Founded in 1992, the Evnin Rising Stars mentoring program, renamed in honor of Judy Evnin, Caramoor’s Chairman Emerita, has identified some of the finest musicians of the next generation and helped them cross the threshold from their student years into the early stages of professional careers.
“The level of playing and the sheer instrumental ability of everybody involved is just amazing,” explains Marcy Rosen, the program’s Artistic Director. “And these young people are already out there having amazing careers. They all have a real special character that will take them far. It’s a real treat to be able to do this.” For more than 30 years, Caramoor has hosted early career musicians for a weeklong mentorship residency with invited distinguished artists, culminating in a pair of chamber music concerts in the Music Room. Along with Rosen, this season’s mentors are violinist Soovin Kim and violist Daniel Philips.
In their first concert, the young instrumentalists perform Beethoven’s dramatic Quintet for Strings in C Minor; Bartok’s String Quartet No. 2; and Brahms’ Piano Quintet in F Minor. In their second performance, the young musicians tackle Mozart’s Piano Quartet in E-Flat Major; Penderecki’s Trio for Violin, Viola, and Cello; and Brahms’ lyrical Sextet No. 2 in G Major.
The 2024 Evnin Rising Stars
Cherry Choi Tung Yeung, violin (Edna B. Salomon Rising Star)
Stephen Kim, violin (Susan & Joseph Handelman Rising Star)
Geneva Lewis, violin (Carmela S. Haklisch Rising Star)
Cara Pogossian, viola (Robert D. Hodes Rising Star)
Luther Warren, viola (Tondra & Jeffrey Lynford Rising Star)
Zachary Mowitz, cello (Maximilian E. & Marion O. Hoffman Foundation Rising Star)
Chase Park, cello (Mimi & Barry Alperin Rising Star)
Evren Ozel, piano (Texaco Rising Star)
The 2024 Distinguished Artists & Mentors
Marcy Rosen, Guest Artistic Director & cello
Soovin Kim, Distinguished Artist & violin
Daniel Phillips, Distinguished Artist & viola
One of three mentoring programs at Caramoor, Evnin Rising Stars serves as an incubator for the next generation of classical musicians. For more information about Evnin Rising Stars and other mentoring programs at Caramoor, including a full list of alumni artists, visit our website page.
We invite you to learn a little bit more about the 2024 Evnin Rising Stars below:
Cherry Choi Tung Yeung, violin
Violinist Cherry Choi Tung Yeung was born and raised in Hong Kong. Having won her first job at one of the major orchestras in the United States at the age of 21, she is now the Associate Principal Second Violin of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra.
Yeung has performed with the New York Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, Hong Kong Academy, New World and Princeton Symphony Orchestras, Symphony in C, and New Jersey Festival Orchestra. She served as Concertmaster of The Juilliard School Orchestra and the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, where she was awarded the loan of a fine Giovanni Battista Guadagnini violin. She led the orchestra in the 2020 Curtis on Tour and performed in world renowned venues including Carnegie Hall.
Yeung has been an artist of the prestigious Marlboro Music Festival since 2022. She has won numerous prizes including first prize at the Hudson Valley Philharmonic String Competition, prompting engagements with the Hudson Valley Philharmonic and the Orchestra Sinfonica Rossini di Pesaro in Italy. Her other awards include second prize of the Juilliard Violin Concerto Competition, winner of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts Concerto Competition, second prize of the Alice and Eleonore Schoenfeld International String Competition, and first prize of the Hong Kong Youth String Competition. In 2018, she was named a New York Philharmonic Global Academy Zarin Mehta Fellow, and she was the youngest finalist of both the Philadelphia Orchestra and Pittsburgh Symphony Associate Concertmaster Audition.
Yeung plays on a 1768 Pietro Giovanni Mantegazza.
Stephen Kim, violin
Winner of top prizes at the 2019 Queen Elisabeth, 2018 Premio Paganini, and 2016 Sendai international violin competitions, Stephen Kim has established international recognition as a leading artist of his generation, performing with orchestras and ensembles throughout Europe, the United States, and Asia.
A passionate chamber musician, Kim has performed with Isabelle Faust, Christian Tetzlaff, Tabea Zimmermann, Antoine Tamestit, Gary Hoffmann, Jörg Widmann, and musicians from the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, among others. He has recently performed recitals and chamber music at Wigmore Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, and Seoul Arts Center, and at the Marlboro, Kronberg, Seoul, Krzyżowa, Ravinia, Kingston, and Verbier festivals.
Also an avid performer of contemporary music, Kim stunned the Belgian audience at the Queen Elisabeth Competition with his performance by heart of the final-round commissioned work, Kimmo Hakola’s Fidl. He also performed Steven Mackey’s Beautiful Passingconcerto in its New York premiere at Carnegie Hall. His album, Till Dawn, released by Sony Classical in 2021, features various works by Korean composer Shinuh Lee and includes two new pieces, the second violin sonata and first caprice for solo violin, both dedicated to him.
Kim studied at the Curtis Institute of Music with Shmuel Ashkenasi, Joseph Silverstein, and Aaron Rosand, at The Juilliard School with Hyo Kang, and at the Kronberg Academy with Antje Weithaas in Germany.
Geneva Lewis, violin
American/New Zealand violinist Geneva Lewis has forged a reputation as a musician of consummate artistry whose performances speak from and to the heart and who has been lauded for the “remarkable mastery of her instrument” (CVNC) and hailed as “clearly one to watch” (Musical America).
Named a BBC New Generation Artist (2022-24), Lewis is also the recipient of a 2022 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award and a 2021 Avery Fisher Career Grant. She was also Grand Prize winner of the 2020 Concert Artists Guild Competition, winner of the Kronberg Academy’s Prince of Hesse Prize (2021), Musical America’s New Artist of the Month (June 2021), a Performance Today Young Artist in Residence and a YCAT Concordia Artist.
In 2023, Lewis made her BBC Proms debut with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Jaime Martin. Her 2024-25 season includes debuts with the Orquestra Filarmonica de Minas Gerais, Indianapolis Symphony, Des Moines Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, The Florida Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and Vancouver Symphony.
Lewis received her Artist Diploma from the New England Conservatory as the recipient of the Charlotte F. Rabb Presidential Scholarship, studying with Miriam Fried. She also studied with Professor Mihaela Martin in the Professional Studies Program at the Kronberg Academy. Prior to that, she studied with Aimée Kreston at the Colburn School of Performing Arts.
She currently performs on a composite violin by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, c. 1776 generously on loan from a charitable trust.
Cara Pogossian, viola
Armenian-American violist Cara Pogossian is an avid chamber musician and has attended numerous summer festivals, including the Marlboro Festival, Ravinia Steans Music Institute, and Taos School of Music. In 2022, Pogossian was the winner of the Borromeo String Quartet Guest Artist Award, and her quartet was selected as a 2022-23 Honors Ensemble at the New England Conservatory. She has also toured with the Curtis Institute, performing Schubert’s Cello Quintet in various U.S. cities with Ida Kavafian and Peter Wiley. She is the newly-appointed Principal Violist of the Portland Symphony Orchestra, and has appeared as a guest artist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, and Boston Pops Orchestra.
Pogossian is lucky to have an entire family of musicians with whom she frequently performs. During the pandemic, the Pogossian/Manouelian Clarinet Quintet collaborated with composers Timo Andres, Ian Krouse, Artashes Kartalyan, and Aida Shirazi, premiering each of their works in a series of online concerts.
She is a recent graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Hsin-Yun Huang and Misha Amory, and is currently continuing her graduate studies with Kim Kashkashian at the New England Conservatory of Music.
Luther Warren, viola
Violinist and violist Luther Warren enjoys a varied career as a chamber musician and educator. As a performer, he has appeared at such festivals as Ravinia, Yellow Barn, Four Seasons, the Perlman Music Program, Prussia Cove Open Chamber Music, Olympic Music Festival, Menuhin Festival Gstaad, Norfolk, and Taos. He has collaborated with esteemed artists including Itzhak Perlman, Kim Kashkashian, Donald Weilerstein, Miriam Fried, Daniel Phillips, Steven Tenenbom, and, as a frequent substitute violist, the Borromeo String Quartet, among others.
Warren has a keen interest in new music and has worked with composers Steven Mackey, Billy Childs, Gabriella Smith, Joan Tower, Ethan Chaves, and others to present new and recent works. Warren is a founding member of ensemble132, a chamber music collective presenting original arrangements of familiar works together with standard repertoire. He also performs regularly with the LA-based contemporary chamber orchestra Delirium Musicum.
As an educator, Warren has served as chamber music faculty for the Heifetz International Music Institute and violin and viola instructor for Merrimack College, Thayer Academy, and the Performing Arts Center of MetroWest. He has presented masterclasses and residencies at East Carolina University, Queens College, and Texas Christian University, and maintains an active private studio. He is a doctoral student at the New England Conservatory where he has studied with Kim Kashkashian, Donald Weilerstein, and Miriam Fried. Additional mentors have included Erin Keefe and Mimi Zweig.
Zachary Mowitz, cello
A native of Princeton, N.J., cellist Zachary Mowitz made his solo debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra in July 2018. An artist who wears many hats, Mowitz co-founded ensemble132, Nodality Music, and Trio St. Bernard — the 2018 Gold Prize winner of the Chesapeake Chamber Music Competition. He has performed with the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony, and has played as Guest Principal Cello with the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra and Princeton Symphony Orchestra. In the summers of 2022 and 2023, he appeared at the Marlboro Music Festival. He recently joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Having collaborated with artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Donald Weilerstein, Hsin-Yun Huang, Jonathan Biss, Ida Kavafian, and Peter Wiley, Mowitz has an intense passion for chamber music. He has appeared throughout the United States, visiting halls such as the Kimmel Center, Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Columbia University’s Miller Theater, and Johns Hopkins’ Shriver Hall. He is also a member of the Sakura Cello Quintet and Philadelphia’s Gamut Bach Ensemble.
Mowitz attended the Curtis Institute of Music, Royal College of Music, and Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, where he worked with Peter Wiley, Carter Brey, Richard Lester, and Gary Hoffman. He was awarded First Prize in the 2020 World Bach Competition. Last season he was an Associated Artist at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel and co-taught a class at the Curtis Institute on music and climate justice. In his spare time, he enjoys exploring the endless world of podcasts and tossing a frisbee.
Chase Park, cello
Cellist Chase Park, winner of the 2021 Juilliard Cello competition, is a multifaceted performer who enjoys collaborating in a variety of traditional and avant-garde settings. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated and performed with esteemed artists such as Mitsuko Uchido, Jonathan Biss, Scott St. John, Samuel Rhodes, Anthony McGill, Carmit Zori, Schmid, Pamela Frank, and Itzhak Perlman, among others.
Performances with Curtis on Tour brought him to international stages in Athens, Paris, Kempten, Teulada, and Berlin, launching his international reputation. In 2021 he made his Alice Tully Hall debut performing the Haydn Cello Concerto in D Major with the Juillard Chamber Orchestra. His love for chamber music has resulted in fellowships at the Perlman Music Program (“Littles”) and Chamber Music Workshop, Ravinia Steans Institute, the Marlboro Music Festival, and the Valley of the Moon Festival. He is a member of Sejong Soloists, which brought him to Asia to collaborate with artists such as Phillipe Quint, Joyce Di Donato, and Tod Machover.
Park is passionate about historical performance and championing lesser-known solo works in the cello repertoire, and he employs multiple art disciplines to better convey this music to larger audiences. Adapting cello music to film is one way he believes he can make the abstract nature of music accessible to those with little or no exposure to classical music.
Evren Ozel, piano
American pianist Evren Ozel is known for his “refined restraint” (Third Coast Review), blending virtuosic technique with insightful interpretations. A 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient, he also holds a 2022 Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant and is represented by Concert Artists Guild as a winner of their 2021 Victor Elmaleh Competition.
Ozel made his debut with the Minnesota Orchestra at age 11 and has since performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony, and The Orchestra Now at Bard College, under conductors such as Jahja Ling and Leon Botstein. His first album, featuring Mozart Concertos with the ORF Radio Symphony of Vienna and conductor Howard Griffiths, will be released in 2025 on Alpha Classics.
His 2024-25 season includes solo recitals for La Jolla Music Society, Capital Region Classical, and Cal Performances. He has previously performed for the Harvard Musical Association, Schubert Club, and The Gilmore.
An accomplished chamber musician, Ozel has collaborated with artists like David Finckel, Wu Han, and Stella Chen, and has performed at the Marlboro Festival. He is currently a Bowers Program Artist with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and will tour with Musicians from Marlboro in 2024-25.
Ozel is based in Boston and is pursuing an Artist Diploma at the New England Conservatory under Wha Kyung Byun, with mentorship from Jonathan Biss, Imogen Cooper, and Mitsuko Uchida.