Berkshire Chamber Players Concert

Join us on Saturday, April 15 at 7:00 p.m. for the third concert of our Berkshire Chamber Players Concert Series!

Space is limited! Please email info@stockbridgelibrary.org or call (413) 298-5501 to reserve your spot!

CURRENTLY AT CAPACITY.

There is no charge to attend the concert.

Donations are appreciated. Click here to make a donation.

Berkshire Chamber Players Concert

Saturday, April 15, 2023 at 7:00 p.m.

Joel Pitchon and Robyn Quinnett, violins;

Marka Gustavsson, viola;

Ronald Feldman, cello

Program

Beethoven duo for violin and cello

Puccini-Chrysanthemums

INTERMISSION

Schubert-String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, D. 810  (“Death and the Maiden”)

Joel Pitchon is an active soloist, concertmaster, chamber music player, and Professor of Music at Smith College. Mr. Pitchon studied with Lewis Kaplan, Oscar Shumsky and Joseph Fuchs and received his degrees from The Juilliard School. He has served as the concertmaster for numerous orchestras, including the Orquestra Ciutat de Barcelona (Spain), the EOS Chamber Orchestra (NY), the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (guest), and the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra (guest). As a soloist and collaborator, he frequently performs with the New Baroque Soloists.

The New York Times noted his playing in the EOS production of Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat as “…superb…” He has recorded two CDs for the Gasparo label: Four Sonatas for violin and piano, with the composer Clifton J. Noble, Jr. and New England Legacy, works by Quincy Porter, Walter Piston, and Amy Beach with pianist Jonathan Bass. Sun Threads, the chamber music of Augusta Read Thomas, was recorded with the Walden Chamber Players for ARTCD and New England Trios is his most recent critically acclaimed CD released by Bridge Records.

Mr. Pitchon is currently the co-director of the Sage Chamber Music Society at Smith College, and a member of the Elm Chamber Ensemble.

Robyn Quinnett – Born on the island of Montserrat in the Caribbean, Robyn Quinnett began playing violin at eight years old.  She has won several competitions including the National Mariam Hayes, Ruth Kern Competitions, and the Concerto Competition of the Colorado College Music Festival. Robyn earned her undergraduate and graduate degrees from The Juilliard School, studying with Naoko Tanaka and the late Stephen Clapp.  Robyn completed her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in 2019 at Stony Brook University as a student of Hagai Shaham.  She has attended the Aspen Music Festival, Colorado College Music Festival, the Festival Internacional de Inverno de Campos do Jordão in Brazil, and been a concertmaster at the Tanglewood Music Center.

Robyn is dedicated to community engagement and pedagogy.  She founded the Montserrat Music Festival, a summer teaching and performing festival, bringing music education and live chamber music to the island of Montserrat. She is the violin instructor at The Chapin School, teaching artist at Opus 118, and maintains a joint private teaching studio with Chihiro Fukuda in NYC. Robyn’s violin is generously sponsored by Darnton and Hersh Violin Shop in Chicago.

Marka Gustavsson – A dedicated chamber musician, violist Marka Gustavsson spent 3 summers as a Tanglewood Fellow, 91-93. Since that time, Marka has pursued a rich and varied performance life both internationally and in the US. She has been a guest artist at the Bard Music Festival, Mostly Mozart, Vancouver’s Music in the Morning, the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, WQXR’s Showcase Concerts, Yale Faculty Artists’ Series, Eastman, and Banff.

Marka has premiered and recorded solo and chamber music of composers John Halle, Joan Tower, Kyle Gann, George Tsontakis, Martin Bresnick, Richard Wernick, Laura Kaminsky, Tania Leon, and Tan Dun. From 1999 through 2014, Marka served as violist of the Colorado Quartet, a group that toured extensively and founded the Soundfest Quartet Festival on Cape Cod. Their Complete Beethoven Quartets are available on Parnassus Records.

As a teacher, Marka Gustavsson has given master classes at Yale, Eastman, Indiana University, Hartt, and Oberlin, and adjudicated competitions at Juilliard, Hartt, Yale, Astral Artists, and Banff. She has taught for several summers at the Yellow Barn YAP in Putney, VT. A graduate of Indiana University, Mannes College, and CUNY, her formative teachers include Joseph Gingold, Mimi Zweig, Felix Galimir, Michele Auclair, Viktor Liberman, Julius Levine, and Daniel Phillips. Ms. Gustavsson is on the faculty at Bard College and Conservatory, where she performs with the Blithewood Ensemble and also serves as Associate Director and Coordinator of Chamber Music.

Ronald Feldman – Two-time winner of the League of American Orchestras’ ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music, Ronald Feldman has achieved critical acclaim for his work as a conductor and cellist. He has appeared as guest conductor with major orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the St. Louis Symphony, and the Quebec Symphony. He served as assistant to Boston Pops Principal Conductor and composer John Williams from 1989 to 1993. Seiji Ozawa, Conductor Laureate of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, called Feldman “an outstanding conductor…with a deep musical mind, which is clearly conveyed through his performances.” John Williams regarded Feldman as “a brilliant conductor who displays the best leadership qualities…and an outstandingly high level of musicianship that imbues his conducting style with strength, taste, and imagination.”

Feldman joined the Boston Symphony at the age of 19. He has appeared as a soloist in concerto repertoire from Dvořák to Ligeti. Chamber music affiliations have included performances with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, Collage New Music, and the Williams Chamber Players. Other performances have included collaborations with violinist Gil Shaham, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and pianists Emanuel Ax and Garrick Ohlsson.

In 2001, Feldman left the Boston Symphony Orchestra to pursue other musical interests. He was appointed Music Director of Longwood Symphony Orchestra in July 2012. He also serves as Music Director of the Berkshire Symphony Orchestra, a regional orchestra in residence at Williams College. He is Artist in Residence and Lecturer in Music at Williams College.

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