Sips & Sounds - String Quartet

Ga-Eun Kim is a South Korean violinist, educator, and ensemble leader. She has received top honors in competitions, including the Naftzger Young Artist Audition, the University of Kansas Concerto Competition, and the University of Illinois Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, and was the runner-up for the Krannert Center Debut Artist Series.

As a soloist, she has performed the Sibelius Violin Concerto with Sinfonia da Camera and the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the University of Kansas Symphony Orchestra. She has also appeared at major music festivals, including Aspen, Chautauqua, Summit, and the Great Mountains Music Festival.

An active orchestral and chamber musician, Kim has performed with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Illinois Modern Ensemble, and Concerto Urbano, and was a member of the NPR-featured Crimson String Quartet.

She earned her Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees on full scholarship from the University of Kansas, Northwestern University, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, respectively.

Kim is currently Adjunct Professor of Violin at Millikin University, concertmaster of the Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra, and a member of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra, and Sinfonia da Camera.

Chenoa Murphy’s musical journey began in Memphis, TN, where she attended her first classical music concert at age two. This experience ignited her passion for music and led her mother to enroll her in violin lessons at age three through the Suzuki Method.

Over the next 50-plus years, she excelled in violin and vocal studies, attending Overton High School of Performing Arts and participating in prestigious summer programs such as the Aspen Music Festival. Chenoa earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Violin Performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and pursued doctoral studies at the University of Iowa under renowned instructors, including Kurt Sassmannshaus, Paul Kantor, and Dorothy DeLay.

Beyond performing, she is an educator and DEI facilitator who promotes the contributions of Black classical composers. Her courses—Introduction to Black Classical Composers & Musicians, Black Classical Composers: The Journey Onward, and Diversity from the Inside Out—as well as her article in the American Suzuki Journal (Summer 2025), highlight her advocacy work and have been well received nationally and internationally.

Currently living in Springfield, IL, she has taught gifted elementary students and fourth grade, holds principal positions in multiple orchestras, and is a tenured member of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra. She balances these roles while being a devoted mother of two and continues to gain recognition for her contributions to classical music and education.

LISA NELSON, VIOLA, is Head of the String Area at Illinois Wesleyan University, where she teaches viola and violin. An active chamber musician, she regularly appears in recitals throughout the U.S., Canada, Bulgaria, Italy, Israel, Poland, and the Czech Republic.

Nelson earned a Doctor of Music in Viola Performance from the University of Illinois and a double degree (BM in violin performance and BA in mathematics) from St. Olaf College. She is a member of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, serves on the faculty of the International Chamber Music Academy in Kyustendil, Bulgaria, for young talented musicians, and is Executive Director of the Illinois Chamber Music Festival at IWU.

Her performances and presentations on chamber music, viola/violin pedagogy, and literature have been featured at conferences of the American String Teachers Association, American Viola Society, Music by Women International Festival, and College Music Society.

Her 2020 Albany Records CD, Dancing on Glass, recorded with violinist Anna Cromwell and cellist Mira Frisch, features works for strings by leading women composers.

Martti Laivuori is a cellist originally from Helsinki, Finland, whose musical career has taken him to concert halls across Europe and the United States. A member of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra and a dedicated chamber musician, he brings to ensemble playing the same curiosity that drives his work as an experienced teacher and active researcher. When he is not playing the cello, there is a good chance he is playing the viola da gamba—or losing at chess and pretending otherwise.