Violinist Marina Alba Lopez is a 2023 Heifetz alum attending the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. She was born in Madrid to a family of musicians and started to play the violin at the age of 7. Her musical training began with singing, when she joined the Madrid Community Choir at the age of 5. She sang in several operas at the Royal Theater of Madrid, including Tosca, Boris Godunov and Der Rosenkavalier. At IU she holds the Young Premier Artist Scholarship and the E H Claus Scholarship. She is also the recipient of Madrid’s Community Overseas studies Grant, and is a member of the Hutton Honors College. Marina is also a Jazz vocalist, singing a wide range of styles, including Bossa Nova and salsa, as the lead singer of Wayne Wallace’s Latin Jazz Ensemble.

Heifetz 2020 and 2021 student Carlos Rafael Martínez Arroyo has concertized as a soloist with professional orchestras and recitalist throughout his native Spain as well as Sweden, the U.S., and Mexico. In 2016, 2017, and 2018 Carlos was selected as one of the members of “Proyecto Talentos”, organized by Madrid Symphony Orchestra, performing as a chamber musician in the Auditorio Nacional. In 2022 he was as a member of the Heifetz Ensemble in Residence alongside Heifetz faculty member Ani Kavafian. Carlos is currently a member of the Voyagers Ensemble in the Hawaii Chamber Music Festival and a member of the Midori & Friends Foundation. He recently obtained his B.M. from the Manhattan School of Music under the tutelage of Pinchas Zukerman and Patinka Kopec, and continues his Masters Degree studies with Mark Steinberg at the same institution.

Born in Seoul, South Korea, violist Jiwon Grace Kim is a two-time alumna of the Heifetz Institute, and the second-prize winner of the 2022 Washington International Competition. Jiwon made her U.S. debut in the United States at the age of 16, performing as a soloists with the Richmond Symphony Orchestra as a soloist. As an avid chamber musician, Jiwon has collaborated with A Far Cry Chamber Orchestra, Philip and David Ying, Philip Setzer, and Heifetz Artistic Director Nicholas Kitchen. Other festivals she has attended include the Bowdoin International Music Festival, the Music Academy of the West, the Yellow Barn Young Artists Program, and the Music@Menlo Young Performers Program. Jiwon previously studied with Mai Motobuchi at the Walnut Hill School for the Arts, and Jeffrey Irvine at the Cleveland Institute of Music. She currently studies with Hsin-Yun Huang and Misha Amory at the Curtis Institute of Music, and is grateful to play a Siefried bow generously on loan from The Maestro Foundation.

2023 Heifetz alumnus Hun Choi hails from Seoul, South Korea, and came to the U.S. to study at the the Curtis Institute of Music in 2017. He is now pursuing a master’s degree, studying under Peter Wiley and Gary Hoffman, as the Curtis Institute’s Jacqueline du Pré Memorial Fellow. Hun has performed solo and chamber recitals in such prestigious venues as Curtis’s Field Concert Hall, Jordan Hall at the New England Conservatory, M. Steinert & Sons in Boston, Irvine Auditorium at the University of Pennsylvania, and the studios of WRTI Radio in Philadelphia. Prior to studying at Curtis, he received a Bachelor of Music degree from Korea National University of Arts, where he studied with Myung-Wha Chung.

Pianist Miki Sawada, whose performance made The Boston Globe’s list “The classical concerts that made me fall in love with live music again,” is known as a fearless musician who is taking classical music where others are not. Through her signature project Gather Hear Tour , Miki is traveling the country state-by-state with a piano in a van to perform in community gathering spaces instead of concert halls.The mission is to connect with Americans across socioeconomic and political boundaries in this deeply divided country through music. Miki has given more than 80 free concerts in Alaska, West Virginia, Massachusetts, Utah, and Louisiana, and Alabama, and has directed films about her tours which have screened at film festivals. When not trucking around with her own piano, Miki enjoys a career of solo and chamber music, with a special affinity for contemporary music. Miki has been featured at venues and occasions such as: Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, Helsinki Music Centre, The Arctic Philharmonic (Norway), the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater (NYC), Roulette (Brooklyn), MATA Festival (NYC), Toronto Summer Music Festival, and Music on Main (Vancouver). She performs with the Chameleon Arts Ensemble in Boston, and recently made her soloist debut with the North Mississippi Symphony Orchestra and Portland Columbia Symphony Orchestra. Miki holds degrees from Yale School of Music, Eastman School of Music, and Northwestern University. Miki has been on faculty at Heifetz Institute since 2018.