January 12 – Mihae Lee’s 10th Anniversary Concert

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2020 Season sponsored by Masonicare at Chester Village

Concert Co-sponsored by Jeffrey N. Mehler, CFP^® LLC , Essex Meadows, and Friends of Mihae Lee’s 10th Anniversary

Where and When:

Valley Regional High School
256 Kelsey Hill Road, Deep River, CT
Click here to view in Google Maps

Sunday, January 12
Concert begins at 3:00 pm; doors open at 2:00 pm

Concert Program:

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR MIHAE LEE’S 10TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT

Ani Kavafian, violin
Mihae Lee, piano

Plus, past Emerging Artists

Yoobin Son, flute (2012)
Romie de Guise-Langlois, clarinet (2013)
Adrian Morejon, bassoon (2012)
Katie Hyun, violin (2011 & 2018)
Edson Scheid, violin (2018)
Keiko Tokunaga, violin (2015)
Andy Lin, viola (2011)
Joann Whang, cello (2017)
Luke Fleming, viola (2015)
Mihai Marica, cello (2011)
Joe Magar, double bass (2018)

Appalachian Spring, Suite for 13 Instruments (1944)    Aaron Copland (1900-1990)

Piano Quintet in A Major, D. 667                                   Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
(Trout)

Artist Biographies:

Mihae Lee, piano and Artistic Director

Praised by The Boston Globe as “simply dazzling,” Artistic Director and pianist Mihae Lee has been captivating audiences throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia in solo recitals and chamber music concerts with her poetic lyricism and scintillating virtuosity. She has performed in such venues as Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Jordan Hall, Berlin Philharmonie, Academia Nationale de Santa Cecilia in Rome, Warsaw National Philharmonic Hall, and Taipei National Hall. An active chamber musician, Ms. Lee is a founding member of the Triton Horn Trio with violinist Ani Kavafian and French hornist William Purvis and was an artist member of the Boston Chamber Music Society for three decades. Her recordings of Brahms, Shostakovich, Bartok, and Stravinsky with the members of BCMS were critically acclaimed by High Fidelity, CD Review, and Fanfare magazines, the reviews calling her sound “as warm as Rubinstein, yet virile as Toscanini.” Ms. Lee has appeared frequently at numerous international chamber music festivals including Dubrovnik, Amsterdam, Groningen, Festicamara (Colombia), Great Woods, Seattle, OK Mozart, Mainly Mozart, Music from Angel Fire, Chamber Music Northwest, Rockport, Sebago-Long Lake, Bard, Norfolk, Mostly Music, Music Mountain, Monadnock, and Chestnut Hill Concerts. In addition to many years of performing regularly at Bargemusic in New York, she has been a guest artist with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and Speculum Musicae; has collaborated with the Tokyo, Muir, Cassatt, and Manhattan string quartets; and has premiered and recorded works by such composers as Gunther Schuller, Ned Rorem, Paul Lansky, Henri Lazarof, Michael Daugherty, and Ezra Laderman. In addition to her concert career, Ms. Lee maintains her commitment to give back to her community and help many worthy charities. At the invitation of the Prime Minister and the First Lady of Jamaica, for many years she has organized and performed in concerts in Kingston and Montego Bay to benefit the Jamaica Early Childhood Development Foundation. She also brought world-class musicians, both classical and jazz, to perform in fund-raising concerts for the Hastings Education Foundation in Westchester County, and launched an annual Gala Concert for the Community Health Clinic of Butler County, a free health clinic outside of Pittsburgh. Born in Seoul, Korea, Ms. Lee made her professional debut at the age of fourteen with the Korean National Orchestra after becoming the youngest grand prizewinner at the prestigious National Competition held by the President of Korea. In the same year, she came to the United States on a scholarship from The Juilliard School Pre-College, and subsequently won many further awards including First Prize at the Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Competition, the Juilliard Concerto Competition, and the New England Conservatory Concerto Competition. Ms. Lee received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Juilliard School and her artist diploma from the New England Conservatory, studying with Martin Canin and Russell Sherman. She has released compact discs on the Bridge, Etcetera, EDI, Northeastern, and BCMS labels, and is currently Music Director of the Sebago-Long Lake Music Festival in Maine.

Ani Kavafian, violin

Violinist Ani Kavafian enjoys a prolific career as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. She has performed with virtually all of America’s leading orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, and many others. She is a renowned chamber musician, and has performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since 1979. Her numerous solo recital engagements include performances at New York’s Carnegie and Alice Tully halls, as well as in major venues across the country.

Ani Kavafian continues her association as an artist member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center with a number of appearances in NYC and around the United States. She also serves as concertmistress of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, with whom she has recorded the Mozart Violin Concertos. She has participated in the Heifetz International Music Institute, Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, Norfok Chamber Music Festival, Great Lakes Festival, the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, and Music from Angel Fire Festival.

Kavafian appears frequently with her sister, violinist and violist Ida Kavafian. Together they have performed with the symphonies of Detroit, Colorado, Tucson, San Antonio, and Cincinnati, and have recorded the music of Mozart and Sarasate on the Nonesuch label. They celebrated the 25th anniversary of their first performance together at Carnegie Hall in the fall of 2008 with a concert at Lincoln Center, which featured their students and colleagues. With violist Barbara Westphal and cellist Gustav Rivinius, she is a member of the Trio da Salo, and has teamed with clarinetist David Shifrin and pianist Andre-Michel Schub to form the Kavafian-Schub-Shifrin Trio, with whom she tours frequently as violinist and violist. Along with cellist, Carter Brey, she is co-artistic director of the New Jersey 5 concert chamber music series “Mostly Music.”

Kavafian has premiered and recorded a number of works written for her, including Henri Lazarof’s Divertimento for Violin and String Orchestra with the Seattle Symphony; Tod Machover’s concerto, Forever and Ever, for computerized violin and orchestra, with the Boston Modern; and Michelle Ekizian’s Red Harvest with the Brooklyn Philharmonic. In addition, Kavafian gave the west coast premiere of Aaron Kernis’ Double Concerto for Violin and Guitar, with Sharon Isbin and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Ani Kavafian has received the Avery Fisher Career Grant and the Young Concert Artists International Auditions award, has appeared at the White House on three separate occasions, and has been featured on many network and PBS television music specials. Her recordings can be heard on the Nonesuch, RCA, Columbia, Arabesque, and Delos labels. Kavafian and Kenneth Cooper have recorded Bach’s Six Sonatas for Violin and Fortepiano on Kleos Classics of Helicon Records. A recording of string trios by Mozart and Beethoven by the Trio da Salo has been released, also on Kleos. Mozart Piano and Violin Sonatas with pianist Jorge Federico Osario was recently released by Artek. Born in Istanbul, Turkey of Armenian heritage, Kavafian began piano lessons at the age of three. At age nine, in the United States, she began the study of the violin with Ara Zerounian and eventually with Mischa Mischakoff. She went on to study violin at the Juilliard School with Ivan Galamian, eventually receiving a master’s degree with highest honors. Ms. Kavafian is Professor of Violin at Yale University. She plays the 1736 Muir McKenzie Stradivarius violin.

Click here for all Emerging Artist biographies.