Russian Renaissance
Friday, September 27, 2019 at 7:30 p.m.
First United Methodist Church, 516 Kellogg Avenue
"World music with a Russian Soul" ... The four virtuosi of Russian Renaissance captured the music world's attention when they were awarded the $100,000 M-Prize for Chamber Music, performing music of many different genres on authentic folk instruments. Since that triumph in Ann Arbor, they have won the Gold Medal for Chamber Music in the 2019 Vienna International Music Competition, have performed at the Kennedy Center and are scheduled for Lincoln Center's Great Performers series. Their all-embracing repertoire ranges from baroque, romantic, and classical to tango, jazz, and new works written specifically for them. Web site. PROGRAM: J.S. Bach, Rameau, Couperin, Prokofiev, Richard Galliano, Egberto Gismonti, and others
Daniel Hsu, solo piano
Saturday, November 2, 2019 at 7:30 p.m.
Martha-Ellen Tye Recital Hall, Music Hall, Iowa State University Campus
“A poet ... [with] an expressive edge to his playing that charms, questions, and coaxes,” (Philadelphia Inquirer), Daniel Hsu won the Bronze Medal at the 15th Cliburn Competition while still a 19-year-old student at the Curtis Institute. At the same competition, he also received prizes for best performances of chamber music and of the specially commissioned work. Earlier, he was a Gilmore Young Artist, and he was featured in last year's Gilmore Rising Stars Series. In addition to his extraordinary musical achievements, Hsu is an accomplished computer programmer and as a teenager contributed to the creation of the app Workflow, which won the coveted 2015 Apple Design Award. Web site.
Michelle Johnson, soprano ~ Brian Major, baritone ~ Jodi Goble, piano
Thursday, November 21, 2019 at 7:30 p.m.
Martha-Ellen Tye Recital Hall, Music Hall, Iowa State University Campus
Michelle Johnson is a former Grand Prize Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions whose performance repertoire ranges from the operatic heroines of Mozart, Puccini, and Richard Strauss to soloist in Verdi's Requiemand Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Ms. Johnson will share the recital stage with her husband, Brian Major, whose career similarly ranges from operatic leads to oratorio and solo recitalist. They will be joined by Iowa State University's Jodi Goble, known to audiences far beyond Ames as exemplary pianist, accompanist for the Iowa Metropolitan Opera Auditions, vocal coach, and award-winning composer. For more information about the individual artists, see: www.michellejohnsonsoprano.com www.brianmajorbaritone.com. www.jodigoble.com.
The McGill/McHale Trio
Thursday, March 5, 2020 at 7:30 p.m.
Martha-Ellen Tye Recital Hall, Music Hall, Iowa State University Campus
Brothers Anthony and Demarre McGill, each a classical music star in his own right on clarinet and flute, respectively, have joined with Irish pianist Michael McHale to form this unique ensemble. Anthony McGill, principal clarinetist of the New York Philharmonic and formerly principal of the Metropolitan Opera, is also remembered for his performance at the inauguration of Barack Obama with Itzhak Perlman and Yo-Yo Ma. Demarre McGill, recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, currently serves as principal flute of the Seattle Symphony and has been described as today’s “it” flutist. Belfast-born Michael McHale has a very busy international career as soloist and chamber musician. He has been a featured performer with the Minnesota Orchestra, and in such major American venues as Lincoln Center and Tanglewood. Web site.
Cancelled: The Telegraph Quartet and Hui Weng, guzheng (Chinese zither)
Friday, May 1, 2020 at 7:30 p.m.
With regret we announce that this concert has been cancelled. Please read our official statement here.
Martha-Ellen Tye Recital Hall, Music Hall, Iowa State University
World premiere of newly commissioned work by Michael Gordon Shapiro
To celebrate the culmination of our 70th season, theTelegraph Quartet and guzheng virtuoso Hui Weng will give the premiere performance of a new work by Michael Gordon Shapiro. Commissioned by Ames Town & Gown and made possible by a gift from the Durbin-Zheng family of Ames, Shapiro's new work brings together the musical traditions of East and West, the iconic ancient Chinese guzheng uniquely in combination with a classical string quartet. The Telegraph, winners of the prestigious Naumburg and Fischoff awards, opened the 2018-19 Town & Gown season. Resident quartet at the San Francisco Conservatory, they will perform with Hui Weng, guzheng soloist and instructor at the New England Conservatory. Los Angeles-based composer Michael Gordon Shapiro applies his classical training as well as new techniques to works for the concert hall, film, games, television and theater. The program will also include works for solo guzheng and for traditional string quartet. Telegraph Quartet Web Site. Full biography for Hui Weng.
Note: Su Chang, who was previously scheduled to be our guzheng soloist, became unavailable due to international travel restrictions.