Musicians of The New York Philharmonic at Carter Chamber Music Series

For the final concert of its nineteenth season, the ESU Carter Chamber Music Series will feature two of the masterworks of the chamber music repertoire at the Sunday, April 29 program.

Johannes Brahms’ Piano Quintet in F Minor is a demanding work that contains some of the composer’s most beautiful and profound writing. Antonin Dvorak’s Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 87 is bold and brooding, frequently achieving dramatic intensity through forays into minor keys.

The third piece on the program, Piano Quartet in A minor by Gustav Mahler, is the only known extant chamber music piece by the composer. 

Four members of the New York Philharmonic’s acclaimed string section will be featured at the concert: Fiona Simon, violin; Na Sun, violin, one of the Philharmonic’s exciting young string players who will be making her debut with the Carter Series; Peter Kenote, viola; and Qiang Tu, cello. The concert also will feature Robert Miller, piano, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Music at ESU and artistic director of the series.

Curtain time for the concert is 2 p.m. Sunday April 29 at the Cecilia S. Cohen Recital Hall of  East Stroudsburg University’s Fine and Performing Arts Center, Normal and Marguerite streets, East Stroudsburg.  There will be a small reception with the performers after the concert.

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, x. 2.  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.

Violinist Na Sun joined the New York Philharmonic in June 2006. A native of China, she began playing the violin at age seven, and at nine, was accepted into the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing.  After attending the conservatory’s elementary, middle, and high schools, she received her bachelor of arts degree there with highest honors, studying with Yao-ji Lin, and was the winner of the conservatory violin competition.  She received her artist diploma from Boston University’s College of Fine Arts in 2005, studying with Roman Totenberg, and was the grand prize winner of the university’s Bach competition.

Sun, who has performed in numerous recital and chamber music concerts since arriving in the U.S. in 2003, was a fellow with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra in 2005, and served as concertmaster in a program led by James Levine.  She attended the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival inBlue Hill,Maine, and the National Orchestra Institute inMaryland, both on full scholarship.

Sun has performed with the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra and was a member of the Icelandic National Opera Orchestra. Previously, she was concertmaster of the China Youth Symphony Orchestra; principal of the second violin section at the Central Conservatory Chamber Orchestra; and was the soloist in Brahms’s Violin Concerto with the Xiamen Symphony Orchestra inChina, conducted by Michael Feldman.

Peter Kenote was born in Seattle, Washington. 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 theSan 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 inBeijing, Tu began a two-year engagement as soloist with one ofChina’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 inMaine, played cello works and chamber music inKorea, 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 fromChina’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 is artistic director of the Carter Chamber Music Series.  He 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, andAustralia.

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 inParis.  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.

 In November, 2010, Miller, along with other distinguished artists such as Glenn Dicterow, concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic, appeared as concerto soloist in the Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 with the Montclair Chamber Orchestra at Montclair State University in New Jersey.

At ESU, Miller gave the first performance ever (1979) in the Recital Hall of the Fine and Performing Arts Center, a gala event for the dedication of the building.  Attendees included dignitaries of the State System of Higher Education as well as important Pennsylvania legislators.

Along with cellist Kermit Moore, he performed the dedication recital (early 1980s) when the Recital Hall was named the Cecilia S. Cohen Recital Hall.  Hired as a concert pianist and teacher, he has given over 30 years of performances at ESU and has maintained a critically acclaimed international performing career.

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 twentieth-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, x. 2.

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