Second concert in the BMC's 2010-11 Chamber Music Series:
Johannes Quartet
Friday, November 5, 7:30 pm, Centre Congregational Church, Brattleboro, VT
The Johannes String Quartet, featuring Soovin Kim, Jessica Lee, Choong-Jin Chang, and Peter Stumpf, will be regaling Chamber Series audiences with the Mozart Hoffmeister, Janacek Quartet no. 2, and the Dvorak E-flat major quartet, op. 51.
Join us after Gallery Walk! Friday, Nov. 5, Centre Congregational Church, 7:30 p.m.
Tickets $30, $20, $10 (limited viewing)
Purchase tickets by calling the BMC at 802-257-4523
Or on-line at: Johannes String Quartet
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The Johannes String Quartet, comprised of four impressively gifted instrumentalists in their own right, have come together to form one of the great chamber music groups of our time. Their lineage weaves through Marlboro Music Festival, Jaime Laredo, Curtis Institute, and other performers on the BMC Chamber Music Concert Series, good friends all. Arnold Steinhardt, of the Guarneri Quartet comments, "The Johannes is all I could ever dream of in a string quartet."
Soovin Kim, Jessica Lee, Choong-Jin Chang, and Peter Stumpf, will be regaling BMC Chamber Series audiences with Mozart’s Hoffmeister, Janacek’s Quartet no. 2, and Dvorak’s E-flat major quartet, op. 51.
American violinist Soovin Kim is increasingly sought after for the character, nuance, and excitement of his performances as concerto soloist, chamber musician and recitalist, both in the U.S. and abroad. Particularly known for his breadth of repertoire, Mr. Kim typically takes on everything from Bach to Paganini to the big romantic concertos to new commissions within a single season. He has performed in the U.S. with orchestras such as the Philadelphia Orchestra, Orchestra of St Luke’s and the Baltimore, San Francisco, and Indianapolis Symphonies, in Europe with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony, Prague Chamber, Accademia di Santa Cecilia and Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestras, and in Asia with the Hong Kong Philharmonic and KBS Symphony. He maintains a close relationship with the Marlboro Music Festival.
Soovin Kim spent his first summer at the Marlboro Festival just after he won the first prize in the Paganini International Competition in 1996. Founded decades ago by Rudolf Serkin and Adolf Busch, Marlboro is intended to be a true retreat for the artists who are invited to participate. Unlike the harried pace of the concert season, time at Marlboro moves more lazily, allowing players to study and reflect on the music they prepare for weekly concerts. “It’s summer camp for adults!”, reports Soovin, who now returns to Marlboro every other summer to see old friends and indulge in the pleasure of playing music without the pressure of his normal frantic schedule. Aside from its manifest musical benefits, Marlboro holds a special place in Soovin’s affections because it is where he met both his favorite performing and recording partner, pianist Jeremy Denk, and his wife Joanne.
Soovin Kim is the artistic director of the Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival in Burlington, Vermont. Mr. Kim counts among his awards the Henryk Szeryng Career Award, the Avery Fisher Career Grant, and most recently the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award. He plays on the 1709 “ex-Kempner” Stradivarius, which is on temporary loan to him.
Violinist Jessica Lee, the First Prize Winner of the 2005 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, was featured in the "Launch Pad" column of The Strad as the magazine's "pick of up-and-coming musicians" for June 2007. An active chamber musician, Jessica Lee became a member of the Johannes String Quartet in 2006, and she joins the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's CMS 2 program starting with the 2009-10 season. She has toured frequently with 'Musicians from Marlboro,' and is a member of the conductor-less string ensemble ECCO (East Coast Chamber Orchestra), with which she has performed at Town Hall and the Kennedy Center. A native of Virginia, Jessica Lee began playing the violin at age three and quickly captured national attention with a feature article in LIFE magazine. Following studies with Weigang Li of the Shanghai Quartet, she was accepted to the Curtis Institute of Music at age fourteen and graduated with a Bachelor's Degree under the tutelage of Robert Mann and Ida Kavafian (who will be performing on the last concert of this BMC Chamber Series season). In May 2003, she completed her studies with Robert Mann for a Master of Music Degree at the Juilliard School and currently resides in New York.
Choong-Jin (C.J.) Chang was appointed Principal Viola of The Philadelphia Orchestra in April 2006. He previously served as Associate Principal Viola in Philadelphia for twelve years. He was a double major in violin and viola at the Curtis Institute of Music, studying with the late Jascha Brodsky and Joseph dePasquale. Mr. Chang was born in Korea, and immigrated with his family to the United States when he was thirteen. As a soloist, Mr. Chang made a successful solo debut recital at Carnegie Hall along with numerous recitals in the U.S. and Far East in 2007. An ardent chamber musician, Mr. Chang has participated in numerous chamber music festivals, including the Marlboro Festival, Bridgehampton, Seattle, and Santa-Fe, Evian and Moritzburg in Europe. The list of distinguished musicians with whom he has collaborated includes Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, Jaime Laredo, André Previn, Mstislav Rostropovich, and, most recently, Yo-Yo Ma, with whom he performed as viola soloist in Strauss’s Don Quixote with The Philadelphia Orchestra. He is a founding member of the Johannes Quartet. Alongside his extensive performing activities, Mr. Chang is a respected teacher on both violin and viola. He currently serves on the faculty of Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts and Temple Music-Prep.
Peter Stumpf enjoys as multi-faceted a career as any cellist. After serving 12 years as the Associate Principal Cellist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Peter Stumpf became the Principal Cellist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the beginning of the 2002-2003 season. He is in great demand as a chamber musician around the world performing on series at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Concertgebouw, and Casals Hall in Tokyo with some of the greatest living artists. Mr. Stumpf has performed concertos with the Boston Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Boston Philharmonic, and the Virginia Symphony. As a member of the Boston Musica Viva he has explored extended techniques including microtonal compositions and numerous premieres. In addition to his current position on the cello faculty of the University of Southern California, Mr. Stumpf has taught at the Hartt School of Music, the New England Conservatory, and served as guest artist faculty at the Curtis Institute of Music as well as at the Yellow Barn Music Festival and the Musicorda Summer String Program. He received a Bachelor’s degree from the Curtis Institute of Music and an Artist Diploma from the New England Conservatory.
The Johannes String Quartet is the second concert in the Brattleboro Music Center's 2010-11 Chamber Music Series. The remaining concerts include: Cellist Peter Wiley & Pianist Anna Polonsky, Saturday, February 19, 7:30 pm; The Lydian String Quartet, Saturday, April 9, 7:30; Jaime Laredo & Sharon Robinson, Cathy Meng & Keith Robinson, Ida Kavafian & Steve Tenenborn, Friday, May 6, 7:30 pm. All chamber series concerts are held at Centre Congregational Church, 193 Main Street in Brattleboro, Vermont.
Join us after Gallery Walk! Friday, Nov. 5, Centre Congregational Church, 7:30 p.m.
Tickets $30, $20, $10 (limited viewing)
Purchase tickets by calling the BMC at 802-257-4523
Or on-line at: Johannes String Quartet
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