St. Cecilia to feature Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center on January 18

St. Cecilia Music Center will present the outstanding Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in a concert on January 18 at 7:30 p.m. featuring Co-Artistic Director / pianist Wu Han, joined by pianist Michael Brown, violinists Chad Hoopes and Paul Huang, violist Matthew Lipman and cellist Dmirtri Atapine. The world-renowned Chamber Music Society musicians will perform the works of Brahms and Dvořák.  The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS) is known for the extraordinary quality of its performances, its inspired programming, and for setting the benchmark for chamber music worldwide: no other chamber music organization does more to promote, to educate and to foster a love of and appreciation for the art form. Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center brings together the very best international artists from an ever-expanding roster of more than 150 artists per season, to provide audiences with the kind of exhilarating concert experiences that have critics calling CMS “an exploding star in the musical firmament.” St. Cecilia Music Center and CMS have an ongoing partnership that brings the group to Royce Auditorium each season.

Note: This program is offered to West Michigan audiences for a fraction of the cost that this concert will be on January 28 at Lincoln Center.

Co-artist Director Wu Han says, “Brahms and Dvořák were great friends. Brahms helped bring Dvořák’s music to the forefront in 1878.  Brahms, who was seven years older than Dvořák,  mentored him and helped him to realize financial gain for his artistic works including some of the selections to be performed at the January 18 SCMC concert. Michael Brown and I will play Dvořák’s ‘Selected Slavonic Dances for Piano, Four Hands’ the works that brought Dvořák his first significant sum of money through Brahms efforts in introducing him to the esteemed Berlin publisher Fritz Simrock. We will also perform Brahm’s ‘Selected Hungarian Dances for Piano, Four Hands’ which was inspired by Brahms’ special affection for Gypsy Fiddlers and their music. These selections, as well as the two others to be performed – ‘Trio in C minor for Piano, Violin, and Cello, Op. 101’ by Brahms, and ‘Trio in C minor for Piano, Violin, and Cello, Op. 101’ by Dvořák were incredibly popular during those times (1868 – 1891).”

Executive Director Cathy Holbrook adds, “The January 18 concert at SCMC will bring some new faces, introducing us to the next generation of chamber music stars. I’m especially looking forward to the pieces for four-hand piano that Wu Han and newcomer Michael Brown will be performing. It’s not often that you can experience two artists performing on one piano simultaneously in a chamber music performance, which makes this concert very special.”

The final 2017 – 2018 season performance by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center will take place in April 2018. The April 19 performance includes pianist Gilles Vonsattel, violinists Ida Kavafian and Erin Keefe, violist Yura Lee, cellist Nicholas Canellakis and clarinetist Tommaso Lonquich performing Mozart, Weber and Brahms.

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Artist Bios for the January 18 Concert

Co-Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Society, pianist Wu Han is among the most esteemed and influential classical musicians in the world today. She is a recipient of Musical America’s Musician of the Year award, one of the highest music industry honors in the US, and has risen to international prominence through her wide-ranging achievements as a concert performer, recording artist, educator, arts administrator, and cultural entrepreneur. Wu Han appears extensively with CMS; as recitalist with cellist David Finckel; and in piano trios with violinist Philip Setzer. Along with David Finckel, she is the founder and Artistic Director of Music@Menlo, Silicon Valley’s acclaimed chamber music festival and institute; co-founder and Artistic Director of Chamber Music Today in Korea; and co-founder and Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Workshop at the Aspen Music Festival and School. Under the auspices of CMS, David Finckel and Wu Han also lead the LG Chamber Music School in South Korea. Wu Han is the co-creator of ArtistLed, classical music’s first musician-directed and Internet-based recording company, whose 19-album catalogue has won widespread critical praise as it approaches its 20-year anniversary.

Pianist-composer Michael Brown, winner of a 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant, has been described by the New York Times as “one of the leading figures in the current renaissance of performer-composers.” In 2017-18, he tours a program commemorating Leonard Bernstein’s centennial as well as a duo recital with cellist Nicholas Canellakis, including a performance at The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Selected by Sir András Schiff for his Building Bridges in 2016-17, he made debut solo recitals across Europe and at New York’s 92nd Street Y. Recent concerto debuts include performances with the Seattle, North Carolina, Erie, New Haven, Albany, Maryland, and New York Youth Symphony Orchestras. He will be featured as soloist with the Seattle Symphony and Ludovic Morlot in an upcoming release of Messiaen's music and as soloist with the Brandenburg State Symphony in a world premiere recording of Samuel Adler's First Piano Concerto. As a composer, he is in residence with the New Haven Symphony for the 2017-19 seasons and other commissions include works for the Maryland Symphony, the Look & Listen Festival, and a work for a consortium of gardens around the U.S. A native New Yorker, Mr. Brown earned dual bachelor’s and master’s degrees in piano and composition from The Juilliard School, where he studied with pianists Jerome Lowenthal and Robert McDonald and composers Samuel Adler and Robert Beaser. He is the First Prize winner of the 2010 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition, a Steinway Artist, and a member of CMS Two.

Acclaimed by critics worldwide for his exceptional talent and magnificent tone, American violinist Chad Hoopes has appeared with numerous ensembles throughout the world since he won the first prize at the Young Artists Division of the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition. Recent highlights include his debuts with Orchestre de Paris, Philadelphia Orchestra at Bravo Vail, National Symphony Orchestra at Wolf Trap, and Konzerthausorchester Berlin. In 2016, he made his London debut at Royal Festival Hall with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and conductor Kristjan Järvi performing Michael Daugherty’s violin concerto Fire and Blood. In the same season, he became Munich Symphony Orchestra’s first artist-in-residence, a position created specifically for him. He has performed with leading orchestras such as the San Francisco, Pittsburgh, and Houston symphonies. He received an Avery Fisher Career Grant in March 2017 and the Cleveland Arts Prize in 2013. Mr. Hoopes attended the Cleveland Institute of Music under David Cerone and Joel Smirnoff, and the Kronberg Academy under the tutelage of Ana Chumachenco. In 2014, he became a member of the CMS Two Program. He plays the 1991 Samuel Zygmuntowicz; ex Isaac Stern violin.

Recipient of a prestigious 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant and a 2017 Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists, Taiwanese-American violinist Paul Huang is quickly gaining attention for his eloquent music making, distinctive sound, and effortless virtuosity. The 2017-18 season sees his debuts at the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg at the invitation of Valery Gergiev and with the Berliner Symphoniker at the Berlin Philharmonie, as well as engagements with the North Carolina Symphony, New Mexico Philharmonic, Knoxville Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, and Taipei Symphony (both in Taiwan and on a US tour). He also embarks on a recital tour through La Jolla, Chicago, Toronto, Palm Desert, Taiwan (three-city tour), and New York that culminates at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Mr. Huang, who earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Juilliard School, won the 2011 Young Concert Artists International Auditions. He plays the Guarneri del Gesù Cremona 1742 ex-Wieniawski violin, on loan through the Stradivari Society, and is a member of Chamber Music Society Two.

The recipient of a prestigious 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant, American violist Matthew Lipman has been hailed by the New York Times for his “rich tone and elegant phrasing.” In demand as a soloist, he has recently performed concertos with the Minnesota, Illinois Philharmonic, Grand Rapids Symphony, Wisconsin Chamber, Juilliard, Ars Viva Symphony, Montgomery Symphony, and Innsbrook and Eggenfelden Festival orchestras and recitals at the WQXR Greene Space in New York City and the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC. He was the only violist featured on WFMT Chicago’s list of 30 Under 30 top classical musicians and has been profiled by The Strad and BBC Music magazines. He performs internationally as a member of Chamber Music Society Two, at the Music@Menlo, Marlboro, Bad Kissingen, Malaga, and Ravinia festivals. A top prizewinner of the Primrose and Tertis International Viola Competitions, he received his bachelor's and master's degrees from The Juilliard School, where he continues to serve as teaching assistant to Heidi Castleman, and is mentored by Tabea Zimmermann in Kronberg, Germany. A native of Chicago, Mr. Lipman performs on a 1700 Matteo Goffriller viola loaned through the generous efforts of the RBP Foundation.

Dmitri Atapine has been described as a cellist with "brilliant technical chops" (Gramophone), whose playing is "highly impressive throughout" (The Strad). He has appeared on some of the world's foremost stages, including Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Zankel and Weill halls at Carnegie Hall, and the National Auditorium of Spain. An avid chamber musician, he has previously performed with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and his frequent festival appearances have included Music@Menlo, La Musica Sarasota, Pacific, Aldeburgh, Aix-en-Provence, Nevada, and Cactus Pear, with performances broadcast in Spain, Italy, the US, Canada, Mexico, and South Korea. His multiple awards include the first prize at the Carlos Prieto Cello Competition, as well as top honors at the Premio Vittorio Gui and Plowman chamber competitions. Mr. Atapine holds a doctorate from the Yale School of Music, where he was a student of Aldo Parisot. The artistic director of Apex Concerts and Ribadesella Chamber Music Festival, he is the cello professor at the University of Nevada, Reno and a member of Chamber Music Society Two.

Remaining SCMC Concerts for the 2017 / 2018 Season

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Works of Brahms and Dvořák – January 18, 2018 / A section $43 / B section $38

Mozart, Weber and Brahms – April 19, 2018 / A section $43 / B section $38

Jazz Series 

Gregory Porter – February 22, 2018 / A section $45 / B section $40

Kurt Elling – March 22, 2018 / A section $45  / B section $40

Acoustic Café Series

Judy Collins - February 1, 2018 / A section $55 / B section $45

Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn – February 23, 2018 / A section $50 / B section $45

Asleep at the Wheel – April 12, 2018 / A section $40 / B section $35

Special event

John Proulx CD Release Concert and Party – February 25, 2018

A section $30 (includes a copy of new release) / B section $20

St. Cecilia Music Center’s mission is to promote the study, appreciation and 

performance of music in order to enrich the lives of West Michigan residents. 

The Center fulfills this mission by 

presenting visiting world-class artists in concert, 

providing music education for all ages through our School of Music and 

preserving a historic building for musical activities and community events