Olivia Shidler, who just turned 13 in August, had her first harp lesson with Stacey Shames a month after Olivia turned 6 years old. With the gentle, natural approach of Mrs. Shames, Olivia thrived brilliantly, and she quickly became passionate about the harp. Olivia had an auspicious “debut” in the harp world at the age of 11 as part of the 2021 Young Artists Harp Seminar (YAHS) where she was featured in a YAHS master class with Judy Loman, in which she played the Grandjany “Fantaisie,” and in a mini-master class with Katherine Siochi, in which she played the Nutcracker harp cadenza. Olivia played Tournier’s “Au matin” in the final concert and was chosen from among all the ensemble students (mostly high school and college-age students) as the soloist for the introduction of “African Reflections'' by Monika Stadler in the ensemble performance. At YAHS, Olivia got the opportunity to take lessons from Judy Loman, Emily Levin, Katherine Siochi, Angela Schwartzkopf, and Ellie Kirk, and she enjoyed returning to YAHS this past summer, where she played Glinka’s “Nocturne” in the final concert. Olivia made her Carnegie Hall debut in March 2022 at the age of 12 as a Grand Prix Winner of the Music Fest Rising Talents Festival Competition, where she played Bochsa Etude 1, Opus 34. She was selected to attend Juilliard Precollege in the spring of 2022 and is now studying with Ms. Nancy Allen there. She is one of 4 harpists in the program (the other 3 are upper class high schoolers). Since 2020, Olivia has been performing virtually for hospitals and nursing homes nationwide through Together in Harmony, a group of young musicians dedicated to service. From ages 6-10, Olivia had been a child actor on the Metropolitan Opera stage: at age 6, Olivia was Princess Elizabeth, in the spotlight with Sondra Radvanovsky in the title role of Anna Bolena. She was subsequently the featured child in Les pêcheurs de perles both at the Met and Live in HD (she was lifted center-stage by Matthew Polenzani) and L’elisir d’amore, also at the Met and Live in HD (in which she interacted with Pretty Yende). At age 10, she became a singing member of and soloist with the Metropolitan Opera Children’s Chorus. In the Metropolitan Opera’s 2021-2022 season, she sang the child’s solo in La Bohème and was in the ensemble in Turandot. When she got into Juilliard Precollege this past spring, she “retired” from the opera, as she wanted to focus her energies entirely on her harp. Her most recent harp performance was on October 4, 2022 – Kol Nidre, the eve of Yom Kippur, the Jewish High Holy Day – when she was the featured soloist at Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in Short Hills, New Jersey.

Korean violinist Semin Chun began learning the violin at the age of six. She joined the New York Classical Youth Orchestra and started developing her love for music performing at nursing homes and outreach concerts. Semin has received top prizes at Rondo Vanguard International, Camerata Artists International, VIVO International Music, New York Artists International, and National Artists Competitions. She made her solo debut with the New York Classical Youth Orchestra performing Mozart Violin Concerto No. 3 in G Major, K. 216 at the DiMenna Center in 2019. She has also been featured at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. She performed as a member of NJSMA Intermediate Orchestra in the 2021-22 season and will perform as the associate principal in the 2022-2023 season. Just recently, she performed solo with New Jersey Intergenerational Orchestra after winning their concerto competition. She enjoys ice skating and hanging out with her friends in her spare time.

Ian Gavilan is an 11-year-old violist, who was born in NJ to a prominent musical family. His father, Ilmar, is on the faculty at the Manhattan School of Music and is the first violinist of the Harlem Quartet, currently Quartet in Residence at the Royal College of Music in London. His mother, Seojin, is a respected cellist and pedagogue. And his sister, Leah, is a pianist currently studying with Veda Kaplinsky in Juilliard’s Pre-College Division, since 2019. Ian started his viola studies with his father and is currently studying with Molly Carr and Yi-Fang Huang at Juilliard, Pre-college Division.

Ian has performed at Gordon Hall, as part of the Harlem Quartet Workshop at Music Mountain (2019-2021), and won the grand prize at Prima Volta Music Competition (2022).

In addition, Ian participated in a televised 2019 New Year’s Eve family concert in Havana, Cuba, and was featured in a PBS documentary about the Gavilan family Los Hermanos / The Brothers - Patchworks Films (2021). Ian is also fluent in English, Spanish, and Korean.