Piano Cleveland Live with Jiayan Sun & Friends

Currently Associate Professor of Music and the Associate Chair for Performance Activities at Smith College, pianist Jiayan Sun’s story includes more than piano. Sun’s deep interest in early keyboard instruments resulted in a dynamic career where in captured major piano prizes in Cleveland, Dublin, Leeds and Toronto International Piano Competitions, as well as critically acclaimed performances as a fortepianist and harpsichordist with the American Classical Orchestra in Alice Tully Hall. His solo album Busoni and His Muses garnered further critical acclaim by Gramophone and International Piano. He is a Steinway & Sons artist.  

Violinist Mari Sato has enjoyed a rich and varied career as a solo, orchestral and chamber musician based in Cleveland. Described as “a visceral and engaging storyteller,” by clevelandclassical.com, Mari was the second violinist of the award-winning Cavani String Quartet for twenty-four years. During her tenure with the Cavani Quartet (1995-2019), Mari gave concerts on major series, including Carnegie Hall, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Festival de L’Epau in France, and the Honolulu Chamber Music Society. Mari Sato has recorded for Naxos, Albany Records, New World Records, Azica Records and Gasparo Records. Of her recording on a 2022 Naxos CD, Donald Rosenberg for Gramophone reviewed “…Sato and Wang give an intensely compelling performance.” Mari enjoys performing as a guest with the Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Atlanta Symphony Orchestras. She occasionally rejoins her friends in the Cavani Quartet  and her chamber music collaborations continue with colleagues in the Pantheon Ensemble (City Music Cleveland), No Exit New Music Ensemble and the Amici Quartet.  

Formerly on faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Music 1995-2018, Mari Sato and her colleagues coached many outstanding young musicians in the Intensive Quartet Seminar and the Apprentice Quartet Seminar. Former chamber music students include members of the Jupiter, Daedalus, Aeolus, Miró, Fry Street, Verona and Afiara Quartets, as well as members of the Cleveland, St. Paul, Minnesota, Chicago, Detroit, and New York Philharmonic Orchestras. Mari loves working with young musicians and maintains a private violin studio, gives guest master classes and coaches chamber music as a visiting artist at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.  

Described by the New York Times as “eloquently plangent, making a powerful impact,” Khari Joyner has a following both nationally and abroad as a versatile concert cellist, chamber musician, and ambassador for the arts. He has made numerous guest soloist appearances with orchestras and ensembles across the world, including the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Akron Symphony, and has served as principal cello for CityMusic Cleveland and as a substitute cellist for The Cleveland Orchestra. In addition, he has given many cello masterclasses and lectures at notable institutions, including SUNY Fredonia, Oberlin Conservatory, Duke University, University of Georgia, and the University of Tennessee. He has also presented many lectures online and in person, for CelloBello, Apollos Fire, and other organizations. In, 2017 Joyner received a career grant from the Leonore Annenberg Fellowship Fund, which nominates and endows a select number of gifted artists with generous funding to further their careers. Joyner has also performed for Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, the latter for which he gave a private performance in the Oval Office. A passionate advocate for the music of the 21st century, Joyner has collaborated and given performances of works by major composers such as Tyshawn Sorey, Carman Moore, Kaija Saariaho, Magnus Lindberg, Jessie Cox, Lowell Liebermann, among several others. An active chamber musician and one of the founding members of the Altezza Piano Trio, Joyner has given performances as a guest at the Ritz Chamber Players, Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia, Highlands-Cashiers Chamber Music Festival, Fontainbleau Music Festival, and on WQXR as a part of the Midday Masterpieces series. A graduate of Juilliard’s prestigious Doctor of Musical Arts program, he currently serves as the Associate Professor of Cello and Strings Program Coordinator at Baldwin Wallace University, and also serves as faculty member and Artistic Advisor for the International Cello Institute. Joyner actively collaborates across genres with many choreographers, actors, and jazz musicians—and gave a recent world premiere with Atlanta Ballet of his solo cello work, Intransigence. Joyner also currently serves as a board member for the non-profit music organization Arts Renaissance Tremont, and as Vice President for the Juilliard Black Alumni Association.