Dakota String Quartet

Doosook Kim has been with the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra since September 1995 as Concertmaster and the First Violinist of the Dakota String Quartet. As a native of Korea, Ms. Kim started her musical training by beginning to play the piano at four years old, and the violin at the age of seven. She studied with one of the most prominent teachers in Korea, Chong-Suk Lee, where her training took the form of well known German pedagogues Carl Flesch and Max Rostal. After completing her degree at the prestigious Seoul National University, Ms. Kim went on to earn a Doctor of Musical Arts in violin performance at Arizona State University as a student of Frank Spinosa who described her as “a legacy…the highest performance level the school has ever attained…. dedicated, extremely talented, technically endowed…..a fully purposed violin soloist and chamber musician.” In addition, Ms. Kim had worked with prominent musicians such as Mstislav Rostropovich, Pinchas Zuckerman, Eugene Lehner (creator of the Juilliard String Quartet), and Joel Smirnoff (a member of the Juilliard String Quartet). As a soloist and a chamber musician, Ms. Kim has performed extensively in the United States and abroad, including Germany, France, Italy, and Korea. During the summer months, she has played with Tanglewood Music Festival, Spoleto Festival, Colorado Music Festival, and the Omega String Quartet. Most recently, she was invited to play with Orchestre des Régions Européennes to travel all over Germany and France. She plays on a violin made by Francesco Ruggeri dated in 1686, and she hopes to find a bow that will match the violin in the near future.

Magdalena Modzelewska, Violin II, was raised in Walbzych, a city near the Czech border in southwestern Poland. She has been playing the violin since the age of seven, studying in special primary and secondary schools designed specifically for career-minded young musicians. After high school she attended the Music Academy in Wroclaw, Poland, where she completed her music degree program in the spring of 1997. Some of her teachers include Wiktor Kuzniecow, Wanda Wilkomirska, and Roman Lasocki. Ms. Modzelewska has extensive chamber music performance experience. She performed frequently at the 1998 European Mozart Academy, a seven-week intensive chamber music program in Mala Wies, Poland. Since 1995 she has been a soloist with the Pressburger Kammersolisten, a touring chamber ensemble that gives performances in France, Germany and Switzerland throughout the year. She has also performed with the Polish Chamber Orchestra Wratislavia in Warsaw, one of Poland’s premier chamber orchestras, and in 1994, Magdalena participated in a special Polish/German Orchestral Project in Weimar, Germany. She has attended various summer music festivals in Europe, including the International Music Festival in Lancut, Poland and the Sevenoaks Summer Festival in England. Magdalena can speak six different languages: English, German, Russian, French, Italian and of course, Polish.

Violist Fei Chen was born in Tianjin China and joined as the Principal Viola of the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra and Member of the Dakota String Quartet in 2000 after earning a Master’s Degree in performance from the University of Montreal, Canada. He also studied at McGill University and Beijing Conservatory of Music.He has been a featured performer with several prestigious international symphony orchestras, including the National Arts Center Orchestra (Canada), I Musici de Montreal, the FACE Symphony Orchestra (Principal Viola 1998-2000), I’ Orchestra Symphonique de Grand Montreal (Principal Viola), the McGill Symphony Orchestra and the McGill Baroque Ensemble, The Beijing Symphony Orchestra and Tianjin Symphony Orchestra.Fei has won several awards, including the International Viola Competition at Orford Arts Center(Canada) and the Monteregie Competition for Chamber Music (Montreal), which was played with Quatuor Calixa-Lavallee. Fei won both of these awards in 1998. In 2000, he was inducted into the Golden Key National Honor Society at McGill University. His teachers include professor Zhen Shan Wang (violin) and KeQiang Sui(viola), both in China, Neal Gripp( Principal Viola of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra), Eleonora Turovsky ( Concertmaster of I Musici de Montreal), Lonrraine Vaillancour ( Director of the Nouvel Ensemble Moderme), Karen Richer, John Graham and James Dunham in Aspen summer Festival, Karen Tuttle and Kim Kashkashian during 2005 workshop, Fei has also studied with Mr. Pinchas Zukerman (Music Director of the Canadian National Arts Center Orchestra) and Mrs. Patty Kopec. During the summer 2000 and 2001 while Fei participated in the “ National Arts Center Young Artists Programme” in Ottawa,a live interview and his performance of “Der Schwandreher” was broadcast by the Ottawa News 6.
As a core member of the SDSO Fei has been featured as the soloist with the symphony and the SDCO (South Dakota Chamber Orchestra), he also gives quartet recitals with the DSQ. In 2006 he had his solo recital appearance and gave master classes in the Tianjin Conservatory of Music China. Since 2002 Fei has been participated in the Aspen Music Festival and his chamber group performed in the “Distinguished Artist Master Class” directed by the artists like Joseph Kalichestein , members of the Emerson String Quartet and the American String Quartet. He served as Principal Viola of the American Academy of Conducting Orchestra led by Maestro David Zinman in 2002, from 2004 he has been appointed as the violist for the ACE (Aspen Contemporary Ensemble) which participated in the NPR National Wide Broadcast Aspen, joined the artists like Robert McDuffie and Sharon Isbin, as a member of the group he also worked with some of the leading composers like Steve Stucky , Marc-Andre Dalbavie among others. The group has also performed Britten’s chamber opera “ Albert Herring” which conducted by Robert Spano in 2006. Fei is also featured as the soloist for the viola concerto “ Eulogy,” which was composed by the BBC composer Mark Anthony Turnage in the Harris Concert Hall in 2004 as its US premiere. Aside from music, Fei enjoys speaking three languages ( Chinese, English and French) and traveling.

Maxim Kozlov has had wide solo and orchestral experience, having performed as Principal Cellist in the Chamber Orchestra Kremlin, which is based in Moscow, Russia. He toured the United States (over 300 concerts), Canada, South America, and Europe, as well as South Korea and China. Since September 2005 he has served as the Principal Cellist in the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra. His education is summarized by a Bachelor of Music degree from the Special Music School for Gifted Children in Ekaterinburg, Russia; a Master's in Cello from the Ural State Conservatory, Russia; and a Doctor of Musical Arts from Moscow State Conservatory, Russia. He received a Graduate Performing Diploma at Peabody Institute where he was a Graduate Assistant of Alan Stepansky. Various awards include: Second Prize in the Russian National Cello Competition (1993), the Gregor Piatigorsky Scholarship, and the Fanny B. Thalheimer Memorial Scholarship. He moved to the USA to accept a Graduate Assistantship at the Peabody Institute of John Hopkin's University after receiving the aforementioned Gregor Piatigorsky Scholarship.Kozlov has collaborated with composers: John Corigliano (USA), Steven Gerber (USA), Boris Tishchenko (Russia), and Rodion Shchedrin (Russia). In 2001 he participated in "Polyphony of the World,” an international project in Moscow where he had received a personal invitation from the Artistic Director, Gidon Kremer. As a soloist he recorded two CD’s with the Chamber Orchestra Kremlin at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. As the Principal Cellist of the Chamber Orchestra Kremlin, Kozlov also recorded six CD's with Claves Records – the Swiss Classical Label.Some famous concert halls in which he performed include: Alte Oper (Frankfurt, Germany), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam, Holland), Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory, Merkin Concert Hall and Town Hall (New York), Orange County Performing Arts Center (Costa Mesa, California).