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Souvenir: Tchaikovsky Sextet

Souvenir: Tchaikovsky Sextet

Music can be a time-travel device or a teleportation machine. A chord progression might whisk you back a decade or two, like to a Tuesday in April. Or, the hint of a melody might bring to mind the sights and sounds of a foreign land you once visited. Composers continually draw on this miraculous sound-memory to create “musical postcards” that express their memories, and inspire ours.

Adventure awaits with Maurice Ravel’s set of art songs, Chansons madécasses, inspired by the African tropical isles and set to evocative French poetry voiced by the captivating Jennifer Johnson Cano. We’ll also travel in time to one of the most exciting eras of our own music and experience the world premiere of Steven Banks’s homage to the great Nina Simone in a piece that conjures the iconic style and voice of one of America’s most influential musicians. And finally, Tchaikovsky’s famous Souvenir de Florence is literally a “wish-you-were-here” postcard to us, and exudes all of the warmth, vibrancy, and joy of his beloved visits to Italy to escape Russian winters.

Reed College, Kaul Auditorium
Monday, 7/13 • 8:00 pm

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Program

Click on any piece of music below to learn more about it.

MAURICE RAVEL “Chansons madécasses,” M. 78

MAURICE RAVEL (1875–1937) Chansons madécasses, M. 78 (13’)

I. Nahandove: Andante quasi allegretto
II. Aoua: Andante
III. Il est doux: Lento

The printed score to Ravel’s 1926 song cycle Chansons madécasses includes the wood-blocked illustrations of Jean-Emile Laboureur, made in 1920, and, like Ravel’s music, inspired by a centuries-old poetic work. The images, rather than being realistic, are rather impressionistic: they depict the beautiful black figures of the inhabitants of Madagascar against a vibrant wash of blue and green, invoking the sea and forests. The text and inspiration for these Chansons comes from the poetry of Évariste de Parny, a French man of letters who was born and raised on the Isle of Bourbon, off the southeastern coast of Africa. De Parny was exceptionally well-travelled in his lifetime, and it was while in India that he set to work on his Songs of Madagascar, among the very first examples of prose poetry in the French language.

Though the unique instrumentation helps to perfectly evoke the exotic setting of the songs, in fact it may be a result of the suggestion of Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, the American patron who commissioned the work from Ravel. She asked that, if possible, Ravel include a flute and cello. The cycle begins with the solo cello, with its repeated figure invoking Ravel’s impression of the ostinato accompaniments of Madagascarian music. In this first song, a sensual ode to a beautiful woman named Nahandove, Ravel depicts a nocturnal setting, complete with the call of the night birds in the flute. With a quickening tempo towards the middle, the composer underscores the excitement of the protagonist as he thinks fondly of his beautiful visitor. The middle chanson is the most politically charged. In it, the speaker angrily laments the coming of the white man, and warns “Awa!” or “beware” these new tyrants. The shrieking calls of the flute and piano at the opening warning give way to an undulating texture, incessant in its repetition, in which the mezzo-soprano seems to give an impassioned speech to the listener. In the closing “ferocious allegro,” Ravel calls upon the flute to act as a trumpet, signaling a call to battle. The final chanson depicts the relaxed daily life of the inhabitants of Madagascar. One can almost imagine, at the opening, the speaker playing their own pan flute as they lie under the shade of a tree in the afternoon, as the sun begins to fall and a breeze cools the climate. The singer is left alone as the accompaniment fades and night falls. After drifting off in meandering thought, she is suddenly shaken back to the realities of the day: to “go and prepare the meal.”

—© Patrick Jankowski

STEVEN BANKS New Work for Mezzo-soprano & Chamber Ensemble

STEVEN BANKS (b. 1993) New Work for Mezzo-soprano and Chamber Ensemble (15’)

West Coast Premiere | CMNW Co-Commission

TCHAIKOVSKY String Sextet in D Minor, Op. 70, “Souvenir de Florence”

TCHAIKOVSKY String Sextet in D Minor, Op. 70, Souvenir de Florence (1892)

I. Allegro con spirito
II. Adagio cantabile e con moto
III. Allegro moderato
IV. Allegro vivace

Tchaikovsky’s soul was seldom at rest in the years following his marital disaster in 1877, and he sought distraction in frequent travel abroad; Paris and Italy were his favorite destinations. In January 1890, he settled in Florence and spent the next three months in that beautiful city working on his latest operatic venture, Pique Dame (“The Queen of Spades”). He took long walks along the Arno, marveled that spring flowers sprouted in February, and savored the food. After a brief stay in Rome, he arrived back in Russia on May 1st, noting five days later to a friend that after finishing Pique Dame, “I want to make sketches for a sextet for strings.” The orchestration of the opera was completed by early the next month, and on June 12th he told his brother Modeste that he was “starting the string sextet tomorrow.” The work was sketched within a month, and performed privately in November, but Tchaikovsky reported to the composer Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov that “it turned out poorly in all respects.” He began a revision early in 1891 but had to put it aside for his tour to the United States in April and May, and then for the composition and production of The Nutcracker and the opera Iolanthe; the new version was not finished until January 1892 in Paris. It was at that time that Tchaikovsky, without further explanation, appended the phrase “Souvenir de Florence” to the work’s title.

In their biography of Tchaikovsky, Lawrence and Elisabeth Hanson wrote, “The Souvenir de Florence is not great music but it is very pleasant and extremely cleverly constructed. It is above all suffused with an atmosphere not often associated with this composer, of a calm geniality.” It is probably this quality that prompted Tchaikovsky, who often wrote in his letters of the “heavenly” Italian climate, to add the sobriquet to the work’s original title. The music itself is decidedly Russian in mood and melody, with only a certain lightness of spirit in the first two movements showing any possible Italianate traits. Indeed, if anything the Sextet exhibits a strong German influence in the richness of its string sonorities and thematic development, which frequently recall Brahms’s chamber music. The opening movement is a full sonata structure given in the style of a bustling waltz. The following Adagio is disposed in a three-part form whose brief center section is constructed from a delightful, fluttering rhythmic figuration. The two closing movements are based on folk-like themes, the first a sad song that is the subject of considerable elaboration as it progresses, the other a bounding Cossack dance.

—© Dr. Richard Rodda

Artists

Steven Banks Steven Banks Saxophone

As a performer and composer, saxophonist Steven Banks (b. 1993) is striving to bring his instrument to the heart of the classical music world. He is driven to program and write music that directly addresses aspects of the human experience and is an active and intentional supporter of diverse voices in the future of concert music. Rick Perdian of Seen and Heard International has said “one senses that Banks has the potential to be one of the transformational musicians of the twenty-first century.”

Banks is establishing himself as a compelling and charismatic soloist and in 2022, he was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant and was a chosen artist for WQXR’s Artist Propulsion Lab. He was the first saxophonist to be awarded First Prize at the Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions. Critics have consistently recognized Banks for his warm yet glowing tone, well-crafted and communicative musical expression, and deft technical abilities.

Banks has appeared with The Cleveland Orchestra, Montreal Symphony, Utah Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, Aspen Festival Orchestra, and has enjoyed working with such conductors as Franz Welser-Most, Xian Zhang, Nicholas McGegan, Rafael Payare, John Adams, Peter Oundjian, Jahja Ling, Matthias Pintscher, Alain Altinoglu, and Roderick Cox.

In recital, he has appeared across the USA at the San Francisco Symphony’s Spotlight Series at Davies Hall, Merkin Hall, The Kennedy Center, The Kravis Center, and Festival Napa Valley with his collaborative partner, pianist Xak Bjerken. A keen chamber musician, Banks has appeared at Spoleto Festival USA, Chamber Music Chicago, and the Aspen Music Festival, and was the first Artist-in-Residence of the Skaneateles Festival from 2023-2024. He has collaborated with the Borromeo and St. Lawrence string quartets and will work with the Dover and Verona quartets in the coming seasons. He is a founding member of the Kenari Quartet, an all-saxophone ensemble that performs regularly together offering inspiring and uplifting compositions and arrangements. As baritone saxophonist of Kenari, Steven won First Prize at the inaugural M-Prize Chamber Arts Competition and has garnered two silver medals from the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. Their album, French Saxophone Quartets, was released in 2016 on the Naxos label.

In 2023 and 2024, Banks premiered and toured with a commissioned concerto from Grammy-winning composer Billy Childs. The nine co-commissioning orchestras are the Kansas City Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival, Chautauqua Institution, New World Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, and San Diego Symphony, with Young Concert Artists being the tenth partner in the consortium. The three-movement, 20-minute concerto explores aspects of the African American experience in America and takes inspiration from such poets as Nayyirah Waheed, Claude McKay, and Maya Angelou.

As a composer, Banks has been commissioned by such organizations as Young Concert Artists, WQXR’s Artist Propulsion Lab, Latitude 49, Yale University’s Project 14 Initiative, and Northwestern University’s Saxophone Ensemble. Jarrett Hoffman of Cleveland Classical has said that his music showcases “a unique and ambitious blend of feelings and sounds” and portrays “a deep intimacy” and “a sense of vulnerability.” His work for alto saxophone and string quartet, Cries, Sighs and Dreams, was premiered in May 2022 at Carnegie Hall with the Borromeo Quartet. His work for solo piano, Fantasy on Recurring Daydreams, was premiered by Zhu Wang in April 2023. Banks’s works are published by Murphy Music Press.

An advocate for diversity and inclusion in music education and performance, Banks was part of the TEDx NorthwesternU 2017 conference presenting his dynamic approach to overcoming institutionalized prejudices against women and people of color. In addition, he has written about and given lectures on the history of black classical composers. In collaboration with Anthony Trionfo and Randall Goosby, the Learning to Listen roundtable was created to discuss the nuances of the Black experience in classical music and beyond. In partnership with the Sphinx Organization, they also created the Illuminate! series, which opened three essential conversations on the subject of music education, artist activism, and the LGBTQIA+ community in classical music.

Banks serves as Saxophone and Chamber Music Faculty and Artist-in-Residence at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He was previously Assistant Professor of Saxophone at both Ithaca College and the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory, and held the Jackie McLean Fellowship at the University of Hartford. His own primary saxophone teachers have been Taimur Sullivan, Otis Murphy Jr., and Galvin Crisp. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, as well as a Master of Music degree from the Northwestern University Bienen School of Music.

Banks is an endorsing artist for Conn-Selmer instruments, D’Addario Woodwinds, lefreQue Sound Solutions, and Key Leaves.

Artist's Website


Upcoming Concerts & Events

Jonah Ellsworth Jonah Ellsworth Cello, Protégé

Born and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Jonah Ellsworth started playing the cello at age five. He holds degrees from the New England Conservatory and the Yale School of Music. His principal teachers have been Laurence Lesser, Kim Kashkashian, Lluís Claret, Natasha Brofsky, Andrew Mark, Peter Wiley, and Paul Watkins. At Yale, he was awarded the Aldo Parisot Prize and the Yale School of Music Alumni Association Prize. He joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra cello section in 2023. After a year and a half playing with the BSO, he participated in the exchange program with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchester. This exchange was created by Andris Nelsons, the conductor of both orchestras. After spending six months with the Gewandhaus Orchester, Jonah decided to take an audition with this orchestra and now is a member of the Leipzig Gewandhaus cello section. He started this job in September 2025.

Along with orchestral playing, Jonah has been featured as soloist with numerous orchestras, including the Boston Symphony, Boston Philharmonic, Akron Symphony, Symphony By the Sea, and the New England Conservatory Philharmonia. In 2016, Jonah filled in for Nicolas Altstaedt on 72 hours’ notice to play the Schumann Cello Concerto with the Jacksonville Symphony in Florida. He also toured Europe as soloist in 2015 with the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, alternating solo performances with Natalia Gutman. He has participated in many music festivals, including Marlboro Music Festival, Verbier Festival, Steans Institute of Ravinia, Music@Menlo, Rockport Music Festival, and Orford Musique Academy. Jonah has devoted much of his professional life to honing his skills as a chamber musician. He spent eight years with the Boston Trio, and with them he performed in some of the most prestigious concert venues in the United States including Carnegie Hall, Newport Music, and Jordan Hall.

Artist's Website


Upcoming Concerts & Events

Jennifer Frautschi Jennifer Frautschi Violin

Two-time Grammy nominee and Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient violinist Jennifer Frautschi has appeared as soloist with innumerable orchestras such as the Cincinnati Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Milwaukee Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, and St Paul Chamber Orchestra. She is an artist-member of the Boston Chamber Music Society and has appeared as chamber musician at Chamber Music Northwest, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, La Jolla Summerfest, Music@Menlo, Tippet Rise Art Center, Toronto Summer Music, and the Bridgehampton, Cape Cod, Charlottesville, Great Lakes, Lake Champlain, Moab, Ojai, Salt Bay, Santa Fe, Seattle, and Spoleto Festivals. Her extensive discography for the Albany, Artek, and Naxos labels includes the Stravinsky Violin Concerto with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Prokofiev’s Violin Concerti with the Seattle Symphony. Born in Pasadena, California, Jennifer attended the Colburn School, Harvard, the New England Conservatory, and the Juilliard School. She performs on a 1722 Antonio Stradivarius violin known as the “ex-Cadiz,” on generous loan from a private American foundation with support from Rare Violins in Consortium. She teaches in the graduate program at Stony Brook University.

Artist's Website


Upcoming Concerts & Events

Alexander Hersh Alexander Hersh Cello

A top laureate of the 2024 Naumburg International Cello Competition, Alexander Hersh is widely recognized as one of the most creative and versatile cellists of his generation. Praised for his 2022 Carnegie Hall debut recital, he has appeared as soloist with major orchestras including the Houston Symphony, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Dallas Chamber Symphony, and Boston POPS, and received top prizes from the Pro Musicis International Award, Astral Artists National Auditions, and Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant.

An avid chamber musician, Hersh has toured with Musicians from Marlboro and performed at leading festivals, including Marlboro, Chamber Music Northwest, Ravinia, Caramoor, Music@Menlo, Lucerne, and IMS Prussia Cove. He is Co-Artistic Director of NEXUS Chamber Music, an artist-led collective dedicated to breaking down the barriers for how classical music is experienced through intimate performances, multimedia projects, and new commissions.

His debut album, ABSINTHE (2023) received critical acclaim, and he was recently featured on PBS’s Now Hear This series in an episode exploring the music of Boccherini.

A fourth-generation string player, Hersh’s parents are both active professional violinists; his grandfather, Paul Hersh, taught at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music for 49 years and his great-grandfather, Ralph Hersh, was a member of the WQXR and Stuyvesant String Quartets and Principal Violist of the Dallas and Atlanta Symphony Orchestras.

Raised in Chicago, Hersh began playing the cello at the age of five. He received his B.M. and M.M. from New England Conservatory and continued his studies in Berlin at the Hanns Eisler Hochschule für Musik. His teachers have included Laurence Lesser, Hans Jørgen Jensen, Kim Kashkashian, Nicolas Altstaedt, and Paul Katz. He plays a G.B. Rogeri cello, courtesy of Guarneri Hall NFP and Darnton & Hersh Fine Violins. In his spare time he composes original music and creates short films that marry classical music with narrative, viewable on his YouTube channel: @AlexanderHersh.

Artist's Website


Upcoming Concerts & Events

Jennifer Johnson Cano Jennifer Johnson Cano Mezzo-soprano

Jennifer Johnson Cano’s portrayal of Michele in the recent premiere of The Righteous at Santa Fe Opera earned her accolades from The New York Times, which noted how she “voluptuously captured” the pain and strength of her character; Opera Today called Ms. Cano’s arias in The Righteous “flawless combinations of radiant, poised, attractive singing invested with heartfelt delivery.”
After creating the role of Michele in the world premiere of Gregory Spears’s The Righteous with Santa Fe Opera in summer 2024, she was invited back to sing the role of Mrs. Grose in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw as well as Schwertleite in Wagner’s Die Walküre in summer of 2025. Her 2025-2026 season includes engagements with the Chicago, San Francisco, Colorado, and Seattle Symphonies and The Apollo Orchestra. The Philadelphia Chamber Music Society presents Ms. Cano in recital with pianist Christopher Cano and violist Beth Guterman Chu. Tours include a project with Simone Dinnerstein and her ensemble Baroklyn as well as a week with the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan. Ms. Cano returns to the MET Opera in her role debut as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly. She premieres a new song cycle by Gregory Spears at the Tucson Desert Song Festival.

Ms. Cano joined the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at The Metropolitan Opera after winning the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Among her honors are Winner of the Young Concert Artist International Auditions, a Sara Tucker Study Grant, a Richard Tucker Career Grant, and a George London Award.

Artist's Website


Upcoming Concerts & Events

Braizahn Jones Braizahn Jones Bass

Braizahn Jones is a double bassist, educator, and entrepreneur based in Portland, Oregon. He serves as Assistant Principal Bass of the Oregon Symphony and is on the faculty at Portland State University and Reed College. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, he maintains a multifaceted career spanning orchestral performance, chamber music, and teaching.

As an orchestral musician, Jones has appeared extensively as a substitute with major ensembles including the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Seattle Symphony, and has performed at festivals such as Chamber Music Northwest, the Oregon Bach Festival, the Bellingham Music Festival, and the Pacific Music Institute. He has performed with many of today’s leading conductors and soloists.

Jones has been on the faculty of the National Orchestral Institute since 2019. He is the founder of Umami Bass, an international workshop and performance initiative dedicated to bass pedagogy and community building. The project has hosted successful programs in Japan and the United States, with further expansion underway.

Known for his precise, detail-oriented teaching, Jones works with students at all levels to develop sound musical clarity, and artistic confidence. Through his work as a performer, teacher, and organizer, Jones aims to foster musical environments that value depth, curiosity, and meaningful collaboration.


Upcoming Concerts & Events

Erin Keefe Erin Keefe Violin

American violinist Erin Keefe is currently the Concertmaster of the Minnesota Orchestra and on the violin faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music. Winner of an Avery Fisher Career Grant as well as numerous international competitions, she has appeared as soloist in recent seasons with the Minnesota Orchestra, New York City Ballet Orchestra, Korean Symphony Orchestra, Iceland Symphony, Lahti Symphony, Sendai Philharmonic, and the Gottingen Symphony, and has given recitals throughout the United States, Austria, Italy, Germany, Korea, Poland, Finland, Japan, and Denmark.

Ms. Keefe has been performing with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since 2005 and has been featured with them on Live from Lincoln Center three times. She has collaborated with artists such as the Emerson String Quartet, Edgar Meyer, Gary Hoffman, David Finckel, Wu Han, Richard Goode, Menahem Pressler, Gary Graffman, and Leon Fleisher, and she has recorded for Naxos, the CMS Studio Recordings label, BIS, and Deutsche Grammophon. She has made festival appearances with Music@Menlo, the Marlboro Music Festival, Music from Angel Fire, Music in the Vineyards, and the Bridgehampton, Seattle, OK Mozart, La Jolla Summerfest, and Bravo! Vail chamber music festivals.

As a guest concertmaster, Ms. Keefe has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic, and the Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra.

Ms. Keefe earned a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School and a Bachelor of Music degree from The Curtis Institute of Music. Her teachers included Ronald Copes, Ida Kavafian, Arnold Steinhardt, and Philip Setzer.

Artist's Website


Upcoming Concerts & Events

Demarre McGill Demarre McGill Flute

Demarre McGill is a celebrated flutist known for his lyrical expressiveness and technical mastery. Winner of the Avery Fisher Career Grant and the Sphinx Medal of Excellence, he has performed as soloist with top orchestras including the Philadelphia, Seattle, and San Francisco Symphonies. He currently serves as Principal Flute of the Seattle Symphony.

In 2025–26, McGill appears with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Chamber Music San Francisco, and several orchestras nationwide. An educator and mentor, he has taught at Aspen Music Festival, Curtis Summerfest, and the Sarasota and Stellenbosch Festivals.

A founding member of the Myriad Trio and McGill/McHale Trio, he champions inclusivity in classical music and is a frequent media presence, including Live from Lincoln Center and Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. McGill studied at Curtis and Juilliard and is a Yamaha Performing Artist.

Artist's Website


Upcoming Concerts & Events

Jeewon Park Jeewon Park Piano

Jeewon Park, Korean American pianist, is widely recognized for her expressive depth, artistic versatility, and commanding technique. Acclaimed by The New York Times for her “infectious exuberance” and praised by the Indianapolis Star for her “deeply reflective playing,” she brings a rare combination of poetic lyricism and dazzling virtuosity to her performances. Equally at home in solo, chamber, and contemporary repertoire, she has established herself as a distinguished presence on international stages.

Ms. Park has appeared as soloist with the KBS Symphony Orchestra, Mexico City Philharmonic, Charleston Symphony, Florida Orchestra, and others, and has performed at venues including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 92nd Street Y, Bargemusic, and Caramoor. She serves as Co-Artistic Director of the Performing Artists in Residence series at the Clark Art Institute and is a founding member of the Palladium Chamber Players.

She has been featured at many of the country’s leading chamber music festivals, including the Seattle Chamber Music Society, Manchester Music Festival, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival, Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, Spoleto USA, Taos School of Music, Maui Classical Music Festival, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Chautauqua Institution, Brooklyn Chamber Music Society, the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival, and the Pablo Casals Festival. International appearances include the Seoul Spring Festival, Great Mountains Music Festival, Seoul Arts Center (IBK Hall), Emilia-Romagna Festival (Italy), Music Alp (France), and Kusatsu Festival (Japan).

A committed educator, she has taught at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and given masterclasses at Williams College, Swarthmore College, University of Washington, University of South Carolina, and Amherst College. She holds degrees from Yonsei University, Juilliard, Yale, and a DMA from Stony Brook University.

Artist's Website


Upcoming Concerts & Events

Lesley Robertson Lesley Robertson Viola

After celebrating a final 34th year with the internationally celebrated St. Lawrence String Quartet (SLSQ), Lesley Robertson (viola) continues at Stanford University (1998–present), where she and her St. Lawrence colleagues direct Chamber Music in the Department of Music. Ms. Robertson teaches viola, coaches chamber music, and spearheads both the Emerging String Quartet Program and the annual St. Lawrence Chamber Music Seminar at Stanford. A graduate of the Curtis Institute and the Juilliard School, she also holds a degree from the University of British Columbia, where she studied with her mentor Gerald Stanick. A founding member of the SLSQ, Ms. Robertson toured regularly with the ensemble, performing 100+ concerts worldwide per season (in Berlin, Florence, London, Paris, New York, and Toronto), while nurturing close ties to the Stanford community through performances in classes, dormitories, laboratories, hospitals, and Stanford’s glorious Bing Concert Hall. She participated in the Marlboro Festival for several years and toured with Musicians from Marlboro before co-founding the SLSQ. She has served on the jury of international competitions including the Banff, Melbourne, Geneva, and Wigmore Hall string quartet competitions. Summer festivals include Spoleto Festival USA, Norfolk, Banff, Santa Fe, Rockport, Bravo Vail, Music@Menlo, and more. Robertson plays a viola (1992) by fellow Canadian John Newton and a bow (2016) by François Malo.


Upcoming Concerts & Events

Samuel Rosenthal Samuel Rosenthal Viola, Protégé

Internationally acclaimed for his generous musical spirit, violist Samuel Rosenthal delights in sharing music with audiences of all ages and collaborating with some of today’s preeminent artists. His performances are recognized for their “intimate, personal approach” (Journal of the American Viola Society) and communicative style “clearly conveying the range of human emotions” (Cleveland Classical).

First Prize winner at the 2025 Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition, Sam was also recipient of the silver medal at the 2021 Primrose International Viola Competition. Other awards and recognitions include major prizes at the Johansen International Competition and, as a member of the Razumovsky String Quartet, at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.

Sam began his musical studies in Cleveland and continued his viola studies with Jeffrey Irvine as a member of the Young Artist Program at the Cleveland Institute of Music. His passion for chamber music was ignited by formative work with the Cavani String Quartet and Cleveland Quartet violinist Peter Salaff. Since 2016, he has been a member of the Perlman Music Program community as a student at both the Summer Music School and the Chamber Music Workshop.

Chamber music plays a central part in Sam’s musical life. Since 2023, he has attended the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont, where he had the opportunity to perform and collaborate with its legendary roster of extraordinary artists. Sam has been invited to perform at a variety of celebrated chamber music festivals across the United States and abroad including Chamberfest Cleveland, Musique de Chambre en Normandie, Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival, Music from Angel Fire, and Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute.

Sam is a graduate of the Juilliard School where he had the honor of studying with Heidi Castleman, Misha Amory, and Hsin-Yun Huang, and was a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship. He is currently studying at the Kronberg Academy under the tutelage of Nobuko Imai and Antoine Tamestit. These studies are funded by the Annika and Wolfgang Fink Patronage.

Artist's Website


Upcoming Concerts & Events

Peter Stumpf Peter Stumpf Cello

Peter Stumpf is Professor of Cello at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Prior to his appointment, he was the Principal Cellist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for nine years, following a twelve-year tenure as Associate Principal Cellist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. He received a Bachelor’s degree from the Curtis Institute of Music and an Artist’s Diploma from the New England Conservatory of Music.

A dedicated chamber music musician, he is a member of the Weiss-Kaplan-Stumpf Trio and has appeared at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center, and in Amsterdam, Tokyo, and Cologne. He has performed with the chamber music societies of Boston and Philadelphia, and at numerous festivals including Marlboro, Santa Fe, Bridgehampton, Spoleto, and Aspen. He has toured with Music from Marlboro, and with pianist Mitsuko Uchida in performances of the complete Mozart Piano Trios. As a member of the Johannes Quartet, he collaborated with the Guarneri String Quartet on a tour including premieres of works by Bolcom and Salonen.

Concerto appearances have included the Boston Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Aspen Music Festival, among others. Solo recitals have been at Jordan Hall in Boston, on the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society series, on the Chamber Music in Historic Sites series in Los Angeles, and at the Philips and Corcoran Galleries in Washington, D.C. His awards include first prize in the Washington International Competition.

He has served on the cello faculties at the New England Conservatory and the University of Southern California.


Upcoming Concerts & Events

Claire Wells Claire Wells Violin

American violinist Claire Wells is acclaimed by audiences and press for her expressive musicality and rich, singing quality of sound. Claire has won numerous major prizes in renowned international competitions such as the Sibelius, Michael Hill, and Indianapolis competitions, and has collaborated with orchestras such as the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and others. Solo concert engagements have brought her to halls like the Wigmore Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, the Meyerson Symphony Center, Bass Performance Hall, and Teatro Degollado.

Having always held a special place in her heart for chamber music, Claire has been invited to perform at several international festivals such as Chamber Music Northwest, Chamber Music Connects the World, the Gstaad Festival, Krzyzowa Festival, and the Verbier Festival. Claire has the pleasure of frequently collaborating with some of the world’s top young musicians, as well as sharing the stage with world-renowned musicians such as Noah Bendix-Balgley, Christian Tetzlaff, Lars Anders Tomter, and Enrico Pace, amongst others.

Since 2022, Claire Wells has studied with Mihaela Martin at the Kronberg Academy, made possible by the Opel/Dr. Schaefer patronage. Claire plays on a Nicolo Amati and a Grand Adam bow, on loan from a generous donor.


Upcoming Concerts & Events

Suggested Event

7/12  •  4:00 pm PSU, College of the Arts, Lincoln Performance Hall Souvenir: Tchaikovsky Sextet   Souvenir: Tchaikovsky Sextet



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