Friday, April 1.
7:00PM Exclusive for museum members: a pre-concert dessert reception
7:30PM FREE Public performance
A cash-bar will be available at intermission.

RSVP is required as seats are very limited.
Email karen.sommer@uconn.edu or call 860-486-5084 to RSVP or to become a museum member to attend the pre-concert cocktail and dessert reception.

This event is free but donations are encouraged and benefit WBMA Exhibitions and Education Programs

A special concert with the University of Connecticut Chamber Orchestra and conductor Harvey Felder, featuring guest soloists Solomiya Ivakhiv (violin), Melvin Chen (piano), and Rebecca Patterson (cello). This is an exclusive preview of the concert to be performed on Saturday, April 2 in New York City. An exhibition of paintings by Katia Setzer, Movement of Very Still Things, will be on view at the performance.  Details below.

The concert will feature selections from Johann Stamitz, Mannheim Symphony No. 1 in G Major;
Antonio Vivaldi, Concerto for Cello & Violin in B-flat Major; Ivan Karabyts, Six Preludes for String Orchestra; Antonin Dvorak, Serenade, op. 22, in E Major; and Felix Mendelssohn, Concerto for Violin & Piano in D Minor.

Harvey Felder is known for his deeply moving performances of the great “Classical” repertoire as well as his entertaining performances on “Pops” stages across this country.  He has been characterized as having an affable and magnetic podium demeanor which helps audiences feel immediately welcomed, comfortable, and connected to his performances. Mr. Felder is Conductor Laureate of the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra, a position he accepted after having served as its music director for twenty years.  He is also Director of Orchestral Studies at the University of Connecticut.  He has appeared as guest conductor with the Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Delaware, Grant Park, Honolulu, Indianapolis, Kansas City, National, New Jersey, North Carolina, Saint Louis, San Antonio, Spokane Symphonies, Dayton, Rochester, Orange County Philharmonics, as well as the Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia, Chicago Sinfonietta, Orquesta Sinfonica del Estado de Mexico, Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Costa Rica, the New Japan Philharmonic, Mikkeli City Orchestra of Finland, and the Osaka Telemann Chamber Orchestra.

Mr. Felder has studied conducting with Max Rudolf, Gustav Meier, Gunther Schuller, Elizabeth Green, Zdenek Macal, David Zinman, Gennady Rozdestvensky, Kurt Mazur, and Seiji Ozawa.  He attended the Festival at Sandpoint, the Conductor’s Guild Summer Institute, and the Tanglewood Music Center.  Felder holds degrees in music from The University of Wisconsin-Madison and The University of Michigan. He is currently Associate Professor and Director of Orchestral Studies at UConn.

Solomiya Ivakhiv has quickly earned a reputation for performing with “distinctive charm and subtle profundity” (Daily Freeman, New York) and a “crystal clear and noble sound” (Culture and Life, Ukraine). She has performed at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, CBC Glenn Gould Studio, and the Tchaikovsky Hall in Kyiv, in addition to making solo appearances with the Charleston Symphony, Henderson Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, Lviv Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Hunan Symphony Orchestra in China. She has premiered numerous new works for violin by such composers as Eli Marshall, David Ludwig, John B. Hedges, Bohdan Kryvopust, Yevhen Stankovych, and Oleksandr Shchetynsky.

Ms. Ivakhiv has been featured at many prestigious chamber music festivals, including Tanglewood, Embassy Series, Ottawa Chamberfest, Newport Music Festival, and Prussia Cove. She has been the Artistic Director of the “Music at the Institute” (MATI) Concert Series in New York City for five years, where she also regularly appears as a performer. A dedicated educator, Ms. Ivakhiv has conducted master classes and chamber music coachings at Yale University, Columbia University, Boston Conservatory, Curtis SummerFest, Guangzhou and Hunan Conservatories in China, and regularly collaborates with high schools in outreach programs throughout the United States.

Her latest album Ukraine-Journey To Freedom with pianist Angelina Gadeliya, supported by the University of Connecticut’s School of Fine Arts Dean’s Grant and the Office of the Vice President for Research, was released on Labor Records with NAXOS of America in cooperation with the Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences in the U.S. (UVAN), has been featured at the top 6 new classical albums on iTunes. Dr. Solomiya Ivankhiv is Head of Strings and Assistant Professor of Violin and Viola at UConn.

Melvin Chen is recognized as an important artist, having received acclaim for performances throughout the United States and abroad. As a soloist and chamber musician Mr. Chen has performed at major venues in the United States, including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Weill Recital Hall, the Frick Collection, Kennedy Center, and Boston’s Jordan Hall, in addition to other appearances throughout the United States, Canada, and Asia. In recent seasons Mr. Chen’s concerts have included solo recitals at Weill Recital Hall, concerto performances with the American Symphony Orchestra, Marin Symphony, Springfield Symphony, and the Paducah Symphony, along with numerous solo and chamber music appearances internationally and in the United States. He was the pianist in Ricky Ian Gordon’s Orpheus and Euridice, which was presented by Lincoln Center and which received a special citation from the Obie awards.

Mr. Chen’s performances have been featured on radio and television stations around the globe, including KBS television and radio in Korea, NHK television in Japan, and NPR in the United States.Solo recordings include Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations on the Bridge label, praised as “a classic” by the American Record Guide, and a recording of Joan Tower’s piano music on the Naxos label. Recent recordings of the Shostakovich piano sonatas and Gordon’s Orpheus and Euridice were released to critical acclaim.

An enthusiastic chamber musician, Mr. Chen has collaborated with such artists as Ida Kavafian, Steven Tenenbom, David Shifrin, Pamela Frank, and Peter Wiley; with the Shanghai, Tokyo, Miami, Penderecki, and Miro quartets; and in contemporary music collaborations with the Da Capo Chamber Players and The St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble. Mr. Chen is an alumnus of Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center: Chamber Music Society Two, where he appeared with members of the Chamber Music Society in performance and educational programs for two seasons. A performer in numerous music festivals, he has performed at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, Music Mountain, Chautauqua, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Bard Music Festival, and Music from Angel Fire, among others.

Mr. Chen completed a doctorate in chemistry from Harvard University, and also holds a double master’s degree from The Juilliard School in piano and violin, where he studied with Seymour Lipkin and Glenn Dicterow, respectively. At Juilliard, he was the recipient of the U.S. Department of Education Jacob Javits Fellowship, as well as the William Petschek Piano Scholarship and the Ruth D. Rosenman Memorial Scholarship. Previously, he attended Yale University, receiving a bachelor of science degree in chemistry and physics. Upon graduation he was awarded the New Prize by the fellows of Jonathan Edwards College. During his tenure at Yale he studied with Boris Berman, Paul Kantor, and Ida Kavafian.  Melvin Chen is currently Professor of Piano and Deputy Dean at Yale School of Music.

The New York Times describes Ms. Rebecca Patterson as having an “uncommonly warm and rounded tone,” and the Washington Postpraises her for “a stunning account of the movement “Praise to the Eternity of Jesus” from Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time. A founding member of the award-winning ensemble Antares, Rebecca dedicated about fifteen years to chamber music, contemporary music, and teaching.

Ms. Patterson co-founded Antares while a student at Yale, and took top prizes the following year in the Fischoff, Coleman, Yellow Springs, and Carmel Chamber Music Competitions. In 2002, Antares was awarded the top prize in the Concert Artists Guild competition in New York City in recognition of its exciting and emotionally charged performances.  Their last CD release in 2011, revisited two significant yet previously unrecorded works from 1978: Shadowed Narrativeby Roger Reynolds and Tashi by Peter Lieberson. This CD was featured as “Choice of the Month” in the January 2012 issue of BBC Music Magazine. Other recordings with Antares include, Eclipse with Innova Recordings, and Red River by Mason Bates with MSR Classics label.

Ms. Patterson received her B.M. from the Eastman School of Music and her M.M. from the Yale School of Music, where she studied with Paul Katz and Aldo Parisot, respectively.  While at Eastman she was winner of the Gibbs Chamber Orchestra Concerto competition, as well as the recipient of the full-merit Lois Smith Rogers Scholarship.  At Yale she was a recipient of the Ender Scholarship, which goes to a cellist with excellent promise. She currently lives in New Haven, CT, and was appointed principal cello with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra as of the 2012-13 season. Rebecca is an instructor of Cello at the University of Connecticut in Storrs.

 

The University of Connecticut Chamber Orchestra are made up of student musicians from the University of Connecticut Symphony Orchestra led and conducted by Director of Orchestral Studies Harvey Felder. Repertoire includes works from the standard classical, romantic, and contemporary orchestral literature. The Symphony Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra also collaborate with other ensembles in the department, including the Festival Chorus and the Opera Program.

Katia Setzer was born in 1988 in South Orange, NJ. She received her BA from Colby College (Waterville, ME) in 2010 with a degree in both Art and English. In 2013, she earned her MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) in Philadelphia, PA. She exhibits regularly in both group and solo shows, most recently at the Bridgette Mayer Gallery (Philadelphia, PA), Studio Montclair (Newark, NJ), and the Ukrainian Institute of America (New York, NY). Additionally, she was selected by the Music@Menlo Chamber Music Festival and Institute as their ‘2015 Visual Artist’.

She has provided the program cover for the Grammy award-winning Emerson String Quartet’s ongoing concert series at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. Her painting Transfiguration (After Schoenberg’s Transfigured Night) was selected by Sony Classical for the CD cover of the Emerson Quartet’s album, “Journeys” (released 5/20/13). She currently lives and works in Philadelphia, PA.