This program commemorates the 100 year anniversary of Pablo Casals’ Musical Club performance at the Foot Guard Hall in Hartford. Casals, the virtuoso Catalan cellist, may be most remembered for his devotion to chamber music and for his Bach Cello Suite performances.

This upcoming Musical Club program will feature Benita Rose performing “Almería” from the Suite Iberia, for piano, by Isaac Albéniz, a contemporary of Casals who assisted him in his teen years to establish his career.

Visiting artist Amy Kang of New York will perform movements from a Bach Cello Suite and share her original artwork depicting Casals.

Lisa Kugelman, violin, Stacy Cahoon, piano, and Fran Bard, cello will perform Dvorak's Piano Trio, Op. 26.

Karen Benjamin, cello and Soohyung Yoo, piano will perform a Catalan song arranged by Pablo Casals: Cant dels Ocells ("Song of the Birds").

Finally, joined by clarinetist David Schonfeld, Karen and Soohyung will perform the first movement of Beethoven's Trio in E flat, Op. 38.

Three different cellists are participating in this program, making it a most memorable event!

ts. In addition, she is the accompanist for the Travelers Chorale and the CitiSingers of Hartford. As a composer, she has had vocal compositions premiered at Bushnell Hall, and the Women Composers Festival of Hartford. She is an independent piano teacher in West Hartford teaching students of all ages.

Amy Kang is a cellist and painter. She graduated from Columbia University in 2011 and currently lives and works in NYC. She studied with Fred Sherry and has performed at venues ranging from jazz clubs on the lower East Side to Carnegie Hall.

Lisa Kugelman, violinist, originally from West Hartford., studied with Bernard Lurie, Roman Totenberg, and Syoko Aki, and performs regularly with the Hartford Symphony, the Worthington Trio, and the Arensky Trio. Lisa has been a professional free-lance violinist in the Hartford area for the past 25 years.

Benita Rose, pianist, has performed on three continents. She and saxophonist husband, Tony Gibbs, were top prize-winners in the professional division of the international 2008 International Chamber Music Ensemble Competition. Her performance of Gershwin's Concerto in F with the U.S, Coast Guard Band was broadcast on NPR's "Performance Today.” She teaches piano in Connecticut and is also a church and concert organist, currently serving Bethany Lutheran Church in West Hartford.

David Schonfeld, clarinet, grew up in the Bronx. He received a B.A. in Music from CCNY and an M.Phil. from Yale in the Theory of Music. He has studied oboe with Lois Wann, Marilyn Krentzman, and Marc Schachman and clarinet with Curt Blood, among others. David also received a Fulbright to study South Indian classical music in Madras. He has performed with an international folk-dance band for many years and serves as a classical-music broadcaster at radio station WWUH. David is currently studying the Baroque oboe.

Korean American pianist Soohyung Yoo has performed for audiences throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe, at prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall in New York, The Academy of Music in Philadelphia, and Salle Cortot in Paris. She has been a prizewinner of several international competitions, including the Young Artists Piano Competition, and Artist International Presentations, which resulted to a successful debut recital at Weill Hall in Carnegie Hall in 2009.

Soohyung began her piano studies in Korea at the age of 7, and continued her studies in the United States with Eleanor Sokoloff. She received her Bachelors and Masters degrees at Eastman under the guidance of Thomas Schumacher. She continued her training in Europe through the International Certificate for Piano Artists program held by the Ecole Normal de Musique de Alfred Cortot and Fondation Belle 'Arte. Soohyung continued her studies at the University of Maryland where she obtained her Doctor of Musical Arts degree with Larissa Dedova in December of 2009.

Soohyung has been on the piano faculty at Frederick College, University of Maryland, and Los Angeles High School for the Arts. She is currently on the faculty at Miss Porters School and maintains an active private piano studio. She makes her home in Farmington, CT with her husband, 2 young children, and cat.