Opening Night: Poetry in Music

Artists

Fleur Barron Mezzo-soprano

Hailed as “a knockout performer” by The Times, Singaporean-British mezzo Fleur Barron is a passionate interpreter of opera, symphonic works, and chamber music ranging from the Baroque to the contemporary. She is currently Artistic Partner of the Orquesta Sinfonica del Principado de Asturias in Oviedo, for which she will curate and perform multiple projects across several seasons. The artist is mentored by Barbara Hannigan.

The 2024-25 season sees Fleur Barron emerge as an exciting, leading voice in Mahlerian repertoire across a series of important symphonic debuts: Das Lied von der Erde with Daniel Harding and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra on tour across Germany, with Harding and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Stockholm, on tour to Spain with Kent Nagano and the Hamburg Staatsorchester at the Elbphilharmonie, and at the Oregon Bach Festival; Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn with Nathalie Stutzmann and the Atlanta Symphony; Mahler’s second symphony with the Orquesta de Valencia; Rückert Lieder with PhilZuid; and the Kindertotenlieder at Het Concertgebouw’s Mahler Festival with Julius Drake.

Other orchestral engagements include Peter Lieberson’s Neruda Songs with the Hawai’i Symphony Orchestra, Saariaho’s Adriana Songs with the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, and orchestrated Schubert songs with the Orquesta Sinfonica del Principado de Asturias.

She takes on three new opera roles: Concepción in Ravel’s L’Heure Espagnole with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra under Ludovic Morlot (including a studio recording); Comrade Chin/Shu Fang in Huang Ruo’s M. Butterfly at the Barbican Centre directed by James Robinson; and Galatea in Handel’s Aci, Galatea e Polifemo with La Nuova Musica at Wigmore Hall.

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Benjamin Beilman Violin

Benjamin Beilman is one of the leading violinists of his generation. He has won international praise for his passionate performances and deep, rich tone which The New York Times described as “muscular with a glint of violence”, and The Strad described as “pure poetry.“ Le Monde has described him as “a prodigious artist, who combines the gift of utmost sound perfection and a deep, delicate, intense, simmering sensitivity”.

Benjamin’s 2024/25 season includes his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic and Kirill Petrenko on tour in the US, and returns to the Chicago, Cincinnati, and Antwerp symphonies. He also makes his debut with the Belgian National Orchestra the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony. He will also tour with pianist Steven Osborne across the US.

In recent seasons, Beilman’s commitment to and passion for contemporary music has led to new works written for him by Frederic Rzewski, Gabriella Smith, and a concerto by Chris Rogerson. He has also given multiple performances of Jennifer Higdon’s violin concerto, and recorded Thomas Larcher’s concerto with Hannu Lintu and the Tonkünstler Orchester.

He has received many prestigious accolades including a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and a London Music Masters Award. He has also recorded works by Stravinsky, Janáček, and Schubert for Warner Classics. In 2022, he became one of the youngest artists to be appointed to the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music.

He performs with the ex-Balaković F. X. Tourte bow (c. 1820), and plays the “Ysaÿe” Guarneri del Gesù from 1740, generously on loan from the Nippon Music Foundation.

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Upcoming Concerts & Events

• Violin Masterclass with Benjamin Beilman (2022)

Ieva Jokūbavičiūtė Piano

Lithuanian pianist Ieva Jokūbavičiūtė‘s powerfully and intricately crafted performances have led critics to describe her as possessing “razor-sharp intelligence and wit” (The Washington Post) and as “an artist of commanding technique, refined temperament and persuasive insight” (The New York Times). In 2006, she was honored as a recipient of a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship.

In 2021, Sono Luminus released Ms. Jokūbavičiūtė’s latest recording, Northscapes, which features works by twenty-first century composers from the Nordic and Baltic countries of Europe. Gramophone magazine described it as “a fascinating, well-balanced programme, played with engrossingly undemonstrative virtuosity . . . Jokūbavičiūtė navigates the contrasting demands of each work with hugely impressive skill.”

Jokūbavičiūtė’s recital programs and recording projects bring her to stages in major cities in the US and in Europe. She made her orchestral debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival and has since performed concerti with orchestras in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Montevideo, Uruguay; Washington, DC; and Fargo, North Dakota. 

A much sought-after chamber musician and collaborator, notably with violinist Midori, Ms. Jokūbavičiūtė‘s chamber music endeavors have brought her to major stages throughout North America and extensive touring in Europe, Japan, India, and South America. She also regularly appears at international music festivals and has established herself as a mentoring artist at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont and Kneisel Hall in Maine. She was a founding member of the Naumburg International Chamber Music Competition winner, Trio Cavatina.

A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and the Mannes College of Music, Ms. Jokūbavičiūtė is currently Associate Professor of Piano at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

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Hsin-Yun Huang Viola

Hsin-Yun Huang has forged a career as one of the leading violists of her generation, performing on international concert stages, commissioning and recording new works, and nurturing young musicians. Ms. Huang has been soloist with the Berlin Radio Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic, the Bogotá Philharmonic, the NCPA Orchestra in Beijing, Zagreb Soloists, International Contemporary Ensemble, the London Sinfonia, and the Brazil Youth Orchestra, and has performed the complete Hindemith viola concertos with the Taipei City Symphony. She is a regular presence at festivals including Marlboro, Santa Fe, Rome, Spoleto USA, Moritzburg, Music@Menlo, and the Seoul Spring Festival, among many others. She tours extensively with the Brentano String Quartet, most notably including performances of the complete Mozart string quintets at Carnegie Hall.

Inspired by authentic folk elements from around the globe, the program Strings of Soul is the focus and highlight of Ms. Huang’s 2022-23 season. Delving into her cultural roots, Ms. Huang co-commissioned Grawemeyer Award-winner Lei Liang to curate the program for pipa virtuoso, Wu Man, and viola. Additional performances of the season include chamber and solo recitals in New York City, Philadelphia, Athens (GA), and more.

Since the pandemic, Ms. Huang has found ways to reimagine the next stage. Highlights in 2021 included her multidisciplinary collaborations incorporating choreography by Ashkenazy Ballet based on her solo viola project, FantaC, which was chosen to air on Sky Classica, the Italian Premiere Arts Channel. She started a hybrid educational space VivaViola! with missions to expand the viola repertoire while preserving musical values and history through her dialogues with esteemed musicians of today.

Other recent highlights include concerto performances under the batons of David Robertson, Osmo Vänskä, Xian Zhang, and Max Valdés in Beijing, Taipei, and Bogota, and appearances at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. She is also the first solo violist to be presented at the National Performance Center of the Arts in Beijing. She is a regular guest of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, the 92nd Street Y, and the Seoul Spring Festival. The 2014-15 season featured a series of three chamber concerts curated by Ms. Huang and presented by the 92nd Street Y.

Ms. Huang has in recent years embarked on a series of major commissioning projects for solo viola and chamber ensemble. To date, these works include compositions from Shih-Hui Chen (Shu Shon Key, which Ms. Chen also arranged for orchestra) and Steven Mackey (Groundswell), which premiered at the Aspen Festival. Ms. Huang’s 2012 recording, Viola Viola, for Bridge Records, included those works along with compositions by Elliott Carter, Poul Ruders, and George Benjamin; the CD has won accolades from Gramophone and BBC Music Magazine. Her most recent release is the complete Unaccompanied Sonatas and Partitas of J.S. Bach, in partnership with violist Misha Amory.

A native of Taiwan and an alumna of Young Concert Artists, Ms. Huang received degrees from The Juilliard School and The Curtis Institute of Music. She has given masterclasses at the Guildhall School in London, the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, the San Francisco Conservatory, Yong Sie Tow Conservatory in Singapore, and the McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University. She served on the jury of the 2011 Banff International String Quartet Competition, the 2022 Tokyo International Viola Competition, and will be a juror for the 2023 Melbourne Chamber Music Competition.

Ms. Huang first came to international attention as the gold medalist and the youngest competitor in the 1988 Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition. In 1993 she was the top prize winner in the ARD International Competition in Munich, and was awarded the highly prestigious Bunkamura Orchard Hall Award. Ms. Huang was a member of the Borromeo String Quartet from 1994 to 2000.

She is currently on the Viola Faculty at the Juilliard School and the Curtis Institute of Music and most grateful for her teachers David Takeno, Peter Norris, Michael Tree, and Samuel Rhodes. She is married to Misha Amory, violist of the Brentano String Quartet. They live in New York City and have two children, Lucas and Leah. She plays on a 1735 Testore Viola.

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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.

Kim Stafford Poetry

Kim Stafford, founding director of the Northwest Writing Institute at Lewis & Clark College, teaches and travels to raise the human spirit. He is the author of a dozen books of poetry and prose, including The Muses Among Us: Eloquent Listening and Other Pleasures of the Writer’s Craft and 100 Tricks Every Boy Can Do: How My Brother Disappeared. His most recent book is the poetry collection Singer Come from Afar (Red Hen, 2021). He has taught writing in dozens of schools and community centers, and in Scotland, Italy, Mexico, and Bhutan. In 2018 he was named Oregon’s 9th Poet Laureate by Governor Kate Brown for a two-year term.

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