Sunday, May 6, 2018 • 5:00 p.m.

String Souvenirs: An Evening with Janet Sung & Friends Faculty Artist Series

DePaul Concert Hall 800 West Belden Avenue • Chicago

Sunday, May 6, 2018 • 5:00 p.m. DePaul Concert Hall

String Souvenirs: An Evening with Janet Sung & Friends Janet Sung, violin Lina Bahn, violin Anthony Devroye, viola Victoria Chiang, viola Stephen Balderston, cello Michael Mermagen, cello

Program Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) String Quintet in G Minor, K. 516 (1787) Allegro Menuetto. Allegretto Adagio ma non troppo Adagio- Allegro

Janet Sung, violin Lina Bahn, violin Anthony Devroye, viola Victoria Chiang, viola Stephen Balderston, cello

Zoltán Kodály (1882-1967) Duo for Violin and Cello, Op. 7 (1914) Allegro serioso, non troppo Adagio - Andante - Tempo I Maestoso e largamente ma non troppo lento - Presto

Janet Sung, violin Michael Mermagen, cello

Intermission Janet Sung • May 6, 2018 Program Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) Souvenir de Florence, Op. 70 (1890) Allegro con spirito Adagio cantabile e con moto Allegretto moderato Allegro con brio e Vivace

Janet Sung, violin Lina Bahn, violin Victoria Chiang, viola Anthony Devroye, viola Stephen Balderston, cello Michael Mermagen, cello Janet Sung • May 6, 2018 Biographies Lina Bahn is a violinist who has a keen interest in collaborative and innovative repertoire, and has been called “brilliant” and “lyrical” by . Her most recent publication of Mean Fiddle Summer on the Naxos Label was hailed by the ClevelandClassical.com, “From start to finish, the violinist demonstrates her adroit technical facility, kaleidoscope of colors, and consummate musical taste.” Intrigued by the relationship between art and social context, Bahn is one of four founding members of MoVE (Modern Violin Ensemble). MoVE is an innovative quartet of four violinists, committed to commissioning music and starting a canon of repertoire for this relatively unknown instrumentation. Along with MoVE, she has collaborated with cellist Matt Haimovitz to produce a program dedicated to ocean/water awareness: Voices of the Ocean, which premiered at the National Gallery of Art in 2017.

She was a member of the award-winning , with performances at Carnegie Hall, , the Library of Congress, Ravinia, and which earned the ASCAP/CMA Award for Adventurous Programming. In 2007, their Naxos Records recording of quartets by and Jefferson Friedman was selected by The New Yorker magazine as one of the year’s “Best 10 Recordings.” They have been broadcast on NPR’s Performance Today, All Things Considered, and Backstage Pass, Chicago’s WFMT’s Live From Studio One, and can be heard on the Albany, CRI, Naxos, and Bayer Labels. As a guest with the Takacs , she performed at the Concertgebouw, Strathmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, and Queen Elizabeth Hall, among others. Ms. Bahn is a dedicated educator, who has taught master classes throughout the world. From 2008-2014, she served on faculty at the University of Colorado-Boulder, and she currently teaches at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern in .

Cellist Stephen Balderston is known internationally as a soloist, orchestral and chamber musician and coach of the highest caliber. Professor of Cello at DePaul University School of Music, Balderston continues a demanding performance schedule in a variety of venues, and presents master classes around the United States. In recent years, he has performed solo works and chamber music with Daniel Barenboim, Pierre Boulez, Christoph Eschenbach, Lynn Harrell, Yo-Yo Janet Sung • May 6, 2018 Biographies

Ma, Menahem Pressler, , Joseph Silverstein and Pinchas Zukerman. He has appeared as featured artist at the Ravinia Festival, the International Festival-Institute at Round Top, the American String Project, Bargemusic, the Park City Music Festival, OK Mozart International Festival, Santa Barbara Chamber Music Festival as well as the Affinis Music Festival in Japan and the International Music Festival in Shanghai, China.

Balderston was the cello coach for Daniel Barenboim’s “West-Eastern Divan” workshops in 1999 and 2000 in Weimar, Germany, the 2001 Workshop held in Chicago, and the 2004 Workshop in Seville, Spain. In 2002 he accompanied a group of colleagues to Shanghai, China for that city’s international music festival. In August of 2004 Balderston was featured as lecturer, soloist and coach at the International String Music Festival in Taipei, Taiwan. Since 2002, he has been a participant, coach and soloist at many prestigious summer venues, including the Grand Teton Music Festival, Marrowstone Music Festival, the International Festival – Institute at Round Top, the Park City International Chamber Music Festival, the ARIA International Festival and the Northwestern University High School Institute. He has served as a chamber music coach for the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras. Balderston is a member of the American Chamber Players and the Evanston Chamber Ensemble. Balderston was Assistant Principal Cello with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for 10 years, and a member of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra for 10 years. He performed as soloist with both orchestras. Balderston began his studies on the cello with Gabor Rejto in his native southern California, and earned both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from The , where he studied with Lynn Harrell.

Victoria Chiang has performed as soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician across North America, Europe and Asia. Her most recent recording of the viola concertos of Stamitz and Hoffmeister was released by Naxos to critical acclaim. Other recordings include Pleyel Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola also on Naxos as well as a recording of Shostakovich and Roslavets Viola sonatas. She has performed as soloist with the National Philharmonic Orchestra, The Janet Sung • May 6, 2018 Biographies National Gallery of Art Orchestra, the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, the Romanian State Philharmonics of Constantsa and Tirgu Muresh, the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, the Acadiana Symphony (Lafayette, LA) and the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra. Ms. Chiang has collaborated as guest artist with Guarneri, Takacs, Tokyo, American, Arianna and Pro Arte String Quartets, and with members of the Emerson, Cleveland, and Juilliard String Quartets. She has been a regular guest artist at the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival, a frequent guest on the Bargemusic series, and has given solo performances in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and at the XXV, XXXVIII and XL International Viola Congresses.

Ms. Chiang is a founding member of The Aspen String Trio. The group concertizes internationally, and was Ensemble in Residence at the University of Baltimore for six seasons. Currently a member of the artist/faculty of the Peabody Conservatory of Music and the Aspen Music Festival, Ms. Chiang has given master classes throughout the world. Formerly on the faculty of The Juilliard School and the Hartt School of Music, and a former member of the board of the American Viola Society, her students hold significant positions in orchestras, in string quartets, and on conservatory faculties across the US and in Europe. Additionally, Ms. Chiang has taught at the Perlman Music Program: Winter Residency in Sarasota, Madeline Island Chamber Music Festival, Heifetz International Music Institute, Domaine Forget, Great Wall Festival (Beijing) among others.

Ms. Chiang earned the Master of Music degree and Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, and the Bachelor of Music degree from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Her principal teachers include Heidi Castleman and Masao Kawasaki, viola; and Dorothy DeLay and Kurt Sassmannshaus, violin.

Anthony Devroye enjoys a varied and active career as chamber, orchestral and solo violist and teacher. He has been violist of the Avalon String Quartet since 2004, and is an Associate Professor in the School of Music at Northern Illinois University School of Music since 2007. Mr. Devroye has performed with the quartet at major venues throughout the United States, as well as in France and South Korea. Janet Sung • May 6, 2018 Biographies He has taught at the Interlochen Advanced String Quartet Program, the Icicle Creek Music Center, and Madeline Island Music Camp; and has given masterclasses at UCLA, BYU, DePaul, and the University of Tennessee.

Mr. Devroye’s orchestral experience includes performances with the Chicago Symphony under Riccardo Muti (with whom he has toured the United States, Europe and Mexico), Charles Dutoit, Christoph Eschenbach and other leading conductors. For two years he played with the New World Symphony in Miami Beach; having frequently led the viola section under Michael Tilson Thomas, he also appeared as soloist with the orchestra in 2004. Additional orchestral performances include the and Chicago’s Lyric Opera Orchestra, Grant Park Orchestra and Music of the Baroque.

His recitals, chamber music performances and commentary have been regularly featured on WFMT radio, and he has appeared as concerto soloist with the Illinois Philharmonic and Kishwaukee Symphony. In 2014 he became Artistic Director of Rush Hour Concerts in Chicago, an organization that promotes open access to world-class chamber music through free concerts and educational initiatives.

Mr. Devroye holds a BA in Biological Science from , where he was awarded a Starr Foundation Scholarship while pursuing concurrent viola studies at the Juilliard School. He received a Diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music as a Bok Foundation Fellowship recipient. In 2005 he won First Prize at the Julio Cardona International String Competition in Portugal. His viola teachers have included Michael Tree, Roberto Diaz, Toby Appel and Heidi Castleman.

Cellist Michael Mermagen is Associate Professor of Cello at UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance, and Artist Faculty and Principal Cellist of the Aspen Chamber Symphony of the Aspen Music Festival and School. He was formerly Associate Professor of Cello and Chamber Music and Head of the Instrumental Division at the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music at The Catholic University of America.

He made his debut at the age of sixteen with the Baltimore Symphony Janet Sung • May 6, 2018 Biographies Orchestra after receiving its Young Soloist’s Award. Principal teachers were Stephen Kates at Peabody Conservatory, and Zara Nelsova at The Juilliard School. As The Juilliard School’s concerto competition winner, he performed with the Juilliard Orchestra under Otto-Werner Mueller in Alice Tully Hall. He was soloist with National Orchestra of New York, where he held the prestigious Emanuel Feuermann principal cello chair and performed in Master Classes lead by Yo-Yo Ma, Janos Starker, and Bernard Greenhouse.

Mermagen toured regularly with The Aspen Ensemble, as well as with the American Chamber Players (1997-2003) and Arista Piano Trio (1987-1995), the latter named Chamber Music America’s Artists to Watch. He collaborated with the San Francisco Ballet and was featured as the cello soloist for the New York premiere of two works by the renowned choreographer Mark Morris. He is currently performing around the country with the Aspen String Trio, formerly the ensemble in residence at the University of Baltimore.

As an artist-faculty member at the Aspen Music Festival and School, Michael has held the prestigious position of principal cellist of the Aspen Chamber Symphony for over twenty-five seasons. He has performed chamber music at Aspen with such artists as Joshua Bell, , Jeremy Denk, Vladimir Feltsman, Lynn Harrell, Robert McDuffie, Susanne Mentzer, Anton Nel, Nadja Salerno- Sonnenberg, Gil Shaham, Takács Quartet, and the Weilerstein family. He has also collaborated with many distinguished conductors, including Comissiona, Conlon, Levine, Maazel, Marriner, McGegan, Robertson, Skrowaczewski, and Zinman.

He has toured and given recitals, concerto performances, master classes and chamber music performances around the world, including Grand Canyon Music Festival, Prince Albert Music Festival in Kauai, Seattle Chamber Music Society, and Bay Chamber Concerts in Rockport, Maine. He has been heard on WQXR’s Concerts Plus, WNYC’s Around New York, and regularly on NPR’s Performance Today.

Mermagen has recorded and performed the Patrick Zimmerli Piano Trios for the Arabesque label. Upcoming commercial releases include Janet Sung • May 6, 2018 Biographies the Music of Martinu for Naxos label with the Aspen String Trio. Recent concerto appearances include the Brahms Double Concerto with violinist Livia Sohn and Stockton Symphony, with violinist David Perry and the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Beethoven Triple Concerto with Elisabeth Adkins and Edward Newman and the Maryland and Fairfax Symphonies, and Vivaldi Concertos with conductor Nicholas McGegan. He performs on a Nicolo Gagliano cello, Naples, 1774.

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 the Göttinger Symphonie Orchester, South Korea’s Pusan Philharmonic, Russia’s Omsk Philharmonic, Egypt’s Cairo Symphony Orchestra, 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, Bellingham, Sewanee, and Conciertos de La Villa Festival de Santo Domingo. Her solo performances are frequently 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 featured performances on Chicago’s Classical WFMT. She is featured 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 Sean Duggan, a solo CD for Sono Luminus featuring works by Britten, Enescu, and three dynamic living composers, Missy Mazzoli, Daniel Visconti, and Gabriel Prokofiev, and a concerto CD with the Britten Sinfonia for SOMM Recordings (UK), featuring Vaughan Williams’ Violin Concerto in D, Kenneth Hesketh’s Inscription/Transformation for Violin and Orchestra (premiere), and Ravel’s Tzigane.

She is celebrated for her compelling performances of traditional works from Bach to Berg, and is a sought-after champion of works Janet Sung • May 6, 2018 Biographies 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 2019, she will premiere a new Violin Concerto by Augusta Read Thomas commissioned and written for Ms. Sung.

Ms. Sung has been a regular 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 an ongoing guest with the American Chamber Players and the Finger Lakes Chamber Ensemble. She has also toured throughout the United States with fiddler Mark O’Connor’s American String Celebration.

Sung studied with Josef Gingold, Dorothy Delay, Masao Kawasaki and the Juilliard Quartet. She graduated from with honors, earning a double degree in anthropology and music, and the Juilliard School. She was the Clifton Visiting Artist at Harvard and is currently Head of Strings and Violin Professor at the DePaul University School of Music in Chicago.

Janet Sung plays a c.1600 Maggini violin crafted in Brescia, Italy. Gifts of every amount make an important impact on the next generation of musicians and support the mission of the School of Music.

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For more information, please contact: Stephanie Carper, Director of Development Office of Advancement, DePaul University 1 East Jackson Boulevard Chicago, IL 60604-2287 (312) 362-7135 • [email protected] Janet Sung • May 6, 2018

Upcoming Events

Monday, May 7 • 7:00 p.m. Recital Hall Wagner Campos Studio Recital

Friday, May 18 • 7:30 p.m. Sunday, May 20 • 2:00 p.m. Concert Hall DePaul Opera Theatre: The Judgment of Paris

Saturday, May 19 • 3:00 p.m. Concert Hall Percussion Ensemble

Saturday, May 19 • 8:00 p.m. Concert Hall African Drum Ensemble

Sunday, May 20 • 2:00 p.m. Student Center • 2250 North Sheffield Avenue • Chicago Jazz Orchestra

Monday, May 21 • 8:00 p.m. Concert Hall Composers Forum

Monday, May 20 • 8:00 p.m. The Jazz Showcase • 806 Plymouth Court • Chicago Jazz Workshop and Jazz Ensemble

Wednesday, May 23 • 8:00 p.m. Orchestra Hall • 220 South Michigan Avenue • Chicago DePaul Symphony Orchestra

Thursday, May 24 • 7:00 p.m. Recital Hall Jazz Combos

Thursday, May 24 • 8:00 p.m. Concert Hall String Chamber Showcase Janet Sung • May 6, 2018 Upcoming Events Friday, May 25 • 7:00 p.m. Recital Hall Baroque Chamber Concert

Friday, May 25 • 8:00 p.m. Concert Hall DePaul Wind Ensemble

Saturday, May 26 • 8:00 p.m. Concert Hall DePaul Concert Orchestra and Ensemble 20+

Sunday, May 27 • 3:00 p.m. Concert Hall Rami Solomonow Memorial Concert

Sunday, May 27 • 7:00 p.m. Recital Hall Oboe Studio Recital

Tuesday, May 29 • 7:00 p.m. Recital Hall Jazz Combos

Tuesday, May 29 • 8:00 p.m. Concert Hall Wind/Mixed Chamber Showcase I

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