Piano Trio
Sunday April 15, 2012 at 2:30 pm
Elisa Barston, Violin
Amy Sue Barston, Cello
Amy Yang, Piano
Programme
- Clara Schumann – Piano Trio
- Fanny Mendelssohn – Piano Trio
- Jennifer Higdon – Piano Trio
Bios
Elisa Barston - Violin
Praised for her "glowing sound" and "technical aplomb"(The Strad), violinist Elisa Barston is currently the Principal Second Violinist of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. She previously served as the Associate Concertmaster of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, and was a first violin section member of the Cleveland Orchestra.
Ms. Barston’s principal violin teachers include Almita and Roland Vamos, Robert Lipsett, and Josef Gingold. She graduated from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor of Music Cum Laude. At Indiana University, where she earned a Master of Music degree, Ms. Barston was awarded the prestigious Performer's Certificate, the Jascha Heifetz Scholarship, and the Starling Foundation Grant.
Among her awards, Ms. Barston has garnered top prizes at the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition, First Prize at the Julius Stulberg Auditions, Grand Prize at the International Kingsville Young Performers' Competition, and First Prize in the Seventeen-General Motors National Music Competition.
As a soloist, Ms. Barston has performed extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia, with the major symphony orchestras of Chicago, Los Angeles, Saint Louis, Seattle, and Taipei, among numerous others. In 1986, she made her European debut with the English Chamber Orchestra at the request of Sir Yehudi Menuhin.
Amy Barston - Cello
Praised as "passionate and elegant" by The New York Times, cellist Amy Sue Barston has performed as soloist on stages throughout the world, including Carnegie Hall, Ravinia, Caramoor, Bargemusic, Haan Hall (Jerusalem), The Power House (Australia), and Prussia Cove (England). She has performed Osvaldo Golijov's Omaramor in twenty international cities, receiving twenty consecutive standing ovations. Of the world premiere of Ned Rorem's Aftermath at Ravinia, The Chicago Sun-Times wrote: "the deep, rich tones of Barston's cello haunted the vocal line like a sorrowing vision." At seventeen she appeared as soloist with the Chicago Symphony on live television, won Grand Prize in the Society of American Musicians' Competition, and has since performed as soloist with dozens of orchestras. This past season she gave thirty solo recitals and masterclasses, spanning from New York to New Zealand. Amy is the cellist of The Corigliano Quartet, which was hailed by Strad Magazine as having "abundant commitment and mastery," and whose recent Naxos CD was named one of the top two recordings of the year by both the New Yorker and Gramophone Magazine. Amy also performs regularly in duos, trios, and quartets with the world's most celebrated fiddler, Mark O'connor, and with Trio Vela, piano trio in residence at Bargemusic. Amy studied with Eleonore Schoenfeld at USC where she won the “Most Outstanding Graduate Award,” and Joel Krosnick at Juilliard, where she earned her Masters degree and is frequently Guest Faculty. Amy is a devoted teacher; students commute hundreds of miles for lessons and occasionally come from as far as Alaska and Japan.
Amy Yang - Piano
Hailed by Harris Goldsmith of The New York Concert Review as "a magnificent artist and poet: everything she touches turns to gold--a Midas touch for tone and music", pianist Amy J. Yang is a seasoned performer and collaborator. A rising star who, “artistically, has fully arrived” (Philadelphia Inquirer), Yang’s performances “elevate joy to the edge of rapture” and “convey the exuberance and enthusiasm of youth” (Star-Telegram).
Ms. Yang has concertized at Weill Recital Hall, Steinway Hall, Gardner Museum, The White House, Perelman Theatre, at Marlboro, Ravinia, Caramoor, OK Mozart, Chamber Music Northwest Festivals, and in Europe and Asia. An avid chamber musician, she has collaborated with extraordinary artists as Richard Goode, David Soyer, Peter Wiley, Arnold Steinhardt, Michael Tree, Ida and Ani Kavafian, Miriam Fried, Joseph Lin, Paul Neubauer, Kim Kashkashian, and Anne-Marie McDermott.
She is currently planning her debut CD as well as initiating The Schumann Project, a special series of concerts to present Schumann’s complete solo piano and chamber works. Live CDs and DVDs of the “Jose Franch-Ballester and Friends” tour of Spain (Itinerant Records) expect imminent release.
Ms. Yang graduated from The Curtis Institute of Music, The Juilliard School, and The Yale School of Music, where she received the Parisot Prize for an Outstanding Piano Student as well as the Alumni Association Prize. Her principal teachers are Timothy Hester, Claude Frank, Robert McDonald, and Peter Frankl.
