Cleveland Orchestra appoints three violinists

May 9, 2011 at 04:57 PM ·

From a May 5 press release:

Violinist Katherine Bormann joined the Cleveland Orchestra’s first violin section in March 2011. Ying Fu and Jeffrey Zehngut have been appointed to the Orchestra’s first and second violin sections, respectively. Mr. Fu will join the Orchestra at the beginning of the 2011-12 season. Mr. Zehngut will join the Orchestra in August 2011, during the Blossom Festival.

Katherine Bormann joined the first violin section of The Cleveland Orchestra in March 2011. Prior to her appointment, she was a member of the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, Florida, where she performed as soloist and concertmaster. A native of Bismarck, North Dakota, Ms. Bormann holds a bachelor of music degree fromRice University and a master of music degree from the Juilliard School. Her principal teachers were Kathleen Winkler, Joel Smirnoff, and Ronald Copes.

Ms. Bormann has participated in the Aspen Music Festival, Beijing International Music Festival and Academy, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and the Tanglewood Music Festival, where she was awarded the Jules C. Reiner Violin Prize. She has appeared on the Wednesdays at One concert series in Alice Tully Hall, and performed in the American premiere of Augusta Read Thomas’s The Soul is Light, for oboe, violin, and harpsichord. For two summers, Ms. Bormann was a member of Tanglewood’s New Fromm Players, a contemporary music chamber ensemble.

Ying Fu has performed as a substitute violinist with the Houston Symphony Orchestra since 2007, while pursuing his studies at the Shepherd School of Music at RiceUniversity in Houston. During the 2005-06 season, he was a substitute violinist with the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra. Mr. Fu has won prizes in competitions in Europe, China, and the United States. At the Young Texas Artists Music Competition in March 2011, he won the Grand Prize for all divisions, the First Prize in the strings division, and the Audience Prize. In January 2011, he won first prize in the Schmidbauer International Competition. Mr. Fu has performed as soloist in the Sibelius Violin Concerto with the Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra and the DePaul Symphony Orchestra. He served as concertmaster of the Schleswig-Holstein Symphony Orchestra in Germany in 2004, and has also participated in the 2008 Taos Chamber Music Festival and the 2010 Marlboro Music Festival. A native of Shanghai, China, Mr. Fu holds a bachelor of music degree from the Shanghai Conservatory, where he studied with Xin-Zhi Chen, and a master of music degree from Rice University, where he studied with Sergiu Luca. He is currently a doctor of musical arts degree candidate at Rice University, studying with Cho-Liang Lin and Sergiu Luca.

Jeffrey Zehngut has been associate principal second violin with the San Diego Symphony since 2005. He has also served as principal second violin of the California Chamber Orchestra, La Jolla Summerfest, and the Canton (OH) Symphony Orchestra. In 2003, Mr. Zehngut received his bachelor of music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM), where he studied with Cleveland Orchestra Concertmaster William Preucil. From 2003 to 2005, he did graduate work at CIM, studying with Paul Kantor. Mr. Zehngut, who was born in Warren, Ohio, and grew up in State College, Pennsylvania, also studied with James Lyon of Penn State University and was a member of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra during the 1997-98 and 1998-99 seasons. He is the fourth former member of the Youth Orchestra to be appointed to The Cleveland Orchestra.

Replies (3)

Christina C.

May 9, 2011 at 05:20 PM ·

Refreshing to have some positive news from the professional orchestra world these days!

Terez Mertes

May 9, 2011 at 09:36 PM ·

Agreed!

Diane Allen

May 10, 2011 at 05:21 AM ·

I grew up in Cleveland hearing the Cleveland Orchestra. This stuff always interests me. I remember hearing an absolutely hair raising version of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet when I was young. As an adult performing the same piece I questioned a friend in the Bass section, Dave Anderson about the hair raising performance I heard as a child. His Dad was Bass Trombone in Cleveland. In an instant he told me that he too remembered that concert and that Lorin Maazel was making his first recording with the orchestra on that piece.

I also remember being dressed up on a school night. An older cousin worked at WCLV and could get tickets easily. Somehow I got to go. Our seats??? 1st box with Maazel's wife! It was like we were floating above the orchestra. Another special night...

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Cleveland Orchestra appoints three violinists

Replies (3)

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