Born in Taiwan, Cho-Liang Lin moved to Sydney at age 12 to further his violin studies with Robert Pikler. After playing for Itzhak Perlman in a master class, the 13-year-old decided that he must study with Mr. Perlman’s teacher, Dorothy DeLay. At age 15, he traveled alone to New York, auditioned for the Juilliard School, and spent the next six years working with Ms. DeLay. His concert career launched in 1980 with his debut playing the Mendelssohn Concerto with the New York Philharmonic and Zubin Mehta. He has since performed as soloist with virtually every major orchestra in the world. At the age of 31 he joined the faculty of the Juilliard School, and in 2006 was appointed professor at Rice University. He was music director of La Jolla SummerFest for 18 years, currently serves as artistic director of the Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival, and recently founded the Taipei Music Academy and Festival. Many of today’s composers have written for him, including John Harbison, Christopher Rouse, Tan Dun, John Williams, Steven Stucky, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Bright Sheng, Paul Schoenfield, Lalo Schifrin, Joan Tower, and others. Recently, he was soloist with the New York Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, Munich Philharmonic, Toronto Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Nashville Symphony, and Royal Philharmonic. Lin performs on the 1715 “Titian” Stradivari and a 2000 Samuel Zygmuntowicz. His many recordings can be heard on the Sony Classical, Decca, BIS, Delos, and Ondine labels. His albums have won Gramophone Record of the Year, Grammy nominations, and Penguin Guide Rosettes.

Lauded for his “impeccable technique” (Washington Post) and “elegant musicianship” (New York Times), pianist Juho Pohjonen is in demand internationally as an orchestral soloist, recitalist, and chamber performer. An ardent exponent of Scandinavian music, Pohjonen’s growing discography offers a showcase of music by Finnish compatriots such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Kaija Saariaho, and Jean Sibelius.Recent engagements include the German Radio Philharmonic; Taiwan, BBC, and Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestras; Cleveland and Minnesota Orchestras; the Symphonies of San Francisco, Atlanta, New Jersey, and Colorado; and the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Danish National Symphony, Finnish Radio Symphony, Philharmonia Orchestra of London, and Mostly Mozart Festival. He has also collaborated with today’s foremost conductors, including Marin Alsop, Lionel Bringuier, Marek Janowski, Fabien Gabel, Kirill Karabits, Osmo Vänskä, Pietari Inkinen, Stefan Asbury, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Robert Spano, Markus Stenz, and Pinchas Zukerman. He has performed in recital at New York’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, the Steinway Society in San Jose, Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach, and in San Francisco, La Jolla, Philadelphia, Detroit, Savannah, and Vancouver. He made his London debut at Wigmore Hall and has played recitals throughout Europe in Antwerp, Hamburg, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, and Warsaw.An alum of CMS’s Bowers Program, he enjoys an ongoing association with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. In 2019, Pohjonen launched MyPianist, an AI-based app that provides interactive piano accompaniment.