Rockport Chamber Music Festival
Saturday, June 25, 8 PM
FRANK HUANG, violin &
GILLES VONSATTEL, piano
Pre-Concert Talk with Dr. Andrew Shryock, 7 PM
PROGRAM
BEETHOVEN: Sonata No. 5 in F major, Op. 24 “Spring”
PROKOFIEV: Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 80
BEETHOVEN: Sonata No. 9 in A major, Op. 47 “Kreutzer”
Tickets: $65, $59, $47 (fees may apply)
Frank Huang, violin
Newly appointed Concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic, violinist Frank Huang previously served as the Houston Symphony concertmaster. First Prize Winner of the 2003 Walter W. Naumburg Foundation’s Violin Competition and the 2000 Hannover International Violin Competition, Huang has established a major career as a violin virtuoso. At age 11, he performed with the Houston Symphony in a nationally broadcast concert and has since performed with orchestras throughout the world. He has performed on NPR’s Performance Today, Good Morning America, and CNN’s American Morning.
Mr. Huang has received numerous other awards including the Paganini International Violin Competition, the Indianapolis International Violin Competition, the Kingsville International Competition, the Irving M. Klein International Competition, and the D’Angelo International Competition. He has been a member of Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center II, first violinist of the Grammy Award-winning Ying Quartet, and Eastman School of Music, faculty member, as well as serving as concertmaster of the Sejong Soloists. He is currently part of a trio with Thomas Kaines and Reiko Uchida and is Artist Teacher of Violin at The Shepherd School where he works with the school’s resident graduate quartet, The Dover String Quartet.
Mr. Huang’s first recording was released in 2003 and included works by Schubert, Ernst, Schoenberg, and Waxman. He performs in concert throughout the U.S. and Europe, including Alice Tully Hall in New York, in which he performed the world premiere of Donald Martino’s Sonata for Solo Violin. His commitment to chamber music has taken him to the Marlboro Music Festival, Ravinia’s Steans Institute, The Seattle Chamber Music Festival, the Caramoor Festival, as well as frequently participating in Musicians from Marlboro tours.
Gilles Vonsattel, piano
Called a “wanderer between worlds” by the Lucerne Festival, Swiss-born American pianist Gilles Vonsattel is an artist of extraordinary versatility and originality. Comfortable with an enormous range of repertoire, Vonsattel displays a musical curiosity and sense of adventure that has gained him many admirers. After capturing the top prize at the prestigious 2002 Naumburg International Piano Competition, he went on to win numerous prizes including the Cleveland and Honens competitions, the 2006 Concours de Genève, and an Avery Fisher Career Grant. He made his Alice Tully Hall debut in 2002 and has since performed in both recital and soloist with orchestras throughout the U.S., Canada, Japan and Europe.
Deeply committed to the chamber music repertoire, Mr. Vonsattel has been an artist member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since 2012, and is a former member of Chamber Music Society Two. He has collaborated with artists such as Kim Kashkashian, Cho-Liang Lin, David Shifrin, Heinz Holliger, Gary Hoffman, and Yo-Yo Ma, as well as the Borromeo, St. Petersburg, and Ebène quartets, among others. He has a strong passion for the music of contemporary composers and collaborated with Jörg Widmann, Heinz Holliger, and George Benjamin. He has been heard frequently on NPR’s Performance Today, Radio France Musique, CBC, ARD, and the BBC. Vonsattel’s recording of Liszt solo works and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with L’Orchestre de Chambre de Genève was released to critical acclaim and his 2011 recording was named one of Timeout NY’s classical albums of the year.
A student of pianist David Deveau, Vonsattel received his B.A. in political science and economics from Columbia University and his M.M. from The Juilliard School, where he worked with Jerome Lowenthal. He is Assistant Professor of Piano at University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Vonsattel is a Steinway Artist.
