Berkshire Chamber Players Concert

Join us on Sunday, March 26, at 2:00 p.m. for another lovely afternoon with the Berkshire Chamber Players!

We are currently at capacity!  If you would like to be added to the waitlist, please email info@stockbridgelibrary.org or call (413) 298-5501

There is no charge to attend the concert.

Donations are appreciated. Click here to make a donation.

Berkshire Chamber Players Concert

Sunday, March 26, 2023 at 2:00 p.m.

Ariana Kim and Jessica Tong, violins

Ed Gazouleas and Natalie Rose Kress viola;

Ronald Feldman, cello

Program

Mozart String Quintet in G minor, K.516

Intermission

Mendelssohn String Quintet in B flat, op.87

Noted by The New York Times for giving “the proceedings an invaluable central thread of integrity and stylishness,” violinist Ariana Kim made her New York recital debut at Carnegie’s Weill Hall during her doctoral studies at Juilliard and is now a tenured a professor at Cornell University.  At 16, Ariana made her debut with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and at 24 was appointed acting concertmaster of the Louisiana Philharmonic in New Orleans; she has since become one of the most respected artists of her generation.

As a violinist of the Aizuri Quartet she was awarded the 2017 Osaka International Competition Grand Prize, the 2018 M-Prize, and a 2019 GRAMMY® nomination for the album Blueprinting.  During her tenure, the ensemble served as a Quartet-in-Residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and presented recitals at Suntory Hall Tokyo, the University of Toronto, the Caramoor Center, National Sawdust, Princeton University, and the Kennedy Center.  Equally devoted to contemporary and long-established literature, Ariana held a 10-year position with the New York new music ensemble Ne(x)tworks and is currently in her 17^th season with The Knights; their 2016 recording …the ground beneath our feet… on which Ariana is a featured soloist alongside Guillaume Pirard in Steve Reich’s Duet, was chosen as NPR’s “Songs We Love” for the year.

Recently having returned from a sabbatical year in South Korea, Ariana spent seven months studying the gayageum (an ancient zither-style instrument), performing throughout the country, and presenting master classes at Seoul National University.  She was appointed co-artistic director of the Chamber Music Society of Minnesota and Paesaggi Musicali Toscani in Siena, Italy in 2019.  Current season highlights include the premiere of a new double violin concerto by Laura Schwendinger with the Dubuque and Madison Symphonies, serving as the host for the live PBS broadcast of This Is Minnesota Orchestra, and a solo recital at The Clark Art Institute.  Her upcoming solo album – exploring improvisation through the lens of Mozart and Beethoven sonatas alongside world folk music – is set for release in the fall of 2023.  

Canadian violinist Jessica Tong has garnered international acclaim as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician, having been described as an “outstanding talent” (Performing Arts in Canada) with “keen sensitivity and receptivity” (Bloomington Herald Times), who “allow[s] us to savour her sense of ardour and intensity, but never at the detriment of her tonal beauty.” (ClassiqueInfo France) A recipient of a Canada Council Grant for Musicians and a DAAD scholar, she has been a top prizewinner at the Eckhardt-Gramatte, Toronto Symphony, Canadian Music, and Yellow Springs International Competitions, as well as the recipient of the David Ouchterlony Award for Outstanding Artist.

A devoted chamber musician, Ms Tong’s performances have taken her to Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Merkin Hall, les Invalides in Paris and the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, and led to collaborations with artists such as Leon Fleisher, Pamela Frank, Cho-Liang Lin and members of the Cleveland, Vogler, Brentano and Borromeo Quartets. She has served as the first violinist of the Vinca and Larchmere String Quartets, holding the post of Artist-inResidence at the University of Evansville and concertmaster of the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra in Indiana. She is currently Artistic Director of the chamber music residency organization Music Beyond the Chamber, Chamber Music Director for the Composers Conference at Brandeis University in Massachusetts, Assistant Professor of Violin at the State University of New York at Fredonia, and the newly appointed Artistic Advisor at Avaloch Farm Music Institute.

A pupil of Pamela Frank, Jessica has also studied with Kathleen Winkler, Donald Weilerstein, and Zhang yun Zhang, and has been mentored as a chamber musician by members of the Alban Berg, Vogler, Artemis and Brentano and Cleveland Quartets.

Violist Ed Gazouleas has emerged as one of the finest teachers of his generation and his students now populate the viola sections of many orchestras, including the Boston, St. Louis, and Indianapolis symphony orchestras; and many others in the United States, Europe, Asia, and South America.

Mr. Gazouleas was a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for 24 years, where he held the Lois and Harlan Anderson Viola Chair and led the viola section on many occasions, notably with conductors such as Colin Davis, Kurt Masur, and André Previn. While in Boston, he was active in orchestra governance, chairing the orchestra’s artistic advisory committee and serving on the search committee that selected Andris Nelsons to be the orchestra’s music director. He has had a long association with the Tanglewood Music Center in leadership capacities.

As a chamber music performer, Mr. Gazouleas has appeared with members of the Fine Arts, Pacifica, Muir, Lydian, and Johannes string quartets, among others. A prize-winner at the Eighth International String Quartet Competition in Evian, France, he has also collaborated with such artists as Christian Tetzlaff, Stephanie Blythe, Roberto Díaz, the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, and the principal string players of the Cleveland Orchestra.

Mr. Gazouleas works to expand and promote new works for the viola, and has collaborated with such composers as Sir Michael Tippett, John Harbison, and Osvaldo Golijov. In 2019 he performed the North American premiere of Letters from Warsaw by English composer Joseph Phibbs.

Mr. Gazouleas has also served on the faculties of Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music as a tenured professor, Boston University College of Fine Arts, Boston Conservatory, Wellesley College, and New England Conservatory. He is also in demand as an orchestral clinician around the country.

Mr. Gazouleas is a 1984 graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music where he studied viola with Michael Tree and Karen Tuttle. He joined the Curtis faculty in 2017 and was named the Gie and Lisa Liem Artistic Director in 2021 and Provost in 2022.  Mr. Gazouleas was recently named the Interim Director of The Tanglewood Music Center.

Praised by the New York Times for her “splendid playing,” Natalie Rose Kress is a modern and period violinist based in Washington, D.C.. Following three summers as a Tanglewood Fellow, she was awarded the Jules C. Reiner Violin Prize from the Tanglewood Music Center and performed with Yo-Yo Ma at the 2015 Kennedy Center Honors, honoring Seiji Ozawa.

Recent highlights include winning the 2021 Mercury Chamber Orchestra Fellowship and the 2022 English Concert in America Fellowship through The Juilliard School, as well as performing the world premiere of Leonard Bernstein’s Music for String Quartet (written in 1936) at the Linde Center at Tanglewood, with members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Nov 2021. She can be heard on the first commercial recording of Bernstein’s Music for String Quartet, recorded by Parma Recordings, due September 2023.

As a period violinist she performs regularly as a founding member of Quartet Salonnières (NYC), Relic, and Musicivic Baroque (PA), as a core member of Repast Baroque Ensemble (NYC), and as concertmaster of La Grande Bande (MN). She performs frequently with groups such as the Handel and Haydn Society (MA), the Washington Bach Consort (D.C.), the Washington National Cathedral Baroque Orchestra (D.C.), The English Concert (U.K.), Opera Lafayette (D.C.), the Mercury Chamber Orchestra (TX), Seraphic Fire (FL), TENET Vocal Artists (NY), Early Music NY, Shanghai Camerata (Shanghai), Les Arts Florissants (Paris), and the Staunton Music Festival (VA).

Natalie is currently a doctoral student at the University of Maryland with a focus on historical performance and pedagogy. She has held teaching residencies at Williams College (Williamstown, MA), Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, MI), and the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts (NYC). As a member of Quartet Salonnières, she was awarded the 2022 U.S. Embassy Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Public Diplomacy Grant to tour Tanzania in January 2023 performing concerts at various venues, and presenting educational workshops at schools, orphanages, and universities throughout the country.

Natalie received a BA in Music and Psychology, and an MM in Violin Performance from SUNY Stony Brook University.  She attended The Juilliard School’s coveted Historical Performance Graduate Program in 2019, all on full scholarships. She studied with Soovin Kim, Philip Setzer, Jennifer Frautschi, Robert Mealy, Cynthia Roberts, Elizabeth Blumenstock, and Rachel Podger.

Originally from Philadelphia, Natalie currently resides in Greenbelt, MD with her husband Jonathan Davies, and Yorkie, Henry. She plays on a David Folland Baroque violin (1984) and Richard Riggall Baroque and classical bows.

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 Emmanuel 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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