East Coast International Competition
Ann Setzer, Head of Judge
Violinist Ann Setzer has received enthusiastic praise for the beauty and insightfulness of her playing. Critically acclaimed as a recitalist, soloist with orchestra, and chamber musician, Ms. Setzer has performed throughout the United States and Europe and has been a frequent guest artist on radio broadcasts.
Highly sought after as a violin pedagogue, Ms. Setzer has served as a violin professor for many years at the Mannes College of Music and the Juilliard School Pre-College Division. She also is an Associate Faculty member in Juilliard College and is a violin faculty member at New York University, Steinhardt School of Music and Performing Arts Professions. Because of her work in violin pedagogy, she is in demand as a master class artist and has given classes throughout the world at prestigious institutions in Korea, Romania, Germany and throughout the United States. She frequently adjudicates in national competitions and her students have won prizes in numerous national and international competitions.
Ms. Setzer received her musical education as a scholarship student at the Juilliard School, where she studied with her mentor, Sally Thomas. Additional studies were at SUNY Stony Brook where she received her DMA. Her chamber music studies were with Josef Gingold, Jascha Brodsky, Earl Carlyss, Gilbert Kalish and Timothy Eddy. She is the recipient of numerous awards including a teaching fellowship from the Juilliard School, and a quartet fellowship from SUNY Stony Brook.
Ms. Setzer began her teaching career as a teaching assistant to Ivan Galamian at the Meadowmount School of Music where she was appointed to the faculty in 1981. She has been a guest artist or faculty member at festivals such as the Killington Music Festival, the Interharmony Festival, and the Green Mountain Music Festival.
New York International Music Concours
Matt Sullivan
Oboist, Matt Sullivan has performed extensively on four continents and is recognized internationally as both a virtuoso performer and teacher, as well as an important advocate for the modern oboe. The New York Times has praised his "gorgeously lyrical playing" and the New Yorker has called his inventive performances "the cutting edge". As composer, his innovative works created for oboe, English horn and digital horn, along with his solo and chamber music performances and Compact Discs, have been featured on National Public Radio and on Voice of America. In addition to his active teaching and solo recital schedule, he is a member of Musicians' Accord, the Richardson Chamber Players (Princeton University), the Westchester Chamber Orchestra, First Avenue - the electro acoustic trio and The Weekend of Chamber Music Festival in Sullivan County New York.
Professor Sullivan is a Performing Artist for Boosey & Hawkes musical Instruments and plays exclusively on Buffet Oboes.
Arthur J Levy
Arthur J Levy is on the faculty of Mannes College of Music and formerly as well, Manhattan School of Music in New York City; he has been a vocal consultant and master class teacher at the Glimmerglass Opera and the Roundabout Theatre and has taught at the State University of New York at Purchase, and at the opera house in Stuttgart, Germany. He is also a faculty member at the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, in Waimea, Hawaii. Mr. Levy has also taught singers in the Metropolitan Opera Young Artist Development Program. He works with singers who appear in all the major opera houses of the world, including great world renowned MET tenor Yonghoon Lee and lyric tenor Charles Castronovo, and a number of Tony award winning Musical Theatre performers. He has appeared on CBS 60 Minutes, with his student Audra Mcdonald and internationallyrenowned singers as Elizabeth Futral, Hao Jiang Tian, James Valenti, William Burden, Ricardo Rivera, Won Whi Choi, Stephen Powell, and Broadway star Marin Mazzie, In the music theatre world he has worked and coached such luminary theatre and movie stars as Stockard Channing, Meryl Streep, Oliver Platt, Lauren Graham, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Leah Michelle (of “Glee”) He has performed as tenor soloist in both opera and oratorio and is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music and has had additional studies at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He is a member of the American Guild of Musical Artists and National Association of Teachers of Singing.
Dr. Yoon-Wha Roh
Praised for her “unexpected splendid and subtlety plus beautiful, refined sound & phrase” (Russell Sherman), pianist Yoon-Wha Roh has been appearing as a celebrated soloist with the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, New Jersey Garden State Orchestra, Korean Symphony Orchestra, Korean Philharmonic Orchestra, Seoul National Symphony Orchestra, Sungnam Philharmonic Orchestra, and New York Classical Symphony Orchestra. She has also been featured in Korean monthly music magazines, <Eumak Journal> and <The Piano>, for her orchestra performances and interviews. She has won awards and special prizes from Manhattan International Music Competition, National Artists Competition, Bradshaw & Buono Competition, Piano Texas Concerto Competition, and Hakata Fukuoka International Piano Competition among others.
Other notable performances have been presented at the Carnegie Weil Recital Hall, Lincoln Center Bruno Walter Auditorium, Seoul Arts Center IBK and Recital Hall, Aspen Harris Concert Hall, New York Steinway Hall, Jordan Hall, and Barnes Hall in Cornell University. She has appeared in major music festivals including Prague Music Performance, Aspen Music Festival, GMMFS, Piano Texas International Academy & Festival, Schlern International Music Festival, Banff Center, New Paltz International Summer Festival, Bowdoin International Music Festival, and International Keyboard Institute & Festival. Her international appearances include performances in Prague, Italy, Spain, Brazil, and South Korea.
Active as a chamber musician, Roh has served as a pianist in several ensembles such as Palouse Trio, Selway Trio, Cipriani Trio, and Baltimore Trio. She is also active as a clinician and competition judge. She has served as a jury for Manhattan International Music Concours, East Coast International Competition, and New York International Music Concours. Roh has received Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition Award, New Jersey Senator Raymond J. Lesniak Award, and Certificate of Achievement from the Mayor of New Jersey, Bergen County.
Roh holds Doctor of Music in Piano Performance and Literature, with minors in theory and art administration from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. She recently joined Washington State University as Faculty Artist Teacher of Piano, also serving as the Coordinator of Piano Pedagogy Lab School. Previously, she has taught at the University of Idaho, Towson University, Phillips Academy of Andover, and New England Conservatory of Music Preparatory School and Continuing Education. She is an active member of College Music Society and Music Teachers National Association.
B.M., Yonsei University; M.M., New England Conservatory; Performance Diploma, Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University; D.M., Indiana University.
Principal teachers: Victor Rosenbaum, Alexander Shtarkman, Christopher Harding and Arnaldo Cohen.
Sejong International Music Festival
