Artists

Born in South Korea, violinist Seul Lee joined the second violin section of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in 2023. She has performed across South Korea, France, Germany, and the United States, including collaborations with renowned musicians and ensembles such as Midori Goto, Pamela Frank, Janos Starker, Tomasz Tomaszewski, Ik-Hwan Bae, the Cleveland Quartet, Jupiter String Quartet, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Pittsburgh Symphony and as the Assistant Principal First Violinist for the Korean Symphony Orchestra in 2015. Seul is passionate about chamber music with collaborations including the Jupiter String Quartet and faculty from the University of Illinois. Her solo engagements have featured performances with the Korean Wind Ensemble and the University of Illinois Symphony Orchestra as well as guest appearances at several universities, including Olivet Nazarene University, Indiana State University, Bradley University, Millikin University, and Eastern Illinois University. Seul earned her Bachelor of Music degree from Seoul National University graduating with honors, and her Master of Music degree from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, studying under the guidance of Mauricio Fuks. She is currently pursuing her doctorate at the University of Illinois, mentored by Stefan Milenkovich.  

Alice has been a member of the University of Missouri School of Music faculty since 2011 and has presented masterclasses at many universities including Inje University (South Korea), The University of Guanajuato (Mexico), Vanderbilt University, Penn State University, and The University of Kentucky. She has been a faculty member of PRIZM International Chamber Music Festival, Flutes by the Sea Masterclass, and Medellín Festicamara. She enjoys a career of great variety including concerto and chamber music appearances, recording projects, television appearances, and guest principal performances in orchestras in Asia and Scandinavia. As a soloist, Alice is an award winner of the Olga Koussevitsky Wind Competition of the Musicians Club of New York and The New York Flute Club Competition. She has performed with the Guanajuato Symphony Orchestra (Mexico), Orquesta Sinfónica Juvenil Red de Escuelas de Música de Medellín (Colombia), PRIZM Festival Orchestra, and the Festival Mozaic Orchestra. As a chamber musician, she has performed as part of the Busan One Asia Festival, Chestnut Hill Chamber Series, Concordia Chamber Players at The Princeton Festival, Summerfest of Kansas City, and National Flute Association Conventions. As Acting Co-Principal Flute of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Alice performed in concert tours to Russia, Germany, Italy, Belgium, and throughout Sweden. She has also performed as Guest Principal Flute with the Bergen Philharmonic, Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, and Seoul Philharmonic, as well as Guest Piccolo with the St. Louis Symphony. In addition, she has performed with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Detroit Symphony Orchestra. She has recorded with Deutsche Grammophon as Acting Principal Flute of the Swedish Radio and Arte Verum as Flutist and Piccolo of the Swedish Chamber Ensemble with soprano, Barbara Hendricks. She has been a guest on the new PBS series Now Hear This. Her husband, conductor and violinist Scott Yoo is host of the show and travels the world chasing the secret histories of our greatest musical works and their composers while discovering connections to today’s music, art, and culture. Alice attended The Juilliard School for undergraduate and graduate studies, where she studied with Carol Wincenc, Robert Langevin, and Sandra Church.  

Cara Kizer is a Professor of Horn in the St. Louis and Illinois areas and active nationally as a freelance performer. Born in Texas, she began horn at the age of 14. Her studies began at Texas Tech University where she studied under Anthony Brittin. She earned her master’s Degree from The Juilliard School studying under the late Jerome Ashby, Associate Principal Horn of the New York Philharmonic. Cara was also awarded an artist diploma from The Curtis Institute of Music where she working with former SLSO  Principal Horn and current Principal Horn of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Jennifer Montone. As an orchestral musician, Cara has held positions with numerous orchestras. She was Assistant Principal Utility Horn of the New York Philharmonic. She held the same position with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. She also played second horn with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. While in New York City, she played on Broadway, with The Orchestra of St Lukes, City Opera, and can he heard on many movie scores. Cara has been a substitute musician with the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Kansas City Symphony Orchestra.  

Melissa Brooks has been a member of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra cello since 1992 and currently serves as Associate Principal Cello. A native of New York City, she attended the pre-college division of the Juilliard School eventually attending the New England Conservatory where she earned her undergraduate degree with Distinction in Performance while studding with Laurence Lesser. Melissa has performed chamber and solo concerts throughout the country, including a duo concert with the late cellist Janos Starker. She has won numerous awards and honors and was nominated by Leonard Bernstein for an Avery Fisher career grant in 1988. She has participated in summer festivals such as Marlboro, Tanglewood, Aspen, Portland Chamber Music Festival, Concert Artists Guild Summer Festival, and the Sun Valley Summer Festival, among others. She has appeared as soloist with the SLSO under former Music Director Hans Vonk as well as conductors Jeffery Kahane and Nicholas McGegan. Melissa also performed Pierre Boulez’s demanding Messagesquisse, scored for solo cello and six other cellos, under the direction of David Robertson. She can be heard on a chamber music recording for AAM Recordings with a group of SLSO colleagues. Melissa is active in our community participating in numerous benefit concerts as well as engagement in advocacy work.  

Charlie Lin had an interesting path to joining the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra first violin section in September 2024. While he began his musical studies at age 6, he also pursued a career in medicine, and currently holds a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Northwestern University. There he secured research grants to pursue research into kidney disease and worked closely with the Zheng and Abecassis Labs as a microsurgery technician at the Northwestern Feinberg Memorial Hospital, eventually publishing research in medical journals such as Kidney International. While at Northwestern University, he also earned a Bachelor of Arts in Violin Performance studying under Gerardo Ribeiro. After completing his undergraduate studies, Charlie decided to pursue a career in music, earning a Master of Music degree and a Graduate Certificate in Performance from the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California, where he studied violin with former New York Philharmonic Concertmaster, Glenn Dicterow. During this time at USC, Charlie worked as a freelance musician in the greater Los Angeles area, working with various film recording studios and event artist agencies, performing on festival stages and with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and Long Beach Symphony Orchestra. In 2022, he toured Japan with Pacific Music Festival orchestra.  

Pianist Shen Wen has served as Coordinator of Keyboard Studies at St. Louis University since 2015. She is a multifaceted performer who thrives on making classical music fun and enjoyable to listeners. At age eight, Wen performed on Chinese national television and radio after winning the First Children’s Piano Competition in Beijing, China. Since then she has performed across the globe performing as soloist at Tchaikovsky Conservatory College, Shostakovich Conservatory, Rachmaninoff Hall, Powell Symphony Hall, Tsinghua University, Central Academy of Fine Arts, and Great Hall of People in China. Wen also continued to earn top prizes at national and internal piano competitions such as first prize at the Kingsville International Piano Competition, Corpus Christi International Piano Competition, St. Louis Presentation Society, and Hellam Young Artist Competition. Since moving to St. Louis in 2007, Wen has dedicated her time teaching young students to love music. Her students have served the community through giving recitals at nursing homes, organizing and performing fund-raising concerts for charities. Some of them competed and won top prizes at state, national, and international competitions such as the St. Louis Young Artist Competition, Missouri Music Teachers Association, Music Teachers National Association, American Protege International Competition, and Golden Key International Honor Society. Wen is an avid New Music performer who has numerous pieces written and dedicated to her. Passionate about introducing Chinese culture and music to St. Louis audiences, she is a founding member of the St. Louis Yangtze River Art Ensemble, a non-profit organization that promotes Chinese performing arts. Wen attended the Preparatory School to the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and is a graduate of New England Conservatory where she studied with Wha Kyung Byun. She also studied with Jane Allen.  

Italian mezzo soprano Benedetta Orsi has made quite a name for herself in the St. Louis area. Awarded the Paul Harris Fellow as one of the most influential Italian excellences to spread the Italian culture and art abroad, Benedetta has recently been one of the Featured Artists by the Missouri Arts Council. As a recording artist, her latest album, INcanto, recorded for the Swiss Label BAM International at Webster University in collaboration with the Arianna String Quartet and pianist Alla Voskoboynikova, has been awarded the Double Gold Medal at the Global Music Awards as Best Classical Album and Best Female Artist. Benedetta is one of only a few contemporary mezzo sopranos to have performed all three of Donizetti’s Tudor Operas: Jane Seymour in Anna Bolena, Elisabetta in Maria Stuarda and Sara in Roberto Devereux with Royal Opera Theater in Manchester, UK. Recent performances also include Adalgisa in Norma with Winter Opera St. Louis, the title role of Carmen with Winter Opera St. Louis, Amore Opera in New York, Mamma Lucia in Cavalleria Rusticana with the New Jersey Festival Orchestra, Ulrica in Un Ballo in Maschera with the Miami Lyric Opera and Maddalena in Rigoletto with Amore Opera. Her performance credits include roles in Verdi Rigoletto, Falstaff, Trovatore, Bellini Norma and La Sonnambula, Rossini L’Italiana in Algeri and Il Turco in Italia and Massenet Werther. Along with concert appearances at Carnegie Hall and throughout Italy, Austria, England, France, United States, Brazil and Spain, Benedetta is very involved in the St. Louis musical scene, collaborating with the Sheldon, the St. Louis Philharmonic Orchestra, Chamber Music Society of St. Louis, the World Chess Hall of Fame, Gateway Festival Orchestra, Washington University Symphony Orchestra, and more. Very active and committed to represent and support women in music, Benedetta is the co-founder of In Her Sound, Inc., and the President of the St. Louis Women’s Chorale. Benedetta lives in St. Louis with her husband conductor Darwin Aquino. To learn more about Benedetta, her recordings and appearances, you are invited to visit her website at www.benedettaorsi.com  

A native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Blaine joined the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra horn section in 2023. Previously he served in the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra and played regularly as a guest in the horn sections of the Detroit Opera, Toledo Symphony, Ann Arbor Symphony, Lansing Symphony, and the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra. Blaine earned his Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, where he studied both music education and horn performance under the guidance of Gail Williams and Jonathan Boen. While at Northwestern, Dodson performed with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, later completing his master’s degree in horn performance at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theater, and Dance, where he studied with Adam Unsworth and Bryan Kennedy. Blaine is an enthusiastic teacher with private studio as well as working with a number of school bands orchestras, general music, and choir programs. He has also taught classes in music theory and composition at the middle school and high school levels. When he is not playing the horn, Blaine enjoys being active and spending time outdoors hiking and swimming.

Siyu Zhang is from Changchun, China where she began her violin studies at the age of five. She moved to Beijing to attend middle and high school at the prestigious Central Conservatory of Music. Siyu continued her studies in New York as a full scholarship student of Lucie Robert at the Manhattan School of Music where she graduated with distinction earning a Bachelors of Music degree. She went on to complete her Master of Music degree with Kathleen Winkler at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. Siyu joined the violin section of St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in 2023 after spending four seasons with the Jacksonville Symphony. Previously she has performed with the New York Philharmonic, Houston Symphony, Santa Fe Opera, Atlanta Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, and the Detroit Symphony. Siyu was also selected as one of six Zubin Mehta Fellows from Rice University to participate in a performance and week of mentorship with the New York Philharmonic as part of the Global Academy program. She was the winner of the 2009 Andrea Postacchini International Violin Competition in Italy. She has performed on Chinese television, and gave the world premiere performance of a violin concerto with the ChangYing Symphony in 2017. Zhang has performed in leadership positions at numerous summer festivals including the Spoleto, Aspen, Texas, and Pacific Music Festivals, and the Music Academy of the West.  

Steven Franklin joined the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in 2023 as Principal Trumpet. Previously, he was Associate Principal Trumpet of the Kansas City Symphony, Principal Trumpet of the Hawaii Symphony and has performed as guest Principal Trumpet with the Chicago Symphony and Rochester Philharmonic. A native of Chicago, Steven earned his bachelor’s degree from the Curtis Institute of Music studying with David Bilger. In the summer, Steven serves as Solo Trumpet with the Lake Placid Sinfonietta in the Adirondack Mountains of New York where he enjoys hiking and fly-fishing. He recently became an “Adirondack 46er,” climbing the 46 highest peaks in the region. He is an avid chamber musician He was a founding member of The Brass Project, a Philadelphia-based brass sextet that commissioned over 40 new works during his tenure.  As a soloist, he has appeared with the New World Symphony, Ocean City Pops, Lake Placid Sinfonietta, and many other regional ensembles. He has won first prize in various competitions including the Roger Voisin (famous former Principal Trumpet of the Boston Symphony) Memorial Trumpet Competition, the International Trumpet Guild Solo Competition, and the National Trumpet Competition. Steven is passionate about music education. He maintains a private studio and is on faculty for the MasterWorks Festival in Campbellsville, Kentucky. Steven has given masterclasses in South America and Asia and in the United States. He is also an active composer having been commissioned by the American Brass Quintet, Lake Placid Sinfonietta, and by members of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony, and New York Philharmonic. When not practicing or composing, most of his other interests involve being outdoors, including hiking, disc golf, and triathlon. He and his wife, Naomi, reside in Brentwood.