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02 Feb 2025

Where Are They Now? Checking In on Past Rosenblatt Award Winners

by Jeff Counts

Anniversary of the Evelyn Rosenblatt Young Artist Award, we travelled back in time to the legendary post-concert dinner parties hosted by Evelyn and Joseph. The essential intersection of philanthropy and creativity was never more apparent than it was on those evenings. In that spirit, we allowed ourselves to imagine that these special events continued into the years of the Award and spent a few hypothetical moments with three past winners. Let’s take a real-life moment now to check in on everyone. Twenty-three names. Twenty-three stories that had early chapters here, thanks to the stunning charity of the Rosenblatt family.

Keri-Lynn Wilson, Conductor (2000-2001) – As mentioned previously, Keri-Lynn now serves as founder and Music Director of the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra. She is fully committed to Ukrainian liberty and has increased her artistic involvement as Music Director of the Kyiv Camerata.

Denis Matsuev, Pianist (2001-2002) – In addition to maintaining an active calendar of solo appearances, Denis is Artistic Director of the Rachmaninoff International Competition of Pianists, Composers and Conductors as well as the “Symphony of Yamal” Youth Competition.

Cédric Pescia, Pianist (2002-2003) – Cédric is Piano Professor at the Haute Ecole de Musique in Geneva, Switzerland. He is also the co-creator (with composer Georg Nussbaumer) of a fascinating “pianistic flip book” of snippets from the over 1000 pieces of sheet music he owns.

Viviane Hagner, Violinist (2003-2004)* – Viviane continues to perform, commission and advocate for new and forgotten composers. She serves on the faculty of the Mannheim Conservatory and is co-founder and Artistic Director of Krzyżowa-Music, an ambitious chamber music festival in Poland.

Olga Kern, Pianist (2004-2005) – Since winning prestigious competitions in her youth, Olga now often chairs the juries that award the next generation of stars. In fact, she now hosts her own Olga Kern International Piano Competition. It occurs every three years in New Mexico.

Scott St. John, Violinist (2005-2006) – After appearing as the Rosenblatt Young Artist, Scott went on to be a member of the St. Lawrence String Quartet and just ended a three-year tenure as Chamber Music Director at the Colburn School in Los Angelos.

Scott Yoo, Conductor (2006-2007) – When not on the podium as Chief Conductor of the Mexico City Philharmonic, Music Director of Festival Mozaic or any of his other ensembles, Scott can be seen as Host of the acclaimed PBS series “Now Hear This”.

Julie Albers, Cellist (2007-2008)* – Julie teaches at the New England Conservatory and until 2022 was an Assistant Professor at the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University. She is currently Principal Cello of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.

Baiba Skride, Violinist (2008-2009)* – Baiba has returned to Abravanel Hall numerous times to work with Maestro Fischer since she was named Rosenblatt Young Artist. Conductors adore her and she enjoys ongoing relationships with the world’s finest orchestras and recording labels.

William Hagen, Violinist (2009-2010)* – Will was the first Salt-Lake City native on the Rosenblatt Young Artist roster. He recently toured the Netherlands with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta and continues to appear on chamber music programs around the world on a 1732 Stradivarius.

Andrew Grams, Conductor (2010-2011)* – Andrew recently concluded a highly successful 8-year tenure as Music Director of the Elgin Symphony. Just last September, he was on the podium at the BBC Proms with Chineke!, a British professional orchestra of Black and ethnically diverse players.

Denis Kozhukhin, Pianist (2011-2012) – Most of our winners haven’t stopped traveling since they left us. Denis performs as a soloist and recitalist everywhere, all the time. In the early months of 2025, he’ll be in Spain, America, Israel and the UK.

Yu Kosuge, Pianist (2012-2013) – For the Beethoven 250 celebrations in 2020, Yu began a project she called MO-DE. It comes from the Japanese word for “shrine visit” and she used the concept to engage with (to “visit”) Beethoven’s entire chamber music catalogue.

Matthew Zalkind, Cellist (2013-2014) – A son of two former Utah Symphony members, Matthew is our other SLC-born winner. Matthew is Cello Professor at the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music and has won numerous international prizes as a soloist.

Veronika Eberle, Violinist (2014-2015)* – Veronika’s career in front of the world’s great orchestra might already seem comprehensive, but she has a few important debuts this season. New York Philharmonic. Boston Symphony. Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. Just to name a few.

Joyce Yang, Pianist (2015-2016)* – Joyce was the Grant Park Music Festival’s Artist-in-Residence for the 2023/20245 season. Other recent collaborations include a stint as Guest Artistic Director at the Laguna Beach Music Festival and a project with Santa Fe Ballet.

Narek Hakhnazaryan, Cellist (2016-2017) – Narek has been a featured artist on several award-winning international films. He also recently founded and became Chief Conductor of the Artsakh Orchestra, a group comprising displaced musicians from the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Karina Canellakis, Conductor (2017-2018) – In addition to being one of America’s most sought-after conductors today, Karina is Chief Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic and Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. She is an outstanding violinist too.

Stefan Jackiw, Violinist (2018-2019) – Stefan tours regularly and widely as a soloist, but also enjoys performing with his friends Conrad Tao and Jay Campbell as part of the Junction Piano Trio. He will be in residence at the San Francisco Conservatory in 2025.

Lukas Vondracek, Pianist (2019-2020) – In 2023, Lukas released recordings of all four Rachmaninoff Piano Concertos and the Paganini Rhapsody with the Prague Symphony. He will perform several concerts in his Czech homeland in early 2025.

Inmo Yang, Violinist (2021-2022) – Inmo was actually named the Rosenblatt Artist for the 2020-2021 season, the global concert year that never was. Thankfully, he joined us a year later and now studies at the Kronberg Academy in Germany.

Andrew Staupe, Pianist (2022-2023) – Andrew teaches at the University of Houston after holding a similar position at the University of Utah. He is also Artistic Director of the Young Artist World Piano Festival in his native state of Minnesota.

Francesca Dego, Violinist (2023-2024) – Francesca already has a record deal with the distinguished Chandos label and just last year released recordings of the Brahms Concerto and an album of “Horn” Trios. She is also the published author of a book on music.

That brings us to now. It is exciting to think about how this article might be updated down the road. More names. More chapters. Generational generosity and inspiration have brought us this far, and with current awardee Randall Goosby on stage with the orchestra this season, the next 25 years looks very bright indeed.

[*Indicates award winners who have subsequently returned as a soloist/conductor with Utah Symphony.]

Keri-Lynn Wilson, conductor
Keri-Lynn Wilson, conductor
Viviane Hagner
Viviane Hagner, violin
Baiba Skride, violin
Baiba Skride, violin
Joyce Yang, piano
Joyce Yang, piano
Karina Canellakis, conductor
Karina Canellakis, conductor
Stefan Jaciw
Stefan Jaciw