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Shades of Impressionism

Shades of Impressionism

Before the emergence of the Impressionists, French composers Debussy, Chausson, and Franck introduced a new sound of vibrant brushstrokes. Mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron’s alluring voice, with the artistry of pianists Gilles Vonsattel and Gloria Chien, reveal the many colors of these romantic masters.

CATCH THE PRELUDE at 6:30pm!
Enjoy these preludes indoors: solo piano (a partnership with Cognizart/MetroArts), and a violin/piano duo with Reed College music students.

COME EARLY to picnic—BYOP or pick up nosh on-site from Bon Appétit. *NOTE* Due to the heat, Bon Appétit will be moving their food concession sales inside the Commons building. Patrons may still purchase food inside, but they are not allowed to eat it inside the dining room, they may bring concessions to picnic outside, as usual.

Co-Sponsors:
Anonymous Friend of CMNW
Karen & Norman Sade

Reed College, Kaul Auditorium
Saturday, 7/30 • 8:00 pm PT

Program

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

CLAUDE DEBUSSY ‘Images’

CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862-1918)

Reflets dans l’eau • (5’)
Mouvement • (4’)
L’isle joyeuse • (5’)

The titles of Claude Debussy’s works often seem straightforward, like the music on tonight’s program, Reflections on the Water, Homage to Rameau, and Movement. Debussy’s music is often called Impressionistic (a characterization he emphatically rejected), and the titles of his first set of Images for solo piano create the expectation that we will “hear” reflections or movement. It is important to remember, however, that Debussy aligned himself not with Impressionist painters but with Symbolist poets, particularly Stéphane Mallarmé, Charles Baudelaire, Arthur Rimbaud, and Paul Verlaine.

Symbolism is not straightforward; it alludes to an idea or image without anchoring itself to a single interpretation. Debussy’s Images are aural Rorschach tests; what the listener hears is true and correct, and no two listeners hear them the same way. Reflections ripples with non-Western timbres in an ever-shifting kaleidoscope. The Homage to French Baroque composer Jean-Phillipe Rameau (1683-1764) is a stately Baroque sarabande (a dance in ¾ time), but the harmonic language is wholly Debussy’s. Movement clearly moves, but it also embodies something else: joy.

— © Elizabeth Schwartz

FANG MAN 方满 “Partridge Sky” (World Premiere)

FANG MAN (b. 1977)
Partridge Sky
(2022)

Partridge Sky for mezzo-soprano and piano was commissioned by Chamber Music Northwest for mezzo Fleur Barron and pianist Gloria Chien. The lyrics came from one of China’s most celebrated female poets Li Qingzhao (1084-ca.1155), of the Song Dynasty. She was renowned for her Ci-poetry, which is a type of lyric poetry that also draws upon folk tradition and uses various poetic meters. In many of her Ci, Li expressed deep love for her husband as well as her feelings of loneliness, as her husband was often away from home; later he passed away. The music was inspired by great French composers such as Ravel and Messiaen. However, I made frequent use of the fifth and fourth intervals in both the melodic lines and harmonic scheme, which is one of the significant features of Chinese music. I also adopted the oriole birdsongs reflected in this particular Ci. Note that poet Li was highly regarded for her “subtle and concise style” and therefore I composed the music accordingly.

鷓鴣天
李清照

— © Fang Man

CHAUSSON ‘Chanson perpétuelle’ Op. 37

ERNEST CHAUSSON (1855 - 1899) Chanson perpétuelle, Op. 37 • (10’)

Ernest Chausson’s Chanson perpetuelle (Perpetual song) is the last work he completed before his tragic and untimely death at age 44. Using some of the verses of Charles Cros’s poem Nocturne, Chausson crafted a beautiful and achingly sad song about love, loss, and memory. Every element of this work – the verses Chausson selected from Cros’s lengthy poem, its C-sharp Minor tonality, the soaring melodic lines, and the luxurious harmonies – creates the unshakeable tristesse (sadness) that permeates so much of Chausson’s music. The song traces a narrative arc beginning with the remembered joy of a happy, fulfilling love; the agonized wait for the lover’s return; hope that love will rekindle itself; nostalgia for happier times, and, ultimately, bereft of all hope, yearning for the comfort of death.

— © Elizabeth Schwartz

FRANCK Piano Quintet in F Minor

CÉSAR FRANCK (1822–1890)
Piano Quintet in F Minor

I.  Molto moderato quasi lento
II.  Lento con molto sentimento
III. Allegro non troppo ma con fuoco

César Franck’s Piano Quintet in F Minor began with a minor scandal that had little to do with the music itself. To trace its history, first we must meet Augusta Holmès.

Holmès, a Parisian singer and composer, rose to prominence in the 1870s for her talent and advocacy for women in the arts. Her peers idolized her; the composer Camille Saint-Saëns even proposed to her, recalling later, “Literary men, painters, musicians—any one of us would have been proud to make her his wife.”

Holmès began taking lessons with Franck in 1876, soon counting the Belgian composer as her most admired teacher. As for Franck, he may have revealed romantic feelings for Holmès in his Piano Quintet—a belief held by many since its 1880 premiere. None other than Camille Saint-Saëns played the role of pianist. By the piece’s final bar, Saint-Saëns’s distaste was evident to everyone in attendance. But the only person who disliked it more than Saint-Saëns was Franck’s own wife.

Despite its fraught premiere, Franck’s lyrical quintet soon became an audience favorite. His austere personality resounds in its broad lines and serious tone, while his feelings for Holmès may just explain the youthful exuberance that shines through.

—© Ethan Allred

Artists

Fleur Barron 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.

Artist's Website

Gloria Chien Gloria Chien Piano & Artistic Director

Taiwanese-born pianist Gloria Chien has one of the most diverse musical lives as a noted performer, concert presenter, and educator. She made her orchestral debut at the age of sixteen with the Boston Symphony Orchestra with Thomas Dausgaard, and she performed again with the BSO with Keith Lockhart. She was subsequently selected by The Boston Globe as one of its Superior Pianists of the year, “who appears to excel in everything.” In recent seasons, she has performed as a recitalist and chamber musician at Alice Tully Hall, the Library of Congress, the Dresden Chamber Music Festival, and the National Concert Hall in Taiwan. She performs frequently with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. In 2009, she launched String Theory, a chamber music series in Chattanooga, Tennessee that has become one of the region’s premier classical music presenters. The following year she was appointed director of the Chamber Music Institute at Music@Menlo, a position she held for the next decade.

In 2017, she joined her husband, violinist Soovin Kim, as artistic director of the Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival in Burlington, Vermont. The duo became artistic directors at Chamber Music Northwest in Portland, Oregon in 2020. They were named recipients of Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Award for Extraordinary Service in 2021 for their efforts during the pandemic.

Most recently, Gloria was named Advisor of the newly launched Institute for Concert Artists at the New England Conservatory of Music. Gloria released two albums—her Gloria Chien LIVE from the Music@Menlo LIVE label and Here With You with acclaimed clarinetist Anthony McGill on Cedille Records.

Gloria received her bachelor, master’s, and doctoral degrees at the New England Conservatory of Music with Wha Kyung Byun and Russell Sherman. She is Artist-in-Residence at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee, and she is a Steinway Artist.

Artist's Website


Upcoming Concerts & Events

Daniel Chong Daniel Chong Violin

GRAMMY Award-winning violinist Daniel Chong is one of the most exciting and versatile musicians of his generation. Since 2002, as the founding first violinist of the Parker Quartet, he has garnered wide recognition for his performances in such venues as Carnegie Hall, the Library of Congress, the Musikverein, and Wigmore Hall. Additionally, recent solo engagements include appearances at National Sawdust in New York City, Seoul Arts Center, and Jordan Hall in Boston. Mr. Chong has received several awards and prizes such as the 2009-2011 Cleveland Quartet Award and top prizes at the Concert Artists Guild Competition and the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition. In the recording realm, he can be heard on the Zig-Zag Territoires, Naxos, and Nimbus Records labels. Mr. Chong’s newest album was released last fall on the ECM New Series featuring the Parker Quartet and Kim Kashkashian.

Mr. Chong has performed at major music festivals including the Marlboro Music Festival, Mostly Mozart, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and the Perigord Noir Music Festival. In addition to the core repertoire, Daniel is a strong advocate for new music. Some of the composers he has worked closely with are György Kurtág, Augusta Read Thomas, Helmut Lachenmann, and Chaya Czernowin. In 2011, he won a GRAMMY Award with the Parker Quartet for their recording of György Ligeti’s string quartets.

Actively engaged in pedagogy, Mr. Chong has given masterclasses throughout the United States and currently serves on the faculty at Harvard University.

Artist's Website

Sarah Kwak Sarah Kwak Violin

The Oregon Symphony welcomed Concertmaster Sarah Kwak to the orchestra in August 2012, when she performed as soloist on Carlos Gardel’s Tango on the annual Waterfront Park Bowl concert program. Since then, she has performed to critical acclaim throughout Oregon. Hailed as a “world-class soloist,” Kwak is renowned for her “lyrical depth, thoughtful phrasing, myriad shadings of tone, and easy technical prowess.” After her concerto debut with the Oregon Symphony, The Oregonian said she “tore it up in a performance as dazzling as any recent star guest soloist.”

Sarah joined the Oregon Symphony after serving as first associate concertmaster in the Minnesota Orchestra from 1988 to 2012 and as that orchestra’s acting concertmaster from January 2010 to September 2011. Kwak, a 2008 McKnight Artist Fellowship winner, has been soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Houston Symphony, and Curtis Chamber Orchestra, and she has toured internationally with the Casa Verde Trio, including a three-and-a-half-week tour of China. She was a founding member of the Rosalyra String Quartet, which made its New York debut in 1996 and was awarded a McKnight Artist Fellowship in 2000. The first artist ever to capture all three memorial awards at the Washington International Competition, Kwak also won the 1989 WAMSO Young Artist Competition. She has served on the faculty of Princeton University and at the University of Nevada at Reno.

She has participated in the Marlboro Music Festival, Chamber Music Northwest Winter Festival, Portland Piano International Summer Festival, Pensacola Festival, Pittsburgh Summerfest, Bargemusic of New York, Festival Mozart in France, and the Siletz Bay and Astoria festivals. She is the concertmaster of the Oregon Bach Festival and has toured with Asia Philharmonic Orchestra under Myung-Whun Chung. In addition, she has served as guest concertmaster with the Utah Symphony.

Born in Boston and raised in Lawrence, Kansas, Kwak entered Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute at 12, studied briefly at the Vienna Hochschule für Musik, and graduated from Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music in 1983. Among her teachers were Joseph Sivo, Ivan Galamian, and Szymon Goldberg.

Kwak is a founding member of Classical Up Close, a non-profit organization whose mission is to present free chamber music concerts in neighborhoods around the metro area and to make classical music accessible to all.

Anna Lee Anna Lee Violin

Delighting her listeners with “her warm, humane musicianship” and “sweet spot of grace,” Anna Lee is an active concert violinist, chamber musician, and teacher. She began violin studies at the age of four with Alexander Souptel and debuted as soloist performing the Paganini Violin Concerto No. 1 a year and a half later with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Lan Shui. She spent a large part of her childhood in Japan and Singapore even though she was born in South Korea, and at the age of six moved to New York after being accepted to the Juilliard School Pre-College Division under the tutelage of Masao Kawasaki.

Concert venues that Anna Lee has appeared in are the Carnegie-Weill, Carnegie-Zankel, Wigmore, Beethoven-Haus, Avery Fisher, Victoria, Lotte, and Esplanade Concert Halls, as well as Merkin Hall and Peter Jay Sharp Theater. She has claimed top prizes in the 2019 Montréal Competition, 2018 Indianapolis Competition, 2011 Sion-Valais Competition, 2011 Kronberg Violin Masterclasses, 2010 and 2012 Menuhin Competition (Junior and Senior Divisions, respectively), and Aspen Music Festival AACA Competition. Anna Lee has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts, awarded by Office for the Arts at Harvard, the Bernhard and Mania Hahnloser Violin Prize at the Verbier Festival Academy, and the Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award.

Anna Lee was a Chamber Music Northwest Protégé Artist in 2022, and she has also been featured in music festivals around the world, such as the Gstaad Menuhin Festival and the Marlboro Music Festival, and on radio shows such as “From the Top” with host Christopher O’Riley and APM’s Performance Today with host Fred Child. She has also been the cover page feature of the Wall Street Journal Magazine.

Notable chamber music collaborations include Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet and Steven Isserlis in the Kronberg Academy’s “Chamber Music Connects the World” festival. Anna Lee was also presented by Sir András Schiff at the BeethovenFest in Bonn. As a soloist, Anna Lee made her New York Philharmonic debut in April 2011, as well as her Frankfurt debut in 2016 with maestro Christoph Eschenbach and the Hessische Rundfunk Radio Orchestra. She has also appeared with the Singapore, Indianapolis, Park Avenue Chamber, and Montreal Symphony Orchestras.​

Anna Lee’s teachers were Masao Kawasaki and Cho-Liang Lin at the Juilliard School Pre-College Division, Ana Chumachenco at the Kronberg Academy, and Miriam Fried and Don Weilerstein in Boston, where she recently completed her Comparative Literature degree at Harvard College. Currently, she is studying with Ani Kavafian at the Yale School of Music. She has also taught as a chamber music teacher, most notably at the Kronberg Academy’s Mit Musik—Miteinander festival and Festival MusicAlp in France.

Artist's Website

Jordan Bak Jordan Bak Viola

Award-winning, Jamaican-American violist Jordan Bak has achieved international acclaim as a trailblazing artist, praised for his radiant stage presence, dynamic interpretations, and fearless power. Critics have described him as “an exciting new voice in Classical performance” (I Care If You Listen), “a powerhouse musician, with a strong voice and compelling sound” (The Whole Note) and lauded his “haunting lyrical grace” (Gramophone). A top prizewinner in many competitions such as the Sphinx Competition, Tertis International Viola Competition, and Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition, Bak was recently named one of ClassicFM’s “30 Under 30” Rising Stars, Musical America’s New Artist of the Month, and was a featured artist for WQXR’s inaugural Artist Propulsion Lab. Bak’s enthusiastically-received debut album IMPULSE has garnered over two million streams on major digital media platforms, featuring new compositions by Tyson Gholston Davis, Toshio Hosokawa, Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti, Quinn Mason, Jeffrey Mumford, and Joan Tower.

Bak has appeared as soloist with such orchestras as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sarasota Orchestra, New York Classical Players, London Mozart Players, and Juilliard Orchestra among others, and as a chamber musician, has performed at numerous festivals such as Marlboro Music Festival, Tippet Rise, Chamber Music Northwest, and Newport Classical. Recent recital debuts include Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Concertgebouw, and at the Schleswig-Holstein and Lichfield music festivals. Bak currently serves as Assistant Professor of Viola at University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) and has given masterclasses at Peabody Institute, Oberlin Conservatory, NYU Steinhardt, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, and Conservatorio del Tolima.

Artist's Website

Jessica Bodner Jessica Bodner Viola

Jessica Bodner, described by The New York Times as a “soulful soloist,” is the violist of the Grammy Award-winning Parker Quartet. A native of Houston, TX, Jessica began her musical studies on the violin at the age of two, then switched to the viola at the age of twelve because of her love of the deeper sonority.

Ms. Bodner has recently appeared at venues such as Carnegie Hall, 92nd Street Y, Library of Congress, Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Wigmore Hall (London), Musikverein (Vienna), Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and Seoul Arts Center, and has appeared at festivals including Chamber Music Northwest, Chamberfest Cleveland, Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival, Yellow Barn, Perigord Noir in France, Monte Carlo Spring Arts Festival, San Miguel de Allende, Istanbul’s Cemal Recit Rey, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Hitzacker, and Heidelberg String Quartet Festival. As a member of the Parker Quartet, she has recorded for ECM, Zig-Zag Territoires, Nimbus, and Naxos.

Recent collaborators include mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron, clarinetists Charles Neidich and Jörg Widmann, pianists Menahem Pressler, Shai Wosner, Gloria Chien, and Orion Weiss, violinists Soovin Kim and Donald Weilerstein, violists Kim Kashkashian and Roger Tapping, cellists Deborah Pae, Marcy Rosen, Natasha Brofsky, and Paul Katz, and percussionist Ian Rosenbaum.

Jessica is a faculty member of Harvard University’s Department of Music as Professor of the Practice in conjunction with the Parker Quartet’s appointment as Blodgett Quartet-in-Residence. She has held visiting faculty positions at the New England Conservatory and Longy School of Music, served as faculty at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and Yellow Barn Festival, and has given masterclasses at institutions such as Eastman School of Music, San Francisco Conservatory, Amherst College, University of Minnesota, and at the El Sistema program in Venezuela.

Outside of music, Jessica enjoys cooking, running, practicing yoga, and hiking with her husband, violinist Daniel Chong, their son, Cole, and their vizsla, Bodie.

 

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

Deborah Pae Deborah Pae Cello

Praised by critics for her “extraordinary musicianship” (San Diego Union Tribune), “superb tone,” and “high level of interpretative intelligence” (Transcentury), Korean-American cellist DEBORAH PAE has received international acclaim for her powerful performances, uncompromising curiosity for expression, and devotion to the arts. Pae has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician throughout North America, Europe, and Asia at venues including Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall in London, the National Concert Hall in Taipei, Palais des Beaux-Art in Brussels, Musée du Louvre in Paris, and the Berliner Philharmonie.

Pae is the cellist of two award-winning ensembles: the Formosa Quartet, recipients of the First Prize and Amadeus Prize at the 2006 International London Quartet Competition, and the Namirovsky-Lark-Pae Trio, winners of the 2020 German Record Critics Award/Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik in the category of chamber music, one of Europe’s most coveted honors, and Fono Forum’s 5 Best Albums of 2020 for their debut album Masterpieces Among Peers: Trios by Frank Bridge and Johannes Brahms. Within her wide-ranging repertoire, she is passionate about lifting up the works of living composers and introducing valuable yet lesser-known musical compositions to worldwide audiences. Through her work with the Formosa Quartet, the ensemble has given critically acclaimed performances of masterpieces in the string quartet repertoire while highlighting the musical traditions of indigenous nations in Taiwan and enticing audiences with their exclusive collection of world, folk, pop, jazz, and poetry arrangements. Over the span of 25 years, Pae’s performances have been augmented by numerous radio and television broadcasts and recordings for ECM, New World, TYXarts, Bridge, Fuga Libera, and Outhere Records.

A graduate of the Juilliard School, New England Conservatory, and an Associate Artist at the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth in Belgium, Ms. Pae is committed to mentoring the next generation of young artists. She is Associate Professor of Cello at Eastern Michigan University where she is a recipient of the 2021 Ronald W. Collins Distinguished Faculty Award in Creative Activity, the highest honor Eastern Michigan University presents to an individual faculty member; cello and chamber music faculty at the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, Formosa Chamber Music Festival, and Taipei Music Academy & Festival, and Faculty Emeritus at the Perlman Music Program. An advocate for equity in the arts, Pae serves as Governor on the board of The Recording Academy® Chicago Chapter. Her mentors have included cellists Gary Hoffman, Laurence Lesser, Joel Krosnick, André Emelianoff, and Nellis Delay; violist Kim Kashkashian, and violinist Itzhak Perlman.

Ms. Pae travels and performs with her trusty companion, a Vincenzo Postiglione cello (c. 1885) from Naples, Italy.

Artist's Website

Nicholas Tavani Nicholas Tavani Violin

Violinist Nicholas Tavani was born in Arlington, VA, and debuted in Washington, D.C.’s Gaston Hall at the age of eight. The Cleveland Plain Dealer recently praised him as “ an alert and sensitive artist, with beautiful tone and exquisite phrasing,” and the Washington Post has hailed his “brilliant musicianship.” As a chamber musician, recitalist, and concerto soloist, Mr. Tavani has performed extensively to critical acclaim in the United States and around the world. As first violinist of the Aeolus Quartet, he was a winner of the 2011 Plowman International Chamber Music Competition, the 2011 Yellow Springs Chamber Music competition, and the 2009 Coleman International Chamber Music Competition. He is also a laureate of the Postacchini and Kingsville International Violin Competitions.

Mr. Tavani serves as first violinist in the Aeolus Quartet, who are currently Artists in Residence at Musica Viva New York. In addition, he serves as concertmaster of the New Orchestra of Washington and is a member of the Mark Morris Dance Group Music Ensemble and the Smithsonian Chamber Players.

A passionate advocate of new music, Mr. Tavani has premiered and recorded several works by living composers, including Samuel Adler, Alexandra Bryant, Christopher Theofanidis, Missy Mazzoli, and Dan Visconti. His discography includes four albums with the Aeolus Quartet in wide release on the Azica, Naxos, and Innova labels. Solo performances with orchestra include the St Paul Chamber Orchestra, Arlington Symphony, Aspen Festival Orchestra, Prince William Symphony, New Orchestra of Washington, and many others. Collaborations include Renee Fleming, Peter Salaff, Jon Kimura Parker, Daxun Zhang, and Michael Tree.

Mr. Tavani’s current season includes chamber, recital and concerto performances across the US and extensive touring across the US with the Aeolus Quartet.

As a committed educator, Mr. Tavani has served on the faculties of the George Washington University School of Music, Point CounterPoint Music Festival, the MasterWorks Festival, and the University of Maryland High School Music Academy. He served as teaching assistant to the Juilliard Quartet at the Juilliard School, where he studied with Joseph Lin and Ronald Copes, and the Aeolus Quartet was 2013-2015 Graduate Quartet in Residence. Mr. Tavani completed a doctorate under the mentorship of David Salness at the University of Maryland. His thesis was titled Quantifying Dynamic Pitch Adjustment Decision Structures in String Quartet Performance. An alumnus of the Cleveland Institute of Music, Nicholas studied violin with William Preucil and chamber music with Peter Salaff and the Cavani Quartet. In addition to a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance from CIM, Nicholas also studied mathematical physics at Case Western Reserve University.

Artist's Website

Gilles Vonsattel Gilles Vonsattel Piano

A “wanderer between worlds” (Lucerne Festival), “immensely talented” and “quietly powerful pianist” (The New York Times), Swiss-born American Gilles Vonsattel is an artist of extraordinary versatility and originality. Comfortable with and seeking out an enormous range of repertoire, Vonsattel displays a musical curiosity and sense of adventure that has gained him many admirers. Recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant and winner of the Naumburg and Geneva competitions as well as the 2016 Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award, he has in recent years appeared with the Boston Symphony, Tanglewood, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Gothenburg Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, and Detroit Symphony Orchestra, while performing recitals and chamber music at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Ravinia, Tokyo’s Musashino Hall, Wigmore Hall, Bravo! Vail, Music@Menlo, the Gilmore festival, the Lucerne Festival, and the Munich Gasteig. His 2014 New York solo recital was hailed as “tightly conceived and passionately performed…a study in intensity” by The New York Times.

As a soloist, he has also appeared with the Warsaw Philharmonic, Calgary Philharmonic, Edmonton Symphony, l’Orchestre Symphonique du Québec, Boston Pops, Nashville Symphony, Musikkollegium Winterthur, Staatskapelle Halle, and L’orchestre de chambre de Genève. Chamber partners include musicians such as James Ehnes, Frank Huang, Ilya Gringolts, Nicolas Altstaedt, David Shifrin, David Finckel, Stefan Jackiw, Jörg Widmann, Gary Hoffman, Carter Brey, David Requiro, Paul Huang, Anthony Marwood, Paul Neubauer, Paul Watkins, Philip Setzer, Emmanuel Pahud, Karen Gomyo, David Jolley, and Ida Kavafian. He has appeared in concert with the Emerson, Pacifica, Orion, St. Lawrence, Ebène, Danish, Miró, Daedalus, Escher, and Borromeo Quartets. Mr. Vonsattel is Principal Pianist of Camerata Pacifica, a member of the Swiss Chamber Soloists, and plays alongside Ida Kavafian and David Jolley in Trio Valtorna. Deeply committed to the performance of contemporary works, he has premiered numerous works both in the United States and Europe and worked closely with notable composers such as Jörg Widmann, Heinz Holliger, and George Benjamin. His recording for the Honens/Naxos label of music by Debussy, Honegger, Holliger, and Ravel was named one of Time Out New York’s 2011 classical albums of the year, while a 2014 release on GENUIN/Artist Consort received a 5/5 from FonoForum and international critical praise. His latest solo release (2015) for Honens of Scarlatti, Webern, Messiaen, Debussy, and George Benjamin’s Shadowlines received rave reviews in Gramophone, The New York Times, and the American Record Guide. Upcoming recordings include Richard Strauss’ Panathenäenzug and Kurt Leimer’s Concerto for Left Hand with the Bern Symphony Orchestra and Mario Venzago, for the Schweizer Fonogramm label.

Recent projects include Berg’s Kammerkonzert with the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, a tour with Jörg Widmann and the Irish Chamber Orchestra, Mozart concerti with the Vancouver Symphony and Florida Orchestra, performances at Seoul’s LG Arts Centre and at the Beijing Modern Music Festival, collaborations with Kent Nagano with L’Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and the Munich Philharmonic (Bernstein’s Symphony No. 2, The Age of Anxiety) as well as numerous appearances internationally and throughout the United States with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Mr. Vonsattel received his bachelor’s degree in political science and economics from Columbia University and his master’s degree from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Jerome Lowenthal. He is Associate Professor of Piano at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and on the faculty of Bard Conservatory. Gilles Vonsattel is a Steinway Artist.

Artist's Website



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