This program offers a delightful blend of passion, vitality, and elegance. It begins with Beethoven’s Spring Sonata, a bright and uplifting violin-piano duet that practically radiates optimism, evoking the fresh spirit and renewal of the spring season. Next, Lili Boulanger’s Three Pieces for Cello and Piano bring a touch of introspective beauty, while Tchaikovsky’s Pezzo capriccioso captivates with its mix of profound feeling and dazzling virtuosity. After intermission, the program builds to Fauré’s Piano Quartet No. 2, a deeply personal and dramatic work that lets the piano shimmer with delicate textures while the strings engage in a passionate interplay.
Program
Ludwig van Beethoven
(1770–1827)Sonata in F major for Violin and Piano, Op. 24, “Spring”
(1800–01)Nadia Boulanger
(1887-1979)Three Pieces for Cello and Piano
(1914)Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
(1840–1893)Pezzo capriccioso for Cello and Piano, Op. 62
(1887)Gabriel Fauré
(1845–1924)Quartet No. 2 in G minor for Piano, Violin, Viola, and Cello, Op. 45
(1885-86)
Gloria Chien
Hyeyeon Park
Bella Hristova
Kristin Lee
Milena Pájaro-van de Stadt
Dmitri Atapine
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.
Pianist Hyeyeon Park has appeared on major concert stages around the world, performing with orchestras including the Seoul Philharmonic, Incheon Philharmonic, Gangnam Symphony, and Seoul Festival Orchestra. Named Artist of the Year by the Seoul Arts Center in 2012, she is also a laureate of numerous international competitions, including Oberlin, Ettlingen, Hugo Kauder, Prix Amadèo, Corpus Christi, Vittorio Gui, and Plowman. Her solo and chamber recordings including Klavier 1853, Wavelength, and The Complete Cello-Piano Sonatas by Lowell Liebermann. She is a graduate of the Peabody Institute, Yale School of Music, and the Korea National University of Arts; her teachers include Yong Hi Moon, Peter Frankl, Claude Frank, Daejin Kim, and Kyungsook Lee. Piano Professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, together with cellist Dmitri Atapine, Park shares the Artistic Directorship of Apex Concerts and the Friends of Chamber Music Kansas City, co-leads the Music@Menlo Smith Family Young Performers Program, and will begin as Artistic Co-Director of Music@Menlo in 2027.
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.
A recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant as well as a top-prize winner of the International Naumburg Violin Competition and the Astral Artists’ National Auditions, Kristin Lee is a violinist of remarkable versatility and impeccable technique who enjoys a vibrant career as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. Lee has appeared as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Hawai’i Symphony, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, and many others. She is also the co-founder and Artistic Director of Emerald City Music in Seattle. Lee released her critically acclaimed debut solo album, American Sketches, on First Hand Records in November 2024. In 2026, she will collaborate with Grammy-nominated ensemble Sandbox Percussion, featuring a new commission by Vivian Fung. Lee’s violin was crafted in Naples in 1759 by Gennaro Gagliano and is generously loaned to her by Paul and Linda Gridley. She is an alum of CMS’s Bowers Program.
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.
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, including Carnegie Hall’s Zankel and Weill halls, the National Auditorium of Spain, and Beijing’s Forbidden City Concert Hall. He 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 many recordings include a world-premiere release of Lowell Liebermann’s cello sonatas. He has received multiple performance and teaching awards, including first prize at the Carlos Prieto International Cello Competition. He holds a doctorate from the Yale School of Music, where he studied with Aldo Parisot. Atapine is Professor of Cello at the University of Nevada, Reno. Together with pianist Hyeyeon Park, he serves as Artistic Co-Director of Friends of Chamber Music Kansas City and Apex Concerts (Nevada). He is also the Artistic Co-Director designate of Music@Menlo.