The evening begins with a selection of movements from Bruch’s Eight Pieces for Clarinet, Cello, and Piano, Op. 83, a collection of expressive miniatures that blend lyricism with rich harmonic color. The chosen movements highlight Bruch’s gift for warmth and contrast, from the tender Andante con moto to the spirited Allegro vivace, ma non troppo. Brahms’ Horn Trio in E-flat major, Op. 40, follows—a work of striking emotional depth and textural richness. Written in memory of his mother, it moves seamlessly between melancholy, playfulness, and triumph, with noble horn calls, soaring violin lines, and intricate piano writing. After intermission, Dohnányi’s Sextet in C major, Op. 37, brings the program to a thrilling close. Composed in 1935, this vibrant and rarely heard work blends late-Romantic lyricism with jazz-influenced harmonies and bold rhythmic drive. From the fiery Allegro appassionato to the exuberant Finale, it showcases chamber music at its most dynamic and virtuosic. Together, these works explore a vast spectrum of expression, from intimate introspection to exuberant brilliance.
Program
Max Bruch
(1838–1920)Selections from Pieces for Clarinet, Cello, and Piano, Op. 83
(1909)Johannes Brahms
(1833–1897)Trio in E-flat major for Horn, Violin, and Piano, Op. 40
(1865)Ernő Dohnányi
(1877–1960)Sextet in C major for Clarinet, Horn, Violin, Viola, Cello, and Piano, Op. 37
(1935)
Hyeyeon Park
Kristin Lee
Milena Pájaro-van de Stadt
David Finckel
Radovan Vlatković
Tommaso Lonquich
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.
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.
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.
Radovan Vlatković has popularized the horn around the globe as a recording artist and teacher. He is the winner of numerous competitions, including the 1979 Premio Ancona and the 1983 ARD Competition. He has premiered works by Elliott Carter, Sofia Gubaidulina, Heinz Holliger, Krzysztof Penderecki, and several Croatian composers. As a chamber musician, he has performed at Gidon Kremer’s Lockenhaus, Sviatoslav Richter’s December Evenings in Moscow, and András Schiff’s Mondsee, as well as major festivals. He has appeared as soloist with many orchestras, such as the Bavarian Symphony Orchestra, Stuttgart Radio Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester, Mozarteum Orchestra, Santa Cecilia Orchestra Rome, Melbourne Orchestra, the NHK Orchestra in Tokyo, and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Vlatković is on the faculty of the Mozarteum Salzburg and Hochschule Zürich, holds the Canón horn chair at the Queen Sofia School in Madrid, and is an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music.
Italian clarinetist Tommaso Lonquich enjoys a distinguished international career. He is Solo Clarinetist with Ensemble MidtVest, and as a chamber musician has partnered with Christian Tetzlaff, Pekka Kuusisto, Carolin Widmann, Ani and Ida Kavafian, Nicolas Dautricourt, David Shifrin, David Finckel, Nicolas Altstaedt, Wu Han, Gilbert Kalish, Anneleen Lenaerts, Yura Lee, Gilles Vonsattel, and the Danish and Vertavo string quartets. As a guest principal in several orchestras, he has collaborated with conductors including Zubin Mehta, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Fabio Luisi, and Leonard Slatkin. As a soloist, he has appeared with the Radio Television Orchestra of Slovenia, Orchestra Canova, and the Orchestra del Teatro Olimpico of Vicenza, among others. An alum of CMS’s Bowers Program, Lonquich is Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Schackenborg Musikfest, and can be heard on more than twenty albums.