Wendy Sharp violin with
Marka Gustavsson, viola Mimi Hwang, cello Melvin Chen, piano
faculty artist series January 25, 2015 • Morse Recital Hall
Robert Blocker, Dean
Faculty Artist Series
Wendy Sharp, violin with
Marka Gustavsson, viola · Mimi Hwang, cello Melvin Chen, piano Sunday, January 25, 2015 • 4:00 pm • Morse Recital Hall Ludwig van Beethoven 1770–1827
Serenade in D major, Op. 8 I. Marcia: Allegro II. Adagio III. Minuetto: Allegretto IV. Adagio V. Allegretto alla Polacca VI. Tema con variazioni: Andante quasi allegretto VII. Marcia: Allegro Wendy Sharp, violin Marka Gustavsson, viola Mimi Hwang, cello
George Tsontakis b. 1951
knickknacks for violin and viola (2000) I. Silhouette and Trio VI. Lilting VII. Fandango Façade Wendy Sharp, violin Marka Gustavsson, viola intermission
Gabriel Fauré 1845–1924
Quatuor, Op. 45 I. Allegro molto moderato II. Allegro molto III. Adagio non troppo IV. Allegro molto Wendy Sharp, violin Marka Gustavsson, viola Mimi Hwang, cello Melvin Chen, piano
Artist Profiles
Wendy Sharp 路 violin 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 Mannes College of Music, Dartmouth College, 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. Ms. Sharp and her husband have two children, members of the Yale College classes of 2014 and 2016.
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Artist Profiles
Marka Gustavsson · viola 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-to-wall 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.
Artist Profiles
Mimi Hwang · cello 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-in-Residence at the Hopkins Center at Dartmouth 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’s Young Artists Program, and serves on the Board of Directors of Chamber Music America.
Artist Profiles
Melvin Chen · piano 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, the 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 Joan Tower’s piano music on Naxos. 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 Miró quartets. 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. In 2012 he rejoined the faculty of the Yale School of Music, where he serves as Associate Professor (Adjunct) of Piano and Deputy Dean.
Composer Profile
George Tsontakis · composer George Tsontakis has been the recipient of two of the richest prizes awarded in all of classical music: the International Grawemeyer Award, in 2005, for his Second Violin Concerto, and the 2007 Ives Living, from the American Academy. He studied with Roger Sessions at Juilliard and in Rome with Franco Donatoni. Born in Astoria, NY into Cretan heritage, he has become an important figure in the music of Greece. His music is increasingly performed abroad, with dozens of performances in Europe every season. Most of his music has been recorded by Hyperion and Koch, leading to two Grammy nominations for Best Classical Composition. He is Distinguished Composer-in-Residence at the Bard Conservatory and at the Aspen Music Festival, where he was founding director of the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, from 1991 to 1999. He served as Composer-in-Residence with the Oxford (England) Philomusica and is continuing a six-year Music Alive residency with the Albany Symphony. He was the Featured Composer in Residence with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center for the 2009–2010 season. Most recently he received the 2012 Composer of the Year Award from the Lancaster Symphony, where he conducted the symphony in his work. He lives in New York’s Catskill Mountains.
Upcoming Events
Brentano String Quartet
Beethoven: Complete Cello Sonatas
january 27 Morse Recital Hall | Tuesday | 7:30 pm Oneppo Chamber Music Series String quartets by Haydn, Brahms, and James MacMillan Tickets start at $26 • Students $13
february 8 Morse Recital Hall | Sunday | 2 pm Faculty Artist Series Ole Akahoshi, cello, and Peter Frankl, piano, perform the complete Beethoven sonatas for cello and piano Free Admission
Wei-Yi Yang, piano
Yale Brass Trio
february 4 Morse Recital Hall | Wednesday | 7:30 pm Horowitz Piano Series Selections from Scriabin’s enigmatic and mystical Etudes and Poèmes to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the composer’s death, intertwined with works of Chopin and Liszt Tickets start at $13 • Students $7
february 9 Morse Recital Hall | Monday | 7:30 pm Faculty Artist Series William Purvis, horn; Allan Dean, trumpet; Scott Hartman, trombone. With Mihae Lee, piano Free Admission
Music by David Lang & Hannah Lash
Benjamin Verdery, guitar
february 5 Morse Recital Hall | Thursday | 7:30 pm New Music New Haven With Antico Moderno and Hilary Summers, contralto. Works by faculty composers David Lang and Hannah Lash, as well as graduate students in the School’s composition program Free Admission
february 11 Morse Recital Hall | Wednesday | 7:30 pm Faculty Artist Series Featuring the world premiere of a new piece for electric guitar by Hannah Lash, plus music by Bach, Verdery, Laderman, Theofanidis, and Neil Young Free Admission
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Robert Blocker, Dean