Borromeo String Quartet Guest Artist Award Concert

André Caplet | Conte fantasque (Masque of the Red Death) from Poe for Harp and String Quartet

Bohuslav Martinů | String Sextet for two Violins, two Violas, and two Cellos, H. 224

Lento - Allegro poco moderato
Andantino - Allegretto scherzando
Allegretto poco moderato

Franz Schubert | Quintet in A Major for Violin, Viola, Cello, Bass, and Piano, F. 667 "Trout"

Allegro vivace
Andante
Scherzo: Presto
Theme and variations: Andantino - Allegretto
Allegro giusto

Artist Biographies

Pianist Yandi Chen has performed in many solo, chamber music, and concerto concerts in China, US, France, Italy, and Japan. Highlights of his piano concerto performance include Mozart Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K.488 with Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jens Georg Bachmann and Bartók Piano Concerto No. 2 with NEC Philharmonia conducted by David Loebel and with Juilliard Orchestra conducted by Jeffrey Milarsky.
        Yandi Chen was invited as soloist as well as chamber musician to 2014 Piano Texas International Academy and Festival, 2016 Aspen Music Festival, 2017 Virtuoso & Belcanto Festival, 2018 Fontainebleau Summer Music Program, and 2019-2020 Perlman Chamber Music Workshop. He has performed in master classes with Fou Ts’ong, Peter Serkin, Robert Levin, Christopher Elton, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Jerome Lowenthal, John Perry, Anton Kuerti, and Jean-Yves Thibaudet to name a few.
         Yandi Chen is currently pursuing his Doctoral of Musical Arts degree at New England Conservatory and is a student of Vivian Weilerstein in the Chamber Music Piano program. Born in Shanghai, China, he graduated from Shanghai Music Middle School affiliated with Shanghai Music Conservatory in 2012, where he studied with Prof. Dan Shao and Ting Zhou. He has studied piano at NEC, the Juilliard School, and at the Yale School of Music under the supervision of Hung-Kuan Chen. He received his Bachelor of Music degree in 2017 from the Juilliard School and his Master of Music degree in 2019 from the Yale School of Music. His chamber music mentors include Vivian Hornik Weilerstein, Merry Peckham, Donald Weilerstein, Ithazk Perlman, John Heiss, Ole Akahoshi, Catherine Cho, Sylvia Rosenberg, Joel Krosnick, Julian Martin, Donald Palma, and Joseph Kalichstein.

American violinist Isabelle Ai Durrenberger is a rising young artist praised for her vivid musicality and genuine communication with her audiences. She is currently completing her graduate studies with Donald Weilerstein and Soovin Kim at New England Conservatory. Isabelle completed her B.M. degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music where she studied with Jaime Laredo. Isabelle has enjoyed recent exposure to and exploration of contemporary music and compositions. In the summer of 2021, Jennifer Koh and ARCO Collaborative chose Isabelle as the Artist Fellow in the Alone Together educational project. Additionally, Isabelle spent her time as a chamber musician at Yellow Barn. Isabelle was awarded the Milton Preves Memorial 3rd Prize at the 2018 Irving M. Klein International String Competition. She has collaborated with many American orchestras including the Columbus Symphony, Asheville Symphony, and Lakeside Symphony Orchestra amongst many others. Isabelle performed at Carnegie Hall as a member of New York String Orchestra Seminar in 2018 and 2015. Isabelle performs on a Terry Borman violin. In her free time, Durrenberger enjoys baking, books, and rewatching Downton Abbey.

Cellist Dilshod Narzillaev was born in 1997 in Navoi, Uzbekistan. In 2007 he began studying cello under the tutelage of Professor Djakhongir Ibragimov in the R.M. Glier specialized lyceum in music, Tashkent, Uzbekistan. He continued hs studies with Daniel Veis at the International Center for Music at Park University in Parkville, Missouri. Currently, he is a master’s student at New England Conservatory studying with Laurence Lesser.
        Narzillaev is the winner of the Rovere d’Oro Prize in Italy and the Alexander Glazunov competition in Paris and is also the winner of the Division Prize of Wichita Symphony Young Artist Competition in 2016. He received fourth prize at the 7th Antonio Janigro International Cello Competition in Zagreb, Croatia.
        Narzillaev has performed concertos of Saint-Saëns, Dvořák, and Hayd with Uzbek National Symphony. He made his debut with Shostakovich’s first concerto with the Croatian Radiotelevision Symphony Orchestra. He has also frequently performed in the Uzbekistan National Symphony Orchestra and made his debut with Kansas City Chamber orchestra in Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in 2016.

Armenian-American violist Cara Pogossian is currently pursuing a Master of Music degree at New England Conservatory studying with Kim Kashkashian. She is a recent graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, where she received her Bachelor of Music degree under the tutelage of Hsin-Yun Huang and Misha Amory. Cara served as Co-Principal Viola of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra during the 2019-20 season, which included a US tour in early 2020. Prior to her studies at Curtis, Cara attended the Colburn Music Academy, where she worked with Paul Coletti and Che-Yen (Brian) Chen. As an AGBU Scholarship recipient, she has performed at several high-profile concerts, including a joint recital with her brother, Edvard, at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. An avid chamber musician, Cara has attended numerous summer festivals, including the Ravinia Steans Music Institute, Taos School of Music, Perlman Music Program, and Yellow Barn Young Artists Program. Committed to musical outreach, she has frequently performed at schools, retirement centers, and hospitals in the greater Los Angeles and Philadelphia areas, and is also an organizer of several Music for Food performances, raising funds for local food banks. Cara is lucky enough to have an entire family of musicians, with whom she frequently performs. During the pandemic, the Pogossian/Manouelian Clarinet Quintet collaborated with composers Timo Andres, Ian Krouse, Artashes Kartalyan, and Aida Shirazi, premiering each of their works in a series of online concerts.

Singaporean harpist Lishan Tan enjoys a multifaceted career as a performer, arranger, writer and teacher. Most notably, she has collaborated with the Silk Road Ensemble and appeared as a soloist with Boston Conservatory’s Conductor's Orchestra and in Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts’ Chamber Series. Her most recent achievements include being awarded the Excellence Performance Award for “Crossing” by Phang Kok Jun at the 2021 RH Prestige Awards. As a founding member and resident arranger of Singapore’s premier harp quartet, The Harp Quarterly, Lishan aims to push the boundaries of her instrument through her arrangements and workshops. Her arrangements range from Metallica to Debussy, and her music has garnered thousands of views online. She also conducts Writing for the Harp workshops for composers and further collaborates with them to premiere and record new harp works. Currently, Lishan is a freelance writer for international harp magazine HarpColumn and the principal harpist of the New England Philharmonic. She holds a BMus degree from Royal College of Music, MM degree from Boston Conservatory at Berklee and is pursuing her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at New England Conservatory where she studies with Jessica Zhou.  She is the first harpist to be admitted to NEC’s doctoral program.