty of Azusa Pacific University as well as the string and chamber music faculty of the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA). Previously, he was on the violin/viola and orchestra faculty at Cal State Univ. Los Angeles (CSULA) for the past 15 years. Mr. Ho has also served on the faculty of the International Institute for Young Musicians (IIYM) at KU Lawrence and UC Santa Barbara during the summers for 8 years. This year will also mark one of his many annual involvements in teaching at the Cal State Fullerton Violin Camp in the summers.
In the summer of 2001, he was invited by the Music Office of the Hong Kong Government to be the guest conductor at the Hong Kong Youth Music Camp, and a concert with the Hong Kong Youth String Orchestra was presented at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre on July 29, 2001, receiving critical acclaim. On March 8, 2008, under the direction of Mr. Ho, the Olympia Youth Orchestra performed in Walt Disney Concert Hall as a result of being selected as one of the Youth Orchestra Partners of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. In the summer of 2013, Mr. Ho led a successful 5 city concert tour throughout China with a chamber orchestra comprised of members of the Olympia Youth Orchestra. In the Spring of 2016, he also led an elite group of students from the Olympia Youth Orchestra (Olympia Chamber Society) on a tour in China and Hong Kong, well received by local audiences.
Mr. Ho was invited as one of the adjudicators at the Hong Kong International Music Festival Music Competition Finals in previous years. He has also given masterclasses in the US as well as Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, and Singapore. Many of his violin/viola students have gone on to further their musical studies in music conservatories all over the country. In 2020, Mr. Ho was recognized as the Outstanding Studio Teacher of the Year by the California Chapter/Los Angeles Section of the American String Teachers Association.
Zhan Shu joined the first violin section of The Cleveland Orchestra in 2018 and was appointed Assistant Concertmaster by Music Director Franz Welser-Möst in January 2026.
Before moving to Cleveland, Shu was a member of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, where he was acting Associate Concertmaster for the 2008–09 season. Shu also served as concertmaster of the Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra and Symphony of Southeast Texas, and as guest concertmaster of the Quad City Symphony Orchestra, Xi’An and Changsha symphony orchestras, and Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival Orchestra.
As a soloist, Shu has performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Midland-Odessa Symphony Orchestra, Indiana University Philharmonic, Texas Music Festival Orchestra, Mannes Orchestra, and Hunan Symphony. Shu has also participated in the Sarasota Music Festival, Toronto Summer Music Festival, Sunflower Music Festival, and Pacific Music Festival.
Shu received his early training from the preparatory school attached to the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. He is a graduate of Mannes College of Music in New York, the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston, and the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. Shu’s mentors include Xiao-Zhi Huang, Lucie Robert, Emanuel Borok, Mauricio Fuks, and Alexander Kerr.
In 2021, Shu held an adjunct assistant professorship at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. Since fall 2023, Shu has been teaching the Orchestra Repertoire for Violin class at Oberlin Conservatory of Music.
Shu plays a c.1874 violin by Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume.
After nearly 50 years of professional orchestra performance, violinist Mary Irwin has retired from full-time orchestral playing, and now devotes all of her energies toward helping students play at their highest level. Ms. Irwin is currently the concertmaster and director of the Piedmont Chamber Orchestra, a ten-year old mentoring orchestra where high school students sit with professional musicians in concerts. She has a studio of 25 violin and viola students, whose repertoire ranges from Twinkle to all of the major concertos. Many of her students now have performance careers themselves, some winning international competitions, most notably Jeff Myers, first violinist of the Calidore String Quartet, and Noelani Perry, member of the Smith Chamber Orchestra in London.
Ms. Irwin began playing piano at age 4, and took up violin at 10. By 18, she had won several concerto competitions and was playing in regional orchestras in her home state of South Carolina, as well as North Carolina and Georgia. She earned a Bachelor of Music degree, with Distinction in Performance, from Converse College, and a Master of Music degree at Northwestern University. Her principal teachers were Jerrie Lucktenberg, James Ceasar, and Myron Kartman, and she also worked with Marge Pardee and Josef Gingold. After her schooling, she served as assistant concertmaster of the Wichita Symphony, and then principal second violin of the Knoxville Symphony, before winning a full-time position with the Columbus Symphony in 1986. In 1998, Ms. Irwin joined the faculty of the Masterworks Festival, a position she has held for 29 years. In 2011, she moved back to her hometown in South Carolina and was immediately appointed concertmaster of the Hendersonville Symphony; she served there for 13 years until her retirement. Ms. Irwin has performed classical music in every genre; in addition to her orchestral experiences in Europe, China, and Japan, she has performed as concerto soloist with multiple orchestras (Brevard Music Center, Masterworks Festival, Spartanburg Philharmonic, Wichita State University, Converse College, Knoxville Symphony, Columbus Symphony Chamber Players, Piedmont Chamber Orchestra, others) as a member of numerous string quartets, piano trios, and other chamber ensembles, and as a recital soloist across the United States. As a lifelong learner and auto-didact, Ms. Irwin has used her years of experience as a performer to challenge students to reach their potential. Besides her commitment to classical music, Ms. Irwin is an avid sports aficionado, with competence in tennis, snow skiing, golf and equestrian dressage; and she is a lover of all dogs and horses.
Violinist Jackie Tso has been heard as a soloist with orchestras around the world such as the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Santa Fe Concert Association Orchestra, and the Beijing Broadcasting Orchestra. Ms. Tso has also played in many of the world’s most prestigious competitions including the Premio Paganini, Yehudi Menuhin, Shanghai Isaac Stern, Zhuhai Mozart, and Cooper. She was a semifinalist of the International Jascha Heifetz Competition as well as the Irving M. Klein.
Jackie studied with Li Lin at The Juilliard School. Past principal teachers include Glenn Dicterow, Kurt Sassmannshaus, and Almita and Roland Vamos.
Tso started playing the violin when she was four and was part of Cincinnati’s Starling String Program as well as the Music Institute of Chicago’s Academy program. She has served as Concertmaster of the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra and MasterWorks Festival Orchestra. When she was fifteen, Jackie had the pleasure of collaborating with acclaimed pianist Christopher O’Riley on National Public Radio’s From the Top.
Jackie has spent summers at the Great Wall International Music Academy, National Arts Center Young Artists Program, Meadowmount School of Music, Bowdoin Music Festival, Salzburg’s Mozarteum Summer Academy, MasterWorks Festival, Aspen Music Festival as an orchestral fellow, and the Heifetz Institute of Music. She has been violin faculty at the MasterWorks Festival since summer 2025.
Tso joined the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra’s violin section for the 2022-2023 season, and is currently the Concertmaster of the Greenville Symphony Orchestra. Some of her hobbies include making flower arrangements, pickleball, and long walks with her husband and pup. Jackie also enjoys staying active in and serving at her church.
Lisa Boyko joined The Cleveland Orchestra in 1991, after serving as a member of the New Orleans Symphony, the Toronto Symphony, and the Minnesota Orchestra. Born in Cleveland and raised in Tucson, Arizona, Ms. Boyko studied for two years in Vienna at the Musikgymnasium and the Hochschule für Musik. She earned her Bachelor of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she was a student of renowned violist and pedagogue Robert Vernon. Ms. Boyko has been a faculty member at CIM and Case Western Reserve University since 1997. For the past two decades she has also taught at The MasterWorks Festival, a Christian performing arts camp held every June/July. In her spare time, she enjoys gardening, reading, and traveling.
Seth Russell performs internationally as a chamber musician, soloist, and orchestral player. He has performed solo and chamber music recitals in venues such as Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Boston’s Jordan Hall, Eastman’s Kodak Hall, and Taipei’s Elite Performance Hall. He has been a featured soloist with the Greenville Symphony Orchestra and the Western Illinois University Orchestra. In 2017 and 2019 he was awarded a top prize in the New York International Artists Competition. He has been Principal Cello of the Greenville Symphony Orchestra since 2021.
Seth is passionate about creating new ways to explore music and connect with audiences.
In September 2024, Seth launched the Greenville Chamber Players, a chamber music concert series in Greenville, SC. The series presents high caliber chamber music concerts played by local musicians in local homes and venues and is aimed at building community around music through creative programming and approachable, candid presentation. The series has received multiple grants from the Metropolitan Arts Council and has collaborated with visual artists, a charity, and the Greenville County Youth Orchestra.
He formed the Parrish Cello Trio with cellists Jamie Clark and Kenny Lee in the Spring of 2022. Since then, the trio has held guest residencies at the Fine Arts Center in Greenville, SC, Western Illinois University, and the University of Northern Iowa. Their work has included working with students in cello and chamber music classes, performing a double cello concerto with orchestra, and performing their unique, multi-genre cello trio programs.
Dedicated to sharing his love of music through pedagogy and music education, Seth works with students from diverse backgrounds and in a variety of settings. His private students have been accepted into the “Rising Stars” Piccolo Spoleto Festival, and music programs at Vanderbilt University, The University of South Carolina, and Oberlin Conservatory. He has served on the faculty of several summer music festivals, including the Longhorn Music Camp, Furman Orchestra Camp, Varna International Music Festival, and the MasterWorks Festival. Seth is the Instructor of Cello and Chamber Music at the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities, a residential high school that gives young emerging artists the opportunity to explore and refine their talents in a one-of-a-kind, arts-centered community.
Seth holds a Bachelor’s degree in Cello Performance and a Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music where he studied with David Ying. He received a Master’s degree in Cello Performance from New England Conservatory where he studied with Paul Katz. He studied with Bion Tsang at the University of Texas at Austin where he received his Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in 2019. Seth and his wife Chelsea are natives of Greenville, SC where they live with their family.