Wendy Sharp, violin with
Marka Gustavsson, viola Mimi Hwang, cello Melvin Chen, piano
faculty artist series January 26, 2014 • Morse Recital Hall
Robert Blocker, Dean
Faculty Artist Series Wendy Sharp, violin with Marka Gustavvson, viola · Mimi Hwang, cello · Melvin Chen, piano Sunday, January 26, 2014 • 4:00 pm • Morse Recital Hall
Leó Weiner 1885—1960
String Trio in G minor, Op. 6 I. Allegro con brio II. Vivace III. Andantino IV. Allegro con fuoco
Béla Bartók 1881—1945
Sonata No. 2 for violin and piano, Sz. 76. BB85 I. Molto moderato II. Allegretto
intermission
Johannes Brahms 1833—1897
Piano Quartet in G minor, Op. 25 I. Allegro II. Intermezzo: Allegro III. Andante con moto IV. Rondo alla Zingarese: Presto
As a courtesy to the performers and audience, please silence all electronic devices. Please do not leave the hall during selections. Photography or recording of any kind is prohibited.
Artist Profiles
Wendy Sharp, award-winning violinist, 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. For nearly a decade, 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 USA, 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 Dartmouth College, Mannes College of Music, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and Choate Rosemary Hall. She has also 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. She and her husband have two children, both undergraduates at Yale.
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 chamber music festivals including Bard, Mostly Mozart, Skaneateles, Newport, Bennington, and Portland. She has appeared as a guest of the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, on WQXR’s Showcase Concerts, with the Yale
Faculty Artists’ Series, at Banff, and in Wall-towall and Music of Our Time at Symphony Space. Performing and recording contemporary solo and chamber repertoire, Marka has worked closely with many composers including John Halle, Joan Tower, Kyle Gann, George Tsontakis, Yinam Leef, Katherine Hoover, Martin Bresnick, Richard Wernick, Harold Farberman, and Tan Dun. In 2000, Marka joined the Colorado Quartet, an active touring ensemble offering traditional and new repertoire. The quartet has released the complete Beethoven string quartets on Parnassus Records. Highlights of this season include premiering a viola concerto by Harold Farberman, teaching in the YAP program at Yellow Barn, completing a Beethoven cycle at Virginia Tech, and collaborating with Tamar Muskal and Lucy Shelton on Music of Our Time at Symphony Space in New York City. Ms. Gustavsson holds a teaching position at Bard College and Conservatory, where she oversees the chamber music program; with the Colorado Quartet she has served as faculty and co-artistic director at Soundfest Chamber Music Festival and Quartet Institute.
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, 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-inResidence at the Hopkins Center at Dartmouth
Artist Profiles
College, where Ms. Hwang was on the faculty of the Department of Music. She has recorded for Verdi Records. She has also performed with the Tokyo, Ying, Colorado and Ciompi Quartets as well as Raphael Hillyer, Laurence Lesser and Michael Tree. She was a member of the Peabody Trio, winners of the Naumberg Chamber Music Award. As a soloist, Ms. Hwang has performed with the Beijing Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra. She received her master’s degree at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She was a founding member of the Cello Divas and Quartos and has appeared in the festivals of Aspen, Banff, Norfolk, Roycroft, Skaneateles, and Yellow Barn. Ms. Hwang is currently 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, a summer chamber music program for high school students. Ms. Hwang serves on the Board of Trustees of the Rochester Area Community Foundation, where she chairs the Governance Committee.
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 in the United States, including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Weill Recital Hall, Kennedy Center, and Boston’s Jordan Hall, in addition to other appearances throughout the United States, Canada, and Asia.
Mr. Chen’s performances have been featured on radio and television stations around the globe, including KBS television and radio in Korea, NHK television in Japan, and NPR in the United States. Solo 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 in 2007. An enthusiastic chamber musician, Mr. Chen has collaborated with such artists as Ida Kavafian, David Shifrin, Pamela Frank, Peter Wiley, and with the Shanghai, Tokyo, Miami, Penderecki, and Miro quartets. A performer in numerous music festivals, he has performed at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Bard Music Festival, and Music from Angel Fire, among others. Melvin 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. Previously, he attended Yale University, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry and physics, where he also studied with Boris Berman, Paul Kantor, and Ida Kavafian. Mr. Chen was previously on the piano faculty of the Bard College Conservatory of Music, where he was also associate director. He is also the artistic director of the chamber music program at the Hotchkiss Summer Portals. In 2012 he rejoined the faculty of the Yale School of Music, where he serves as Associate Professor (Adjunct) of Piano and Deputy Dean.
Upcoming Events
Pascal Rogé, piano
New Music New Haven
january 29 Horowitz Piano Series Morse Recital Hall | Wednesday | 8 pm The acclaimed French pianist plays Debussy’s Suite Bergamasque and Preludes, Book 1, and Poulenc’s Les Soirées de Nazelles. Tickets start at $20 · Students $10
february 6 New Music New Haven Morse Recital Hall | Thursday | 8 pm Martin Bresnick and David Lang, featured faculty composers. With new music by graduate composers and members of the Yale Baroque Ensemble performing. Free Admission
Arthur Haas, harpsichord february 1 Faculty Artist Series Morse Recital Hall | Saturday | 5 pm Music by Rameau. Free Admission
Sarita Kwok, violin and Wei-Yi Yang, piano february 3 Faculty Artist Series Morse Recital Hall | Monday | 8 pm Janácek: Sonata for violin and piano; Stravinsky: Duo Concertante; Prokofiev: Five Melodies for violin and piano, Op. 35b; Ravel: Sonata for violin and piano. Free Admission
La Bohème february 14–16 Yale Opera Shubert Theatre | Fri & Sat, 8 pm | Sun, 2 pm Yale Opera presents a new production of Puccini’s La Bohème, conducted by Giuseppe Grazioli and directed by Michael Gieleta. With the Yale Philharmonia. Tickets $19–50, students $13, available at the Shubert Theatre box office, www.shubert.com or 203-562-5666.
Concert Programs & Box Office: Krista Johnson, Carol Jackson Communications: Dana Astmann, Monica Ong Reed, Austin Kase Operations: Tara Deming, Chris Melillo Piano Curators: Brian Daley, William Harold Recording Studio: Eugene Kimball P.O. Box 208246, New Haven, CT · 203 432-4158
music.yale.edu
Robert Blocker, Dean