For the fifth year running, First Act Inc. has donated scholarship funds for students at the Heifetz International Music Institute Summer Program in Wolfeboro, NH.
First Act initially partnered with the Heifetz Institute in 2003 to provide scholarships to summer program candidates. Together, First Act and Heifetz are dedicated to inspiring and enabling young people to experience the joy of making music.
All attendees and scholarship candidates are selected by the Heifetz International Music Institute.
2007 Scholarship Recipients:
Matthew Consul, viola
In his home state of Pennsylvania, Matthew performed as principle violist for the Settlement Music School Chamber Orchestra, as Assistant Concertmaster for the Reading Symphony Youth Orchestra, and as a soloist with the Lower Merion Orchestra. He also attended master classes and performed with members of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Matthew is currently a sophomore at the New England Conservatory of Music.
Sun Hye Kang, violin
Growing up with a musical family in Korea, Sun Hye Kang began playing music at age 5 and took up the violin at age 10. Her study of the instrument has since been unwavering, at the Busan High School for the Arts, where she graduated first in her class, at Yonsei University, where she excelled in chamber music, and currently at the New England Conservatory of Music.
Jung Eun Kim, cello
Jung Eun Kim is a twenty-six-year-old cellist from Korea, where as a child she was the winner of numerous performance competitions under her mother’s tutelage. She attended Seoul National University and now has studied for three years at the New England Conservatory, earning Master of Music and Graduate Diploma Degrees. This fall she will begin a doctoral program at the Rutgers University School of Music on full scholarship.
Zina Levchenko, violin
Zina Levchenko was born in Moscow and began violin studies at age 4. She graduated with distinction from Tchaikovsky Musical College in Moscow and currently attends the Moscow State Conservatory where she is a soloist in the chamber orchestra. She has performed this past year in Russia, Italy, Spain, and Korea and was a prize-winner at both the “Modern Art and Education” Competition and the Lyapunov Competition in Moscow.
Beiliang Zhu, cello
Beiliang Zhu is currently a sophomore at the Eastman School of Music, where as a freshman she received a jury award for performance on cello. From 1990 to 2005 she studied at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. In February 2007 she won the Eastman School’s cello concerto competition, and for two summers she has participated in the Piatigorsky Cello Seminar at USC on full scholarship.