The Colorado Symphony is thrilled to welcome five new musicians to the ensemble for the 2024/25 Season. Joining the orchestra are Kate Arndt as the ensemble’s new Principal Second Violin, Samuel Nebyu as Assistant Concertmaster (one-year position), Eugene Kim as Section Cello, Mary Reed as Section Bass, and Daniel Morris as Section Percussion (one-year position).
Kate Arndt, Principal Second Violin
Violinist Kate Arndt, from Boston, Massachusetts is currently pursuing her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Yale University under Ani Kavafian. Kate holds Masters degrees from Yale University in both Music and Musical Arts and completed her undergraduate studies at New England Conservatory of Music under Miriam Fried. Kate has performed as a featured soloist with several orchestras, at venues such as Boston’s Symphony Hall, Fordham University and New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall. In recent years, Kate has been active in Europe, including participation in the Gstaad Menuhin Festival in Switzerland, the Kronberg Masterclasses and Concerts in Germany and the IMS Prussia Cove Masterclasses in Cornwall, UK. In the US, Kate has attended several prestigious summer programs, including Music@Menlo, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the Taos School of Music, the Perlman Music Program, and the Sarasota Music Festival, where she was featured in 2019 as a guest soloist with the festival orchestra. In 2021, Kate received first prize at the CSU Bakersfield Competition for her recording of Michael Friedmann’s Fantasy for Solo Violin.
Kate has performed extensively with several prominent orchestras in the Northeast US, including with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra as a guest musician, Symphony in C as Principal Second Violin, and as a member of the New York Classical Players. For the past two summers she has performed at the Colorado Music Festival in Boulder, Colorado as a part of the orchestra.
A passionate chamber musician, Kate has performed with a number of ensembles at venues such as Carnegie Hall, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as the Curtis Institute of Music and the University of New Orleans with her former group, the Vera Quartet. As a recurring artist in the Mellon Music Festival, Kate regularly performs in Davis, CA. Kate also attended the Four Seasons Winter Workshop at East Carolina University, where she collaborated with artists such as Robert McDonald, Ida Kavafian, Colin Carr, Misha Amory, Hye- Jin Kim and Ara Gregorian. Her former group, the Isolde Quartet, received an honorable mention at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Kate has collaborated with several existing chamber ensembles, including the Calidore, Callisto and Kodak String Quartets, and as winner of several chamber competitions, she was selected to perform as a guest artist with the Borromeo String Quartet and with the Boston Trio.
Kate’s academic interests focus on studying the contributions of women in classical music, an area she hopes to expand through featuring works by female composers in future performances.
Samuel Nebyu, Assistant Concertmaster (one-year position)
Samuel Nebyu has been a Scholar of Anne-Sophie Mutter’s foundation since 2022. He has performed as a soloist at international music festivals and venues such as the Musikverein, Berlin Philharmonie, KKL in Lucerne, Carnegie Hall, The Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, Verizon Hall and Perelman Theater in Philadelphia, Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City, the Centre of Performing Arts in Brussels (BOZAR), the Wiener Saal and Grosse Saal in Salzburg, Tel Aviv Museum of Arts, Crown Hall in Jerusalem, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Teatro Mayor in Colombia, Gran Teatro Nacional in Peru.
His first CD, “Music by Composers of African Descent,” was released on the BCM+D label and was named Album of the Week by WRTI radio in Philadelphia and WQXR in New York. Samuel is featured on a second CD, “Majestic Classics,” where he performed Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with the iPalpiti Chamber Orchestra and violist Juan Miguel Hernandez under the direction of Maestro Eduard Schmieder with whom he studied in Philadelphia at Temple University. Samuel studied chamber music and new music with Lambert Orkis and has received guidance and studied with Amy Oshiro from the Philadelphia Orchestra. In 2019, he was the featured soloist at the Kimmel Center Verizon Hall in Philadelphia, performing the “Singing Rooms” Violin Concerto with Choir and Orchestra composed by Jennifer Higdon, and also gave a recital with Lambert Orkis in Rock Hall, Philadelphia.
In October 2019, Samuel joined Anne-Sophie Mutter’s Virtuosi on tour in South America. In January 2021, during the lockdown, Samuel performed a recital with Charles Abramovic on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Philadelphia virtually for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. In the Fall season of 2021, he joined Anne-Sophie Mutter and the Mutter Virtuosi on a month-long European tour, giving 19 performances. On September 1st, he performed a debut recital at the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland with pianist Charles Abramovic, which included a premiere that was written for Samuel “Grey Fireworks” by composer Tyson Davis.
In January-February 2023, Samuel collaborated with Anne-Sophie Mutter on her US tour, where he performed the US premiere of Unsuk Chin’s “Gran Cadenza,” a piece written for two solo violins, alongside Ms. Mutter. Subsequently, in the summer of 2023, Samuel embarked on a 21-concert tour with Anne-Sophie Mutter and the Mutter Virtuosi. Throughout this tour, he was privileged to present the European premiere of the Previn nonet and perform Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, alongside his mentor Anne-Sophie Mutter. Since September 2023, Samuel has served as a Resident Fellow with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. In December 2023, Samuel was featured in the Deutsche Grammophon recording of Anne-Sophie Mutter.
In the summer of 2024, Samuel had the privilege of joining the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra on their European tour under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel. Samuel will join the Colorado Symphony Orchestra in September as Assistant Concertmaster.
Eugene Kim, Section Cello
Cellist Eugene Kim made her concert debut as a soloist with the Youth Orchestra of the Educational and Cultural Art Center in Incheon at the age of 12. She performed as an orchestral musician with Maestro Nanse Gum as a prize of the Korean Classic Prodigy Discovery Project by KBS (Korean Broadcasting System) and sponsored by KT (Korea Telecom Corporation). She showcased her promise as a soloist by holding her first recital during the 2021 season at the Kumho Asiana Cultural Foundation.
Music was a strong part of Eugene’s education from a young age through learning various instruments until eventually focusing on the cello and attending Yewon School and Seoul Arts High School, the most prestigious art academies in South Korea. While at Seoul Arts High School, she received an Award for Excellence. She studied with Lluis Claret at New England Conservatory, where she earned a Bachelor’s degree. In May 2024, she received her Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Timothy Eddy and Natasha Brofsky.
Eugene Kim recently won a section position with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and will be joining them in September 2024. She performed at Carnegie Hall as part of the New York String Orchestra Seminar in her early career as a dedicated orchestra musician in 2022. In 2023, she served as principal cellist with the Juilliard Orchestra at Alice Tully Hall and as associate principal for the opening concert of the 30th edition of the Verbier Festival Orchestra, performing alongside the legendary Maestro Zubin Mehta and pianist Yuja Wang. During the 2023-2024 season at Verbier, Eugene collaborated with renowned musicians such as Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Antonio Pappano, Yunchan Lim, Charles Dutoit, Klaus Mäkelä, Daniele Gatti, Bryn Terfel, Lahav Shani, Placido Domingo, Christoph Eschenbach, and Wynton Marsalis at Verbier. She continued her role as principal cellist at the Spoleto Music Festival in 2024. Most recently, Eugene played with the Britt Festival Orchestra during the summer of 2024.
She has won various competitions in South Korea including The Strad competition and the Ehwa & Kyunghyang Concour. Being selected for the country’s only chamber music program jointly developed by LG and The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center greatly influenced her capability as a chamber musician as well as a soloist. She also received fellowship offers from the Aspen Music Festival in 2020 and the Bowdoin International Music Festival in 2021.
Mary Reed, Section Bass
Mary Reed is a native of Charleston, South Carolina. Brought up in a musical family, both parents are classically trained French horn players. She began studying guitar at age 6 and double bass at age 9. She completed degrees in double bass performance at the Peabody Conservatory and the University of Southern California, with summer studies at Aspen Music Festival and Brevard Music Center. Since completing her education, Reed has performed with some of the finest orchestras in the country including the National Symphony Orchestra, Detroit, Atlanta, St. Louis, Nashville, North Carolina, and Kansas City Symphonies and was a fellowship recipient with the New World Symphony in Miami Beach under the baton of Michael Tilson-Thomas. Beyond her passion for orchestral music, Mary is a singer/songwriter and enjoys playing guitar in a band with her spouse, percussionist Dan Morris.
Daniel Morris, Section Percussion (one-year position)
Daniel Morris, originally from Cleveland, Ohio, is a Denver-based percussionist. He is thrilled to be joining the Colorado Symphony as acting section percussion this fall. Morris has served as acting associate principal of the Kansas City Symphony and was a New World Symphony fellow. He has also performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Atlanta, Oregon and Seattle Symphonies, and the Colorado Music Festival.
A passionate educator, Morris has taught from the middle school to university level and was honored to participate in the Colorado Symphony’s educational outreach program this past spring at Aurora Central High School. He holds degrees from Manhattan School of Music and Indiana University. His primary teachers include Erik Charlston, Chris Lamb, Duncan Patton, She-e Wu and Michael Werner.