Hyperion String Quartet

AMANDA BRIN, a native of Rochester, New York, is a founding member of the Hyperion String Quartet. She earned a Bachelor of Music from the Eastman School of Music in 2002, where she studied with Ilya Kaler and Timothy Ying. Ms. Brin has won competitions including the Penfield Symphony Orchestra Young Artist Competition where she had a solo appearance with the Penfield Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Hochstein Recital Competition, with a solo recital performance on WXXI-FM Rochester, New York. In 2006, she appeared with the San Diego Concert Band performing Schindler’s List by John Williams. She has attended summer festivals including the Indiana String Academy, Penderecki Quartetfest, Aria International Academy and the Bowdoin Summer Festival. Ms. Brin received her Masters Degree at Kent State University where she was a teaching assistant to both the Miró and Miami String Quartets. She was the recipient of the Benjamin McGinnis Chair of the Kent State University Orchestra from 2002 to 2004. Her principal teachers at Kent State included Sandy Yamamoto, Ivan Chan and Cathy Meng Robinson. Ms. Brin participated in the string quartet residency program at the Hartt School while serving as adjunct faculty at the Community Division of the Hartt School and most recently completed a residency at San Diego State University in association with the La Jolla Music Society. Ms. Brin is currently Co-Director of the Saratoga Springs Youth Orchestra Chamber Music Program in New York.

NAHO TSUTSUI, a native of Japan, joined the Hyperion String Quartet in 2007. As an enthusiastic chamber musician, she is also a member of the Transfiguration Ensemble and the Brooklyn Chamber Players, giving many concerts in the New York area. Ms. Tsutsui is also an advocate of contemporary music, having commissioned and premiered a number of works. She has given numerous recitals in the United States, Japan, Germany, and Bulgaria, both as a soloist and chamber musician, and has performed at prestigious halls such as the Merkin Hall, the Lincoln Center, and the National Palace of Culture in Bulgaria. Her live performances have been broadcast worldwide on WQXR and she was a featured recitalist on the Bulgarian National Television. Ms. Tsutsui is a recipient of numerous scholarships and awards including the first prize of the NCSA Concerto Competition, the Giannini scholarship, and the Liberace scholarship. She received her BM from North Carolina School of the Arts, and her MM and DMA from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Her principal teachers include Philip Setzer, Pamela Frank, Mitchell Stern, and Kevin Lawrence. As an educator, she served as an adjunct professor at the Ross School in East Hampton from 2003-2006 and was an artistic director of the Music Academy at Ross. Ms. Tsutsui spends her summers at Kinhaven Music School in Vermont and is currently a resident teaching artist at the Bloomingdale School of Music in Manhattan.

YI-PING YANG of Taipei, Taiwan, joined the Hyperion String Quartet in 2007. Ms. Yang began her musical training in Taiwan at age 13 on both violin and piano, and continued her education on scholarship to Florida International University, where she received her Bachelor of Music. She earned her MM and Graduate Performance Diploma at the Peabody Institute as a teaching assistant with full scholarship. Her principal teachers include Chauncey Patterson and Steve Wyrczynski, as well as Victoria Chiang, Mark Jacob, and Thomas Riebl. Her chamber music coaches include Leon Fleisher, Pamela Frank, Laurence Lesser, as well as members of the Miami and Tokyo string quartets and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Ms. Yang has performed chamber music at festivals including the Pacific Music Festival, Banff Center for the Arts, Sarasota Music Festival, and the Encore School for Strings. She was also selected as a member of Yale Chamber Music in 2003 and the Norfolk Contemporary Ensemble in 2004, and was a founding member of the Reminyi Quintet. Ms. Yang is also a member of the Hartford Symphony and the Hindemith Ensemble of Yale University, which has had numerous performances both nationally and abroad. She has also performed with the Miami Symphony, Singapore Symphony, and Pacific Music Festival orchestras, as well as the Symphony of America. Ms. Yang is currently an Artist Diploma candidate at the Yale School of Music as a student of Jesse Levine.

JONATHAN BRIN earned his Bachelor of Music at the Eastman School of Music where he was a founding member of the Hyperion String Quartet. Mr. Brin was the recipient of the Arden J. Yockey Scholarship for Strings at the Akron Tuesday Musical Club Competition in 2003. He also won the Syracuse Symphony Youth Orchestra Concerto Competition as well as the top prize in the Kent State University Orchestra Concerto Competition, performing as a soloist with the Kent State University Orchestra. Other solo appearances include performances with the Onondaga Civic Orchestra and the Syracuse University Summer Festival Orchestra. In addition, he has served as guest cellist with the Miró Quartet and as guest principal cello with Orchestra New England. Mr. Brin has attended the Ithaca Chamber Music Institute and the National Orchestral Institute and served on faculty at the NSOA-ASTA Summer Conference held at the State University of New York at Fredonia, as well as the Hartt School Community Division. He earned his Masters Degree at Kent State University where he served as a teaching assistant to Joshua Gindele and Keith Robinson. Mr. Brin’s other primary teachers include Einar Holm and Steven Doane. As a member of the Quartet, Mr. Brin participated in the graduate quartet residency at the Hartt School of Music. Recently, after holding a residency at San Diego State University with the La Jolla Music Society, Mr. Brin has been named Co-Director of the Saratoga Springs Youth Orchestra Chamber Music Program and Instructor of Cello at the Adirondack Community College in New York.