Exiles in Paris

Violinist Laura Ha was born in the Los Angeles area and raised by Korean parents in the small town of Covina, California. Laura performed as a soloist with several orchestras, such as the Pasadena POPS and the YMF Debut Orchestra and gave solo recitals in Canada and the Netherlands. She enjoys performing with her colleagues around the world as a member of the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra, led by Gabor Takac-Nagy, and regularly participates in tours with the ensemble throughout the year.

Ms. Ha was a member of the Oregon Symphony and the Lyric Opera of Chicago before joining Utah Symphony | Utah Opera in the fall of 2018. Her previous mentors include David Chan, Ronald Copes, Linda Rose, Joan Kwuon, and Joel Smirnoff. She plays on a violin made in 2002 by Mario and Brenda Miralles. When not playing, Ms. Ha enjoys climbing on and snoozing under the red rocks of southern Utah with her partner, Tom, and their dog, Tobi.

Kasia Sokol–Borup is a native of Lublin, Poland. Born into a musical family, she began playing the violin at age six. At age twelve she won her first award at a national Polish competition and won a Scholarship for Gifted Children. Dr. Sokol-Borup holds a DMA degree from Indiana University, a MM degree from Northwestern University and a BM degree from Western Michigan University. In 2006, she was Assistant Professor at Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO. In 2010, Dr. Sokol–Borup moved to Salt Lake City where she teaches violin, chamber music and string pedagogy at the University of Utah. Her diverse music education and experience as a performer and a teacher led her to create a pre-college strings program at the University of Utah, the U of U String Preparatory Division, which she directs.

Dr. Sokol–Borup is the president of the Chamber Music Society of Salt Lake. She herself is an active chamber musician, performs solo concerts and gives clinics in the United States and in Europe at festivals such as the Moab Music Festival and Saarburg Festival, Germany. Dr. Sokol–Borup lives in Salt Lake City with her husband – violinist, Hasse Borup and their two children Sophia and Christopher. She plays on a violin made by luthier Ryan Soltis in 2008.

Cellist Walter Haman is a member of the Utah Symphony and is Principal Cellist of the Grant Park Orchestra. He has played with the Chicago Symphony, the San Francisco

Symphony, New Century Chamber Orchestra, and has been a guest cellist with Pink Martini. He performs regularly on the NOVA Chamber Music Series and Intermezzo Chamber Music Series in Salt Lake City and is a member of Montage Music in Santa Fe. He also maintains an active teaching schedule and is on faculty at Utah State University. Mr. Haman participated in the Spoleto Festival (Italy), Crested Butte Music Festival, Bienalle di Venezia, and received fellowships to the Aspen Music Festival and Tanglewood. An Artist Residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts lead to a collaboration with dancer/choreographer Jose Navas. The Haman/Navas Project performed in most of the major cities of Europe, Canada, and the United States. A documentary, "Perpetual Motion", about the duo appeared on Bravo. Mr. Haman is a graduate of the New England and San Francisco Conservatories of Music.

Violist John T. Posadas enjoys an active career as a performer and educator. Recitals have taken him across the country and abroad with appearances at the Kennedy Center, Tanglewood Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Santa Fe Opera, Grand Teton Music Festival, Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, Forth Worth Chamber Music Society, and the Chautauqua Institute. His performances have been heard on NPR stations across the country. As a chamber musician, he has won top prizes at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition and is a founding member and the violist for the Baumer String Quartet. Orchestrally, he has performed with the Boston Symphony, Houston Symphony, Santa Fe Opera, the Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra, the Naples Philharmonic, and the Chautauqua Symphony, among many others. JT joined the Utah Symphony as a member of the viola section in September 2020. Before joining the Utah Symphony, he had been a resident artist and adjunct professor of viola and chamber music at the University of South Florida School of Music. A sought-after guest teacher and clinician, Posadas has taught masterclasses and lessons at institutions across America and abroad. Recent highlights include master classes and performances at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, Utah State University, the University of Toronto, University of North Texas, Southern Methodist University, University of South Dakota, Concordia College, University of Florida, and the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. For his extraordinary service in the arts, John was named an official Kentucky Colonel at the age of 13.

A fearless interpreter of large-scale piano works both modern and historical, Jason Hardink’s recent repertoire includes the complete Michael Hersch The Vanishing Pavilions, Olivier Messiaen’s Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus, the Liszt Transcendental Etudes paired with the Boulez Notations, and Wolfgang Rihm’s numbered Klavierstücke, all of which he performs from memory. His recent debut at New York City’s Weill Recital Hall was lauded for its audacious programming and pianism demonstrating both “abandon and remarkable clarity” (Anthony Tommasini, New York Times). David Wright of New York Classical Review called the recital an “analogous musical event” to Alex Honnold’s free solo ascent of El Capitan, and Frank Daykin of New York Concert Review wrote “I want to emphasize how very impressive this recital was, and how un-routine the programming was.”

Recent performances include his debut at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music as soloist in the North American premiere of Gerald Barry’s Piano Concerto with conductor Cristian Macelaru, a performance of Michael Hersch’s The Vanishing Pavilions at Wien Modern, the complete Liszt Transcendental Etudes performed on an 1852

Bösendorfer at Music in Context in Houston, and works by Shawn E. Okpebholo, Brittany J. Green, and the Beethoven (“Hammerklavier” Sonata) for the NOVA Chamber Music Series. Much sought after as a chamber musician, Mr. Hardink has collaborated in recital with violinists Augustin Hadelich, Nicola Benedetti, and Phillip Setzer. His performances with Augustin Hadelich of Beethoven’s Sonata for Violin and Piano in G Major (opus 30, No. 3) the Stravinsky Divertimento were recently featured on NPR’s Performance Today. Mr. Hardink resides in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he holds the position of Principal Keyboar

Parker Swenson is a versatile professional drummer who works all over Utah with many of the finest musicians in the region. He is a full time teacher at Waterford School, as well as Director of Westminster’s Jazz Ensemble.

Ben Olmstead is multi-instrumentalist but primarily focused on jazz piano. He currently studies political science at Weber State University. Other passions and hobbies include philosophy, fashion and watching basketball.

Dr. David Baker is currently serving as an Assistant Professor and Area Coordinator of Jazz and Commercial Music at Utah Valley University. David is an active performing bassist and in 2019 was awarded the First Alternate position in the International Society of Bassists Jazz Competition. His most recent playing can be heard on Outside In Music’s Next Level release “Pictures in Time” featuring Alex Sjobeck on piano.

Pianist Kimi Kawashima enjoys a committed career as a teacher, performer, and arts advocate. Ms. Kawashima recently performed Ravel’s Concerto in G Major with The Longview Symphony and Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy with the Yakima Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. She has performed orchestral keyboard with the Utah Symphony, River Oaks Chamber Orchestra and Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra. She has recorded for MSR Classics and performed on the Hyperion recording of Saint-Saens’ beloved Carnival of the Animals, with pianist Jason Hardink and Maestro Thierry Fischer and the Utah Symphony, from live performance recordings in December 2017.

An avid chamber musician, Kimi has curated and performed in critically acclaimed programs featured on KUHF’s Front Row radio program, Houston’s Zilkha Hall, Rothko Chapel and was featured in the Grand Teton Music Festival’s Winter Festival performing Winterreise with Michael Chipman and Ned Rorem’s War Songs with bass-baritone Timothy Jones. She has performed for composers Andrew Norman, Thomas Osborne, Tristan Murail, Frederic Rzewski and Chen Yi, and has recently given the Utah premieres of works by Wang Lu, Karen Tanaka, and Anthony R. Green. She performed with conductor Keith Lockhart and members of the Utah Symphony in performances of Peter Maxwell Davies’ Eight Songs for a Mad King, and has premiered works with the Utah Arts Festival chamber ensemble. Kimi is currently Director of Music and Piano faculty at Westminster University, where she teaches piano, seminars in the Honors College and directs piano activities, including Westminster’s summer high school piano camp,

SummerSong. She was appointed by the Governor of Utah to serve as the Music Board Member of the Utah Division of Arts and Museums.