Bach and Sons: Passing the Torch
Fri, Dec 11, 2026, 7:30 pm
Alice Tully Hall
2 hours, including intermission
With the death of Johann Sebastian Bach in 1750, shortly after he completed his Musical Offering, the Baroque era began transitioning to the Classical style. Among its leaders were Bach’s immensely talented sons, whose works in this program pay respect to tradition while establishing a fresh, popular musical aesthetic.
Program
Johann Sebastian Bach
(1685–1750)A Musical Offering, BWV 1079
(1747)Johann Christian Bach
(1735-1782)Quintet in C major for Flute, Oboe, Violin, Viola, and Continuo, Op. 11, No. 1
(1772)Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
(1714–1788)Fantasia in F-sharp minor for Violin and Harpsichord, H. 536
(1787)Wilhelm Friedemann Bach
(1710–1784)Chorale Prelude on Christe, der du bist Tag und Licht, F. 38, No. 2
Johann Sebastian Bach
(1685–1750)Fourteen Canons on the "Goldberg" Variations, BWV 1087
(arr. Weiss) (1747-48)
Kenneth Weiss
Bella Hristova
Sean Lee
Matthew Lipman
Dmitri Atapine
Sooyun Kim
James Austin Smith
Born in New York, Kenneth Weiss began his musical studies on piano. After attending the High School of Performing Arts he entered the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. It was through his studies on organ and harpsichord that he became aware of the vast early keyboard repertoire and decided to devote his professional life to it. He continued his studies with Gustav Leonhardt at the Amsterdam Conservatory and in 1985 settled in France, where he is still based today. Kenneth Weiss has worked as an accompanist, vocal coach, opera continuist, chamber musician, conductor, and soloist for several decades, performing extensively in Europe, North America, and Asia. A dedicated teacher, he is currently professor of chamber music at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris.
Acclaimed for her passionate, powerful performances, beautiful sound, and compelling command of her instrument, violinist Bella Hristova has appeared as a soloist with orchestras across the US, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and New Zealand. She was the featured soloist for an eight-orchestra concerto commission, written by her husband, composer David Serkin Ludwig, and recently recorded it with the Buffalo Philharmonic and JoAnn Falletta. Her discography also includes the complete Beethoven and Brahms sonatas with pianist Michael Houstoun. A champion of new music, her project Lineage features six new solo violin commissions by Dai Wei, Gloria Kravchenko, Nokuthula Ngwenyama, Eunike Tanzil, Joan Tower, and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. She is a recipient of a 2013 Avery Fisher Career Grant and first-prize winner of the Michael Hill and YCA competitions. Hristova studied with Ida Kavafian and Jaime Laredo, is an alum of CMS’s Bowers Program, and plays a 1655 Nicolò Amati violin.
With performances described by the New York Times as “breathtakingly beautiful,” violinist Sean Lee has performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center for over a decade, following his participation in CMS’s Bowers Program. A recipient of Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Career Grant, Lee has performed as a soloist with orchestras including the San Francisco Symphony, Jerusalem Symphony, and Orchestra del Teatro Carlo Felice. Originally from Los Angeles, Lee studied with Robert Lipsett of the Colburn Conservatory and legendary violinist Ruggiero Ricci before studying at the Juilliard School with his longtime mentor, violinist Itzhak Perlman. Lee performs on violins made by Samuel Zygmuntowicz in 1995 and David Bague in 1999, and a bow made circa 1890 by Joseph Arthur Vigneron.
American violist Matthew Lipman has made recent appearances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, American Symphony Orchestra, Munich Symphony Orchestra, and Minnesota Orchestra. He has performed recitals at Carnegie Hall and the Zürich Tonhalle, and has recorded on the Sony, Deutsche Grammophon, Cedille, and Avie labels. An alum of CMS’s Bowers Program, he performs regularly on tour and at Alice Tully Hall with CMS. An Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient and major prize winner at the Primrose and Tertis International Viola Competitions, Lipman is on faculty at Stony Brook University. He performs on a 2021 Samuel Zygmuntowicz viola.
Cellist Dmitri Atapine has been praised for his “brilliant technical chops” (Gramophone) and performances that are “highly impressive throughout” (The Strad). He has appeared at leading venues worldwide and performs frequently with CMS, where he is an alum of the Bowers Program. He has been featured at festivals including Music@Menlo, La Musica Sarasota, Aldeburgh, and Aix-en-Provence. His recordings appear on Naxos, Bridge, MSR, and other labels, and include a world-premiere release of cello sonatas by Lowell Liebermann. He has received awards including first prize at the Carlos Prieto Cello Competition and top honors at the Premio Vittorio Gui and Plowman competitions. He holds a doctorate from the Yale School of Music, where he studied with Aldo Parisot. Atapine is cello professor at the University of Nevada, Reno; Artistic Co-Director of Friends of Chamber Music Kansas City; founder of Apex Concerts (Nevada); and Co-Director of Music@Menlo’s Young Performers Program.
Since her concerto debut with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, flutist Sooyun Kim has enjoyed a flourishing career performing with orchestras, including the Bavarian Radio Symphony, Munich Philharmonic, Munich Chamber Orchestra, and Boston Pops. She has appeared in recital in Budapest’s Liszt Hall, Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center, and the Louvre Museum in Paris. She is a winner of the Georg Solti Foundation Career Grant and ARD International Flute Competition. An alum of CMS’s Bowers Program, she studied at the New England Conservatory under the tutelage of Paula Robison. She is recently appointed Assistant Professor of Flute at University Cincinnati College-Conservatory and teaches summer courses at Orford Musique. Kim plays on a rare 18-karat gold flute made especially for her by Verne Q. Powell Flutes and has recorded for labels including ArtistLed, Naxos, Toccata Classics, and BR-Klassik. Her album Confluence was released to great acclaim in 2025 on the Musica Solis label.
Performer, curator, and on-stage host James Austin Smith “proves that an oboist can have an adventurous solo career” (The New Yorker). Smith appears at leading national and international chamber music festivals, as Co-Principal Oboe of the conductor-less Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and as an artist of the International Contemporary Ensemble. As Artistic and Executive Director of Tertulia Chamber Music, Smith creates intimate evenings of music, food, and drink in New York and San Francisco, as well as an annual festival in a variety of global destinations. He serves as Artistic Advisor to Coast Live Music in the San Francisco Bay Area and mentors graduate-level musicians as a professor of oboe and chamber music at Stony Brook University and as a regular guest at London's Guildhall School. A Fulbright scholar and alum of Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect and CMS’s Bowers Program, he holds degrees in music and political science from Northwestern and Yale University.
