Beethoven Project Trio

Its founding members are pianist George Lepauw, violinist Sang Mee Lee and cellist Wendy Warner.

John von Rhein, music critic of the Chicago Tribune, wrote about the trio's first concert that "for musicians who had never worked together as a trio before, pianist George Lepauw, violinist Sang Mee Lee and cellist Wendy Warner made a splendid ensemble, playing with finely judged balance, evenness of sound and unanimity of style [...] Lepauw, Lee and Warner ended their program with Beethoven’s familiar “Archduke” Trio, a masterpiece that drew fully on their individual and collective abilities.

The CD reached #24 on the Classical Billboard Charts] in its first week,[6] and has since received great critical acclaim: “Beethoven chamber music enthusiasts will rejoice in this issue.

[9] Their recording has also been the featured CD of the Week at numerous radio stations across the United States, including Chicago's WFMT, New York's WQXR, and Washington DC's WETA.

The Beethoven Project Trio is the subject of a documentary currently in production and directed by the Emmy Award winning film maker, Mike Cahill.

Some of the festival's performers included pianists George Lepauw, Winston Choi and Marta Aznavoorian; members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Avalon and Spektral quartets; Fulcrum Point New Music Project; Ensemble Dal Niente; Anaphora Ensemble; and Quintet Attacca.

Additionally, the festival presented nearly twenty-five world premieres by some of the most celebrated composers working today, including David Winkler, Mohammed Fairouz, Mikolaj Gorecki, Ken Ueno and others.

To date, the winners have been Herve and Isabelle de la Vauvre (2009), Otto von Habsburg (2011) and Zarin Mehta (2012).