Performances + Events
Meet the Concert Artists
New England Conservatory’s esteemed concert artists represent the pinnacle of musical achievement, embodying the artistry, dedication, and excellence that defines NEC. Each of these distinguished musicians brings an extraordinary skill level and unique artistic voice to the global stage. They are redefining the future of music worldwide through the impact of their superior musicianship, meaningful artistic contributions, and deep dedication to their craft.
Meet the Concert Artists
Current Artists
Joshua Brown
’22, ’24 MM, ’26 AD, Violin
Studio faculty: Don Weilerstein
Violinist Joshua Brown has been praised by audiences and critics worldwide for his “richness of sound, elegance of reading…commitment of every moment at the service of the work…” (La Libre). Recipient of a 2025 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Joshua gained international attention after winning the 2nd Prize and both Audience Awards at the 2024 Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. Other international competition successes include the 1st Prize at the inaugural 2023 Global Music Education International Violin Competition in Beijing, China, as well as the 1st Prize and Audience Award at the 2019 International Violin Competition of Leopold Mozart in Augsburg, Germany.
Joshua was first recognized for his debut performance with the Cleveland Orchestra and has gone on to perform regularly with orchestras around the world, including the Munich Radio Orchestra, MDR Sinfonieorchester, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Civic Orchestra, East Coast Chamber Orchestra, Belgian National Orchestra, and Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liege, among others, continually garnering praise from critics. After his performance of Brahms’ Violin Concerto in Beijing with members of the Philadelphia Orchestra, The Strad wrote, “Brown spun out silky, weightless phrases that seemed suspended in time;” in Belgium, Le Soir described him as “a real musician, of great sensitivity…with a real sense of nuance;” and the Indianapolis Star described his sound after a performance of Mozart’s 5th Violin Concerto as “addictive and shimmering, with emotions like dynamic colors that shifted beneath a clear, glassy surface.”
A passionate recitalist and chamber musician, Joshua has also appeared regularly in series such as Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series, Festival Musiq3 in Brussels, the Tchaikovsky Festival in Moscow, the ProMusica series in Mexico, the Matinée Musicale series in Cincinnati, the Jupiter Chamber Players series in New York City, and the North Shore Chamber Music Festival in Chicago. Joshua received the Kronberg Academy’s 2023 Manfred Grommek Prize and has been named a Pirastro Artist, Yamaha Young Performing Artist, and Luminarts Fellow, among other awards.
Joshua is currently pursuing his Artist Diploma at the New England Conservatory of Music under Donald Weilerstein after also earning his Bachelor and Master of Music there. Before his time at NEC, Joshua studied with Almita and Roland Vamos at the Music Institute of Chicago.
Joshua is grateful to be playing an outstanding Nicolo Amati violin from Cremona, circa 1635-1640, on extended loan through the generosity of the Mary B. Galvin Foundation and the efforts of the Stradivari Society, a division of Bein & Fushi, Inc. The Mary B. Galvin Foundation, Inc. and the Stradivari Society support the very highest level of string playing by loaning precious antique Italian instruments to artists of exceptional talent and ability.
Yunchan Lim
’26 AD, Piano
Studio faculty: Minsoo Sohn
Photo Credit: Lisa-Marie Mazzucco
Since becoming the youngest person to ever win gold at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition at the age of 18 in 2022, Yunchan Lim’s ascent to international stardom has been meteoric. Marin Alsop expressed: “Yunchan is that rare artist who brings profound musicality and prodigious technique organically together.”
In the years following his Cliburn win, Yunchan made successful orchestral debuts with the New York, Los Angeles, Munich, and Seoul Philharmonic orchestras, as well as Chicago, Lucerne, BBC, Boston, and Tokyo Symphony orchestras among others. Recital appearances include performances at Carnegie Hall, Verbier Festival, the Wigmore Hall, Het Concertgebouw, and Suntory Hall, among other major stages.
Lim’s 2024/25 season highlights include orchestral debuts with Washington National Symphony, London Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Vienna Radio Symphony, Berlin Radio Symphony, and WDR Symphony Orchestras, as well as returning to New York Philharmonic, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, and Orchestra de Paris. This season will also see his recital debut at the Kennedy Center, and a return to Carnegie Hall.
As an exclusive Decca Classics recording artist, Yunchan Lim’s acclaimed debut studio album, Chopin Études Opp.10 & 25 has gone double platinum in South Korea and topped the classical charts around the world.
His previous releases include Liszt’s Transcendental Études (Steinway & Sons); Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 “Emperor” (Universal Music Group); and his appearance on KBS’s 2020 Young Musicians of Korea album.
Born in Siheung, Korea, Yunchan Lim began piano lessons at age 7. He was accepted into the Korea National Institute for the Gifted in Arts at age 13, where he met his teacher and mentor, Minsoo Sohn. In 2019, aged only 15, he became the youngest person to win Korea’s IsangYun International Competition. Yunchan currently studies at the New England Conservatory of Music with his teacher Minsoo Sohn.
Clayton Stephenson
’23 NEC/Harvard, ’27 AD, Piano
Studio faculty: Wha Kyung Byun
American pianist Clayton Stephenson’s love for music is immediately apparent in his joyous charisma onstage, expressive power, and natural ease at the instrument. Hailed for “extraordinary narrative and poetic gifts” and interpretations that are “fresh, incisive and characterfully alive” (Gramophone), he is committed to making an impact on the world through his music-making.
Stephenson grew up in New York City, started piano lessons at age 7, and the next year was accepted into The Juilliard School’s Music Advancement Program — a full scholarship program for disadvantaged students — where he lingered to watch student recitals and fell in love with music. Stephenson practiced on a synthesizer at home until he found an old upright piano on the street. For the next six years, that would be his practice piano, until, at age 17, he received a new piano from the Lang Lang Foundation.
Stephenson credits the generous support of community programs that provided him with musical inspiration and resources along the way. As he describes it, the “Third Street Music School jump-started my music education; the Young People’s Choir taught me phrasing and voicing; Juilliard’s Music Advancement Program introduced me to formal and rigorous piano training, which enabled me to get into Juilliard Pre-College; the Morningside Music Bridge validated my talent and elevated my self-confidence; the Boy’s Club of New York exposed me to jazz; and the Lang Lang Foundation brought me to stages worldwide and transformed me from a piano student to a young artist.”
Recent seasons have included concerto performances with the Houston, North Carolina, Virginia, and Cincinnati symphonies; festival appearances at Grand Teton, Grant Park, and Tippet Rise; recitals at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the 92nd Street Y in New York City; and gala performances with the New York and Las Vegas philharmonics. He served as the 2024-25 artist-in-residence at the Hartford Symphony Orchestra.
Highlights of his 2025-26 season include performances with the Cincinnati Philadelphia, and Sarasota orchestras, the symphonies of Nashville and Portland, Maine, the Stuttgart Philharmonic, and the Boston Pops Orchestra. He will give recitals at the Jacobins Festival (Toulouse, France), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston), and Crystal Bridges Museum (Arkansas) and will conclude his season in spring 2026 on tour with the Stuttgart Philharmonic in Italy.
Stephenson graduated from the Harvard/New England Conservatory dual degree program in spring 2023 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Harvard and a Master of Music degree in piano performance from NEC, where he studied with Wha Kyung Byun. In addition to being the first Black finalist at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2022, he received an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2024, won the inaugural Nina Simone Piano Competition that year, and received the Sphinx Organization’s Sphinx Medal of Excellence in 2025.
Dani Jingdan Zhang
’26 AD, Opera Studies
Studio faculty: Bradley Williams
Soprano Dani Jingdan Zhang made her debut with Opera Hong Kong as Norina in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale at Hong Kong City Hall, followed by an acclaimed performance as Musetta in Puccini’s La Bohème at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Grand Theatre. Her other operatic roles include Poppea (Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea), Ruth Baldwin (Later the Same Evening), Ilia (Idomeneo), Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare), and Nedda (I Pagliacci). She has also performed partial roles such as Nannetta (Falstaff), Micaëla (Carmen), Euridice (Orfeo ed Euridice), and Cunegonde (Candide). She most recently sang Agnes in Ulysses Kay’s Frederick Douglass with Odyssey Opera and Valencienne in Franz Lehár’s The Merry Widow with Opera Hong Kong. In the 2025–2026 season, her upcoming engagements include performing the role of Zhu Yingtai in the world premiere of contemporary opera The Butterflies with Sichuan Symphony Orchestra, Adina in The Elixir of Love, and Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro at New England Conservatory.
As a concert soloist, she made her debut under the baton of Yu Long with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil), singing the soprano solo in Fauré’s Requiem at HKU MUSE. During the HK Phil’s 50th anniversary season, she was invited to perform in Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Sylvia Chang and Lio Kuokman, and later appeared as soprano soloist in Poulenc’s Gloria with Chloé Dufresne. In addition, Dani performed Bach’s Mass in B minor in collaboration with the Hong Kong Bach Choir, conducted by Jerome Hoberman. In Macao, she performed Bach’s Easter Oratorio and excerpts from Handel’s Messiah with the Macao Orchestra and Learners Chorus. She also featured in the Opera Hong Kong 20th Anniversary Gala Concert and performed soprano solo in Carmina Burana with the Sichuan Symphony Orchestra under Shinik Hahm at the Sichuan Cultural and Arts Center. Recently at NEC, Zhang appeared as soprano soloist in the Philharmonia’s performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 under Hugh Wolff.
Dani has been recognized in both international and national competitions, winning the Finalist Award at the 2022 Donizetti International Singing Competition (Italy), the Gold Award at the 2023 PREMIA International Young Artists Music Festival Competition — which also invited her to perform at the Prizewinners Gala Concert at Carnegie Hall in New York — and First Place at the 14th Chinese Golden Bell Award for Music (Hong Kong competition area). A star of Radio Television Hong Kong’s 2019 Young Music Makers, she has been featured in numerous television and radio productions, including The Sound of Art, The GBA Concert Hall, and the interview series Musicians’ Terrace. As an emerging artist, she performed at the Beijing Great Wall Cultural Festival and the Shenzhen Cultural Center.
Dani is currently pursuing an Artist Diploma in Opera Studies at NEC under the tutelage of Bradley Williams. Apprenticed under Professor Nancy Yuen, she received her Bachelor’s (Honours) and Master’s degrees with distinction from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. She has participated in master classes led by renowned artists including Susan Graham, Diana Damrau, Sumi Jo, José Carreras, Nelly Miricioiu, Graham Johnson, Heidi Stober, Shenyang, and Warren Mok.
