Tag Archives: Chamber Music Society of Little Rock

Violinist Jennifer Stumm highlights Chamber Music Society of LR concert tonight

Posted on by

jennifer-main-photoViolinist Jennifer Stumm will be the featured artist tonight at the Chamber Music Society of Little Rock concert.  The event will take place at 7:30 at Trinity United Methodist Church.  Tickets are $25 and can be purchased at the Chamber Music Society website.

Hailed by The Washington Post for the “opal-like beauty” and “phosphorescent energy” of her playing, and First Prize Winner of the Concert Artists Guild Competition, violist Jennifer Stumm is internationally recognized as a musical innovator and dynamic advocate for her instrument.  She was honored to be invited to give a TEDx presentation at the 2011 Aldeburgh Festival, which she entitled An Imperfect Instrument, and through a unique mixture of talk and performance, Ms. Stumm offers a compelling meditation on the viola’s capacity for emotion– and for making beautiful music.  The subsequent video of her presentation was selected as an ‘Editor’s Pick’ of all talks on Ted.com.

Ms. Stumm’s debut recording for Naxos’ Laureate Series is a CD of works by Italian composer/violist Alessandro Rolla (1757-1841), who played a crucial role in the development of the viola as an important concert instrument.  Joined by pianist Connie Shih and violinist Liza Ferschtman, the CD was just released to critical acclaim: “…a very polished and suave violist.  She plays dead in tune, and her bowing is supple and lively.” (American Record Guide).  In 2007-08, Jennifer Stumm also embarked on a series of exciting collaborations for the BBC, including Britten’s Lachrymae in Scotland and a festival of Russian music at the acclaimed Sage Gateshead in Newcastle, all for broadcast.  Previous broadcasts of her performances have been heard on the BBC as well as the Dutch, Irish and German National Radio Networks.

Recent appearances of note include debuts at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the famed “Grachten” Festival in Amsterdam, the Kennedy Center (on the Washington Performing Arts Society series), the Ravinia Festival’s Rising Stars Series, New York’s Merkin Concert Hall and the River to River Festival’s Summer Stars series and Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess series, as well as appearances at Wigmore Hall in London, the International Viola Congress (in Montreal and Arizona) and the Kilkenny Festival in Ireland.

A great proponent of chamber music, Jennifer Stumm was violist of the acclaimed London-based Aronowitz Ensemble, resident New Generation Artists at the BBC, and is a regular participant at the International Musicians Seminar at Prussia Cove, both in Cornwall, England and on tour.  Her collaborative partners have included members of the Beaux Arts Trio, Guarneri, Vermeer and Alban Berg Quartets, the period ensemble L’Archibudelli and pianist Christopher O’Riley.  She performs regularly at prominent festivals such as Marlboro, Verbier, Spoleto and Aldeburgh.

A native of Atlanta, Jennifer Stumm is currently International Chair of Viola Studies at the Royal College of Music, London.  She began viola studies at the age of eight and now devotes time to master classes and educational outreach with the hope that younger musicians will be similarly encouraged. Her principal teacher in Atlanta was Marilyn Seelman. Ms. Stumm holds a Bachelors of Music degree from the Curtis Institute as a student of Karen Tuttle and pursued interests in astronomy and politics at the University of Pennsylvania at the same time. Ms. Stumm also earned a Masters of Music degree at The Juilliard School. Currently, she divides her time between musical commitments in the US and Europe, where her recent mentors have been violist Nobuko Imai and cellist Steven Isserlis.

Steven Lin at Chamber Music Society of LR tonight

Posted on by
steven linSteven Lin will be the featured artist tonight at the Chamber Music Society of Little Rock concert.  The event will take place at 7:30 tonight at Trinity United Methodist Church.  Tickets are $25 and can be purchased at the Chamber Music Society website.

A victory at the 2012 CAG Victor Elmaleh Competition is the latest in a growing list of awards for Steven Lin, an immediately engaging and imaginative young Taiwanese American pianist.  The Baltimore Sun declared his recent performance “elegantly refined,” listening to Lin as soloist in Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with the Baltimore Symphony.  His vibrant playing at the 2013 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition was recognized both by the critics (“…thoroughly enjoyable both as music and as a performance”–Ft. Worth Star-Telegram) and the judges, who selected him for the John Giordano Jury Chairman Discretionary Award.

Highlights of his 2013-14 season include debut recitals at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall (CAG New York Series) and Merkin Concert Hall, the Gilmore Rising Stars series (Kalamazoo, MI), Pepperdine University Center for the Arts (Malibu, CA), Chamber Music Society of Little Rock (AR), and the Ferst Center for the Arts at Georgia Tech University.  Featured concerto engagements include the Tulare County Symphony (CA), where he plays Michael Daugherty’s Le Tombeau de Liberace.  The season began with summer festival performances at the Aspen Chamber Music Workshop, under the mentorship of David Finckel and Wu Han, and the La Jolla Summerfest, curated by violinist Cho-Liang Lin.

Steven Lin’s artistry was clear from an early age when he was accepted into the Juilliard Pre-College Division on a full scholarship at the age of ten to study with Yoheved Kaplinsky.  A two-time winner of the Juilliard Pre-College Piano Competition, he made his debut with the New York Philharmonic in Avery Fisher Hall at the age of 13.  Additional concerto engagements include the New Jersey Symphony, Tulsa Symphony, Orlando Philharmonic, Hilton Head Symphony and Sendai Symphony Orchestra in addition to the Baltimore and New York appearances.

The pianist’s broad musical interests allow him to move with ease between concertos, recitals and chamber music, enjoying appearances around the world at important venues including the Louvre and Salle Cortot in France, National Dublin Hall in Ireland, Seoul Arts Center in Korea, Sendai Cultural Center in Japan, and Avery Fisher Hall in the United States.  Recent recitals debuts include the National Chopin Foundation in Miami and the International Piano Series in Charleston.  Steven Lin has appeared on radio broadcasts including NPR’s From The Top and WQXR’s McGraw Hill Young Artist Showcase.

During the CAG Competition, Mr. Lin’s compelling artistry was further recognized with a special piano prize.  Also in 2012, he was a prizewinner at the William Kapell International Competition, The Juilliard School’s Gina Bachauer Piano Competition and he claimed an unprecedented three honors at the 2012 International Hilton Head Piano Competition, cited for his excellence in baroque and contemporary music as well as his overall pianism.

Steven Lin earned both Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees at The Juilliard School, studying with Robert McDonald and Matti Raekallio.  In fall 2013 he will pursue a Performance Diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music, under the guidance of Robert McDonald.  When not making music, Steven Lin describes himself as an “NBA basketball fanatic,” a source of great pride and commitment which began when he was eight years old.

Chamber Music Society of LR kicks off 60th season tonight with La Catrina Quartet

Posted on by

CMSLR_logo_webTonight the Chamber Music Society of Little Rock kicks off its 60th anniversary season with a recital by La Catrina Quartet.

The recital will be at 7pm at Trinity United Methodist Church (at the corner of Evergreen and Mississippi).  Tickets are $25 for adults; students are free.

Hailed by Yo-Yo Ma as wonderful ambassadors of music, the La Catrina Quartet is one of the most sought after ensembles on tour today. Their unique blend of Latin-American and standard repertoire has proved enormously entertaining for its diverse audiences, catering to the more traditional concertgoers while also attracting the next generation of listeners. Their infectious personalities infuse their playing, creating truly compelling performances. The La Catrina Quartet has a triple mission: to perform the masterworks of the string quartet repertoire, to promote Mexican and Latin American concert music worldwide and to work closely with composers in order to promote the performance of new music.

The Chamber Music Society of Little Rock (CMSLR) is one of Central Arkansas’ premiere performing arts organizations. Through its performance and education activities, the Society offers audiences unique chamber music experiences. CMSLR presents annual series of concerts and educational events for listeners ranging from connoisseurs to chamber music newcomers of all ages. Presenting performances of repertoire spanning  three centuries, and numerous premieres by living composers, CMSLR programs are designed to provide listeners a comprehensive perspective on the art of chamber music.

Each year CMSLR presents four concerts by award-winning solo and ensemble performers. The Society offers a unique opportunity for Little Rock Audiences to experience first class performances by internationally recognized performers such as the Guarneri Quartet, the Chestnut Brass, and the Parker String Quartet.

The Chamber Music Society of Little Rock continues today in the spirit of its founders. In 1953 a group of friends began meeting in one another’s homes to enrich the cultural life of Little Rock with a new form of classical music.

Chamber Music Society of LR hosts Sebastian Bäverstam

Posted on by

sebastian-baverstamThe Chamber Music Society of Little Rock (CMSLR) presents internationally acclaimed young cellist Sebastian Bäverstam in recital at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church on Thursday, April 4 at 7:30 pm.

Accompanied by pianist Yannick Rafalimanana, Bäverstam will present a recital featuring the works of Janacek, Shubert, Debussy and Barber.  Tickets are $25 online or at the door.  Praised by The Strad for his “…powerfully expressive style,” cellist Sebastian Bäverstam is a winner of the 2009

Concert Artists Guild International Competition. His recent performance at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall was noted in The Strad for its “consummate instrumental mastery,” This remarkable recital led to Mr. Bäverstam’s subsequent selection by Musical America as its “New Artist of the Month” for June 2011.

Highlights of 2012-13 include his season-opening recital for the Rising Stars series at the Ravinia Festival, where he also spent the summer of 2012 as a member of Ravinia’s renowned Steans Institute. His cross-country recital tours encompass eighteen concerts in thirteen different states.

Sebastian Bäverstam, age twenty-three, has appeared multiple times on the nationally syndicated radio show From the Top, and has also been heard on international radio broadcasts of Voice of America. On television, he was featured on the PBS TV version of From the Top and participated in a PBS documentary filmed at Carnegie Hall, as well as a film by the Masterclass Media Foundation of Great Britain and a nationally televised commercial for Bose speakers.

Celebrating its 59th Season, The Chamber Music Society of Little Rock (CMSLR) is one of Central Arkansas’ premiere performing arts organizations. Through its annual concert series and educational events, the Society offers unique chamber music experiences to listeners ranging from connoisseurs to chamber music newcomers of all ages.  Each year CMSLR presents four concerts by award-winning solo and ensemble performers.   For more information, visit CMSLR on the web at www.chambermusiclr.com

Chamber Music Society of LR presents Rachel Barton Pine

Posted on by

The Chamber Music Society of Little Rock presents Rachel Barton Pine in recital tonight at the Clinton Presidential Center.

Rachel Barton Pine’s classical music biography leads with the cities whose orchestras she’s soloed with, including Chicago, Philadelphia, Atlanta, St. Louis, Dallas, Montreal, Vienna, New Zealand and Budapest, among others. She was a child prodigy who made her solo debut at age seven and has worked with numerous famous conductors — Zubin Mehta, Erich Leinsdorf, Placido Domingo and Charles Dutoit to name a few.

Hailed as “the most charismatic, the most virtuosic, and the most compelling American violinist of her generation,” her instrument is one of the most important in the world, the “ex-Soldat” violin made in 1742 by Guarneri del Gesu.

Yet like any young woman who came of age in the Nineties, violinist Rachel Barton Pine is equally inclined to talk about the musical loves of her life far from the sonatas and concertos she practices and which constitute her current professional life. She may have intensely researched the musical relationship between Johannes Brahms and violinist Joseph Joachim for her GRAMMY-nominated 2003 Cedille recording “Brahms and Joachim Violin Concertos,” but when she says, “They jammed together all the time,” we can see her rock sensibility shine through. She can reel off a list of her favorite rock bands — AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Anthrax, Metallica, Pantera, Van Halen, Slayer and Megadeth — as readily as she can talk about these 19th-century composers.

Support for Chamber Music Society of Little Rock is provided, in part, by the Arkansas Arts Council, an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

To purchase tickets, visit the Chamber Music Society of Little Rock’s website.

Chamber Music Society of LR – Hye Jin Kim, violin

Posted on by

The Chamber Music Society of Little Rock is hosting violinist Hye-Jin Kim tonight.  She performs with pianist Ieva Jokubaviciute in a program featuring Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata, Sibelius’s Five Miniatures, and the Violin Sonata by Leos Janacek.  The concert will take place at the Parish Hall at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 1000 North Mississippi Avenue in Little Rock. Concerts begin at 7:30 PM.

Describing the artistry of this Winner of the 2009 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, The Strad lauded her “…supremely musical playing, well-thought out, yet of the moment.” Ms. Kim’s sensitivity to the expressive and contextual components of the violin repertoire enables her to transport audiences beyond mere technical virtuosity, and this remarkable musical depth and passion led to her First Prize at the 2004 Yehudi Menuhin International Competition when she was only nineteen.

For additional information and to hear Ms. Kim perform, visit http://www.concertartists.org/hye-jin-kim_bio.htm and www.hyejinkim.com

Tickets are $25 at the door, $10 for students. Additional ticket and concert information is available at: www.chambermusiclr.com

Chamber Music Society of Little Rock presents Brasil Guitar Duo

Posted on by

Since 1953, the Chamber Music Society of Little Rock has been bringing musicians to Little Rock for performances.  The next concert is tomorrow evening (Thursday, November 10), featuring Brasil Guitar Duo.

João Luiz and Douglas Lora met in São Paulo as teenage guitar students and have been performing together as the Brasil Guitar Duo for more than ten years, perfecting a sublime synchronicity and effortless performance style. Equally at home on a Classical or a World Music series, the Duo’s innovative programming features a seamless blend of traditional and Brazilian works, resulting in a full global touring schedule and numerous critically acclaimed recordings.

The Duo will include “Sete Aneis” (Seven Rings) by Egberto Gismonti (arranged by João Luiz) and Fandango (canon) by Mario Castelnuvo-Tedesco on their Little Rock program.

The performance will be in the Parish Hall at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 1000 North Mississippi Avenue in Little Rock. Concerts begin at 7:30 PM.  Tickets are $25 at the door, $10 for students.