PADUCAH, KY - The Paducah Symphony Orchestra has announced the appointment of Dr. Sue-Jean Park as acting concertmaster for the 2012-2013 concert season. Park was named acting concertmaster after former PSO Concertmaster Kathy Gardner stepped down this year after many years in the position.

Currently, Dr. Park is employed as Assistant Professor of Violin and Viola at Murray State University and concertmaster of The Jackson Symphony. She is a graduate of Seoul National University, Yale University, and the University of Texas at Austin.

Clark has served as the concertmaster of the Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra (UNESCO Artist for Peace), The Washington Korean Symphony at Kennedy Center and the Seoul National University Symphony. Her orchestral credits also include performances in Carnegie Hall, Berlin Philharmonic Hall, Holland (Concertgebow Hall) and Switzerland (Verbier Festival). She also was the associate concertmaster of the Rome Festival Orchestra in Italy and the Lindenbaum Festival Orchestra in Korea under the baton of Charles Dutoit, and principal violin of Yale Philharmonia and the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra in Japan.

Other positions include current appointments as assistant concertmaster of the Southern Illinois Music Festival for the summer of 2012 and as a member of the Ars Nova Chamber Orchestra in Washington D.C. She has performed several concertos with orchestra and given recitals in Germany, Korea and throughout the U.S. She has won competitions both in the U.S. and Korea in both solo and chamber music categories. Dr. Park’s recent accomplishments include a CD featuring the Franck and Faure Violin Sonatas.

“I am so delighted to work with Maestro Ponti in this position. This will be a great experience for me and I look forward to serving as acting concertmaster for the next several concerts with the Paducah Symphony,” says Park.

Outgoing Concertmaster, Kathy Gardner has been with the Paducah Symphony Orchestra for over 16 years and spent all but one as the concertmaster until this year. She said, “It is the end of a glorious season in my life!  Thank you, Paducah Symphony Orchestra for allowing me the privilege of playing concertmaster for so many years. It is now time to focus on my family and devote my life to helping kids from “hard places”. Sue-Jean will be an amazing concertmaster and I wish Maestro Ponti and the Paducah Symphony the very best.”
 
The Paducah Symphony Orchestra is a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization. The Kentucky Arts Council, the state arts agency, provides operating support to the Paducah Symphony Orchestra with state tax dollars and federal funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.