Zlatomir Fung, cello
Chaeyoung Park, piano
The Piatigorsky Memorial Concert
Location: Shriver Hall
The youngest cellist to win a Gold Medal at the International Tchaikovsky Competition, 25-year-old Zlatomir Fung is renowned for “enveloping every score he plays in an almost palpable golden aura” (Bachtrack). A passionate film fan, he has chosen works that conjure iconic moments from opera and screen, including a new fantasia on Bizet’s Carmen written for him.
This concert was originally scheduled for January 19, 2025 with cellist Pablo Ferrández and pianist Julio Elizalde. It has been rescheduled due to a snow cancellation.
About the sponsor
The Gregor Piatigorsky Memorial Concert was established in 1978 by Dr. and Mrs. Daniel Drachman and Dr. and Mrs. Joram Piatigorsky. The concerts present a mix of internationally renowned cellists as well as those with promising solo careers. Gregor Piatigorsky dedicated a large part of his life to teaching and encouraging talented young musicians. His heart's desire was to open the way to successful careers for them. Piatigorsky exemplified extraordinary virtuosity as well as high musical and personal ideals. It is the endowers' intention that cellists who possess likeminded goals and accomplishments will be given an opportunity to perform through these concerts.
Zlatomir Fung
Cellist Zlatomir Fung burst onto the scene as the first American in four decades (and youngest musician ever) to win First Prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition Cello Division. He has since garnered accolades, critical acclaim, and standing ovations at performances around the world, increasingly recognized as one of the preeminent cellists of our time. Astounding audiences with his boundless virtuosity and exquisite sensitivity, the 25-year-old has already proven himself a star among the next generation of world-class musicians.
In the 2024-25 season, Fung gives recitals in New York City, Boston, and St. Louis, and performs the complete Bach Cello Suites at Mechanics Hall in Worcester, MA and in Arcata, CA. He returns to the Aspen Music Festival and makes his debut at the Ravinia Festival. He joins the orchestras in Rochester, San Antonio, and Billings, among others. Internationally, he performs with the Barcelona Symphony in Spain, the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra in Taiwan with Jaap van Zweden conducting, and he returns to the London Philharmonic Orchestra; he also appears in France, Poland, Romania, Korea, Japan, China, and Italy. In April 2025, Signum Records releases Fung’s debut album, a collection of opera fantasies and transcriptions for cello and piano.
Fung served as Artist-in-Residence with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for the 2023-24 season, appearing at London’s Cadogan Hall and touring the UK with the orchestra. Other notable appearances of late include his debuts with the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lille, and BBC Philharmonic, as well as the Baltimore, Dallas, Detroit, Seattle, Milwaukee, Utah, Rochester, and Kansas City symphonies.
Fung made his recital debut at Carnegie Hall in 2021 and was described by Bachtrack as "one of those rare musicians with a Midas touch: he quickly envelopes every score he plays in an almost palpable golden aura.” Other recent highlights include returns to Wigmore Hall and appearances at the Verbier, Dresden, Leoš Janáček International, and Tsinandali festivals, Cello Biennale Amsterdam, Bravo! Vail, and Grant Park Music Festival.
In addition to a mastery of the canon, Fung brings insight to contemporary repertoire, championing composers such as Unsuk Chin, Katherine Balch, and Anna Clyne. In 2023, under the baton of Gemma New and with the Dallas Symphony, Fung gave the world premiere of Katherine Balch’s whisper concerto with “jaw-dropping brilliance” (Dallas Morning News) as the dedicatee of the work; he gave its UK premiere February 2024 with the BBC Philharmonic, conducted by Joshua Weilerstein.
Fung was a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship Winner in 2022, awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2020, and a participant in WXQR’s Artist Propulsion Lab in 2023. Fung has been featured on NPR’s Performance Today and From the Top. He performs on a circa 1730 cello by Domenico Montagnana, on loan from a generous benefactor.
2024-25 marks Fung’s first season on the cello faculty at his alma mater, The Juilliard School.
Of Bulgarian and Chinese heritage, Zlatomir Fung was born into a family of mathematicians and began playing cello at age three. Outside of music, his interests include chess, cinema, and creative writing. His website is zlatomirfung.com.
“At his young age, Fung seems to be one of those rare musicians with a Midas touch: he quickly envelopes every score he plays in an almost palpable golden aura.” —Bachtrack
Chaeyoung Park
First Prize Winner of the 2022 YCA Susan Wadsworth International Auditions and Finalist in the 2023 Rubinstein Piano Competition, Chaeyoung Park has been praised as a passionate pianist who “does not play a single note without thought or feeling” (New York Concert Review). Her diverse repertoire spans from the French Baroque to contemporary works by composers like Unsuk Chin. As a recitalist, chamber musician, and concerto soloist, Park has graced prestigious venues such as Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, Bravo! Vail Music Festival, Tongyeong International Music Festival, Ravinia’s Bennett Gordon Hall, and Symphony Center’s Orchestra Hall. She also performed live-streamed concerts presented by the Gilmore Rising Stars series, the Carlsen Center, and the Lied Center of Kansas.
Park made history as the first female Korean pianist to win Hilton Head International Piano Competition in 2019. She subsequently presented her solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 with the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra under John Morris Russell.
An avid chamber musician, Park participated in Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, Yellow Barn, Four Seasons Winter Workshop, Kneisel Hall, Juilliard ChamberFest, and Bravo! Vail. While working under renowned artists such as Leon Fleisher, Frans Helmerson, Gary Hoffman, and Robert Levin, she has collaborated with the most promising young artists of her generation. Her chamber music performances have taken her to venues including WNYC/WQXR’s Greene Space and the Harvard Club in New York City
This past season included debuts at Merkin Hall and The Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater, performances at the Gina Bachauer International Piano Festival, Honest Brook Music Festival, Orchestra of the Triangle in Chapel Hill, Rockport Music, and Hayden's Ferry Chamber Music with upcoming highlights that include appearances at Ringwood Friends of Music, The Morgan Library & Museum’s Encore Series, Sanibel Isand’s BIG ARTS, and a return to both the Dame Myra Hess and Schiermonnikoog Festival series.
After making her orchestral debut at age 14, she now regularly performs with orchestras around the U.S. such as the Kansas City, Topeka, Uta, Hilton Head, Fort Smith, and Caton symphonies, as well as the Rochester Philharmonic, under the batons of conductors such as Vladimir Kulenovic, Neil Varon, Rei Hotoda, Gerhardt Zimmermann, John Morris Russell, and Michael Stern. Upcoming concerto appearances include performances with the Charlotte, Mobile, Eugene, Redlands, and Maryland symphonies with conductors including Kyle Pickett, Scott Speck Elizabeth Schultze, and Ransom Wilson.
Introduced to the piano in her kindergarten music class, Park won her first local competition at age eight. She immigrated to the U.S. at age ten to study with Jack Winerock. Park received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Julliard School, where she is currently an Artist Diploma candidate studying with Robert McDonald.
“A musician who does not play a single note without thought or feeling” – New York Concert Review
