Sullivan County Chamber Orchestra 2022/23 Season

SCCO celebrates Women’s History Month through performances of four monumental composers who leave a lasting impact on their colleagues, community and the world around them.

Performers

Akiko Hosoi, Violin

Kirsten Jerme, Cello

Routing Li, Piano

Program

Reena Esmail, Saans

Amy Beach, Trio

Lili Boulanger, D’un Soire Triste

Clara Shuman, Trio in G minor

 Nesin Cultural Arts and SCCO are supported in part by funds from: the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Kathleen Courtney Hochul, Governor and the NY State Legislature; Sullivan County Plans and Progress Division of Planning and Community Development and the Office of Children’s and Family Services Youth Bureau with support from the Sullivan County Legislature; and Episcopal Charities.

PERFORMER BIOs

Akiko Hosoi, Violin

A resident of New York City, Japanese violinist Akiko Hosoi is an active solo and chamber music performer across the United States, while being a member of the New Haven Symphony and Stamford Symphony Orchestras. Akiko enjoys collaborating with other artists and organizations dedicated to promote community enhancement and social justice, with projects such as organizing outreach performances at veteran hospitals, hospices, schools, and state prisons across the US, as well as benefit concerts to raise money for the 3/11 Fukushima disaster. Akiko also maintains a performing presence in Japan with regular recitals as well as outreach collaborations with Alexander Technique Studio Tokyo. In 2016, Akiko partnered with Sullivan County (NY) non-profit arts organization Nesin Cultural Arts (NCA) to co-establish and lead the Sullivan County Chamber Orchestra, a conductor-less string orchestra, whose mission is to serve the community and elevate the quality of life for all generations through artistic expression and cultural experiences.
Always trying to inspire the younger generation, Akiko is in high demand as a violin instructor. Through NCA she has co-founded the Aspiring Young Musicians Program and the Summer Music (Arts) Academy, designed to provide students aspiring to develop their musicianship with regular and frequent contact with high caliber performing artists who have a commitment to music education. In 2019 she was invited to teach as a strings instructor at Summer Music in Tuscany, Italy.
Akiko has had an international career from an early age. After attending the Junior Department of the Toho Gakuen School of Music, she enrolled in the Purcell School of Music in London where she was a recipient of many awards and scholarships including the British Government Music and Ballet Scholarship. As a solo recitalist and chamber musician, she worked with distinguished pianists such as Noriko Ogawa and Boris Berezovsky; touring the UK, Finland, Malta, Russia and Japan. A third-prize winner in the 4th Uralsk International Violin Competition in Kazakhstan, she performed with the West Kazakhstan Philharmonic Orchestra. Festival invitations include Mozarteum Summer Music Academy, Encore School for Strings, Taos School of Music, Perlman Music Program Chamber Workshop, and the Tanglewood Music Center. Akiko has performed in masterclasses for Ida Haendel, Gyorgy Pauk and Zakhar Bron, and as a chamber musician, has worked with Seymour Lipkin, Bonnie Hampton, Peter Salaff, Roger Tapping, Donald Weilerstein, and members of the Borromeo, Brentano, Cavani, Orion and Shanghai Quartets. Akiko holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School. Her teachers include David Cerone, Ronald Copes, Maurice Hasson, Lydia Mordkovitch, Kazuki Sawa, and David Updegraff.

Kirsten Jerme, Cello

A devoted chamber musician, cellist Kirsten Jermé has performed internationally from Harlaxton College in England to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. to the Pieve di Gropina in Arezzo.  Based in New York City, Kirsten served as guest cellist of the Cassatt String Quartet for the 2022 Seal Bay Festival of American Chamber Music and has recently appeared with the Harlem Chamber Players, North Country Chamber Players, Atrikk Ensemble, and as a soloist with the Bar Harbor Music Festival.  Formerly cellist of the Larchmere String Quartet, she performed across the U.S., in Canada and Italy and recorded for Naxos while serving for several seasons as Eykamp String Quartet Faculty Artist-in-Residence at the University of Evansville and Principal Cellist of the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra.  She has appeared as a chamber musician with the Carolina Ballet, Battleworks Dance Company at the Joyce Theater, and with members of the Louisville Ballet at the Speed Art Museum, and on series such as Electric Earth Concerts, the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society, Chamber Music Raleigh Sights and Sounds Series, and the Strad for Lunch Recital Series.  Her eclectic freelance life in New York has brought her to stages ranging from Carnegie, Weill and Zankel Halls to Madison Square Garden, (Le) Poisson Rouge, Roulette, and the United Nations, and she has taken part in several recent film score recordings.

Kirsten served as cello faculty at North Carolina State University and has given masterclasses at UNC-Chapel Hill, Otterbein and Western Kentucky University.  A passionate proponent of chamber music pedagogy, she helped launch a chamber music course at the University of Evansville and run a string quartet mentorship program for the youth orchestra, and has taught chamber music and cello for numerous institutions, including two El Sistema programs.  Kirsten received her M.M. at Eastman School of Music and her B.A. from Stony Brook University, and is currently a D.M.A. candidate at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City.  Her primary teachers include Colin Carr, Steven Doane, and Marcy Rosen.

Routing Li, Piano

Chinese pianist Ruoting Li is an eclectic artist who is eager to explore a wide range of musical styles and repertoire, both as a solo pianist and chamber musician. Currently based in NYC and Boston, Ruoting has been involved in numerous activities, such as outreach concerts, music producing, and new music recording. She made her Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall debut in November of 2019, and her Stern Auditorium debut in March of 2020. Both were well received, with special mention of her artistry. Ms. Li was also recently featured in a concert for the Library of Congress, and her passion for chamber music has resulted in a fruitful and ongoing collaboration with the Boston Festival Orchestra.

Born in China, she began piano at the age of 6 and was admitted to the Central Conservatory of Music Middle School in Beijing when she was 11. In 2014, Ms. Li came to the U.S. and was awarded a full scholarship to attend the Manhattan School of Music, where she earned both Bachelor and Master of Music degree in Piano Performance under the tutelage of Dr. Solomon Mikowsky.

Aside from live performance, Ruoting is currently involved as artistic advisor and producer for several ongoing recording projects.