NEW! Curium’s debut album is now available for streaming!
Mission
Curium: the 96th element in the periodic table. Discovered in the Bay Area in 1944 and named after the pioneering female scientist, Marie Curie, the element is a symbol of the innovations of female minds, past and present.
Founded in the summer of 2017, the women of Curium piano trio have gained reputations as performers that radiate dynamism and presence. Specializing in performing the music of female composers, they are committed to bringing creative and diverse musical programming to their audiences. Curium highlights the works of women composers and performers alongside traditional piano trio repertoire and has brought together a community of people with its representation of diversity and women.
About Curium
Curium is the winner of the 2017 Barbara Fritz Chamber Music Award, sponsored by the Berkeley Piano Club. Its members hail from preeminent conservatories including the Cleveland Institute of Music, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and Bard College Conservatory. The trio has been featured in numerous acclaimed concert series throughout the Bay Area including Old First Concerts, Trinity Chamber Concerts, Maybeck Studio, Throckmorton Noon Concerts, Four Seasons Arts, SF Music Day at San Francisco War Memorial, and Center for New Music. In the summer of 2018, Curium was a featured ensemble at the St. Lawrence String Quartet Seminar at Stanford University and was one of five ensembles chosen to play for the International Showcase at Bing Concert Hall. Curium attended the Avaloch Farm Music Institute as an Ensemble-In-Residence in the summer of 2019, where they worked on an exciting project with Helia Music Collective for the coming fall. As part of the project, they commissioned and performed three new works by emerging female Bay Area composers in a series of concerts.
Curium is a fiscally sponsored affiliate of Intermusic SF and are recipients of the 2020 Musical Grant Program. The grant will be used to record and produce Curium’s debut CD album, featuring works by women composers.
Rachel Kim
pianist
Rachel Kim enjoys a prolific career as a concert pianist, educator, and mentor in the Bay Area.
She was born in Seoul, South Korea and began learning music theory and improvisation with her mother, a jazz and rock pianist based in Seoul. She began studying piano in the United States with Helen Smith Tarchalski at the age of 11. During this time, she gained a reputation as a standout performer and consistently won first and second prizes in annual solo and piano ensemble competitions held by Maryland State Music Teachers Association. Her achievements earned her the Distinguished Music Achievement Award by the Maryland State Music Teachers Association and the Music Teachers National Association.
Rachel holds a Bachelor of Music degree with honors from the Catholic University of America, where she studied with Marilyn Neeley and Jose Ramos Santana, and a Master of Music degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she continues her studies with Paul Hersh. She has performed in various summer festivals around the US and in Europe, including Aspen, Brevard, and the Amalfi Coast Music Festival in Italy, and has performed in the master classes of world-class musicians including Leon Fleisher, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Bonnie Hampton, and Abby Simon. During her studies at SF Conservatory, she had the opportunity to collaborate and be coached by musicians such as Bonnie Hampton, Ian Swenson, Mack McCray, and Jennifer Culp. She has an unwavering passion for arts education, and during her undergraduate studies was part of a team of founders at Talent, Education, Art and Mentoring After School Program, Inc., a pioneering summer music program that helped bring music and the arts to students in underserved neighborhoods in Washington, D.C.
Rachel is a versatile musician whose diverse performing and pedagogical experiences help her navigate the challenging world of classical music in today’s society. She has taught privately for over ten years, has worked as a staff accompanist at the San Francisco Conservatory, and is a member of the historic Berkeley Piano Club. Her concert engagements around the Bay Area have included Avedis Concerts at the Legion of Honor Fine Arts Museum with Alexandra Hawley and Roy Milan, Chamber Music Society of Sacramento with William Barbini, and several prestigious concert series with Curium. Currently she is a full time member of the music faculty at the Branson School in Ross, California, where she serves as Choir Director, Music Director for the annual musical productions and directs the instrumental Chamber Music class.
Agnieszka Peszko
violinist
Polish-born violinist Agnieszka Peszko has been praised for her “warm and glowing tone,” and “logical yet captivating phrasing.” (Weigang Li, Shanghai Quartet). She is the founding violinist of the San Francisco – based piano trio Curium, dedicated to performing works of women composers A prizewinner of national and regional string competitions, she has given many solo recitals throughout Europe and the United States. She has also served as a leading violinist of chamber ensembles and orchestras, performing in some of the most renowned concert halls in the USA, Europe and China.
As a laureate of various awards and competitions, she has won 2nd prizes at the Concerto Competition at Montclair State University in New Jersey and the J. Garscia National Competition in Stalowa Wola, 4th prize at the G. Ph. Telemann Competition in Poznan, 1st distinction at the G. Bacewicz Competition in Wroclaw and at the National Irena Dubiska Competition of Violin Music Interpretations in Lodz. Some of her other notable achievements include joining the Shanghai International Youth Orchestra for the concert tour in China in 2016, and being appointed concertmaster of the Cali Camerata, a conductor-less string chamber orchestra, to lead the ensemble in performance at the prestigious Weil Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall in 2013.
Agnieszka began playing the violin at the age of seven in her hometown of Warsaw. In the U.S., she had the privilege to pursue her studies under the tutelage of distinguished faculty, including Wei He, Weigang Li, and Laurie Smukler. She received her Master of Music degree in Violin Performance at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, an Artist Diploma and Performance Certificate at John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University as well as a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance and a Bachelor of Arts in Italian Studies at Bard College Conservatory of Music.
As a dedicated teacher, Agnieszka enjoys working with all her students and she takes great pride in her students’ success. In addition to her private violin studio, she is also on the violin faculty at Inspire Music and Amabile School of Music in San Francisco.
Carlyn Kessler
cellist
Cellist Carlyn Kessler enjoys a multifaceted career as a performer, educator, and arts advocate. Carlyn is a graduate of Cleveland Institute of Music, where she earned her Master of Music and Bachelor of Music degrees. Carlyn has performed in venues ranging from Carnegie Hall to the Chautauqua Institution, as well as in Canada and England. A passionate chamber musician, Carlyn is the cellist of San Francisco-based piano trio Curium, and she was selected as an Emerging Artist Fellow in Chamber Music Silicon Valley's 2018-2019 season. Before relocating to California, Carlyn was a founding member of the Cleveland Cello Quartet, Ensemble-In-Residence at The Music Settlement.
Carlyn has performed in chamber music residencies at the Chamber Music Society of Detroit, the Banff Centre, Toronto Summer Music Festival, Domaine Forget, Mendocino Music Festival, and Yellow Barn, among others, and she has collaborated with renowned classical artists Pekka Kuusisto, Martin Beaver, Axel Strauss, Steven Dann, and Frank Morelli. Outside of the classical realm, Carlyn recently performed on tour with Michael Bublé and Josh Groban, and she is featured on the soundtrack of the new animated short film “Let’s Eat” (Anamon Studios), which won “Best Animated Short” at the 2020 Palm Springs International Animation Festival.
A devoted pedagogue, Carlyn maintains a private cello studio and serves on the faculty of Washington College and the Preparatory Music Program at Holy Names University. In Ohio, Carlyn was the Adjunct Professor of Cello at The College of Wooster and Department Head of Strings at The Music Settlement.