BMC Chamber Music Series presents
Arnaud Sussmann, Lily Francis, violins; Roger Tapping, viola; Sophie Shao, cello
Friday, March 16, 7:30 pm, Centre Congregational Church, Brattleboro
Quartet No. 5 in A Major, Op. 18 No. 5 (1801) Ludwig van Beethoven
Quartet No. 15 in D Minor, K 421/417b (1783) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Quartet No. 12 in F Major “American” Op. 96 (1893) Antonin Leopold Dvorak
TICKETS: $30, $20, $10
PURCHASE by calling: 802.257.4523
Or on-line: Sophie Shao & Friends Tickets
Presented with gratitude to Douglas C. Cox, Violin Maker for sponsorship of this concert.
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Shao’s annual “Sophie Shao and Friends” touring groups have received acclaim throughout New England and are recognized for the tremendous virtuosic talent they bring together.
This season’s quartet features Arnaud Sussmann and Lily Francis, violins, Roger Tapping, viola and Sophie Shao, cello presenting a program of Beethoven’s Quartet No. 5 in A Major, Op. 18 No. 5; Mozart’s Quartet No. 15 in D Minor, K 421/417b; and Dvorak’s Quartet No. 12 in F major “American” Op. 96.
Although a Czech composer of late Romantic music, Dvorák’s beloved “American” string quartet was written during a vacation in rural Iowa. Dvořák wrote that the quartet - one of the most popular in the chamber music repertoire - was influenced by American folk music. He was fascinated by Native American and African American music, and throughout the "American" Quartet we can hear these new colors mixing in with his own usual quartet method.
Violinist Arnaud Sussmann, winner of a 2009 Avery Fisher Career Grant, is a multi-faceted and compelling artist who has performed as soloist throughout the United States, Central America, Europe, and Asia, and at such venues as Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Smithsonian Museum, and the Louvre. He has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, American Symphony Orchestra, Monaco Chamber Orchestra, Nice Orchestra, Orchestre des Pays de la Loire, El Salvador National Symphony Orchestra, and Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra.
He has performed with many of today's leading artists including Itzhak Perlman, Menahem Pressler, Joseph Kalichstein, Miriam Fried, Paul Neubauer, Fred Sherry, and Gary Hoffman. He studied at The Juilliard School with Boris Garlitsky and Itzhak Perlman, who chose him to be a Starling Fellow, an honor qualifying him as Mr. Perlman's teaching assistant for two years.
Violinist Lily Francis is quickly establishing herself as one of the leading violinist/violists today. Recently one of the top prizewinners at the 2009 ARD Music Competition (Violin) in Munich, she has performed with several of the leading orchestras in Germany, including the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Chamber Orchestra and the Munich Radio Orchestra. She made her Weill Recital Hall debut in New York in May 2008 on the Distinctive Debuts series, and plays both violin and viola regularly in the USA, and throughout Europe.
As the newest member of the critically-acclaimed Aronowitz Ensemble, she performs throughout the UK. Francis has collaborated with many of the leading musicians of our time, including Mitsuko Uchida, Andras Schiff, Gidon Kremer, Arnold Steinhardt, Kim Kashkashian, and Peter Wiley, as well as several artists of other disciplines. A graduate of the Curtis Institute (B.M.'06) and New England Conservatory (M.M.'08), Francis studied with Joseph Silverstein and Miriam Fried.
Violist Roger Tapping was a member of the Takács Quartet for ten years beginning in 1995. During his time with the quartet, their international career included Beethoven cycles in New York, Paris, London, Sydney, Cleveland and Los Angeles, and Bartok cycles in New York, London, Madrid, Tokyo (for TV), Cleveland, and Pittsburgh. Their recordings for Decca/London, including the complete quartets of Bartok and Beethoven, have won three Gramophone Awards, a Grammy and three more Grammy nominations, three Japan Record Academy Chamber Music Awards, the BBC Music Disc of the Year Award, and the Classical Brits Award for Ensemble Album of the Year. He teaches Viola at NEC where he is Chair of Chamber Music. He has also served on the Faculties of the Longy School and the Boston Conservatory.
Born in England, Tapping played in a number of London's leading chamber ensembles, making several highly acclaimed CDs, before joining Britain's longest established quartet, the Allegri Quartet. He taught at the Royal Academy of Music in London, was principal viola of the London Mozart Players, a member of the English Chamber Orchestra and a founding member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.
At the age of nineteen, cellist Sophie Shao received the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, and has since performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. Winner of top prizes at the Rostropovich and Tchaikovsky competitions, the New York Times has applauded her “eloquent, powerful” interpretations of repertoire ranging from Bach and Beethoven to Crumb.
A native of Houston, Texas, Ms. Shao began playing the cello at age six, and was a student of Shirley Trepel, former principal cellist of the Houston Symphony. At age thirteen she enrolled at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, studying cello with David Soyer. After graduating from the Curtis Institute, she continued her cello studies with Aldo Parisot at Yale University, receiving a B.A. in Religious Studies from Yale College and an M.M. from the Yale School of Music, where she was enrolled as a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellow. She is on the faculty of Vassar College and the Bard Conservatory of Music.
Friday’s concert is part of the Brattleboro Music Center’s 2011-12 Chamber Music Series, which continues with Les Amies on Saturday, April 21, 7:30 pm. All chamber series concerts are held at Centre Congregational Church, 193 Main Street in Brattleboro, Vermont.
TICKETS: $30, $20, $10
PURCHASE by calling: 802.257.4523
Or on-line: Sophie Shao & Friends Tickets
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