Vivaldi's Four Seasons
Sat, Dec 6, 2025, 7:30 pm & Sun, Dec 7, 2025, 5:00 pm
Alice Tully Hall
2 hours, including intermission
The Baroque era opened the door for the violin to emerge as a defining voice in music. This program features an all-star cast of CMS violinists performing thrilling solo roles in Baroque concertos, including Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, one of the earliest examples of program music. Linked to sonnets possibly written by Vivaldi himself, the works depict the seasons through musical suggestions of babbling brooks, thunder and lightning, blasts of winter wind, and birdsong.
Program
Georg Philipp Telemann
(1681–1767)Fantasia No. 10 in D major for Violin, TWV 40:23
(1735)George Frideric Handel
(1685–1759)Sonata in A major for Violin and Continuo, Op. 1, No. 3
(c. 1725-26)Arcangelo Corelli
(1653-1713)Concerto Grosso in D major for Strings and Continuo, Op. 6, No. 4
(published 1714)Johann Sebastian Bach
(1685–1750)Concerto in E major for Violin, Strings, and Continuo, BWV 1042
(before 1730)Antonio Vivaldi
(1678–1741)The Four Seasons, Op. 8 No. 1-4
(1725)Paolo Bordignon
Chad Hoopes
Kristin Lee
Richard Lin
Julian Rhee
Arnaud Sussmann
Milena Pájaro-van de Stadt
James Thompson
Edward Arron
Anthony Manzo
Paolo Bordignon is harpsichordist of the New York Philharmonic and organist and choirmaster of St. Bartholomew’s Church, Park Avenue. 2022–23 appearances include concertos with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the American Symphony Orchestra, and performances with Camerata Pacifica, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Mark Morris Dance Company, and The Knights. He has recently performed with the MET Orchestra Musicians, Boston Symphony Chamber Players, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, All-Star Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, and ECCO. He has appeared on NBC, CBS, PBS Great Performances, CNN, NPR (including Pipedreams and Performance Today), the CBC, and on Korean and Japanese national television. He has also appeared in solo performance for New York Fashion Week. Born in Toronto of Italian heritage, Bordignon attended St. Michael’s Cathedral Choir School before attending the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He is an Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Music and a Fellow of the Royal Canadian College of Organists, and he earned master’s and doctoral degrees from the Juilliard School.
American violinist Chad Hoopes is a consistent and versatile performer with the world’s leading orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, l’Orchestre de Paris, l’Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, and the Minnesota and National Arts Centre orchestras, as well the San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Houston, and National symphonies. An alum of CMS’s Bowers Program, he performs regularly on tour and at Alice Tully Hall with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He has been a guest of the Moritzburg Festival, Rheingau Musik Festival, and Aspen Music Festival, and has been featured on recordings including the recent Moritzburg Festival Dvořák album with cellist Jan Vogler, released by Sony Classical, and with the MDR Leipzig and conductor Kristjan Järvi performing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto on the Naïve label. He has performed in recital at the Ravinia Festival, the Tonhalle Zürich, and the Louvre, as well as on Lincoln Center’s Great Performers series. He is a 2017 recipient of Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Career Grant and appeared as the cover feature on the November 2021 edition of The Strad. Hoopes attended the Cleveland Institute of Music before studying with Ana Chumachenco at the Kronberg Academy. He plays the 1991 Samuel Zygmuntowicz, ex Isaac Stern violin.
Kristin Lee is a violinist of remarkable versatility and impeccable technique who enjoys a vibrant career as a soloist, chamber musician, educator, and artistic director. As a soloist, Lee has appeared with leading orchestras including the Philadelphia Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Hawai’i Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Ural Philharmonic of Russia, Korean Broadcasting Symphony, Guiyang Symphony Orchestra of China, and Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional of the Dominican Republic. She has performed on the world’s finest concert stages, including those of Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, the Kennedy Center, Kimmel Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Ravinia Festival, the Louvre Museum, the Phillips Collection, and Korea’s Kumho Art Gallery. In addition to her prolific performance career, Lee is on the faculty of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music as Assistant Professor of Violin, and she is also the Founding Artistic Director of Emerald City Music (ECM). Her honors include an Avery Fisher Career Grant, top prizes in the Walter W. Naumburg Competition and the Astral Artists National Auditions, and awards from the Trondheim Chamber Music Competition, the Trio di Trieste Premio International Competition, the SYLFF Fellowship, the Dorothy DeLay Scholarship, the Aspen Music Festival’s Violin Competition, the New Jersey Young Artists’ Competition, and the Salon de Virtuosi Scholarship Foundation. Lee’s violin was crafted in Naples in 1759 by Gennaro Gagliano and is generously loaned to her by Paul and Linda Gridley.
Taiwanese-American violinist Richard Lin continues to gain international prominence since his Gold Medal prize at the 2018 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. Following his June 2022 Carnegie Hall Stern Auditorium recital debut, New York Concert Review asserted, “Richard Lin. Remember the name. For he has everything required to take the world by storm.” He has collaborated with numerous orchestras and performed at celebrated concert venues throughout Asia, Europe, and the United States. He is a laureate of the Sendai, Joseph Joachim, Singapore, and Michael Hill International Violin competitions and has just joined the faculty of the National Taipei University of Education. He opened the 2022–23 season as soloist with the Chippewa Valley Symphony and Hong Kong Sinfonietta. He appeared in recitals in Indianapolis, Washington, DC, and Baton Rouge. Passionate about chamber music, he continues to perform with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, at many music festivals, and on tours of Asia. In the spring of 2023, he released a new album with pianist Thomas Hoppe on the Azica label featuring his Carnegie Hall program with works by Vitali, Richard Strauss, John Corigliano, and Frolov. Born in Phoenix, Arizona, and raised in Taiwan, Lin graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School, where he studied with Aaron Rosand and Lewis Kaplan, respectively.
Winner of the prestigious 2024 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Korean-American violinist Julian Rhee has enthralled listeners internationally, praised for his refinement and beauty of sound, and “the kind of poise and showmanship that thrills audiences” (The Strad). Rhee came to international prominence following his prize-winning performances at the 2024Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competition and the 11th Quadrennial International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. He has appeared with orchestras including the Milwaukee Symphony, Belgian National Orchestra, Antwerp Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Richmond Symphony, and San Diego Symphony alongside conductors such as Francesco Lecce-Chong, Valentina Peleggi, Antony Hermus, Leonard Slatkin, and Rune Bergmann. Equally passionate about chamber music, Rhee is a member of CMS’s Bowers Program. He has performed at festivals including the Ravinia Steans Institute, Marlboro Music, and North Shore Chamber Music Festival, performing alongside esteemed musicians such as Vadim Gluzman, Jonathan Biss, and Mitsuko Uchida. Rhee received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the New England Conservatory, and currently studies with Christian Tetzlaff at the Kronberg Academy. He is the recipient of the outstanding 1699 “Lady Tennant” Antonio Stradivari violin and a Jean Pierre Marie Persoit bow on extended loan through the generosity of the Mary B. Galvin Foundation and the Stradivari Society.
Winner of a 2009 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Arnaud Sussmann has distinguished himself with his unique sound, bravura, and profound musicianship. Minnesota’s Pioneer Press writes, “Sussmann has an old-school sound reminiscent of what you'll hear on vintage recordings by Jascha Heifetz or Fritz Kreisler, a rare combination of sweet and smooth that can hypnotize a listener.” A thrilling musician capturing the attention of classical critics and audiences around the world, he has recently appeared as a soloist with the Vancouver Symphony and the New World Symphony. As a chamber musician, he has performed at the Tel Aviv Museum in Israel, London’s Wigmore Hall, Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, the Dresden Music Festival in Germany, and the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC. He has been presented in recital in Omaha on the Tuesday Musical Club series, in New Orleans by the Friends of Music, and at the Louvre Museum in Paris. He has also given concerts at the OK Mozart, Moritzburg, Caramoor, Music@Menlo, La Jolla SummerFest, Mainly Mozart, Seattle Chamber Music, Chamber Music Northwest, and Moab Music festivals. He has performed with many of today’s leading artists including Itzhak Perlman, Menahem Pressler, Gary Hoffman, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Wu Han, David Finckel, and Jan Vogler. An alum of CMS’s Bowers Program, Sussmann is Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach and Co-Director of Music@Menlo’s International Program, and teaches at Stony Brook University. In September 2022, Sussmann was named Founding Artistic Director of the Boscobel Chamber Music Festival.
Violist Milena Pájaro-van de Stadt has established herself as one of the most sought-after violists of her generation. In addition to appearing as soloist with the Tokyo Philharmonic, the Jacksonville Symphony, and the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra, she has performed in recitals and chamber-music concerts throughout the United States, Latin America, Europe, and Asia, including an acclaimed 2011 debut recital at London’s Wigmore Hall. She was the founding violist of the Dover Quartet, and played in the group from 2008 to 2022. In 2013 the Dover Quartet was the first-prize winner and recipient of every special award at the Banff International String Quartet Competition, and won the gold medal and grand prize in the 2010 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. Her numerous awards also include first prize of the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition and top prizes at the Sphinx Competition and Tokyo International Viola Competition. While in the Dover Quartet, she was on faculty at Curtis Institute of Music and Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, and a part of the Quartet in Residence of the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. A violin student of Sergiu Schwartz and Melissa Pierson-Barrett for several years, she began studying viola with Michael Klotz at the Bowdoin International Music Festival in 2005. Pájaro-van de Stadt graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Roberto Diaz, Michael Tree, Misha Amory, and Joseph de Pasquale. She then received her master’s degree at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, as a student of James Dunham.
Violinist James Thompson enjoys a multifaceted career as a chamber musician, soloist, educator, and lecturer. He is currently on faculty at Music@Menlo and has been a member of CMS’s Bowers Program since 2021. He has performed for prestigious chamber music organizations across the country, including the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Music@Menlo, the Four Arts Society, Parlance Chamber Concerts, the Perlman Music Program, and the Taos School of Music. Solo engagements include appearances with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, the Cleveland Pops Orchestra, and the Blue Water Chamber Orchestra. He was invited to perform in Budapest as part of the First Bartók World Competition and in Sendai for the Seventh Sendai International Violin Competition. Recently, his abilities as a presenter have earned him invitations to speak at a variety of established concert series. His multimedia live interview with the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, hosted by CMS, was a highlight of his 2021–22 season. Alongside his career on stage, he is forming a strong reputation as a private instructor and chamber music coach, and has recently served as a teaching fellow at both the Encore Chamber Music Festival and the Western Reserve Chamber Music Festival. Thompson holds bachelor’s, master’s, and artist diploma degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music; his primary teachers include Jaime Laredo, William Preucil, and Paul Kantor.
Cellist Edward Arron has garnered recognition worldwide for his elegant musicianship, impassioned performances, and creative programming. The 2023–24 season marks his 12th year as the co-artistic director with his wife, pianist Jeewon Park, of the Performing Artists in Residence series at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts. In May 2022, he stepped down after 15 years as the artistic director and host of the acclaimed Musical Masterworks concert series in Old Lyme, Connecticut. He tours and records as a member of the renowned Ehnes Quartet, and appears regularly at the Caramoor International Music Festival, where he has been a resident performer and curator of chamber music concerts for over 25 years. In 2013 he completed a ten-year residency as the artistic director of the Metropolitan Museum Artists in Concert, a chamber music series created in 2003 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the museum’s prestigious Concerts and Lectures series. In January 2021, his recording of Beethoven’s Complete Works for Cello and Piano with Jeewon Park was released on the Aeolian Classics Record Label. The recording received the Samuel Sanders Collaborative Artists Award from the Classical Recording Foundation. He has participated in Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project as well as Isaac Stern’s Jerusalem Chamber Music Encounters. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Arron studied in New York with Peter Wiley. He is a graduate of the Juilliard School, where he was a student of Harvey Shapiro. He has served on the faculty at University of Massachusetts Amherst since 2016.
Anthony Manzo’s vibrantly interactive and highly communicative music-making has made him a ubiquitous figure in the upper echelons of classical music, performing at noted venues including Lincoln Center, Boston’s Symphony Hall, and the Spoleto Festival in Charleston. He appears regularly with the Chamber Music Society, both in New York and across the country. He serves as the solo bassist of San Francisco’s New Century Chamber Orchestra and as a guest with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and A Far Cry. He is a regular guest with the National Symphony Orchestra, the Smithsonian Chamber Society, and the Baltimore Symphony when he happens to be near his home in Washington, DC. Formerly the solo bassist of the Munich Chamber Orchestra in Germany, he has also been guest principal with Camerata Salzburg in Austria, where collaborations have included a summer residency at the Salzburg Festival and two tours as soloist alongside bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff, performing Mozart’s “Per questa bella mano.” He is an active performer on period instruments, with groups including the Handel & Haydn Society of Boston (where his playing was lauded as “endowed with beautiful and unexpected plaintiveness” by the Boston Musical Intelligencer), Philharmonia Baroque in San Francisco, and Opera Lafayette in Washington, DC. He is on the double bass and chamber music faculty of the University of Maryland. Manzo performs on a double bass made around 1890 by Jérôme Thibouville-Lamy in Paris (which now has a removable neck for travel!).