
Delaware County Symphony
Sebastian Grand, Music Director
SOLOISTS
Praised for her “thrilling blend of fury and finesse” (San Antonio Express-News) and her “winning combination of passion, imagination, and integrity” (New York Concert Review), pianist YOUNG-AH TAK enjoys a remarkable career that has taken her throughout the United States, Canada, Austria, Germany, Italy, Korea, and Japan. Ms. Tak made her New York City debut at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts’ AliceTully Hall with the Juilliard Orchestra. She has since appeared with numerous orchestras; including the Roanoke, Lansing, North Arkansas, Orchestra of Northern New York, Venice, Imperial, Filharmonia Pomorska (Poland), Oltenia Philharmonic (Romania). In her native South Korea, she has appeared with the Korean Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Seongnam, Busan, KNN, and Ulsan Philharmonic Orchestras. Other notable performances by Ms. Tak have taken place at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater in Philadelphia, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Jordan Hall in Boston, Columbia University, and Ravinia Festival. She has also appeared in Korea at major concert halls such as Seoul Arts Center, and at international music festivals in Busan, Seoul and Tongyeong. Her performances have been broadcast on WQXR (NYC), WRTI (Philadelphia), WMFT and LOOP (Chicago), WBJC (Baltimore), WCLV (Cleveland), CKWR (Ontario), and Korea’s KBS and Arte TV. Active as a chamber musician, Young-Ah Tak is a member of the Marinus Ensemble, and has collaborated with the late violinist Robert Mann, cellist Paul Katz, Bonnie Hampton, the Ma’alot Quintet, and members of The Florestan Trio. Young-Ah Tak has been awarded top prizes in numerous international competitions including: the San Antonio International Piano Competition, the Hilton Head International Piano Competition, Korea’s Isang Yun International Music Competition, Germany’s Ettlingen International Piano Competition, and Italy’s Valsesia-Musica International Competition. Ms. Tak received her training from The Juilliard School, New England Conservatory and the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University where she earned her doctorate degree under the tutelage of the legendary pianist Leon Fleisher. She has also studied with Young Ho Kim, Martin Canin, Yong Hi Moon, Russell Sherman and Wha Kyung Byun.
Ms. Tak currently serves as an Associate Professor of Piano and Head of the Piano Area at the Crane School of Music of the State University of New York at Potsdam. Deeply dedicated towards teaching the next generation of musicians, she has also presented masterclasses at venues such as the Steinway Festival in Seoul, MIT, Temple University, Cal State Fullerton, Yonsei University and Busan National University in Korea. Young- Ah Tak’s debut recording of Judith Zaimont’s Wizards – Three Magic Masters was released by Albany Records. Her recordings are also available from MSR Classics and on Steinway’s Spirio. Ms. Tak’s CD recording of works by Beethoven was released on the Steinway & Sons Label in 2019 as part of the essential series of Steinway Classics. Her recording of All-Schubert album on the Steinway & Sons Label is to be released in 2024 to critical acclaim. Ms. Tak is a Steinway Artist. [www.youngahtak.com]

Young-Ah Tak
Branson Yeast

Cellist Branson Yeast, a native of Houston, TX, is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music (B.M.), the Juilliard School (M.M.), and is also a protégé of cellist Wendy Warner. His performances as a chamber musician, soloist (recently, the Ibert Concerto with the Capital Philharmonic of New Jersey in 2025 and Dvorak Concerto with Litha Symphony in NYC, 2023), and orchestral musician have brought him to Chicago, London, Lucerne, Hamburg, Heidelberg, St-Jean-de-Luz (broadcast on RadioFrance), and across the north-eastern United States. While at Curtis, Branson was the last student of the late David Soyer of the Guarneri Quartet, a Jacqueline du Pré Memorial Fellow, and his graduation recital aired on WHYY Television. His passions for contemporary music and cross-disciplinary projects have also led him to make dozens of premieres of new works, including chamber operas with Opera Philadelphia and many chamber music and solo performances in halls such as Alice Tully and with companies such as Philadelphia’s BalletX. As a chamber musician, he recently formed a piano trio— the Rosalind Trio, with a residency at Haverford College in Fall 2024. Branson resides in Philadelphia and is Principal Cello of both Opera Philadelphia and the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the latter of whom he performed concerti of CPE Bach, Boccherini, and Vivaldi.

Artem Tankeli
Born in a small polar village there were no musicians in Artem’s family, but classical music was respected and often played at home. Music made a big impression on Artem as a child and would conjure up emotions and tears before he even understood what those emotions were. His grandmother, noticing his interest in music, insisted that he was given the opportunity to study it. It was almost impossible to find a piano so Artem’s studies for the first few years took place on a 2-octave toy keyboard.
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By age 11 he entered music school and began showing an interest in composing. As his first pieces, he began to write music to accompany fairy tales and stories but soon began composing songs of his own.
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For the next decade he would diligently study music. From finishing Conservatory, to being the soloist of the Philharmonic, working at various theaters in Moscow, performing solo and joint concerts he underwent years of learning and experience.
Artem has graced the stages of prestigious venues and collaborated with top artists from renowned theaters. He performed with leading artists of the Bolshoi and Mariinsky theaters, with musicians from the Moscow Virtuosi under the direction of Spivakov and with musicians from the Bolshoi Theater, Orchestra and the Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra conducted by Fedoseev. He's worked with Gerard Vasiliev at the GITIS Theater Institute and as an accompanist at the Gorki Theater (MKHAT). Recently, he won the first prize in the PHL LIVE competition (2022) and impressed audiences at the Academy of Music with his performance in the Triumph competition of Rachmaninov (2023) The first place in the Nevada International Competition (2024). Franz Liszt Center International Piano Competition (2024) - 1st prize.
Artrm Tenkeli has taken part in masterclasses with such pianists as Pavel Nersessian, Alexey Nabiylin, Irina Chukovskaya, Polina Fedotova, Mikhail Arkadiev, and Igor Kotlyarevsky. He has toured extensively as a concert pianist in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Tajikistan.
He now resides in New Jersey, captivating audiences with his classical concerts in the New Jersey, New York, Delaware and Pennsylvania regions. Recently, he played the Second Concerto by Rachmaninoff with the Millersville University Orchestra, the same concerto with Ambler Symphony, Brahms Piano Trio No.1, participated in the Andrea Clearfield's Salon in Philadelphia, and performed Chamber music with musicians of the New Jersey Capital Philharmonic. His recording of Chopin's Nocturnes and Debussy has been viewed overtime 5 million times on YouTube.