Allison Boles, director of learning and engagement for the La Jolla Music Society, described the fellowship as \u201ca training program for artists who are right on that cusp and that transition from their academic careers to their professional careers.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re already award winners on their own,\u201d Boles said. \u201cThey\u2019re already starting to establish their own professional careers \u2014 they\u2019re just in the beginning phases of that. They\u2019re just a really special group.\u201d<\/p>\n
The program also provides the fellows with a stipend and housing in partnership with UC San Diego.<\/p>\n
The musicians on this year\u2019s fellowship roster are:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Hesper Quartet, a New York-based Korean American string ensemble consisting of violinists Valerie Kim and Yejin Yoon, violist Sohui Yun and cellist Connor Kim<\/p>\n
\u2022 Larinae Ensemble, consisting of pianist Stephanie Tang, violinist Jake Dongyoung Shim, violist Joseph Skerik and cellist Jakob Giovanni Taylor. Unlike the Hesper Quartet, this group has not played together before.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/LJL-L-LJMS-FELLOWS-01.jpg\")
The Larinae Ensemble includes pianist Stephanie Tang, violinist Jake Dongyoung Shim, violist Joseph Skerik and cellist Jakob Giovanni Taylor. (La Jolla Music Society)<\/p>\n
Boles said the Music Society received 45 to 50 applicants for this year\u2019s program, who were evaluated by a group including SummerFest Music Director and pianist Inon Barnatan, violinist Blake Pouliot and cellist Clive Greensmith.<\/p>\n
Applicants must have a bachelor\u2019s degree and be 21-31 years old to be eligible.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really fun to watch their transformation through the festival,\u201d Boles said. \u201cThey get to know each other and learn how to play together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taylor of the Larinae Ensemble said he grew up with music.\u00a0In fact, his first days playing cello were when he was only 2. From then on, there wasn\u2019t much question whether he would continue, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s become just part of my life at this point,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cWhen you start so early, you kind of grow up with the instrument. \u2026 So you\u2019re never really without it. You don\u2019t really think of it as sticking with it. It\u2019s just a part of your life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taylor completed two master\u2019s degrees \u2014 one at Rice University\u2019s Shepherd School of Music and another at the Yale School of Music \u2014 as well as an undergraduate degree at the New England Conservatory of Music. Soon he will pursue an artist\u2019s diploma at the Colburn School in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
He said his selection for the fellowship was a \u201cshock\u201d and a \u201cdelight.\u201d He added that it\u2019s special that fellows are \u201creally seen as an actual part of the overall fabric of the festival, not just an addition or a younger artist.\u201d<\/p>\n
One member of this year\u2019s batch has roots in San Diego County. Though she currently lives and attends school in New York, Valerie Kim of the Hesper Quartet spent her elementary school days in Carlsbad and Carmel Valley.<\/p>\n
She also latched onto music in her youth and performed and attended a master class through the La Jolla Music Society.<\/p>\n
She grew up listening to piano and string music during car rides but didn\u2019t find an interest in playing an instrument until her older sister did.<\/p>\n
Kim started on piano but eventually branched out to violin.<\/p>\n
\u201cI ended up starting to play violin a few years later, actually because my parents thought my sister and I were getting a little too competitive with each other on the piano,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Kim eventually switched coasts to pursue a doctorate degree at The Juilliard School in New York City. She joined the Hesper Quartet in September last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was really hoping we would get into this program, especially because I grew up in San Diego and \u2026 going to some of the La Jolla Music Society concerts,\u201d Kim said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think, as a quartet, we have a lot to gain and a lot to learn from just performing in public,\u201d she added. \u201cI think a lot of our work has been somewhat insular so far \u2014 just the nature of preparing for performances.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fellowship program, in place for more than 35 years, ties into what the La Jolla Music Society at large is doing, Boles said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a nonprofit, we exist to serve the community and serve our audiences,\u201d she said. \u201cBut we also believe we\u2019re here to serve artists and to serve the art form itself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this program ties into the last two. We want to develop the next generation of artists so we can continue to bring live music to people in San Diego. And that we can continue to see live music evolve.\u201d<\/p>\n
SummerFest\u2019s concert schedule and the fellowship program run Friday, July 25, through Saturday, Aug. 23. Learn more about this year\u2019s group at theconrad.org\/2025-fellowship-artists<\/a>. \u2666<\/p>\n Related stories:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n