NMM Live! | Sonia Lee & Ken Aiso

Description

Ken Aiso is internationally recognized as one of today’s most musical and versatile violinists. His playing is praised not only for his singularly beautiful tone, but also for the unique atmosphere of intimacy he evokes as he draws in his audiences. As recitalist and chamber musician, he has performed widely in Europe, the U.S., and Japan appearing at prestigious concert venues such as the Wigmore and the Queen Elizabeth (London), the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam) and the Suntory (Tokyo) Halls. He is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he was later elected an Associate. He is a prize-winner of the Long-Thibaud International Competition in Paris and International Music Competition of Japan. In 2003, he was honored to appear before the Emperor and Empress of Japan. In 2018, he received the Kanichi Shimousa Music Prize from his home county in recognition of international service in music.

Aiso has been invited to renowned music festivals in Europe, India, Georgia, Bolivia, and Kazakhstan, and has taught at the Montecito International Music Festival since 2008. He has performed regularly with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, on period instrument, as well as with the London Philharmonic, Mahler Chamber, English Chamber, Scottish Chamber, and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestras in many major concert venues in Europe and USA. He currently resides in Los Angeles and serves as a faculty member at the Loyola Marymount, La Sierra, and Biola Universities. His interest in music as a healing medium has led him to give concerts, workshops, and meditation sessions at hospitals, senior residences, schools, and institutions for children with special needs.

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Sonia Lee is a multi-instrumentalist who performs on historical keyboards, organ, and piano with a wide repertoire ranging from classical to contemporary to commercial to early music. She has been invited to give solo and collaborative performances and masterclasses in more than 150 cities on four continents including festivals and venues such as the Rome Festival, Nordic Historical Keyboard Festival, Milwaukee Museum of the Pianoforte, Tagliavini Collection at San Colombano (Bologna), Taipei National Concert Hall, Olympus Hall (Seoul), and the early music festivals of Boston, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, and Utrecht. Her performances have been praised by critics as “full of elegance and expression" (Cleveland Classical) and possessing “grace and flair” (Sounding Board, UK). Her discography includes collaborations with the Classical Chamber Players and La Donna Musicale featuring first recordings of music by Antonia Bembo, Joseph Weigl, and Leopold Kozeluch. As director or guest director, she has led the University of Illinois Collegium Musicum, Dulces Exuviae, Musicerend Gezelschap, the Phantasie String Orchestra, and La Réunion Musicale. She has been invited to judge many regional and international competitions, including the Calgary Performing Arts Festival (piano) and the historic Gianni Gambi International Harpsichord Competition (Italy).

Lee holds graduate degrees in music from McGill University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is a past president of the Historical Keyboard Society of North America and has served as music faculty and staff at Illinois Wesleyan University, Scripps College, Rio Hondo College, and California State University, San Bernardino. She is interim editor of the peer-reviewed Early Keyboard Journal. Since 2022 she has been the director of the prestigious quadrennial Jurow International Harpsichord Competition whose most recent edition took place in July 2024 in Montreal.

The NMM Live! Series is made possible by the USD Student Government Association and the South Dakota Arts Council through the Department of Tourism, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

A live stream of this concert will be available to watch for free on our website here.