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News Release

Last modified: Monday, June 8, 2009

IU Summer Music Festival kicks off with array of world-class chamber music events

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 8, 2009

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University's 2009 Summer Music Festival enters its 16th year firmly established as Bloomington's signature summer event, attracting audiences from throughout the Midwest and beyond. The festival is increasingly gaining notice as one of Indiana's premier music festivals.

A festival highlight this year is a world-class Chamber Music Series featuring an array of free and ticketed events that includes members of the prestigious Jacobs School faculty, as well as high-profile visiting artists.

Festival chamber music events through late July include the String Academy 25th Birthday Celebration, performances by the Festival Chamber Players, the Biava Quartet, the Afiara Quartet, the Weiss-Kaplan-Newman Trio and a special performance by world-renowned pianist Menahem Pressler in a concert with violinist Alexander Kerr, violist Larry Dutton and cellist Paul Watkins.

Internationally known violinist Sarah Kapustin, a Jacobs alumna (and an alumna of IU's String Academy, where she studied with Jacobs Professor of Music Mimi Zweig), will perform the complete Beethoven Violin Sonatas across a series of three concerts (July 6, 8 and 15) with her frequent collaborator, award-winning pianist Jeannette Koekkoek, a faculty member of the IU String Academy.

The two met when Kapustin was a student at the IU String Academy and Koekkoek a teacher; they played their first recital together in 2003.

"Since then, we have appeared almost annually in the IU Summer Music Festival, as well as in Italy, France and the Netherlands," said Kapustin, adding that they have played some 25 sonatas together.

"We had the idea of playing all the Beethoven sonatas together a couple of years ago, when we had already played three of them as a duo, and it came up casually in conversation -- 'Wouldn't it be cool to play all 10 sometime?' As it happens, it had been a dream for us both to perform the cycle, and we are so thrilled to be fulfilling this dream together," said Kapustin.

Kapustin and Koekkoek hope to share their love of Beethoven with the public by interpreting not only those beloved sonatas that are so well-known (the "Kreutzer" and "Spring" sonatas, for example), but also those which are, in their opinions, highly underrated. They played the sonatas together last summer in Italy, making the Bloomington performance their second full cycle. (Kapustin and Koekkoek are also in the midst of recording the Beethoven Sonatas for O-live Music; the complete 4-CD set will be available internationally in early 2010.)

Returning to Bloomington feels like coming home to Kapustin, whose mother and stepfather still live here. "When I come back, I get to see family, plus both of my principal teachers, who have made such an impact on my life, both musically and otherwise. It's always wonderful to come back and perform for an audience filled with friends and family; I feel that every trip to Bloomington is like a big reunion."

The Chamber Music Series kicks off June 21 with the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio performing at 4 p.m. at Recital Hall, with Joseph Kalichstein, piano; Jaime Laredo, violin; and Sharon Robinson, cello. They will perform Beethoven: Op. Posth (Little B-Flat Allegretto); Shostakovich: Trio No. 2 in E Minor; and Schubert: Trio in E-Flat Major.

Other Chamber Music Series events

Biava Quartet and Atar Arad, viola: June 23, 8 p.m. Recital Hall
Austin Hartman and Hyunsu Ko, violin; Mary Persin, viola; and Jason Calloway, cello, with Atar Arad.

Haydn: Quartet in F Minor, Op. 20 No. 5
Shostakovich: Quartet No. 4, Op. 83
Mendelssohn: Viola Quintet in B-Flat Major, Op. 87

Weiss-Kaplan-Newman Trio: June 25, 8 p.m. Recital Hall
Yael Weiss, piano; Mark Kaplan, violin; and Clancy Newman, cello.

Bright Sheng: Four Movements for Piano Trio
Smetana: Trio in G Minor
Brahms: Trio in B Major

Festival Chamber Players: June 26, 8 p.m. Recital Hall
Erin Aldridge, violin; Atar Arad, viola; Csaba Onczay, cello; and Evelyne Brancart, Chih-Yi Chen, and Cory Smythe, piano.

Beethoven: Noturno
Grieg: Cello Sonata in A Major
Schubert: Fantasy
Stravinsky: Sonata for Two Pianos

Weiss-Kaplan-Newman Trio and Friends: June 28, 4 p.m. Recital Hall
"An Afternoon of Mendelssohn in Celebration of his 200th Birthday"
Yael Weiss, piano; Mark Kaplan, violin; and Clancy Newman, cello, with Sarah Kapustin and Zoe Martin-Doike, violin; Atar Arad and Mary Persin, viola; and Peter Lloyd, double bass.

Sonata in D Major for Cello and Piano, Op. 58
Quartet No. 2 in A Minor, Op. 13
Sextet for Piano and Strings, Op. 110

String Academy 25th Birthday Celebration: June 30, 8 p.m. Recital Hall
William Harvey, violin, with Erin Aldridge, violin, and Cory Smythe, piano.

Bartok: Selections from Duets for Two Violins
William Harvey: Dialogue (2009), written for the 25th Birthday of the Summer String Academy Celebration
Sharara: Fantasy El Mansora for Solo Violin
Mozart: Rondo from Concerto No. 5 in A Major, "Turkish"
Cowell: Homage to Iran
Ranjbaran: Moto Perpetuo

Festival Chamber Players: July 1, 8 p.m. Recital Hall
Mihaela Martin, violin; Atar Arad and Zoe Martin-Doike, viola; Jason Calloway, cello; and the Biava Quartet.

Bach: Solo Sonata in D Minor
LeClair: Viola Duos
Penderecki: Trio
Ginastera: Quartet No. 1, Op. 20

Festival Chamber Players: July 5, 4 p.m. Recital Hall
Jorja Fleezanis and Miheala Martin, violin; Atar Arad, viola; Anthony Ross, cello; and Evelyne Brancart, piano.

Beethoven: Cello Sonata in A Major
Kodaly: Serenade, Op. 12
Brahms: Piano Quartet in C Minor

Sarah Kapustin, violin, and Jeanette Koekkoek, piano: July 6, 8 p.m. Recital Hall

Beethoven: Violin Sonatas I, Nos. 1, 8, 2 and 7

Festival Chamber Players: July 7, 8 p.m. Recital Hall
Erin Aldridge, violin; Amir Eldan, cello; Chih-Yi Chen and Cory Smythe, piano.

Schubert: Arpeggione Sonata (Amir Eldan/Cory Smythe)
Franck: Violin Sonata (Erin Aldridge/Smythe)
Arensky: Trio (Aldrige, Eldan, Chih-Yi Chen)

Sarah Kapustin, violin, and Jeanette Koekkoek, piano: July 8, 8 p.m. Recital Hall

Beethoven: Violin Sonatas II, Nos. 4, 6 and 9

Biava Quartet and Friends: July 9, 8 p.m. Recital Hall
Jeanette Koekkoek, piano, and Csaba Onczay, cello.

Dvorak: Piano Quintet
Schubert: Cello Quintet

Afiara Quartet: July 12, 4 p.m. Recital Hall
Valerie Li and Yuri Cho, violin; David Samuel, viola; and Adrian Fung, cello.

Beethoven: Quartet Op. 18 No. 3
Zorn: cat o'nine tails
Mendelssohn: (op 44 no. 2)

Sarah Kapustin, violin, and Jeanette Koekkoek, piano: July 15, 8 p.m. Recital Hall

Beethoven: Violin Sonatas III, Nos. 3, 5 and 10

String Academy Gala Concert: July 17, 7 p.m. Recital Hall

Menahem Pressler, piano, and Friends: July 21 & 22, 8 p.m. Auer Hall
With Alexander Kerr, violin; Larry Dutton, viola (Emerson Quartet); Paul Watkins, cello (Nash Ensemble).

Piano quartets by Mozart and Dvorak.

College Audition Preparation Faculty: July 26, 7 p.m. Ford-Crawford Hall | FREE

Featuring brass, woodwind, voice, jazz bass, and jazz piano faculty.

For more information about the 2009 Summer Music Festival, see https://www.music.indiana.edu/events/summer/2009/index.html. To learn more about the IU Jacobs School of Music, see https://www.music.indiana.edu/.

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