Carter Chamber Music Series at ESU to Present Musicians of The New York Philharmonic, Sunday, October 6

The second concert of East Stroudsburg University’s Carter Chamber Music Series will feature a hallmark of the series, Musicians of the New York Philharmonic.

Fiona Simon, violin; Peter Kenote, viola; and Qiang Tu, violoncello will join Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Music Robert Miller, D.M.A., piano, for the performance.

The Sonata for Viola and Piano by English composer Rebecca Clarke, a key work of the standard viola repertoire, will be featured on the program.  Clarke, one of the first professional female musicians in Britain, was influenced by the impressionism of Debussy and Ravel in her works.

Johannes Brahms’ Piano Quartet in C minor, Op. 60, a masterwork of chamber music, and Antonin Dvorak’s noted ‘Dumky’ Trio in E minor, for Piano, Violin and Violoncello also will be included in the concert.

Curtain time for the concert is 2 p.m. October 6 at the Cecilia S. Cohen Recital Hall of East Stroudsburg University’s Fine and Performing Arts Center, Normal and Marguerite Streets, East Stroudsburg.

General admission to the concert is $25; $10 for students 18 and under; and $8 for ESU students with current ID. Reservations, which are held until five minutes before the concert, are available by calling 570-422-3483, option 2. Some tickets also will be available at the door.

Fiona Simon, a member of the Philharmonic since 1985, made her Philharmonic solo debut in November 1989 performing Vivaldi’s Concerto for Three Violins. She began her career in her native England where she studied with Szymon Goldberg and won major prizes in the Carl Flesch and Jacques Thibaud competitions. For three consecutive years, she was London’s Young Artist of the Year. 

Simon has performed with the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, the Royal Opera at Covent Garden, and the English Chamber Orchestra among others. She has also been featured in many recitals and concerts broadcast over the BBC, and has made numerous appearances throughout Europe. She is a member of the Arioso Trio, the Vanderspar String Trio, and the Simon String Quartet.

Peter Kenote was born in Seattle, Wash. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Washington, and his master’s and doctorate degrees in music performance from The Juilliard School. Since 1983 he has been a member of the New York Philharmonic viola section.

In February, 2008 he performed Berio’s Sequenza VI for solo viola at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater as part of the New York Philharmonic’s Day of Berio. In the 2009–10 season he played the premieres of a new viola concerto with the South Dakota Symphony written for him by composer Neal Harnly, and Moto Perpetuo, a new work for viola and percussion ensemble by Braxton Blake.

Since arriving in the United States in 1987, Chinese-born cellist Qiang Tu has established himself as a multifaceted artist much in demand. He won the San Angelo, Texas, Symphony Young Artist Competition in 1987, and the Grand Prize in the Downey Symphony Young Artist Competition of Los Angeles the following year. In 1994, he served as Principal Cellist of the Princeton Chamber Symphony. Tu joined the New York Philharmonic in November 1995.

After making his solo debut at age 13 in Beijing, Tu began a two-year engagement as soloist with one of China’s major symphony orchestras. At age 17, he was awarded England’s Menuhin Prize as a member of the China Youth String Quartet, and was later selected by the Chinese government to study in the Sydney Conservatory. The culmination of his Australian tenure came when he won Sydney’s Parlings Award for Music.

Returning to Beijing, he was appointed, at age 20, Associate Professor of Cello at the Central Conservatory. Concurrently, he became Principal Cellist of the China Youth Symphony and concertized with the orchestra in Switzerland, West Germany, France, Belgium, Italy, and Great Britain.  His solo album, Meditation, was distributed by the China Record Company.

In the United States, Tu has appeared in Chicago, St. Louis, New York, and other major cities. Early on, he gave a solo recital to benefit the Princeton Chamber Symphony and also performed the Dvořák Cello Concerto with the Greater Princeton Symphony. Additional performances included the Elgar and Walton cello concertos with the Princeton Chamber Symphony. He also performed in recital with pianist Helen Huang to benefit the New Jersey Chinese community.

Tu has performed at chamber music festivals in Maine, played cello works and chamber music in Korea, and has appeared with Lukas Foss in chamber works at Weill Recital Hall and at the Stephanie H. Weill Center for the Performing Arts in Wisconsin. Tu has performed on a live broadcast on WNYC, and appears frequently with the New York Philharmonic Ensembles chamber music series at Merkin Concert Hall.

Tu earned his Bachelor of Arts from China’s Central Conservatory.  In 1990, he received his master’s degree from Rutgers University, where he studied with Bernard Greenhouse. Other past teachers include Zara Nelsova, Geoffrey Rutkowski, Lois Simpson, Paul Tortelier, and Zeguang Tu.

Robert Miller, the artistic director of the series, earned a bachelor of music degree from the University of Michigan and master’s and doctoral degrees from the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University.  A former faculty member of the Interlochen Center for the Arts, where he was Van Cliburn’s rehearsal pianist, Miller has made numerous solo, chamber, and concerto appearances throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.

Miller has appeared numerous times as Guest Artist with the New York Philharmonic Ensembles in their subscription series at Merkin Hall. As winner of the F. Lammot Belin Arts Scholarship, he performed a solo recital at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and at the Salle Cortot in Paris. He recently appeared in a solo recital at the Sydney Opera House.

Miller has also collaborated in chamber music performances with musicians from numerous orchestras including the Chicago Symphony, the Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. He has recorded for National Public Radio, Canadian Broadcasting Corp., Educo Records and Media Rite Productions. “I came to the U.S. in 2003 when I was 23. Being accepted into the Philharmonic was a life-changing moment for me.”

The Carter Chamber Series was established to bring professional chamber music to East Stroudsburg University and to the surrounding communities. The series is named, in part, for Elliott Carter, a 20^th century composer. The series has been established through the generous support of individual donors and a small grant from the East Stroudsburg University Foundation.

For ticket reservations or more information, please call the Fine and Performing Arts Events Line at 570-422-3483, option 2.

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