September 3, 2025

Award-winning Jamaican-American violist Jordan Bak has achieved international acclaim as a trailblazing artist, praised for his radiant stage presence, dynamic interpretations, and fearless power. Critics have described him as “an exciting new voice in Classical performance” (I Care If You Listen), “a powerhouse musician, with a strong voice and compelling sound” (The Whole Note) and lauded his “haunting lyrical grace” (Gramophone). The recipient of the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s ‘Alexandra Jupin’ Award and former Young Classical Artist Trust’s (YCAT) ‘Robey Artist,’ Bak was also a prizewinner in the Sphinx, Lionel Tertis, and Concert Artists Guild Competitions, and has received accolades from ClassicFM, MusicalAmerica, and WQXR.

For the 2025-26 season, Bak will join the world-renowned Takács Quartet on a tour of rarely-performed Mozart viola quintets, in addition to making his concerto debuts (2025) with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Houston Symphony. Bak will also give the world premiere of composer Michael Frazier’s new viola concerto, Los quetzales, commissioned by Eastman School of Music, The Sphinx Organization, and the American Composers Orchestra.

Bak’s enthusiastically-received sophomore album, Cantabile: Anthems for Viola (Delphian Records), has garnered significant international attention, featuring works by Arnold Bax, Benjamin Britten, and Ralph Vaughan Williams, paired with contemporary compositions by Jonathan Harvey, Bright Sheng, and Augusta Read Thomas. A proud new music advocate, Bak has given numerous world premieres, including Kaija Saariaho’s Du gick, flög for viola and mezzo-soprano, Jessica Meyer’s On fire…no, after you for viola, mezzo-soprano and piano, Augusta Read Thomas’ Upon Wings of Words for string quartet and soprano, and Jeffrey Mumford’s stillness echoing for viola and harp.

Bak has appeared as soloist with such orchestras as London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sarasota Orchestra, London Mozart Players, New York Classical Players, Juilliard Orchestra and Brandon Hill Chamber Orchestra among others, and has performed under such esteemed conductors as Howard Griffiths, Stephen Mulligan, Keith Lockhart, Gerard Schwarz, and Ewa Strusińska. As a recitalist and chamber musician, he has been heard at some of the world’s greatest performance venues including Carnegie Hall, the Concertgebouw, Wigmore Hall, Jordan Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Perelman Theater at The Kimmel Center, Elgar Concert Hall, and Helsinki Musiikkitalo.

Bak has been a presence at numerous chamber music festivals such as Marlboro Music Festival, Tippet Rise, Chamber Music Northwest, and Newport Classical, and has appeared during the year at Chamber Music Detroit, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Emory University’s Candler Concert Series, and Shriver Hall Concert Series. Bak has frequently collaborated with the Escher Quartet, Verona Quartet, Catalyst Quartet, Merz Trio, and Hermitage Piano Trio and has performed with such artists as Jonathan Biss, Lara Downes, Jennifer Frautschi, Ani Kavafian, Soovin Kim, Jörg Widmann, Charles Neidich, Marina Piccinini, and Gilles Vonsattel.

Passionate about education, Bak currently serves as Assistant Professor of Viola at University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) and is a new Faculty member of Manhattan School of Music and NYU Steinhardt, as well as an Ambassador for UK Music Masters in London. Additionally, he has given master classes at Oberlin Conservatory, Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Florida, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (UK), and Conservatorio del Tolima (Colombia).

Only the third violist to earn the Artist Diploma from The Juilliard School, Jordan Bak holds a Bachelor of Music degree from New England Conservatory and a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School where he was awarded the prestigious Kovner Fellowship. His principal teachers were Dimitri Murrath, Hsin-Yun Huang, and Samuel Rhodes.

He plays on two violas both made by Jon van Kouwenhoven. He is married to violist Rubina Bak and shares two cats, Bartok and Walton.

Double-bassist Ha Young Jung captivates audiences with her dynamic and engaging performances. National and international competitions place her among the most accomplished double bassists of our time. Jung’s successes include first prize for the Koussevitzky Young Artist Award (New York, 2013), a silver medal at the Serge Koussevitzky International Double Bass Competition (St. Petersburg, 2007), first prize at the International Society of Bassists’ Competition (USA, 2007), the Grand-Prix of International String Competition (Moscow, 2006) and Musician of the Year of the Solti Foundation (Belgium, 2006).

Jung’s performances have been broadcast live across the continent on stations such as WQXR of New York, BBC Radio 3 of the United Kingdom, the National Radio Station of Israel “Kol Ha Musica and Kultura Channel of Russia.

A graduate of the Royal College of Music (BM), The Juilliard School (MM), Yale University (AD), and Boston University (DMA), Jung’s affiliations include Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect, New York Philharmonic as a Teaching Artist, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and Riverside Symphony as Guest Principal Bass.

Jung regularly appears with the New York Philharmonic along with other distinguished ensembles around the globe.

Sicilian tenor Gioacchino Lauro (Jack) Li Vigni has performed at top international venues, including the Metropolitan Opera, Chicago Opera, Michigan Opera, Oper Frankfurt, Dutch National Opera, L’Opéra de Marseille, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Beijing Opera, Sao Paolo Opera, and others. He was trained by his father, celebrated tenor Salvatore Li Vigni, as well as Carlo Bergonzi, Franco Corelli, Arrigo Pola, and Salvatore Fisichella.

He is a voice instructor for the prestigious Jette Parker Young Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House (Covent Garden), for National Opera in Amsterdam, Frankfurt Oper, and others.

His students have performed on every major operatic stage and recorded for major record labels. Many are recent winners and finalists at major competitions such as Operalia, BBC Cardiff Singer of the World, and the Francisco Viñas International Singing Competition. They have attended young artists programs at Covent Garden, Bayerische Staatsoper, Opéra Bastille, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Komische Oper Berlin, Staatsoper Wien, Theater an der Wien, Oper Frankfurt, and Staatsoper Stuttgart.

Mr. Li Vigni is the founder and General Director of Mediterranean Opera Studio and Festival (MOSF) in Sicily, which provides a platform for the development of young artists.

Coloratura soprano Cyndia Sieden has made regular appearances at the world’s great opera houses and concert stages, singing roles from 17th- and 18th-century works to 20th- and 21st-century repertoire. She made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in Berg’s Lulu and received critical acclaim as Ariel in the world premiere of Thomas Adès’ The Tempest at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and in the North American premiere at the Santa Fe Opera. She created the role of Ratastok in Sunlief Rasmussen’s Second Symphony with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, sang Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Wing on Wing with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in LA and on tour in Europe and starred in the North American premiere of Morton Feldman’s monodrama Neither (New York City Opera). She also starred in the premiere production of Wolfgang Rihm’s Dionysus (Netherlands Opera/ Holland Festival) and was the Cheshire Cat in the second production of Unsuk Chin’s Alice and Wonderland in Geneva.

She has garnered acclaim as Queen of the Night in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and Blondchen in Die Entführung aus dem Serail (both recorded with John Eliot Gardiner and the English Baroque Soloists for Deutsche Grammophon), having sung the Queen of the Night at Munich’s Bayerische Stattsoper, Paris’s Opera Bastille, La Monnaie, the Metropolitan Opera and many other opera houses all over the world. Her decades-long collaboration with the Orchestra of the 18th Century culminated in an acclaimed recording of the seven concert arias Mozart wrote for Aloysia Weber. She has sung at the Salzburg Festival as Aspasia in Mozart’s Mitridate and Amor in Gluck’s Orfeo, as well as in a staged and filmed Mozart concert aria project — Ombra Felice — and in concerts as varied as Mozart’s Mass in C Minor and the epic and rarely performed Prometeo by Luigi Nono.

A Strauss specialist, Ms. Sieden has performed Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos(Munich, Japan, Vienna, Bonn, Chautauqua, English National Opera etc), Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier (Paris’s Châtelet), Fiakermilli in Arabella (Bayerische Staatsoper and tour of Japan) and Aminta in Die Schweigsame Frau (Palermo, Sicily as well as a studio recording with Kurt Moll and the Bavarian Radio Orchestra).

She has made regular appearances with leading orchestras, including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, the Los Angeles, Malaysian and London Philharmonic and the Dallas, Atlanta, San Francisco, Boston, Saito Kinen, Seattle, Fort Worth, Chicago, London and Cleveland Symphonies. Early Music ensembles include Concentus Musicus Wien, Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Philharmonia Baroque, Boston Baroque, Apollo’s Fire, Pacific Musicworks and the Göttingen, Halle, Utrecht and Boston Early Music Festivals.

Ms. Sieden is managed by Schwalbe and Partners.

Founded as a community music school by Janet Daniels Schenck in 1918, today MSM is recognized for its 1,055 superbly talented undergraduate and graduate students who come from more than 50 countries and nearly all 50 states; its innovative curricula and

world-renowned artist-teacher faculty that includes musicians from the New York Philharmonic, the Met Orchestra, and the top ranks of the jazz and Broadway communities; and a distinguished community of accomplished, award-winning alumni working at the highest levels of the musical, educational, cultural, and professional worlds.

The School is dedicated to the personal, artistic, and intellectual development of aspiring musicians, from its Precollege students through those pursuing doctoral studies. Offering classical, jazz, and musical theatre training, MSM grants a range of undergraduate and graduate degrees. True to MSM’s origins as a music school for children, the Precollege Division is a professionally oriented Saturday music program dedicated to the musical and personal growth of talented young musicians ages 8 to 18. The School also serves some 2,000 New York City schoolchildren through its Arts-in-Education Program, and another 2,000 students through its critically acclaimed Distance Learning Program.