Bella Hristova & Gloria Chien
Thu, Oct 15, 2026, 7:30 pm
Daniel and Joanna S. Rose Studio at CMS
1 hour 45 minutes, including intermission
The timeless art of the recital lives on thanks to present-day virtuosos. Experience the musical journeys curated by this season's thrilling performers.
Program
Igor Stravinsky
(1882–1971)Divertimento after Le baiser de la fée for Violin and Piano
(1928, arr. 1934)Olivier Messiaen
(1908–1992)Thème et variations for Violin and Piano
(1932)Pancho Vladigerov
(1899-1978)"Horo" from Two Bulgarian Paraphrases for Violin and Piano, Op. 18, No. 1
(1925)Eunike Tanzil
(b. 1998)New work for Violin
(World Premiere) (CMS Co-Commission)Sergei Prokofiev
(1891–1953)Sonata No. 1 in F minor for Violin and Piano, Op. 80
(1938-46)
Bella Hristova
Gloria Chien
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.
Pianist Gloria Chien has a diverse musical life as a performer, concert presenter, and educator. She made her orchestral debut at age 16 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Thomas Dausgaard. In 2009 she launched String Theory, a chamber music series in Chattanooga, and the following year was appointed Director of the Chamber Music Institute at Music@Menlo. In 2017, she joined her husband, violinist Soovin Kim, as Co-Artistic Director of the Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival in Burlington, Vermont. The duo became Artistic Directors at Chamber Music Northwest in 2020, and were named the recipients of the 2021 Award for Extraordinary Service to Chamber Music from CMS. Ms. Chien received her bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees from New England Conservatory, where she was named the Advisor for the prestigious Institute for Concert Artists in 2024. She is an artist-in-residence at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee; a Steinway Artist; and an alum of CMS’s Bowers Program.