BSNJ | Carlton Doctor Scholarship

Joanna began her violin performance and music studies at the age of 7 at the Longy School of Music with Angela Leidig. Since 2012, she has studied under Magdalena Richter at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School.

In addition to solo music, Joanna is an avid chamber and orchestra musician. Within NEC, Joanna has played master classes for the Omer Quartet and the Verona Quartet, and has been concertmaster for numerous orchestras. She has spent two summers at Greenwood Music Camp and was recently invited to study with the Verona Quartet at Music Mountain Academy. She has performed many community concerts throughout Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Joanna is currently the concertmaster of NEC’s Youth Philharmonic Orchestra and will be attending their upcoming tour to Central Europe this summer. She has previously toured with YPO when they traveled to Norway two years ago.

In her free time, Joanna enjoys debating with her Model United Nations club and exploring her love of sciences in the Tytell biology lab.

Isabel is a young, passionate violinist who has been able to captivate audiences in the Boston area with her authentic and sensitive musicality. She started playing violin at the age of 5, and in 2013 she became part of Project STEP, a program that provides comprehensive string training to students from underrepresented communities. Through Project STEP, Isabel has also been able to study at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School, currently with Magdalena Richter.

In 2016, Isabel won 1st place at the New England Conservatory Concerto Competition and made her debut at Jordan Hall with Barber’s Violin Concerto. Other solo engagements include the Nashua Chamber Orchestra, the Rivers Conservatory Summer Orchestra and more recently, the Costa Rican National Youth String Orchestra to celebrate the 67th Anniversary of the University Radio (classical music station) with a live nationwide broadcast.

Isabel is also an enthusiastic orchestra and chamber musician. She is currently the Concertmaster of the New England Conservatory Youth Symphony Orchestra and the co-first violin of the Project Step Honors Quartet. Her recitals have taken her to many different local and international venues: Boston Symphony Hall; Boston Museum of Fine Arts; Boston Public Library; Boston Children’s Museum; Heredia Costa Rica Cathedral; Madrid School of Music; La Mezquita Cordoba Spain; Granada Spain Music Festival; Newbury Court, Concord MA; Brookhaven, Lexington, MA; Church of the Hill, Boston MA; Saint Matthew Church, Windham, NH.

Chinese pianist Jiarong Li enjoys sharing her music with the community and collaborating with instrumentalists and singers. She has won many awards, including first prize in the Oxford Philharmonic Piano Festival and Summer Academy Competition, Winner of the New England Conservatory Honors Competition, Best Schubert Performance in the International Music Competition, first prize in the Eastern Central Division of CCTV Piano and Violin Competition, first prize in the Sunflower National Piano Competition, fourth prize at the National Youth Piano Competition of Pearl River Cup, bronze medal at the first “Long River” National Piano Competition (The Prime Bell Music Award), the Distinction Award at the Hong Kong-Asia Piano Open Competition, and finalist at the Golden Bell Music Competition and New England Conservatory Piano Concerto Competition.

Jiarong has performed as a solo pianist and chamber musician at major venues throughout the United States and China, including: Jordon Hall at New England Conservatory, Curtis Institute of Music, the ZhongShan Music Hall, the National Theater of China in Beijing, HuangZhong Hall, and Studzinski Recital Hall at the Bowdoin International Music Festival. She has performed in master classes for Robert McDonald, Jerome Lowenthal, Hung-Kuan Chen, Alexander Korsantia, Gabriel Chodos, and Victor Rosenbaum.

An important part of Jiarong’s performing life involves sharing her music with the community. For two consecutive years, she received the New England Conservatory’s Community Performance and Partnership Fellowship, through which she gave recitals at community venues throughout Boston. Lincoln Center Stage recently selected Jiarong to perform with a piano quintet aboard a cruise ship on the Holland America Line.

Jiarong is currently pursuing a graduate diploma at New England Conservatory, where she studies with Pei-Shan Lee.