Artists
Lenka Pellant
Violin
Lenka Pellant is a Czech violinist. Coming from a musical family, she started to play the piano at the age of 3, following her violin playing when she was 6. Her professional violin career began at the Jan Deyl Conservatory in Prague and the Prague Academy of Performing Art when she earned her Master's degree in 2014. Throughout her studies, Lenka has performed as a soloist, and chamber and orchestra player in Europe and Asia. In 2014 she moved to Lexington, KY where she became the Concertmaster and a co-founder of the Lexington Chamber Orchestra. In 2019 Lenka moved to Germany, where she currently lives with her family.
Luke Darville
Cello
Dr. Luke Darville began his cello studies with the Heritage Area String Program in Danville, KY. He holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of Louisville, a Master of Music, and Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Minnesota, where he attended as a Berneking Fellow. He has had the privilege of studying with Dr. Clyde Beavers, Prof. Paul York, and Prof. Tanya Remenikova. During his studies, he has received awards from the University of Louisville, Macauley Competition, and the Schubert Music Club Competition. He has taught cello and string bass at the University of Minnesota Morris and Centre College; cello and piano at Mt. Calvary Music Academy; he was Director of Orchestras at Western Middle School for the Arts in Louisville, KY; and has held a private studio for 15 years. Dr. Darville has performed with orchestras throughout Indiana, Minnesota, South Dakota, Texas, and Kentucky. He has worked as a Teaching Artist for the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Darville is currently the Director of Orchestras at Model Laboratory Schools in Richmond, KY. He has been a featured recorded artist on Centaur’s Label. He plays on a cello crafted by the American luthier Timothy J. Jansma.
Sila Darville
Violin
Turkish violinist Dr. Sila Darville is the Assistant Prof. of Violin and Viola at Eastern Kentucky University. She holds degrees from Istanbul Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University State Conservatory, the University of Minnesota, and Texas Tech University. She received many international awards and honors including the Rotary Club International Competition for Young Musicians; the Turkish Educational Foundation Outstanding Achievement Award; the Berneking Fellowship; the Thursday Musical Young Artist Scholarship Competition and the Schubert Club Scholarship Competition. Throughout her career Dr. Darville has performed with many Symphonic Orchestras including the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra, Ballet Lubbock, Lubbock Moonlight Musicals and Kentucky Bach Choir as the principal second; the Amarillo Symphony, Midland Symphony, the La Crosse Symphony, Paducah Symphony Orchestra, and Louisville Orchestra as a section violinist and Amadeus Chamber Orchestra as principal viola. Her recent recordings include chamber music recordings of Kentucky composer Joe Levin published under Centaur Records. Dr. Darville has given guest lectures and clinics at the Kentucky Music Educators Association, University of Tennessee, Middle Tennessee State University, University of Texas at Arlington, Campbell University, Youngstown State University, Bahcesehir University, and Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University in Istanbul, Turkey. Dr. Darville taught at Arkhé String Camp in Izmir, Turkey- a non-profit international summer camp for music camp for string students in 2022. Her recent performances include Prokofiev Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No.1 and Mozart Sinfonia Concertante with Eastern Kentucky University Symphony Orchestra under Maestro Ho-Yin Kwok. Dr. Darville is a founding member of the early music group Oracle Ensemble and performs regularly with Lexington-based chamber music ensemble Amadeus Lex. She performs on a 2021 Ben Mason violin. Dr. Darville is the recipient of the 2023 ASTA Kentucky Chapter Outstanding Educator Award.
Jerram John
Cello
A native of Lexington, Kentucky, Dr. Jerram John started his musical training at the piano and began pursuing cello at age 14. Jerram has performed across the U.S. and in Asia as an orchestral musician alongside world-renowned soloists Itzhak Perlman, Lang Lang, and Gil Shaham, and under conductors Marin Alsop and Leon Fleischer. He is a two-time participant of the Brevard Music Festival, receiving the festival’s Outstanding College Student Award in 2014, and in 2019 he was selected as one of Garth Newel Music Center’s Emerging Artist Fellows. Jerram completed his bachelor’s degree at the University of Kentucky with Benjamin Karp and his master’s degree at the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University with Amit Peled. Most recently, he completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Kentucky, where he was a Teaching Assistant, member of the Niles String Quartet, and winner of the 2021 Concerto Competition. Currently, he serves as the professor of applied cello and a collaborative pianist at Berea College. Jerram continues to actively perform as an orchestral musician, chamber musician, and collaborative pianist in the central Kentucky area. Jerram performs on a 1997 William Whedbee cello and Vladimir Radosavljevic bow.
JuRang Kim
Violin
Violinist Dr. JuRang Kim has made her name as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral leader who has performed throughout America, Europe, and Asia. A native of South Korea, she began violin study under the guidance of her mother at age three. She continued her education at the Music and Dance College of Mongolia (Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia) in 2003. At seventeen years of age, she relocated to the United States, attending the School of Arts and Enterprise in Pomona, California. Within one year, she became a member of the Young Musician Foundation’s Debut Orchestra in Los Angeles, California. Following this, her undergraduate studies were completed at Longy Conservatory of Bard College, and she earned a Master of Music at Syracuse University under the tutelage of Laura Bossert. At Syracuse, JuRang was the inaugural recipient of the Setnor School of Music Performance Award for Strings. She has completed a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at University of Kentucky, where she studied with Daniel Mason. She formerly held both a teaching assistantship position and an honored violin position in the graduate Niles String Quartet at the University of Kentucky. Dr. Kim currently teaches at Asbury University and Centre College.