MUSIC
ECMSA
EMERSON SERIES
Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta
William Ransom, artistic director
Jon Kimura Parker, piano
Aloysia Friedmann, viola
The Vega Quartet
Sunday, May 4, 2025, 4:00 p.m.
Emerson Concert Hall
Schwartz Center for Performing Arts
Program
Scène Andalouse Joaquín Turina (1882–1949)
I. Crepuscule du soir: Allegretto mosso
II. A la fenêtre: Andantino mosso
Aloysia Friedmann, viola; Jon Kimura Parker, piano; Vega Quartet
Morpheus Rebecca Clarke (1886–1979)
Aloysia Friedmann, viola; Jon Kimura Parker, piano
Prelude, op. 28 No. 24 in D Minor Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849)
Jeux d’eau Maurice Ravel (1875–1937)
Blues Etude Oscar Peterson (1925–2007)
Jon Kimura Parker, piano
Intermission
Piano Quintet in F Minor, op. 34 Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)
I. Allegro non troppo
II. Andante un poco adagio
III. Scherzo: Allegro
IV. Finale: Poco sostenuto – Allegro non troppo – Presto, non troppo
Jon Kimura Parker, piano; Vega Quartet
The Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta is supported by the Cherry L. Emerson Endowment, the Rebecca Katz-Doft Chamber Music Endowment, the Crescendo Fund, the Ethel Orentlicher Gershon Fund, the Yinzi Kong Viola Chair Fund, an anonymous gift for the John Lawless Family Series, the Richard and Alice Remigailo First Violin Endowment, a generous gift from Dr. John and Linda Cooke, and by music lovers like you!
Performer Biographies
Jon Kimura Parker
Pianist Jon Kimura Parker is known for his charisma, infectious enthusiasm, and dynamic performances that communicate the joy of musical expression. A veteran of the international concert stage, he has performed in the Berlin Philharmonie, Carnegie Hall, London’s South Bank, the Sydney Opera House, and the Beijing Concert Hall. He is creative partner for the Minnesota Orchestra’s Summer at Orchestra Hall, serves as the artistic director for the Honens International Piano Competition, and artistic advisor for the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival, and chairs the keyboard faculty of the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.
In recent concert seasons, Parker has been conducted by Karina Canellakis, Karen Kamensek, Mei-Ann Chen, Stephanie Childress, and Lina Gonzalez-Granados. A collaborator in a wide variety of styles, Parker has performed with Yo-Yo Ma, Cho-Liang Lin, Frederica von Stade, Susan Graham, and Lynn Harrell, and also with Doc Severinsen, Audra McDonald, Bobby McFerrin, Shayne Koyczan, and Dessa. He has toured as a founding member of the Montrose Trio, and in Off the Score with legendary Police drummer Stewart Copeland, featuring his own arrangements of music by Prokofiev, Ravel, and Stravinsky.
Highlights of his 2024–2025 season include Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center and appearances on recital, chamber music, and orchestra series across North America and Europe. Parker’s discography features music ranging from Chopin to John Adams. His Whole Notes television series is available on Amazon Prime Video, and his recent Tonebase video on the Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini has over five hundred thousand views.
Parker studied with Edward Parker and Keiko Parker, and Lee Kum-Sing at the Vancouver Academy of Music and the University of British Columbia, Marek Jablonski at the Banff Centre, and Adele Marcus at The Juilliard School. After winning the Gold Medal at the 1984 Leeds International Piano Competition, Parker has gone on to become an Officer of the Order of Canada and to receive Honorary Doctorates from the University of British Columbia and the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto.
Known to friends as “Jackie,” Parker is married to violinist/violist Aloysia Friedmann, and their daughter Sophie is an artist.
Aloysia Friedmann
Founder and artistic director of the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival, Aloysia Friedmann is firmly established as a major influence in the American chamber music scene. In recognition of this fact, Chamber Music America invited Friedmann to their national board in 2016. In December 2018 she was named a Musical America Top Professional of the Year.
Friedmann’s broad-ranging career has included national and international tours, performances with New York’s most prestigious musical ensembles, including the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and a special onstage role on Broadway alongside Dustin Hoffman in The Merchant of Venice. While in New York, Friedmann worked with artists including Astor Piazzolla, Mirella Freni, Jessye Norman, Frederica von Stade, John Adams, Charles Mackerras, André Previn, and Mikhail Baryshnikov, as well as Elton John and Metallica. The New York Times praised her “fiery spirit” after her Carnegie Recital Hall debut.
Friedman has performed as a guest artist in the Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival, Florida’s Amelia Island Festival, Colorado’s Strings in the Mountains Music Festival, Napa Valley’s Music in the Vineyards, the Cactus Pear Music Festival, the Seattle Chamber Music Society, the Sun Valley Summer Symphony, and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. Her chamber music colleagues have included Abbey Simon, Gervase de Peyer, Peter Schickele, Chee-Yun, Gary Hoffman, Jeffrey Kahane, William Preucil, Lucy Shelton, the Miró Quartet, Cho-Liang Lin, and Lynn Harrell.
Chamber Music America recognized Friedmann’s artistic leadership with its 2008 CMAcclaim. She also serves on the advisory council for Chamber Music Houston. Friedmann is featured as both performer and producer on several festival recordings and has produced recordings for violinist Stephanie Sant’Ambrogio and pianist Jon Kimura Parker. In Houston, Friedmann is associate concertmaster for the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra and performs with the Houston Grand Opera. She has taught viola and violin at the University of Houston.
Friedmann plays on a Grancino violin and the ex-Rebecca Clarke Grancino viola. Friedmann graduated from The Juilliard School and also studied at the University of Washington. She is married to concert pianist Jon Kimura Parker and they have a daughter, Sophie.
The Vega Quartet
Emily Daggett Smith and Jessica Shuang Wu, violins; Joseph Skerik, viola; Guang Wang, cello
Quartet-in-Residence at Emory University, the Vega Quartet is cultivating a new generation of chamber music lovers through dynamic perf0rmances and innovative community engagement. The New York Times raved that “[the quartet’s] playing had a kind of clean intoxication to it, pulling the listener along . . . the musicians took real risks in their music making” and the Los Angeles Times praised their “triumphant L.A. debut.” The quartet concertizes both nationally and internationally, most recently at the National Gallery in Washington, in Baltimore, Chicago, Berlin, San Miguel Mexico, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and the Brahmssaal in Vienna’s Musikverein. The quartet’s major performing projects at Emory have included performing the complete cycle of Beethoven quartets, as well as pairing Bach’s complete works for solo violin, viola, and cello with the six Bartók quartets. Recent highlights include debuting at the 2023 Kneisel Hall Chamber Festival and opening the Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta’s 2023–2024 season alongside Mark and Maggie O’Connor. The quartet’s 2023–2024 season featured collaborations with flutist Ransom Wilson, cellist Zuill Bailey, and the Juilliard Quartet. Regular commissioners of new music, the quartet will be premiering Joel Thompson’s newest string quartet written for it.
A unique aspect of the Vega Quartet’s residency at Emory is bringing performance into the classroom—collaborating with academic professors to create interdisciplinary parallels and conversations. Quartet members also enrich the cultural life of their community, having founded the Emory Youth Chamber Music Program, which gives intensive training in small ensemble playing to advanced pre-college students. The quartet was also appointed to the roster of the Woodruff Arts Center’s Young Audiences program, engaging thousands of students throughout the greater Atlanta school system. It has held residencies in Augusta,
Jacksonville, and Juneau that combined traditional concerts with educational outreach, performances in non-traditional venues, and master classes for area students.
The Vega Quartet has won numerous international awards, including at the Bordeaux String Quartet Competition, as well as top prizes from the Coleman Chamber Ensemble Competition, the Carmel Chamber Music Competition, and the National Society of Arts and Letters String Quartet Competition. The quartet has toured throughout Asia, Europe, and North America, and has appeared at Weill Hall and Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, Bargemusic, and Duke Hall at the Royal Academy of Music, London. The members of the Vega Quartet collaborate with some of the world’s finest musicians including Yo-Yo Ma, David Shifrin, Mark and Maggie O’Connor, Andres Cardenes, Eliot Fisk, William Preucil, Richard Stoltzman, Robert Spano, Charles Wadsworth, Soovin Kim, and the Eroica Trio. They also commission, premier, and record works by leading composers. The quartet is a frequent guest at numerous music festivals including Amelia Island, Aspen, Brevard, Highlands-Cashiers, Juneau Jazz & Classics, Kingston, Kneisel Hall, Mostly Mozart, Rockport, San Miguel de Allende, and SummerFest La Jolla.
Please turn off all electronic devices. Photography, recording, or digital capture of this concert is not permitted.
Audience Information
The Schwartz Center welcomes a volunteer usher corps of about 40 members each year. Visit schwartz.emory.edu/volunteer or call 404.727.6640 for ushering opportunities.
The Schwartz Center is committed to providing performances and facilities accessible to all. Please direct accommodation requests to the Schwartz Center Box Office at 404.727.5050, or by email at boxoffice@emory.edu.
The Schwartz Center wishes to gratefully acknowledge the generous ongoing support of Donna and Marvin Schwartz.
Cover Design: Lisa Baron | Cover Photo: Mark Teague| Photos Courtesy of the Artists
Music at Emory brings together students, faculty, and world-class artists to create an exciting and innovative season of performances, lectures, workshops, and master classes. With more than 150 events each year across multiple Emory venues, audiences experience a wide variety of musical offerings.
We hope you enjoy sampling an assortment of work from our student ensembles, community youth ensembles, artists in residence, professional faculty, up-and-coming prodigies, and virtuosos from around the world.
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