Chamber Music Charleston

Chamber Music Charleston (CMC) was founded in 2006 to enhance the quality of life in the Greater Charleston area through the performance, cultivation and promotion of classical chamber music of high artistic quality by musicians of the Lowcountry. CMC programs are developed to highlight the diversity, eclecticism and excitement possible in chamber music. CMC was founded in 2006 with a five member advisory board and 13 core musicians who performed 15 concerts during the initial season. The majority of the performances were “House Concerts,” intimate evenings of chamber music in private homes of Downtown Charleston and Kiawah Island. Over the years CMC began presenting more concerts to meet the demand for their unique, informative, engaging presentations. Over its 15-year history, CMC has performed in theaters, churches, schools and art galleries throughout the greater Charleston area in addition to special performances for the Piccolo Spoleto Festival, Happy New Year Charleston, MOJA Festival and North Charleston Arts Festival. In May 2013 CMC made their New York City debut performance at the historic Carnegie Hall, with a return performance in May 2017. Internationally, CMC has twice participated in the Musica en Segura Festival (Spain) and as part of the Forum Cultural Arts Series on St. Thomas (USVI). The 2019-2020 season continued the tradition of House Concerts in addition to in-school performances, concerts at the Dock Street Theatre, a return to the Musica en Segura Festival, the launch of the new “Salon Series” at Charleston’s historic South Carolina Society Hall, and a special violin recital concert featuring legendary violinist Midori. In its most recent season, CMC entertained over 5,400 audience members. Through its Classical Kids Concerts and educational outreach, annually CMC serves over 3,600 youth in the greater Charleston area. The children’s programs primarily reach children residing in the rural Johns Island area while the adult programs reach audiences from Charleston, Kiawah Island, Seabrook Island and Edisto Island. CMC has been nothing if not creative in selecting venues—they have even performed in an aquarium. The HHIPC is thrilled to present its Lowcountry neighbor, Chamber Music Charleston, at BravoPiano! 2021.

This performance is made possible by a generous contribution from Joan and Bob Koenig.

Chamber Music Charleston: Women Of American Music

Sunday, June 8 at 3:00 pm • All Saints Episcopal Church

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (American/British) Five Negro Melodies for Piano Trio, Op. 59, Book 1 (1905)

Astor Piazzolla (Argentina) Grand Tango for Piano and Cello (1982) INTERMISSION

Solo Piano Works by Chee Hang See

Carlos Guastavino (Argentina) Eduardo Gilardoni (Uruguay) Eduardo Gilardoni (Uruguay) Amy Beach (American) Bailecito (1940) Tres Piezas Breves Sonatina No. 2

CHEE–HANG SEE, PIANO

Hang-See is a prize-winning pianist who has been called “a cool and confident performer” by the Charleston Post and Courier. He has soloed with the Toa Payoh West Chinese Orchestra in Singapore, Bėla Bartók Orchestra in Perugia, Cleveland Institute of Music Chamber Orchestra, and has performed with Chamber Music Charleston, the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, and broadcast on South Carolina Public Radio. He remains in high demand as soloist, chamber pianist, and composer in his native Singapore and all over the U.S. Chee-Hang is on the faculty at the Charleston Academy of Music. His debut album “Violin Transcriptions”, featuring works by Rachmaninoff and Muczynski, was released in 2014.

FRANCES HSIEH, VIOLIN

Raised in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Frances Hsieh began studying violin at age five with Dorothy Kitchen of the Duke University String School. Later as an A.J. Fletcher scholar at Duke University, she continued her studies with Eric Pritchard while earning dual degrees in Music and Biology. In 2005, Frances received her Master’s for Violin Performance at the Eastman School of Music under the tutelage of Charles Castleman.

During the summers, Frances attended numerous prestigious summer music festivals including Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute, Eastern Music Festival, Quartet Program, National Repertory Orchestra, National Orchestral Institute, AIMS music festival in Graz, Austria and received the Benenson Award to attend the Aspen Music Festival and Musicorda. As an avid teacher, Frances enjoys giving back by instructing students privately at Ashley Hall’s Carolina Strings Academy. In 2014-15, Frances had the privilege of teaching violin and chamber music at Luzerne Music Center summer festival in New York.

Frances has performed with the North Carolina and Phoenix Symphonies and has won positions with the Colorado Music Festival, Richmond Symphony Orchestra and the Charleston Symphony Orchestra. She is currently Assistant Concertmaster of the Asheville Symphony and Principal 2nd of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra. Today, Frances continues her love of chamber music as a core member of Chamber Music Charleston, with which she has had the pleasure of performing for the second time at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall in May 2017.

TIMOTHY O’MALLEY, CELLO

Timothy O’Malley was first introduced to the cello at the age of nine when he participated in a strings program in Tucson, Arizona. Since then, his studies have brought him across the United States and to Europe. While in high school he studied under Angelika May at the Academy for Music and the Performing Arts in Vienna and he received his Bachelor’s degree in Cello Performance from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music with Norman Fischer and Catherine Meints and his Master’s degree in Orchestral Performance from the Manhattan School of Music. He is formerly co-principal cellist of the Hilton Head Orchestra, was a full-time core cellist of the Charleston Symphony, and is a member of Chamber Music Charleston. His Chamber Music Charleston performances have brought him overseas to the US Virgin Islands as well as Carnegie Hall.