umama womama: Coleman, Lash & Ngwenyama

Artists

Alexi Kenney Violin

Violinist Alexi Kenney is forging a career that defies categorization, following his interests, intuition, and heart. He is equally at home creating experimental programs and commissioning new works, soloing with major orchestras, and collaborating with some of the most celebrated artists and musicians of our time. Alexi is the recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant and a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award.

Alexi has performed as soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra, the San Francisco, Dallas, Pittsburgh, Detroit, and San Diego symphonies, l’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Gulbenkian Orchestra, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. This season, he plays the complete violin sonatas of Robert Schumann with Amy Yang on period instruments at the Frick Collection, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and the Phillips Collection.

He continues to tour his project Shifting Ground in collaboration with the new media artist Xuan, which intersperses works for solo violin by J.S. Bach with pieces by Matthew Burtner, Mario Davidovsky, Salina Fisher, Nicola Matteis, Angélica Negrón, and Paul Wiancko.

Alexi is a founding member of the two-cello quartet Owls, hailed as a “dream group” by The New York Times. He regularly performs at chamber music festivals including Caramoor, ChamberFest Cleveland, Chamber Music Northwest, La Jolla, Ojai, Marlboro, Music@Menlo, Ravinia, Seattle, and Spoleto. He is an alum of the Bowers Program at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

He plays a violin made in London by Stefan-Peter Greiner in 2009 and a bow made in Port Townsend, WA by Charles Espey in 2024.

Artist's Website

Upcoming Concerts & Events

• Violin Masterclass with Alexi Kenney (2023)

Jessica Lee Violin

Violinist Jessica Lee has built a multifaceted career as soloist, chamber musician, and now as Assistant Concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra since 2016. She was the Grand Prize Winner of the 2005 Concert Artists Guild International Competition and has been hailed as “a soloist which one should make a special effort to hear, wherever she plays.” Her international appearances include solo performances with the Plzen Philharmonic, Gangnam Symphony, Malaysia Festival Orchestra, and at the Rudolfinum in Prague. At home, she has appeared with orchestras such as the Houston, Grand Rapids, and Spokane symphonies. 

Jessica has performed in recital at venues including Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, Ravinia “Rising Stars,” the Phillips Collection in Washington DC, and the Kennedy Center.

A long-time member of the Johannes Quartet as well as of the The Bowers Program (formerly the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Two), Jessica has also toured frequently with Musicians from Marlboro, including appearances at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Boston’s Gardner Museum, and with the Guarneri Quartet in their farewell season. Her chamber music festival appearances include Bridgehampton, Santa Fe, Seoul Spring, Caramoor, Olympic, and Music@Menlo. She also put together a six-video chamber music series during the pandemic which was a collaboration between the Cleveland Orchestra and the Cleveland Clinic to bring chamber music from iconic spaces in Cleveland to the greater Cleveland community.

Jessica has always had a passion for teaching and has served on the faculties of Vassar College and Oberlin College, and now is on violin faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Music. She was accepted to the Curtis Institute of Music at age fourteen following studies with Weigang Li, and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree under Robert Mann and Ida Kavafian. She completed her studies for a Master’s Degree at the Juilliard School.

Artist's Website

Hanna Lee 2023 YAI Faculty, viola

Violist Hanna Lee has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia in such venues as Carnegie Hall, Kimmel Center, Jordan Hall, Suntory Hall, and Seoul Arts Center. Ms. Lee has appeared as a soloist with the KBS Symphony Orchestra, Korean Symphony, Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra, Frankfurt Jungen Symphony Orchestra, and the Sungnam City Orchestra. As an avid chamber musician, she was invited to perform at Ravinia, Verbier, Kronberg, and Marlboro Festivals. As a member of the Kallaci String Quartet, she has performed complete string quartet works by Shostakovich and Beethoven and has toured in Korea and abroad. As a recitalist, she has appeared at Kumho Cultural Foundation and Seoul Arts Center Series. A recipient of many honors and prizes, Ms. Lee’s awards include major prizes at the International Young Artist Competition (USA) and the Osaka International Competition (Japan). She is a graduate of Korean National University of Arts, Curtis Institute of Music, New England Conservatory, and Kronberg Academy. She has been invited to festivals worldwide, such as Music Alp Festival, Seoul Spring Festival, Pyeongchang Music Festival, and Seoul International Music Festival. Also, she is a member of Kallaci String Quartet, Kumho Soloists, Ensemble Opus, and is guest principal violist at Australian Chamber Orchestra. Ms. Lee is currently on faculty at Korean National University of Arts, Yonsei University, and Korea National Institute for the Gifted in Arts.

umama womama Wind & String Ensemble

Nokuthula Ngwenyama, viola
Han Lash, harp
Valerie Coleman, flute

Flutist Valerie Coleman, Violist Nokuthula Ngwenyama and Harpist Han Lash joined forces in 2019 to create an all-star ensemble whose mission is to celebrate motherhood and champion the performer-composer hybrid artist model, while expanding the Debussy trio combination of flute, viola, and harp through the creativity of its members. The name umama womama is a rhythmic play of the word ‘mother’ in Zulu, said in the singular and plural. It speaks to the complex responsibilities of its members, whose artistry as performers and composers is informed by their related experiences. Delayed by pandemic for two years, this ensemble makes its anticipated debut with the Phoenix Chamber Music Society, Clarion Concerts, and Chamber Music Northwest in the 2022 spring and 2023 summer seasons.

Zitong Wang Piano, Protégé

23-year-old Chinese pianist Zitong Wang made her solo recital debut at age 13 in Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing. She has performed at such venues as the Steinway Hall in New York, Verizon Hall in Philadelphia, Severance Hall in Cleveland, etc. She has appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Galicia Symphony Orchestra, Hangzhou Philharmonic, etc. She has worked with conductors Jahja Ling, Xian Zhang, Lina Gonzalez-Granados, José Trigueros, and Yang Yang.

Among others, she is a first prize winner of the Rosalyn Tureck International Bach Competition and Virginia Waring International Concerto Competition, second prize in the Thomas and Evon Cooper International Competition, and first prize in Princeton Festival Competition and France Music Competition. She most recently won first prize and “Nelson Freire Prize” in the XXXIII Ferrol International Piano Competition in 2022. A devoted chamber musician, Zitong has played alongside with Meng-Chieh Liu, Don Liuzzi, Vera Quartet, Zora Quartet, etc. She has toured with Roberto Díaz and musicians from Curtis. As an active member of Curtis 20/21 ensemble, she has worked with composers Unsuk Chin, Bright Sheng, David Ludwig, and Alvin Singleton. In 2019 she participated in the Intimacy of Creativity conference for composers in Hong Kong as a guest pianist.

Born in Inner Mongolia, China, Zitong began piano lessons at age three and previously studied with Hua Chang and Yuan Sheng at the Central Conservatory of Music Affiliated Middle School in Beijing. At age thirteen, she entered the Curtis Institute of Music where she studied with Meng-Chieh Liu and Eleanor Sokoloff. She is currently pursuing her Master’s degree at New England Conservatory with Dang Thai Son.

Valerie Coleman Flute & Composer

Valerie Coleman is regarded by many as an iconic artist who continues to pave her own unique path as a composer, Grammy-nominated flutist, and entrepreneur. Highlighted as one of the “Top 35 Women Composers” by The Washington Post, she was named Performance Today’s 2020 Classical Woman of the Year and her works have garnered many awards.

Coleman’s commissions include works for The Philadelphia Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, The Library of Congress, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and many others. Coleman has also been named to the Metropolitan Opera/Lincoln Center Theater New Works dual commissioning program. Her work, Umoja, was chosen by Chamber Music America as one of the “Top 101 Great American Ensemble Works.”

As a performer, Coleman has appeared at Carnegie Hall and The Kennedy Center and with The Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and Bravo! Vail. Valerie has appeared in a host of multi-disciplinary residencies, including Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Chamber Music Northwest, Phoenix Chamber Music Society, and University of Michigan. As a chamber musician, Coleman has performed alongside the Dover Quartet, Orion String Quartet, Yo-Yo Ma, Ani and Ida Kavafian, and Anne-Marie McDermott, along with jazz legends Paquito D’Rivera, Stefon Harris, Jason Moran, René Marie, and Wayne Shorter. She also recently co-founded and currently performs as flutist of the performer-composer trio, umama womama.

Former flutist of the Imani Winds, Coleman is the creator and founder of this acclaimed ensemble whose 25-year legacy is documented and featured in a dedicated exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Coleman is currently on the Mannes School of Music Flute and Composition faculty and will also join the Manhattan School of Music faculty in 2023-24.

Coleman’s compositions are published by Theodore Presser and her own company, VColeman Music.

Artist's Website

Han Lash Harp & Composer

Han Lash’s music has been performed at Carnegie Hall, Los Angeles Walt Disney Concert Hall, Lincoln Center, the Times Center in Manhattan, the Chicago Art Institute, Tanglewood Music Center, and The Aspen Music Festival & School, among others. In 2016, Lash was honored with a Composer Portrait Concert at Columbia University’s Miller Theatre, which included commissioned works for pianist Lisa Moore and loadbang. In the 2017-2018 season, Lash’s Piano Concerto No. 1 “In Pursuit of Flying” was premiered by Jeremy Denk and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Atlantic Classical Orchestra debuted Facets of Motion for orchestra, and Music for Nine, Ringing was performed at the Music Academy of the West School and Festival. Paul Appleby and Natalia Katyukova premiered Songs of Imagined Love, a song cycle commissioned by Carnegie Hall, in 2018, and in 2019, Lash’s chamber opera, Desire, premiered at Miller Theatre to great acclaim. Lash’s Double Concerto for piano and harp was premiered by the Naples Philharmonic, and Forestallings, a musical response to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 in D Major, was premiered by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Lash’s double harp concerto, The Peril of Dreams, was premiered by the Seattle Symphony in November 2021, with the composer as one of the featured soloists. Han Lash’s music is published exclusively by Schott Music Corporation (New York).

Artist's Website