About

Taiwanese-born pianist Gloria Chien has one of the most diverse musical lives as a noted performer, concert presenter, and educator. She made her orchestral debut at the age of sixteen with the Boston Symphony Orchestra with Thomas Dausgaard, and she performed again with the BSO with Keith Lockhart. She was subsequently selected by The Boston Globe as one of its Superior Pianists of the year, “who appears to excel in everything.” In recent seasons, she has performed as a recitalist and chamber musician at Alice Tully Hall, the Library of Congress, the Dresden Chamber Music Festival, and the National Concert Hall in Taiwan. She performs frequently with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. In 2009, she launched String Theory, a chamber music series in Chattanooga, Tennessee that has become one of the region’s premier classical music presenters. The following year she was appointed director of the Chamber Music Institute at Music@Menlo, a position she held for the next decade.

In 2017, she joined her husband, violinist Soovin Kim, as artistic director of the Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival in Burlington, Vermont. The duo became artistic directors at Chamber Music Northwest in Portland, Oregon in 2020. They were named recipients of Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Award for Extraordinary Service in 2021 for their efforts during the pandemic.

Most recently, Gloria was named Advisor of the newly launched Institute for Concert Artists at the New England Conservatory of Music. Gloria released two albums—her Gloria Chien LIVE from the Music@Menlo LIVE label and Here With You with acclaimed clarinetist Anthony McGill on Cedille Records.

Gloria received her bachelor, master’s, and doctoral degrees at the New England Conservatory of Music with Wha Kyung Byun and Russell Sherman. She is Artist-in-Residence at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee, and she is a Steinway Artist.

Soovin Kim enjoys a broad musical career regularly performing Bach sonatas and Paganini caprices for solo violin, sonatas for violin and piano ranging from Beethoven to Ives, Mozart and Haydn concertos and symphonies as a conductor, and new world-premiere works almost every season. When he was 20 years old, Kim received first prize at the Paganini International Violin Competition. He immersed himself in the string quartet literature for 20 years as the 1st violinist of the Johannes Quartet. Among his many commercial recordings are his “thrillingly triumphant” (Classic FM Magazine) disc of Paganini’s demanding 24 Caprices, and a two-disc set of Bach’s complete solo violin works to be released in 2022.

Kim is the founder and artistic director of the Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival (LCCMF) in Burlington, Vermont. In addition to its explorative programming and extensive work with living composers, LCCMF created the ONE Strings program through which all 3rd through 5th grade students of the Integrated Arts Academy in Burlington study violin.  The University of Vermont recognized Soovin Kim’s work by bestowing an honorary doctorate upon him in 2015. In 2020, he and his wife, pianist Gloria Chien, became Artistic Directors of Chamber Music Northwest in Portland, Oregon. Kim devotes much of his time to his passion for teaching at the New England Conservatory in Boston, and the Yale School of Music in New Haven.

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Executive Director Peter Bilotta has led Chamber Music Northwest since 2013 through significant artistic, program, and financial growth. During his tenure, CMNW has added year-round concerts, expanded its commitment to new music through extensive commissioning and the New@Night contemporary music series, set new records in education and community engagement activities, and launched of CMNW’s Young Artist Institute.

Before joining the CMNW staff, he served in various leadership roles with cultural organizations throughout the nation including Portland Opera, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, and the Children’s Theatre Company of Minneapolis, as well as a decade in executive positions with the Boy Scouts of America. A Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) with 30 years of experience in non-profit leadership and development, he currently serves in leadership roles with the Classical Music Festivals of the West, the Cultural Advocacy Coalition of Oregon, and Oya No Kai, the support organization for Portland Public Schools Japanese Language Immersion and exchange programs.

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Before joining Chamber Music Northwest, Barbara Bailey spent the last 17 years working for the Children’s Trust Fund of Oregon trying to make a difference by advocating for child abuse and neglect prevention in the State of Oregon. While that was a meaningful career, Barbara’s true love is music. She graduated from SUNY – College at Purchase with a degree in music performance with dreams of being an opera singer. She pursued that dream for many years in New York City and then decided to take a major shift to become a massage therapist which she did for over 20 years once moving to Portland. All of these steps have been wonderful experiences but having the opportunity to again be surrounded by the beauty of chamber music is like a dream come true. Outside of work, Barbara loves to spend time in her garden (or anyone else’s lovely garden), attend live performances, read or hang out with her friends or her sweet cat.

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Jessie (he/they) joined Chamber Music Northwest in November 2022, bringing with him a background in arts administration, classical performance, and music scholarship. Most recently, he has held patron-facing roles at Portland Opera, Orchestra Nova Northwest, and OrpheusPDX. Jessie graduated from Portland State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Musicology/Ethnomusicology and went on to earn a Master of Arts & Culture degree in Musicology from the University of Amsterdam. His scholarship has focused on music and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies, with an emphasis on the performance of gender in various theatrical genres. Before discovering a passion for music history and feminist musicology, Jessie studied classical flute performance at the University of Vermont (where he is originally from), and PSU. When he isn’t swimming in a river, singing with Queer Opera, or knitting, he can be found spending time with his husband, son, and their small dog.

Dr. Jillian Fischer (she/her) began working with Chamber Music Northwest in February, 2024. Jillian studied music and English literature at Lawrence University, graduating with a BA in 2013, and continued her education in music, completing an MA in 2019 and a PhD in 2022 from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She has also worked with classical music groups, including Music Academy of West during their summer festivals in 2019 and 2021, and as the Operations Manager for Orchestra Nova Northwest. When she isn’t listening to music, Jillian enjoys baking, doing aerial dance, and spending time with her wife and two cats.

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A Southern Oregon native, Rebecca’s passion for the arts began early through community theater, vocal performance, jazz piano, and songwriting. She earned dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in Music Theory & Composition and Audio Production from George Fox University in Newberg, OR. After interning locally at Broadway Rose Theatre Company and Portland Opera, Rebecca transitioned to a career in radio and concert promotion, where she spent a decade managing pop/rock concerts and festivals nationwide, including Fish Fest NW locally in Salem, OR. Dedicated to causes close to her heart, Rebecca also has a long history in nonprofit fundraising and has worked with several initiatives focused on arts education, LGBTQ youth, and addiction recovery. She is thrilled to join the team at Chamber Music Northwest where she can combine her deep love of music, her knack for project management, and her enthusiasm for fundraising to inspire new generations through the incredible programs available at CMNW. A forever songwriter, Rebecca continues to compose and produce music from her home studio in SE Portland alongside her husband, Nick. On the weekends, she enjoys lazing on the couch with her cat, Stevie Nicks, and going on adventures/getting crafty with her super-cool daughter, Robin.

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Nicole came to Chamber Music Northwest in 2021 with 16+ years in marketing and communications for the arts. Her recent work includes positions with Artslandia, Artists Repertory Theatre, Fertile Ground Festival of New Works, a variety of arts nonprofits, as well as a range of artistic endeavors with artists, creators and musicians. She likes to think of herself as a relationship designer who connects people to content in a way that resonates, and as a bridge-builder bringing together communities to engage with the arts. Across her life and various careers — from marketing and community-building in the arts and nonprofits, to teaching middle school and motherhood — the through-line is consistent: connection.  Nicole is a fierce supporter of the arts who also relishes hikes in the mountains, toe-dipping on the coast, and daily neighborhood walks. She is the mother of two college-age sons who are immense sources of pride and joy – with them away, she dotes on her two entertaining felines.

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Benjamin Rosenthal began working with Chamber Music Northwest for the Summer 2017 season and joined the year-round team after the Summer 2019 season. He studied theater production and design at the University of Oregon as well as nonprofit management and computer science. Before coming to CMNW, Ben worked at a Children’s Theatre in Bethesda, Maryland and at various theatres around Portland. Ben is a lover of music and theatre with a passion for innovative, diverse, and inclusive art.

Alyssa Tong is the Executive Director and Founder of String Insiders, an educational non-profit that focuses on providing access for pre-professional string students to teachers, resources, and information. String Insiders hosts the Online Solo Strings Intensive (OSSI), which is hosted every summer and gives over 100 students the opportunity to work closely with the top professors and teachers from around the country. OSSI was the first online music festival, created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She also directs the In-Person Strings Intensive, as part of String Insiders, and Quest Concerts, an intimate chamber concert series in Dallas, TX. She formerly hosted the Strings Virtual Summit, which was an online conference with over 1,000 attendees at each iteration and provided access to interviews with top professionals in the music field to viewers, free of charge. Through her work with String Insiders, she has worked with faculty members such as Clive Greensmith, Soovin Kim, Paul Kantor, Ani Kavafian, Paul Katz, and many others.
In addition to her administrative work, she is also a master’s student, studying violin under Simon James at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She formerly studied under Nelson Lee of the Jupiter String Quartet as a full scholarship student, recipient of the Doris Vance Harmon Music Scholarship, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign School of Music. When she’s not working or practicing, you can find her spending time with her six siblings or cooking something new.

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Lauren joined Chamber Music Northwest in April 2021, and brings to this position a diverse background of knowledge and experiences. Lauren holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of Oregon and a Master of Music from the University of Wyoming in Saxophone Performance. While she is a trained musician, much of her career experiences has been in sales, customer service and arts administration. Most recently, she received both a Master of Science in Arts Administration and a Certificate in Nonprofit Management. During her time in Eugene she worked with Eugene-Springfield Youth Orchestras, Emerging Leaders in the Arts Network, West African Cultural Arts Institute, and Eugene Symphony. Lauren comes to CMNW from her most recent position as Development Associate with Oregon Ballet Theatre where she managed donor relations, grassroots and online fundraising, and planned events — most notably assisting them with their 2020 Fundraising Gala “The (Sleeping) Beauty Ball” at the Portland Art Museum. Lauren is passionate about music and the importance music, and all art, has within the community. She is overjoyed at the opportunity to assist CMNW grow their already robust education and community engagement program, and to join this amazing team!