PSO360: Violin Splendor (May 21, 2022)

VIOLIN SPLENDOR

S AT U R D AY, M AY 2 1 AT 8 : 0 0 P. M .

HEINZ HALL

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Cecee Pantikian Albert Tan Ran Cheng r Shannon Fitzhenry r Karen Strittmatter Galvin r Ross Snyder r MUSIC DIRECTOR

VIOLA

ENDOWED BY THE VIRA I. HEINZ ENDOWMENT

Tatjana Mead Chamis Q

Manfred Honeck

JON & CAROL WALTON CHAIR

PRINCIPAL POPS CONDUCTOR

Byron Stripling

ENDOWED BY HENRY & ELSIE HILLMAN

ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR

Moon Doh Jacob Joyce

FIRST VIOLIN

Mark Huggins

ASSOCIATE CONCERTMASTER BEVERLYNN & STEVEN ELLIOTT CHAIR

Huei-Sheng Kao ASSISTANT CONCERTMASTER

Kelsey Blumenthal Justine Campagna

Marylène Gingras-Roy L Laura Fuller Erina LarabyGoldwasser Aaron Mossburg Stephanie Tretick Andrew Wickesberg

Jennifer Orchard Susanne Park

DR. ALAN & MARSHA BRAMOWITZ CHAIR

Christopher Wu

WILLIAM & SARAH GALBRAITH CHAIR

Eva Burmeister b Andrew Fuller Lorien Benet Hart ARLYN GILBOA CHAIR

Yeokyung Kim Claudia Mahave

ALICE VICTORIA GELORMINO CHAIR

PAUL J. ROSS FELLOW

PICCOLO

Rhian Kenny j

FRANK & LOTI GAFFNEY CHAIR

OBOE

Cynthia Koledo DeAlmeida j

DR. WILLIAM LARIMER MELLON JR. CHAIR

TROMBONE

Peter Sullivan j TOM & JAMEE TODD CHAIR

Rebecca Cherian h James Nova ANN MCGUINN CHAIR

BASS TROMBONE

Jeffrey Dee j

WILLIAM & JACQUELINE HERBEIN CHAIR

Max Blair d

TUBA

Nora Prener r

Craig Knox j

DR. MARY ANN CRAIG CHAIR

Andrew Reamer jb Jeremy Branson Q

David Premo d Adam Liu xb

GEORGE & EILEEN DORMAN CHAIR

Mikhail Istomin SUSAN CANDACE HUNT CHAIR

Bronwyn Banerdt Will Chow Michael DeBruyn Alexandra Lee

Charlie Powers

Dennis O’Boyle x Laura Motchalov

Shantanique Moore

Victoria Luperi d Ron Samuels

SECOND VIOLIN

THE MORRISON FAMILY CHAIR

HILDA M. WILLIS FOUNDATION CHAIR

SUSAN S. GREER MEMORIAL CHAIR

MR. & MRS. AARON SILBERMAN CHAIR

Michael Lipman

Louis Lev

Jennifer Steele

Neal Berntsen Chad Winkler

Anne Martindale Williams j

Kristina Yoder

d

JACKMAN PFOUTS CHAIR

EDWARD D. LOUGHNEY CHAIR

CLARINET

WILLIAM BLOCK MEMORIAL CHAIR

G. CHRISTIAN LANTZSCH & DUQUESNE LIGHT COMPANY CHAIR

Lorna McGhee j

Charles Lirette h

CELLO

NANCY & JEFFERY LEININGER CHAIR

Jeremy Black j

FLUTE

MARTHA BROOKS ROBINSON CHAIR

Kyle Mustain j

Irene Cheng Sarah Clendenning

SNAPP FAMILY FIRST VIOLIN CHAIR

VIRGINIA CAMPBELL CHAIR

Rimbo Wong r

DONALD I. & JANET MORITZ AND EQUITABLE RESOURCES, INC. CHAIR

Alison Peters Fujito Marta Krechkovsky

Micah Wilkinson j

MR. & MRS. MARTIN G. McGUINN CHAIR

PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION CHAIR

LOIS R. BROZENICK MEMORIAL CHAIR

TRUMPET

Gretchen Van Hoesen j

ENGLISH HORN

Ellen Chen-Livingston

SELMA WIENER BERKMAN MEMORIAL CHAIR

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Joen Vasquez E

HARP

JANE & RAE BURTON CHAIR HALEYFESQ CELLO CHAIR

Karissa Shivone BASS

Brandon McLean Q Joseph Campagna Jeffrey Grubbs MICHAEL & CAROL BLEIER CHAIR

Peter Guild Micah Howard

STEPHEN & KIMBERLY KEEN CHAIR

John Moore Aaron White

Michael Rusinek j

SIDNEY STARK, JR. MEMORIAL CHAIR

E-FLAT CLARINET

Victoria Luperi j BASS CLARINET

Jack Howell j MR. & MRS. WILLARD J. TILLOTSON, JR. CHAIR

BASSOON

Nancy Goeres j

MR. & MRS. WILLIAM GENGE AND MR. & MRS. JAMES E. LEE CHAIR

David Sogg h Philip A. Pandolfi CONTRABASSOON

James Rodgers j HORN

William Caballero j ANONYMOUS DONOR CHAIR

TIMPANI

Christopher Allen Q PERCUSSION ALBERT H. ECKERT CHAIR

Christopher Allen Shawn Galvin r LIBRARIAN

Lisa Gedris j JEAN & SIGO FALK CHAIR

Grant Johnson STAGE TECHNICIANS

Ronald Esposito Tommy Gorman j h d X Q E L b r

PRINCIPAL CO-PRINCIPAL ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL ACTING PRINCIPAL ACTING ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL ACTING ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL ON LEAVE 2021-22 SEASON MUSICIAN

Stephen Kostyniak d Zachary Smith x Robert Lauver Mark Houghton Joseph Rounds

REED SMITH CHAIR HONORING TOM TODD

SPECIAL THANKS TO THE PERRY & BEEJEE MORRISON STRING INSTRUMENT LOAN FUND

PSO360 ASCEND TO THE STAGE 2021-2022 SEASON

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PSO360: VIOLIN SPLENDOR | HEINZ HALL SATURDAY, MAY 21, 2022 AT 8:00 PM

Alexi Kenney, violin and leader Zenas Hsu, violin Irene Cheng, violin Dennis O’Boyle, violin Tatjana Mead Chamis, viola Aaron Mossburg, viola Anne Martindale Williams, cello Will Chow, cello Brandon McLean, contrabass Jeremy Branson, percussion

Sergei Rachmaninoff arr. Kenney

“Bless the Lord, O My Soul” from All-Night Vigil Service, Opus 37

Robert Schumann

Elegy for Violin and String Orchestra Arranged from Movement II of the Violin Concerto (WoO 23) by Benjamin Britten Mr. Kenney

Claude Debussy arr. Kenney

“Pour invoquer Pan, dieu du vent d’éte” from Six épigraphes antiques

Salina Fisher

Komorebi for Violin and Vibraphone Mr. Kenney Mr. Branson

Matthew Locke

Fantazie from Suite No. 2 of Consort in Four Parts Mr. Kenney Mr. Hsu Ms. Mead Chamis Ms. Williams

Tigran Mansurian

Romance for Violin and Strings Mr. Kenney

Intermission

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Felix Mendelssohn

Octet for Strings in E-flat major, Opus 20 I. Allegro moderato, ma con fuoco II. Andante III. Scherzo: Allegro leggierissimo IV. Presto Mr. Kenney Ms. Cheng Mr. O’Boyle Mr. Hsu Ms. Mead Chamis Mr. Mossburg Ms. Williams Mr. Chow

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra recognizes the continued support from Dr. Owen Cantor in honor of the musicians of the Orchestra and the PSO360 concert series.

PHOTOGRAPHY, AUDIO AND VIDEO RECORDING OF THIS PERFORMANCE ARE STRICTLY PROHIBITED.

PSO360 PROGRAM 2021-2022 SEASON

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MANFRED HONECK MUSIC DIRECTOR

GRAND CLASSICS TITLE SPONSOR

BYRON STRIPLING PRINCIPAL POPS CONDUCTOR

POPS TITLE SPONSOR

2022-2023 Season THE DOO WOP PROJECT

RENÉE ELISE GOLDSBERRY

MARIA DUEÑAS

YEFIM BRONFMAN

NOAH BENDIX-BALGLEY

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RAY CHEN

Scan to explore the 2022-2023 season or visit www.pittsburghsymphony.org/subscribe

SERGEI RACHMANINOFF (1873-1943)

“Blagoslovi, Dushe Moya” (“Bless the Lord, O My Soul”) from All-Night Vigil Service, Opus 37

(1915)

Though it is often referred to as his “Vespers,” Rachmaninov’s All-Night Vigil Service covers a considerably wider range of ecclesiastical activities than just those included in the penultimate service of the typical Christian day. The traditional Russian Vigil service is celebrated on Saturday night and before feast days as preparation for Mass the following morning. In his All-Night Vigil Service, Rachmaninov provided fifteen numbers based on the sacred texts and melodies — the music of five was original with him, but the remaining movements incorporate existing chants. No. 2 (Bless the Lord, O My Soul) is based on a Greek Orthodox melody.

ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810-1856)

Elegy for Violin and String Orchestra

(1853) Arranged (1958) by BENJAMIN BRITTEN (1913-1976) from Movement II of the Violin Concerto (WoO 23) Schumann composed his Violin Concerto in two weeks in late September 1853, but his reason had been seriously undermined by that time (he tried to drown himself in the Rhine the following February), and the work was dismissed by performers and quickly forgotten. The score remained unpublished until German musicologist Georg Schünemann discovered it in 1937 and issued it over the objections of Eugenie, the Schumanns’ last surviving child. Georg Kulenkampff gave the premiere with the Berlin Philharmonic in November that year. In 1957, the British horn virtuoso Dennis Brain was killed in a car crash; he was 36. As a memorial to him, Benjamin Britten — Brain had played the premiere of Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings in 1943 — arranged the tender second movement of Schumann’s Violin Concerto for violin and string orchestra and titled it Elegy.

CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862-1918)

“Pour invoquer Pan, dieu du vent d’éte (“For the invocation of Pan, god of the summer wind”) from Six épigraphes antiques (1914)

In 1895, Debussy’s friend Pierre Louÿs published his Chansons de Bilitis, 143 sensuous poems and three epitaphs that the writer tried to pass off as translations of the verses of an ancient Greek poetess of Sappho’s era (ca. 600 BC). Louÿs divided the verses into three books associated with the phases of Bilitis’ supposed life (reminiscences of childhood, incidents during her residence on the island of Lesbos, and her life as a courtesan on Cyprus), made up a biography for her as an introduction to the collection, and appended to the collection a bibliography and a list of poems yet to be translated. Though Louÿs’ amiable ruse was quickly uncovered, his contemporaries were PSO360 PROGRAM NOTES 2021-2022 SEASON

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greatly impressed with the poems’ skillful, evocative blending of the antique and the modern.

Debussy’s Six épigraphes antiques, with their misty, whole-tone scales, modalism, lithe rhythms, and opulent harmonies, perfectly embody the moods and images of Louÿs’ verses. The first, Pour invoquer Pan, dieu du vent d’éte, is intended “For the invocation of Pan, god of the summer wind ”.

SALINA FISHER (born in 1993)

Komorebi for Violin and Vibraphone (2014)

The music of Salina Fisher is imbued with the traditions, sounds and spirit of her native New Zealand and her ancestral Japan. Fisher, born in 1993, has received grants from the Fulbright, Creative New Zealand, and The Arts foundations, and is the youngest-ever winner of the SOUNZ Contemporary Award (2016, 2017). After graduating from the New Zealand School of Music in 2015, Fisher received a Fulbright New Zealand General Graduate Award and an Edwin Carr Foundation Scholarship through Creative New Zealand for advanced study with Susan Botti at the Manhattan School of Music, where she received her master’s degree in 2018. She returned to New Zealand in 2019 to serve as the Creative New Zealand Composer-in-Residence at Victoria University in Wellington, and the following year was appointed a Teaching Fellow in Composition at the school. As a violinist, Fisher was concertmaster of the National Youth Orchestra of New Zealand and has performed frequently with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

Salina Fisher wrote of Komorebi for Violin and Vibraphone, winner of the 2014 New Zealand School of Music Composers Competition, “This is my response to the beautiful Japanese word ‘Komorebi,’ which means ‘sunlight that filters through the leaves of trees.’ The piece is based on the Ryukyu mode of Okinawa, Japan.”

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MATTHEW LOCKE (ca. 1621 – August 1677)

Fantazie from Suite No. 2 of Consort in Four Parts (1650s)

Matthew Locke was Britain’s foremost composer during the turbulent years of the mid-17th century. Born in Exeter around 1622, Locke was trained as a chorister at the city’s cathedral, but little is then known of his life until 1648, when he was in the Netherlands, perhaps with the retinue of Charles I, where the English King had taken refuge during the Civil War. Locke was back in England by the mid-1650s, when he quickly established his reputation as a composer of instrumental and theatrical music. With the Restoration of Charles II to the throne in 1660, Locke’s career flourished — he was appointed the King’s composer and music director as well as organist to Queen Catherine, composed theatrical music, Latin and English motets, secular vocal pieces, and keyboard and ensemble works, and wrote influential theoretical treatises. Despite his difficult and quarrelsome personality, Locke was widely respected by the public, court and fellow musicians, and was acknowledged as an important influence by Henry Purcell, who succeeded him as court composer and wrote an elegy titled On the Death of his Worthy Friend Mr. MATTHEW LOCKE (What hope for us remains now he is gone?). The six suites comprising Locke’s Consort in Four Parts, which date from the 1650s, look back to works for instrumental ensemble (a “consort”) from the time of Queen Elizabeth that were contrapuntal in texture, serious in expression, and fantasia-like in structure. The Fantazie from the Suite No. 2, like many similarly named movements, comprises several continuous, complementary sections that vary in tempo, theme and mood.

TIGRAN MANSURIAN (born in 1939)

Romance for Violin and Strings (2011)

Tigran Mansurian was born in 1939 in Beirut, Lebanon to Armenian parents and attended the French Catholic School in Beirut for two years before the family moved to Artik, in northern Armenia, in 1947. Mansurian studied composition at the Romanos Melikian College of Music in the Armenian capital city of Yerevan (1956-1960) and the Komitas State Conservatory (19601965). He completed his doctorate at the Komitas Conservatory in 1967 and then joined the school’s faculty. Since serving as the school’s rector from 1992 to 1995, he has devoted himself principally to composition. Mansurian’s creative output, which synthesizes ancient Armenian musical traditions with contemporary European composition methods, has been recognized with two First Prizes in the All-Union Competition in Moscow, Presidential Award of Armenia (for Requiem, which memorialized the Armenian genocide of 1915-1916), and three Grammy nominations.

“When the classical authors of music composed instrumental romances,” Mansurian wrote of his 2011 Romance for Violin and Strings, “sometimes the synthesis of the singing nature imposed by the genre with the decorative musical gestures acquires captivating expressions. What kind of musical structure would it be if its melodic foundation was based on tunes bearing the characteristics of Armenian medieval spiritual taghs [lyrical, unharmonized songs]? These are the kinds of questions that I contemplated while writing my Romance.”

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FELIX MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847)

Octet for Strings in E-flat major, Opus 20 (1825)

It was with the Octet for Strings, composed in 1825 at the age of sixteen, a full year before the Overture to Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, that the stature of Mendelssohn’s genius was first fully revealed. He wrote the work as a birthday offering for his violin and viola teacher, Eduard Rietz, and premiered it during one of the household musicales in October of that year that the Mendelssohns organized to showcase young Felix’s budding talents; Rietz participated in the performance and young Felix is thought to have played one of the viola parts. The scoring calls for a double string quartet, though, unlike the work written in 1823 for the same instrumentation

by Louis Spohr, which divides the eight players into two antiphonal groups, Mendelssohn treated his forces as a single integrated ensemble, a veritable miniature orchestra of strings. Even allowing that Mendelssohn, by age sixteen, was already a veteran musician with a decade of experience and a sizeable catalog of music to his credit, the Octet’s brilliance and originality are a wonder.

The Octet is launched by a wide-ranging main theme that takes the first violin quickly through its entire tonal range; the lyrical second theme is given in sweet, close harmonies. The development, largely concerned with the subsidiary subject, is relatively brief, and culminates in a swirling unison passage that serves as the bridge to the recapitulation. The Andante is tinged with the delicious, bittersweet melancholy that represents the expressive extreme of Mendelssohn’s musical language.

The composer’s sister Fanny noted that the featherstitched Scherzo was inspired by lines from Goethe’s Faust: Floating cloud and trailing mist/O’er us brightening hover:/The rushes shake, winds stir the brake:/Soon all their pomp is over. The finale is a dazzling moto perpetuo with fugal episodes.

PROGRAM NOTES BY DR. RICHARD E. RODDA

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ALEXI KENNEY The recipient of a 2016 Avery Fisher Career Grant and a 2020 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award, Alexi Kenney is building a career that defies categorization, following his interests, intuition, and heart. He is equally at home creating experimental programs and commissioning new works, soloing with major orchestras in the USA and abroad, and collaborating with some of the most celebrated musicians of our time.

In the 2021/22 Season, Alexi debuts as soloist with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Orchestra de la Suisse Romande, Virginia Symphony, Reno Philharmonic, Eugene Symphony, and New Haven Symphony, returns to the Indianapolis Symphony, California Symphony, and Santa Fe Symphony, and appears at Wigmore Hall, Princeton University Concerts, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and with the Chamber Photo credit: Mike Grittani Music Society of Lincoln Center. He also performs duo concerts with harpist Bridget Kibbey, and as a member of Owls, a new quartet Chamber music continues to be a major part collective with violist Ayane Kozasa, cellist Gabe of Alexi’s life, performing at festivals including Caramoor, ChamberFest Cabezas, and cellist-composer Paul Wiancko. Bridgehampton, Cleveland, Chamber Music Northwest, Festival In 2021, Alexi released his first recording, Napa Valley, La Jolla, Ojai, Kronberg, Music@ Paul Wiancko’s X Suite for Solo Violin, Menlo, Ravinia, and Spoleto, as well as on accompanied by a visual album that pairs each tour with Musicians from Marlboro and the of the seven movements of X Suite with seven Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. contemporary sculptures, filmed on location at the Donum Estate in Sonoma, California. Born in Palo Alto, California in 1994, Alexi is a graduate of the New England Conservatory in In recent seasons, Alexi has performed as soloist Boston, where he received his Artist Diploma with the Detroit Symphony, St. Paul Chamber as a student of Miriam Fried and Donald Orchestra, Sarasota Orchestra, Orchestre de Weilerstein. Previous teachers include Wei He, Chambre de Lausanne, and in a play-conduct Jenny Rudin, and Natasha Fong. He plays a role as guest leader of the Mahler Chamber violin made in London by Stefan-Peter Greiner Orchestra. He has played recitals at Wigmore in 2009 and a bow by François-Nicolas Voirin.

Hall, on Carnegie Hall’s ‘Distinctive Debuts’ series, Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival, Outside of music, Alexi enjoys hojicha, bauhaus the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, interiors, baking for friends, and walking for Phillips Collection, 92nd Street Y, Mecklenberg- miles on end in whichever city he finds himself, Vorpommern Festival, and the Isabella Stewart listening to podcasts and Bach on repeat.

Gardner Museum. Winner of the 2013 Concert Artists Guild Competition and laureate of the 2012 Menuhin Competition, Alexi has been profiled by Musical America, Strings Magazine, and The New York Times, and has written for The Strad.

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PSO SOLOISTS ZENAS HSU With a sound palette ranging from “commanding tone” to “delicate sentiment” (Calgary Herald), Zenas Hsu’s vibrant career is filled with chamber music, orchestral leadership, and education. The Taiwanese-American violinist is a founding member of Chamber Music by the Bay, a California-based interactive music series that reaches over 2,000 people annually. He is also a member of A Far Cry, a Grammy-nominated Boston ensemble, and is the concertmaster of Phoenix, another Boston orchestra that focuses on approachable concert experiences.

Zenas is a frequent guest artist of Bard Music West and the Wellesley Chamber Players. He has performed as a featured musician at the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival, Hayden’s Ferry Chamber Music Series, Halcyon Music Festival, and Monadnock Music. He has given national and world premieres of works by composers including Robert Honstein, Philip Glass, Matthew Aucoin, Jesse Montgomery, and Lembit Beecher.

Hsu’s passion for chamber music was nurtured by members of the Borromeo, Brentano, Cleveland, Guarneri, Shanghai, and St. Lawrence string quartets, and with such artists as Lucy Chapman, Gilbert Kalish, Meng-Chieh Li, Robert McDonald, and Susan Bates. His collaborators include Steve Mackey, Anthony Marwood, Itzhak Perlman, Vivian Weilerstein, Jörg Widmann, Peabody Trio, and members of the Brentano, Cleveland, Parker, Juilliard, and Mendelssohn quartets.

IRENE CHENG Irene Cheng joined the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s first violin section at the beginning of the 2009-2010 season. She has held many tenured positions, including principal second in the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra; assistant concertmaster of the Metropolitan Orchestra of Lisbon in Portugal; first violin in the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra in Spain; assistant concertmaster in the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; associate concertmaster of the Erie Philharmonic; and concertmaster of the Camarata di Sant’Antonio in Buffalo, New York.

She has also performed with the Seattle Symphony, New Haven Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Cincinnati Symphony, and Philadelphia Orchestra.

As soloist, she has performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Camarata di Sant’Antonio, Seattle Philharmonic, Bellevue Philharmonic, Northwest Chamber Orchestra, Central Washington University Orchestra, and the Pacific Lutheran University Orchestra. Cheng has been the winner of the Seattle Young Artist Competition, the Washington State Concerto Competition, and the McGraw Hill Young Artists Showcase.

Originally from the Seattle area, Irene Cheng received her Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music and her Bachelor of Arts degree in communications and marketing from the University of Washington. Passionate about teaching the next generation of violinists, Irene Cheng teaches privately and coaches the young violinists with the Three Rivers Young Peoples Orchestra (TRYPO).

She has held teaching positions in the Lisbon Superior Academy of Music, Mercyhurst College Prep department, and at the Edinboro University Extension Program.

A native of California, Zenas received his early training in the preparatory division of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He was acDENNIS cepted to the Curtis Institute of Music at age sixteen, where he completed his bachelor’s degree, O’BOYLE followed by a master’s and a Graduate Diploma at the New England Conservatory of Music. His teachers include Wei He, Ida Kavafian, Nicholas Dennis O’Boyle joined the second violin section of the Pittsburgh Symphony in the fall of 2000 under Kitchen, and Donald Weilerstein.

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Music Director Mariss Jansons and attained the position of fourth chair in 2003. In 2011 he was formally appointed assistant principal second violin

after serving the previous three years as acting assistant principal. Before arriving in Pittsburgh, Dennis O’Boyle spent three years in Florida as a fellow in Miami Beach’s New World Symphony and subsequently as principal second violin of the Florida Orchestra, Tampa Bay. Since arriving in Pittsburgh, Dennis O’Boyle has been active in the musical life of the city, participating in many and varied chamber music performances around town. Recent notable appearances include annual appearances in the Chamber Music Concert of the Pittsburgh Jewish Music Festival and frequent performances in the Chatham University Chamber Music Series.

O’Boyle also teaches privately and coaches chamber music and sectionals with the Three Rivers Young Peoples Orchestra. In addition, during the summer he is a member of the prestigious Grand Teton Music Festival in Wyoming.

Dennis O’Boyle began studying the violin at the age of three with his mother. O’Boyle spent his early childhood in Lincoln, Nebraska, but later the family spent five years in Peru and Chile, which was formative in cultivating his continuing passion for world travel.

Dennis O’Boyle holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Colorado, Boulder, as a student of Oswald Lehnert. He earned his Master of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Ik Hwan Bae.

TATJANA MEAD CHAMIS Violist Tatjana Mead Chamis has distinguished her career with successes as a principal violist, chamber musician, soloist, Latin Grammy-nominated recording artist, teacher and lecturer, as well as advocating for underheard or suppressed music and experimenting with new music.

Principal violist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra for the 2018-2020 seasons, Mead Chamis has held the title of associate principal viola since 2002. She has since been featured on numerous performances as soloist with the Pittsburgh Symphony and the Pittsburgh Symphony Chamber Orchestra, often premiering or introducing pieces not yet heard in Pittsburgh.

With fellow Pittsburgh Symphony Members, in 2015 Tatjana Mead Chamis formed the Clarion Quartet, an ensemble dedicated to performing the works of suppressed and forgotten composers.Apart from her solo performances with the PSO, she has appeared as soloist with the Curtis Institute of Music Orchestra, Utah Symphony, Porto Alegre and Sao Paulo Symphony orchestras in Brazil.

In the fall of 2016, Mead Chamis joined the music faculty of Carnegie Mellon University, teaching orchestral repertoire.

American born, Tatjana Mead Chamis began her musical studies on the violin at age seven while living in Germany. It was in Salt Lake City, Utah, that she switched to the viola while studying with Mikhail Boguslavsky, co-founder of the Moscow Chamber Orchestra. She continued her studies at the Curtis Institute of Music with Joseph DePasquale, former principal viola of the Philadelphia Orchestra, graduating in 1994.

AARON MOSSBURG Aaron Mossburg, violist, has been recognized for his “exceptionally warm sound,” by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, and a “solo that was absolutely stunning,” by Cleveland Classical.

Mossburg holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Division of Strings Director, Peter Slowik, as well as a Master of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music with Robert Vernon, Principal Emeritus of The Cleveland Orchestra.

In 2011, Aaron Mossburg gave his solo Carnegie Hall debut in which he was invited and sponsored by the Netherlands American Community Trust. Shortly thereafter, he received top honors in the senior divisions of both the American String Teachers Association’s (ASTA) National Solo Competition in New York City and the Ohio Viola Society Solo Competition.

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Mossburg has performed chamber music and orchestra concerts all around the globe. He has performed with Itzhak Perlman, Donald Weilerstein, Roger Tapping, Sergei Babayan, Steven Doane, as well as with members of the Escher String Quartet, Zorá Quartet, and the Tokyo String Quartet.

Festival in Miami, SUNY at Stony Brook, Manhattan School of Music, the New World Symphony, the National Orchestral Institute, Aspen, Credo at Oberlin College and the Masterworks Festival. She also has performed at many of America’s prestigious summer music festivals.

As a teacher, Aaron Mossburg was formerly an adjunct professor of viola at Cleveland State University and has been a guest teacher and lecturer at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and Eastman School of Music.

Anne Williams has performed numerous times as soloist with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. In recent seasons, she was featured in Haydn’s Concerto in C and Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations.

Prior to the PSO, Mossburg was principal viola of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra for the past three seasons and was a section violist there starting in 2015.

A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, Williams studied with Orlando Cole. Her Tecchler cello was made in Rome in 1701. She resides with her family in the South Hills of Pittsburgh.

ANNE MARTINDALE WILLIAMS Anne Martindale Williams has enjoyed a successful career as principal cellist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra since 1979, having joined the orchestra in 1976. Throughout her tenure with the orchestra, she has often been featured as soloist both in Pittsburgh and on tour in New York at Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall. She made her London debut performing Dvořák’s Cello Concerto with the Royal Philharmonic, Andre Previn conducting. Her solo in The Swan on the Pittsburgh Symphony’s recording of Carnival of the Animals by SaintSaëns was described by Gramophone critic Edward Greenfield as “…the most memorable performance of all.”

Anne Williams divides her time between the orchestra, teaching at Carnegie Mellon University, and solo and chamber music performances. She has appeared in several nationally televised productions including “Concertos,” produced by the BBC and “Previn and the Pittsburgh,” produced by WQED. She has given master classes at many universities and festivals throughout the country, including the Curtis Institute of Music, Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra, the Joseph Gingold 14

WILL CHOW Will Chow joined the cello section of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 2016. His recent career events include making his concerto debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony in August, 2021, performing Tchaikovsky’s “Rococo Variations” at Hartwood Acres for one of the first live audiences since the start of the pandemic, and performing the Kodály Sonata for solo cello as part of the Pittsburgh Symphony’s “Center Stage” series on WQED-FM. As a recitalist, Chow has performed at venues in countries all over the globe spanning from Singapore to the Netherlands. He has served as principal cellist of the Curtis Chamber Orchestra’s Curtis on Tour, and also as principal cellist of the Curtis 2020-2021 ensemble in Cedile Chicago Lable’s Grammy-nominated CD album, “Two x Four.”

As a chamber musician, Will Chow has collaborated with notable artists such as Mitsuko Uchida, Jeffrey Khaner, Ida Kavafian, Scott St. John, Joseph Lin, Donald Weilerstein, and Roberto Diaz, among others. He has appeared in festivals such as Marlboro Music, Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute in Highland Park, Music

from Angelfire, the Perman Music Program, Aspen Music Festival and School, and Music@ Menlo Chamber Music Institute.

Will Chow was awarded First Prize in the 2011 Mondavi National Young Artists Competition and was also the 2008 recipient of the Lawrence Bedini Scholarship from the YES Foundation for the Arts in San Francisco.

Prior to his appointment to the cello section of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Chow studied at the Curtis Institute of Music under the tutelage of Carter Brey and Peter Wiley.

BRANDON McLEAN Brandon McLean is the associate principal bass of the Pittsburgh Symphony. Prior to his appointment to the position in 2016, he served as principal bass of the Colorado Symphony, associate principal bass of the Vancouver Symphony and assistant principal bass of the Florida Orchestra. Originally from Seattle, Washington, McLean started music studies in the public school system. From there, he received a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Texas and a master’s degree from the Boston Conservatory, and spent additional time studying at Carnegie Mellon University. His primary teachers include Jeff Bradetich, Jeffrey Turner, Ben Levy and Ben Musa. McLean was a fellow of the New World Symphony in Miami Beach for three years and has participated in many prestigious summer festivals, including Tanglewood, Verbier, National Repertory Orchestra and Artosphere. In his free time, McLean enjoys hiking, fishing and cooking.

Florida, and also played regularly with the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Jeremy Branson has performed under the batons of such conductors as James Conlon, Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, Charles Dutoit, Christoph Eschenbach, Manfred Honeck, Andris Nelsons, Leonard Slatkin, Gerard Schwartz, Robert Spano, Michael Tilson Thomas and David Zinman. He has performed with notable artists including Emanuel Ax, Sarah Chang, Renee Fleming, Hilary Hahn, Thomas Hampson, Lynn Harrell, Lang Lang, Yo-Yo Ma, Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Andre Watts.

Branson earned his Bachelor of Music degree from Texas State University. He then earned his Master of Music degree from Temple University in Philadelphia under the tutelage of Alan Abel. During his education, Branson attended the Aspen Music Festival, National Repertory Orchestra, National Orchestral Institute, Roundtop Music Festival and the Texas Music Festival.

When not performing Branson enjoys high adrenaline sports. As of 2015, he holds two world records in wingsuit skydiving in addition to several national records. He also can be found on the ski slopes in the Rockies during the winter whenever he has a few free days. Branson is also an avid endurance runner.

Branson is the chair of the Percussion Department at Carnegie Mellon University. He endorses Zildjian Cymbals, Freer Percussion and Pearl/Adams Instruments.

JEREMY BRANSON Jeremy Branson is associate principal percussionist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Prior to his appointment in the Pittsburgh Symphony, Branson was a member of the New World Symphony in Miami Beach,

PSO360 BIOGRAPHY 2021-2022 SEASON

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