2023 OLYMPIC CHAMBER MUSIC FELLOWS
JASON MOON violin
Jason Moon studied at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and at the Juilliard School, where he was taught by Li Lin, and has performed as a soloist with the San Francisco and Peninsula Symphony Orchestras, among others. He was a semifinalist in the Jascha Heifetz International Competition for Violinists and the Schadt String Competition and is a laureate of the Ronald Sachs International Music Competition (winner) and the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra Competition (winner). Moon has attended music courses at the Taos School of Music, the Heifetz Institute, the Ashkenasi-Kirshbaum Chamber Music Seminar, and the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival. He has given solo recitals at the Juilliard School, where he has also performed with his piano quartet.
Jason Moon’s fellowship is generously sponsored by Scott Rovanpera and Tracy Wirta.
CLARA NEUBAUER
violin
Twenty-one-year-old violinist Clara Neubauer attends the Juilliard School as a proud recipient of the Kovner Fellowship in the studios of Itzhak Perlman and Li Lin. She has recently studied and performed at chamber music festivals including the Ravinia Steans Music Institute, Taos School of Music, Music@Menlo, Perlman Music Program, Bravo! Vail, Four Seasons Winter Workshop, and Music from Angel Fire. Highlights of this past season include performances with Santa Fe ProMusica, Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players, Taos on Tour, and the Days of Macedonian Music Festival. Winner and silver medalist of the national YoungArts competition, Neubauer has appeared with the Symphony of Westchester, National Repertory Orchestra, Little Orchestra Society, Ensemble 212, and Juilliard Pre-College Orchestra and was featured on WQXR’s Young Musicians Showcase. An avid chamber musician, Clara was a Young Performer at the Music@Menlo Chamber Music Institute for five years and winner of the Young Musicians Competition at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. She has collaborated with artists including Shai Wosner, Frans Helmerson, Nina Lee, Daniel Phillips, Carter Brey, and the Dover Quartet. Born on 9/11/2001, Clara shared the stage with Bernadette Peters and Robert DeNiro hosting a 9/11 Memorial benefit and can be heard leading the audio tour guide for children and families at the 9/11 Memorial Museum, available as a free app at Apple’s App Store.
Coming from a family of professional musicians, Neubauer grew up playing chamber music with her older brother, parents, and cousins and credits them with planting the seed for her love of chamber music.
Clara Neubauer’s fellowship is generously sponsored by Herb & Kathe Cook.
LAURA LIU viola
Laura Liu, a native of Miami, Florida, studies with Cynthia Phelps and Misha Amory at the Juilliard School. This season, she competed as a semifinalist in the third Oskar Nedbal International Viola Competition where she received an honorary mention and the Pirastro Prize for an outstanding young talent. She will travel again to Prague to compete in the seventy-fourth International Prague Spring Competition. Previously, she competed as a finalist in the Juilliard School Viola Competition and was named a contestant in the fifth Tokyo International Viola Competition. An active chamber musician, Liu is a member of the Juilliard Honors Chamber Music program. Her quartet, Quatuor Cael, recently made their Alice Tully debut and Peter Jay Sharp debut. In previous summers, she has attended Taos School of Music, Kneisel Hall, Music Academy of the West, and the Heifetz International Music Institute. This season she returns to both Taos as a member of Taos on Tour and to Heifetz as a member of the Heifetz Ensemble in Residence. She is a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship at the Juilliard School.
Laura Liu’s fellowship is generously sponsored by Sue Raley.
CARLO LAY cello
Cellist Carlo Lay is a laureate of national and international competitions such as the Flame Competition in Paris and the Beethoven Bonnensis competition, and he won the sponsorship award at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival.
Lay is currently studying with Danjulo Ishizaka at the Universität der Künste Berlin and with Sol Gabetta at the Musikakademie Basel. He completed his bachelor’s degree with Leonid Gorokhov at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover in June 2022.
He has been a soloist with the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, the WDR Orchestra and the Neue Philharmonie Westfalen and has performed at numerous festivals, including Beethovenfest Bonn, Brussels Cello Festival, Kronberg Academy, International Mendelssohn Festival, and Schumannfest Bonn. Concert tours as a soloist and chamber musician have taken him to Europe, Asia, and the United States.
As a former cellist of the Avin Trio, Lay is a passionate chamber musician. He is a laureate of the Anton Rubinstein Competition for Chamber Music and, together with the Avin Trio, has been part of a virtual reality video production, which was nominated for an Opus Klassic Award 2022.
Further musical inspiration and stimuli have come from Igor Levit, Daniel Hope, Donald Weilerstein, Frans Helmerson, Philippe Muller, Ivan Monighetti, Jens Peter Maintz, and members of the Kuss Quartett, Vogler Quartett, and Atos Trio. Lay holds a scholarship from the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben, the Bischöfliche Studienförderung Cusanuswerk, the Janssen Stiftung, and the Villa Musica Rheinland-Pfalz. He plays an Angelo Toppani cello from 1733 provided by the Andarta Foundation.
Carlo Lay’s fellowship is generously sponsored by Bill and Susan Hopkins.
ROBERT BROOKS CARLSON piano
Originally from central Virginia, Robert Brooks Carlson is an emerging artist committed to interpersonal and community engagement through solo and collaborative performance. Many of his performances take aim at issues outside the concert hall, focusing on topics such as racial or gender inequity and mental health awareness. He has performed in Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, and throughout the United States. Previous notable engagements have included those with the James Madison University Wind Symphony and, as soloist, the Rapidan Orchestra. Recently, Carlson completed fellowships at Art of the Piano, PianoFest in the Hamptons, the Gilmore Festival, and Music Academy of the West. He has won numerous awards in recent years, including a special prize at the 2022 Seattle International Piano Competition and second prize in the 2021 National Federation of Music Clubs’ Young Artist Competition. A devoted collaborator, he proudly served as the collaborative artist for Hear Us Hear Them, a Cincinnati-based choir whose mission is to highlight works by underrepresented and marginalized composers, during its 2020–21 and 2021–22 seasons. As a chamber musician, Carlson has received extensive coaching with acclaimed violinist Kristin Lee and also with members of the Ariel, Aizuri, and Miami String Quartets. He now studies with the internationally acclaimed pianist Soyeon Kate Lee. Carlson received his bachelor of music degree from James Madison University, with Paulo Steinberg.
Robert Carlson’s fellowship is generously sponsored by Earll and Rena Murman.