NYVS 2006-2007 Season Concerts and Programs

Patricia McCarty has performed in Europe, Japan, Australia, Venezuela, and throughout North America, appearing as soloist with the Detroit, Houston, Kyoto and Shinsei Nihon symphonies, Boston Pops, Orchester der Beethovenhalle Bonn, l’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and Turiae Camerata of Valencia. Her recital appearances include New York, San Francisco, Boston, Detroit, Caracas, Valencia, Geneva, five International Viola Congresses, and a debut at London’s Wigmore Hall. Winner of the First Silver Medal and Radio Prize in the Geneva International Competition when she was eighteen and a student of Francis Bundra at the University of Michigan, Ms. McCarty has also been awarded two National Endowment for the Arts Solo Recitalist Grants. Her recordings for Ashmont, ECM, and Northeastern featuring viola works by Clarke, Bach, Telemann, Schubert, Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann and Jarrett have received international acclaim. As chamber musician she has performed at festivals including Aspen, Marlboro, Tanglewood, Sarasota, Bowdoin, Aria (Canada), Hokkaido (Japan), and the Australian String Academy. She has recorded works by Brahms and Dvorak with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, and has toured with them as well as with Music from Marlboro, the Lenox Quartet and Boston Chamber Music Society. Former assistant principal violist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Ms. McCarty presently is faculty member of the Boston Conservatory, Longy Conservatory, and Meadowmount School of Music.

Pianist Eric Larsen has been heard in the major concert halls of Russia, Europe, South America, Asia and the United States. He has recorded for Melodiya, Russian Disc, Albany, Equilibrium and New World Records and his live performances have been broadcast on NPR, WQXR, WFMT, Moscow State Radio and Colombian National Television. His musical collaborators have included Joseph Silverstein, Joshua Bell, Carol Wincenc, Ransom Wilson and the Mendelssohn, Alexander and Wihan String Quartets. As the recipient of major grants from the Mary Duke Biddle and Andrew Mellon Foundations, he has pursued extensive research in the Edvard Grieg Manuscript Collection at Norway’s Bergen Bibliotek. He has been engaged by International Music Company to edit the three Brahms Trios for Piano, Violin and Cello. His students have won prizes in major international competitions including the Casagrande, Busoni, International Bach and Pretoria Competitions. Mr. Larsen tours regularly with the Meadowmount Trio and is the director of the piano program at the Meadowmount School of Music in New York. He has been a member of the Artist-Faculty of the North Carolina School of the Arts since 1979.

December 2, 2007, 7:30 p.m.
Christ and St. Stephen's Church

Sergei Prokofiev - Five Pieces from "Romeo and Juliet" (arr. Borisovsky)
Dan Avshalomov, Viola
Joanne Polk

Edvard Grieg - Sonata for Cello and Piano (arr. for viola and piano)
Elizabeth Prior Runnicles, Viola
Jeanne-Minette Cilliers, Piano

Astor Piazzola - Two Short Pieces For Viola and Piano
Nardo Poy, Viola
Margaret Kampmeier, Piano

Martin Lodge - Cadenza (2007)
Douglas Lilburn - Poco Lento from Suite for Solo Viola (1956)
Tim Deighton

Jean Sibelius - Duo for Violin and Viola
Ketil Hvoslef - Duo for Violin and Viola
Sophia Kessinger, Violin
Shmuel Katz, Viola

About the Artists:

Daniel Avshalomov is violist of the American String Quartet. Before joining the Quartet, he was principal violist for the orchestras of the Spoleto, Tanglewood and Aspen music festivals as well as for the Brooklyn Philharmonic and the American Composers Orchestra. He performed as solo violist with the Bolshoi Ballet and was a founding member of the Orpheus Chamber Ensemble. A frequent guest artist with the Guarneri Quartet, he has also been featured artist with such groups as the Da Camera Society, Marin Music Fest and La Musica di Asolo, and has shared the stage with Norbert Brainin, Misha Dichter, Maureen Forrester, Bruno Giuranna and the Juilliard and Tokyo quartets. Mr. Avshalomov gave the premiere in New York of Giampaolo Bracali's Concerto per Viola, which has also been broadcast in Europe by RAI. His essays and criticism appear in respected musical journals, and he has prepared editions of contemporary viola works for publication. His most recent recording, Three Generations Avshalomov (Albany Records), was featured on NPR's All Things Considered and in Classical Pulse. Recent solo appearances have included recitals in Vermont, New York, Florida, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington and Alaska. He is a faculty member of Manhattan School of Music as well as Aspen Music School. For balance he climbs mountains. His instrument is by Andrea Amati (Cremona, 1568).

Pianist Joanne Polk has been catapulted into the public eye because of her traversal of the complete piano works of American composer Amy Beach (1867-1944). In March 2000, Ms. Polk celebrated the centennial of Beach’s Piano Concerto in C-sharp minor by giving the work its London premiere with the English Chamber Orchestra at the Barbican Centre under the baton of Paul Goodwin. A few days later, Ms. Polk performed the same concerto with the Women's Philharmonic in San Francisco with conductor Apo Hsu in a performance described as "brilliant" by critic Joshua Kosman of the San Francisco Chronicle. He went on to describe Ms. Polk’s performance as "an enormously vital, imaginative reading. Her playing was expansive in the opening movement, brittle and keen in the delightful scherzo. She brought a light touch to the foreshortened slow movement and fearless technical panache to the showy conclusion."

Empress of Night, released on Arabesque Recordings, is the fifth volume of Ms. Polk's ongoing survey of Beach's piano works, and includes the Piano Concerto with the English Chamber Orchestra, again with Paul Goodwin conducting. The first recording in the Beach series, by the still waters, received the 1998 INDIE award for best solo recording. In the fifth volume of the series, Morning Glories, Ms. Polk joins the Lark Quartet in three outstanding chamber music works by Amy Beach. Two all-Beach performances at Merkin Concert Hall, which featured Joanne Polk and the Lark Quartet, were applauded by the New York Times, that reviewed Polk’s performances as "polished and assured." The American Record Guide reported, "Polk and the Larks played their hearts out. We in the audience shouted ourselves hoarse with gratitude."

Prior to recording the complete piano music of Amy Beach, Ms. Polk recorded lieder and chamber music for Arabesque Recordings. Completely Clara: Lieder by Clara Wieck Schumann, Ms. Polk's debut CD for Arabesque Recording featuring Metropolitan Opera soprano Korliss Uecker, was selected as a "Best of the Year" recording by the Seattle Times and was featured on Performance Today on National Public Radio. Ms. Polk's most recent CD for Albany Records, Callisto, was released in January 2004 and features the solo piano music of Judith Lang Zaimont. She has recorded a CD of Amy Beach songs, with baritone Patrick Mason for Bridge Records, due for release in 2005.

Ms. Polk has performed in solo recitals; with chamber ensembles; and as a soloist with orchestras in Europe, the United States and Australia. With composer Judith Lang Zaimont, she cofounded American Accent, a New York–based contemporary music group specializing in coveted repeat performances of new works.

Ms. Polk received her bachelor of music and master of music degrees from The Juilliard School and her doctor of musical arts degree from Manhattan School of Music. She has recently given master classes at the Summit Music Festival and at the University of Minnesota and joined the piano faculty of the Castelnuovo di Garfagnana Music Festival in Italy in the summer of 2004. She is presently the director of the Precollege Division at Manhattan School of Music. Ms. Polk is an exclusive Steinway artist.

A noted violist, Elizabeth Prior-Runnicles performs regularly with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra (where she has served as Associate Principal) as well as the San Francisco Symphony, the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, and, as Associate Principal, the Marin Symphony. Other orchestral credits include the Baden Baden Radio, Stuttgart Radio, Basel Symphony, and Mannheim Opera Orchestras, as well as the Freiburg Philharmonic and Cape Town Symphony.

A native of South Africa, she was a prizewinner in the International String Competition in Pretoria, and has toured extensively as an orchestral soloist, recitalist and in chamber music ensembles such as the Broderick String Quartet, the Marin Harp Trio, Trio Resonance, the Barbican String Quartet, and Ensemble 13 Karlsruhe.

Festival performances include the Colorado Music Festival, the Cabrillo Festival, the Grand Tetons Music Festival, the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival, the Sun Valley Summer Symphony and the Fredener Musiktage. Ms Runnicles is also known for organizing a series of 'house concerts' on behalf of the San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music.

New York City-based pianist Jeanne-Minette Cilliers has been called "a pianistic poet", garnering rave reviews for her color-rich and imaginative performances.

A native of South Africa, she has received numerous awards and prizes since she began playing at age three, and made her orchestral debut at twelve playing Joaquín Turina's Rapsodia sinfónica. She won her first national competition in 1990, continuing to capture grand prizes in, among others, the Indianapolis Matinee Musicale and the Kalamazoo Young Artists Bach Competition, as well as the silver medal in the 2000 Nena Wideman Concerto Competition. She has won prizes in all of South Africa's major competitions, including the 1999 Unisa Overseas Music Scholarship Competition and two special prizes at the Ninth Unisa International Piano Competition (2000).

Ms. Cilliers earned her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees (with distinction) from the University of Michigan in 1995 and 1997, respectively, while studying with fellow South African Anton Nel. As a student of Menahem Pressler's, she earned an Artist's Diploma from Indiana University in 2000. Currently she is the first and only Artist Diploma candidate in vocal accompanying at the Manhattan School of Music, working with Warren Jones.

Nardo Poy, violist, has been a member of the world-renowned Orpheus Chamber Orchestra since 1978 and has been featured as soloist in the United States, Europe and Japan with Orpheus, the North Carolina Symphony, the Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia and the Kansas City Camerata. Other groups with which Mr. Poy performs are the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke's, the Perspectives Ensemble and the Lighthouse Chamber Players, among many others. Recordings include over 60 with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra as well as numerous chamber music recordings with the Perspectives Ensemble, the Harmonie Ensemble, the Broyhill Chamber Ensemble and colleagues from the Bard Music Festival. Among his many chamber music performances have been collaborations with Isaac Stern, Elmar Oliveira, Bernard Greenhouse and Aaron Rosand. He has held the principal viola position with the Lake George Opera Company, the Opera Company of Philadelphia, the Santa Fe Opera, L'Opera Francais de New York, the Philharmonia Orchestra of Philadelphia and the Grand Teton Music Festival orchestra. Mr. Poy has also been an Artist-in-Residence at SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music with the Carnegie String Quartet. He presently is the principal violist with the American Symphony Orchestra, a position he has held since 2002.

Since receiving her Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in 1990, pianist Margaret Kampmeier has performed in hundreds of concerts, presented numerous premieres and recorded extensively. She has performed across the United States, in Canada, Mexico, Europe and Asia, and is active as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral keyboardist and teacher of piano. She is a founding member of the New Millennium Ensemble, a mixed chamber group which won the 1995 Walter W. Naumburg Chamber Music Award and released its debut CD in January of 1998. Ms. Kampmeier has appeared as guest artist with the Kronos Quartet, performs regularly with the Orchestra of St. Luke's and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and appears frequently with New York area groups such as Speculum Musicae, and the St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble. Active as an educator, Ms. Kampmeier teaches at Princeton University and has presented forums on music of women composers and contemporary techniques.

Highlights of past seasons include performances with the Kronos Quartet at the Kennedy Center and Brooklyn Academy of Music, a concerto and solo recital for Saarland Radio in Germany, and numerous educational concerts sponsored by the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society. As a recording artist, Ms. Kampmeier can be heard on the Centaur, CRI, Koch, Nonesuch and Bridge labels. Festival appearances include Mostly Mozart, Caramoor, Vancouver Recital Society, Bard and Tanglewood. Ms. Kampmeier earned her Bachelor's Degree and Performer's Certificate from the Eastman School of Music as a student of Barry Snyder. She received Master's and Doctoral Degrees from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where she studied with pianist Gilbert Kalish. A native of Rochester, NY, she resides currently in New York City with her husband, composer Ed Harsh and their son Andrew.

Timothy Deighton is Associate Professor of viola at Penn State University where he teaches viola, chamber music, viola literature, pedagogy, and orchestral excerpts classes, and directs the Penn State Viola Ensemble. A native of New Zealand, he received a bachelor of music and first class honours degree from Victoria University of Wellington, an artist diploma from the Hartt School of Music, and a doctor of musical arts degree in viola and violin from the University of Kansas.

In 2002 Deighton was recognized by the Pennsylvania-Delaware String Teachers Association as String Teacher of the Year. Several of his former students now hold positions in professional orchestras and on the faculties of music schools in the United States and overseas. Recent teaching engagements include master classes and lessons in the UK at the Royal College of Music, the Royal Northern College of Music, and Chethams School of Music. A regular contributor to musical periodicals, his articles have appeared in such publications as Strings, the American String Teacher, Journal of the American Viola Society, the New York Violist, and the Journal of the Australian and New Zealand Viola Society. In 1999 he organized and directed "ViolaFest" at Penn State, involving more than 200 violists from across North America and abroad. The Penn State Viola Ensemble, which he directs, has given numerous performances since its formation in 1999, including a recent appearance on a New York Viola Society Collegial Concert where they presented two world premieres.

Having long held a fascination for new music, he has performed premieres of more than fifty new works for viola, many of which were commissioned by or written for him. His first solo CD, Viola Aotearoa, featuring music for viola by New Zealand composers, was released in 2002 on the Atoll label. His playing on this disc was described in The Strad as "brilliant and differentiated," and the CD was one of the New Zealand Listener’s Top 10 classical recordings of 2002. As a member of the contemporary chamber music duo The Irrelevants, he and saxophonist Carrie Koffman have commissioned and premiered many new works. Deighton has appeared at three International Viola Congresses as recitalist, chamber musician, and soloist with orchestra, and as master class presenter and panelist.

Recent collaborations include those with the American String Quartet, the New Zealand String Quartet, and Quartet Accorda, as well as with musicians outside the traditional classical field such as the traditional Mäori musical instrumentalist (Taongo Puoro) Richard Nunns. Many of Deighton’s solo and chamber music performances have been broadcast on U.S., European, and Australasian radio. He is a National Recording Artist for Radio New Zealand, and was a member of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. He often appears in recital with his wife, pianist Ann Deighton. During the summers he serves on the faculty of the International Musical Arts Institute (IMAI) in Fryeburg, Maine. Other festivals at which he has recently appeared include Music at Penn’s Woods (PA), The Pierre Monteux Festival (ME), the Gold Coast Music Festival (CA), the Dublin International Symphonic Festival, Ireland, the Adam New Zealand Festival of Chamber Music, and Rencontres Musicales Internationales des Graves, France.

Violist Margrét Hjaltested is an active performer and teacher in the New York area. She has played with orchestras such as Westchester Philharmonic, Brooklyn Philharmonic, New Jersey Symphony and Key West Symphony. On baroque viola she has performed with the American Classical Orchestra and Concert Royal. Margrét has toured internationally both with chamber groups and orchestras, including the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra, the New York Symphonic Ensemble on its annual tour of the Far East and with the Icelandic award-winning pop artist Björk. Margrét is a recipient of the American Scandinavian Society's Cultural Award for her musical contributions to Scandinavian communities in New York and New Jersey. Margrét is currently on the faculty of the Queens College preparatory division and Summerkeys in Lubec, Maine. She is a graduate of the Reykjavík College of Music, the Juilliard School and the Mannes College of Music. Her teachers include Karen Tuttle, Karen Ritscher, Richard Simon and Joey Corpus.

Sophia Kessinger is a member of the first violin section of the New York City Opera Orchestra, and of the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra. She performs frequently as a substitute violinist with the New York Philharmonic, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. After beginning her academic studies at the University of California at Berkeley, she went on to attend the Manhattan School of Music where she received both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees while studying with Sylvia Rosenberg and Mitchell Stern. Ms. Kessinger has studied chamber music with members of the Guarneri, Julliard, Amadeus, Cleveland and American String Quartets. She has performed as a soloist with several orchestras, including the Manhattan School Symphony, the Mendocino Symphony, the Round Top Festival Orchestra and the Jupiter Symphony.

A native of Israel, Shmuel Katz maintains a performing career on the viola and violin as a chamber musician, soloist and orchestral player. He received Bachelor and Master degrees from the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Pinchas Zukerman, and Michael Tree, and he participated in masterclasses given by Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman, Josef Gingold and Dorothy DeLay. His awards include 2nd prize in the HAMS viola competition, Chicago 2003, 1st prize in the CIMS chamber music competition, Palermo, Italy, 1995, and America-Israel Cultural Foundation scholarships. Shmuel Katz has collaborated in chamber music concerts with Pinchas Zukerman, Tabea Zimmermann, Michael Tree, Ralph Kirschbaum and members of the New York Philharmonic. Mr. Katz is a member of the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra. He is a frequent guest violist with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic and the Met Opera Orchestra.

J. S. Bach - Suite No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1008
Prelude
Courante
Adam Kramer, Viola

Svend Erik Tarp - Duo for Flute and Viola, Op. 37 (1939)
Allegro con brio
Lento rubato
Molto vivace - Andantino mosso - Tempo I
Joseph Trent, Flute
Rebecca Osborn, Viola

Robert Schumann - Three Romances, Op. 94
1. Moderato
2. Semplice, con sentimento
3. Moderato
Junah Chung, Viola
Einav Yarden, Piano

Thea Musgrave - Elegy for Viola and Cello(1970)
Mark Holloway, Viola
Michael Haas, Cello

John Hawkins - Waiting (Tango) for Viola and Doublebass
Ann Roggen, Viola
Gregg August, Bass

J.S. Bach - Brandenburg Concerto No. 6
Maurycy Banaszek, Richard Brice, Danielle Farina and Tom Rosenthal, Violas
Carlos Rodriguez, Cello
Roger Wagner, Bass

February 4, 2008, 6:30 p.m.
Church of St. Paul & St. Andrew, 263 West 86th Street

Featuring the work of local luthiers including Robert Isley, Andrea Hoffman-Simmel, Charles Rufino, Geoffrey Ovington, Guy Rabut, Alexander Tulchinsky, Jason Viseltear and David Wiebe and bowmakers Stephen and William Salchow. Instruments and bows demonstrated by Craig Mumm, Associate Principal Viola of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.

April 6, 2008, 1:30 p.m.
Bloomingdale School of Music

Come Play!
Throughout the afternoon, participants will be able to play through large works for viola ensemble, including pieces performed at our Concerts. All are welcome. Bring your instrument!
Lecture/Demonstrations:
The noted luthier Guy Rabut will speak about the Care and Repair of Instruments. Join us and find out how to keep your treasured possession in shape.
Viola Clinic:
Sign up for a viola clinic and have your playing diagnosed by a professional.
Get Together:
Refreshments will be available during the sessions. A reception will follow the afternoon’s activities. Rendezvous with old friends, and meet new ones!

May 18, 2008, 7:30 p.m.
Good Shepherd-Faith Presbyterian Church, 152 West 66th Street

Witold Lutoslawski - Bucolics for Viola and Violoncello (Bukoliki)
Ludwig van Beethoven - Duet for Viola and Cello in E flat major, WoO 32 ("With eyeglasses obligato")
Rebecca Clarke - Two Pieces for Viola and Cello (1917)
Walter Piston - Duo for Viola and Cello
Dan Coleman - Dezembrum for Viola and Cello

Inessa Zaretsky - "Dervishes" - Pieces for Viola and Percussion
Written for the duo in 2004
I. Moderato
II. Scherzo

Glen Velez - "Homage" for Frame Drums and Viola
Commissioned by LSP in 2006
1. Moderato
2. Anime; Coda

John Patitucci - Scenes for Viola and Percussion
Commissioned by LSP in 2005
Part 1: Tempo Rubato, Tempo Nouvo
Part 2: Tempo Moderato
Part 3: Rubato; Andante - Majestic

A dynamic and versatile artist, violist Sheila Browne has concertized in many of the world's major halls. A native of Philadelphia, she has performed in the Schauspielhaus-Berlin, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, London's Royal Festival Hall, Vienna's MusikVerein, Buenos Aires' Teatro Colon as well as in all of the major halls at Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, in Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Saint Louis, Australia, and in the Far East. The only viola solo finalist at Carnegie Hall in the Pro Musicis International Awards 2004, she has also been a member of the prizewinning Arianna, Gotham and Pelligrini String Quartets. Ms. Browne has collaborated with such famous artists as James Buswell, Miriam Fried, Paul Katz, Gilbert Kalish, David Krakauer, Anton Kuerti, Ruth Laredo, Ransom Wilson, Richard Stoltzman and the Vermeer Quartet, and has recorded on the Nonesuch label with multiple Tony-winner and fellow Juilliard alum Audra MacDonald. She has been featured on PBS in a documentary with Michael Tilson Thomas as well as broadcast on many North and South American radio stations. A proponent of new music, she has premiered and recorded many contemporary composers' works. A CD of viola and cello duos was recently released on the Centaur label, of which the American Record Guide wrote, "Sheila Browne ... plays with admirable polish, tonal luster, and sensitivity ... this is a wonderful program from beginning to end, enriching the recorded repertoire on CD with ideal renderings of seldom-heard but very worthwhile music."

A CD of a virtuosic concerto written for Ms. Browne by Kenneth Jacobs titled Approaching Northern Darkness is to be released with the Kiev Philharmonic by ERM this year. She gave the southern hemisphere premiere of this work at the International Viola Congress in Adelaide, Australia in 2007, and has also been invited to tour South Africa and participate at the 2009 International Viola Congress in Pretoria playing this same concerto.

As an undergraduate at the Juilliard School Ms. Browne was Karen Tuttle's teaching assistant, a Naumburg scholarship recipient, and soloist and principal of the orchestra. She was also co-principal for two years of Alexander Schneider's New York String Seminar. She was awarded the prestigious German Academic Exchange Grant (DAAD) for graduate studies with soloist Kim Kashkashian at the Freiburg MusikHochschule, and earned a Masters degree while in Paul Katz's Quartet Program at Rice University. A dedicated teacher, she has also taught at the Universities of Tennessee and Missouri-St. Louis, and presently teaches college and high school violists at the North Carolina School of the Arts (www.ncarts.edu). She will be teaching at the California Summer Music and Green Mountain Chamber Music festivals this summer, and was recently elected to the Executive Board of the American Viola Society. She plays on a viola made especially for her by Marten Cornelissen.

Cellist Cheng-Hou Lee, a native of Taiwan, received both the bachelo's and master's degrees from the Juilliard School. He also earned a master's degree in chamber music at Rice University, where he was a founding member of the award-winning Gotham Quartet. Mr. Lee has worked with world-renowned artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Harvey Shapiro, Janos Starker, Mistilav Rostropovich, Zara Nelsova, Paul Katz, Steven Iserlis, Raphael Wallfisch, Gary Hoffman, Tim Eddy, and members of the Juilliard, Tokyo, and Alban Berg Quartets. Cheng-Hou has won the Chi-Mei Foundation Award for Outstanding Talents, the concerto competition at the Manhattan School of Music, Tuesday Musical Club Competition in Houston and twice the National Cello Competition in Taiwan, and he has appeared on the WQXR radio station in New York City.

He was a recipient of a career grant from the Quanta Computer Education Foundation, and was a full-scholarship student at the New England Conservatory for his Doctor of Musical Arts degree. He has made solo and chamber music appearances throughout the United States, and also toured in Germany, Italy, Hong-Kong, and throughout Taiwan. Mr. Lee served as a teaching assistant to Paul Katz for 5 years, and he has taught or conducted master classes at schools such as University of Connecticut, University of Delaware, East Carolina University, Southern Illinois University, and the Tainan Woman's College of Arts and Technology. He was also a faculty member at the Main Line Chamber Music Seminar in Pennsylvania, the "House of Cello" Festival, as well as the Bay Chamber Concerts "Next Generation" Program.

As a chamber musician, Mr. Lee performed with renowned pianist Ruth Laredo, the Boromeo String Quartet, the Miami String Quartet, and American composer William Bolcom. In addition, he has appeared in concerts for the David G. Whitcomb Foundation, Ravinia Festival's Steans Institute, Jordan Hall's 100th anniversary in Boston, the Omega Ensemble in New York City, the Charles Wadsworth and Friends Series, Robert Kapilow’s "What Makes It Great?" Seiries at Lincoln Center, and the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival.

Cheng-Hou is currently the cellist of the Avalon Quartet, which previously served as the string faculty at Indiana University at South Bend, and in August 2007 the Avalon Quartet succeeded the world-renowned Vermeer Quartet as the quartet-in-residence at Northern Illinois University. During summers, the quartet is on faculty at festivals such as the Interlochen Center for the Arts' Advanced String Quartet program and the Icicle Creek Chamber Music Festival.

Described by critics around the world for their "superb" and "extraordinary" musicianship, Kathryn Lockwood and Yousif Sheronick join forces in a rare combination of viola and percussion. With heritages stretching as far as Australia, Lebanon and the United States, the Lockwood/Sheronick Project is truly a duo of the world. Drawing from their melting pot home of New York City, LSP has commissioned composers in the fields of Jazz, European Classical and World Traditions encompassing diverse and creative repertoire that is both aurally and visually alluring. Along side the viola, the percussion batterie includes the durbahek (goblet drum) and riq (tambourine) from the Middle East as well as the West African djembe and frame drums from around the globe.

Kathryn Lockwood has been distinguished as a violist of exceptional talents in reviews around the country. The Cleveland Plain Dealer proclaimed, "...Lockwood played the vociferous viola cadenza with mahogany beauty and vivid character." 2005 marked the release of Kathryn's solo recital CD of Viola Music by Inessa Zaretsky, "Fireoptics", which Strad declared "Lockwood is absolutely inside the music's idiom finding appropriate tonal shadings". Kathryn is a member of the internationally renowned Lark Quartet, and has been guest artist with ensembles such as Trio Solisti, The Muir Quartet, and Triple Helix, and has collaborated with artists Branford Marsalis, Cho-Liang Lin, and the Bill T Jones Dance Company. A native of Australia, Kathryn moved to the US in 1991 and captured solo awards at the Primrose International Viola Competition, and The Washington International Competition for Strings. As a founding member of the Pacifica Quartet, she was heard live in residence on National Public Radio's "Performance Today" and on the stages of Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and at The Ravinia Festival. She has recorded for Cedille records, including a collaboration with Guarneri String Quartet violist Michael Tree and for Arabesque and Bribie Recordings.

Recent faculty positions include University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Mason Gross School of Music at Rutgers University, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and in the past, Northwestern University, University of Chicago, Interlochen Academy, Music Institute of Chicago, and National Music Camp in Australia. She earned her master's degree with Donald McInnes at the University of Southern California and her Bachelor of Music degree from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music with Elizabeth Morgan.

Hailed by the New York Times for his "dazzling improvisations" Yousif Sheronick appears internationally as soloist and chamber musician with world-renowned groups and artists such as Philip Glass, Ethos Percussion Group, Glen Velez, Foday Musa Suso, Simon Shaheen, Henry Threadgill and Paul Winter Consort. Mr. Sheronick's unique style encompasses traditions and instruments from the Middle East, North and West Africa, Brazil, India, and Europe. His ability to work in such diverse genres is due to having studied contemporary classical, jazz, world and rock music, which he seamlessly fuses into his playing. Critics in Spain say Yousif "is capable of creating hypnotic atmospheres" (Mundoclasico) where he "transported the listener to another dimension." (Ritmic). Prestigious venue performances include Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Royal Festival Hall (London) and Wigmore Hall (London). Distinguished collaborators include Yo-Yo Ma, Branford Marsalis, Pandit Samir Chatterjee, Marcel Khalife, Sonny Fortune, and the Lark and Pacifica String Quartets.

Mr. Sheronick recently released his critically acclaimed solo CD titled "Silk Thread" which Modern Drummer Magazine calls “a testimony to his genius”. He also released a Riq Instructional Video which Rhythm Magazine (UK) says “is a must to uncover the mysteries of this ancient instrument.” He has appeared throughout the US, Europe, Middle East, Asia and Australia with festival appearances including the JVC and Newport Jazz Festivals, Jazztel (Madrid), Renaissance Festival (Rethymno, Greece) Early Music Festival (Regensburg, Germany) and Jerusalem Festival (Palestine). He has performed live on NPR's "Performance Today" and John Schaffer's "New Sounds." An active clinician, Mr. Sheronick teaches masterclasses at home in the US and abroad. Mr. Sheronick holds degrees from Yale University and the University of Iowa and serves on the faculties of the University of Bridgeport and Concordia Conservatory.

Dervishes - Pieces for Viola and Percussion, by Inessa Zaretsky
Russian born pianist and composer Inessa Zaretsky burst on to the composition scene winning four ASCAP Composition Awards and a "Commission USA" Award from Meet the Composer Foundation. Her works have been performed by many prominent musicians such as members of the Boston, Orpheus and St. Luke's Orchestras, and ensembles including the Kent/Blossom Festival Orchestra, St. Lukes Chamber Ensemble, Cassat and Miro Quartets. Dervishes was the first piece written for the Lockwood/Sheronick Project and is a musical portrait of them. There are originally five pieces in this suite (only four are being performed on this concert), which are a blend of Western and Middle Eastern music, composed to represent both of their heritages. There is a short three note motivic element threading the four pieces together. Moderato is a dialogue of emotions brewing, surfacing and sinking. Scherzo is a Bodhran improvisation on a seductive and through composed viola melody. The next piece Lento has a very free viola part with interjecting insistence of the percussion part. The suite ends in a gigue-like Vivace, a combination of fun and drive. Dervishes is one of Ms. Zaretsky's most collaborative works as Yousif improvised on the Middle Eastern drums used in much of the piece.

"Homage" for Frame Drums and Viola, by Glen Velez
Grammy Award winner Glen Velez is a percussionist, vocalist, and composer, specializing in frame drums from around the world. Of Mexican/Texan ancestry, Velez is largely responsible for the increasing popularity of frame drums in the United States and around the world. Velez favors in his work the Irish bodhrán, the Brazilian pandeiro, the Arabic riq, the North African bendir, and the Azerbaijani ghaval. Homage was inspired by the idea of the drum as a melodic instrument. The drummer uses vocalizations to bring out the hidden melodies, which the viola can elaborate and comment on. The two instruments converse in a circular banter of rhythmic and melodic motifs. The combination of stringed instrument and drum recalls the ancient sound of a pre-electronic era. This piece endeavors to invoke the mood of old Roman times, when the familiar sounds of the rich toned frame drums were used in rituals and celebrations.

Scenes for Viola and Percussion, by John Patitucci
New York born bassist and composer, John Patitucci is a jazz legend. In 1986, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences voted Patitucci the MVP (Most Valuable Player) on acoustic bass. He has won three Grammy Awards (one for playing and two for composing). In addition, his first solo recording, John Patitucci, was number one on the Billboard Jazz charts. He has released five albums with the Concord Jazz label: One More Angel, Now, Imprint, Communion and Songs, Stories and Spirituals. Patitucci has won polls including: Best Jazz Bassist in Guitar Player Magazine's 1992, 1994 and 1995 Readers' Poll and Best Jazz Bassist in Bass Player Magazine's 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1996 Readers' Poll. Amongst his many commissions, such as Turtle Island Quartet and the Italian chamber orchestra Suono e Oltre in Pescara, Patitucci wrote Scenes for Viola and Percussion. He&'s given the viola an exotic sound harmonically, matching moods with the exotic hand percussion. The viola part has an improvisatory spirit and the percussion part with unspecified instruments, has intensity and groove.

Klezmer a la Bechet is part of a suite of pieces ("A Klezmer Tribute to Sidney Bechet") that I wrote in 1997 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Sidney Bechet; renowned virtuoso on the clarinet and soprano saxophone and one of jazzs' first great soloists along with Louis Armstrong. The suite is a musical description of an imaginary meeting between Bechet and Naftule Brandwein, the legendery Eastern European Jewish klezmer clarinetist. The full work was premiered at the Saalfelden Jazz festival by my band "Klezmer Madness!" (with Ben Neill), and subsequently recorded on John Zorns' Tzadik label as part of the second recording under my name : "Klezmer NY". "Klezmer a la Bechet" takes the klezmer "terkisher" (Turkish influenced) dance rhythm as a base, and super-imposes both a funk feel and an across the bar line lyricism (remnicent of Bechet) on top of that. This piece remains in my bands' repetoire to this day and is totally representative of my work in writing new klezmer music for the 20th/21st century. This version for viola and percussion was adapted by the Lockwood/Sheronick Project, and brings the Middle Eastern flavor of the "terkisher" to the fore with the use of the Bodhran frame drum. David Krakauer 2008

Summer in the High Grassland - from the Silk Road Suite, by Zhao Jiping (b. 1945)
Zhao Jiping is one of the most respected film composers in China; his work includes the score for Farewell by Concubine. Taking its inspiration from the music of Mongolia, the syncopated rhythms and wide melodic leaps in Summer in the High Grassland are characteristic of music from that region, while the percussion represents traditions from all along the Silk Road. Zhao wrote "Summer" as part of the Silk Road Suite for Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble in 2004. He used the inspiration of the morin khuur (horsehead fiddle), a traditional two-stringed instrument from Mongolia, which was introduced to Yo-Yo Ma in 1999. Here he has transferred many of the techniques used to play this instrument to one of its descendants, the cello.

a different world, by Enzo Rao
Enzo Rao was born in Palermo Italy. He works as a composer, and plays Violin, Oud, sadz, Jewish Harp, bass and other instruments. His heterogeneous musical background allows him to play Rock, Jazz, Blues and a variety of Ethnic music styles. His true passion is Sicilian and Mediterranean ethnical music, which clearly comes through in this light and folksy song, A different world. Originally for violin and drums, it was performed and recorded by Rao who changes the time signature in the main statement between 7/4 and 8/4, giving the piece an easy but uneven gait. A different world includes a violin (now viola) solo and a percussion solo before it returns to the opening statement.

The New York Viola Society's 2007-2008 Season of Concerts, Recitals and other Viola Events

About the Artists:

About the Artists:

The New York Viola Society's 2007-2008 Season of
Concerts, Recitals and other Viola Events