The Friday Noon Concert Series
presents
James Stern and Eric Kutz, violin and cello
Friday, October 8, 2021
12:00 pm - 12:30 pm
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC - RSVP required
(limited seating available)
Program
Sonata for Violin and Cello (1920) - Maurice Ravel (1875–1937)
I. Allegro
II. Très vif
Solus (1993) - Maria Newman b. 1962
I. Maestoso
II. Andante moderato
III. Allegro molto
Wearing a mask is required inside.
About the artists:
Violinist James Stern has performed at the Marlboro, Ravinia, Banff and Bowdoin festivals as well as at New York’s Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall. He received all of his formal training at the Juilliard School, where his teachers were Louise Behrend, Joseph Fuchs, and Lewis Kaplan. Strata, the trio that he and Audrey Andrist formed with clarinetist Nathan Williams, has received enthusiastic repeat engagements at San Francisco Composers Inc (for which they were listed as one of San Francisco Classical Voice’s “highlights of 2005”), the Piccolo Spoleto Festival and New York’s historic Maverick Concerts. Strata has commissioned new works from Kenneth Frazelle and the late Stephen Paulus, giving the world premieres at, respectively, the Secrest Artist Series in Winston Salem, North Carolina, and New York’s Merkin Concert Hall. In frequent appearances at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland, Stern has brought innovative programming that includes performing in multiple capacities (as violist, pianist, conductor, reciter, and arranger), and providing program annotations that are integral to the performance. His numerous chamber music and new music recordings can be heard on Albany, Bridge, Centaur, CRI, Dorian/Sono Luminus, Enharmonic, New Focus, and New World. A passionately devoted teacher, Stern has served on the faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music and the University of the Pacific Conservatory of Music. In summers he has performed and taught at the National Orchestral Institute, the Orfeo International Festival, the Schlern International Festival, ASTA International Workshops, California Summer Music, the Brian Lewis Young Artists Program, the Master Players Festival, and the Starling/Delay Violin Symposium at the Juilliard School.
Cellist Eric Kutz has captivated audiences throughout both North America and Europe. In 2015 he joined the faculty of the University of Maryland School of Music, where he holds the Barbara Steppel Memorial Cello Fellowship. He had previously been cello professor at Luther College from 2002. He is active as a teacher, a chamber musician, an orchestral musician, and a soloist. His diverse collaborations cut across musical styles, and have ranged from cellist Yo-Yo Ma to jazz great Ornette Coleman. New York Concert Review praised Kutz for possessing a "noble dignity and pure, focused tone," in its recent review of the Murasaki Duo's Carnegie Hall concert. For four years Mr. Kutz was the cellist of the Chester String Quartet, which was in residence at Indiana University South Bend. In 1997 Mr. Kutz traveled to the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow as a visiting artist, performing new chamber works by American composers. He has been broadcast live on WQXR and WNYC, both of New York City, as well as PBS television's Live from Lincoln Center. Recently Mr. Kutz has appeared as a soloist with the Des Moines Symphony, the Malibu Coast Chamber Orchestra, the Danbury Symphony, the Symphony of the Potomac, the Capital City Symphony, the University of Maryland Symphony Orchestra, and the Luther College Symphony. As an orchestral musician, Mr. Kutz spends his summers as a member of the Grant Park Orchestra in Chicago. He has appeared in the sections of the New York Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Mr. Kutz holds degrees from the Juilliard School and Rice University. He performs on a cello by Raffaele Fiorini (Bologna, 1877).
