Sonic Spectrum II
This event has passedThu, Jan 18, 2024, 7:30 pm
Daniel and Joanna S. Rose Studio at CMS
90 minutes, no intermission
Program
Jessie Montgomery
(b. 1981)Musings for Two Violins
(2023)Lera Auerbach
(b. 1973)Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano, Op. 63, “September 11”
(2001)Chris Rogerson
(b. 1988)Afterword for Two Violins and Piano
(2020)Kaija Saariaho
(1952–2023)Light and Matter for Piano, Violin, and Cello
(2014)
Mika Sasaki
Paul Huang
Danbi Um
Nicholas Canellakis
Pianist Mika Sasaki is a soloist, chamber musician, and educator whose performances have taken her around the world. Her performances have been broadcasted on WQXR, WFMT, WCRB, KQAC, Vermont Public, and Radio Sweden. She has appeared as concerto soloist with the Sinfonia of Cambridge, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, 92Y Orchestra, and, more recently, with the InterSchool Symphony Orchestra of New York. She is a member of Ensemble Mélange, Chameleon Arts Ensemble of Boston, and Decoda, and has performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Manhattan Chamber Players, Orpheus, and A Far Cry, as well as in festivals such as Tanglewood, Chigiana, Yellow Barn, Taos, Chamber Music Northwest, and Music@Menlo. An alum of the Peabody Conservatory, Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect, and the Juilliard School, Sasaki is now a faculty member at Juilliard.
Recipient of a 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant and a 2017 Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists, violinist Paul Huang’s recent appearances included the Detroit Symphony, Rotterdam and Seoul philharmonics, and the BBC, San Francisco, Dallas, Baltimore, Houston, San Diego and NHK symphonies. In the 2025–26 season, he debuts with London Philharmonic, Tampere Philharmonia, Naples and Rochester philharmonics, and returns to Rotterdam Philharmonic, National Symphony of Taiwan, and North Carolina, Colorado, Pacific, and Vancouver symphonies. In fall 2021, he became the first classical violinist to perform his own arrangement of the US national anthem for the opening game of the NFL to an audience of 75,000. His recent recital appearances included those at the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Aspen, and Lucerne Festivals. He plays on the legendary 1742 ex-Wieniawski Guarneri del Gesù on loan through the Stradivari Society of Chicago.
Praised by The Strad as an “utterly dazzling” artist, violinist Danbi Um appears internationally as a concerto soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. She is a Silver Medalist at the Menuhin International Violin Competition, prizewinner of the Michael Hill International Violin Competition and the Naumburg International Violin Competition, and recipient of the Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant. In 2026, she was appointed Assistant Professor of Violin at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Recent and upcoming engagements include performances with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the Ridgewood Symphony, and the Phillips Collection. Her second album, Poème Mystique, recorded with pianist Juho Pohjonen, was released in February 2025. Her principal teachers include Shmuel Ashkenasi, Joseph Silverstein, Jaime Laredo, and Hagai Shaham. An alum of CMS’s Bowers Program and a winner of Astral Artists’ National Auditions, she performs on the 1683 “ex-Petschek” Nicolò Amati violin, generously loaned by a private collection.
Nicholas Canellakis has become one of the most sought-after and innovative cellists of his generation, praised in the New Yorker as a “superb young soloist.” Recent highlights include solo debuts with the Virginia, Albany, Bangor, and Delaware symphony orchestras; concerto appearances with the Erie Philharmonic, the New Haven Symphony, and the American Symphony Orchestra; Europe and Asia tours with CMS; and recitals throughout the US with his longtime duo collaborator, pianist-composer Michael Stephen Brown. An alum of CMS’s Bowers Program, he is a regular guest artist at many of the world’s leading music festivals. Canellakis is the Artistic Director of Chamber Music Sedona in Arizona and is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music (where he was recently appointed to the cello faculty) and New England Conservatory.