ECMSA EMORY CHAMBER MUSIC. SOCIETY OF ATLANTA William Ransom, artistic director SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2018, 7:00 P.M.

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1 17 ECMSA 18 EMORY CHAMBER MUSIC EMERSON S E R I E S SOCIETY OF ATLANTA William Ransom, artistic director JUILLIARD IN ATLANTA SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2018, 7:00 P.M. EMERSON CONCERT HALL SCHWARTZ CENTER FOR PERFORMING ARTS

2 PROGRAM Concerto for Four Violins in B Minor Antonio Vivaldi ( ) Allegro Largo Adagio Largo Allegro Fia Durrett, Julianne Lee, Elizabeth Fayette, Sissi Zhang, solo violins; Helen Kim and David Dillard, violins; Joli Wu and Marian Kent, violas; Christopher Rex, cello; David D Ambrosio, harpsichord Prelude from the Suite in G Major Johann Sebastian Bach ( ) for solo cello, BWV 1007 Christopher Rex, cello; Lee Harper, dancer Brass Quintet, No. 1, op. 5 Victor Ewald ( ) Stuart Stephenson and Clayton Chastain, trumpets; Anna Dodd, French horn; Mark McConnell and Marc Boehm, trombones Oblivion (For Betsy) Astor Piazzolla ( ) David Coucheron, violin; Christopher Rex, cello; William Ransom, piano; Lee Harper dancer Three Pieces, op. 83 Max Bruch ( ) 5. Rumänische Melodie 6. Andante con moto 7. Allegro vivace, ma non troppo Laura Ardan, clarinet; Jessica Oudin, viola; Shirley Irek, piano Duo for Flute and Oboe, op. 13 Alberto Ginastera ( ) Sonata Pastorale Fuga James Zellers, flute; Samuel Nemec, oboe Valse Serge Rachmaninoff ( ) Das Dreyblatt Wilhelm Friedemann Bach ( ) Keiko Yamashita, Elizabeth Pridgen, and William Ransom, piano Allegro moderato ma con fuoco Felix Mendelssohn ( ) from the Octet in E-flat Major, op. 20 David Coucheron, Julianne Lee, Elizabeth Fayette, and Helen Kim, violins; Madeline Sharp and Joli Wu, violas; Christopher Rex and Charae Krueger, celli 2

3 PERFORMER BIOGRAPHIES Principal clarinet Laura Ardan has been with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO) since 1982 and she holds the endowed Robert Shaw Chair. She has been a featured soloist with the orchestra in works by Mozart, Weber, Debussy, Copland, Bernstein, Finzi, Rossini, Shaw, and Michael Gandolfi, and she has also performed with the Cleveland Quartet. Ardan has performed in the Tanglewood, Marlboro, Mostly Mozart, and Bellingham music festivals, and as a guest artist in Emanuel Ax Invites... on the Great Performers series at Lincoln Center. A frequent guest of the Atlanta Chamber Players, Georgian Chamber Players, and Emory Chamber Music Society, she plays regularly at the Highlands Cashiers Chamber Music Festival in North Carolina and the Grand Teton Chamber Music Festival in Wyoming. A student of Roger Hiller and Stanley Drucker, Ardan attended the Juilliard School of Music (BM 1980, MM 1981) on scholarships from both Juilliard and the Naumburg Foundation. Before joining the ASO, she was a resident clarinetist and teaching artist at the Lincoln Center Institute for four years. She also played in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra for two seasons. Marc Boehm has a bachelor of music degree (2008) in trombone from the Juilliard School where he studied with Joseph Alessi. During his undergraduate studies, Boehm held a position with the orchestra Symphony in C. He also maintained an active freelance schedule, regularly performing with orchestras in Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall in New York City. Boehm went on to study at Manhattan School of Music under Per Brevig. He has a master of music degree with special distinction as an Outreach Graduation Award recipient for his work teaching trombone in New York City s publicschool system. Boehm has performed with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Ballet, Atlanta Opera, Sarasota Orchestra (Florida), Columbus Symphony, Macon Symphony, LaGrange Symphony, Albany Symphony, Atlanta Lyric Theater, Georgia Symphony, Gwinnett Ballet Theatre Company, Gainesville Theatre Alliance, and Georgia Brass Band, among others. He maintains an active freelance schedule and teaches privately. Boehm is the artist affiliate trombone instructor at Emory University as well as adjunct instructor of music and low brass at Young Harris College. Boehm is also in high demand as a clinician, sectional coach, and private teacher in middle and high schools throughout metro-atlanta. He served as a teaching artist for the Atlanta Symphony during the seasons. In addition, he served as teaching artist for the Atlanta Music Project from 3

4 During the summer months, Boehm is on faculty at the Atlanta Chamber Music Festival, and also serves as principal trombonist at the Crested Butte Music Festival in Colorado. Boehm can be heard on the From the Top Radio Show on National Public Radio, Live from Lincoln Center broadcasts with the Juilliard Orchestra on PBS, as well as on Joseph Alessi s album, Return to Sorrento, featuring the Juilliard Trombone Choir. Clayton Chastain is a sought after musician throughout the United States. Chastain serves as principal trumpet of the Savannah Philharmonic, as well as second trumpet in the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera. In addition to services with these orchestras, Chastain can be seen making music with the Atlanta Symphony, Atlanta Opera, Atlanta Ballet, and Colorado Symphony. During college, Chastain s summers were spent in Kiel, Germany, at the Schleswig- Holstein Musik Festival. His bachelor s degree was completed at the Juilliard School (2000) under the tutelage of Raymond Mase and Mark Gould. David Coucheron joined the Atlanta Symphony as Concertmaster in 2010 as the youngest concertmaster among any major United States orchestra at the time. He has performed as soloist with the Atlanta Symphony, BBC Symphony, Bergen Philharmonic, Sendai Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic, and the Trondheim Symphony working with conductors including Robert Spano, Donald Runnicles, Roberto Abbado, Oliver Knussen, Maxim Vengerov, Susanna Mälkki, Tito Munoz, and Hugo Wolff. During his tenure with the Atlanta Symphony, Coucheron has performed twelve concertos. Coucheron has given solo recitals at Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, as well as in Beograd, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Serbia, Singapore, and Shanghai. His chamber music performances have included appearances at Suntory Hall as well as Wigmore Hall and Alice Tully Hall. Coucheron serves as the artistic director for the Kon Tiki Chamber Music Festival in his hometown of Oslo, Norway. He is also on the artist faculty for the Aspen Music Festival, Brevard Music Festival, and the Interlochen Arts Camp. An active recording artist, recordings with sister pianist Julie Coucheron include David and Julie (Naxos/Mudi) and Debut (Naxos). He is also the featured soloist on the Atlanta Symphony s recording of Vaughan Williams s The Lark Ascending. Coucheron began playing the violin at age three. He has a bachelor s degree from the Curtis Institute with Aaron Rosand. He continued at the Juilliard School where he earned a master s degree in 2007 with Lewis Kaplan, and he has a master of musical performance degree from the Guildhall School in London where he studied under David Takeno. Coucheron plays a 1725 Stradivarius. 4

5 David D Ambrosio, pianist, is director of piano and accompanying at Agnes Scott College. As a member of the faculty for twenty-seven years, he has performed five piano concerti with the Agnes Scott Orchestra and an arrangement of a Rachmaninoff Prelude with choral accompaniment with the Agnes Scott Collegiate Chorale among many other recitals with vocalists and instrumentalists in the Atlanta area. D Ambrosio graduated from the Juilliard School in 1976 with a master of music degree where he was a student of Ania Dorfmann. Highlights of his professional career include touring the United States and Canada with the Norman Luboff Choir as accompanist and solo pianist, performing on numerous concert series in the Southeast, including several sponsored by the Pro-Mozart Society of Atlanta, and appearing in chamber ensemble performances with the Atlanta Virtuosi in their annual Hispanic Arts Festival Series. D Ambrosio has performed as keyboardist with the Atlanta Opera and its Opera Studio, and was a member of an opera ensemble that toured throughout metro-atlanta schools under the auspices of Young Audiences of Atlanta. He has frequently served as an adjudicator for piano festivals and competitions. For twenty-seven years, D Ambrosio served as official staff accompanist of the Southeast Regional Metropolitan Opera Auditions. He was accompanist in recital for the sixtieth anniversary of the Atlanta Opera Guild and is pianist on the Agnes Scott College Bella Musica CD in a recording of the Sonata for Viola and Piano by Rebecca Clark. From , D Ambrosio served as vice president of programs for the Georgia Music Teachers Association. David Dillard is a violinist with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. He began studying at age three, trained in the Suzuki method. He has been with the Atlanta Symphony for twenty-five years. He has studied at the Julliard School (precollege, ; college, ) as well as Indiana University, in addition to attending prestigious music camps across the country. He also pursues his passion of performing chamber music. He has more than thirty years of teaching experience and teaches students of all ages and levels and a number of his students have progressed into professional careers in music. An active orchestral musician and teacher, Anna Dodd serves as fourth horn for the Atlanta Ballet Orchestra, and is a former member of the Atlanta Opera Orchestra, Chattanooga Symphony, and Columbus Symphony. Dodd has performed with numerous orchestras in the Southeast, including the Atlanta Symphony, Charleston Symphony, Alabama Symphony, and Brevard Music Center Orchestra. In recent years, Dodd has been honored to perform as a 5

6 guest artist at the National Brass Symposium, and also appeared as a guest performer with the Borromeo String Quartet in New York, where Albany s Times Union newspaper described her solo playing as particularly elegant and pleasing. The founder of the Atlanta Horn Clinic, Dodd has served as an artist in residence at Kennesaw State University, and lecturer in horn at Columbus State University. She has a bachelor of music degree from the Juilliard School (2008) and a master of music degree from the New England Conservatory. Her former teachers include Jason Snider, Jennifer Montone, Jerome Ashby, Julie Landsman, and Richard Deane. After a major life change, Dodd is back in school with intent to pursue a master of medical science degree in order to become a physician assistant. Violinist Fia Mancini Durrett made her debut with the Houston Symphony at age eighteen, playing the Brahms Violin Concerto. She has undergraduate and graduate degrees from the Juilliard School (MM 2003), studying under Masao Kawasaki. While there, she served as concertmaster of both orchestras and pursued string quartet studies. Further, her quartet was honored to perform for commencement ceremonies in 2003, and competed as finalists in the Concert Artists Guild International Competition. Durrett moved to Atlanta in 2003, and she has enjoyed many versatile opportunities. She served as a visiting violin professor at Georgia State, started the chamber music concert series, Fringe (called one of the most radical classical groups in the country by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution), and she played first violin for the Vega String Quartet from Currently, she is the principal second violinist of the Atlanta Opera Orchestra. Durrett has been married to her husband, Dana, since 2003, and they have two daughters, ages three and seven. Elizabeth Fayette is the first violinist of the Vega String Quartet, quartet in residence at Emory University. She made her Carnegie Hall solo debut with the Juilliard Orchestra and conductor Alan Gilbert as the winner of Juilliard s Concerto Competition. In recent seasons she has performed with the Houston Symphony as a prizewinner in the Ima Hogg Competition, won Second Prize in the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, and was awarded the 2014 Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia Career Grant as well as the 2015 Juilliard/ Tel Aviv Museum of Art Sanders Prize. Highlights of recent seasons include recital appearances at Rockefeller University, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, and at Philadelphia s American Philosophical Society, presented by the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. Her festival appearances include Ravinia s Steans Music Institute, the Kneisel 6

7 Hall Chamber Music Festival, Music from Angel Fire, the Marlboro Music Festival, Juneau Jazz and Classics, and the Highlands Cashiers Chamber Music Festival. Fayette has a BM from the Curtis Institute where she studied with Pamela Frank, Shmuel Ashkenasi, and Arnold Steinhardt; and an MM from the Juilliard School as a student of Sylvia Rosenberg. Most recently, she completed her studies in Juilliard s Artist Diploma program. Fayette also held a two-year fellowship with Ensemble Connect. (pre-college 2006, MM 2013, AD 2015, Ensemble Connect 2016) Lee Harper (1966 BFA, dance), founding director of Lee Harper and Dancers, and artist in residence for the Westminster Schools, is one of Atlanta s most influential and inspirational arts leaders. For decades, she has inspired and taught thousands of children, choreographed productions for some of the premier arts organizations in the Southeast, directed her professional company and dazzled audiences with her one-woman shows. In acknowledgement of her accomplishments, Harper received the Governor s Award for the Arts and Humanities in A native of Hickory, North Carolina, Harper attended the Juilliard School and graduated from the North Carolina School of the Arts with a bachelor of fine arts degree in dance. She performed professionally with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, the Pearl Lang Dance Theater, the All Nations Dance Company, and the Atlanta Contemporary Dance Company. An opportunity to choreograph the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra s first production of Leonard Bernstein s Mass brought Harper to Atlanta in She was awarded two choreography fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the 1987 Mayor s Fellowship in the Arts for Choreography. In 2002, she was named Lexus Leader in the Arts by PBS Atlanta. Harper has served on the faculty of Northside School of the Arts and as artist in residence at Woodward Academy. She is also a fine arts painter, presenting shows at several galleries in North Georgia and North Carolina. She is married to attorney Wayne Vason, with two grown children, Katie and Fin. Shirley Irek was born in Croatia and educated at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, California Institute of the Arts, and the Juilliard School, where she received a bachelor s (1978) and a master s (1979) degree. She gave her solo debut at age five, performing for the prime minister of Canada, followed by an orchestral debut at age seven with the Toronto Chamber Orchestra. At Juilliard, she was a scholarship student of Irwin Freundlich and Martin Canin, and also studied accompanying with Samuel Sanders. In her junior year at Juilliard, she won the annual Concerto Competition 7

8 and performed with the Juilliard Orchestra at Lincoln Center. Upon graduation, Irek received the highest honor for pianists, the first Van Cliburn Award for outstanding achievement among pianists. Irek s love of chamber music and two-piano repertoire has taken her for performances throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia. She performed the world premiere of the only Two-Piano Concerto written by Michael Colgrass with the Minnesota Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin. She also performed with the Broyhill Chamber Ensemble for President Bill Clinton at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C. Irek moved to Atlanta in 1996 and is the proud mother of two children and the proud teacher of many students in her Buckhead studio, where she enjoys sharing her passion for music. Violist Marian Kent has been a violist with the Atlanta Symphony since She was an original member of the Atlanta Chamber Players, with whom she played for several years, and she has played in the Spoleto Festival in Italy and the Tanglewood Festival among others. Born in Budapest, Hungary, Kent is the daughter of a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps. She escaped to the West with her family during the 1956 Hungarian revolution. After two years in a refugee camp in Austria, they came to the United States and settled in Los Angeles. Kent studied at the California Institute of the Arts and on scholarship at the Juilliard School, where she earned a performer s diploma (1970). While playing in the American Symphony Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski, she pursued further studies with William Lincer, Walter Trampler, and Burton Fine. Helen Hwaya Kim made her orchestral debut with the Calgary Philharmonic at age six. She has appeared as a soloist with the Boston Pops at Boston s Symphony Hall, as well as with the Milwaukee and Atlanta Symphony Orchestras. Kim has a bachelor s (1995) and master s (1997) degree from the Juilliard School, where her teachers included Hyo, Kang, Cho-Liang Lin, and Dorothy DeLay. While at Juilliard, she served as concertmaster of the Juilliard Orchestra and was the winner of the Juilliard Concerto Competition at both the pre-college and college levels. She is the recipient of more than one hundred national and international awards. She won the prestigious Artists International Competition in New York and, as a result, gave debut recitals at Carnegie Weill Hall and the Aspen Summer Music Festival. A native of Canada, Kim has been engaged as soloist by many of Canada s leading orchestras, including the National Arts Center Orchestra; Montreal Metropolitan Orchestra; Vancouver Symphony; McGill Chamber Orchestra; and the Windsor, Regina, Victoria and Prince George Symphonies. She has also appeared as soloist with the DeKalb, 8

9 New Orleans, Aspen, and Banff Festival orchestras, and with orchestras in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Poland. Kim has toured extensively throughout Canada and the United States, including performances at Alice Tully Hall and the Santa Fe, La Jolla, Highlands-Cashiers, Amelia Island, Zenith, and Sitka International chamber music festivals. Kim resides in Atlanta where she served as assistant and associate concertmaster for the Atlanta Symphony for three seasons. She is currently the assistant concertmaster of the Atlanta Opera Orchestra, and she serves as professor of violin and chair of the string department at Kennesaw State University. Cellist Charae Krueger is principal cellist for the Atlanta Opera Orchestra and the Atlanta Ballet Orchestra. She is artist in residence at Kennesaw State University (KSU), and she performs with the Summit Piano Trio and the KSU Faculty String Trio. Krueger enjoys chamber music and solo recital work and plays throughout the Southeastern UnitedStates. She is a regular featured artist at the Highlands Cashiers Chamber Music Festival, the Grand Teton Music Festival, and the North Georgia Chamber Music Festival. Her solo and chamber music recitals have been featured on NPR s Performance Today, WABE Radio Atlanta, and WGBH Radio Boston. She also plays frequently with the Atlanta Symphony. Krueger enjoys recording studio work, and she has played on albums of Bruce Springsteen, Faith Hill, and Natalie Cole. Krueger received her early cello training in Canada at the Regina Conservatory of Music. She went on to study at Brandon University and received a bachelor of music performance degree from New England Conservatory in Boston. She also has an artist diploma from the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She continued her training during the summers at the Banff Centre in Canada and did quartet training with the Juilliard Quartet at the summer program at the Juilliard School. Krueger was also a participant in the New York String Orchestra Seminar under the direction of Alexander Schneider with concerts at Carnegie Hall. Julianne Lee has a distinctive career, both as a violinist and violist, appearing frequently as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player. She had been assistant principal second violin of the Boston Symphony Orchestra prior to joining the Atlanta Symphony in the season as the new principal second violin. She has toured with the Marlboro Music Festival as well as multiple international tours with the Australian Chamber Orchestra as guest principal violist. In past summers, she has been invited to perform at numerous music festivals including the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Chamber Music at the Banff Centre, and the Marlboro Music Festival. 9

10 She is the second violinist of the Johannes String Quartet, an ensemble that has performed commissioned works by Esa-Pekka Salonen, Derek Bermel, and William Bolcom. Lee graduated with an unanimous first prize at the Conservatoire Superieur de Paris in France. She has a bachelor s degree in both violin and viola performance from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, and a master s degree from the New England Conservatory. She attended the Juilliard School pre-college from Mark McConnell is principal trombone with the Atlanta Opera Orchestra and is a member of the Atlanta Ballet Orchestra. For twenty-nine seasons he served as principal trombone of the Columbus (Georgia) Symphony. A former member of the Oakland Symphony and the Macon Symphony, he has performed extensively on trombone, tenor tuba, and bass trumpet with the Atlanta Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, and Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. He has a BM (1980) and an MM (1981) from the Juilliard School where his principal teacher was Per Brevig. He also has studied with Edward Herman Jr., Steve Norrell, Harry Maddox, Michael Moore, Vernon Forbes, and Duane Miller. Samuel Nemec joined the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra as second oboe in He has a bachelor of music degree from the Juilliard School in 2010, where he studied with Elaine Douvas, Nathan Hughes, and Pedro Diaz. Subsequently, Nemec received a diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music as a student of Richard Woodhams. Nemec has performed as guest principal oboe in the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and as a substitute in the National, Cincinnati, and Charleston Symphony Orchestras. He has spent summers with the National Repertory Orchestra in Breckenridge, Colorado, and at the Aspen Music Festival, where he was a fellowship recipient for two summers. Jessica Oudin joined the Atlanta Symphony s viola section in January Oudin has been a frequent substitute with both the Cleveland Orchestra and the Minnesota Orchestra, and has in addition performed with the Baltimore, Houston, and St. Louis symphony orchestras. During the summer, she regularly performs with Festival Mozaic, and served as the assistant principal viola of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music under the direction of Marin Alsop. Additional festival appearances include the International Musicians Seminar at Prussia Cove (UK), the Sarasota Music Festival, Yellow Barn, Music@Menlo, the Perlman Chamber Music program, and the Aspen Music Festival. 10

11 An avid chamber musician, Oudin has appeared with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and she has collaborated with renowned violinist Itzhak Perlman at both Carnegie Hall and New York s Metropolitan Museum of Art. With the Kashii String Quartet, she was a silver medalist at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, and she has served on the chamber music faculty for the Innsbrook Music Institute and the Yellow Barn Music School Young Artist Program. She currently performs with the Riverside Chamber Players. Oudin graduated with high honors from the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM), where she was a student of Jeffrey Irvine, and she has a master s degree from the Juilliard School (2008) where she was a teaching assistant to Heidi Castleman and Misha Amory. Further studies were undertaken at CIM as a student in the Professional Studies program under the tutelage of Robert Vernon. Pianist Elizabeth Pridgen enjoys a distinguished career as both a soloist and chamber musician. In 2014 she was appointed artistic director of the Atlanta Chamber Players. Pridgen has appeared in concerts at Carnegie s Zankel Hall and Weill Recital Hall, Spivey Hall in Atlanta, Rising Stars Series at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, and in recitals in London; Amsterdam; Rotterdam; Washington, D.C.; Miami; San Francisco; and throughout the Southeast. She performs regularly at festivals including the Rome Chamber Music Festival in Rome, Italy; the Kon-Tiki Chamber Music Festival in Norway;the Aspen Music Festival; the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival; Madison Chamber Music Festival; and the Highlands Cashiers Chamber Music Festival. Pridgen has collaborated with such artists as Elmar Oliveira, Robert McDuffie, Anne Akiko Meyers, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Lynn Harrell, the Diaz String Trio, Cuarteto Latinoamericano, and the American String Quartet. Pridgen is a member of the Cortona Trio with violinist Amy Schwartz Moretti and cellist Julie Albers and the Georgian Chamber Players. Pridgen is a distinguished artist and piano chair at the McDuffie Center for Strings, and she holds the G. Leslie Fabian Piano Chair at the Townsend School of Music at Mercer University. Her recordings include the Liszt transcription of Berlioz s Harold in Italy on Orchid Classics an the soon to be released by Artek is Chausson s Concert for Violin and Piano with violinist Andrés Cárdenes and the Vega String Quartet. Pridgen began her piano studies at age five and her first concert appearances were with her grandfather, violinist Martin Sauser, former concertmaster of the Atlanta Symphony. She received a master of music degree from the Juilliard School (2003) where she studied with Joseph Kalichstein and a bachelor s degree from the Peabody Conservatory of Music as a student of Ann Schein. 11

12 Pianist, artistic director, master teacher, editor, and judge for international competitions, William Ransom appears around the world as soloist with orchestras, recitalist, and chamber musician. His performances have been broadcast on National Public Radio and Television in the United States, Argentina, Poland, and Japan. He regularly collaborates with musicians including Yo-Yo Ma, Richard Stoltzman, William Preucil, Stephen Isserlis, Robert McDuffie, and members of the Tokyo, Cleveland, Juilliard, American, St. Petersburg, Borromeo, Parker, Ariel, and Lark String Quartets; and the Empire Brass Quintet, Eroica Trio, and the percussion group Nexus, among others. He also performs and gives masterclasses at numerous schools of music and universities around the world. He has recorded for ACA Digital and Rising Star Records. Ransom is the Mary Emerson Professor of Piano at Emory University where he is director of piano studies and founder and artistic director of the Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta. A graduate of the Juilliard School (BM 1980, MM 1981) and the University of Michigan, in the summers, Ransom is the Anna and Hays Mershon artistic director of the Highlands Cashiers Chamber Music Festival in North Carolina and for a decade was an artist-faculty member at the Kamisaibara Pianists Camp in Japan. In 2016 he was named artistic director of the Juneau Jazz and Classics Festival and also one of Musical America Worldwide s 30 Musical Innovators. Christopher Rex joined the Atlanta Symphony as principal cello in 1979, the same year in which he became the first cellist ever to win the string prize in the biennial Young Artists Competition of the National Federation of Music Clubs and since then has appeared as recitalist and chamber musician across the nation. Following his studies at the Curtis Institute with Orlando Cole and at the Juilliard School (1972) with Leonard Rose, he was a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra under director Eugene Ormandy for seven seasons. He has taught at Gettysburg College, the New School of Music in Philadelphia, Georgia State University, and the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, North Carolina. In summer 1988, he shared acting principal duties for the New York Philharmonic s European tour. He is a founding member of the Georgian Chamber Players. In 1994, Rex, together with his brother, Charles Rex, associate concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic, premiered a new double concerto for violin, cello, and orchestra by Stephen Paulus to sold-out audiences in Lincoln Center with Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic. Rex is founder, general, and artistic director of the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival. In 2009 the Guarneri String Quartet chose to play their final concert at the Amelia Festival asking Rex to join them in a performance of the Schubert Two Cello Quintet. In addition, 2018 will see the sixteenth season of 12

13 the Madison Chamber Music Festival for which Rex serves as artistic director. Together with David Coucheron, concertmaster of the Atlanta Symphony and David s sister pianist Julie Coucheron, Rex has formed the Christiania Piano Trio. Madeline Sharp joined the Atlanta Symphony s viola section in She was previously a member of the New World Symphony, and received a bachelor s (2011) and a master s (2013) degree from the Juilliard School. She has performed frequently with the Minnesota Orchestra, Houston Symphony, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, as well as with the Pittsburgh Symphony on their most recent tour to Europe. She is also a member of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in Santa Cruz, California. While a fellow at New World, Sharp performed the Bartok Viola Concerto as winner of the Concerto Competition. She served as a teaching assistant to Heidi Castleman and Robert Vernon, while also studying with Misha Amory, Steven Tenenbom, and Hsin- Yun Huang. Trumpeter Stuart Stephenson began playing trumpet at age ten, after starting piano at age six. He spent his childhood in Northern Virginia, where he studied with members of the United States military bands and the National Symphony. From there he went to New York City and completed his undergraduate degree at the Juilliard School (BM 2011). During his time at Juilliard, Stephenson was a member of the Vandalay Brass Quintet, which performed at the Bachauer Scholarship event for two years in a row live on New York s WQXR. The quintet was an active participant in the Young People s Concert Series, sponsored by the Juilliard Office of Educational Outreach. Stephenson performed regularly with the Juilliard Orchestra in Carnegie Hall, Avery Fischer Hall, and the Sharp Theater. Stephenson then went on to study at Northwestern University with Barbara Butler, Charlie Geyer, and Chicago Symphony principal trumpet Chris Martin, where he earned a master of music degree. His instructors in the Washington, D.C., area included Adel Sanchez, Tom Cupples, and Jim Bittner. Stephenson has spent summers at the Aspen Music Festival, the Schleswig- Holstein Musik Festival in Germany, and the Tanglewood Music Center, and he was invited most recently to play with the Grand Tetons Music Festival in Jackson, Wyoming. Stephenson joined the Atlanta Symphony in 2013, immediately following his graduation from Northwestern University. 13

14 Joli Wu, violist, a native of Los Angeles, began her viola studies at age thirteen, under the tutelage of Louis Kievman. She has a bachelor s degree in performance from the Juilliard School (1994) and a master s degree from Yale University. Upon graduation, she served as a residence tutor in the Currier House at Harvard, while performing frequently with the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. She is the principal violist of the Atlanta Ballet Orchestra and a section member of the Atlanta Opera Orchestra. In 2016, she was named one of the twenty-five Most Influential Asian Americans in Georgia by the Asian Times. Wu serves as a faculty member at the Westminster Schools and the Georgia Academy of Music. She also teaches in her private studio. Pianist Keiko Yamashita has given concerts throughout her native Japan as well as in the United States. She studied at the Tokyo College of Music and the Juilliard School ( ) in New York, and she has served on the faculties of Vanderbilt University and the Sewanee Summer Music Center. She has collaborated with such artists as pianist Robert Spano, cellist Gary Hoffman, hornist Dale Clevenger, and cellist Lazlo Varga; appeared as soloist with the New Japan Philharmonic, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and the Sewanee Festival Orchestra; and given solo and duo-piano recitals (with William Ransom) to public and critical acclaim. She is on the piano faculty of Emory University, has a private studio of talented pre-college students, and is a founding member of the Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta. James Zellers has bachelor s and master s degrees from Indiana University and a DMA from the Juilliard School (1995). His teachers have been Judith Thomas, Mark Thomas, and Carol Wincenc. His performances have taken him to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.; Victoria Hall in Geneva, Switzerland; the International Festival d Evian, France; the Spoleto Festivals in both Charleston, South Carolina, and Italy, and the 1988 Seoul, Korea, and 1996 Atlanta Olympics Festival of Arts and Culture. Former touring artist for the North Carolina Council for the Arts, soloist with the Bach Area Festival, the Chautauqua Institution, and the Sea Cliff Chamber Players, Zellers is principal flute with the Atlanta Opera Orchestra, the Columbus (Georgia) Symphony, and piccolo with the Florida West Coast Symphony, Sarasota. He has also performed with the Alabama Symphony, the Santa Fe Opera, and he has performed and recorded with the Atlanta Symphony. He was acting principal flute with the Florida Orchestra, Tampa, for the season, and he has held positions with the orchestras of Augusta (Georgia) and Greenville (South 14

15 Carolina) as well as faculty positions at the University of Georgia, Augusta State University, and Georgia State University. He is an artist affiliate at Emory University, a position he has held since February In addition to his flute activities, Zellers is an accomplished organist and arranger of choral and instrumental chamber music. He is also the proud breeder/owner/handler/ trainer of four prize-winning Australian Shepherds; competing regularly in confirmation, agility, and competitive obedience. Violinist Sissi Yuqing Zhang is a native of China. In 2010, she continued to pursue her professional career by entering the Juilliard School with a full scholarship studying with Lewis Kaplan, Ronald Copes, and Ida Kavafian. After obtaining both bachelor s and master s of music degrees from Juilliard in 2016, she also studied one year at Yale School of Music with Ani Kavafian. Zhang is active in chamber, solo, and orchestral playing. Her appearances have included in the United States, Europe, and China. Her festival experiences include the New York String Seminar, Juilliard ChamberFest, Sarasota Music Festival, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Kneisel Hall, Music Academy of the West, Fontainebleau School of Arts (France) and Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival (Germany), and Verbier Festical Orchestra (Switzerland). At these festivals and also at Juilliard, she had the privilege to work with world-renowned conductors such as Christoph Eschenbach. Zhang was recently appointed as the newest first violin-section member in the Atlanta Symphony. Before joining the Atlanta Symphony, Zhang served as concertmaster of Yale Philharmonia, Yale Opera, and section first violin of New Haven Symphony. 15

16 UPCOMING MUSIC EVENTS Go to music.emory.edu to view the complete list of upcoming music events. Ticket prices are listed in the following order: Full price/discount category member price/emory student price (unless otherwise noted as the price for all students). For more information contact the Arts at Emory Box Office at , or visit arts.emory.edu. Wednesday, February 14, 8:00 p.m., Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free Thursday, February 15, 2:30 p.m., and Friday, February 16, 5:30 p.m., Vocal Masterclasses with David Daniels, countertenor, Performing Arts Studio, 1804 N. Decatur Rd., free Friday, February 16, noon, Chinese New Year Celebration, ECMSA: Cooke Noontime Series, Michael C. Carlos Museum, free Friday, February 16, 8:00 p.m., Alexandra Shatalov, oboe, artist affiliate recital, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free Thursday, February 22, 8:00 p.m., Abigail Santos Villalobos, soprano, artist affilate recital, Performing Arts Studio, 1804 N. Decatur Rd., free Friday, February 23, 8:00 p.m., Emory Wind Ensemble, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free Sunday, February 25, 4:00 p.m., Jewish Chamber Music, ECMSA: Emerson Series, Marcus Hillel Center, free Sunday, March 4, 4:00 p.m., The Road to Hamelin, ECMSA: Family Series, Michael C. Carlos Museum, free Thursday, March 8, 8:00 p.m., Emory University Symphony Orchestra, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free Saturday, March 17, 8:00 p.m., Israel in Egypt: George Frideric Handel, Atlanta Master Chorale, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, $35/$30/$10 Tuesday, March 20, 8:00 p.m., Bach Birthday Recital, Timothy Albrecht, faculty recital, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free Thursday, March 22, 8:00 p.m., Emory Tango Ensemble, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free Friday, March 23, noon, Robyn Bollinger, violin, ECMSA: Cooke Noontime Series, Michael C. Carlos Museum, free 16

17 Saturday, March 24, noon, Zola Berger-Schmitz, viola, undergraduate recital, Performing Arts Studio, 1804 N. Decatur Road, free Saturday, March 24, 2:00 p.m., Vivie Lee, piano, and Martin Schreiner, voice, undergraduate recital, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free Saturday, March 24, 8:00 p.m., The Vega String Quartet, ECMSA: Emerson Series, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free Sunday, March 25, 2:00 p.m., Eric Newell, voice/choral conducting, undergraduate recital, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free Thursday, March 29, 7:00 p.m., Barenaked Voices: 15th Annual Emory Student A Cappella Celebration, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, all tickets $5 Saturday, March 31, 2:00 p.m., Xiaochen Chen, voice, undergraduate honors recital, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free Tuesday, April 3, 8:00 p.m., Emory Jazz Combos, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free Saturday, April 7, 2:00 p.m., Rachel Chon, piano, undergraduate recital, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free Saturday, April 7, 5:00 p.m., Haley Matthews, bassoon, undergraduate honors recital, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free Sunday, April 8, 4:00 p.m., Atlanta s Young Artists, ECMSA: Family Series, Michael C. Carlos Museum, free Sunday, April 8, 5:00 p.m., Amanda Melton, harp, undergraduate honors recital, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free Thursday, April 12, 6:00 p.m., Jazz on the Green, Patterson Green, free Arts at Emory Box Office/Audience Information arts.emory.edu IN CONSIDERATION Please turn off all electronic devices. PHOTOGRAPHS AND RECORDINGS Not permitted without advance permission. COUGH DROPS Available in the lobby. USHERS Members of Music at Emory Volunteers and Alpha Phi Omega, a national service and social fraternity. Call for ushering opportunities. EVENT AND PROGRAM INFORMATION Available online at arts.emory.edu. BACK COVER PHOTOS Courtesy of Emory Photo/Video. TREE LIGHTS AND EXTERIOR IN-GROUND BUILDING LIGHTS Made possible by a generous gift from Donna and Marvin Schwartz. 17