Delirium Musicians on Tour
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Etienne Gara - Artistic Direction / Violin
Artist in Residence at The Soraya and at USC's Brain and Creativity Institute, Etienne is a French-Hungarian graduate of the New England Conservatory, and ended his student career of more than 11 years at USC with Midori Goto. Since then, he enjoys concertizing internationally and gathering artists from different backgrounds around creative projects, and goes skydiving when he runs out of ideas. His dearest memories, beside the time spent with Delirium Musicum musicians, are from playing under the baton of John Adams with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and recording his debut album on a 1714 Stradivarius. His strongest trait of character: French.
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Evan Hjort- Violin
Evan Hjort is a Seattle-based violinist who recently returned to his native Washington after several years in Boston. As a passionate composer and interpreter of new music, Evan has premiered pieces by Ryuichi Sakamoto, Caroline Shaw, Tan Dun, and Wayne Shorter, among others. When not flying down to LA to perform with his delirious friends, Evan enjoys curating for a film studies group, drinking beers while hiking in the great PNW, and constructing elaborate Halloween costumes. Evan is slated to release his first full-length album of original music in 2024.
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Sheng-Ching Hsu - Violin
As a quiet introvert girl, Sheng-Ching wanted to be a musician when she realized it is a way to communicate without actually speaking. Born and raised in Taiwan, S-C earned all her degrees in New York (Mannes, Juilliard and Stony Brook) and moved to Los Angeles after performing Lincoln Center Stage on cruise ships all over the world for a few years. During the pandemic, “S-C Sidewalk Performance” brought weekly live music to the street corners of West LA. The performances brought comfort and hope to many people during the time of isolation, and were featured on KTTV Fox 11 Los Angeles. S-C enjoys baking, organizing, and drinking coffee. She shows her delirious love to her DM colleagues by baking one thing for them every cycle.
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YuEun Kim - Violin
Originally from South Korea, YuEun graduated from USC with Midori Goto. Next to her concertizing career, she is entangled in a relationship with a French boyfriend and goes skydiving to release the pressure. Her next goal is bungee jumping. She likes to think of herself as elegant, and is the social media guru of DM.
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Sophia Szokolay - Violin
Canadian violinist Sophia Szokolay graduated from Juilliard and is currently pursuing her Doctorate at the New England Conservatory. She enjoys playing with ensembles like the Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra, Delirium Musicum, Palaver Strings, and the Phoenix Orchestra, and coaching chamber music at NEC’s Preparatory School. Based in Boston, she spites the cold weather by cycling to all her engagements, rain or snow. Sophia is delighted to be in sunny LA where she can more comfortably continue training for the Boston Marathon.
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Misha Vayman - Violin
Misha Vayman is a professional violinist, educator, and dog lover. He has performed in a wide variety of contexts, from opening for Dorian Electra to soloing with various orchestras in the United States, Mexico, Russia, and China. With his genre hopping band Astral Mixtape, Misha has been featured at a variety of venues across Los Angeles and at multiple international music festivals. After 10 years of school at the USC Thornton School of Music, Colburn Conservatory, and the Cleveland Institute of Music, Misha is good, and doesn’t need to practice at all. Animals have been known to enjoy his playing, as do some people.
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Yezu Woo - Violin
Violinist Yezu Woo debuted at Carnegie Hall at age 16, becoming the youngest performer to play all 24 of Paganini’s Caprices for solo violin. Winner of the Korean national award, "Outstanding International Musician of the Year" by the Arts Critics Association, Yezu was appointed as Honorary Ambassador of the City of Chuncheon, where she is currently serving as the Artistic Director of the New York in Chuncheon Music Festival. Yezu is a recipient of the Fulbright Scholarship in Germany, where she was a member of the Ensemble Modern Academy and a researcher at the Isang-Yun-Haus in Berlin. She received a degree from virtually all of the best music schools in New York, while finding time to enjoy watching movies and reading during her free time. Yezu has recently been obsessed with salsa dancing!
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Yebin Yoo - Violin
Yebin is an Australian native who has unfortunately failed to keep even a hint of an Australian accent. She is currently pursuing her Master of Music at the New England Conservatory in Boston with Miriam Fried. Her most delirious project so far has been performing a recital of the complete set of the six Ysaye Solo Sonatas. Her ideal way to pass free time is mindless running and nerding out to recordings by David Nadien. Despite being the youngest member of the Delirium family, dad jokes are the way to get her heart.
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Nao Kubota - Viola
Violist Nao Kubota is a sought-after chamber and orchestral musician based in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Before moving to California, she lived in Boston, Michigan, Ohio, and Japan. A graduate of New England Conservatory and USC Thornton School of Music, Nao has won numerous chamber music competitions, performing in venues across North America, Europe, and Asia. She prides herself in being a supposedly rare “purebred violist” who has never played the violin. When not playing viola, Nao enjoys eating and traveling, exploring cute cafes, and is a passionate environmentalist and animal advocate.
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Tanner Menees - Viola
Violist Tanner Menees is a passionate chamber musician and enjoys artistic doodling on the side. He has collaborated in chamber music performances with notable artists including Lynn Harrell, Gary Hoffman, Kim Kashkashian, Mitsuko Uchida, the Calidore Quartet and more. Tanner has been invited to perform at prestigious festivals such as the Marlboro Music Festival and NEXUS Chamber Music Chicago. He has performed as a soloist with the Colburn Orchestra and Symphony New Hampshire, and plays on a viola of the Tarasconi school made in Milan, Italy c. 1880 courtesy of Guarneri Hall NFP and Darnton & Hersh Fine Violins.
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Luther Warren - Viola
Luther is a violinist, violist, and avid teacher. He grew up in Minneapolis, MN and is currently based in Boston. A soon-to-be four-time graduate of the New England Conservatory, he enjoys traveling and performing with his friends in groups like Delirium Musicum and ensemble132. When not engaged in musical activities, Luther loves exploring cities and thinking about urban design. His favorite color is burgundy.
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Stella Cho - Cello
Originally from South Korea and raised in the UK, Stella made her solo debut at the Royal Albert Hall, London at the age of fifteen. She was selected as one of the Holland Music Sessions’ “New Masters on Tour”, which took her to the Royal Concertgebouw for a solo recital, and concertizes on 3 continents. As a kid, Stella started piano and cello with the same teacher. She is now known for her super-power as a living GPS – she can point you to any restaurant at anytime, anywhere – which probably made her pick cello over piano, so she could fulfill her destiny to be the anchor of any ensemble she plays with.
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Javier Iglesias Martin - Cello
Born in Madrid, Spain, Javier has lived in the United States since 2010. He studied at the Peabody Conservatory, New England Conservatory, and a Doctorate in Musical Arts at USC with Ralph Kirshbaum. His love for chamber music is only matched by his passion for soccer, which he enjoys both watching and playing. Outside of music and sports, he believes in the healing powers of good Spanish food followed by a siesta. Javier is the official paella chef of Delirium Musicum and also the cello professor at Pepperdine University.
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Joo Lee - Cello
Joo is an LA based cellist who loves to balance performances and life. She plays with many ensembles such as Delirium Musicum, and plays for orchestras including San Bernardino and Santa Barbara Symphony orchestras, and LA Opera. Joo has recorded for media like Family Guy, American Dad, Star Trek series, League of Legends, Onward, and The Call of the Wild. She has been invited to teach masterclasses and to judge for numerous competitions. Joo enjoys hiking and running. She received honors at Juilliard School Prep., BM from New England Conservatory, and MM from University of Southern California.
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Ryan Baird - Bass
Born and raised in Waco, TX, Ryan moved to Los Angeles in 2011. He loves his adoptive city, but Tex-Mex and proper barbecue will always hold a special place in his heart. A 2019 recipient of a doctorate in bass performance (DMA) from USC, Ryan sees himself as consistent and persistent, in the most self-effacing sense. Ryan performs all around Southern California in orchestras, recordings, chamber ensembles, and as an educator. Though he is enthusiastic about wearing these many hats, he gets profound satisfaction from playing with his friends in Delirium Musicum. When he is not playing music, Ryan is also an avid ultramarathon runner. The craziest distance he's run so far is 100km.
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Nathan Ben-Yehuda - Keyboard
Born in Los Angeles, Nathan Ben-Yehuda completed his masters degree at Juilliard. Passionate about new music and embracing a variety of keyboard traditions, Nathan especially enjoys the open mindedness and risk taking that playing in Delirium Musicum encourages in himself, and all its entities. He’s been lucky to work closely with some of the leading composers of our time, like Thomas Ades, Kaija Saariaho, George Lewis and Oliver Knussen. A connoisseur of funky synth bass grooves, he often experiments with electronic soundscapes, and is a member of classical-crossover band Astral Mixtape. Catch Nathan after a Delirium show and he might make you extra delirious with a whisky based cocktail.
Resting Musicians
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Tiffany Chang - Violin
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Leonard Fu - Violin
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JiEun Hwang - Violin
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Eunae Koh - Violin
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Mann-Wen Lo - Violin
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Coco Mi - Violin
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Dian Zhang - Violin
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YuTing Hsu - Viola
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Sung Jin Lee - Viola
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Chieh-Fan (Jay) Yiu - Viola
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Annie Jacobs-Perkins - Cello
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Kathryn Schulmeister - Bass
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Thomas Mellan - Keyboard