Shriver Hall Concert Series Presents Zlatomir Fung & Chaeyoung Park, May 7

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mallory McFarland | Morahan Arts and Media
mallory@morahanartsandmedia.com | 646-378-9386

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SHRIVER HALL CONCERT SERIES PRESENTS
CELLIST ZLATOMIR FUNG AND PIANIST CHAEYOUNG PARK

 Wednesday, May 7 at 7:30 pm at Shriver Hall

“Fung seems to be one of those rare musicians with a Midas touch:
he quickly envelopes every score he plays in an almost palpable golden aura”
—Bachtrack about Zlatomir Fung

“A musician who does not play a single note without thought or feeling”
—New York Concert Review about Chaeyoung Park

www.ShriverConcerts.org

Baltimore, MD (April 1, 2025) — Shriver Hall Concert Series (SHCS) — Baltimore’s premier presenter of chamber music ensembles and solo recitalists — is proud to present cellist Zlatomir Fung and pianist Chaeyoung Park, making her Baltimore debut, on Wednesday, May 7, 2025 at 7:30 pm at Shriver Hall.

Fung and Park present a compellingly curated program featuring works by Brahms (Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor, arranged for cello and piano), Tchaikovsky (“Lensky’s Aria” from Eugene Onegin), Justin Dello Joio (Due Per Due), and Bernard Herrmann (“Scène d’amour” from Vertigo). They also perform the Baltimore premiere of Marshall Estrin’s Fantasia Carmèn.

“I am so happy to be presenting a program of cello and piano music for Baltimore audiences on May 7th,” Zlatomir Fung remarks. “My friend Chaeyoung Park and I will be playing music that highlights the joys of musical adaptation, featuring Johannes Brahms' glorious 3rd violin sonata (arranged for cello and piano) and virtuoso works inspired by opera and film. Included in the program is Marshall Estrin's inimitable Fantasia Carmèn, written for me in 2023, which is particularly thrilling and can only be fully experienced in a live performance; as well as Justin Dello Joio's modern masterpiece Due Per Due. I am also excited to share my recent original arrangement of the “Scène d'Amour” from Bernard Herrmann's score for the film Vertigo. This will be one of its first public performances and I am looking forward to sharing a glimpse of Herrmann's underappreciated musical genius in the concert hall.”

Cellist Zlatomir Fung burst onto the scene as the first American in four decades (and youngest musician ever) to win First Prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition Cello Division. In April 2025, Signum Records releases Fung’s debut album, a collection of opera fantasies and transcriptions for cello and piano. Fung served as Artist-in-Residence with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for the 2023-24 season. He was a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship Winner in 2022, awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2020, and a participant in WQXR’s Artist Propulsion Lab in 2023. He performs on a circa 1730 cello by Domenico Montagnana, on loan from a generous benefactor. 2024-25 marks Fung’s first season on the cello faculty at his alma mater, The Juilliard School.

“I’m so excited to make my Baltimore debut at Shriver Hall alongside Zlatomir,” shares Chaeyoung Park. “This program is a collection of reimagined favorites, from Brahms’s Violin Sonata in D minor, on cello, to Marshall Estrin’s Fantasia Carmèn, which weaves central themes from Carmen into a vivid and imaginative new work. Zlatomir’s transcription of “Scène d’amour” beautifully captures the surreal cinematic romance of Vertigo, while Lensky’s Aria takes on a new poignancy when sung through the voice of the cello. I’m so looking forward to sharing this music with the audience in the historic Shriver Hall.”

First Prize Winner of the 2022 YCA Susan Wadsworth International Auditions and Finalist in the 2023 Rubinstein Piano Competition, Chaeyoung Park has been praised as a passionate pianist who “does not play a single note without thought or feeling” (New York Concert Review). Park made history as the first female Korean pianist to win the Hilton Head International Piano Competition in 2019. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Juilliard School, where she is currently an Artist Diploma candidate studying with Robert McDonald.

Shriver Hall Concert Series’ 2024-25 concert season concludes with the esteemed pianist Richard Goode on June 1, 2025 at 5:30 PM. A lauded performer of Classical and Romantic repertoire, he presents the vast emotional landscape of Beethoven’s magnificent Diabelli Variations, as well as the composer’s Six Bagatelles from Op. 119 and Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109.

SHCS’ upcoming 60th anniversary and 2025-26 season builds on the organization’s legacy of unforgettable musical experiences in the intimacy of Shriver Hall with a vibrant lineup of programs featuring enduring masterworks and fresh perspectives, from Bach to Beethoven to Billy Childs. The Subscription Series features performances by: Sphinx Virtuosi and cellist Sterling Elliott; violinist Tessa Lark, cellist Joshua Roman, and double bassist Edgar Meyer; pianist Emanuel Ax; pianist Angela Hewitt; Isidore String Quartet and pianist Jeremy Denk; soprano Golda Schultz and pianist Jonathan Ware; and cellist Steven Isserlis and pianist Connie Shih. SHCS’s free Discovery Series, which spotlights emerging artists on the classical music scene, includes recitals by Abeo String Quartet, the winner of the 2025 Yale Gordon Competition (to be announced), and pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason. Details about SHCS’ 60th anniversary season can be found at ShriverConcerts.org.

The 2024-25 season is made possible through generous support from the Maryland State Arts Council, Baltimore County Commission for Arts & Sciences, and Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts.

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Concert Information
Zlatomir Fung, cello and Chaeyoung Park, piano
Wednesday, May 7, 2025 at 7:30 pm
Shriver Hall | 3400 N. Charles Street | Baltimore, MD 21218
Tickets: $46 Single Tickets and $10 Students
Link: www.shriverconcerts.org/fung 

JOHANNES BRAHMS: Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108 (arr. for cello and piano)
JUSTIN DELLO JOIO: Due Per Due for Cello and Piano
BERNARD HERRMANN: “Scène d’amour” from Vertigo (arr. Z. Fung)
PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY: “Lensky’s Aria” from Eugene Onegin (arr. Mikhail Bukinik)
MARSHALL ESTRIN: Fantasia Carmèn for Cello and Piano (Baltimore Premiere)

The Piatigorsky Memorial Concert

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About Zlatomir Fung
Cellist Zlatomir Fung burst onto the scene as the first American in four decades (and youngest musician ever) to win First Prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition Cello Division. He has since garnered accolades, critical acclaim, and standing ovations at performances around the world, increasingly recognized as one of the preeminent cellists of our time. Astounding audiences with his boundless virtuosity and exquisite sensitivity, the 25-year-old has already proven himself a star among the next generation of world-class musicians.

In the 2024-25 season, Fung gives recitals in New York City, Boston, and St. Louis, and performs the complete Bach Cello Suites at Mechanics Hall in Worcester, MA and in Arcata, CA. He returns to the Aspen Music Festival and makes his debut at the Ravinia Festival. He joins the orchestras in Rochester, San Antonio, and Billings, among others. Internationally, he performs with the Barcelona Symphony in Spain, the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra in Taiwan with Jaap van Zweden conducting, and he returns to the London Philharmonic Orchestra; he also appears in France, Poland, Romania, Korea, Japan, China, and Italy. In April 2025, Signum Records releases Fung’s debut album, a collection of opera fantasies and transcriptions for cello and piano. 

Fung served as Artist-in-Residence with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for the 2023-24 season, appearing at London’s Cadogan Hall and touring the UK with the orchestra. Other notable appearances of late include his debuts with the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lille, and BBC Philharmonic, as well as the Baltimore, Dallas, Detroit, Seattle, Milwaukee, Utah, Rochester, and Kansas City symphonies.  

Fung made his recital debut at Carnegie Hall in 2021 and was described by Bachtrack as "one of those rare musicians with a Midas touch: he quickly envelopes every score he plays in an almost palpable golden aura.” Other recent highlights include returns to Wigmore Hall and appearances at the Verbier, Dresden, Leoš Janácek International, and Tsinandali festivals, Cello Biennale Amsterdam, Bravo! Vail, and Grant Park Music Festival.

In addition to a mastery of the canon, Fung brings insight to contemporary repertoire, championing composers such as Unsuk Chin, Katherine Balch, and Anna Clyne. In 2023, under the baton of Gemma New and with the Dallas Symphony, Fung gave the world premiere of Katherine Balch’s whisper concerto with “jaw-dropping brilliance” (Dallas Morning News) as the dedicatee of the work; he gave its UK premiere February 2024 with the BBC Philharmonic, conducted by Joshua Weilerstein.

Fung was a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship Winner in 2022, awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2020, and a participant in WXQR’s Artist Propulsion Lab in 2023. Fung has been featured on NPR’s Performance Today and From the Top. He performs on a circa 1730 cello by Domenico Montagnana, on loan from a generous benefactor.

2024-25 marks Fung’s first season on the cello faculty at his alma mater, The Juilliard School.

Of Bulgarian and Chinese heritage, Zlatomir Fung was born into a family of mathematicians and began playing cello at age three. Outside of music, his interests include chess, cinema, and creative writing. His website is zlatomirfung.com.

About Chaeyoung Park
First Prize Winner of the 2022 YCA Susan Wadsworth International Auditions and Finalist in the 2023 Rubinstein Piano Competition, Chaeyoung Park has been praised as a passionate pianist who “does not play a single note without thought or feeling” (New York Concert Review). Her diverse repertoire spans from the French Baroque to contemporary works by composers like Unsuk Chin. As a recitalist, chamber musician, and concerto soloist, Park has graced prestigious venues such as Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, Bravo! Vail Music Festival, Tongyeong International Music Festival, Ravinia’s Bennett Gordon Hall, and Symphony Center’s Orchestra Hall. She also performed live-streamed concerts presented by the Gilmore Rising Stars series, the Carlsen Center, and the Lied Center of Kansas.

Park made history as the first female Korean pianist to win Hilton Head International Piano Competition in 2019. She subsequently presented her solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 with the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra under John Morris Russell.

An avid chamber musician, Park participated in Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, Yellow Barn, Four Seasons Winter Workshop, Kneisel Hall, Juilliard ChamberFest, and Bravo! Vail. While working under renowned artists such as Leon Fleisher, Frans Helmerson, Gary Hoffman, and Robert Levin, she has collaborated with the most promising young artists of her generation. Her chamber music performances have taken her to venues including WNYC/WQXR’s Greene Space and the Harvard Club in New York City.

This past season included debuts at Merkin Hall and The Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater, performances at the Gina Bachauer International Piano Festival, Honest Brook Music Festival, Orchestra of the Triangle in Chapel Hill, Rockport Music, and Hayden's Ferry Chamber Music with upcoming highlights that include appearances at Ringwood Friends of Music, The Morgan Library & Museum’s Encore Series, Sanibel Isand’s BIG ARTS, and a return to both the Dame Myra Hess and Schiermonnikoog Festival series.

After making her orchestral debut at age 14, she now regularly performs with orchestras around the U.S. such as the Kansas City, Topeka, Uta, Hilton Head, Fort Smith, and Caton symphonies, as well as the Rochester Philharmonic, under the batons of conductors such as Vladimir Kulenovic, Neil Varon, Rei Hotoda, Gerhardt Zimmermann, John Morris Russell, and Michael Stern. Upcoming concerto appearances include performances with the Charlotte, Mobile, Eugene, Redlands, and Maryland symphonies with conductors including Kyle Pickett, Scott Speck, Elizabeth Schultze, and Ransom Wilson.

Introduced to the piano in her kindergarten music class, Park won her first local competition at age eight. She immigrated to the U.S. at age ten to study with Jack Winerock. Park received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Juilliard School, where she is currently an Artist Diploma candidate studying with Robert McDonald.

South Korean-born, and raised in Lawrence, KS since age ten, Park returns to Kansas frequently to share music with her community whenever she is back home from New York City, where she is currently based. Her website is chaeyoungparkpiano.com.

About Shriver Hall Concert Series
Since 1966, Shriver Hall Concert Series (SHCS) has been “Baltimore’s finest importer of classical music talent” (The Baltimore Sun) and the area’s premier presenter of chamber music ensembles and solo recitalists with a mission to craft performances and educational programs at the highest level of excellence. A 5-time recipient of Baltimore Magazine’s distinction “Best Classical Music” in its annual “Best of Baltimore” issue, the coveted subscription series features many of the world’s most renowned soloists and ensembles, presented in The Johns Hopkins University’s Shriver Hall.

Founded in 1966 by Dr. Ernest Bueding, a pharmacologist at Johns Hopkins University, and a group of similarly dedicated music enthusiasts, SHCS set out to make an important contribution to the vitality of an already vibrant city. When flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal walked onto the stage of Shriver Hall for the first concert, more than 1,100 people witnessed the launch of what is now recognized as a remarkable success story: Shriver Hall Concert Series. In the succeeding years, SHCS has presented hundreds of acclaimed and emerging international artists in classical chamber music and recitals and a legacy of important debuts and premieres. In addition, SHCS collaborates with local schools and subsidizes hundreds of student tickets each season.

The list of artists presented by SHCS is remarkable—Radu Lupu, Murray Perahia, Ewa Podlés, Maurizio Pollini, Jacqueline du Pré, Mstislav Rostropovich, Jordi Savall, András Schiff, Rudolf Serkin, Janos Starker, Daniil Trifonov, Lynn Harrell, Emmanuel Ax, Alban Berg Quartet, Guarneri Quartet, Kronos Quartet, Cleveland Quartet, and Quartetto Italiano, among many others. SHCS also has a history of championing important musicians early in their careers, including Richard Goode, Hilary Hahn, Hélène Grimaud, Dawn Upshaw, Lang Lang, and the Emerson String Quartet. Commissioned composers include Timo Andres, Sebastian Currier, Jonathan Leshnoff, James Lee III, Han Lash, Caroline Shaw, and Nina C. Young.

Designed specifically for the community, SHCS offers the Discovery Series, a series of free concerts presented in venues throughout the region focused on artists emerging on the national and international scene. Artists featured include Narek Hakhnazaryan, Colin Currie, Xavier Foley, Eric Lu, and the Dover Quartet. SHCS also offers the annual Spring Lecture Series, a series of free talks focused on annual topics related to the intersection of music and society and a variety of student programs.

For more information, visit www.shriverconcerts.org.

Photo of Fung (left) by Marco Borggreve, photo of Park (right) by Shervin Lainez

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