Apas Trio & Friends

Isabella Lippi

Born in Chicago, Isabella Lippi made her debut at the age of ten with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Her teachers have included Robert Lipsett at the University of Southern California, Dorothy Delay at the Juilliard School, and Almita and Roland Vamos in Chicago. Since her initial public debut, Isabella has had major debuts at 92nd Street Y’s Tisch Center for the Arts in New York City, the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., Chicago’s Ravinia Festival, and Suntory Hall in Tokyo. She has since appeared as a soloist with orchestras in the United States, Mexico, Europe, and the Far East. These orchestras include the St. Louis Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, New Orleans Symphony, Tulsa Philharmonic, the New World Symphony under Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, the Mexico City Philharmonic under Enrique Batiz, the San Diego Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, Vermont Symphony, Columbus Symphony, Orquesta Sinfonica de Bilbao of Spain, and the Moscow Symphony. Isabella has won numerous competitions and awards including First Place in the Young Musicians Foundation National Debut Competition, Highest Honors in the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts Talent Search, the Henryk Szerying International Competition, and the Illinois Young Performers Competition where she performed again with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a live television broadcast under Maestro Hugh Wolff. She was also named a Presidental Scholar in the Arts. She has also participated in the chamber music festivals of Santa Fe, La Jolla, Mainly Mozart, and the Aspen Music Festival. She was Concertmaster of the Charleston Symphony from 1999-2002 and is currently Concertmaster of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra in Illinois.

Nazar Dzhuryn

Nazar Dzhuryn was born in Lviv, Ukraine and began his cello studies at the age of six.  He graduated from the Lviv Music School, where he studied with Evgeny Shpitzer, and earned his Master of Music degree at the Moscow State Conservatory under Prof. Igor Gavrysh. Upon graduation, Nazar taught at the Moscow State Conservatory as an assistant professor before moving to Chicago in 1998. Nazar’s solo recitals for the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts and the PianoForte Salon Series have been broadcasted live on 98.7 WFMT. He has appeared as a soloist with the Moscow State Symphony “Young Russia,” Moscow Conservatory Symphony, Elgin Symphony Orchestra, Lviv Philharmonic, National Symphony of Ukraine in Kiev, Minsk Philharmonic and Ensemble of Soloists Classicus in Zagreb. In addition, Nazar has given numerous solo recitals and master classes in Russia, Ukraine, South America, South Africa, South Korea and the U.S. He released two CDs and has performed as a guest artist with the Chicago Chamber Musicians. Nazar has served as the assistant principal cello of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra since 2000 and as the principal cello of the Woodstock Mozart Festival Orchestra since 2004. He participated in the Rostropovich Festival in Evian, France, and has performed as an orchestral musician under Georg Solti, Mstislav Rostropovich, Daniel Barenboim, and Helmuth Rilling. Nazar is currently serving as a faculty member at the Naperville School for the Performing Arts.

Yoahn Kwon

Pianist Yoahn Kwon, a native of South Korea, has won extraordinary critical acclaim for his deep musicianship, sensitivity and rare insight. Renowned critic Harris Goldsmith called him a 'versatile and interesting musician who keeps audiences' attention from beginning to end'.

Mr. Kwon began piano studies at the age of nine and studied at the Pre-College Division of the Juilliard School and earned his Bachelor and Master's degree from the Mannes College of Music where he studied piano with Diane Walsh, theory and analysis with Carl Schachter with a generous scholarship from Jerry Seinfeld Family Foundation. Mr. Kwon also completed the Stages du Perfectionenment at France's L’Ecole Normale de Musiques de Paris studying with Anne Queffelec

Alongside his ongoing critically acclaimed concert appearances in North America, Europe and Korea,

Mr. Kwon’s teaching has been highly demanded by prospect students from Far East.  His recent private students from Korea have been accepted to many great conservatories and universities around the world such as Manhattan School of Music, Peabody Institute at John’s Hopkins University, University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, Ecole Normale de Music de Paris, HMDK Stuttgart,  Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin , Seoul National University and Yonsei University of Korea.