Garnering acclaim from audiences and critics alike, Benny Kim has performed on five continents in nearly twenty countries. As the Washington Post observed, "Kim's emotional depth and musical carriage are his real drawing cards. His is a style that touches the peak of romantic violin playing." His spectacular performances of the Sibelius Violin Concerto with the Utah Symphony, conducted by Keith Lockhart, resulted in the Salt Lake City Tribune writing, "Kim's titanium technique was only surpassed by his and his violin's exquisite, pearly colorations."

In recent seasons Benny Kim has performed with the symphony orchestras of Chicago, Boston, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Detroit, Houston, Utah, Denver, San Diego and Phoenix. Internationally, he has performed with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the Orquésta Sinfonica Nacional de México, and the major orchestras of South Africa. He has been a regular at the festivals of Aspen, Bravo! Vail Valley, Chamber Music Northwest, Music from Angel Fire, Santa Fe, SummerFest La Jolla, Tucson, and Vancouver. Conductors with which Kim has appeared include Keith Lockhart, Marin Alsop, Robert Bernhardt, Enrique Diemecke, Raymond Harvey, Alasdair Neale, Eiji Oue and Christopher Wilkins.

As a chamber musician, Kim has collaborated with many renowned artists including Pinchas Zukerman, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Lynn Harrell, and Gary Graffman. With Ms. Salerno-Sonnenberg, Benny Kim appears on two recordings for EMI - Bella Italia and Night and Day. He can also be heard on recordings on Koch International and Centaur. In recital, Kim has performed in virtually every major city in the United States, including critically acclaimed engagements at New York's 92nd St. Y and at Washington DC's Kennedy Center.

A passionate proponent of bringing the arts to the people, Kim continues to give school-concerts, lecture-demonstrations, and "informances" to students at all levels, senior citizens, and various other groups. Kim states, "I want to reach as many people as possible who would not otherwise have the opportunity to be touched by music."

Benny Kim is a graduate of the Juilliard School where he studied with Dorothy DeLay. He makes his home just outside Kansas City where he is currently associate professor of violin at the University of Missouri/Kansas City Conservatory of Music. His early studies were with Doris Preucil and Almita Vamos.

A golf fanatic, he is always in search of a game and brings his clubs whenever he travels. Unfortunately, he can not always take along his faithful golden retriever, Yogi. Mr. Kim plays a Stradivarius violin, dated 1732.

Violist Matthew Dane enjoys a career of both teaching and playing. Living in Boulder, Colorado, he is the newest member of the Boulder Piano Quartet and is on the faculty of both Metropolitan State College in Denver and the University of Colorado.

As a chamber collaborator, he has performed with the Colorado Quartet, the Dorian Wind Quintet, Houston-based CONTEXT, Athelas Ensemble (Denmark), the Fischer Duo, and members of the Brentano Quartet, among others. Chamber music festival appearances include OK Mozart, Portland (Maine), Chamber Music Quad Cities (Iowa), and Tanglewood. He and his wife Christina Jennings founded Brightmusic, a chamber music series in Oklahoma City. Currently playing in titled chairs of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra and the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, Dane has held positions with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Houston Ballet Orchestra, Hannover State Opera (Germany), and Springfield Symphony (Massachussets). With the Boulder Piano Quartet and Jon Manasse he has recorded quintets of Lowell Liebermann.

Teaching has long been a passion. Dane earned tenure as a Professor of Viola at the University of Oklahoma, and was previously a teaching assistant at both Rice University's Shepherd School and Amherst College. He has also coached chamber music at several festivals, including Greenwood Music Camp and Musicorda. Dane was invited to teach at the 2005 International Viola Congress in Reykjavik, Iceland, and also adjudicated the 2005 Primrose Memorial Competition. In summers, he had taught at the Heifitz Institute (Wolfeboro, New Hampshire), Green Mountain Festival (Burlington, Vermont), and the Mammoth Lakes Chamber Music Workshop for adult amateurs. In 2008 he will teach at Rocky Ridge Music Center (Estes Parl, Colorado) and return to the Texas Music Festival (Houston, Texas).

Principal teachers were Philipp Naegele, Hatto Beyerle, Wayne Brooks, Karen Ritscher, and Martha Katz. His Doctoral Document, which examines the teaching influence of Karen Tuttle, enjoys wide circulation among amateur and professional violists nationwide. Dane serves the viola community as Editor of the Journal of the American Viola Society.

Gregory Sauer, Associate Professor of Cello at Florida State University, joined the College of Music in 2006. A native of Davenport, Iowa, Gregory Sauer attended the Eastman School of Music and the New England Conservatory. His principal teachers included Ada Marie Snyder, Charles Wendt, Paul Katz, Laurence Lesser, Bonnie Hampton and Colin Carr. Prior to his arrival at Florida State, Mr. Sauer taught at the University of Oklahoma for eleven years, and was named Presidential Professor in 2005. Other teaching positions have included a visiting professorship at the University of California at Los Angeles, and instructor for summer programs such as the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts and the Hot Springs Music Festival.

Praised for his versatility, Mr. Sauer has appeared in recitals at the Old First Concert Series in San Francisco, the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, and the Brightmusic Concert Series in Oklahoma City, among many others. Mr. Sauer is a prizewinner in the Hudson Valley Philharmonic and Ima Hogg National competitions, and has performed concertos with the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, the Houston Symphony, the Quad City Symphony, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, and the Contra Costa Chamber Orchestra. Mr. Sauer holds the position of assistant principal of the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra and served nine seasons as principal cellist of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic Orchestra.

As a member of the Fidelio String Quartet, Greg has performed in concerts throughout the United States, including festival appearances at Tanglewood, Aspen Music Festival, Round Top Music Festival, and Chamber Music West. Mr. Sauer serves as co-Artistic Director of Chamber Music Quad Cities, and has appeared in chamber music settings recently with Santa Fe Promusica, at the Garth Newel Music Center, the Colorado Music Festival, and the Boulder Modern Music Festival.

After studies with master teachers Mischa Mischakoff, Josef Gingold, and Ivan Galamian, Dr. Isidor Saslav became the concertmaster of and soloist with the Buffalo Philharmonic and the Minnesota, Baltimore, and New Zealand Symphony Orchestras and the orchestra of the Round Top Festival in Texas which he helped to found with conductor Leon Fleisher in 1975. Dr. Saslav has also served as concertmaster of the Indiana University, Dallas, Kennedy Center Terrace Theater, and Baltimore Opera Orchestras and has been a member of the Detroit Symphony, the Chautauqua Symphony, and the Orchestra of the Festival Casals (Puerto Rico).

In addition to serving as a co-editor for the Henle Edition (12 Haydn Quartets) and presenting his lecture concert "Latest Discoveries in the Haydn String Quartets" at over 50 schools, universities, and conventions, Dr. Saslav created a modern performance edition of Mozart's 6th Concerto with Lukas Foss; as soloist gave the Minnesota Orchestra premiere of Wieniawski's F# Minor Concerto; with Ann Saslav commissioned and gave the world premiere performance of Elie Siegmeister's "An Entertainment in Four Movements for Violin, Piano and Orchestra" with Sergiu Comissiona conducting the Baltimore Symphony; is among the few violinists in the world to have performed as soloist (with the Baltimore Symphony) all three of Bruch's concertos for violin and orchestra including the Baltimore premiere of the Third Concerto; and performed as soloist in Dallas the original 1844 manuscript version of the Mendelssohn Concerto No. 2 in E Minor Op. 64, one of the few violinists in the world to have performed this version. Dr. Saslav was a member of the faculty of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University 1976-85 and its director of chamber music; and later, 1993-2003 became head of the string department at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, TX. At SFA Dr. Saslav co-founded the Sylvan Chamber Ensemble and the Orchestra of the Pines as well as established the String Quartet of the Pines and directed the SFA Summer Strings Camp from 1994-2003.

David Hermann received his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Illinois, where he studied with Guillermo Perich, Gabriel Magyar, John Garvey, and Eduard Melkus. During this period he also spent two summers at the Academy of String Quartets in Banff, Alberta, studying chamber music with Zoltan Szekely and Gabriel Magyar, former members of the Hungarian Quartet, and with Cecil Aronowitz. Since 1979 he has been Associate Principal Violist of the Fort Worth Symphony and Chamber Orchestra, a tenure that has included three seasons as Acting Principal. During the 1990-91 season, Mr. Hermann performed as Principal Violist of the Dallas Chamber Orchestra. David Hermann is a founding member of Fort Worth's oldest professional chamber music group, The Spectrum, established in 1986. He has also spent six seasons as an artist-faculty member of the Killington (VT) Music Festival, performing concerti and many chamber works. In addition to performing, Mr. Hermann has devoted much energy to the preservation of historic performances by great musicians of the past. Five CD labels to date have issued releases either produced by him, or using records from his collection. Mr. Hermann's production "Lionel Tertis—The Complete Vocalion Recordings" was awarded the prize of Best Compilation at the 2007 CRC Historical Awards.

Cornelia Watkins studied cello with David Wells, Hans Jørgen Jensen and Anthony Elliott, and holds a Bachelors of Music from Hartt School of Music and a Masters of Music from the Moores School of Music, University of Houston. She teaches at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music Preparatory Program, and has taught cello privately for over 30 years. Her students consistently demonstrate a high rate of success in All-Region and All-State Texas, and many have been accepted to some of the finest music schools in the country, including Julliard, University of Southern California, the Shepherd School of Music, Cleveland Institute of Music, Hartt School of Music, and Northwestern University, among others.

Ms. Watkins also plays professionally with many years of experience freelancing with the Houston Ballet Orchestra, Houston Grand Opera, Texas Opera Theater, The Bach Society, Theatre Under the Stars and Alley Theatre Productions. She is in demand as a clinician, giving clinics and master classes across the country about teaching and learning music, and was featured lecturer at University of Texas' Excellence in String Teaching series in 2005. Ms. Watkins has taught at a number of summer programs including Conservatory Music in the Mountains, Durango, Colorado, the Texas Music Festival and American Festival of the Arts. In January of this year Ms. Watkins published her book Rosindust: Teaching, Learning and Life from a Cellist's Perspective, which continues to receive high acclaim for its clarity and strength of ideas for teachers, performers and students alike.