September 25, 2016: Jason Vieaux, guitar FRANCISCO TÁRREGA (1852–1909) Capricho árabe September 25, 2016: Jason Vieaux, guitar At the age of ten Tárrega studied classical guitar with Julian Arcas, followed by training at the Madrid Conservatory, where he also studied theory, harmony, and piano. He soon began to teach and at the same time establish himself as a guitar virtuoso. His international reputation grew after successful appearances in Paris and London in 1880; he was acclaimed as “the Sarasate of the guitar.” Tárrega did much to promote the instrument at a time when the piano had almost completely overshadowed it. He not only composed some eighty original works for the guitar—Recuerdos de la Alhambra, Capricho árabe, and Danza mora are among his best-known solo pieces—but he transcribed over 140 works by other composers for one or two guitars, including pieces by Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Granados, and Albéniz. Albéniz once stated that Tárrega’s transcriptions were better than his own piano originals! Tárrega’s extremely popular Capricho árabe, composed after a trip to Granada, is dedicated to his friend and composer Tomás Bretón. A brief introduction—an isolated open fourth, an improvisatory riff, a brief chordal motive, all repeated—precedes Tárrega’s well-known melody with its signature beginning of two repeated notes. The accompanimental pattern of four bass notes with afterbeat chords is intriguing to follow as it changes harmonically to introduce new sections. The main theme alternates between presentations in minor and in major, with periodic improvisatory passages providing further contrast. A shortened return of the melody in minor closes the piece. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2018 AT 3 PM EMERSON STRING QUARTET GUEST CELLIST DAVID FINCKEL BUY TICKETS DAVID FINCKEL, CELLO “His playing has great warmth and expressiveness coupled with a noble, aristocratic restraint.” — Strings Magazine EMERSON STRING QUARTET “With musicians like this there must be some hope for humanity.” — The Times (London) FEATURING ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE BUY TICKETS The venerable ensemble will return to Parlance Chamber Concerts with their erstwhile colleague for a festive reunion performance of Schubert’s cherished Cello Quintet. PROGRAM George Walker Lyric for Strings Program Notes Dmitri Shostakovich String Quartet No. 8 in C minor, Op. 110 Program Notes Samuel Barber Adagio for Strings Program Notes Franz Schubert String Quintet in C, D. 956 Program Notes Watch Michael Parloff’s Lecture about Shostakovich’s 8th String Quartet at Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society:

October 20, 2024: Modigliani Quartet Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) String Quartet in E minor, Op. 59, No. 2 October 20, 2024: Modigliani Quartet Beethoven composed his three Quartets, op. 59, in 1805–06 for the Russian ambassador in Vienna, Count Andreas Kyrilovich Razumovsky. The count was an excellent amateur violinist, who played second violin in his own house string quartet, except when Louis Sina stepped in so he could sit back and listen. His first violinist was the illustrious Ignaz Schuppanzigh, whom Beethoven had known since 1794 and who premiered many of the composer’s works. The three Razumovsky Quartets represent an entirely different world than Beethoven’s six early Quartets, op. 18, published only four years before. In between he had written his never-mailed letter, the heartrending “Heiligenstadt Testament,” which dealt with the anguish of his deafness and solitude, and such innovative new works as the Eroica Symphony, the Appassionata Sonata, and the first version of Fidelio . His radical new style, with its expanded sonata forms, epic themes, complexities, and individualities, met with hostility and derision from early performers and critics. “Perhaps no work of Beethoven’s,” wrote his famed early biographer Alexander Wheelock Thayer, “met a more discouraging reception from musicians than these now famous Quartets.” The first movement of the second Razumovsky Quartet is just as remarkable for its tautness, agitation, and lean-but-dramatic gestures as the first Razumovsky was for its lush expansiveness. In the second Quartet’s first movement the opening idea actually comprises three elements—arresting opening chords, eloquent silence, and a short arpeggiated phrase—all of which Beethoven puts to inspired use in the course of the movement. Particularly memorable are the alternating chords and silences that begin the development and the coda, which itself serves almost as a second development. The very end shows Beethoven’s penchant for repeating a hushed motive—here the arpeggiated phrase—at a loud dynamic level, though he orchestrates a quick fade for a calm conclusion. Apparently Beethoven’s student Carl Czerny reported that the nobly serene slow movement in E major occurred to the master “when contemplating the starry sky and thinking of the music of the spheres.” This kind of contemplation, not surprising from an educated European Romantic, certainly seems plausible as the inspiration for the chorale-like opening, which unfolds into a full, songful sonata form. Toward the end Beethoven again recalls a soft theme loudly when he introduces a strangely accented, harmonically distorted version of the “chorale”—ecstatic passion that dissolves into the sublime. Beethoven’s Allegretto is a scherzo in form, but its syncopated, almost ghostly main theme projects a disquieting rather than joking demeanor. The composer incorporated a Russian theme into each of the first two Razumovsky Quartets, making an audible connection to his patron, though it is uncertain whether the idea and the choice of theme was Beethoven’s or the count’s. Here the Russian theme—a patriotic hymn famously used later by Musorgsky in his opera Boris Godunov —provides jovial contrast in the trio section. Beethoven elaborates the tune to an amazing degree, introducing all manner of contrapuntal devices and an element of parody that together strip the tune of any ceremonial connotations. In order to extend the proportions of the typical scherzo-trio-scherzo he asks for a literal repeat of the trio and second repeat of the scherzo. The Presto finale sweeps the listener away on a wild romp that only occasionally asserts the E minor home key, preferring boisterously, optimistically, and humorously to stress C major. His sonata-rondo main theme with its irresistible galloping rhythm and forward motion came to him after he had already sketched his innovative key scheme. He presents the refrain four times, each time wittily shortening the subject from the previous hearing. Beethoven’s delight in building suspense and laughingly moving on culminates in the final return to the main theme and its even faster conclusion. —©Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

May 15, 2016: James Morris, bass-baritone; Ken Noda, piano WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791) Un bacio di mano. K. 541, Mentre ti lascio, o figlia, K. 513 May 15, 2016: James Morris, bass-baritone; Ken Noda, piano Mozart frequently composed separate arias on short notice, not only as additions or substitutions for existing operas, but for formal occasions involving a patron, for benefit concerts being given by one of his favorite singers, or simply for private occasions with friends. He composed “Un bacio di mano” (A kiss on the hand) in May 1788 for Francesco Albertarelli, who on May 7 had sung the title role in the first Viennese performance of Don Giovanni and who was particularly known for his stylish performances of comic roles. Mozart contributed this aria for him to sing as the buffo character Monsieur Girò in the Viennese version of Pasquale Anfossi’s comic opera Le gelosie fortunate (Jealousy rewarded), which opened the following month on June 2. Tradition has it that Lorenzo da Ponte—Mozart’s librettist not only for Don Giovanni but Le nozze di Figaro and Cosí fan tutte—adapted Filippo Livigni’s libretto for the Viennese stage, though no proof has surfaced. The replacement of Girò’s aria “Del gran mondo” with “Un bacio di mano” shows just the kind of ironic touches for which da Ponte was known. The worldly Frenchman Girò gives witty courtship advice to the naive, enraged Don Pompeo, who has caught him kissing a lady’s hand. Brief, lively, and masterfully theatrical, this aria has become especially noteworthy for the theme that appears at “Voi siete in po’ tondo” (You’re a little dull), which Mozart famously recycled three months later in the first movement of his Jupiter Symphony. * * * * * During initial work on Don Giovanni, Mozart composed “Mentre ti lascio, o figlia” (As I leave you, o daughter) on March 23, 1787, for one of his closest friends in Vienna, Gottfied von Jacquin, a good amateur bass. Jacquin’s musical skills were so highly regarded, in fact, that for a time it was believed that he was the composer of some of five vocal Notturni (short ensemble love songs) that Mozart had written for him. Mozart took the text for “Mentre ti lascio” from Sant’Angiolo-Morbilli’s libretto for Paisiello’s 1777 opera La disfatta di Dario (The defeat of Darius), about Alexander the Great’s conquest of King Darius of Persia. The grieving Darius bids a heartrending farewell to his daughter, which Mozart depicts with phrases of tender mourning and a faster section that mounts in great agitation, all colored by a rich, imaginative accompaniment (originally for orchestra). © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

SUNDAY, MARCH 6, 2016 AT 3 PM Escher String Quartet BUY TICKETS ESCHER STRING QUARTET “The Escher players seemed to make time stand still, effortlessly distilling the essence of this introspective music with expressive warmth and a natural confiding intimacy.” — Chicago Classical Review FEATURING ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE BUY TICKETS The Escher String Quartet is one of the fastest-rising young chamber ensembles. Championed by the Emerson Quartet, the Escher Quartet is one of the few ensembles to be awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant. Within months of its inception in 2005, the Escher Quartet was invited by both Pinchas Zukerman and Itzhak Perlman to be Quartet in Residence at each artist’s summer festival. Today the quartet is in demand worldwide and serves as Artists of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. The Escher Quartet takes its name from the Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher. The quartet members were inspired by Escher’s method of intricate interplay between individual components to form a cohesive whole. PROGRAM Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Quartet in D, K. 575 (Prussian No. 1) Program Notes Leoš Janáček Quartet No. 1 (Kreutzer Sonata) Program Notes Franz Schubert Quartet No. 14 in D minor, D. 810 (Death and the Maiden ) Program Notes Escher String Quartet - Beethoven Quartet in A minor, Op. 132, Mvt 2 (CMS) Escher String Quartet - Shostakovich Quartet No. 8, Mvt. 2 (CMS)

CHEE-YUN, VIOLIN Chee-Yun has performed with many of the world's foremost orchestras and conductors. Orchestral highlights include her tours of the United States with the San Francisco Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas and Japan with the NHK Symphony, a concert with the Seoul Philharmonic conducted by Myung-Whun Chung that was broadcast on national television, and a benefit for UNESCO with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Avery Fisher Hall. Chee-Yun has performed with such distinguished conductors as Michael Tilson Thomas, Jaap van Zweden, Manfred Honeck, Hans Graf, James DePriest, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Krzysztof Penderecki, Neeme Järvi, Pinchas Zukerman, Giancarlo Guerrero, José Luis Gomez, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, and Carlos Kalmar. She has appeared with the Toronto, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Atlanta, and National symphony orchestras, as well as with the Saint Paul and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestras. Other orchestral engagements include performances with the Orquesta Sinfonia Nacional and the Mobile and Pasadena Symphonies, in addition to appearances with the National Philharmonic, Colorado and Pacific Symphonies, and the Tucson, Detroit, and Pensacola symphony orchestras. A champion of contemporary music, Chee-Yun has performed Christopher Theofanidis’ Violin Concerto conducted by David Alan Miller as part of the Albany Symphony's American Festival, in addition to performing Kevin Puts’ Violin Concerto with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. As a recitalist, Chee-Yun has performed in many major U.S. cities, including New York, Chicago, Washington, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Atlanta. Career highlights include appearances at the Kennedy Center's "Salute to Slava" gala honoring Mstislav Rostropovich and with the Mostly Mozart Festival on tour in Japan, as well as a performance with Michael Tilson Thomas in the inaugural season of Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall and the U.S. premiere of Penderecki’s Sonata No. 2 with pianist Barry Douglas. In 2016, Chee-Yun performed as a guest artist for the Secretary General at the United Nations in celebration of Korea's National Foundation Day and the 25th anniversary of South Korea joining the UN. Other career highlights include recitals in St. Paul, Buffalo, Omaha, Scottsdale, and Washington, D.C., duo recitals with cellist Alisa Weilerstein, a recital tour with pianist Alessio Bax, and a performance at American Ballet Theatre's fall gala. Firmly committed to chamber music, Chee-Yun has toured with Music from Marlboro and appears frequently with Spoleto USA, a project she has been associated with since its inception. Additional chamber music appearances include performances at the Ravinia, Aspen, Bravo! Vail Valley, La Jolla, Caramoor, Green Music, Santa Fe, Orcas Island, Hawaii Performing Arts, and Bridgehampton festivals in the U.S.; the Great Mountains Music Festival in South Korea; the Clandeboye Festival with Camerata Ireland in Northern Ireland; the Opera Theatre and Music Festival in Lucca, Italy; the Colmar Festival in France; the Beethoven and Penderecki festivals in Poland; and the Kirishima Festival in Japan. Chee-Yun has received exceptional acclaim as a recording artist since the release of her debut album of virtuoso encore pieces in 1993. Her recent recording of the Penderecki Violin Concerto No. 2 on Naxos was acclaimed as "an engrossing, masterly performance" (The Strad) and "a performance of staggering virtuosity and musicality" (American Record Guide). Her releases on the Denon label include Mendelssohn's E-minor Violin Concerto, Vieuxtemps' Violin Concerto No. 5, Lalo's Symphonie Espagnole and Saint-Saëns' Violin Concerto No. 3 with the London Philharmonic under the direction of Maestro Lopez-Cobos, and violin sonatas from Debussy, Fauré, Franck, Saint-Saëns, Szymanowski, Brahms and Strauss. Two compilation discs, Vocalise d'amour and The Very Best of Chee-Yun, feature highlights of Chee-Yun's earlier recordings. In 2007, Chee-Yun recorded the Beethoven Triple Concerto with Camerata Ireland, pianist Barry Douglas, and cellist Andrés Diaz for Satirino Records. In 2008, Decca/Korea released Serenata Notturno, an album of light classics that went platinum within six months of its release. Chee-Yun has performed frequently on National Public Radio's Performance Today and on WQXR and WNYC radio in New York City. She has been featured on KTV,a children's program on the cable network CNBC, A Prairie Home Companion, Public Radio International, and numerous syndicated and local radio programs across the world. She has appeared on PBS as a special guest on Victor Borge's Then and Now 3, in a live broadcast at Atlanta’s Spivey Hall concurrent with the Olympic Games, and on ESPN performing the theme for the X Games. In 2009, she also appeared in an episode of HBO's hit series Curb Your Enthusiasm. A short documentary film about Chee-Yun, “Chee-Yun: Seasons on the Road,” premiered in 2017 and is available on YouTube. Chee-Yun's first public performance at age eight took place in her native Seoul after she won the Grand Prize of the Korean Times Competition. At 13, she came to the United States and was invited to perform Vieuxtemps’ Concerto No. 5 in a Young People's Concert with the New York Philharmonic. Two years later, she appeared as soloist with the New York String Orchestra under Alexander Schneider at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. In 1989, she won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, and a year later she became the recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant. In Korea, Chee-Yun studied with Nam Yun Kim. In the United States, she has worked with Dorothy DeLay, Hyo Kang, Daniel Phillips, and Felix Galimir (chamber music) at The Juilliard School. In addition to her active performance and recording schedule, Chee-Yun is a dedicated and enthusiastic educator. She gives master classes around the world and has held several teaching posts at notable music schools and universities. Her past faculty positions have included serving as the resident Starling Soloist and Adjunct Professor of Violin at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and as Visiting Professor of Music (Violin) at the Indiana University School of Music. From 2007 to 2017, she served as Artist-in-Residence and Professor of Violin at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

2014-2015 SEASON 2014-2015 SEASON Artist Roster Parlance Program Notes LOCATION At West Side Presbyterian Church 6 South Monroe Street Ridgewood, NJ 07450 For map and directions, click here . CONCERT AMENITIES Whee lchair Accessible Fr e e Parking for all concerts

November 19, 2017: Los Angeles Guitar Quartet Juan Arañéz (died c. 1649) Chacona (“La Vida Bona”) November 19, 2017: Los Angeles Guitar Quartet Jácaras – Anonymous (17th century) El Villano – Antonio Martín y Coll Diferéncias Sobre Las Folias – Antonio Martín y Coll Chacona (“La Vida Bona”) – Juan Arañéz Oy Comamos – Juan de Encina In March 2009, LAGQ debuted the theatrical production “The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote” with British actor/comedian John Cleese. Interweaving tales from the classic novel with arrangements of pieces that Cervantes could have heard in his lifetime, it melded music and storytelling. Tonight’s recital includes selections from this production. Jácaras is an anonymous canción (“No hay que decir primor”) from the 17th century. With raucous strumming and castanets imitating horses’ hooves, it accompanies Don Quixote’s departure from his farm to become an adventuring knight. El Villano (“The Rustic”) is a country dance from the anthology “Flores de Música” collected by Antonio Martín y Coll. It introduces Sancho Panza, Quixote’s trusty squire. Diferéncias Sobre Las Folias is a set of variations contrasting on the famous harmonic progression, Folias de Espana. It tells of the famous argument between knight and squire, and of their reconciliation. Chacona (“La Vida Bona”), from the Libro Segunda de Tonos y Villancicos (1624) by Juan Arañes, is one of the most celebrated early examples of the form. The chacona, which by Bach’s time had become one of the most noble and profound of all dance forms, was a suggestive and prohibited danza in 1500s Spain, almost their version of our macarena. It features the lines, “here’s to the good life, good little life: let’s do the Chacona”). Oy comamos y bebamos is a four-voice villancico from the Cancionero Palacio, written by Juan de Encina. The opening stanza is “Hoy comamos y bebamos, y cantemos y holguemos, que mañana ayunaremos” (Today we eat and drink, and sing and make merry, for tomorrow we must fast”). It serves as a fitting epilogue for Don Quixote’s quixotic character. Return to Parlance Program Notes

March 19, 2023 – Rachel Naomi Kudo, piano JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750) Italian Concerto, BWV 971 March 19, 2023 – Rachel Naomi Kudo, piano A master organizer, Bach planned a monumental keyboard series, which he began publishing in installments in 1731 under the unassuming title Clavier-Übung (Keyboard Exercise). This evening’s Italian Concerto holds an important place in this series of “exercises,” which in fact represents the pinnacle of his art and thus an incomparable peak in the whole of music. The first volume contains his six keyboard partitas; the second (1735), a remarkable pair—the Concerto after the Italian Taste and Ouverture in the French Manner, as Bach called them—representing the two leading national styles and the two main orchestral genres of the day; the third (1739), the organ chorales, the Prelude and Fugue in E-flat major, and the four Duettos; and the fourth (1741), the Goldberg Variations. The Art of Fugue might have constituted Book V, had he lived to see it published. Bach made a careful study of any style he sought to emulate. Not only had he transcribed a number of early concertos by Vivaldi and Marcello as keyboard concertos, but as director of the Leipzig Collegium Musicum he had come to know Vivaldi’s later concertos, as well as further examples by younger German contemporaries writing in the now well-established three-movement format. What is remarkable in Bach’s Italian Concerto is that, though he writes to the “Italian taste,” he makes his own masterful reinterpretation, thus it might better be thought of as the “German-Italian Concerto.” Composer and critic Johann Adolphe Scheibe singled out Bach’s Italian Concerto in 1739 as the best of this solo type—that is, not a transcription of an orchestral concerto, but written for one performer encompassing both “solo” and “orchestra” at one keyboard instrument. He went on to hint at Bach’s ingenious mix of styles when he said: “We can certainly defy foreign nations to provide us with such a piece in this form of composition—a piece which deserves emulation by all our great composers and which will be imitated all in vain by foreigners.” Both outer movements follow the customary Italian ritornello form, standardized by Vivaldi, in which periodic returns of thematic material alternate with contrasting episodes. Both movements also bubble along in the vivacious manner long associated with the Italian style, but they also show later developments in their use of four-bar phrases. Of particular interest in this regard is the existence of an earlier version of the first movement, which Bach “pruned” in several place to make more regular four-bar phrases. The lovely slow movement emulates the Vivaldi style that Bach often adopted—a singing, embellished melody line accompanied simply by a steadily pulsing accompaniment. The piece unfolds in two sections, the second beginning with the same accompaniment progression as the first but with a new highly ornamented melody. Bach’s “German-ness” shows in that all of his Italianate embellishments are carefully written out rather than assumed to be improvised as in Italian practice. The infectious vivacity of the last movement contributes enormously to the popularity that the Italian Concerto has always enjoyed. It took the hand of a master to create something so captivating from such uncomplicated harmonies and the simple idea of an ascending scale. Though similar in form and key scheme to the first movement, the finale shows Bach’s later outlook in the more extensive recall of episodic material. As the movement barrels irrepressibly to its conclusion, one can imagine Bach himself reveling in playing this work, which, as he states on the volume’s title page, was “Composed for Music Lovers, for the Mind’s Delight.” © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

September 27, 2009 – Lawrence Dutton, viola; Ken Noda, piano JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833-1897) Sonata in E-Flat, Op. 120, for viola and piano September 27, 2009 – Lawrence Dutton, viola; Ken Noda, piano The warm, middle-range sonorities of the viola and the clarinet cast the two instruments as natural musical allies. Both instruments are, by nature, warm and consoling. The viola was the favored chamber instrument of Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert, and the clarinet inspired late masterworks by composers as diverse as Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, and Bartók. There is a spiritual link between the two instruments, which Schumann exploited in Fairy Tales (heard earlier on this program). Brahms’ Sonata in E-Flat was originally composed for the clarinet, but he soon decided to arrange it for the viola, feeling that the work’s glowing, reflective character would be equally well-served by the rich-toned string instrument. In 1890 Brahms was entering his late 50s and felt that his composing days were coming to an end. Ever self-critical, he intended to complete a few unfinished works and burn the rest. Fortunately, he attended a performance around that time by the distinguished German clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld and was inspired to compose a series of crowning works to showcase his artistry. (Mozart was similarly inspired by the playing of the legendary Anton Stadler, to whom he dedicated a set of late masterpieces, including his great clarinet concerto, composed only weeks before his death.) Brahms’ E-flat-major sonata, heard here on the viola, is the final piece in the set of compositions that he wrote for Mühlfeld and his last piece of chamber music. Brahms found his unique compositional voice early in his career and maintained it until the end. Unlike Schumann, who favored poetic titles for his pieces, Brahms eschewed programmatic references, preferring to write “pure” music in traditional forms. In contrast to revolutionaries such as Wagner and Lizst, Brahms was, at heart, a Romantic Classicist, keenly aware of his place in the lineage of music history. As he grew older, his music became texturally simpler and more graceful, reflective, and relaxed. “Autumnal” is the term invariably applied to his late works, and that adjective perfectly describes the atmosphere of the sonata in E-flat major for viola or clarinet. The first movement is bathed in a warm, sustained lyricism. The atmosphere is pastoral, tranquil, and suffused with a golden inner glow. Brahms’ musical voice is wise and consoling throughout this exceptionally beautiful movement. The passionate second movement, in the form of a vigorous Scherzo, begins with a fiery viola solo. A reassuring, chorale-like middle section starts with the piano alone in music of sustained nobility and confidence. The trio is followed by a short transition, heralding a return to the urgency and passion of the first section. The final movement starts with a flowing, folk-like theme, which is followed by six variations. Brahms was always fascinated by the element of rhythm, and he uses complicated syncopated patterns as important structural components in several of the variations. In the first one, for instance, the piano and viola play on opposite sides of each pulse, alternating in playing on and off the beat. The second variation has a cradle-like motion; the simple melody is accompanied by an arpeggiated pattern that teeters back and forth across the octaves. Variation 3 is a calm, filigreed conversation between the two instruments, and the fourth variation extends the tranquil atmosphere in a gentle but rhythmically off-balance dialogue that often masks the downbeats. Variation 5 insistently reestablishes the rhythmic equilibrium, diving headlong into a vigorous, E-flat-minor allegro. The sixth and final variation begins with a serenely flowing stream of melody that gradually gains in momentum, culminating in a strong, triumphant conclusion. By Michael Parloff Return to Parlance Program Notes

KEVIN ZHU, VIOLIN American violinist Kevin Zhu has emerged as one of the most compelling artists of his generation. A musician of brilliant technical command and uncommon narrative instinct, Zhu brings to the stage a rare synthesis of spontaneity, discipline, and expressive depth. His playing has been praised for its “infinite delicacy” and “wild intensity” by RTBF Belgium, while L’ape musicale noted his “absolute virtuosity, almost blinding in its purity.” Beyond the brilliance, critics have recognized a depth of soul and character that distinguishes his interpretations. The 2026/27 season marks a significant expansion of Zhu’s international profile, with major concerto appearances in North America, Europe, and Asia. Highlights include his debut with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1, his Hong Kong Philharmonic debut in Brahms’ Violin Concerto, and further collaboration with the Prague Philharmonia. His recital season includes appearances at Artis—Naples and the Dresdner Musikfestspiele, as well as further performances worldwide. Zhu also continues his collaboration with French composer Hugues Reiner, following the 2025 world premiere of Reiner’s first violin concerto in Paris. Recent seasons have shown Zhu’s striking range as a storyteller. In 2025/26, he appeared with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra in Bernstein’s Serenade (after Plato’s “Symposium”), performed Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with the China National Symphony Orchestra in Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts, and Waxman’s Carmen Fantasie with the Sofia Philharmonic in Bulgaria. He also brought Paganini’s complete 24 Caprices on tour in South Korea. In June 2025, Zhu returned to the Dresdner Musikfestspiele for Dvořák’s Violin Concerto with the Prague Philharmonia and Emmanuel Villaume at Dresden’s Frauenkirche. The performance drew exceptional notice in the German press: Sächsische Zeitung wrote that Zhu devoured the work with “musical appetite,” reveled in its folkloric character, and handled its most difficult passages with “dreamlike confidence;” Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten described him as “simply brilliant,” while also emphasizing his sensitivity to the concerto’s hidden inner life. The performance followed Zhu’s earlier Dresden appearance with Paganini’s 24 Caprices, further deepening his connection to one of Europe’s most important festival cities. Zhu first gained worldwide attention at age 11, taking First Prize at the 2012 Yehudi Menuhin Competition in Beijing. Six years later, age 17, he won First Prize at the 55th Paganini Competition in Genoa, Italy. He is also a recipient of the 2021 Avery Fisher Grant, and has received further recognition from Salon de Virtuosi and the Queen Elisabeth Competition. The Paganini lineage remains a defining thread in Zhu’s artistic life. He has performed on Paganini’s own violin, the legendary “Il Cannone” Guarneri ‘del Gesù’, and his performances of the complete 24 Caprices have become an evolving artistic project, revealing a performer as interested in character and narrative as in technical conquest. Zhu’s career has taken him to renowned halls and festivals across the globe, including Konzerthaus Berlin, London’s Royal Festival Hall, the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, the Esplanade Concert Hall in Singapore, Bozar Brussels, The Kennedy Center, and the Auditorio Nacional in Madrid. He has appeared with orchestras including the Dresdner Festspielorchester, Prague Philharmonia, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Belgian National Orchestra; the China Philharmonic and NCPA, National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Sinfonietta; Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Springs Philharmonic, Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, and the Polska Filharmonia Bałtycka. A committed chamber musician, Zhu has collaborated with artists including violinists Karen Gomyo, Christoph Poppen, Clara-Jumi Kang, Alexander Sitkovetsky, and Kristóf Baráti; violists Lawrence Power and Paul Neubauer; cellists Jan Vogler, Carter Brey, and Santiago Cañón-Valencia; and pianists Louis Lortie and Sunwook Kim, as well as an upcoming collaboration with Haochen Zhang. Kevin Zhu was featured on ABC Eyewitness News, BBC Radio 3, RAI Radio 3, and the Violin Channel. He serves as Culture Ambassador of the Lin Yao Ji Music Foundation of China. He studied with Itzhak Perlman and Li Lin at The Juilliard School. Zhu performs on the c. 1700 “ex-Petri” Antonio Stradivari violin, on loan from the Ryuji Ueno Foundation and Rare Violins In Consortium, Artists and Benefactors Collaborative. He is represented worldwide by Sheldon Artists. https://www.kevinzhuviolin.com/

EMILY DAGGETT SMITH, VIOLIN A violinist praised as playing “gorgeously” and with “gracefulness and easy rapport” (The Boston Globe) Emily Daggett Smith is emerging as one of the most compelling artists of her generation. Her recital and chamber music performances have taken her across the United States, Europe, South America and Asia, and she has been described as playing with a “very beautiful tone” (The Gathering Note) and “irrepressible élan” (The Seattle Times). An avid chamber musician, Ms. Smith performs regularly at numerous festivals and series around the country such as the Concordia Chamber Ensemble, Festival Mozaic, Lenape Chamber Ensemble, Mainly Mozart Festival, Ravinia’s Steans Institute, and the Seattle Chamber Music Society. She has shared the stage with many renowned musicians including current and former members of the Cleveland, Emerson and Juilliard String Quartets, as well as pianists Claude Frank, Joseph Kalichstein, and Gilbert Kalish. Her performances have taken place at some of the world’s greatest halls including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Shanghai Grand Theatre and the Vienna Konzerthaus, and have been featured on PBS’s national broadcast Live from Lincoln Center, NPR’s From the Top, Classical King FM in Seattle and WWFM The Classical Network in New York and Pennsylvania. As a soloist, Ms. Smith made her New York concerto debut at the age of 21 in Alice Tully Hall, playing the Beethoven Violin Concerto with the Juilliard Orchestra and conductor Emmanuel Villaume. Since then she has performed concerti with many orchestras including Iris Orchestra, Festival Mozaic Orchestra, New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra, and the New York Classical Players. Growing up in the Boston area, she has also appeared as soloist with various orchestras in New England including a performance at the Hatch Shell in Boston as part of the Landmark Orchestra Series. As a concertmaster of the Juilliard Orchestra she has worked with many renowned conductors including Michael Tilson-Thomas, Leonard Slatkin and Nicholas McGegan.