Pushing Boundaries

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. 

Violinist Lun Jiang is a native of Beijing, China, and grew up in Westchester, New York. He has been a guest artist in concerts with Ruth Laredo, Isidore Cohen, Sergiu Luca, Michael Rudiakov, Glenn Dicterow, Ian Swenson and members of the Cleveland, American, Brentano, Pacifica, Miami and Ying String Quartets. Lun was a prize winner of numerous competitions and has performed on stages in New York, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, San Francesco, Detroit, Dallas/Fort Worth, Washington D.C., Beijing, Seoul, Hong Kong, Macau, as well as in Germany and Austria, among others. He has been invited to the Manchester, Ravinia, Great Lake, Round Top, Grand Teton and Martha's Vineyard music festivals.

Lun has recorded for Eroica Classical Records and Newport Classic, including the complete string quartets by Camille Saint-Saens and a solo album with twin brother Quan. He was a founding member of the Equinox String Quartet, which was a resident quartet at the Midori Foundation and Gotham Quartet, a quartet in residence at Rice University from 1999-2001 and a top prize winner at 2000 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Lun is a member of the Utah Symphony and an adjunct assistant professor at University of Utah School of Music and Westminster University. Lun plays on a Tommaso Balestrieri violin, crafted in Mantua, ca.1750 and a Dominique Peccatte bow, Paris, ca.1830. He is an official endorser/spokesman of Thomastik-Infeld Strings, Vienna.

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. 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. Kimi is currently Director of Music and piano faculty at Westminster University, where she chairs the department 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.

Katie Porter is a clarinetist and curator specializing in experimental music. Passionate about creating musical communities, she co-founded the venue Listen/Space (Brooklyn) and curates the Listen/Space Commissions, responsible for 46 new works for mixed chamber group. She also co-directs the biennial VU Symposium for experimental, improvised and electronic music (Park City, Utah) and is working on a giant multi-year project of experimental works for solo clarinet at Nancy Holt’s Sun Tunnels, a land artwork in remote northern Utah.

Katie has performed solos or chamber music at Roulette (BK), Issue Project Room (BK), The Kitchen (NYC), The Stone (NYC), C4NM (San Francisco), Willow Place Auditorium (BK), Monkeytown (BK), the Indexical Series (Santa Cruz), Dogstar (LA), Experimental Intermedia (NYC), Fridman Gallery (NYC), American Mavericks Festival (NYC), Green Umbrella Series (LA), SOUND at the Schindler House (LA), Human Resources (LA), BLIM (Vancouver), NOVA (SLC), UMOCA, UMFA, Contemporary Art Center Cincinnati, Lincoln Center (NYC), The Ontologic-Hysteric Theater (NYC), the Liquid Music Series (St. Paul), Centre Acanthes (France), Scelciana (Italy), Moma PS1 (NYC), Ostrava Days (Czech Rep), KM28 (Berlin), St Petersburg Art Space (Berlin), Cornell University, Columbia University, Duke University, Kenyon College, the University of Utah, and premiered works by John Luther Adams, Jason Ajemian, Carolyn Chen, Laura Cetilia, André Cormier, Nomi Epstein, Jürg Frey, Jennie Gottschalk, Anne Guthrie, Brian Harnetty, John Hastings, Sarah Hennies, Yvette Janine Jackson, Dan Joseph, Travis Just, Mike Kelley, Michael Pisaro, Larry Polansky, Stephanie Richards, Morris Rosenzweig, Arthur Russell, Craig Shepard, Teodora Stepančić, Colin Tucker, James Tenney, Maayan Tsadka, and Christian Wolff, among many others.  Current collaborations include A Quartet or Two Duos with James Ilgenfritz, Teerapat Parnmongkol and Lucie Vítková in NYC, the duo Malosma with flutist Christine Tavolacci in LA and Phase to Phase with bass clarinetist Lucio Capece (Berlin) which will be released in April 2022 on the Japanese label FTARRI. www.fromkp.com

Cellist Pegsoon Whang has been a member of the Utah Symphony for the last fifteen years and is a faculty member at Westminster University and the University of Utah. Prior to joining the Utah Symphony, she held the principal position in Colorado Music Festival for five seasons. She received a bachelor's degree from the Curtis Institute of Music and a master's degree from the Mannes College of Music, where she finished with the Most Outstanding Graduating Student award. Her mentors include Robert Marsh, David Soyer and Timothy Eddy. She has appeared in numerous festivals and performed in orchestras and chamber ensembles throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. Ms. Whang’s students hold positions in orchestras such as New York Philharmonic and have been winners in international competitions including a laureate in Tchaikovsky Competition.

Lori Wike joined the Utah Symphony as Principal Bassoon in 2005. Originally from North Carolina, she holds a Bachelor of Music degree and Performer's Certificate from the Eastman School of Music and a Master of Arts degree from the University of California, Irvine. Her principal teachers were John Hunt, Nancy Goeres, Mark Popkin, and Michele Grego. A former member of the Louisville Orchestra, Ms. Wike has also performed with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, the Utah Festival Opera, the San Bernardino Symphony, the Redlands Symphony, the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, and the Aspen Festival Orchestra.

Prior to joining the Utah Symphony, she performed for three seasons with the New World Symphony under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. Her solo appearances include performances with the Utah Symphony, the Eastman Musica Nova Ensemble, the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, the University of California-Irvine Symphony and the Utah Arts Festival. She is a frequent performer on both the Nova and Intermezzo Chamber Music series in Salt Lake and is also a member of the Three Fish and a Scorpion woodwind quartet. Ms. Wike is currently Adjunct Associate Professor of Bassoon at the University of Utah and Adjunct Faculty at Westminster University.