Maia Jasper

Artistic Director

Hailed as a "ravishing" performer by the Los Angeles Times, violinist Maia Jasper has appeared as soloist and chamber musician in France, Israel, Turkey, Portugal, the Netherlands, and on both American coasts.

In 2003, she received her Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Musicology from Yale University, where she was awarded the Master's Prize in Music Performance. During her junior year at Yale, she received a scholarship to study at the Paris Conservatory in France. She completed her master's degree as a fellowship student at the USC Thornton School of Music in 2006.

An avid chamber musician, Maia has performed chamber music around the world and throughout Southern California, collaborating with such artists as the Ysaÿe Quartet and cellist Paul Katz. In 2008, she recorded early duos of Schoenberg with Los Angeles Philharmonic concertmaster Martin Chalifour for Yarlung Records. Other chamber music performances have been broadcast on KUSC, Sundays Live!, KMZT, KCSN and NPR. As violinist of the Divan Consort, a mixed ensemble focusing on contemporary and 20th century music, she has toured Portugal and Turkey.

In January 2010, Maia was appointed to the first violin section of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. She joined Orange County's Pacific Symphony in 2006.

Maia has been a prize-winner and finalist in several solo and chamber music competitions, including the Concert Artists Guild, National Federation of Music Clubs, Corpus Christi International, Pasadena Showcase House, and Chesapeake Chamber Music competitions.

She has participated in summer festivals such as the Keshet Eilon Violin Mastercourse, Juilliard Quartet Seminar, Music Academy of the West, International Holland Music Sessions, Banff Centre Quartet Residency, ENCORE School for Strings, Great Lakes Chamber Music, and Aspen festivals.

Maia has studied with Martin Chalifour, Gérard Poulet, Kyung Yu, and Michelle Kim, among others. Other musical figures that have helped shape her approach as an artists include Itzhak Rashkovsky, Herman Krebbers, Kathleen Winkler, Paul Kantor and Robert Lipsett. Additionally, Maia has performed in masterclass for legends Ruggiero Ricci, Ida Haendel, Gil Shaham, Midori, János Starker, and Ivry Gitlis, as well as for the Tákacs and Juilliard String quartets.

Kevin Kumar

Artistic Director

A recent performance "allowed Kumar to demonstrate that, in addition to making an utterly beautiful sound, he is a born leader, and the performance responded to every last facet of a work gigantic in stature." (Bernard Jacobson, Music-Web International) Also praised by press for his "obvious communicative powers", "sense of sheer enjoyment", and having "the precision and tonal richness of a virtuoso", violinist Kevin Kumar has appeared as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Burbank Philharmonic Orchestra, West Los Angeles Symphony, Riverside Philharmonic, and the Peninsula Symphony, among others.

Kumar has also been active as an orchestral player, serving as Concertmaster of the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra under Valerie Gergiev and Semyon Bychkov in tours throughout major European cultural centers. He was personally invited by Sir Georg Solti to participate in the Solti Project at Carnegie Hall (Decca).

As a devoted chamber musician he has performed in various ensembles and festivals throughout the United States, Europe, and Central America and participated in numerous radio and television broadcasts, including a featured appearance on a primetime NBC sitcom. Kumar has given the world premieres of chamber music and solo works by composers such as Grammy-nominated composer Javier Navarrete, Daniel Catan, R.I. Gordon, and Jeremy Cavaterra.

At the outset of his concert career, Kumar was forced to spend an extended period away from the violin due to injuries; during this time he became involved with songwriting and production for musical artists in the U.S. and in East Asia. Since his return to the stage, he has participated in a variety of activities; appearing as soloist with a number of orchestras in Southern California, including St. Matthew’s Chamber Orchestra and the Riverside Philharmonic, and performing chamber music abroad on series such as the Olympic Music Festival and Classicopia. He is also the violinist of the Catgut Trio, a recently formed ensemble dedicated to exploring the repertoire of the string trio and collaborating with other artists in the performance of chamber music. He is partnered by violist Dale Hikawa Silverman and cellist Armen Ksajikian, titled members of the LA Philharmonic and the LA Chamber Orchestra.

In addition to attending Columbia University and the Manhattan School of Music, Kumar received the Jascha Heifetz Scholarship and his Advanced Studies in Music Diploma from the University of Southern California and Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford University. He has studied with Viktor Tretyakov, Alice Schoenfeld, Linda Rose, and Gennady Kleyman and benefited from masterclasses with Dorothy Delay, Sylvia Rosenberg, Gary Hoffman, and the St. Lawrence String Quartet. Awards include Grand Prizes at the Pasadena Instrumental and Edith Knox Concerto Competitions.