International Sejong Soloists ("Sejong") will hold its sixth annual benefit on Sunday, November 13, at 7:30pm at Judy and Arthur Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall. The program, themed "Cello Extravaganza," will feature cellists Andrés Díaz and Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt alongside Sejong cellists Ole Akahoshi, Ani Aznavoorian, and Patrick Jee, as well as the rest of the conductor-less string ensemble. Mistress of ceremonies, Paula Zahn, will also join for a performance of J.S. Bach's Air. Garden City resident Shauna Quill is the group's managing director.

The remainder of the benefit program includes audience favorites such as Bruch's Kol nidrei and Bizet's Carmen-Fantasie for Five Cellos, along with arrangements of Piazzolla's Le grand tango and Schubert's Death and the Maiden Quartet for string orchestra. David Diamond's Rounds for String Orchestra completes the program and will be performed in tribute to the composer who passed away this past June and was a colleague of Hyo Kang, Sejong's artistic director.

In addition to raising funds, Sejong will use this opportunity to honor Dong-Jin Oh, President and CEO of Samsung Electronics America, Inc., for his support of the ensemble throughout its ten years of existence at both a pre-concert dinner at Le Parker Meridien and during the performance. As the major corporate sponsor of Sejong, Samsung provided the initial seed money on which the ensemble was founded and continues to provide support annually. The partnership has continued to evolve through a new concert series at the Samsung Experience in the Time Warner building, entitled "Soundbytes of Sejong," which is held on "Classical Music Thursdays" at the Experience.

Praised as a "top notch conductor-less string orchestra" by the Washington Post, Sejong was created in New York City in 1995 and met with immediate success. Since its inception, the ensemble has given more than 250 concerts throughout the United States, Europe, and the Far East. Uniquely comprised of today's leading young soloists, Sejong is known for its cohesiveness, beautiful sound, and refreshing musical style-performing string orchestral works as well as solo and chamber repertoire. The group derives its name from the fifteenth-century Korean emperor Sejong, an avid supporter of the arts and the inventor of a simple alphabet to foster literacy for his people. Its fourteen members hail from eight different nations: Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Singapore, Bulgaria, Korea, and the United States. Each artist has a distinguished reputation as a soloist and chamber musician, confirmed by prizewinning performances at prestigious international competitions (including the Indianapolis, Naumburg, Jacques Thibaud, Paganini, Hannover, and Nielsen competitions). The New York-based ensemble tours worldwide under the musical direction of Hyo Kang, a renowned professor of violin at the Juilliard School.

For more information about Sejong's Annual Benefit, including dinner and ticket information, please contact Shauna Quill, Managing Director, at (212) 580.5494 or via email: squill@sejongsoloists.org.