2025 Faculty

Yumi Hwang-Williams, Concertmaster of the Colorado Symphony since 2000, is an American violinist of exceptional musicianship who is recognized both for her stylish performances of the classics and her commitment to the works of present-day composers.

Strings magazine cover showing Yumi Hwang-WilliamsStrings magazine calls her “a modern Prometheus” who has “emerged as a fiery champion of contemporary classical music.” Her interpretations of works by Thomas Adès, Aaron Jay Kernis, Michael Daugherty, and Christopher Rouse have earned critical acclaim as well as enthusiastic approval from the composers.The performance of Kernis' Lament and Prayer was notable for the outstanding interpretation of the solo violin part by Yumi Hwang-Williams.Indianapolis StarThe violin part of the Rouse Concerto is especially challenging, with more double stops than a Paganini variation. Hwang-Williams' formidable technique made them fleet and sweet, bringing forth a frenzy of appreciation at the conclusion.San Francisco Classical Voice

Yumi has collaborated with the Joffrey Ballet (Chicago) in a world premiere of Bold Moves, with ten performances of Thomas Adès’ Concentric Paths for violin and orchestra choreographed by Ashley Page. The Colorado Symphony presented the world premiere of Rising Phoenix, a concerto written for Yumi by Daniel Kellogg in 2016.

In 2018, PENTATONE label released a 2-disc centennial celebration of Isang Yun’s music performed by Yumi, Dennis Russel Davies, and the Bruckner Orchestra, Linz (Austria), which includes the Violin Concerto No. 1, a solo piece, and a work with piano—a culmination of a decade-long project of Korea’s most controversial composer. Recently, Yumi recorded #elijah for Violin and Orchestra with the London Symphony by California composer John Wineglass, which was released in spring 2023.

Yumi is frequently heard as soloist in her capacity as Concertmaster of the Colorado Symphony and occasionally has stepped in as last-minute replacement, as with the Sibelius concerto in 2017 and recently with the Bach double violin concerto featuring Chris Thile on mandolin. She has appeared with other major orchestras both in the U.S. and abroad including the London Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Sinfonieorchester Basel (Switzerland), the Bruckner Orchester, Linz (Austria), and the Brno Philharmonic (Czech Republic) with conductors Marin Alsop, Dennis Russell Davies, Hans Graf, Paavo Järvi, Peter Oundjian, and Markus Stenz, among others.

Andrew Krimm began studying viola at age 7 in Dallas, Texas. He earned his Bachelor of Music from the University of Colorado Boulder and a Performer’s Diploma from Southern Methodist University, where he co-founded the award-winning Altius Quartet. With Altius, he won major national competitions, completed residencies at SMU and CU-Boulder, and made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2016.

He has served as Executive Director of the Western Slope Concert Series, Boulder Symphony, and is currently the Executive Director of the Arts Hub in Lafayette, CO.

Andrew lives in Longmont with his wife, violist Stephanie Mientka, and their son, Walter. He is also a wildly devoted Dallas Cowboys fan.

Dr. Stephanie Mientka maintains an eclectic career in music which includes orchestral work, chamber music, teaching, and concert presenting. As an active orchestral musician, she is a member of the Boulder Philharmonic and Colorado Ballet Orchestra and is a regular substitute for Central City Opera and Colorado Symphony.

In addition to her performance career, Dr. Mientka is the Artistic Director of the Western Slope Concert Series, which presents 8 concerts per season in western Colorado. Dr. Mientka holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado Boulder, a master’s degree from Rice University, and the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts at CU Boulder.

Seoyoen Min has served as Principal Cello of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra since the 2019/20 season. A native of South Korea, she is a versatile and accomplished performer with a rich career in both orchestral and chamber music. As a featured soloist, Seoyoen has performed with the Colorado Symphony, Lakewood Symphony, Wyoming Symphony, and many others. As a founding member of the Edith String Quartet, she has collaborated with renowned musicians such as Lynn Harrell, Kyung Sun Lee in the Virtuosi Seoul Ensemble, and the St. Lawrence String Quartet.

Seoyoen is an active chamber musician in Colorado, regularly performing as both a soloist and chamber musician at Englewood Arts and other local venues. She has also contributed to South Korea's contemporary music scene as a member of Ensemble BLANK, an emerging contemporary music group.

In the summer, Seoyoen is a guest artist with the South Eastern Young Artists in Georgia, serves as Principal Cello at the Grand Teton Music Festival, and performs as Assistant Principal Cello with the "Going Home Project" Orchestra.

An enthusiastic educator, Seoyoen teaches privately and as a guest faculty member. She most recently taught a masterclass and participated in the UW Cello Festival at the University of Wyoming.

Seoyoen holds a Master of Music degree from Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, where she studied with Hans Jørgen Jensen, and a Bachelor of Music degree from Seoul National University.

Dakota Cotugno began his study of cello at the age of 12 and has loved it ever since. A native of Colorado, he grew up in the Longmont area attending many Colorado Symphony concerts and joined the Colorado Symphony as a tenured member in the 23/24 season.

He earned his Bachelor of Music in Cello Performance from the University of Colorado Boulder studying under David Requiro, and later received dual Master’s degrees in Cello Performance and Chamber Music along with a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Michigan studying with Richard Aaron. During his DMA, Dakota transcribed many works for the cello, including string arrangements of orchestral excerpts for cello and violin to be published in 2025/26.

Mr. Cotugno was awarded the silver medal in the 2019 Irving M. Klein International String Competition, in which he also garnered the Pablo Casals Prize for Best Performance of Bach. He was also the first place winner of the concerto competition at CU Boulder as a sophomore performing the Elgar Cello Concerto with the University Symphony Orchestra. He has performed with the Detroit Symphony, the Ann Arbor Symphony, the Colorado Music Festival, and was an orchestral fellow and principal cellist of the Aspen Festival Orchestra.

Outside of music, Dakota loves to cook, read, is an avid gamer, and amateur golfer trying to hit par.

Mezzo-Soprano Michelle DeYoung has appeared with many of the celebrated orchestras, opera companies, and festivals of the world during her distinguished career. She appears regularly with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic, the Concertgebouworkest, and the Sydney Symphony. She has also performed at the prestigious festivals of Ravinia, Tanglewood, Saito Kinen, Edinburgh, and Lucerne. 

Equally at home on the opera stage, Ms DeYoung has appeared with the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Teatro alla Scala, Bayreuth Festival, Berliner Staatsoper, and the Paris Opera.  Her many roles include Fricka, Sieglinde and Waltraute in The Ring Cycle; Kundry in Parsifal, Venus in Tannhäuser, Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde, Eboli in Don Carlos, Amneris in Aida, Santuzza in Cavellaria Rusticana, Ježibaba in Rusalka,Marguerite in Le Damnation de Faust, Dido in Les Troyens,Judith in Bluebeard’s Castle, and Jocaste in Oedipus Rex. She also created the role of the Shaman in Tan Dun’s The First Emperor at the Metropolitan Opera.

A multi-Grammy award winning recording artist, Ms. DeYoung’s impressive discography includes Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, and Götterdämmerung with the Jaap van Zweden and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (Naxos), Kindertotenlieder, Mahler’s Symphony No. 3, and Das Klagende Lied with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony (SFS Media), Les Troyens with Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO Live!), and Mahler Symphony No 3 with both the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Bernard Haitink (CSO Resound) and the Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck (Challenge Records International). Her most recent recording of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra (Deutsche Grammophon) was released in July 2021 and she is a featured soloist in the Met Opera’s Verdi’s Requiem: The Met Remembers 9/11 which was nominated for a 2023 GRAMMY Award for Best Choral Performance.

Ms. DeYoung is the founder of Ensemble Charité, an organization which aims to support various charities while also fostering young, emerging musicians through community performances of chamber concerts with seasoned professional musicians, conducted by Ms. DeYoung. She was also recently named to the vocal faculty of the famed Jacob School of Music at Indiana University.

Metropolitan Opera Star and Colorado Music Hall of Fame Member, Keith Miller joined the Metropolitan Opera in 2006. He made his Met debut on opening night of Peter Gelb's first season as The Imperial Commissioner in Anthony Minghella's HD production of Madama Butterfly after attending the prestigious Academy of Vocal Arts.

Since then, he has sung in over 350 performances for the company. He has developed a close relationship with the Metropolitan Opera over the past several seasons, appearing in its new productions of Un Ballo in Maschera, Anna Bolena, Carmen, Armida, Tosca, Salome, Madama Butterfly, Il Trittico, Two Boys, Macbeth, and the Grammy Award Nominated Eugene Onegin, all of which were featured in the popular The Met: Live in HD series, as well as his broadcast performances of the remounts of Turandot and Fanciulla del West. Additionally he was a featured soloist in the Metropolitan Opera’s inaugural Summer Recital Series in New York and appeared in its recent revivals of Billy Budd as well as performances in Manon Lescaut, Aida, Andrea Chenier, Arabella, Rigoletto, War and Peace, Faust, Die Zauberflöte and Ernani, to name a few. Mr. Miller also has performed with several opera companies and symphonies throughout America and Europe as well as Carnegie Hall.

He also made his film debut in NOAH starring Russell Crowe, Emma Watson, Jennifer Connelly and Anthony Hopkins and has recently wrapped filming with Zach Quinto in AARDVARK. Mr. Miller has also been cast in several commercials and was the “Voice of God” announcer for the United Nations earlier this year.

Before studying voice at the prestigious Academy of Vocal Arts, Miller played professional football for 5 years and had the honor of being an Olympic Torch Bearer for the 1996 Games in Atlanta. He is a native of Ovid, CO. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Center for Leadership at the University of Colorado and Board of Directors for the Gunnison Arts Center.

International pianist and educator Jeremy Reger maintains an active performing, teaching, and coaching career. During the summer of 2020 he will be working on programs for Central City Opera, Seattle Opera, and the Western Slope Concert Series. He spent the previous summer in São Paulo, Brazil, where he was the principal pianist and vocal coach for the Brazilian premiere of Samuel Barber’s “Vanessa.”  He has served on the music staff of Virginia Opera, Eugene Opera, Hawaii Opera Theater, Mill City Opera, Central City Opera, Minnesota Opera, Skylark Opera and Aspen Opera Theater.  He has performed with the Virginia Symphony, the Boulder Philharmonic, the Williamsburg Symphony, the Carmel Symphony, and the Boulder Bach Ensemble. He is an associate professor of vocal coaching at CU Boulder, where his classes focus on repertoire, diction, the art of vocal coaching, and audition techniques. He is the head coach of the Eklund Opera Program.  A passionate educator, he taught at the Music Academy of the West, Christopher Newport University, the Opera Studio of Pernambuco in Recife, Brazil, and at the Jacob’s School fo Music at Indiana University. A strong advocate of new opera, Reger has participated in workshops of new opera by composers such as Jake Heggie, Tom Cipullo, Ricky Ian Gordon, Kevin Putz, and Mark Adamo.  Reger maintains an active vocal coaching studio throughout the United States and South America. He has a doctorate from the University of Michigan, studying under Martin Katz.