Sunday, May 7, 2017 • 3:00 p.m.
Janet Sung & Friends “A Little Night Music”
DePaul Concert Hall 800 West Belden Avenue • Chicago Sunday, May 7, 2017 • 3:00 p.m. DePaul Concert Hall
Janet Sung & Friends: “A Little Night Music” Carolyn Stuart, violin Sheila Browne, viola Suzanne Rousso, viola Alan Rafferty, cello Brant Taylor, cello
Program Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) Eine kleine Nachmusik, Serenade No. 13 in G Major, K. 525 (1787) Allegro Romanze Menuetto Rondo
Janet Sung, violin Carolyn Stuart, violin Sheila Browne, viola Alan Rafferty, cello
Anton Arensky (1861-1906) Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 35 (1894) Moderato Thème (and Variations). Moderato Finale. Andante sostenuto - Allegro moderato
Janet Sung, violin Sheila Browne, viola Alan Rafferty, cello Brant Taylor, cello
intermission Janet Sung & Friends • May 7, 2017 program
Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night), Op. 4 (1899)
Janet Sung, violin Carolyn Stuart, violin Sheila Browne, viola Suzanne Rousso, viola Brant Taylor, cello Alan Rafferty, cello Janet Sung & Friends • May 7, 2017
Biographies Hailed by the New York Times as a “stylish player” for her concerto performance at Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, violist Sheila Browne is an accomplished international soloist, chamber musician and professor. Honored to be named the William Primrose Memorial Recitalist of 2016, Ms. Browne has performed in major halls on six continents, including solo performances with the Juilliard Orchestra, Kiev Philharmonic, New World Symphony, in Carnegie Hall with the New York Women’s Ensemble, South African International Viola Congress Festival Orchestra, and the Viva Vivaldi!, Reina Sofia and German-French chamber orchestras. She has premiered a concerto written for her at the international viola congresses in Australia and South Africa, and was the only viola finalist in the 2004 International Pro Musicis Solo Awards at Carnegie Hall. She has performed with Shmuel Ashkenazy, Miriam Fried, Gilbert Kalish, Paul Katz, Anton Kuerti, Ruth Laredo, Joseph Robinson, Arnold Steinhardt, Richard Stolzman, and has recordings with Fire Pink Trio, Carol Wincenc, Audra MacDonald, Natalie Cole and Lisa Loeb, on the Sony, Bridge, Centaur labels. She has worked on solo and chamber works with living composers William Bolcom, Krystof Penderecki, Joan Tower, Judith Shatin, and Gabriella Lena Frank, among others. She was elected to the Executive Board of the American Viola Society, and is the first viola professor ever to teach in Iraqi Kurdistan at the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq’s inaugural year.
Ms. Browne received a Naumburg scholarship and a Bachelor of Music degree at the Juilliard School, where she was famed violist Karen Tuttle’s teaching assistant for four years. A dedicated teacher, she currently serves as viola professor at the University of Delaware, in conjunction with a residency as the violist in the Serafin String Quartet, and has served on the faculties of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, University of St Louis- Missouri, and New York, Duke and Tennessee universities.
Alan Rafferty, University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music cello faculty member, is rapidly gaining recognition as a preeminent musician and master teacher. In demand as a clinician around the world, Mr. Rafferty has presented Master Classes at many of the top music schools including the Cleveland Institute of Music, Northwestern University, Taiwan National University of the Arts and DePaul University to name a few. Additionally, he is regularly engaged by the New World Symphony as a guest artist.
A member of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra since 2007, Mr. Rafferty made his solo debut with orchestra at the age of 16 and has been a featured soloist on numerous occasions since. In November 2013, he gave the North American premiere of Victor Herbert’s first published work, the Suite for Janet Sung & Friends • May 7, 2017 biographies Cello and Orchestra, Op. 3. Mr. Rafferty has performed chamber music with Matt Haimovitz, the Ariel Quartet, and members of the Cavani Quartet, among others. In the summers, Mr. Rafferty teaches at the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival in Burlington, VT and has been a faculty member at Meadowmount, Aria, Madeline Island and the Great Wall Academy in Beijing.
He and his wife, cellist Sarah Kim, were recently named the 2016 Ohio String Teachers Association Studio Teacher of the Year and are the directors of the nationally recognized Cincinnati Young Artists which present Chamber Music and Cello Workshops throughout the year. www.cincinnatiyoungartists.org
Suzanne Rousso, violist, was trained at the Curtis Institute of Music, The Eastman School and the New England Conservatory, earning Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in viola performance. Her teachers included Eugene Becker, Max Aronoff, Heidi Castleman and Walter Trampler. In her early career, she held orchestral positions with The New Mexico Symphony, the Santa Fe Opera, and the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera. Later, Suzanne was principal violist of the Greensboro (NC) Symphony, performed regularly with the North Carolina Symphony and was a faculty member and performer at the Eastern Music Festival.
Ms. Rousso was appointed Director of Education for the North Carolina Symphony in May 1999 where she oversaw all aspects of the Symphony’s education program and in late 2006, she was appointed Director of Operations and Education of the Portland (Maine) Symphony. Suzanne returned from Maine to North Carolina in the summer of 2008 to become the Artistic Director and Executive Director of the acclaimed Mallarmé Chamber Players in Durham, NC, where she also performs as violist. Ms. Rousso began exploring the world of historical performance practices in 2009 and in 2013, she established the North Carolina HIP Music Festival which brings together 15 ensembles and 2 university music departments for a month- long celebration of early and contemporary music on period instruments.
Suzanne is a Board member of Arts North Carolina, an arts advocacy organization, and is also the President of the Board for the American Federation of Musicians, Local 500.
Violin playing described as “tonally resplendent and affectingly assured both stylistically and technically” (Fanfare) and a performer of “astonishing effectiveness, radiant inspiration, deep sensitivity, and colossal temperament” (Musical Horizons, Sofia), violinist Carolyn Stuart performs Janet Sung & Friends • May 7, 2017 biographies internationally as soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician including recent appearances at Carnegie and Merkin Halls in NYC, Salle Gaveau in Paris, National Palace of Culture in Sofia, The Bethaniënklooster in Amsterdam, London Royal College of Music, Pushkin and Mansfield Houses in London, Salon Christophori in Berlin, American University in Athens, Royal Academy of Music in Denmark, Royal Irish Academy of Music, Teatro del Sale in Florence, Incontro sulla Tastiera in Vicenza, University of Toronto, and the Zurich Conservatory. Festival appearances have included Green Mountain, Chautauqua, Interlochen, Garth Newel, Hot Springs, Killington, and Peter de Gröte – Netherlands, Autunno and Classicariano – Naples, Salon des Arts and Sofia Music Weeks – Bulgaria, and Association Philomuses, Paris.
Carolyn Stuart is a performing member of the Stuart-Ivanov Duo, MoVE (Modern Violin Ensemble) and Qthree. She is Director of Strings and Chamber Music at the Brancaleoni International Music Festival in Italy, Artist-Faculty at Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival and Violin Professor at University of South Florida. She holds degrees from The Juilliard School, University of Michigan, and Stony Brook University. Stuart’s recordings may be heard on Bridge, Gega New, Albany, Capstone, and Blue Griffin.
Hailed by The Washington Post for her “riveting” playing and “exquisite tone”, violinist Janet Sung has garnered international acclaim since her debut at age nine with the Pittsburgh Symphony. She has performed worldwide with orchestras such as South Korea’s Pusan Philharmonic, Göttinger Symphonie Orchester, Russia’s Omsk Philharmonic, Buffalo Philharmonic, Aspen Festival Chamber Symphony and the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston, as well as the orchestras of Boise, Delaware, Dubuque, Hartford, Las Cruces, Tacoma and Wyoming, amongst others across the U.S. Festival appearances as concerto and recital soloist include Switzerland’s Lucerne Festival, Aspen, Britt, Sewanee, Bellingham and Conciertos de La Villa Festival de Santo Domingo.
An artist of remarkable versatility, Ms. Sung is celebrated for her compelling performances of traditional works from Bach to Berg, and is a passionate champion of works from the 20th and 21st centuries. Recent world premieres include Augusta Read Thomas’ Double Helix, released on Nimbus Records/UK, Kenneth Fuchs’ American Rhapsody for Violin and Orchestra, and Kenneth Hesketh’s Inscription/Transformation for Violin and Orchestra. In the 2018/19 season, she will premiere a new Violin Concerto by Augusta Read Thomas commissioned and written for Ms. Sung.
Her solo performances have frequently been aired on radio and television, nationally and internationally, including multiple broadcasts of her performance of Korngold’s Violin Concerto on NPR’s “Performance Today,” and regular Janet Sung & Friends • May 7, 2017 biographies featured performances on Chicago’s Classical WFMT. She is featured soloist on recordings of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons and Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 1, the latter with members of the Gewandhaus Orchestra recorded at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, Germany. Her latest recording projects include the complete works by J.S. Bach for Violin and Keyboard with pianist and Bach specialist, Sean Duggan, and an upcoming solo CD on the Grammy-nominated Sono Luminus label.
Ms. Sung is also a performing artist at numerous chamber music festivals, including the Bowdoin International Music Festival, the Kreeger Festival in Washington, D.C., the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, and the Newport Music Festival, and is a regular guest with the American Chamber Players and the Finger Lakes Chamber Ensemble. She has toured throughout the United States with fiddler Mark O’Connor’s American String Celebration. Ms. Sung studied with Josef Gingold, Dorothy Delay, Masao Kawasaki and the Juilliard Quartet. She graduated from Harvard University with honors, earning a double degree in anthropology and music, and the Juilliard School. She was invited as the Clifton Visiting Artist at Harvard and is currently Associate Professor of Violin and String Coordinator at the DePaul University School of Music. She plays a c.1600 Maggini violin crafted in Brescia, Italy.
Brant Taylor was appointed to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra by Daniel Barenboim. He was previously cellist of the Everest Quartet, prizewinners at the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, as well as a member of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. His varied career includes solo appearances and collaborations with leading musicians throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
Mr. Taylor made his solo debut with the San Antonio Symphony at the age of fourteen as the winner of a concerto competition, and has since appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras, performing, among others, the works of Dvǒrák, Haydn, Elgar, Shostakovich, Lalo, Boccherini, Saint-Saëns, and Brahms.
A dedicated teacher of both cello and chamber music, Mr. Taylor has combined performance and pedagogy throughout his career, conducting master classes and writing articles on a wide variety of musical topics. He has given audition training seminars and lessons at Miami’s New World Symphony, of which he was a member and to which he has returned to perform as concerto soloist under the batons of Michael Tilson-Thomas and Nicholas McGegan. Janet Sung & Friends • May 7, 2017 biographies Mr. Taylor has taught and performed at music festivals around the world, including the Festival der Zukunft in Ernen, Switzerland, the Portland Chamber Music Festival, the Shanghai International Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, the Mimir Chamber Music Festival, the Mammoth Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Music Festival Santo Domingo, Michigan’s Village Bach Festival, Music at Gretna in Pennsylvania, where he has made repeated appearances as a concerto soloist, and Arizona Musicfest, where he serves as principal cello. Mr. Taylor is a member of the faculty of DePaul University’s School of Music and acts as Consulting Artistic Director of Rush Hour Concerts, an organization committed to free public access to high- quality music (www.imfchicago.org). Mr. Taylor had a seven-year association with the band Pink Martini, appearing on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” “The Late Show with David Letterman,” at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and in nightclubs and theaters across North America. He can be heard on Pink Martini’s studio release, “Hey Eugene.”
Mr. Taylor holds a Bachelor of Music degree and a Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, where he won the school’s concerto competition and performed as soloist with the Eastman Philharmonia. His Master of Music degree is from Indiana University. His primary teachers have been Janos Starker and Paul Katz. Janet Sung & Friends • May 7, 2017
Upcoming Events Tuesday, May 9 • 8:00 p.m. Concert Hall Tuba Studio Recital
Wednesday, May 10 • 1:45 p.m. Recital Hall Masterclass: Tony Devroye, violin
Saturday, May 13 • 8:00 p.m. Concert Hall Hindustani Music Concert
Friday, May 19 • 7:30 p.m. Sunday, May 21 • 2:00 p.m. Concert Hall DePaul Opera Theatre presents Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea
Saturday, May 20 • 3:00 p.m. Concert Hall Percussion Ensemble
Saturday, May 20 • 4:00 p.m. Recital Hall Wind/Mixed Chamber Showcase
Saturday, May 20 • 8:00 p.m. Concert Hall African Drum Ensemble
Sunday, May 21 • 8:00 p.m. Concert Hall Brass Ensemble
Monday, May 22 • 8:00 p.m. Concert Hall Composers Forum
Monday, May 22 • 8:00 p.m. Recital Hall DePaul Jazz Combos
Tuesday, May 23 • 8:00 p.m. Concert Hall Ensemble 20+ Janet Sung & Friends • May 7, 2017 upcoming events
Wednesday, May 24 • 7:00 p.m. Symphony Center • 220 S Michigan Avenue DePaul Symphony Orchestra Free, tickets required. Visit the “Concert & Events” page on music.depaul.edu for more information, or call 773.325.7260.
Thursday, May 25 • 8:00 p.m. DePaul Student Center • 2250 N. Sheffield Ave. DePaul Jazz Ensembles
Thursday, May 25 • 8:00 p.m. Concert Hall String Chamber Showcase I
Friday, May 26 • 8:00 p.m. Concert Hall DePaul Wind Ensemble
Saturday, May 27 • 8:00 p.m. Concert Hall DePaul Concert Orchestra and Symphonic Choir
Sunday, May 28 • 2:00 p.m. St. Vincent de Paul Parish • 1010 W. Webster Ave. DePaul Concert Orchestra and Symphonic Choir
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