Selected Student Bios

• Moonkyung Lee

  Active concert violinist Moonkyung Lee has made frequent solo appearances in Europe, the United States, and Korea, with the Cordoba Orchestra, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic Orchestra, North Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Hradec Kralove Philharmonic Orchestra, Eurorchestra da Camera di Bari, Carlsbad Symphony Orchestra, NYU Symphony Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, and Korean Symphony Orchestra, and has collaborated with eminent conductors and performers such as Maestro Maxim Shostakovich and Mischa Maisky in venues like Dvorak Hall and Smetana Hall in Prague, Czech Republic.

  Recipient of many awards and scholarships including the 2007 New York University String Concerto Competition and NYU Steinhardt Fellowship for Doctoral Studies, Ms. Lee frequently gives recitals in New York, Boston and Seoul. She has also participated in many music festivals such as International Summer Academy Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria and Banff Center for the Arts in Banff, Canada. Her future concert engagements in 2010 include a solo recital at the Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Center in New York, NY in March and a solo appearance with the Albany Symphony Orchestra in Albany, GA in April.
  
  Moonkyung Lee, who received her Bachelor's of Music degree from New England Conservatory where she graduated with honors and Master's of Music degree from Yale University is currently a Ph.D. candidate at New York University.

• Joshua Henderson

  Joshua Henderson, of Nashville, Tennessee, is a Masters student of Prof. Naoko Tanaka in Violin Performance at NYU Steinhardt, where he is a recipient of a Walter Reinhold scholarship. He graduated from The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, at age 19, where he was a student of Prof. Kurt Sassmannshaus. Joshua has performed as soloist with the Starling Chamber Orchestra, Accent X Orchestra, CCM Showcase Orchestra, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, and with the China Performing-Arts Broadcasting Troupe Orchestra at the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing. He has given the world premier of Dr. Trevor Weston's "The People Could Fly", for solo violin and orchestra, in addition to giving the Kennedy Center Premier of the work on the Millennium Stage concert series. Before entering the Cincinnati Conservatory, where he served as concertmaster of the Concert Orchestra, Joshua served as concertmaster of both the Curb Youth Symphony in Nashville and the Augusta (Georgia) Youth Orchestra.

  
  Joshua has studied with Prof. Sassmannshaus and Naoko Tanaka at the Aspen Music Festival and school, and has also attended the Great Wall International Music Festival in Beijing, China. He was a Myra Jackson Blair scholarship student of Prof. Christian Teal at Vanderbilt University (pre-college division), and has studied chamber music with members of the Alexander, American, Blair, Cleveland, and La Salle Quartets.

• Alexandra Jones

  Alexandra Jones is currently a sophomore at New York University studying in Marion Feldman's studio. She started cello with a local community program in her hometown of Brainerd, Minnesota.  In high school, she began traveling to Minneapolis to study with Joshua Koestenbaum, Assistant Principal of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Through high school, she was an avid member of the All-State Orchestra and Minnesota Youth Symphony, sitting principal in both orchestras. Her summer work includes the Stringwood Festival in 2003 and 2004, and Birchcreek Performance Center in 2005. In 2006, she attended the Bowdoin International Music Festival to study with Peter Howard.

  Alexandra came to NYU to continue her academic endeavors while challenging herself to study cello with the vigor that New York City demands.  The balance has proved difficult yet rewarding, as she earned a spot on the Dean's List every semester thus far as well as an invitation to be featured in the Saklad Chamber Music Series; she was also principal cellist of the NYU Repertory Orchestra.

  Slowly narrowing in on her niche as a cellist, Alexandra challenges herself to absorb the advantageous opportunities of New York's culture. In addition to the classical side of her education, she enjoys recording film scores for Steinhardt's Film Scoring program as well as working for the Musical Theater department. She has taken up performances and album recordings for the Grayson Sanders Band and upcoming artist Ben Lear. For the past three years she has taught private lessons to over twelve young students.

• Irene Fitzgerald-Cherry

  A junior at New York University double-majoring in Music Performance and Linguistics, Irene Fitzgerald-Cherry has been playing the violin since she was nine. Currently in the studio of Anton Miller, she most recently studied with Joana Genova-Rudiakov and Lilo Kantorowicz-Glick. She has played with the Empire State Youth Orchestra, the Saratoga Springs Youth Orchestra, and the Sage City Symphony; also playing in the orchestras for the Hubbard Hall Opera Theatre's staged production of Cosi fan Tutti, the New Opera concert productions of Don Giovanni, Cosi fan Tutti, and La Boheme at Williams College, the Williamstown Early Music Festival's performance of St. John's Passion, and the Battenkill Chorale's performance of Elijah. Irene has attended several summer music programs, including the Boston University Tanglewood Institute's Young Artists Orchestra, and, most recently, the Manchester Music Festival.

  As part of her goal to bring little known contemporary works to the public ear, Irene has organized recitals at the Bennington Museum since 2006, featuring 20th century solos and duos in collaboration with colleagues Julian Cartwright, guitar, and Nathan Heidelberger, piano. Irene has also performed in recitals for NYU composers Benjamin Taylor and Angelica Negron.

  Irene has played with NYU Jazz's Combo Nuvo at the International Association for Jazz Education 2007 Conference, the Blue Note, and the Bowery Poetry Club. In the 2008 spring semester, her piano quartet was featured as part of the Steinhardt at Saklad chamber music series. She has played for the musical theatre department in their productions of 110 in the Shade and A Little Night Music, and as a soloist for the Steinhardt 2008 Distinguished Dance Faculty performances. She has been named to the Dean's List every semester for academic achievement.
  

• Molly Fletcher

  Molly Fletcher is a sophomore double-majoring in Violin Performance and Psychology.
  A Dallas native, she began playing violin at age five and is currently studying with Anton Miller.  Before NYU, Molly studied privately with Emanuel Borok, concertmaster of the Dallas Symphony, Jan Mark Sloman, associate concertmaster of the Dallas Symphony, and Paul Landefeld. Working intensively as a chamber and solo musician, she has spent summers at music festivals around the country including the Meadowmount School, the Encore School for Strings, Heifetz International Music Institute, and the Academy of Music Festival.

  Molly has collaborated on solo and chamber works with renowned artists Ida Kavafian, Pamela Frank, Isaac Malkin, David Updegraff, Erich Eichhorn, and Amy Barlowe.  She won the top prizes in the 2004 Juanita Miller Competition and the 2005 Dallas Symphonic festival, and was a national finalist in Seattle for the 2004 MTNA Convention. Molly enjoys orchestral work.  She has been an avid member of the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra, assistant principal of the Monday Night Orchestra, and concertmistress freshman year of the NYU Repertory Orchestra.  Molly currently works in Brooklyn with the One World Symphony and is a member of the NYU Symphony Orchestra. Since being in New York City, she has collaborated on projects for independent film scores, performed and recorded an album with the Grayson Sanders Band, and was a featured artist in the Saklad Chamber Music Series.
  

• Mackenzie Aliano

  Mackenzie Aliano is a bass player in the Undergraduate Program in Instrumental Performance at NYU Steinhardt and a student of Joseph Bongiorno. Mackenzie began playing the double bass in 2000, under the instruction of Peter Tarsoli, and that year, she became the principal bassist in The Metropolitan Youth Orchestra of New York's String Ensemble.  In 2005, she successfully auditioned for The Juilliard School's Pre-College Program, where she was the last student ever to be accepted into Homer Mensch's studio.  At Juilliard, Mackenzie studied under Homer Mensch, Judith Sugarman, and Albert Laszlo, in addition to taking master classes with Eugene Levinson.  During her two years at the prestigious conservatory, Mackenzie played in The Juilliard Pre-College Orchestra and The Juilliard Pre-College Symphony, in which she was principal bassist, and in 2007, she played in the Homer Mensch Memorial Concert, "A Tribute to Homer Mensch", at Paul Hall, alongside twelve other former Mensch students.

  From 2002 to 2007, Mackenzie attended The Wheatley School in New York, where she was president of National Music Honor Society (Tri-M) and a member of National Honor Society and the National French, Italian, and Japanese Honor Societies.  During this time, she played in all four orchestras in The Metropolitan Youth Orchestra of New York and participated in Long Island String Festival (assistant principal bassist) and C.W. Post Chamber Music Festival (principal bassist), as well as in The All-County Orchestra and The All-County Band (principal bassist). Through the years, Mackenzie has performed at such major concert venues as Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Carnegie Hall. One of five bass players in her family, she is joined by her two sisters in the Undergraduate Double Bass Performance Program at Steinhardt.