Violinist Joshua Brown has been praised by audiences and critics worldwide for his “richness of sound, elegance of reading… commitment of every moment at the service of the work…” (La Libre). He was awarded a 2025 Avery Fisher Career Grant and gained international attention after winning second prize and both Audience Awards at the 2024 Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. As the recipient of a 2025 CAG Louis and Susan Meisel Prize, Joshua is currently represented by Concert Artists Guild. Joshua was first recognized for his debut performance with the Cleveland Orchestra and has gone on to perform regularly with orchestras around the world, including the Munich Radio Orchestra, MDR Sinfonieorchester, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Civic Orchestra, East Coast Chamber Orchestra, Belgian National Orchestra and Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liege, among others, continually garnering praise from critics. A passionate recitalist and chamber musician, he also regularly appears in recital performances and takes part in chamber music festivals. Joshua will perform with the KU Symphony Orchestra (KUSO), the premier orchestral organization at the KU School of Music conducted by Director of Orchestral Activities Creston Herron. KUSO provides performance majors with the highest quality preparation for a professional career in orchestral playing. KUSO offers a comprehensive course of orchestral studies and performs repertoire spanning from the Baroque to the 21st century, including premieres of new works. In addition to large-scale symphonic programming, each season includes performances of major solo works featuring faculty, student and leading international guest artists, including Blake Pouliot, PROJECT Trio, Tiempo Libre, Juan-Miguel Hernandez, Joshua Roman, Simone Porter and Xavier Foley, to name a few.

Described by The New York Times as “a genuine artist with a thoughtfully conceived and poetic interpretation,” Minsoo Sohn is a Korean American pianist known for his musical intelligence and masterful virtuosity. Sohn has toured extensively throughout North and South America, Europe and Korea. As a soloist, he has performed alongside leading orchestras, including The Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Tokyo Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, Jerusalem Camerata, Holland Symfonia, National Orchestra of Belgium, Cleveland Chamber Orchestra, Korean National Orchestra and the KBS Symphony, among others. He has collaborated with conductors such as Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Pietari Inkinen and Sasha Goetzel. 2024–25 season highlights included a duo tour with fellow pianist Yunchan Lim across Korea; at the Verbier, Gstaad Menuhin and La Roque d’Antheron festivals in Europe; and a series of recitals playing Beethoven’s Sonatas across Europe—which continued in the 2025–26 season with recitals in Korea, Japan and North America. Sohn is the teacher and mentor of Yunchan Lim, the youngest person to ever win gold at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition at the age of 18 in 2022.

The New York Philharmonic String Quartet comprises four principal musicians from the Philharmonic: Concertmaster Frank Huang (The Charles E. Culpeper Chair), Principal Second Violin Qianqian Li, Principal Viola Cynthia Phelps (The Mr. and Mrs. Frederick P. Rose Chair) and Principal Cello Carter Brey (The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Chair). The group was formed in January 2017 during the Philharmonic’s 175th anniversary season. The New York Philharmonic String Quartet made its debut as the solo ensemble in John Adams’s Absolute Jest in New York in March 2017 and reprised the work on the orchestra’s 2017 European spring tour. All four members are multiple-prize winners, have appeared as concerto soloists with the Philharmonic and orchestras around the world, and have appeared frequently in the Philharmonic’s chamber music series at David Geffen Hall and Merkin Concert Hall.

Willie Jones III is one of the world’s most celebrated drummers in modern jazz. As a band leader, the “astute hard-bop drummer” (The New York Times), has sold-out series of sets at Dizzy’s Club in New York City, Club 1905 in Portland, the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles, Club Bebop in Buenos Aires and Bimhuis in Amsterdam. His band has performed for crowds at full capacity at Central Park SummerStage and the New York City Winter Jazz Festival. The Los Angeles-born musician performed in the Roy Hargrove Quintet from 1998 to 2006. He was also one of two drummers in Hargrove’s powerhouse group RH Factor. Jones has been featured on performances and tours with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis and as a drummer of choice for legendary artists, including Sonny Rollins, Ernestine Anderson, Bobby Hutcherson, Cedar Walton, Frank Wess, Bill Charlap, Michael Brecker, Herbie Hancock and Hank Jones. Jones will perform with KU Jazz Ensemble I, led by Dan Gailey, director of Jazz Studies. Jazz Ensemble I is the flagship ensemble within the Jazz Studies program at the University of Kansas. The program has received 37 DownBeat Student Music Awards, including Jazz Ensemble I’s 2023, 2021, 2019 and 2015 awards in the Graduate Division for Best College Big Band in the United States or Canada, and their Outstanding Performance Awards in the same division in 2024, 2022 and 2017. Jazz Ensemble I has had the distinction of performing with such noted guest artists as Toshiko Akiyoshi, Clark Terry, Camila Meza, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Anat Cohen, Sean Jones, Camille Thurman, Kneebody, Renee Rosnes, Michael Dease, Steve Wilson, Tia Fuller, Dave Douglas, Louie Bellson, Jeff Coffin, Tim Ries, Peter Erskine, Vince Mendoza, Conrad Herwig, Bob Sheppard, Gary Foster, Steve Houghton, Bob Mintzer, Bobby Shew, Carl Fontana, Dick Oatts, Frank Mantooth, Ingrid Jensen, Jon Hendricks, Pete Christlieb and many others.

Known around the world for its eclectic repertoire and dazzling virtuosity, the Grammy Award-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer, under the leadership of Music Director Tim Keeler, has been hailed by The Boston Globe as “breathtaking in its accuracy of intonation, purity of blend, of color and swagger of style.” Founded in San Francisco in 1978 by singer and musicologist Louis Botto, Chanticleer quickly took its place as one of the most prolific recording and touring ensembles in the world—an “orchestra of voices” performing thousands of live concerts and selling more than one million recordings. Rooted in the Renaissance, Chanticleer’s repertoire has expanded to include a wide range of classical, gospel, jazz and popular music, and the group performs its beloved A Chanticleer Christmas program on tour every December. A new Christmas album, Joy to the World, was released in fall 2025. With a deep commitment to the commissioning of new compositions and arrangements, Chanticleer foregrounds American repertoire and a distinctively American sound, complementing the group’s signature diversity in terms of membership and genre. The ensemble has dedicated much of its vast recording catalog to these commissions, garnering Grammy Awards for its recordings of Sir John Tavener’s Lamentations & Praises and the ambitious collection of commissioned works entitled Colors of Love. Chanticleer’s 2002 album, Our American Journey, was inducted into the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress in 2025.

Winner of the 2022 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions, New York-born and Connecticut-raised Chelsea Guo is equally acclaimed as a pianist and soprano. A recent graduate of The Juilliard School, she has quickly established an international presence with performances across North America, Europe and Asia. She has appeared at Italy’s Fazioli Piano Festival, Spain’s Sociedad Filarmónica de A Coruña, Germany’s Moritzburg Festival, and in leading venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and Wigmore Hall. At San Diego’s 2023 Mainly Mozart Festival, she drew praise for her versatility, appearing as soprano soloist in Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 under Michael Francis and, two nights later, as pianist in Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2. She has also performed with such orchestras as the New Jersey Symphony and Fort Worth Symphony, collaborating with conductors including Barry Douglas, Xian Zhang, Michael Stern and Michael Francis. Since her historic YCA win—the first artist honored as both pianist and vocalist—Chelsea has made recital debuts at New York’s Merkin Hall and Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center. Recent highlights include the gala opening of The Florida Orchestra, a duo recital with baritone Joseph Parrish at Kansas City’s Harriman-Jewell Series and Handel’s Messiah with the Richmond Symphony.