Concert April 18 and 19, 2026, 5:00 PM - violin, cello and piano

The Walton Foundation's chamber music concerts at La Mortella Gardens will feature a trio of three extraordinary young South Korean musicians: violinist SooBeen Lee, cellist Taeguk Mun, and pianist Youl Sun. These concerts are truly not to be missed, as these three young performers have truly extraordinary résumés:

Violinist SooBeen Lee has performed as a soloist with all the major Korean orchestras (Seoul and Busan Philharmonics, KBS Symphony), with the Wuhan Philharmonic Orchestra in China, for former United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, for the King and Queen of Malaysia, with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Detroit Symphony, the Oregon Symphony, the Indianapolis Symphony, the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, the Longwood Symphony (Boston), the Aiken Symphony, and more. Winner of first prize at the David Oistrakh International Violin Competition and the YCA Susan Wadsworth International Auditions, SooBeen has also received the Slomovic Soloist Award and the Michaels Prize, and won the bronze medal at the Montreal International Violin Competition. She has performed recitals in Europe, Asia, and the USA. She plays a 1794 Giuseppe Guadagnini violin from Cremona, kindly loaned by the Kumho Cultural Foundation. Since 2025, she has been an artist in residence at the Queen Elizabeth Music Chapel.

Cellist Taeguk Mun is the winner of prestigious international prizes: the Janos Starker Prize, the Queen Elizabeth Competition, the Tchaikovsky Competition, the Pablo Casals Competition, and the André Navarra Competition. He has performed as a soloist with major orchestras (Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Bremen Philharmonic, Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Toulouse, Taipei Philharmonic, Prague Symphony, etc.), collaborating with internationally renowned conductors. He has participated in major international festivals (Marlboro Music Festival, Seoul Arts Center Music Festival, Lotte Concert Hall Classic Revolution, Chamber Music International Dallas). He earned an Artist Diploma from the Juilliard School in New York with J. Krosnick and M. Clara Kim, a Master of Music degree from the University of California on scholarship, and a Bachelor of Music degree from the New England Conservatory on scholarship. He is currently attending the Konzertexamen program at the Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf with P. Wispelwey. Supported by the SungJung Cultural Foundation and Hwangjin Scholarships, he was named a G.rium Artist by SK Chemicals. He was Artist in Residence at the Lotte Concert Hall in 2022 and the Kumho ArtHall in 2017. He has recorded albums published by Warner Music.

Pianist Youl Sun is considered one of the most exciting young talents on the European scene in recent years, having won prestigious international awards. In 2026, he won Second Prize and the Award for Best Interpretation of a 20th-Century Work at the Ljubljana Festival Competition and was also selected as an Artist M by the Mapo Cultural Foundation. He has won First Prize at the Gina Bachauer International Competition (Audience Award and Student Jury Award), First Prize at the Seoul International Competition, Second Prize and the Audience Award at the Viseu International Piano Competition, the Isang Yun International Music Competition, the Maria Canals International, the Istanbul Orchestra Sion International Competition, the Asia Pacific Chopin Competition, and the Shinhan Music Award. Youl has performed in major concert halls throughout Asia, Europe, and the United States, as well as at international festivals, with prestigious orchestras and renowned conductors. He studied at the Yewon School, the Seoul Arts High School, and the Korea National University of Arts. He subsequently continued his studies in France at the Schola Cantorum de Paris and the École Normale de Musique de Paris. He currently studies in Paris with Olivier Gardon, receiving a scholarship from the Hyundai Motor Chung Mong-Koo Foundation.

The program features two trios by Beethoven and Brahms, both early works. Brahms's Trio No. 1, Op. 8 in B major, will be performed: Brahms's first chamber music work, this trio, characterized by youthful energy and a poetic, fantastical character, displays a wealth of thematic invention.

Fondazione William Walton e La Mortella
Via Francesco Calise 45, 80075, Forio (NA)
tel.: 081-986220, 081-986237