Wendy Sharp and Friends

fa culty a rtis t s eri es

Chamber Music of France Wendy Sharp, violin with

Marka Gustavsson, viola Mimi Hwang, cello Melvin Chen, piano

morse recital hall January 29, 2012 • Sunday at 4 pm

Robert Blocker, Dean

c ha m ber m us ic of f rance Wendy Sharp, violin • Marka Gustavsson, viola Mimi Hwang, cello • Melvin Chen, piano January 29, 2012 • Sprague Memorial Hall • Faculty Artist Series

Darius Milhaud 1892–1974

Sonatine pour violin et alto I. Décidé II. Lent III. Vif (Fugue) Wendy Sharp, violin • Marka Gustavsson, viola

Maurice Ravel 1875–1937

Sonate pour violon et violoncelle en quatre parties Allegro Tres vif Lent Vif, avec entrain Wendy Sharp, violin • Mimi Hwang, cello

intermission

Gabriel Fauré 1845–1924

Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 15 Allegro molto moderato Scherzo: Allegro vivo Adagio Allegro molto Wendy Sharp, violin • Marka Gustavsson, viola Mimi Hwang, cello • Melvin Chen, piano

As a courtesy to the performers and audience, turn off cell phones and pagers. Please do not leave the hall during selections. Photography or recording of any kind is prohibited.

About the Artist

Award-winning violinist Wendy Sharp performs frequently as a recitalist and a chamber musician. In demand as a teacher and chamber music coach, she is on the faculties of the Yale School of Music and California Summer Music, and maintains a private studio. Ms. Sharp was the first violinist and a founding member of the highly acclaimed Franciscan String Quartet.

As a member of the quartet she toured the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia, and was honored with many awards including first prize in the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Press and City of Evian prizes at the Evian International String Quartet Competition. A native of the San Francisco Bay area, she attended Yale University, graduating summa cum laude with distinction in music, and received her Master of Music degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Ms. Sharp has served on the faculties of the Mannes College of Music, Dartmouth College, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and Choate Rosemary Hall, and has participated in the Aspen, Tanglewood, Chamber Music West, Norfolk, Britten-Pears, and Music Academy of the West festivals. Ms. Sharp is currently the director of chamber music at the Yale School of Music, where she has also served on the violin faculty since 1997. Ms. Sharp lives with her husband and their two children in North Haven, Connecticut.

About the Artists

marka gustavsson A dedicated chamber musician, Marka Gustavsson has performed in major halls across Europe, Canada, and the U.S., as well as Japan and Israel. She has been invited to festivals including Bard, Mostly Mozart, Skaneateles, Portland, Bennington, and Newport. She has appeared as a guest of the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, on WQXR’s Showcase, and with the Symphony Space All-Stars. Marka has worked closely with composers including John Halle, Joan Tower, Kyle Gann, George Tsontakis, Yinam Leef, Katherine Hoover, Martin Bresnick, and Tan Dun. In 2000, Marka joined the Colorado Quartet, an active touring ensemble offering traditional and new repertoire.

The quartet recently released the complete Beethoven quartets on Parnassus Records.

Ms. Gustavsson holds a teaching position at Bard College, and with the Colorado Quartet, serves as faculty and co-artistic director at Soundfest Chamber Music Festival and Quartet Institute.

About the Artists

mimi hwang The daughter of Chinese immigrants, cellist Mimi Hwang was born and raised in Los Angeles. She was a founding member of the Franciscan String Quartet, which was a first prize winner of the Banff International String Quartet Competition and top prize winner of the Evian International String Quartet Competition. The quartet performed in concert halls throughout North America, Europe, and Asia, including Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and Casals Hall in Tokyo. The Quartet held the position of Wardwell Fellows at the Yale School of Music and was Quartet-in-Residence at the Hopkins Center at Dartmouth College, where Ms. Hwang was on the faculty of the Department of Music. She has also performed with the Tokyo, Ying, Colorado, and Ciompi Quartets as well as with Raphael Hillyer, Laurence Lesser, and Michael Tree. As a soloist, Ms.

Hwang has performed with the Beijing Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra.

She received a master’s degree at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the bachelor’s degree with distinction at the New England Conservatory of Music, and has studied with Bonnie Hampton, Laurence Lesser, Paul Katz, and Eleonore Schoenfeld.

She has appeared in the festivals of Aspen, Banff, Norfolk, Roycroft, Skaneateles, and Yellow Barn.

Ms. Hwang is currently an assistant professor of chamber music at the Eastman School of Music, lecturer of music at Nazareth College, and a founding member of the Amenda Quartet. She is also co-artistic director of Yellow Barn Music School and Festival’s Young Artists Program in Putney, Vermont.

About the Artists

melvin chen A native of Tennessee, pianist Melvin Chen has received acclaim for performances throughout the United States and abroad. As a soloist and chamber musician, Mr. Chen has performed at major venues including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Boston’s Jordan Hall, in addition to other appearances throughout the United States, Canada, and Asia. In recent seasons Mr. Chen’s concerts have included two solo recitals at Weill Recital Hall, and concerto performances with the American Symphony Orchestra, Marin Symphony, Springfield Symphony, and the Paducah Symphony. His recordings include Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations on the Bridge label, praised as “a classic” by the American Record Guide, and a recording of Joan Tower’s piano music on the Naxos label. Recordings of the Shostakovich piano sonatas and Gordon’s Orpheus and Euridice were released to great acclaim in 2007.

An enthusiastic chamber musician, he has collaborated with such artists as Ida Kavafian, David Shifrin, Pamela Frank, and Peter Wiley

and with the Shanghai, Tokyo, Miami, and Miró quartets. He has performed at numerous music festivals, including the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, Music Mountain, Bard Music Festival, and Music from Angel Fire, among others.

Mr. Chen completed a doctorate in chemistry from Harvard University and also holds a double master’s degree from the Juilliard School in piano and violin, where he studied with Seymour Lipkin and Glenn Dicterow, respectively. Previously, he attended Yale University, receiving a bachelor of science degree in chemistry and physics. During his tenure at Yale he studied with Boris Berman, Paul Kantor, and Ida Kavafian.

Mr. Chen is on the piano faculty of the Bard College Conservatory of Music, where he is associate director, and has previously been on the piano faculty of the Yale School of Music. He is also the artistic director of the chamber music program at the Hotchkiss Summer Portals.

Doris Yarick Cross, Artistic Director presents

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February 10–12, 2012 Tickets $19–41 • Fri, Sat at 8 pm & Sun at 2 pm Shubert Theater • 247 College Street, New Haven 800 228-6622 • www.shubert.com Media Sponsor

Robert Blocker, Dean • music.yale.edu

Upcoming Events

Chamber Music of Brahms

London Haydn Quartet

january 31

february 4 & 5

Morse Recital Hall | Tuesday | 8 pm Faculty Artist Series Boris Berman, piano; Julie Eskar, violin; Ettore Causa, viola; and Clive Greensmith, cello. Brahms: Trio in E-flat Major, Op. 40; Trio in A minor, Op. 114; Piano Quartet in C minor, Op. 60.

Free Admission

Collection of Musical Instruments Saturday at 8 pm | Sunday at 3 pm With Eric Hoeprich, clarinet.

Haydn’s Quartet in G Major, Op. 33, No. 5, and Quartet in D Major, Op. 20, No. 4, plus Mozart’s Quintet in A Major for clarinet and strings, K. 581.

Tickets $20–30, Students $10

New Music New Haven

Hung-Kuan Chen, piano

february 2

february 8

Morse Recital Hall | Thursday | 8 pm Featuring Ezra Laderman’s Piano Sonata No. 5, performed by Amy J. Yang.

Also on the program are new works by Stephen Feigenbaum, Paul Kerekes, Jordan Kuspa, Matthew Welch, and Daniel Wohl.

Free Admission

Morse Recital Hall | Wednesday | 8 pm Horowitz Piano Series Beethoven: Sonata No. 27 in E minor, Op. 90; Sonata No. 28 in A major, Op. 101; Sonata No. 29 in B-flat major, Op. 106, “Hammerklavier.”

Tickets $12–$22, Students $6–$9

Concerts & Public Relations: Dana Astmann, Danielle Heller, Dashon Burton New Media: Monica Ong Reed, Austin Kase Operations: Tara Deming, Chris Melillo Piano Curators: Brian Daley, William Harold Recording Studio: Eugene Kimball

P.O. Box 208236, New Haven, CT · 203 432-4158

Robert Blocker, Dean

music.yale.edu