2025 String Intensive Faculty

Violinist Kangwon Lee Kim, Madison Bach Musicians Concertmaster and Assistant Artistic Director, is a versatile violinist with a repertoire spanning from the 17th to the 21st century, using both baroque and modern violins. Praised for her "stylistic confidence," she has performed across the US and internationally in Korea, Canada, Puerto Rico, Switzerland, Norway, and the Czech Republic. She has collaborated with renowned musicians, including Menahem Pressler and Laurence Lesser. Dr. Kim has served as Assistant Professor of Violin and Chamber Music at Biola University in California and has taught at Ripon College and the Lawrence University Conservatory in Wisconsin. As a baroque violinist, Dr. Kim has performed with the Smithsonian Chamber Players, Brandywine Baroque, Indy Baroque, Lyra Baroque, and Philharmonie Austin. She has also given numerous lectures on "Performance Practice" at universities in the US and Korea. Dr. Kim is the Music Director of Love in Music, a nonprofit organization that supports underserved communities in the Los Angeles area. She enjoys working with music teachers who offer free lessons to young students. During the summer, she teaches at the Credo music festival and is the chair of MBM's Summer Chamber Music Workshop.

Benjamin Klemme is the Symphony Orchestra Conductor at the Wheaton College Conservatory of Music. Klemme has served the Quad City Symphony Orchestra as Associate Conductor, directed the Campus Orchestra program at the University of Minnesota, and led the Vermont Youth Orchestra Association and Santa Fe Youth Symphony Association as Music Director. Guest conducting engagements include the Minnesota Orchestra, Cleveland Pops, Vermont Symphony Orchestra, and National Repertory Orchestra. Klemme studied conducting with Mark Russell Smith, Kathy Saltzman Romey, Carl Topilow, and Louis Lane. He holds degrees in conducting from the Cleveland Institute of Music and University of Minnesota.

Joshua Zajac (Credo '03-'07) is a freelancing artist who resides in the Chicagoland area. Following his master’s degree studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Joshua spent two years as principal cellist with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. For two seasons, Joshua received first-hand tutelage from Yo-Yo Ma, culminating in a solo performance of Don Quixote with the Civic Orchestra orchestra in 2013. He has performed in the Chicago Symphony’s MusicNow series as a chamber musician and as a studio musician with the Matt Jones Orchestra for scores directed toward gospel artists such as Kirk Franklin. In 2020, Joshua was selected to perform three concerts for the public on behalf of the Racine Symphony Orchestra as their guest artist-in-residence. Joshua believes in the pursuit of performing music inside and outside the standard repertoire of cello. He has very fond memories of his time as a student at Credo for four summers, and firmly believes in his responsibility to the connection of music to humanity through his performances.