Program
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
(1756–1791)Sonata in E-flat major for Violin and Piano, K. 302
(1778)Edvard Grieg
(1843–1907)Sonata in A minor for Cello and Piano, Op. 36
(1882)Gabriel Fauré
(1845–1924)Sonata No. 1 in A major for Violin and Piano, Op. 13
(1875–76)Sergei Prokofiev
(1891–1953)Sonata in D major for Flute and Piano, Op. 94
(1943)
Evren Ozel
Orion Weiss
Paul Huang
Jonathan Swensen
Adam Walker
American pianist Evren Ozel, praised for his compelling artistry and technical mastery, is the Bronze Medalist of the 2025 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, where he also received the Mozart Concerto Prize. He has appeared with the Cleveland Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, and Fort Worth Symphony under conductors including Marin Alsop and Carlos Miguel Prieto. A recipient of a 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Ozel released his debut album of Mozart concertos with the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and Howard Griffiths on Alpha Classics in 2025. Ozel is a 2024–27 Bowers Program Artist at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and performs widely in recital, chamber music, and international festivals. A graduate of the New England Conservatory, he studied with Wha Kyung Byun and has worked with Mitsuko Uchida, Sir András Schiff, and others. He is managed by Concert Artists Guild and makes his home in Boston.
One of the most sought-after soloists and chamber music collaborators of his generation, Orion Weiss is widely regarded as a “brilliant pianist” (New York Times) with “powerful technique and exceptional insight” (Washington Post). He has performed with dozens of orchestras in North America including the Chicago Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Boston Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and New York Philharmonic and at major venues and festivals worldwide.
Known for his affinity for chamber music, Weiss performs regularly with violinists Augustin Hadelichand James Ehnes; pianists Michael Brown and Shai Wosner; and the Ariel, Parker, and Pacifica Quartets. In recent seasons, he has also performed with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Weiss can be heard on the Naxos, Telos, Bridge, First Hand, Yarlung, and Artek labels.
Weiss has been awarded the Classical Recording Foundation’s Young Artist of the Year, Gilmore Young Artist Award, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and the Mieczyslaw Munz Scholarship. A native of Ohio, Weiss attended the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Juilliard School, where he studied with Emanuel Ax.
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.
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.
At the forefront of a new generation of wind soloists, Adam Walker was appointed principal flute of the London Symphony Orchestra in 2009 at the age of 21 and received the Outstanding Young Artist Award at MIDEM Classique in Cannes. In 2010 he won a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship Award and was shortlisted for the Royal Philharmonic Society Outstanding Young Artist Award. An ambassador for the flute with a ferocious appetite for repertoire, he regularly performs with the major UK orchestras including the BBC Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony, Hallé, Bournemouth Symphony, and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Elsewhere he has performed with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Grant Park Festival, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Mexico, Seoul Philharmonic, Auckland Philharmonia, Malaysian Philharmonic, Malmö Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Solistes Européens, Luxembourg, and the RTE National Symphony Orchestra. A committed chamber musician with a curious and creative approach to repertoire, 2018 saw Adam take up his place on the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s prestigious Bowers Program. Recital highlights over recent seasons have included Wigmore Hall, LSO St. Luke’s, De Singel, Musée du Louvre, Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, Frankfurt Alte Oper, and the Utrecht, West Cork, Delft, and Moritzburg Chamber Music Festivals. Born in 1987, Adam Walker studied at Chetham’s School of Music with Gitte Sorensen and later at the Royal Academy of Music with Michael Cox. He was appointed professor at the Royal College of Music in 2017.