Siwoo Kim and John Stulz are childhood friends from Columbus, Ohio who took lessons with “the Vamoses” in Chicago. They reunited in New York City when Siwoo was a graduate student at the Juilliard School and John was a Fellow at Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect.

One summer, Siwoo and “Jack” decided to bring their friends from NYC to Columbus for a chamber music concert that collected food for the food pantry as admission. Someone left a note on a napkin in the donation box saying, “I wish this happened every year.”

Later that year, Jack won a job in Paris. Siwoo and Jack pondered on what they could do to retain their friendship across continents and decided to work on a chamber music festival in their mutual hometown together, annually.

With additional shared backgrounds of studying with Almita and Roland Vamos, attending the Marlboro Music Festival and going through the Ensemble Connect program at Carnegie Hall, the two sought to give back to the community that nurtured them with their experiences. Every summer, VIVO endeavors to enrich and bring together communities and empower future artists.

vivofestival.org