About the Participants

Claire Arias-Kim, The Juilliard School & Sphinx Laureate

Claire is an undergraduate violinist at The Juilliard School in the class of 2023 from Chicago, IL. This past spring, Claire soloed with the Elgin Symphony Orchestra on their education concert series as well as the LaCrosse Symphony Orchestra for being selected as a finalist for the Rising Stars Competition. She also soloed with the Rockford Symphony Youth Orchestra as a result of winning first place in the Rockford Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition. This past summer, she was selected to perform in the Concerto Round of the Cooper International Violin Competition. Recently Claire was a featured artist on WFMT’s “Introductions” where she performed a recital that was simulcast live. In her free time, Claire enjoys journaling and writing poetry.

Moonhee Kim, Beachwood High School

Moonhee Kim, age 16, started playing the violin when she was 4 years old. She currently learns under Sibbi Bernhardsson at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Throughout her violin studies, she has performed in masterclasses for Annie Fullard, Almita Vamos, Mari Sato, the Dover Quartet, Paul Kantor, Yun-Ting Lee, and Marilyn McDonald.

Moonhee has been a first-prize winner of many competitions such as Ohio Music Teachers Association, Cleveland Sigma Alpha Iota String Competition, and the American Protege International Concerto Competition in which she performed at the winner’s recital in New York City’s Carnegie Hall. At 15, Moonhee made her solo debut with the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra in Severance Hall as one of the winners of the orchestra’s annual Concerto Competition.

During the school year, Moonhee has the privilege of studying chamber music at the Cleveland Institute of Music’s Young Artists’ program, where she receives coachings by Si-Yan Li and Jessica Lee, and has received coachings by Todd Phillips. She also is a part of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra under the baton of Vinay Parameswaran, where she served as assistant 2nd violin principal on their 2019 European tour and currently serves as Concertmaster.

Cassidy Franzmeier, Oberlin Conservatory of Music

Cassidy Franzmeier is a third year at Oberlin Conservatory, studying with Sibbi Bernhardsson. She started the violin at age three and studied with Darcy Drexler at the String Academy of Wisconsin for 15 years. Cassidy debuted with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra at the age of nine on a Holiday Pops Concert under Jeff Tyzik (2008). She also played the Bach Double Violin Concerto with the MSO (2008, ‘10). Cassidy was a concertmaster for the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra’s 2017/18 season, and received 2nd and 3rd place in their Senior Symphony Concerto Competition (2017, ‘18). She performed in the Civic Music High School Showcase Recital, and won an additional Young Artist Scholarship (2017). Cassidy competed in the MSO Young Artist competition, garnering semi-finalist (2016) and finalist (2017) status, and was honored to solo with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra on the Stars of Tomorrow concert.

Matthew Cone, Oberlin Conservatory of Music

Matthew Cone is a second year student at Oberlin Conservatory studying Violin Performance with Sibbi Bernhardsson. At age five, he began his violin studies in his hometown of Buffalo, NY with Cindy Lin. Since then, he has studied under Viola Professor George Taylor and Violin Professor Renée Jolles from the Eastman School of Music. As an avid chamber and orchestral musician, he has attended multiple summer festivals including Bravo Workshop, Credo at Oberlin College, Kinhaven Music School, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, Castleman Quartet Program, and Bowdoin International Music Festival. Over the past few years, he has performed in masterclasses for Peter Zazofsky, Dennis Kim, Charles Castleman, Thomas Landschoot, Augustin Haedilich, and Paul Huang. In 2017, he earned third place in the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra Young Artist Violin Competition. Matt was concertmaster of the Greater Buffalo Youth Orchestra and the New York State School Music Association Conference All-State Orchestra. Additionally, he performed with the National Association for Music Education’s All Eastern Orchestra in April 2019. During the summer of 2019, he performed Tchaikovsky’s Meditation with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in their summer season. Since then, Matt intended to attend Encore Chamber Music Institute and Harpa International Music Academy in the summer of 2020, performed in a masterclass for Almita Vamos in December 2020, and for Desiree Ruhstrat in January 2021.