Ying Li
Piano
Winner of the 2021 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions and the inaugural Antonio Mormone International Prize in Italy, twenty-four-year-old Chinese pianist Ying Li comes from Yantai, China. She has received top awards in numerous national and international competitions, including first prizes at the Sarasota Artist Series Piano Competition, Brevard Music Festival solo and concerto competitions, International Liszt Piano Competition for Young Pianists, and was a finalist at Concours Musical International De Montreal.
Ying has performed with many orchestras including L’Accademia Orchestra del La Scala, in Milan, The Philadelphia Orchestra with Lina Gonzalez-Granados, New Jersey Symphony with Xian Zhang and the Brevard Music Festival Orchestra. As an avid chamber musician, Ying has appeared at prestigious festivals including the Verbier Festival Academy, Ravinia’s Steans Institute in Chicago, La Jolla Music Society, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival and Norfolk Chamber Music Festival.
Highlights of her 21-22 season includes a Mozart Concerto tour in Germany with NWD-Philharmoniker and conductor Jonathon Heyward, recital at Sala Verdi of Milan, and Dame Myra Hess Memorial Series Appearance. Ying was also featured on WQXR’s “Eine-kleine Birthday-musik,” a free, all-Mozart livestreamed concert from The Greene Space in New York City, to celebrate Mozart’s 266th birthday.
Ying moved to Philadelphia at age fourteen, to study at the Curtis Institute of Music with Jonathan Biss and Seymour Lipkin. After receiving the Bachelor of Music degree at Curtis Institute in 2019, she received her Master of Music degree at The Juilliard School in New York with Robert McDonald in 2021.
At the 2021 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions, Ying was also awarded the The Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival Prize and the Tri-I Noon Recitals Prize.
Mary Elizabeth Bowden
Trumpet
Classical Trumpeter Mary Elizabeth Bowden has built an in-demand career as a soloist, praised for her “splendid, brilliant” playing (Gramophone Magazine) and her “pure, refined, and warm” tone (American Record Guide). A Gold Medal Global Music Award Winner, Opus Klassik Nominee, and Yamaha Performing Artist, she has also worked to establish a new repertoire for the trumpet through creative, collaborative commissioning projects and award-winning albums. Her upcoming season includes no fewer than four world premiere concertos, including Clarice Assad’s new Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra with the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle, Jennifer Jolley's Concerto for Brass Quintet with Seraph Brass and the U.S. Army "Pershing's Own", Reena Esmail's Rosa de Sal for Trumpet and Orchestra with the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, and Tyson Davis's Veiled Light with the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle, which will be performed alongside her husband, trumpeter David Dash. Additional concerto performances include the Haydn Concerto with the Busan Maru International Music Festival Orchestra (Korea), Vivian Fung's Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra with the Philharmonia Northwest (Seattle), San Jose Chamber Orchestra, and Waynesboro Symphony (VA), and Anthony DiLorenzo's Chimera with Seraph Brass and the Florence Symphony (SC). Bowden will also have residencies with the World and European Brass Association in Courances, France; Guadalajara and Cancun, Mexico; and will be a Guest Artist at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and Marlboro Music Festival. Recent highlights include the premiere of Vivian Fung’s Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra with the Erie Philharmonic, the Spanish premiere of James MacMillan’s Seraph with the Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria, her debut with Santa Fe Symphony, her Turkish debut with the Izmir State Symphonic Orchestra, her German debut in Eisenach at the Wartburg Castle, and her French debut at the Château de Courances, both through the World and European Brass Association. She also made her Russian debut with a performance in Sochi with famed trumpeter Otto Sauter’s handpicked “10 of the Best” trumpet soloists from around the world.
David Dash
Trumpet
With playing hailed as "invigorating and clear" by Naples Daily News, Yamaha Artist David Dash performs in orchestras and chamber music concerts across the United States. David is the Assistant Professor of Trumpet at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and a member of the Grammy Award-winning Santa Fe Opera Orchestra. David is also Principal Cornet of the North Carolina Brass Band and Principal Trumpet of the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle. Prior to his UNCSA appointment, he served as Assistant Principal Trumpet of the Naples Philharmonic and was a member of "The President's Own" United States Marine Band, where he performed as a soloist and toured much of the United States. David has also performed with the symphonies of Atlanta, Baltimore, Charleston, Charlotte, Greensboro, Richmond, Sarasota, San Francisco and Winston Salem; the Florida Orchestra; and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He has performed as a soloist with the UNCSA Wind Ensemble, "The President's Own", Naples Philharmonic, Richmond Philharmonic and many community groups. As a member of the Naples Philharmonic, David performed in a wide variety of genres, including pops, opera, ballet, baroque, educational concerts and masterworks. While in "The President's Own" Marine Band, he performed "Taps" at the nationally broadcast PBS National Memorial Day Concert and performed frequently at the White House and state functions.
An avid chamber musician, David performs with his wife Mary Elizabeth Bowden in the Dash Duo and Watson Brass, the faculty brass quintet at UNCSA. While in the Naples Philharmonic, he performed several annual recitals with the Naples Philharmonic Brass Quintet. He was a member of the Bay Street Brassworks and the Echelon Brass Quintet and has performed with the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival.
His recordings with the Santa Fe Opera include Cold Mountain and The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, which won a Grammy for best opera recording. Additional recordings include American Anthems with the Gramercy Brass Band (Koch International), albums with the Manhattan School of Music Opera Theater (Albany Records), Carmen Symphony and Other Classics (Naxos Records) and Symphonic Dances with "The President's Own" Marine Band.
David received his Bachelor of Music from Rice University and his Master of Music from the Manhattan School of Music. He attended the Orchestra Institute in Attergau, Austria and the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. His teachers include Armando Ghitalla, Robert Sullivan, Mark Niehaus, Tim White, Jim Hamlin, René Shapiro, Andy Balio and John Morrison.
Designing the COT
The COT engages a local, young graphic designer every year to design the orchestra's new concert season. Given little to no prompts other than program titles and musical descriptions, these designers put their own creative twist on how to visualize music and the COT.
Past Designers