FREE Courtroom Concert: featuring the Wisconsin Gagok Ensemble

WISCONSIN GAGOK ENSEMBLE
Jessica Schwefel, mezzo soprano
Youngjoo Hong, soprano
Nathan Le, tenor
Susan Gaeddert, piano
Janet Lyu, violin

Youngjoo Hong, soprano, is a dynamic musician in both the concert and teaching fields. Along with her interpretation of standard repertoire, Youngjoo is a passionate performer and advocate of contemporary and early music. She holds a Music Education degree (BM) and a Master of Music (MM) in Voice Performance from the University of Wisconsin Madison.

Her recent performance of a Korean Art Song Recital at Grace Episcopal Church in Madison was impressively received. In 2023, Youngjoo performed her solo voice recital in Seoul and Pusan, South Korea. Also, Youngjoo’s Master’s Recital at UW–Madison at the Hamel Music center in February 2020 was a huge success. Prior to entering the master’s program in UW– Madison, Youngjoo taught General Music and Choral Music in the Middleton Cross Plains Area School District. As a church choir director, Youngjoo has served in the Korean Catholic Community mass for many years at the St. Paul University Center. Youngjoo maintains a private voice studio and is a member of the voice and piano faculty at Harmony Conservatory of Music in Waunakee. She is currently the Vocal Music Teacher at St. Maria Goretti Catholic School. Youngjoo currently resides in Madison, WI with her husband, researcher in UW-Waisman Center, Jinkuk Hong.

Dr. Susan Gaeddert is a seasoned collaborative pianist who has spent more than two decades as a professional accompanist, coach and teacher working with students of all ages as well as professionals to prepare repertoire for recitals and auditions. She has toured with Opera For The Young, taught at Edgewood College, and performed with a number of local musicians at festivals and recitals in the Madison area. Susan holds masters degrees in Piano Performance, Pedagogy, and Collaborative Piano from UW-Madison, where she earned a doctorate in 2007 and was a winner of the Shain Competition for piano and woodwind duos.  Susan recently obtained a degree in Urban/Regional Planning, and she now works for Transportation Services at UW-Madison.

Vietnamese American tenor Nathan Lê hails from Kansas City, Missouri. Nathan is a passionate recitalist and advocate for Asian artists. Academically, he was a FLAS (Foreign Language Area Studies) scholar studying the Korean language and his research focuses on Korean art song (가곡 Gagok) and the post-colonial musical milieu of South Korea as well as Asian diaspora representation in the performing arts. He has performed operatic roles such as George (Our Town), Lysander (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Lurcanio (Ariodante), Kaspar (Amahl and the Night Visitors), Panatellas (Songbird), and Bardolfo (Falstaff). He has also performed numerous musical theatre roles such as Angel (RENT), Henrik (A Little Night Music), The Baker and Cinderella’s Prince (Into the Woods), Charlie Brown (You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown), and Skipper (Madagascar: A Musical Adventure). He holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of Missouri-Columbia and a Master of Music from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Mezzo soprano, Dr. Jessica Schwefel, is currently a Lecturer of Voice at the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music. She has performed in over 35 operatic productions with Madison Opera, Opera for the Young, Fresco Opera Theatre, UW Opera, Music By The Lake, among others. Jessica was also a member of the Florentine Opera Chorus for over a decade, where she had been involved in a number of productions and outreach performances. Her involvement with the Florentine Opera resulted in a GRAMMY award nomination in 2020, and three GRAMMY awards in 2012 and 2013.

An accomplished solo singer, Jessica has held recent engagements with the Madison Choral Project, LunART Festival, Four Seasons Theatre, the Civic Symphony of Green Bay, Madison Bach Musicians, Present Music, Oshkosh Chamber Singers, and many more.

Jessica’s articles have been published in the VOICEPrints Journal of the NYSTA, the NATS Journal of Singing, as well as the Wisconsin School Musician (WSMA). She resides in McFarland, WI where she maintains her private voice studio, the Timman Music Studio. Jessica has taught studio voice previously at the Mead-Witter School of Music at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Madison College, and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

Jessica’s students have been recipients of numerous music scholarships and awards and also perform in a variety of venues around the country. Jessica received a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, and a Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts in Voice Performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. ​She is a passionate advocate of the arts and currently serves as Treasurer for the Board of Directors for Madison Youth Arts (MYArts).