MTNA PERFORMANCE COMPETITION

String Division

Korine Fujiwara

Montana native Korine Fujiwara is a founding member of the Carpe Diem String Quartet, a devoted and sought-after chamber musician and teacher, and a gifted composer and arranger.

Ms. Fujiwara is Professor of violin and viola at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington. She served for many years on the music faculty of Ohio Wesleyan University and is in great demand for master classes and clinics throughout the United States. Korine’s students have been accepted into the performance programs of such institutions as Indiana University, Cincinnati College Conservatory, and Northwestern University to continue their musical studies.

Named as one of Strings Magazine’s “25 Contemporary Composers to Watch,” Korine has received multiple commissions including works for opera, chamber ensembles, chorus, concerti, and music for modern dance. Her works have been performed throughout the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Italy, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, Australia, China, and Japan. Her musical language encompasses a wide range of influences, including classical, folk, jazz, and rock and roll. Her diverse artistic collaborations have helped to infuse her work with a rhythmic power and intensity. 

Critics have remarked of Ms. Fujiwara’s music, “The ear is forever tickled by beautifully judged music that manages to be sophisticated and accessible at the same time,” “Contains a very rare attribute in contemporary classical music: happiness.” (Fanfare Magazine); “She knows how to exploit all the resources of string instruments alone and together; her quartet writing is very democratic, with solos for everyone; her solo violin writing is fiendishly difficult.” (Strings Magazine). “Fujiwara beautifully meets the challenge of weaving together different emotions across generations that make sense musically while delighting the ear.” (WOSU Classical 101 by Request) “Fujiwara’s music is rich and beguiling throughout.” (The Columbus Dispatch)  “Artfully layered and knitted together…While each “room” has its own musical personality, the poignant sections in which characters in different periods actually sing together—a trio, a sextet, and even an octet—dovetail perfectly. The dramatic arc builds persuasively to the climactic moments, shifting with increasing speed between scenes to the culminating revelation.” (The Wall Street Journal)

Korine is a recipient of an Opera America Commissioning Grant from the Opera Grants for Female Composers program, made possible through the generosity of The Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation, for the composition of “The Flood,” an award-winning opera with Stephen Wadsworth, librettist, premiered by Opera Columbus and ProMusica Chamber Orchestra in February 2019.

Ms. Fujiwara is a gifted performer on both the violin and viola, and holds degrees from The Juilliard School and Northwestern University, where she studied with Joseph Fuchs and Myron Kartman, respectively. Her other mentors include Harvey Shapiro, Robert Mann, and Joel Krosnik. Ms. Fujiwara is a member of the music honorary society Pi Kappa Lambda.

Korine began her orchestral career with the Brooklyn Philharmonic and served as a principal player and soloist with the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus. She is also a former member of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, where she held the position of Acting Assistant Principal Second Violin.

Korine performs on a 1790 Contreras violin, 2004 Kurt Widenhouse viola, and bows by three of today’s finest makers, Paul Martin Siefried, Ole Kanestrom and Charles Espey, all of Port Townsend, WA, USA.

Kevin Hekmatpanah

Kevin Hekmatpanah has presented hundreds of solo and chamber performances throughout the country, including the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, the Dame Myra Hess Concert Series at the Chicago Cultural Center, the Society of the Cincinnati Artist Series in Washington D.C., the Sitka Music Festival, the Lower Makefield Performing Arts Society in Pennsylvania, and the Russian Chamber Music Foundation. He has made over one hundred and twenty solo concerto appearances with various ensembles, including the Chicago Chamber Orchestra, the Richmond Philharmonic, the Pueblo Symphony, the Kingsport Symphony Orchestra, the Middle Tennessee Symphony, the Oregon East Symphony, the Boulder Chamber Orchestra, the Southern Arizona Symphony, and Gulf Coast Symphony. Outside the US, he has performed concertos in Russia, Sweden, Bulgaria and Norway. He presented recitals in Italy, Austria, Costa Rica, Norway, and Brazil.

Mr. Hekmatpanah is a Professor of Music at Gonzaga University, where he has taught since 1994. He is a member of the Spokane Symphony. He holds a DMA from the Peabody Conservatory of Music, a MM from Indiana University and a BM from the University of Southern California. His teachers have included such nationally renowned pedagogues as Stephen Kates, Fritz Magg, and Gabor Rejto, and he has received coachings from such internationally celebrated artists as Yo-Yo
Ma, Lynn Harrell, and Janos Starker.

Brendan Shea

Brendan Shea is an award winning violinist and chamber musician. His chamber music awards were won when he played with the Wasmuth Quartet and include the Bronze Medal at the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition, Gold Medal and Audience Award at the Chesapeake International Chamber Music Competition, and Grand Prize at the Coleman Chamber Music Competition. As a founding member of the Wasmuth (now Verona) Quartet, he performed across the United States, Germany, and Japan. 

Brendan has performed with many world class ensembles and performers. As a soloist he has performed with orchestras in Washington D.C, Brussels, Sendai, Indianapolis, and South Bend, and Boise. His award winning duo, the Shea-Kim Duo, has competed internationally and performed recitals in Asia, Europe and North America. Their awards include the Ackerman Chamber Music Award and Gold Medal at the Manhattan International Music Competition. Their second CD, The Sound and the Fury, was released by Blue Griffin Records in November of 2021, with glowing reviews in Strings Magazine, BBC Music, American Record Guide, and Fanfare, among others. Their latest record, “All Roads Lead to Vienna”, is set for a spring 2023 release. 

Brendan has been a finalist and semi-finalist at the Queen Elisabeth, Isang-Yun, Seoul, Sibelius, and Carl Nielsen, and has taken first place with Honors at the Glazunov International Competition in Paris. He also enjoys performing contemporary works, and has premiered a number of notable works, including Frederic Rzewski’s Night, Death, and Devil with the Emmy Award winning 8th Blackbird. While in the Euclid Quartet he spent two summers at the Mostly Modern Festival premiering and performing works by student and faculty composers.  

In addition to his performance career, Brendan is also a sought after violin teacher and chamber musician. He has been a guest violin professor at the Oberlin Conservatory, and the Mahanaim School in New York. He was on the faculty at Indiana University, South Bend for five years where he was a violinist with the Euclid Quartet. He was a two year visiting professor of violin and viola at the University of Notre Dame. He has given masterclasses across the United States at many different universities, such as Michigan State University, Central Washington University, Texas A&M Corpus Christi, and University of Nebraska. He continues to teach and perform at several prestigious summer festivals, including the Encore Chamber Music Festival and the Anchorage Chamber Music Festival. In 2017 he founded the summer chamber orchestra intensive at Indiana University South Bend, and is co-founder of Chamber Music in the Bend with Yerin Kim. He is currently at the Boise Philharmonic as their new concertmaster, and the College of Idaho as Langroise Trio Artist in Residence.