The Blossom Quartet is a Cleveland-based string ensemble comprising four distinguished members of The Cleveland Orchestra: violinists Stephen Tavani and Yun-Ting Lee, violist William Bender, and cellist Dane Johansen. United by a shared passion for chamber music, the ensemble brings together world-class artistry with a warm, engaging approach to performance.

The quartet has served as resident faculty at the Kent Blossom Music Festival, where its members mentor the next generation of chamber musicians while performing alongside internationally acclaimed artists. Beyond the concert hall, the Blossom Quartet is committed to bringing chamber music into communities throughout Northeast Ohio, presenting intimate performances that foster meaningful connections between audiences and musicians.

Violinist Stephen Tavani joined The Cleveland Orchestra as Assistant Concertmaster in 2018. Commenting on his playing, The New York Times wrote, “Tavani sometimes cooled his tone to the smoothness of frosted glass, adding a soft-focus filter to the chiseled melodies. ...” He was featured playing Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade at the 2022 Blossom Music Festival and made his debut as soloist with The Cleveland Orchestra in summer 2025, performing Bruch’s Second Violin Concerto.

Alongside his work in Cleveland, Tavani has appeared as guest concertmaster with the Houston Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony, and Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. Before joining The Cleveland Orchestra, he was concertmaster of The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. In addition, he has performed as soloist with the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Americas, and at the MasterWorks Festival.

An avid chamber musician, Tavani has appeared at many music festivals and chamber music series, including the Marlboro Music Festival, Dresden Music Festival, Music from Angel Fire, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Colburn Chamber Music Society, Curtis Recital Series, and with Curtis on Tour. He is a member of the Blossom Quartet with fellow Cleveland Orchestra musicians Yun-Ting Lee, William Bender, and Dane Johansen. The Quartet frequently performs around the Cleveland area.

Tavani volunteers with the Cleveland-based group Renovare to bring string programs to Northeast Ohio inmates, using music to provide hope and healing. He is also involved with the MasterWorks Festival, which seeks to integrate Christian faith and life in the performing arts. Tavani resides on the East Side of Cleveland with his wife, Amanda — a double bassist and music educator — and their two young sons. He grew up in Northern Virginia in a musical family of six brothers. His mother is a voice teacher and lyric soprano; his father is a family physician and pianist.

Visit stephentavani.com to learn more about Tavani, and visit his YouTube channel to watch many of his live performances.

Taiwanese-American violinist Yun-Ting Lee joined the second violin section of The Cleveland Orchestra in 2013. He received his Bachelor and Master degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where his principal teachers were David Cerone, William Preucil, and David Updegraff. He has also studied with Dr. Phyllis Skoldberg and Ming-De Zhang.

Yun-Ting has appeared as soloist with Spoleto Festival USA, Music Academy of the West, Cleveland Institute of Music, National Repertory, and Phoenix Symphony orchestras. A dedicated chamber musician, Mr. Lee received the Dr. Bennett Levine Memorial Award in Chamber Music from CIM.

Yun-Ting has collaborated with Orion Weiss, Lyrica Baroque Ensemble, members of the Juilliard, Cavani, Verona, and Tokyo String Quartets. Orchestrally Yun-Ting has also performed with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. He is an alumnus of the New York String Orchestra Seminar, the Holland International Music Sessions, Encore School for Strings, and the Pacific Music Festival.

William Bender grew up in Franklin, Tennessee, where he began studying viola in the pre-college program at Vanderbilt University with Kathryn Plummer. He later studied with Heidi Castleman at The Juilliard School and with Robert Vernon at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

From 2018 to 2021, Bender was based in London as Assistant Principal Viola of the Philharmonia Orchestra under the direction of Esa-Pekka Salonen. An active chamber musician, he appeared regularly with the Philharmonia Chamber Players and contributed to the orchestra’s “Music of Today” series, collaborating on contemporary works. Bender also regularly played recording sessions at Abbey Road Studios and Air Studios.

In November 2021, Bender joined The Cleveland Orchestra. He is passionate about performing chamber music in the community and frequently appears with the Blossom Quartet, an ensemble of fellow Orchestra members Stephen Tavani, Yun-Ting Lee, and Dane Johansen.

As an educator, Bender has coached students at Oberlin College, Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music, Trinity-Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, the Australian Youth Orchestra, and the Colombian Youth Philharmonic. He has also taught at Cleveland State University and the Cleveland Institute of Music Academy.

Dane Johansen joined The Cleveland Orchestra at the beginning of March 2016. He was cellist with the Escher String Quartet for five years, during which he and his colleagues were BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists, and also recipients of an Avery Fisher Career Grant and the Martin Segal Award from Lincoln Center. He has performed as a soloist and chamber musician around the world. Mr. Johansen made his Lincoln Center debut in a performance of Elliott Carter’s Cello Concerto under the direction of James Levine in celebration of the composer’s centennial. He made his Carnegie Hall debut as first winner of the Juilliard Leo Ruiz Memorial Award and, in November 2016 performing William Walton’s Cello Concerto, made his debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

For many years, Dane Johansen has dedicated time and energy exploring Johann Sebastian Bach’s Six Suites for Solo Cello. He performed them at New York’s Alice Tully Hall in 2010 and also throughout his 580-mile pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago in Northern Spain in 2014; the story of his adventure on the Camino with Bach was made into a documentary film called Strangers on the Earth.

A native of Fairbanks, Alaska, Dane Johansen studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris, and at the Juilliard School, where he earned his artist diploma. He studied privately with Bernard Greenhouse.

-“…lets the notes ring, as if painting with the reverberation.  Like a gradually cresting wave, the intensity peaks…”

–Cleveland Classical

Dr. Irwin Shung, whose playing has been praised by State Magazine for its “ease, technique, and musicianship,” has performed throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.  Shung teaches keyboard ensembles at Case Western Reserve University, in addition to serving as Artistic Director of The Resonance Project since its founding in Seattle.  He maintains an active musical profile both on the American West Coast and in Northeast Ohio, where he was recently selected as Heights Arts’ Artist of the Month.  As President of the Northeast Ohio Music Teachers Association, Shung oversaw the development of dynamic new programs for hundreds of regional precollegiate music students in Cuyahoga, Geauga, and Lorain Counties.

Shung received his D.M.A. in Piano Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music in 2015, where he studied with Dr. Daniel Shapiro. Other teachers include Marian Hahn (Peabody Conservatory), Leon Fleisher (Peabody Conservatory), Herbert Stessin (Juilliard School), Gabriel Chodos (New England Conservatory), and Victoria Bogdashevskaya (Moscow Conservatory). Awards received include the Pauline Favin Memorial Award from the Peabody Conservatory of Music and a win in the Darius Milhaud Competition.  Shung recently premiered his work for solo piano, Seven Chinese Characters, alongside a live painting by the internationally renowned artist Li Qian.  In October 2026, he will present a recital inspired by with the Cleveland Museum of Art in conjunction with its upcoming exhibition Ten Kings of Hell.