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OPENING NIGHT: Beethoven, Brahms & Bunch!

OPENING NIGHT: Beethoven, Brahms & Bunch!

Opening Night of CMNW’s 54th Summer Festival will be a not-to-be missed event celebrating Beethoven’s influence on the last two centuries of chamber music! Our first concert of the summer features many of our favorite CMNW artists, including violist Paul Neubauer and renowned pianist Alessio Bax performing an exquisite Brahms Viola Sonata. We will “replay” the delightful Ralph’s Old Records by Portland’s own Kenji Bunch. A new arrangement for chamber ensemble of Beethoven’s stunning Second Symphony will conclude the evening. A truly epic start to the summer!

6 pm | Lobby Prelude Performance with Young Artist Institute

Kenji Bunch’s Ralph’s Old Records was commissioned and premiered by Chamber Music Northwest in 2015 with the generous support of Carl Abbott and Margery Post Abbott.

This concert is sponsored by Heidi Yorkshire & Joseph Anthony.
This concert’s Prelude Performance is sponsored by George & Deborah Olsen.

Patricia Reser Center for the Arts
Thursday, 6/27 • 7:30 pm PT

Program

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

BRAHMS Sonata for Viola & Piano in F Minor, Op. 120, No. 1

JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833–1897) Sonata for Viola & Piano in F Minor, Op. 120, No. 1 (23’)

I. Allegro appassionato
II. Andante un poco adagio
III. Allegretto grazioso
IV. Vivace

In the winter of 1891, Johannes Brahms contemplated retirement. He was unwell, depressed, and suffering from writer’s block. A visit to the court of Meiningen a few months later changed everything; there Brahms met virtuoso clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld, who played in the court orchestra. Mühlfeld’s artistry, and the rich expressive sound of the clarinet itself, reinvigorated Brahms.

In 1894, Brahms once again reached a low creative point, and once again Mühlfeld and his clarinet came to Brahms’s rescue. While vacationing in Bad Ischl that summer, Brahms wrote the two clarinet sonatas of Op. 120. He also reworked Op. 120 for viola, whose range and warm sound parallel that of the clarinet. Brahms’s version for viola transposes some of the music down an octave, to showcase the viola’s rich low register; in places, Brahms also thickens the harmony through use of double stops.

Op. 120, No. 1 contrasts the first two movements’ introspection and wistfulness with the exuberance and lighthearted whimsy of the final two; by the closing Vivace, the mood is so transformed as to end in a sunny F Major rather than a brooding F Minor.

—© Elizabeth Schwartz

KENJI BUNCH “Ralph’s Old Records”

KENJI BUNCH
Ralph’s Old Records

2015 CMNW Commission through a generous gift from Carl Abbott and Margery Post Abbott

I. Chi-Chi Hotcha Watchee Stomp
II. Celestial Debris
III. I Didn’t Hear Nobody Pray
IV. When I Grew Too Old to Dream, Dream, Dream, One More Dream Came True
V. Off to the Foxes

Portland-based composer Kenji Bunch enjoys an active career as a performer, arts leader, and educator, serving as Artistic Director of Fear No Music, and the Co-Director of the MYS advanced string orchestra MYSFits, in addition to his teaching positions at Portland State University, Reed College, and with the Portland Youth Philharmonic. Of his work Ralph’s Old Records, which received its premiere with CMNW in 2015, Bunch writes, “Growing up, I enjoyed listening to a cassette tape compilation my dad made from his stack of old vinyl records from the 30s and 40s. His handwritten title on the mix tape was the same as on his box of 78s, simply ‘Ralph’s Old Records.’ As I child, I knew little about the artists (ranging from Al Jolson and the Mills Brothers through Guy Lombardo, Glenn Miller, the Andrews Sisters, and Spike Jones) or the historical context of their music. Rather, I listened to the songs as abstract expressions of humor, exuberance, rhythmic energy, and at times, poignant beauty and lyricism. As an adult, I revisited this music with a more nuanced understanding similar to the more fully realized view I had developed of my father’s own ‘records;’ surviving Depression-era poverty, WWII, and becoming the first member of his family to receive a college education. In this sense, Ralph’s Old Records is a quite personal work, written in the spirit of how I remember discovering this music as a child forty-some years ago—a wondrous, unpredictable concoction of syncopated rhythms and sonorities. This work is scored for ‘Pierrot’ ensemble: flute doubling piccolo, clarinet, violin doubling viola, cello, and piano, with several peripheral doublings unexpectedly popping up at times.”

—© Kenji Bunch

BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 36

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827) Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 36 (34’)


I. Adagio molto – Allegro con brio
II. Larghetto
III. Scherzo: Allegro
IV. Allegro molto


In 1802, as Ludwig van Beethoven completed his Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 36, his worsening deafness triggered profound depression and suicidal thoughts.

On his doctor’s advice, Beethoven spent much of 1802 in the village of Heiligenstadt, where he visited the nearby spa. The enforced isolation plunged Beethoven into greater despair, as he realized his hearing might never improve. On October 6, 1802, unable to contain his anguish any longer, Beethoven wrote a letter, known as the Heiligenstadt Testament, to his brothers Carl and Johann:

“… For six years now I have been hopelessly afflicted, made worse by senseless physicians, from year to year deceived with hopes of improvement, finally compelled to face the prospect of a lasting malady … Yet it was impossible for me to say to people, ‘Speak louder, shout, for I am deaf.’ Ah, how could I possibly admit an infirmity in the one sense that ought to be more perfect in me than in others? … If I approach near to people a hot terror seizes upon me, and I fear being exposed to the danger that my condition might be noticed … Such incidents drove me almost to despair … I would have ended my life—it was only my art that held me back. It seemed to me impossible to leave the world until I had produced all that I felt was within me.”

Beethoven never sent the letter; it was discovered in his papers after his death.

The slow introduction transitions instantly to an aggressively cheerful Allegro, as if Beethoven were forcing himself into a positive mood. In the Larghetto, melodies of serene delicacy reflect Beethoven’s lifelong love of nature. The Scherzo’s offbeat rhythms and fragmented melodies probably shocked the Viennese audiences of Beethoven’s time. Beethoven rebels against his deafness in the Allegro molto, whose sassy opening gesture verges on insolence. The surge of energy generated by this movement expresses a defiant reaffirmation of will to “produce all that I felt was within me.”

—© Elizabeth Schwartz

Artists

Alessio Bax Alessio Bax Piano

Combining exceptional lyricism and insight with consummate technique, Alessio Bax is without a doubt “among the most remarkable young pianists now before the public” (Gramophone). He catapulted to prominence with First Prize wins at both the Leeds and Hamamatsu International Piano Competitions. He has appeared as a concerto soloist with more than 150 orchestras, including the New York, London, Royal, and St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestras, the Boston, Dallas, Cincinnati, Seattle, Sydney, and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestras, and the Tokyo and NHK Symphony in Japan, collaborating with such eminent conductors as Marin Alsop, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Sir Andrew Davis, Fabio Luisi, Sir Simon Rattle, Yuri Temirkanov, and Jaap van Zweden.

As a renowned chamber musician, he recently collaborated with Joshua Bell, Ian Bostridge, Lucille Chung, Vilde Frang, Steven Isserlis, Daishin Kashimoto, Sergei Nakariakov, Emmanuel Pahud, Lawrence Power, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Paul Watkins, and Tabea Zimmermann.

Since 2017, he has been the Artistic Director of the Incontri in Terra di Siena Festival, a Summer Music Festival in the Val d’Orcia region of Tuscany. He appears regularly in festivals such as Seattle, Bravo Vail, Salon-de-Provence, Le Pont in Japan, Great Lakes, Verbier, Ravinia, and Music@Menlo.

Bax’s award-winning Signum Classics discography includes 13 albums covering a wide range of repertoire in solo, piano duo, and concerto.

At the record age of 14, Bax graduated with top honors from the Conservatory of Bari, his hometown in Italy, and after further studies in Europe, he moved to the United States in 1994. A Steinway artist, he lives in New York City with pianist Lucille Chung and their daughter, Mila. He has been on the piano faculty of Boston’s New England Conservatory since the fall of 2019.

Artist's Website

Nina Bernat Nina Bernat Bass

American double bassist Nina Bernat, acclaimed for her interpretive maturity, expressive depth and technical clarity, emerges onto the world stage with awards and accolades, thrilling audiences everywhere. She was hailed by Star Tribune as a “standout” for her recent concerto debut with the Minnesota Orchestra, praising her performance as “exhilarating, lovely and lyrical…technically precise and impressively emotive.”

In 2023, Nina was honored as a recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant and winner of the CAG Elmaleh Competition. Recent 1st prizes include the Barbash J.S. Bach String Competition, the Minnesota Orchestra Young Artist Competition, the Juilliard Double Bass Competition, and the 2019 International Society of Bassists Solo Competition.

Engaged in all aspects of double bass performance, she has been invited to perform as guest principal bassist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and Oslo Philharmonic, serving under the batons of conductors such as András Schiff and Osmo Vänskä. Nina is in demand as a passionate chamber musician. She began her involvement with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center as a member of the Bowers Program in 2025. She has spent summers at Marlboro Music Festival, Verbier Festival, Music@Menlo, and Chamber Music Northwest.

She is quickly becoming a sought-after pedagogue, having given masterclasses at the Colburn School, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and University of Texas at Austin, among others. She is on the faculty of Stony Brook University.

Nina performs on an instrument passed down from her father, Mark Bernat, attributed to Guadagnini.

Artist's Website

Kenji Bunch Kenji Bunch Composer & Viola

Kenji Bunch writes music that looks for commonalities between musical styles, for understandings that transcend cultural or generational barriers, and for empathic connections with his listeners. Drawing on vernacular musical traditions, an interest in highlighting historical injustices and inaccuracies, and techniques from his classical training, Bunch creates music with a unique, personal vocabulary that appeals to a diverse array of performers and audiences. With his work frequently performed worldwide and recorded numerous times, Bunch considers his current mission the search for and celebration of shared emotional truths about the human experience from the profound to the absurd, to help facilitate connection and healing through entertainment, vulnerability, humor, and joy.

As the first student to receive dual graduate degrees in viola and composition from The Juilliard School, Mr. Bunch has been widely recognized for his groundbreaking works for viola, and remains active as an innovative performer, comfortable in traditional, experimental, and improvisational musical contexts. He currently serves as artistic director of the new music group Fear No Music and is deeply committed to music education in his hometown of Portland, Oregon, where he lives with his wife, pianist Monica Ohuchi, their two children, and two dogs.

Artist's Website

Nicholas Cords Nicholas Cords Viola

For three decades, omnivorous violist Nicholas Cords has been on the front line of a unique constellation of projects as performer, educator, and cultural advocate, with a signature passion for the cross section between the long tradition of classical music and the wide range of music being created today.

Nicholas served for twenty years as violist of the Silkroad Ensemble, a musical collective founded by Yo-Yo Ma in 2000 with the belief that cross-cultural collaboration leads to a more hopeful world. This mission was poignantly explored by the recent Oscar-nominated documentary by Morgan Neville, The Music of Strangers, which makes a case for why culture matters. In addition, Nicholas served from 2017-2020 as a Co-Artistic Director for Silkroad, and previously as Silkroad’s Programming Chair. He appears on all of the Silkroad Ensemble’s albums including Sing Me Home (Sony Music), which received a 2017 Grammy Award for Best World Music Album.

Another key aspect of Nicholas’s musical life is as founding member of Brooklyn Rider, an intrepid group which NPR credits with “recreating the 300-year-old form of the string quartet as a vital and creative 21st-century ensemble.” Highly committed to collaborative ventures, the group has worked with Irish fiddler Martin Hayes, jazz saxophonist Joshua Redman, ballerina Wendy Whelan, Persian kemancheh virtuoso Kayhan Kalhor, Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter, Mexican singer Magos Herrera, and banjoist Béla Fleck, to name a few. Their most recent recording, Healing Modes, was lauded by The New York Times and received a 2021 Grammy Nomination.

His acclaimed 2020 solo recording, Touch Harmonious (In a Circle Records), is a reflection on the arc of tradition spanning from the baroque to today, featuring multiple premieres. A dedicated teacher, Nicholas currently serves on the viola and chamber music faculty of New England Conservatory.

Artist's Website

Jeff Garza Jeff Garza Horn

Jeff Garza was appointed Principal Horn of the Oregon Symphony in October 2019. He has previously held principal positions with the San Antonio Symphony, Houston Grand Opera, Britt Festival Orchestra, and Festival Mozaic. Jeff has served as guest principal in dozens of orchestras, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Utah Symphony, New Zealand Symphony, and Melbourne Symphony. During the summer festival season, he is principal horn of the Bellingham Festival of Music.

As a chamber musician and soloist, Jeff has performed at festivals, workshops and concert series throughout the United States including Concordia Chamber Players, Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, and Cactus Pear Music Festival. He is a core member and former Artistic Director of Olmos Ensemble, a chamber music group based in San Antonio, Texas.

His recent recording credits include chamber music by composers Mark Abel (Spectrum, Delos Productions) and Andrew Lewinter (Music for Brass and Piano, Novona Records).

Jeff is a graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy and the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. He received additional musical training as a fellow with the New World Symphony and the Tanglewood Music Center. Jeff is currently Adjunct Professor of Horn and a chamber music coach at Oregon State University and the University of Portland. He has previously held faculty positions at Brevard Music Center, Interlochen Center for the Arts, St. Mary’s University, San Antonio College, and Trinity University.

Artist's Website

Alexander Hersh Alexander Hersh Cello

Having given his Carnegie Hall debut recital in 2022, cellist Alexander Hersh has quickly established himself as one of the most exciting and creative talents of his generation. He frequently appears as soloist with major orchestras, including the Houston Symphony and Boston POPS, and has received top prizes at competitions worldwide including the 2022 Pro Musicis International Award, Astral Artists National Auditions, Salon de Virtuosi Career grant, New York International Artists Association Competition, and the Schadt competition.

A passionate chamber musician, Hersh has performed on tour with Musicians from Marlboro and appeared at music festivals worldwide including Marlboro, Chamber Music Northwest, Caramoor, Ravinia, Music@Menlo, I-M-S Prussia Cove, Manchester, Amsterdam Cello Biennale, Kneisel Hall, and Lucerne. He serves as Co-Artistic Director of NEXUS Chamber Music, an artist driven collective of musicians whose mission is to make classical music culturally relevant through live concerts and multimedia content.

In 2023, Hersh released his debut album ABSINTHE, a project that marries his love of classical music with short films, comedy, and themed merchandise. The narrative-based videos are available on Hersh’s YouTube channel and the album is out now on all streaming platforms.

Raised in Chicago, Alexander Hersh began playing the cello at the age of five. He received his B.M. and M.M. from New England Conservatory where he graduated with academic honors. Later he was a recipient of the Frank Huntington Beebe fund for studies in Berlin where he studied at the Hanns Eisler Hochschule for Musik Berlin. His previous 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.

Artist's Website

Soovin Kim Soovin Kim 2025 YAI Faculty, Violin & Artistic Director

Soovin Kim enjoys a broad musical career regularly performing Bach sonatas and Paganini caprices for solo violin, sonatas for violin and piano ranging from Beethoven to Ives, Mozart, and Haydn concertos and symphonies as a conductor, and new world-premiere works almost every season. When he was 20 years old, Kim received first prize at the Paganini International Violin Competition. He immersed himself in the string quartet literature for 20 years as the 1st violinist of the Johannes Quartet. Among his many commercial recordings are his “thrillingly triumphant” (Classic FM Magazine) disc of Paganini’s demanding 24 Caprices and a two-disc set of Bach’s complete solo violin works that were released in 2022.

Kim is the founder and artistic director of the Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival (LCCMF) in Burlington, Vermont. In addition to its explorative programming and extensive work with living composers, LCCMF created the ONE Strings program through which all 3rd through 5th grade students of the Integrated Arts Academy in Burlington study violin. The University of Vermont recognized Soovin Kim’s work by bestowing an Honorary Doctorate upon him in 2015. In 2020, he and his wife, pianist Gloria Chien, became artistic directors of Chamber Music Northwest in Portland, Oregon. He, with Chien, were awarded Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s 2021 CMS Award for Extraordinary Service to Chamber Music. Kim devotes much of his time to his passion for teaching at the New England Conservatory in Boston and the Yale School of Music in New Haven.

Jessica Lee Jessica Lee Violin

Violinist Jessica Lee has built a multifaceted career as soloist, chamber musician, and now as Assistant Concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra since 2016. She was the Grand Prize Winner of the 2005 Concert Artists Guild International Competition and has been hailed as “a soloist which one should make a special effort to hear, wherever she plays.” Her international appearances include solo performances with the Plzen Philharmonic, Gangnam Symphony, Malaysia Festival Orchestra, and at the Rudolfinum in Prague. At home, she has appeared with orchestras such as the Houston, Grand Rapids, and Spokane symphonies. 

Jessica has performed in recital at venues including Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, Ravinia “Rising Stars,” the Phillips Collection in Washington DC, and the Kennedy Center.

A long-time member of the Johannes Quartet as well as of the The Bowers Program (formerly the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Two), Jessica has also toured frequently with Musicians from Marlboro, including appearances at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Boston’s Gardner Museum, and with the Guarneri Quartet in their farewell season. Her chamber music festival appearances include Bridgehampton, Santa Fe, Seoul Spring, Caramoor, Olympic, and Music@Menlo. She also put together a six-video chamber music series during the pandemic which was a collaboration between the Cleveland Orchestra and the Cleveland Clinic to bring chamber music from iconic spaces in Cleveland to the greater Cleveland community.

Jessica has always had a passion for teaching and has served on the faculties of Vassar College and Oberlin College, and now is on violin faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Music. She was accepted to the Curtis Institute of Music at age fourteen following studies with Weigang Li, and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree under Robert Mann and Ida Kavafian. She completed her studies for a Master’s Degree at the Juilliard School.

Artist's Website

Amelia Lukas Amelia Lukas Flute

“Known for her especially pure tone, flexible technique, and passionate performances,” (Artslandia) flutist Amelia Lukas performs with “a fine balance of virtuosity and poetry” (The New York Times). A Powell Flutes Artist and Portland resident, she “excels at bringing drama and fire to hyper-modernist works with challenging extended techniques” (Oregon ArtsWatch). In addition to her solo show “Natural Homeland” at the Alberta Rose Theatre and throughout Washington and Hawaii, her recent engagements include solo appearances for United for Ukraine, Siletz Bay Music Festival, Fear No Music, Makrokosmos Project, Kenny Endo, March Music Moderne, Portland Taiko, the Astoria Music Festival, and for All Classical Radio’s live radio broadcasts, with additional performances for the Willamette Valley Chamber Music Festival, Oregon Bach Festival, Portland Piano International, TedX Portland, Friends of Chamber Music, 45th Parallel, and Oregon Music Festival. Lukas’ career includes founding and directing the “truly original… impeccably curated” (Time Out New York) multimedia chamber series, Ear Heart Music, membership in the American Modern Ensemble, and performances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Stone, Bargemusic, (Le) Poisson Rouge, Roulette, and New Music New York Festival. She holds degrees from the Royal Academy of Music (London), where she received three prizes for musical excellence, and from the Manhattan School of Music, where she was an inaugural class member for the Master’s Degree in Contemporary Performance. Amelia is a Chamber Music Northwest Board Member and offers creative strategy and public relations services as the Principal and Founder of Aligned Artistry. Learn more at amelialukas.com.

Artist's Website

Carin Miller Carin Miller Bassoon

Carin Miller is Principal Bassoon with the Oregon Symphony, and she previously held principal bassoon positions with the Jacksonville and Shreveport Symphonies. Ms. Miller has performed frequently as Guest Principal Bassoon with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, as well as the Portland Opera and Oregon Ballet Theater. She recently toured as Guest Principal Bassoon with the Galilee Chamber Orchestra performing in Tel Aviv, Toronto, and New York City’s Carnegie Hall. Ms. Miller enjoys collaborating in Seattle with the Seattle Chamber Music Society and Orca Concert series, as well as locally with Chamber Music Northwest, Amadeus Chamber Orchestra, Third Angle New Music Ensemble, Classical Up Close, and 45th Parallel Universe.

Under the umbrella of the Oregon Symphony Sounds of Home series, she curated and performed in a chamber music program with commissions from local composers and in conjunction with the Audubon Society of Portland to raise awareness of the impact of climate change. Ms. Miller has had the immense pleasure of performing duets with jazz sensation Wycliffe Gordon as part of her residency coaching with the National Youth Orchestra of Carnegie Hall.

A native of Queens, New York, Ms. Miller holds a BM from The Juilliard School, an MM from Rice University, and an Advanced Certificate from the University of Southern California. Her teachers include Whitney Crockett, Frank Morelli, Stephen Maxym, and Benjamin Kamins.

Ms. Miller is the Founder and Director of the online symposium, Bassoons Without Borders, and continues to connect communities across the globe and improve access to high-quality education for all through this work. As an educator, she has served on the faculty of the Sarasota Music Festival and has presented masterclasses for the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University and the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory, as well as being the featured guest for McGill University’s Bassoon Day. She coaches for the Portland Youth Philharmonic, Metropolitan Youth Symphony, and Wallowa Lake Woodwind Camp. Ms. Miller had the great privilege of serving for a year as visiting Adjunct Associate Professor of Bassoon at Indiana University in 2021-2022, and has served on the board of the Portland Youth Philharmonic. Ms. Miller is currently Adjunct Professor at Portland State University, Pacific University, Lewis and Clark College, and Reed College, as well as curating a private teaching studio from her home in Portland, Oregon.

Paul Neubauer Paul Neubauer Viola

Violist Paul Neubauer’s exceptional musicality and effortless playing led The New York Times to call him “a master musician.” In 2025 he will release two albums for First Hand Records that feature the final works of two great composers: an all-Bartók album including the revised version of the viola concerto, and a Shostakovich recording including the monumental viola sonata.

At age 21, Mr. Neubauer was appointed principal violist of the New York Philharmonic, and he held that position for six years. He has appeared as soloist with over 100 orchestras including the New York, Los Angeles, and Helsinki philharmonics; Chicago, National, St. Louis, Detroit, Dallas, San Francisco, and Bournemouth symphonies; and Mariinsky, Santa Cecilia, English Chamber, and Beethovenhalle orchestras.

He has also premiered viola concertos by Béla Bartók (revised version of the Viola Concerto), Reinhold Glière, Gordon Jacob, Henri Lazarof, Robert Suter, Joel Phillip Friedman, Aaron Jay Kernis, Detlev Müller-Siemens, David Ott, Krzysztof Penderecki, Tobias Picker, and Joan Tower. He performs with SPA, a trio with soprano Susanna Phillips and pianist Anne-Marie McDermott, with a wide range of repertoire including salon style songs.

He has been featured on CBS’s Sunday Morning, A Prairie Home Companion, and in Strad, Strings, and People magazines. A two-time Grammy nominee, he has recorded on numerous labels including Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, RCA Red Seal, and Sony Classical.

Mr. Neubauer appears with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and is the artistic director of the Mostly Music series in New Jersey. He is on the faculty of The Juilliard School and Mannes College

Artist's Website

Monica Ohuchi Monica Ohuchi Piano

Monica Ohuchi’s “commanding pianism” (The New York Times, Anthony Tommasini), performing “with beauty, clarity and drive…[offering a] warmth…expressiveness [that’s] irresistible and deeply moving” (Barre Montpelier Times Argus) allows her an active career as a piano soloist, chamber musician, and pedagogue. “Dutifully and gracefully” (San Francisco Classical Voice) attentive to musical depth and detail, Ohuchi is the pianist and executive director of Fear No Music, and performs locally with Chamber Music Northwest, Classical Up Close, 45th Parallel, and the Chintimini Chamber Music Festival, among many others. Ohuchi’s engagements include collaborations with David Parsons Dance Company and the Oregon Ballet Theater, and soloing with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Marin Symphony Orchestra, and Newport Symphony Orchestra. She is a frequent guest clinician and adjudicator for the Oregon State and Washington State Music Teacher Associations, as well as the Oregon state chapter of the National Federation of Music, and a regular performer on All Classical Radio. Her solo album released on Helicon Records, Monica’s Notebook, is a series of piano études written expressly for her by her husband, Kenji Bunch. Ohuchi is currently the program director of music performance at Reed College, where she also teaches piano and chamber music. Ohuchi holds advanced degrees from the Juilliard School in Piano Performance. She most enjoys spending her time with her husband, their two children, and two pitbull-mix rescue dogs.

Artist's Website

Ian David Rosenbaum Ian David Rosenbaum Percussion

Praised for his “spectacular performances” (Wall Street Journal), and his “unfailing virtuosity” (Chicago Tribune), Grammy-nominated percussionist Ian David Rosenbaum has developed a musical breadth far beyond his years.

As a passionate advocate for contemporary music, Mr. Rosenbaum has premiered over one hundred new chamber and solo works. He has collaborated with and championed the music of established and emerging composers alike.

Mr. Rosenbaum was nominated for three Grammy Awards in 2021 for his performances on albums of music by Andy Akiho and Christopher Cerrone, including two nominations for Seven Pillars, an album by Sandbox Percussion released on Aki Rhythm Productions, a record label that Mr. Rosenbaum and Mr. Akiho founded in 2021.

In 2012, Mr. Rosenbaum joined the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Bowers Program (formerly CMS Two) as only the second percussionist they have selected in their history, and has performed regularly with CMS since then.

Mr. Rosenbaum is a founding member of Sandbox Percussion, the Percussion Collective, and the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble. He has recorded for the Bridge, Innova, Naxos, and Starkland labels, and is on faculty at the Mannes School of Music and the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Mr. Rosenbaum endorses Pearl/Adams instruments, Vic Firth mallets, and Remo drumheads.

Artist's Website

Frank Rosenwein Frank Rosenwein Oboe

Frank Rosenwein joined The Cleveland Orchestra as Principal Oboe at the beginning of the 2005-06 season. He made his solo debut with the orchestra in February 2007, in Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2. Since then, he has performed many times as soloist, including playing the Richard Strauss Oboe Concerto in 2012 and the first Cleveland Orchestra performances of the Vaughan Williams Oboe Concerto in 2017.

Since 2006, Mr. Rosenwein has served as head of the oboe department at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where in 2015 he was given the Alumni Achievement Award. He also teaches at the Kent Blossom Music Festival, and is in demand as a guest artist and masterclass clinician in schools all over the world. An avid chamber musician, he has spent many summers at the Marlboro Festival and has performed with the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and the Seattle Chamber Music Society.

Born in Evanston, Illinois, Mr. Rosenwein holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with John Mack (Cleveland Orchestra Principal Oboe, 1965-2001), and a Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School where he studied with Elaine Douvas. Prior to coming to Cleveland, he served as Principal Oboe (2002-05) of the San Diego Symphony and San Diego Opera.

Mr. Rosenwein is married to Cleveland Orchestra Associate Concertmaster, Jung-Min Amy Lee. They live in Beachwood with their three sons, Joshua, Julian, and Benjamin, and their dog, Rosie.

David Shifrin David Shifrin Clarinet & Artistic Director Emeritus 1981–2020

Clarinetist David Shifrin graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy in 1967 and the Curtis Institute in 1971. He made his debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra having won the Orchestra’s Student Competition in 1969. He went on to receive numerous prizes and awards worldwide, including the Geneva and Munich International Competitions, the Concert Artists Guild auditions, and both the Avery Fisher Career Grant (1987) and the Avery Fisher Prize (2000).

Shifrin received Yale University’s Cultural Leadership Citation in 2014 and is currently the Samuel S. Sanford Professor in the Practice of Clarinet at the Yale School of Music where he teaches a studio of graduate-level clarinetists and coaches chamber music ensembles. He is also the artistic director of Yale’s Oneppo Chamber Music Society and the Yale in New York concert series. Shifrin previously served on the faculties of the Juilliard School, the University of Southern California, the University of Michigan, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and the University of Hawaii.

Shifrin served as artistic director of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center from 1992 to 2004 and Chamber Music Northwest in Portland, Oregon from 1981 to 2020. He has appeared as soloist with major orchestras in the United States and abroad and has served as Principal Clarinet with the Cleveland Orchestra, American Symphony Orchestra (under Stokowski), the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and the Symphony Orchestras of New Haven, Honolulu, and Dallas. Shifrin also continues to broaden the clarinet repertoire by commissioning and championing more than 100 works of 20th and 21st century American composers. Shifrin’s recordings have consistently garnered praise and awards including three Grammy nominations and “Record of the Year” from Stereo Review.

Shifrin is represented by CM Artists in New York and performs on Backun clarinets and Légère reeds.

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.



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