Klein Competition Winners

James Baik, cello - 2019

James Baik is a Bachelor of Music candidate at the Colburn Conservatory of Music, where he studies with Clive Greensmith. James began playing the cello at the age of eight in his hometown, Houston, TX. James would go on to solo with multiple local orchestras in the Houston area, along with reaching the finals of the Lynn Harrell Competition at the age of 15. In 2018, James won the DePaul Concerto Competition and reach the finals at the 2018 Johansen International Competition in Washington D.C. At the end of 2018, James was named a YoungArts finalist and participated at YoungArts Week in Miami, Florida, while also being awarded the grand prize at the Walgreens National Competition, resulting in a solo performance at Northwestern University. In the following year, James was a finalist at the 2019 Stulberg International String Competition and would go on to receive the first prize at the Irving Klein International String Competition in June of 2019.

This past school year, Baik won the 2020 Colburn Concerto Competition and will subsequently play with the Colburn Orchestra in the 2021-2022 season. James has attended the Meadowmount School of Music, the Aspen Music Festival, where he attended the Finckel Wu Han Chamber Music Program, and was invited as a guest artist for the 2020 Music of the Vineyards Festival in Napa Valley.

Gabrielle Després, violin - 2020

Canadian-born violinist Gabrielle Després is the winner of numerous competitions, most recently first prize in the 2020 Irving M. Klein International String Competition. This year, she also competed as a semi-finalist in the Stulberg International String Competition, and was on CBC’s annual list of 30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians under 30.

From a young age, Gabrielle has competed nationally, winning top prizes in the Canadian Music Competition in both violin and piano. In 2016, she was featured on Radio-Canada’s nationwide television show, “Virtuose,” placing second out of 24 young Canadian artists. In 2017, she was a top prizewinner in the national Shean Strings Competition, and in 2018, she was invited to perform as a soloist with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of Edmonton. Gabrielle was also the sole recipient of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Scholarship for Performing Arts in 2018.

Gabrielle began violin studies at the age of 3 and studied with James Keene for nine years. She was a student of Robert Uchida since 2016, and began studying at The Juilliard School in September of 2018 for her Bachelor of Music degree where she currently studies with Masao Kawasaki and Joseph Lin.

Gabrielle’s summer studies have included the Orford Summer Music Academy, the Morningside Music Bridge program, and the Casalmaggiore International Music Festival. In 2019, she was awarded the New Horizons Fellowship which is a full-tuition scholarship to study at the Aspen Music Festival.

Gabrielle gratefully acknowledges the generosity of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, the Anne Burrows Music Foundation and the Edmonton Community Foundation in supporting her education.