New York, NY
Peoples’ Symphony ConcertsSat, Apr 5, 2025, 7:30 pm
Washington Irving High School
Program
Ludwig van Beethoven
(1770–1827)Sonata in G minor for Cello and Piano, Op. 5, No. 2
(1796)Maurice Ravel
(1875–1937)Sonata for Violin and Cello
(1920–22)Robert Schumann
(1810–1856)Trio No. 1 in D minor for Piano, Violin, and Cello, Op. 63
(1847)
Michael Stephen Brown
Danbi Um
Nicholas Canellakis
Michael Stephen Brown is a composer and pianist hailed by the New York Times as “one of the leading figures in the current renaissance of performer-composers.” A 2025 MacDowell Fellow, 2024 Yaddo Artist, and winner of Lincoln Center’s Emerging Artist Award and an Avery Fisher Career Grant, Michael performs internationally and receives commissions from orchestras, soloists, and festivals around the world. Recent highlights include a recital at Alice Tully Hall for CMS, collaborations with cellist Nicholas Canellakis and violinists Pinchas Zukerman, Kristin Lee, and Arnaud Sussmann, and an Asia recital tour. Currently he is composing The Magical Carnival, a CMS-led project co-presented by a consortium of US presenters. His first album devoted entirely to his music, Twelve Blocks, will be released in fall 2025. He is the composer for Angeline Gragasin’s upcoming film Look But Don't Touch. An alum of CMS’s Bowers Program, Michael lives in New York City and Wallkill, New York, with his two 19th-century Steinways, Octavia and Daria.
Praised by The Strad as an “utterly dazzling” artist, violinist Danbi Um captivates audiences with her virtuosity, individual sound, and interpretive sensitivity. She is a Menuhin International Violin Competition Silver Medalist, a winner of the prestigious 2018 Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant, and a top prizewinner of the Naumburg International Violin Competition. Recent and upcoming engagements include appearances with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia and her Washington, DC, recital debut at the Phillips Collection. This season will also see Ms. Um's return to People's Symphony, Saratoga Performing Arts (SPAC), Santa Fe, North Shore Music Festivals, as well as La Musica Festival (Sarasota). Her debut album, Much Ado: Romantic Violin Masterworks, was released in fall 2023. Past concerto engagements include appearances with the Israel Symphony, Auckland Philharmonic, Vermont Symphony, and Dartmouth Symphony. Born in Seoul, South Korea, Ms. Um moved to the United States to study at the Curtis Institute of Music, where she earned a bachelor’s degree. She also holds an Artist Diploma from Indiana University. Her teachers have included Shmuel Ashkenasi, Joseph Silverstein, Jaime Laredo, and Hagai Shaham. She is an alum of CMS’s Bowers Program and plays a 1683 “ex-Petschek” Nicolo Amati violin, on loan from 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.