Sonic Spectrum II
Thu, Jan 21, 2027, 7:30 pm
Daniel and Joanna S. Rose Studio at CMS
90 minutes, no intermission
Experience music of the late 20th and 21st centuries, including premieres, in the intimate setting of the Rose Studio at CMS. Designed in collaboration with CMS artists, Sonic Spectrum concerts are an opportunity to hear the boundaries of chamber music expanded in real time.
Program
John Adams
(b. 1947)Road Movies for Violin and Piano
(1995)George Tsontakis
(b. 1951)Selections from Knickknacks for Violin and Viola
(2001)Benjamin Scheer
These Shrouded Hills for Piano, Violin, Viola, and Cello
(2025) (New York Premiere)Timo Andres
(b. 1985)Quintet for Piano, Two Violins, Viola, and Cello
(2012)
Gloria Chien
Chad Hoopes
Bella Hristova
Laura Liu
Jonathan Swensen
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.
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.
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.
Violist Laura Liu, a native of Miami, Florida, currently lives in New York City and studies with Cynthia Phelps and Misha Amory. Liu, hailed by Classical Voice America as a “standout” with “sound deep, warm, and consistently musical,” participated this summer as a Junior Artist at Marlboro Music Festival. Previously, she took part in the Verbier Festival Academy, where she won the Edwin Caplin Foundation Award. Her ardent love of collaboration led her to join the Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach’s Rising Artist Program, Sunkiss’d Mozart Summerfest, Kronberg’s Chamber Music Connects the World, OlympicMusic Festival’s Fellowship, Music@Menlo’s International Performer’s Program, Perlman Music Program’s Chamber Workshop, Taos School of Music, Kneisel Hall, and Heifetz International Music Institute. Liu recently earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees as a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship at the Juilliard School. She is currently pursuing her Artist Diploma, also at Juilliard.
Cellist Jonathan Swensen is the recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant and joint first prize of the Naumburg International Cello Competition, and was featured as “One to Watch” in Gramophone. He made his concerto debut performing the Elgar Concerto with Portugal’s Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música, and has performed with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, Copenhagen Philharmonic, Mobile Symphony, Greenville Symphony, and the Aarhus, Odense, and Iceland symphonies. He has captured first prizes at the Windsor International String Competition, Khachaturian International Cello Competition, and the Young Concert Artists International Auditions. A graduate of the Royal Danish Academy of Music, Swensen continued his studies with Torleif Thedéen at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo and Laurence Lesser at New England Conservatory, where he received his Artist Diploma. He is now an Artist in Residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel working with Gary Hoffman, and a member of CMS’s Bowers Program.