This program offers an intimate journey through the heart of chamber music, blending Romantic lyricism and classical elegance. Glière’s Ten Duos for Two Cellos highlights a rich interplay of resonant melodies between the two instruments. Amy Beach’s Romance for Violin and Piano envelops listeners in lush, lyrical beauty, while Schumann’s Märchenbilder paints a series of fantastical scenes for viola and piano. The program concludes with Beethoven’s Piano Quartet in E-flat major, a work that embodies both balance and charm. It marks a transitional moment in Beethoven’s career, bridging the Classical elegance of his early works with the bold, expressive style that would define his Romantic-era compositions.
Program
Reinhold Glière
(1875–1956)Selections from Ten Duos for Two Cellos, Op. 53
(1911)Amy Beach
(1867–1944)Romance for Violin and Piano, Op. 23
(1893)Robert Schumann
(1810–1856)Märchenbilder for Viola and Piano, Op. 113
(1851)Ludwig van Beethoven
(1770–1827)Quartet in E-flat major for Piano, Violin, Viola, and Cello, Op. 16
(1796, rev. 1810)
Hyeyeon Park
Aaron Boyd
Milena Pájaro-van de Stadt
David Finckel
Dmitri Atapine
Described as “a pianist with power, precision, and tremendous glee” (Gramophone) and praised for her "very sensitive" (Washington Post) playing, Hyeyeon Park has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician on major concert stages around the world, performing with orchestras such as the Seoul Philharmonic, KNUA Symphony Orchestra, Incheon Philharmonic, Gangnam Symphony, and Seoul Festival Orchestra. A Seoul Arts Center “Artist of the Year” in 2012, she is also a prizewinner of numerous international competitions, including Oberlin, Ettlingen, Hugo Kauder, Prix Amadèo, Corpus Christi, Vittorio Gui, and Plowman. She has appeared on such stages as the Philips Collection, Zankel Hall, Merkin Recital Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Seoul Arts Center. As an active chamber musician, she has performed at festivals including Music@Menlo, Chamber Music Northwest, Yellow Barn, and Santander. She released a critically acclaimed world-premiere recording of Lowell Liebermann’s works for cello and piano, and her solo CD Klavier 1853 was released in 2017. She holds a doctorate degree from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, and degrees from Yale School of Music and Korea National University of Arts. She counts among her teachers Peter Frankl, Claude Frank, Yong Hi Moon and Daejin Kim. Park is artistic co-director of Apex Concerts (Nevada), co-director of Young Performers Program at Music@Menlo and piano professor at the University of Nevada, Reno.
Violinist Aaron Boyd enjoys a versatile career as soloist, chamber musician, orchestral leader, recording artist, lecturer, and teacher. Since making his New York recital debut in 1998, he has concertized throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. Formerly a member of the Escher String Quartet, he was a recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant and the Martin E. Segal prize from Lincoln Center, and was also awarded a Proclamation by the City of Pittsburgh for his musical accomplishments. A passionate advocate for new music, he has been involved in numerous commissions and premieres, and has worked directly with such legendary composers as Milton Babbitt, Elliott Carter, and Charles Wuorinen. He is also founder of the Zukofsky Quartet (quartet-in-residence at Bargemusic); the only ensemble to have played all of Milton Babbitt's notoriously difficult string quartets. As a recording artist, he can be heard on the BIS, Music@Menlo Live, Naxos, Tzadik, North/South and Innova labels. He has been broadcast in concert by NPR, WQXR, and WQED, and was profiled by Arizona Public Television. Born in Pittsburgh, Mr. Boyd began his studies with Samuel LaRocca and Eugene Phillips and graduated from The Juilliard School where he studied with Sally Thomas and coached extensively with Paul Zukofsky and cellist Harvey Shapiro. He now serves as Director of Chamber Music and Professor of Practice in Violin at the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University and lives in Dallas with his wife Yuko, daughter Ayu, and son Yuki.
Violist Milena Pájaro-van de Stadt has appeared as soloist with the Tokyo Philharmonic, the Jacksonville Symphony, and the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra, and has performed in recitals and chamber music concerts throughout the United States, Latin America, Europe, and Asia, including an acclaimed 2011 debut recital at London’s Wigmore Hall. She was the founding violist of the Dover Quartet, and played in the group from 2008 to 2022. In 2013 the Dover Quartet was the first-prize winner and recipient of every special award at the Banff International String Quartet Competition, and won the gold medal and grand prize in the 2010 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. Her numerous awards also include first prize of the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition and top prizes at the Sphinx Competition and Tokyo International Viola Competition. Pájaro-van de Stadt has degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music and Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music.
Co-Artistic Director of CMS since 2004, cellist David Finckel’s dynamic musical career has included performances on the world’s stages in the roles of recitalist, chamber artist, and orchestral soloist. The first American student of Mstislav Rostropovich, he joined the Emerson String Quartet in 1979, and during 34 seasons garnered nine Grammy Awards and the Avery Fisher Prize. His quartet performances and recordings include quartet cycles of Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Dvorák, Brahms, Bartók, and Shostakovich, as well as collaborative masterpieces and commissioned works. In 1997, he and pianist Wu Han founded ArtistLed, the first internet-based, artist-controlled classical recording label. ArtistLed’s catalog of more than 20 releases includes the standard literature for cello and piano, plus works composed for the duo by George Tsontakis, Gabriela Lena Frank, Bruce Adolphe, Lera Auerbach, Edwin Finckel, Augusta Read Thomas, and Pierre Jalbert. In 2022, Music@Menlo, an innovative summer chamber music festival in Silicon Valley founded and directed by David and Wu Han, celebrated its 20th season. As a young student, David was winner of the Philadelphia Orchestra’s junior and senior divisions, resulting in two performances with the orchestra. Having taught extensively with the late Isaac Stern in America, Israel, and Japan, he is currently a professor at both the Juilliard School and Stony Brook University, and oversees both CMS’s Bowers Program and Music@Menlo’s Chamber Music Institute. David’s 100 online Cello Talks, lessons on cello technique, are viewed by an international audience of musicians. Along with Wu Han, he was the recipient of Musical America’s 2012 Musicians of the Year Award.
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.