DOHNÁNYI
CHAMBER PLAYERS
Jonathan Holden, Clarinet
Shannon Thomas, Violin
Gregory Sauer, Cello
Read Gainsford, Piano
With special guest
Kathryn Votapek, Viola
Wednesday, September 24, 2025
7:30 PM | Opperman Music Hall
Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL -
Thursday, September 25, 2025
7:30 PM | Historic Asolo Theater
The John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, FL -
Friday, September 26, 2025
8:00 PM | Blue Bamboo Center for the Arts
Winter Park, FL
Trio in E-flat Major, K. 498 “Kegelstatt”
PROGRAM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Andante (1756–1791)
Menuetto
Allegretto
Serenade, Op. 10
Jonathan Holden, clarinet
Kathryn Votapek, viola
Read Gainsford, piano
Ernst von Dohnányi
Marcia (Allegro) (1877–1960)
Romanza (Adagio non troppo)
Scherzo (Vivace)
Tema con variazioni (Andante con moto)
Rondo
Trio in A Minor, Op. 114
Shannon Thomas, violin
Kathryn Votapek, viola
Gregory Sauer, cello
Johannes Brahms
Allegro (1833 –1897)
Adagio
Andantino grazioso
Allegro
Island Songs (1995)
John Psathas
III. Finale: With Extreme Energy (b. 1966)
Jonathan Holden, clarinet
Greg Sauer, cello
Read Gainsford, piano
Please refrain from talking, entering, or exiting while performers are playing. Food and drink are prohibited in all concert halls. Please turn off cell phones and all other electronic devices. Please refrain from putting feet on seats and seat backs. Children who become disruptive should be taken out of the performance hall so they do not disturb the musicians and other audience members.
was one of the most prodigious musical figures of the twentieth century. Born in Hungary, he was a composer, pianist, and conductor, and taught at Florida State University from 1949-1959. In 2019 pianist Ian Hobson chose to honor him Dohnányi Chamber , a group featuring faculty performers from FSU alongside guests of national and international standing.
The ensemble performs a wide range of classical masterworks with a focus on the music and influence of Dohnányi. Dohnányi himself was deeply influenced by works of the German classics, Brahms in particular, as well as other Eastern Europeans. He also had a broad influence on composers after him. The ensemble’s repertoire seeks to reflect this lineage and the eclectic range of this extraordinary musician.
ABOUT THE GUEST ARTIST
A member of the Chester String Quartet for 15 years, violinist Kathryn Votapek now maintains an active career as a soloist and guest artist at chamber music festivals throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. She has participated in numerous commissioning projects and premieres and can be heard with the Chester Quartet on the Koch International Classics and New Albion labels. Along with pianist Ralph Votapek and clarinetist Paul Votapek, she performs as violinist and violist with the Votapek Trio. She has also given numerous duo performances with her husband, violinist Aaron Berofsky.
Votapek has been on the faculty of the Chautauqua Institution, the Meadowmount School of Music, the Interlochen Arts Camp, the Madeline Island Music Musi Camp, the Quartet Program, the Banff International Festival, the Accademia Musicale Chigiana (Italy), the Peter de Grote Summer Academy (Holland), and the Music & More Summerfest (Bosnia and Herzegovina), as well as performing at the Klosterkammerfest (Germany), Speedside Festival (Canada), the International Deia Festival (Spain), the Garth Newel Festival, the Fontana Festival, and with the Chicago Chamber Musicians, and the Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings.
Votapek is currently on the faculty at the University of Michigan and is the associate concertmaster of the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra. In prior years she was an associate professor of violin and artist-in-residence at Indiana University – South Bend.
Votapek received her bachelor of music degree at Indiana University and master’s degree from The Juilliard School. Her teachers were Robert Mann, Franco Gulli, and Angel Reyes.
ABOUT THE FACULTY ARTISTS
Pianist Read Gainsford has been described as possessing “fingernumbing virtuosity and delicately chiseled precision.” Known for his insightful introductions from the stage, he has collaborated with oceanographers in presenting Crumb’s Voice of the Whale, consulted with art historians and living artists to create a series of images to accompany performances of Messiaen, and reenacted the famous piano duel between Liszt and Thalberg.
Born in New Zealand, Gainsford has performed widely in the USA, Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, as solo recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber musician, making successful solo debuts in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and London’s Wigmore Hall, as well as playing in the Kennedy Center, St Martin-in-the-Fields, Queen Elizabeth Hall, and others. He has recorded for the Amoris label, BBC Radio Three, Radio New Zealand’s Concert Programme, and has broadcast on national television in New Zealand, the UK and Serbia.
Gainsford was a founding member of Trio Solis, who made their Carnegie Hall debut in 2009, and has also been a member of the Ensemble X, Garth Newel Chamber Players, Serafin Ensemble, and Dohnányi Chamber Players. A keen supporter of living composers, he has premiered and recorded Ladislav Kubik’s 3rd Piano Concerto and Marc Satterwhite’s Five Rivers of Hades, and recorded Ellen Taafe Zwilich’s Images for two pianos and orchestra, amongst many others.
Highly in demand as a master-class clinician and teacher, he is Professor of Piano at Florida State University where he received the Graduate Teaching Award.
Jonathan Holden is Associate Professor of Clarinet at Florida State University and Principal Clarinetist of the Mobile Symphony Orchestra. Born in Great Britain, he now lives with his family in Tallahassee, Florida.
Holden made his concerto debut in England at age seventeen and has since taught and performed on four continents. Overseas appearances include performing tours of Brazil and Panama, and solo appearances in China and Israel. He has given masterclasses and recitals at over fifty colleges worldwide, including Vanderbilt and Northwestern universities, and the national conservatories of Paris and Rio De Janeiro.
A passionate chamber musician, Holden frequently performs at conferences, festivals, and recital halls throughout the US. He has performed with over twenty American orchestras including the Louisiana, Fort Wayne, and Orlando Philharmonic orchestras, The Grand Rapids Symphony, and the Sarasota Orchestra. In 2019, he played Principal Clarinet in the Joffrey Ballet’s premiere run of the opera Anna Karenina. 2025 marked his twentieth and final season as Principal Clarinetist of the West Michigan Symphony Orchestra.
In recorded media, Holden’s 2018 solo album, Notes from Home (Centaur Records), celebrates music of the British Isles. A 2020 review in Fanfare Magazine cites Holden’s “richness of tone, technical address, and sophisticated musicality,” naming the album an exemplar of “one of the great ages of wind playing.” Holden’s forthcoming album, American Notebook, will complement the first album, featuring music by American composers.
Holden is a D’Addario Woodwinds Artist and a Selmer Paris Performing Artist.
Gregory Sauer, Professor of Cello at Florida State University, enjoys a vital and varied career as a teacher and performer. He has appeared in recital at prominent venues across the U.S. and at universities such as Vanderbilt and Rice University. Sauer has performed concertos with the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, the Houston Symphony, the Quad City Symphony, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, the Columbus (GA) Symphony, and the Missoula Symphony, among others. His most recent recording on the Albany label, Conversa, features 20th and 21st century Brazilian and North American duos with pianist Heidi Louise Williams. As a member of the Carpe Diem String Quartet, Sauer played concerts in Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, Siena, Italy, and in the group’s first China tour. Other chamber music appearances have been at the Austin Chamber Music Center, the Victoria Bach Festival, and the Colorado Music Festival. In addition to his position at FSU, Sauer has taught at the Texas Music Festival, Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, the Green Lake Music Festival, and the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute.
Violinist Shannon Thomas is an acclaimed performer and educator known for her compelling artistry and passion for nurturing young musicians. A 2025 Fulbright Scholars finalist, she serves as Associate Professor of Violin at Florida State University and directs the Gabriel Del Orbe Violin Program in the Dominican Republic.
Praised for her “expressive, dynamic playing,” Thomas has appeared throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia with recent performances including appearances at the Kennedy Center, Garth Newel, Steinmetz Hall, Bolivia’s Centro Sinfónico, and the Banff Centre. She is a member of the Rothko Trio and regularly performs with ProMusica Chamber Orchestra and IRIS Collective. She has recorded for Blue Griffin Records, celebrating music of Lera Auerbach, Ellen Zwilich, and Jennifer Higdon; an upcoming recording with the Rothko Trio will feature works by Pulitzer Prize-winner Kevin Puts, Libby Larsen, Joan Tower, and Latin Grammy nominee Miguel del Águila.
Committed to a holistic, student-centered philosophy, Thomas mentors young musicians with a focus on artistic growth and personal development. In the summers, she teaches at Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival and Hilton Head Chamber Music Institute. Her students have been recognized as prizewinners and finalists in national competitions and are frequently admitted to top music programs across the country. Invested in expanding access to music through education, Thomas is co-artistic director of MusicBridges Tallahassee, a nonprofit empowering youth through music and diversity. Her previous teaching appointments include the Kinhaven Music School, University of Southern Mississippi, Interlochen Arts Camp, and Innsbrook Summer Music Academy, where she also served as Education Director.
Thomas earned a DMA at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she was Paul Kantor’s assistant; she also holds degrees from Yale and Vanderbilt Universities. Visit shannonthomasviolin.com or follow on Instagram: @shannonthomasviolin.
Special Thanks
FSU and the College of Music
Rebekah Hair-Stewart, Alumni Engagement
Adrienne DeStefano, Business Office
Megan Mowery and Laura Chacon, Communications
Jayme Ice, Robby Bukovic, and Kim Shively, Development
Li Yeoh, Director of Piano Technology
Nick Smith and Cameron Downs, Production
Wendy Smith, Publicity and Programs
Sarasota and The Ringling
Elizabeth Doud, Currie-Kohlmann Curator of Performance The Ringling
Historic Asolo Theater
Marci Boland, Assistant Director, Events and Rentals
Bethany Ritz, Public Relations Manager
Clark Dawson, Pritchard Pianos
Winter Park and Blue Bamboo Center for the Arts
Christopher Cortez and Melody Cortez, Blue Bamboo Center for the Arts
Jessica Speak, FSU College of Music alumna and Adjunct Professor of Clarinet at Stetson University
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Corporate Sponsors
Beethoven & Company
Business Sponsors
WFSU Public Broadcast Center
The University Musical Associates is the community support organization for the FSU College of Music. The primary purposes of the group are to develop audiences for College of Music performances, to assist outstanding students in enriching their musical education and careers, and to support quality education and cultural activities for the Tallahassee community. If you would like information about joining the University Musical Associates, please contact Kim Shively, Director of Special Programs, at kshively@fsu.edu or 850-645-5453.
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