The Annual NEPACMS Benefit Concert returns to the historic Hayfield House by popular demand! Enjoy an evening of dramatic music for piano trio performed by Timothy Burns (piano), John Michael Vaida (violin), and Theodore Buchholz (cello). A special world-premiere performance of a work for clarinet, violin, viola, and cello, written by Penn State Wilkes-Barre music professor, Jonathan Pineno will also be featured.
Date: FRIDAY, January 10, 2020
Time: 7:00 PM
Place: Hayfield House at Penn State Wilkes-Barre
Program:
Franz Joseph Haydn: Piano Trio in G major, Hob.XV:25, “Gypsy”
Jonathan Pineno: Phoenix Quartet
Paul Schoenfield: Café Music
Antonín Dvořák: Piano Trio No. 4, “Dumky”
Performers:
Timothy Burns, piano; John Michael Vaida, violin; Amy Iwazumi, viola, Theodore Buchholz, cello, Jonathan Pineno, clarinet
Seating is limited, online ticket purchase only!
| Ticket Type | Price | Cart |
|---|---|---|
| Bohemian Winter | $20 |
Proudly co-sponsored by:
One of the most brilliant virtuosi ever to perform on the double bass, James VanDemark was hailed by the New York Times at his Lincoln Center recital debut as “an exceptionally gifted string player and a musician of taste, intelligence and the best spontaneous musical instincts, with an unerring sense for exact intonation.” The San Francisco Chronicle praised his “wonderful facility for making really musical phrases, relaxing, building, shading with unlimited subtleties – and a capacity to dig into whole pages of rip-roaring coloratura and make every note count.”
Born and raised in Bulgaria, Vlada Yaneva moved to New York in 2011 and earned her degrees at the Manhattan School of music. She is the co-founder and piano duo partner of the Masterwork Conversations project where alongside husband Matthew Harrison she presents interactive storytelling concerts. Her solo and chamber music concerts have been heard by audiences in Italy, France, Finland, Bulgaria, Greece, England and the United States. In NYC she has performed at Weill recital at Carnegie hall, Steinway hall, Yamaha hall, Trinity Church, Scandinavian House, St.John the Divine, Barge museum, Bulgarian Consulate and many more.
As a bassoonist, Gina Cuffari performs with many orchestras and chamber ensembles in the New York City area. Gina became a member of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in 2018 as Co-Principal Bassoonist. She is also a member of the Lincoln Center-based Riverside Symphony, and performs with the Westchester Philharmonic, American Composers Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, American Ballet Theater, Stamford Symphony, New Haven Symphony, and American Symphony Orchestra. She has subbed on Broadway productions which include Fiddler on the Roof, Sunset Boulevard, and My Fair Lady. Gina is a member of the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players and Sylvan Winds. She has appeared with the renown west coast-based ensemble Camerata Pacifica, and is a recent addition to the artist roster of the Boston-based Walden Chamber Players. Gina is also a champion of new music, and is a frequent collaborator with Alarm Will Sound. A passionate educator, Gina is an Adjunct Professor of Bassoon at New York University and Western Connecticut State University. Gina is also a versatile singer who enjoys performing in many different styles. From classical to musical theater to jazz/pop/r&b, she loves it all, and has professional experience performing in all genres. In a New York Times review of the Jupiter Chamber Players, Allan Kozinn said, “Gina Cuffari, a soprano (though she is usually the group’s bassoonist), sang them (set of Toscanini songs) with the right balance of gracefulness and passion.” Gina’s current passion project is commissioning composers to write pieces that integrate both voice and bassoon into the same work.
Pianist TIMOTHY BURNS is a versatile performer and collaborator, with significant instrumental, vocal, and choral accompanying experience. He holds degrees in piano performance, music theory pedagogy, and collaborative piano from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA and the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, studying with Carol Schanely-Cahn, David Allen Wehr, and Jean Barr. Currently, Dr. Burns serves as Supervisor of Piano Accompanying at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, where he frequently collaborates with faculty, guest artists, and students.
Theodore Buchholz is the cello professor and head of strings at the University of Arizona. Described by newspaper critics as a “virtuosic cellist” with a “warm beautiful sound,” he recently performed in prominent venues from New York’s Lincoln Center to international halls in Italy and Tokyo, and in important venues across the United States. He toured the recently commissioned concerto The High Songs by Carter Pann, and this season he will perform Brahms’s Double Concerto and Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with orchestras across the U.S. Buchholz is the cellist of the Deco Piano Trio which holds a residency at the White Lakes Chamber Music Festival. Buchholz’s upcoming album, Afterglow, will feature Henry Hadley’s complete works for cello and piano, and will be released by Centaur Records. His recording of the Hans Winterberg Cello Sonata was released under the Toccata label in 2018, and he is a member of True Concord whose CD recording won a 2016 Grammy Award. He performs on an outstanding cello made in 1877 by French luthier Charles Mennégand. As a nationally recognized researcher, Dr. Buchholz served as the Cello Forum Editor for the award-winning journal American String Teacher. During the summers he performs and teaches at the Killington Music Festival in Vermont. Dr. Buchholz studied at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, University of Arizona, and the Manhattan School of Music.
“Full of Herculean power” (Time Out), cellist Miho Weber continues to excite audiences with her thought-provoking performances throughout the USA, Europe, and Asia. In New York, she regularly performs at Bargemusic, Carnegie’s Stern Auditorium, Lincoln Center, Merkin Hall, Symphony Space, and the UN. Miho’s recent projects have included the Glass Farm Ensemble, InterPlay duo, and collaborations with members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in the Memling Ensemble. She has performed with the New England Symphonic Ensemble, Paragon Orchestra, and String Orchestra of New York City throughout the USA as principal cello. Her popular engagements have included a performance with Imagine Dragons on Saturday Night Live and Josh Groban at the US Open.
“This is true talent, a genuine diamond that you so rarely see.”–St. Petersburg Times
Hailed by John Williams as “an outstanding cellist and truly dedicated artist”, Emmanuel Feldman has emerged as one of the most innovative and expressive cellists of his generation. Of his recent CD release on Delos, Our American Roots, Gramophone called Feldman, “an artist who combines communicative urgency with tonal splendor.” Known for intense and soulful playing that explores a broad range of repertoire and styles, he enjoys a multifaceted career as soloist, chamber musician, recording artist, and educator.
Dr. Eun-Joo Kwak is an internationally admired concert artist and educator, whose professional engagements have taken her across Europe, Asia, and North America. A native of South Korea, her career was launched with top prizes in the Samick National Piano Competition (South Korea), Tokyo International Piano Duo Competition (Japan), International Beethoven Sonata Competition (Memphis, TN), and others. Her diverse concert life has included concerto appearances with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Chamber Orchestra, KBS Symphony Orchestra (Seoul), Sun-Hwa Philharmonic Orchestra (Seoul), Racine Symphony Orchestra, Manitowoc Symphony Orchestra, and numerous university orchestras. She has given recitals in significant venues, such the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts (Chicago), World Piano Conference (Novi Sad, Serbia), American Landmark Festival (New York), Taipei National Recital Hall (Taiwan), with several broadcast internationally (WFMT-Chicago, KBS-Seoul, Christian Radio-Taiwan, Wisconsin Public Radio-Madison). An avid chamber musician, she was a member of the international prize-winning Cheng and Kwak Piano Duo, the Clarus Piano Trio, and has performed with members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra, and Minnesota Orchestra. Her professional recordings are available from Northwestern University Press, Vienna Modern Masters label, and the Naxos Music Library.
“Clearly knowing the power of sonority” (Philadelphia Inquirer), the music of Baljinder Sekhon has been presented in over 500 concerts in twenty countries. From works for large ensemble to solo works to electronic music, Sekhon’s demonstrate a wide range of interests and styles. Sekhon’s compositions for saxophone and percussion instruments are widely recognized as pioneering work in those genres with numerous presentations, CD recordings, and guest lecture appearances.
Taiwanese-American Dr. Rong-Huey Liu is one of Southern California’s most active oboists, holding principal positions in Long Beach Symphony, Reno Chamber Orchestra, Fresno Philharmonic, and Riverside County Philharmonic. In high demand as a multi-faceted soloist, Liu has performed concertos of Bach, Corigliano, Daugherty, Ferran, Kalliwoda, Lebrun and Mozart, Navarro, to name a few. As the featured soloist in the world premiere of Saul’s “Kiev 2014: Rhapsody for Oboe and Orchestra”, she garnered critical acclaim for her “sublime playing and crisp performance, filled with quiet perseverance and passion.” Her Lebrun Oboe Concerto performance with Long Beach Symphony earned the review of “Her radiant tone easily filled the cavernous Terrace Theater, and she played with consummate grace and musicality. She put on an awesome technical display in the finale and played with assurance as Lebrun took the instrument way up high and way down low. And in the second movement, a lovely little song that is just cute as a bug’s ear, she was downright charming.” Her festival credits include performances at Ojai Summer Music Festival, Nevada Chamber Music Festival, Southwest International New Music Festival, International Chamber Orchestra of Puerto Rico, and at the Cactus Pear Music Festival her playing was noted by San Antonio critics for “sweetness shaped by a sense of crisp articulation” and for leading a performance of a “razzle-dazzle piece…the audience was thrilled”. As a recording artist, she has recorded on the “Fireflies in the Garden”, “Star Wars VIII”, “Lady Bird”, “Ferdinand”, and on the recording of Chris Botti, the Isley Brothers, and Andrew Bocelli, to name a few.
Appointed Artistic Director of the Olympic Music Festival in 2014 and praised as a musician of “compelling artistry and power” by the Seattle Times, the gifted American pianist Julio Elizalde leads an active career as soloist, chamber musician, artistic administrator, curator, and educator.
Praised as “spectacular” and a “virtuosic tour-de-force” (New York Concert Review) cellist Patrick Jee has earned international acclaim for his bold musicality, rich sound, and passionate performances. He has made appearances at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Kennedy Center, and Wigmore Hall as well as special performances at the United Nations and on CNN, American Morning.
Andrew Wan was named concertmaster of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) in 2008. As soloist, he has performed worldwide under conductors such as Maxim Vengerov, Vasily Petrenko, Bernard Labadie, Carlo Rizzi, Peter Oundjian, Michael Stern and James DePreist and has appeared in recitals with artists such as the Juilliard Quartet, Vadim Repin, Marc-André Hamelin, Daniil Trifonov, Menahem Pressler, Jörg Widmann, Emanuel Ax, James Ehnes, and Gil Shaham.
Rapidly gaining recognition, the New Trio has been garnering enthusiastic reviews all over the country. The Washington Post describes them as “Ravishing,” with a “warm subjectivity, intensity, and consciousness,” and the Seattle Times adds, “Aside from individual virtuosity, there was a welcome flexibility and warmth of expression in everything they did.”
Born in Lisbon, Portugal, Nuno Antunes began his music studies at the C.N.R. of Leiria, at the age of 11, continued his education at ANSO (Lisbon), and earned a MM at the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with David Krakauer. Mr. Antunes’ appearance in competitions has resulted in several prizes, including the R.D.P. Young Musicians Prize and the Portuguese Young Clarinetist Competition.
Prizewinner of the Aleksander Glazunov International Competition (Paris), Dr. Elena Chernova-Davis has enjoyed a career as soloist, chamber musician, and concertmaster in her native Uzbekistan and throughout the United States. After graduating with honors as a full-scholarship student from the Tashkent State Conservatory, she came to the United States to continue her studies with soloist Elmar Oliveira and first violinist of the Vermeer Quartet Shmuel Ashkenasi. She is a recipient of the Irene Alm Memorial Award for excellence in performance and scholarly research and has worked with conductors such as Bernard Haitink, Esa Pekka-Salonen, Gerard Schwarz, Miguel Harth-Bedoya and Jeffrey Tate to name but a few. Collaborating with various New York ensembles including musicians from the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, MET Opera Orchestra, and the New Jersey Symphony, her recent performing venues include Carnegie Hall – Isaac Stern Auditorium, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Le Poisson Rouge, and the New Jersey State Theatre among others. As a passionate and dedicated teacher her philosophy is to guide development and tailor an individual approach to each student that encourages growth, curiosity and motivation. She is currently on the faculty at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University.
Jonathan Weber maintains a versatile musical career in multiple genres as a violinist, violist, conductor and composer. A graduate of the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College (CUNY) and classically trained under violinist Daniel Phillips, Mr. Weber has collaborated in the chamber music field with artists including Daniel Phillips and Timothy Eddy of the Orion String Quartet, Tara Helen O’Connor of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Windscape, oboe virtuosos Ronald Roseman and Randall Wolfgang, and the Bach Aria Group. Mr. Weber has also made solo and ensemble appearances with symphony orchestras both in the United States and abroad. Branching into alternate musical genres such as jazz, hip-hop, country, and rock, Mr. Weber has performed with artists including Billy Joel, Roger Daltrey, Peter Gabriel, Josh Groban, Taylor Swift, Idina Menzel, Sarah McLachlan, Barry Manilow, Johnny Mathis, Tony Bennett, Elvis Costello, Herbie Hancock, Savion Glover, Jay-Z, Beyonce Knowles, Alicia Keys, The Roots, the Trans Siberian Orchestra, and fusion band DBR & The Mission (Opus 3 Artists) for which he has received critical acclaim. As an active New York freelancer, Mr. Weber performs regularly in the Broadway circuit and has also appeared on occasion with jazz band: Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks. CD credits include Billy Joel: Live at Shea Stadium, Jay-Z: Kingdom Come, Albert Hammond Jr.: Como Te Llama, and Boardwalk Empire Volume 3: Music from the HBO series. Mr. Weber has also participated in television and film score collaborations with artists including Ryuichi Sakamoto and Steven Van Zandt. Journeying into the cinematic medium, Mr. Weber has appeared as an on-screen musician in films such as Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus (2006), Sex and the City 2 (2010), Billy Joel: The Last Play at Shea (2010), the HBO Miniseries: “Mildred Pierce” (2011) and Annie (2014). He has also made performance appearances on The Late Show with David Letterman, The Today Show, Good Morning America, Live with Regis and Kelly, The Rachel Ray Show, The View, Christmas: Live at Rockefeller Center”, PBS programs: Great Performances and Soundstage, and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where he made his televised conducting debut in 2014, performing in collaboration with comedian Dana Carvey and The Roots. Mr. Weber currently serves as a faculty member at the Lawrence Eisman Center for Preparatory Studies in Music (CPSM) at Queens College (CUNY), the 92nd Street Y in New York City, and has served on the faculties of the University of Buffalo Summer Strings Workshop, the New York Summer Music Festival in Oneonta, NY, and the Odyssey Chamber Music Festival at the University of Missouri.
Zhi Yi (Emma) Dong, born in Beijing, China P.R.C., currently studies at Wyoming Seminary College Preparatory School in Kingston, PA. Emma has been playing the violin since the age of four. She took part in the Performing Arts Institute at Wyoming Seminary in the summers of 2012, 2013 and 2014. In the summer 2015, she studied and performed for five weeks at the Killington Music Festival. Emma has studied music theory and composition at Wyoming Seminary, and has written a string quartet which was performed at the school last spring. The same quartet was programmed again at the Killlington Music Festival. Emma has studied with Mr. Xiong Da Jiang and Mr. Hai Yu. She currently studies with Mr. John Michael Vaida.
Hailed as an “Exemplary Leader” by the New York Times for leading members of the New York Philharmonic and the Manhattan School of Music in Carnegie Hall, violinist Daniel Andai has shared his versatile artistry as a soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, concertmaster, conductor and recording artist in major concert venues in over 50 countries across five continents, the Middle East, the Caribbean and over 30 United States. He is a prizewinner of national and international competitions and has soloed with orchestras around the world.