Songs from Porgy and Bess - George Gershwin (1898–1937)
Summertime and A Woman is a Sometime Thing arr. Jascha Heifetz
It Ain’t Necessarily So
Suite (1943) - William Grant Still (1895–1978)
I. Majestically. Vigorously (suggested by Richmond Barthé’s “African Dancer”)
II. Slowly and expressive (suggested by Sargent Johnson’s “Mother and Child”)
III. Rhythmically and humorously (suggested by Augusta Savage’s “Gamin”)
Suite from West Side Story - Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990) arr. Raimundo Penaforte
I. I Feel Pretty
II. Somewhere
III. America
About the Artists:
Audrey Andrist, “a stunning pianist with incredible dexterity” (San Francisco Classical Voice), and James Stern, a violinist of “virtuosity and penetrating intelligence” (Washington Post) have been performing together for 37 years. The husband-and-wife team has played recitals across the U.S. and Canada, in Paris, in Munich, and throughout China. With clarinetist Nathan Williams, they formed the trio, Strata, also completing its third decade. With cellist Steve Honigberg they perform frequently as the Andrist-Stern-Honigberg Trio. Both well-known to Washington DC audiences, Andrist and Stern have appeared as part of the Smithsonian Chamber Players, VERGE ensemble, and 21st Century Consort, at such venues as the Library of Congress, National Gallery, Phillips Collection, and Smithsonian museums. Stern, a professor at University of Maryland, College Park, can be heard on an Albany Records release playing the complete Sonatas and Partitas by J.S. Bach. Andrist, an affiliate artist at University of Maryland, Baltimore County, has recorded major solo works by Robert Schumann for Centaur Records.
A Canadian citizen, Andrist trained at the University of Regina with William Moore, himself a former student of Rosina Lhévinne and Cécile Genhart. She pursued graduate studies at Juilliard studying with Herbert Stessin. A busy soloist and chamber player, she has performed with the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, and the Juilliard Orchestra in Alice Tully Hall. With the CBC Vancouver Orchestra, she and Maestro Mario Bernardi presented the world premiere of a piano concerto written especially for her by Canadian composer Andrew MacDonald. She is the first prize winner of the San Antonio International Competition, the Mozart International Competition, and the Juilliard Concerto Competition. She toured Canada performing extensively as the winner of the Eckhardt-Gramatté Competition, and has recorded for Summit Records, Albany Records, Capstone, CRI, New Dynamic Records, Innova, AUR, CBC Radio, and NPR’s Performance Today. Her recording, The Great Square of Pegasus (music by Andrew MacDonald with violinist Jasper Wood on the Centrediscs label) won the 2004 East Coast Music Award for Best Classical Album of the Year. Her 2011 disc Gumbo with clarinetist Rob Patterson won the Washington Area Music Award for Best Classical CD of the Year.
A truly versatile and adventurous musician, Andrist has performed and recorded music for synthesizer, harmonium, and harpsichord, and has served as orchestral pianist in both Canada and New York. An ardent exponent of new music, she has over 75 world premieres to her credit, and has had many works composed for her and the ensembles with which she plays. She is the recipient of grants from the Canada Council and the Saskatchewan Arts Board, and has spent several summers as a Resident Artist at the Banff Center in Alberta. She is a member of the PostClassical Ensemble in Washington, DC and River Oaks Chamber Orchestra in Houston, Texas.
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 did 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 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 recently 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.
