FACULTY AND GUEST ARTIST RECITAL

”Schubertiad”

KATHLEEN WINKLER, Violin

JAMES DUNHAM, Viola

BRINTON AVERIL SMITH, Cello

BENJAMIN STOEHR, Cello (student)

SAMI MYERSON, Cello (student)

KRISTOPHER KHANG, Cello (guest)

TIMOTHY PITTS, Double bass

EVELYN CHEN, Piano (guest)

Monday, October 27, 2014 8:00 p.m. Lillian H. Duncan Recital Hall PROGRAM

Marcia in G Minor, D. 818 Franz Schubert (1797-1828) Marche Militaire in D Major, D. 733 arranged Dešpalj deranged Smith Benjamin Stoehr, cello Sami Myerson, cello Kristopher Khang, cello Brinton Smith, cello

Fantasie in F Minor, D. 940 arr. Kevin Dvorak Allegro molto moderato Largo Scherzo. Allegro vivace Finale. Allegro molto moderato

Introduction, Theme and Variations, D. 603 arr. Piatigorsky

Brinton Averil Smith, cello Evelyn Chen, piano

PAUSE

Quintet for Piano and Strings in A Major, D.667 “Trout” Allegro vivace Andante Scherzo: Presto Andantino – Allegretto Allegro giusto Kathleen Winkler, violin James Dunham, viola Brinton Smith, cello Timothy Pitts, double bass Evelyn Chen, piano

The reverberative acoustics of Duncan Recital Hall magnify the slightest sound made by the audience. Your care and courtesy will be appreciated. The taking of photographs and use of recording equipment are prohibited. BIOGRAPHIES

The New York Times hailed EVELYN CHEN as “a pianist to watch,” praising her “brilliant technique, warm, clear tone, and exacting musical intelligence.” Ms. Chen’s recent engagements have included performances on five continents at venues including Avery Fisher Hall and Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, the Dorothy Chan- dler Pavilion, Wolf Trap, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the National Concert Hall in Taipei, the Central Conservatory Concert Hall in Beijing, the Cul- tural Center of Hong Kong, and the Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow. A Steinway Artist, Ms. Chen has performed with numerous orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra of London, the New Zealand Symphony, the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, the State Symphony Orchestra of Mexico, and the San Diego Symphony, and has collaborated with renowned conductors including Riccardo Muti, Leon- ard Slatkin, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Zdeněk Mácal, Joseph Silverstein, Henry Mazer, Alberto Bolet, Enrique Bátiz, and JoAnn Falletta. Ms. Chen’s recent recordings have received critical acclaim inter- nationally, and her recording of Rachmaninoff’s piano concertos with Leonard Slatkin and the Philharmonia Orchestra of London on BMG was among the top ten best-selling classical recordings in England. Ms. Chen has been featured on the CBS Evening News, and her performances have been broadcast by numerous National Public Radio affiliates. Ms. Chen has performed before prominent dignitaries including the Princess of Thailand and the Prime Minister of Malaysia. Ms. Chen has been a winner of several international competitions, including First Prize in the 1981 Bach International Competition in Wash- ington, D.C. Ms. Chen is the recipient of the 1994 Petschek Award at the Juilliard School, where she received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree. Having received a Bachelor of Arts degree in composition from Harvard University, Ms. Chen is currently currently Associate Professor of Piano at Teachers College, Columbia University.

Violist JAMES DUNHAM is active as a recitalist, guest artist and teacher. He has collaborated with such renowned artists as Emanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Lynn Harrell, Cho-Liang Lin and members of the American, Cassatt, Guarne- ri, Juilliard, Takács, Tokyo and Ying Quartets. An advocate of new music, he recently premiered and recorded two works by Libby Larsen: her Viola Sona- ta (2001) and “Sifting Through the Ruins” (2005) for viola, mezzo-soprano (Susanne Mentzer) and piano, due for release by Naxos. Summers are spent at festivals including Sarasota, Amelia Island (FL), Aspen and le Domaine Forget (Quebec), with past participation in the La Jolla Chamber Music Fes- tival, Festival der Zukunft (Ernen, Switzerland), the San Diego Mainly Mozart Festival and three summers at the Marlboro Music Festival. This season features concerts and classes throughout the U.S. with a special appearance at the Lübeck Hochschule für Musik in Germany and the Smithsonian Institute performing quartets on a set of Nicolò Amati in- struments. Highlights of recent seasons included a pair of concerts with the Takács Quartet in Carnegie Hall, concerts in Reykjavik, Iceland, returns to San Diego, San Francisco, New York, and Vermont and regular engagements with Houston Friends of Chamber Music and Da Camera Society of Houston. Other recording projects have included Glyph by Judith Shatin for solo viola with string quartet and piano, the Bach Sonatas for Viola da Gamba with harpsichordist John Gibbons and the 2008 Grammy nominated Telarc record- ing of Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence with the Ying Quartet and cellist Paul Katz. Violist of the 1996 Grammy Award winning Cleveland Quartet for eight years, he performed throughout North America, Europe, the Far East and the Soviet Union. Founding violist of the Naumburg Award winning Sequoia String Quartet, Mr. Dunham formerly taught at California Institute of the Arts, the Eastman School of Music and the New England Conservatory, where he also chaired the String Department and received the Louis & Adrienne Krasner Teaching Excel- lence Award. Mr. Dunham is Professor of Viola and Chamber Music at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music where he directs the Master of Music in String Quartet program. His recordings can be found on labels including Te- larc, Nonesuch, Delos, Naxos and Crystal. Mr. Dunham performs on a Gaspar da Salo viola, ca. 1585.

Consummate YouTuber and couch potato, KRIS KHANG holds both Master of Music (under Brinton Smith and Lynn Harrell) and Master of Business Ad- ministration degrees from Rice University. As a performing cellist, Kris served as Assistant Principal Cellist of the Santa Barbara Symphony and substitute cel- list for the Houston, San Diego and San Antonio symphonies. While performing, Kris also served as Lynn Harrell’s teaching assistant at Rice. Kris’ post music hobbies have included commodities trading risk-management at CNA Metals Ltd., and crude and oil accounting at Shell Trading Co. Currently Kris works in equity research at Raymond James and Associates covering stocks in the oil and gas industry.

SAMI MYERSON began playing the cello shortly before her fifth birthday. She has performed in many important venues, including Carnegie Hall, Boston’s Symphony Hall, Jordan Hall, The Royal Concertgebouw, The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, L.A. County Museum of Art’s Bing Theatre, Colburn School’s Zipper Hall, and Royce Hall at UCLA. A member of the American Youth Symphony and the New York String Orchestra, she also served as a substitute cellist in the San Diego Symphony and the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. Ms. Myerson received her Bachelor of Music degree from the New England Conservatory in 2014. Her past teachers include Richard Naill, Lynn Harrell, and Natasha Brof- sky. She is currently pursuing a Master’s of Music Degree at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music with Brinton Smith.

TIMOTHY PITTS has distinguished himself as one of the most versatile double bassists of his generation. As a soloist, chamber and orchestral mu- sician, he has been heard in many of the world’s greatest concert halls. Mr. Pitts’ orchestral career began as a member of the Cleveland Orches- tra after which he was appointed principal bass of the Houston Symphony, a position he held for seventeen years. Mr. Pitts also served as principal double bass of Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society and the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra under the direction of John Williams. An active chamber musician, Mr. Pitts has appeared as a guest artist with Bay Chamber Concerts, the Mainly Mozart Festival, Boston Musica Viva, the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan, and the SkaneatelesFestival in New York as well as with the Los Angeles Piano Quartet and the St. Law- rence, Jupiter, and Vermeer Quartets. He has collaborated with such art- ists as Menahem Pressler, Arnold Steinhardt, Christoph Eschenbach, Heinz Holliger, Robert McDuffie, and Roberto Díaz. As a member of the Houston Symphony Chamber Players, Mr. Pitts toured Germany and Japan, and appeared at Chicago’s Ravinia Festival. A dedicated educator, Mr. Pitts’ students can be found among the ranks of the world’s finest ensembles. Formerly on the faculty of the Oberlin Conservatory, he is currently a Professor of Double Bass at The Shep- herd School of Music. During the summer, he is on the artist faculty of the Beijing International Music Festival and Academy at the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music. Mr. Pitts lives in Houston with his wife, violinist Kathleen Winkler, and two daughters, Nina and Kiri, both aspiring cellists.

Hailed by New York Newsday for “extraordinary musicianship,” cellist BRINTON AVERIL SMITH’s continues to win praise for virtuosic performances with musical ideals rooted in the golden age of string play- ing. Smith’s debut recording of Miklós Rózsa’s Cello Concerto with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra on Koch Classics received worldwide critical acclaim, with the Gramophone Awards Issue praising Smith as a “hugely eloquent, impassioned soloist,” while the American Record Guide praised his performance with Gil Shaham on Shaham’s Fauré Album as “Stunningly beautiful,” concluding “I cannot imagine a better stylistic match for Sha- ham.” Mr. Smith has appeared regularly as a soloist with the Houston Sympho- ny since joining the orchestra as principal cellist in 2005. Prior to this, he was the first musician chosen by Lorin Maazel to join the New York Philhar- monic and the principal cellist of the San Diego and Fort Worth Symphony Orchestras. Mr. Smith’s North American engagements have included perfor- mances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and with orchestras throughout the country, while his broadcast performances include CBS’s Sunday Morn- ing and NPR’s Performance Today and Symphonycast. As a chamber musician, Smith has collaborated with violinist Gil Shaham on numerous occasions including Carnegie Hall’s Gil Shaham and Friends series, as well as with cellists Yo-Yo Ma and Lynn Harrell, violin- ists Cho-Liang Lin, James Ehnes and Sarah Chang, soprano Dawn Upshaw and members of the Beaux Arts Trio and the Guarneri, Emerson, Juilliard, Cleveland, and Berg quartets. As a student, he was a prize winner in several consecutive Juilliard concerto competitions as well as the Leonard Rose International Cello Competition. Mr. Smith is a faculty member at the Shep- herd School of Music at Rice University and the Aspen Music Festival, and has given masterclasses throughout the United States. The son of a mathematician and a pianist, Smith was admitted to Ari- zona State University at age 10, where he took courses in mathematics and German and, at age 17, completed a B.A. in mathematics. He then became a student of Eleonore Schoenfeld at the University of Southern California, where he was also a teaching assistant in the mathematics department, and completed work for an M.A. in mathematics at age 19. He subsequently stud- ied with the renowned cellist Zara Nelsova at The Juilliard School, where he received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree, writing on the playing of Emanuel Feuermann. Mr. Smith resides in Houston with his wife, the pianist Evelyn Chen, their daughter, Calista and two slightly evil but kind-hearted dogs. For further information, please visit www.brintonaverilsmith.com.

BENJAMIN STOEHR, 22, hails from the city of Cincinnati, Ohio. Beginning private lessons at age 11, he gradually shifted his focus from the frivolous pursuit of sports to music. During the summer, he has attended the music festivals of Sewanee, Interlochen, AccentX, Meadowmount, Aspen, and Tanglewood. Ben has played in masterclasses given by Darrett Adkins, Andres Diaz, Jens Peter Maintz, Jeffrey Lastrapes, Eric Kim, and the Parker Quartet. His previous teachers include Yali Sun, Katya Janpoladyan, and Diego Fainguersch. After receiving his Bachelor of Music degree from Rice University in 2014 under the tutelage of Desmond Hoebig, Ben is continuing his graduate studies at Rice with Brinton Smith.

The artistry of KATHLEEN WINKLER has earned her the plaudits of crit- ics and audiences alike worldwide since her solo debut at the age of seventeen with the Philadelphia Orchestra. She has been heard with such orchestras as the Detroit Symphony (with which she has toured on many occasions), the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Danish Radio Orchestra, the Odense Byorkester, the Polish Slaska Philharmonic, the Grand Rapids Symphony, the Savannah Symphony, and the Phoenix Symphony, to name a few. She has toured through- out the U.S. and Canada as well as having performed in Sweden, Poland, Germany, Spain, and the Canary Islands. The recipient of numerous awards, Ms. Winkler took first prize in the First International Carl Nielsen Violin Competition which led to her sponsored de- buts in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room and the Kennedy Center and the Library of Congress in Wash- ington, D.C., as well as numerous radio broadcast performances on the Brit- ish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and the International Voice of America. An active chamber musician, Ms. Winkler has appeared at major music festivals throughout the country such as The Kent-Blossom Music Festival with Leonard Slatkin conducting, The Skaneateles Festival with David Zinman conducting, and The Bear Valley Festival with Carter Nice conducting. Other festival appearances have included The Music in the Mountains Festival at Steamboat Springs, The Hamden-Sydney Chamber Music Festival, The Bay Chamber Concerts, The Festival de Musique de Chambre du Montréal, and Da Camera in Houston. Concert appearances included the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., The Columbus Chamber Music Society, The Chamber Music Society of Chicago, and Houston Friends of Music. Ms. Winkler currently holds the Dorothy Richard Starling Chair in Violin and is the recipient of Rice University’s prestigious Julia Mile Chance Award for excellence in teaching. A devoted mentor to young musicians, her students can be found among the ranks of national and international competition win- ners as well as in the world’s leading orchestras and chamber ensembles. The Philadelphia-born artist attended Indiana University where she re- ceived her Bachelor of Music degree, magna cum laude, as well as the coveted Performer’s Certificate. She also attended the University of Michigan where she received her Master of Music degree, summa cum laude. Ms. Winkler has been a Professor of Violin at the Shepherd School of Music for the past 20 years, three of which were served as string department chair. A frequent clini- cian for the New World Symphony in Florida, she also continues in her role as a Guest Professor at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China. During the summer Ms. Winkler is on the artist faculty of the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California, where she holds the Dorothy Richard Starling Chair in Violin.