Violinist Julia Li, praised by the Baltimore Sun as a performer of “confidence and brio,” joined The Philadelphia Orchestra in January 2014. She has appeared extensively in recitals and concerts and has performed as soloist with the Houston Symphony, Symphony in C (formerly the Haddonfield Symphony), and the Independence Sinfonia of Pennsylvania, among others. She has collaborated in chamber music performances with Roberto Díaz, Marcy Rosen, and Jonathan Biss; she has also performed with the Dolce Suono Ensemble and appeared as a guest artist with Astral Artists. During her time at the Curtis Institute of Music, Ms. Li was part of Curtis on Tour’s first tour to Asia, which included chamber music performances and master classes in Shanghai, Beijing, and Seoul. An avid orchestral player, she has been a member of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia and Symphony in C. She has also played with the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood.

Ms. Li has spent summers at Taos, Tanglewood, Encore, and Meadowmount. For the past three summers she has been part of the orchestra and chamber music series at the Artosphere Festival in Arkansas. She was a two-time scholarship recipient of the Dorothy Richard Starling Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. She has also appeared on NPR’s From the Top and Houston Public Radio’s In the Front Row. Her performance of Prokofiev’s First Violin Concerto with the Houston Symphony was broadcast on KUHF, Houston Public Radio.

Ms. Li began her formal violin lessons at the age of seven in Beijing with Shengyin Huang at the Central Conservatory. After moving to Houston in 2000 she studied with Bingsun Yang and later with Kenneth Goldsmith. Ms. Li holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute, where she studied with Pamela Frank, Arnold Steinhardt, and Shmuel Ashkenasi. She is currently completing her Master of Music degree at the Juilliard School with Ronald Copes.

Photo: Jessica Griffin

David Nicastro:

A member of The Philadelphia Orchestra since 1995, David Nicastro is also an active recitalist and a member of numerous chamber music ensembles. Prior to 1995 he served as associate principal viola of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra.

Born in New York, Mr. Nicastro grew up in the Hague, Netherlands, where he began violin studies at the age of six. Returning to the United States, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature and a Bachelor of Music degree in violin performance from Boston University while studying with Yuri Mazurkevich. Continuing his musical studies, Mr. Nicastro received a University Fellowship and an Artist Diploma from Indiana University, where he studied viola with Abraham Skernick, Atar Arad, and former Philadelphia Orchestra Principal Viola Joseph dePasquale.

Photo: Jessica Griffin

Christine Lim:

Christine Lim began violin studies at the age of three. In 2018 she received her bachelor’s degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Ida Kavafian. She is currently at the New England Conservatory of Music studying for her master’s degree with Soovin Kim and Paul Biss. Ms. Lim has performed as a soloist with numerous orchestras, including the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Suwon Philharmonic, the Gwacheon Philharmonic, the Rzeszów Philharmonic, the KBS Symphony, the Euro-Asia Philharmonic, the Kyunggi Philharmonic, and the South Bohemian Orchestra.

Ms. Lim has won many prizes at major competitions, including First Prize at the International Competition for Violin, Kloster Schöntal; Second Prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians; Third Prize at the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition for Young Violinists; and Fourth Prize at the Seoul International Music Competition. She has collaborated with such artists as cellist Gary Hoffman, Philadelphia Orchestra Principal Bass Harold Robinson, and French horn player Richard King. She has also participated in many well-known summer festivals including the Marlboro Music Festival, the Ravinia Festival, the Verbier Festival Academy, Music from Angel Fire, and the Aspen Music Festival.

Joseph Tayoun:

Joseph Tayoun, a second generation Lebanese American, is an accomplished Middle Eastern percussionist. He started playing by the early age of eight at his family’s renowned Middle East Restaurant in Philadelphia where live, authentic Arabic, Turkish, Persian, Armenian, Greek and Israeli music and dance were performed nightly for over forty years. Learning from the area’s top Middle Eastern musicians, Joe became adept at the many styles of drumming within these different ethnicities.

He performs with various Middle Eastern and World Music ensembles locally, regionally, and internationally, as well as conducting workshops and master classes at schools and universities.  Joseph has been the recipient of several noteworthy grants from such organizations including the: NEA, PCA, PAEP, and the State Department.  He is currently active in a wide variety of projects both as a performer and a educator.