February 23rd: Chamber Music Charleston at the ATG

FDDC Chamber Music at the Gallery Presents:

“Chamber Music Charleston” to present an intimate afternoon of chamber music, Sunday February 23, 2014 at the Art Trail Gallery with a meet the artist reception to follow. Performance begins at 5 PM. The Gallery is located at 185 W. Evans in downtown Florence.

The Program will include:

                                PIAZZOLLA The Grand Tango for Cello and Piano
                                VIEUXTEMPS Elegie for Viola and Piano
                                BRAHMS Trio for Viola, Cello and Piano in a minor, Op. 114

The musicians featured are Irina Pevzner, pianist, was born in Ukraine and raised in Latvia. After graduating with honors from the Riga National Music Conservatory, she moved to the United States with her family. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Piano Performance and Music Education from Mansfield University of PA and a Master’s Degree in Piano Performance from Carnegie Mellon University. In 2005 she received the Artist Certificate from the College of Charleston. Her principal teachers include Larisa Zakke, Marina Smirnova, Nancy Boston and Enrique Graf. Irina has performed throughout Latvia, Ukraine, Spain and the east coast of the United States. She is a frequent participant at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC. Currently she is on the faculty of Charleston Academy of Music and the College of Charleston.

Timothy O’Malley, cello, was first introduced to the cello at the age of nine when he participated in a strings program in Tucson, Arizona. Since then, his studies have brought him across the United States and to Europe. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Cello Performance from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and his Master’s Degree in Orchestral Performance from the Manhattan School of Music. He is a core member of Chamber Music Charleston and plays frequently with the Charleston and Hilton Head Orchestras.

A native of Indiana, violist Ben Weiss attended the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. During his eight years of study there Mr. Weiss completed his Bachelor of Music degree and Performer Diploma in violin as well as a Performer Diploma in viola. While at Indiana University he was a member of the Richmond Symphony Orchestra, Terre Haute Symphony, Carmel Symphony and the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic. Ben and his wife Jenny enjoy performing together as the Weiss Duo and he has made Charleston his home to teach violin and viola at the Ashley Hall School. In addition to Chamber Music Charleston, he also performs regularly with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra and teaches at the College of Charleston. Mr. Weiss is a regular member of Chamber Music Charleston.

The series will continue Sunday March 23 with Daria Rabotkina, Russian pianist and April 27 with Aurora Mucicalis Chamber Players. Mark Your calendars now for these exciting afternoons of great chamber music.

February 23rd: Chamber Music Charleston at the Art Trail Gallery in downtown Florence

February 23rd: Chamber Music Charleston at the ATG

March 17th: Chamber Music Charleston Players at the ATG

Chamber Music Charleston Players will be the featured performers at the next Chamber Music series at the Art Trail Gallery. They will perform music of Martinu, JS  Bach, Milhaud and Telemann. The concert is at 5 PM Sunday March 17, 2013 in the Art Trail Gallery 185 W Evans St. (corner of Irby and Evans Sts.) A meet the artists’ reception will follow.

Chamber Music Charleston (CMC) is an organization dedicated to developing the audience for classical music through chamber music concerts and educational performances of high artistic quality by musicians of the Low country. All programs presented by CMC are developed to highlight the diversity, eclecticism and excitement possible in chamber music.

Performing  in this concert will be Francis Hsieh violin, Sandra Nikolajevs, bassoon, Regina Helcher Yost flute and Julia Harlow, harpsichord

Frances Hsieh, a native of Chapel Hill, began studying violin at age five under Dorothy Kitchen of the Duke University String School.  She continued her studies with Eric Pritchard as an A.J. Fletcher Scholar at Duke University earning degrees in Music and Biology.  Under the tutelage of Charles Castleman, Frances received her Masters in Violin Performance at the Eastman School of Music.  There, she performed with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra through an internship with the Eastman Orchestral Studies Program.  Frances is an active chamber musician of Chamber Music Charleston and has performed with numerous symphonies including the North Carolina and Phoenix Symphonies and has won positions with the Colorado Music Festival, Richmond, Asheville, and Charleston Symphony Orchestras.

Born and raised in central Massachusetts, bassoonist Sandra Nikolajevs began her formal musical education at the Oberlin College and Conservatory of Music in Ohio and continued studies at the Juilliard School in New York City and at the Paris Conservatory.  Ms. Nikolajevs has participated in the National Repertory Orchestra and the Tanglewood Music Center summer music festivals and worked with such notable conductors as Seiji Ozawa, Pierre Boulez and Robert Spano.  She has performed chamber music at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall and with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.  Ms. Nikolajevs is currently Principal Bassoonist of the Savannah Philharmonic and has held the same position with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, South Carolina Philharmonic and Augusta Symphony.  She is Director and Founder of Chamber Music Charleston.

Regina Helcher Yost is Second Flute of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, Assistant Principal Flute/Piccolo of the Colorado Music Festival in Boulder, Colorado, core flutist of Chamber Music Charleston and Adjunct Professor of Flute at Charleston Southern University. 

In the summer of 2006, Regina served as Acting Flutist with the Atlanta Chamber Players on their 30th Anniversary European Tour, performing for enthusiastic audiences in France, Switzerland, and Rome, Italy. In the summer of 2009, Regina was Co-Principal Flutist of the International Pacific Music Festival 20th Anniversary Alumni Orchestra in Sapporo, Japan.

Previously, Regina was the Associate Principal Flute/Piccolo of the Honolulu Symphony, Second Flute/Piccolo of the Knoxville Symphony, and Acting Second Flute of the St. Louis Symphony. In 2000, she soloed with the St. Louis Symphony in Brandenburg #4 in Powell Symphony Hall in a performance which received a standing ovation and rave reviews. In that same year, Regina was also chosen to play in the Minnesota Orchestra on their NYC/European tour, performing in Carnegie Hall and the finest halls in Europe, including the Musikverein and the Philharmonie.

Julia Harlow is currently Organist at Second Presbyterian Church in Charleston. She earned the Doctor of Musical Arts in Organ Performance and Pedagogy at the University of Oregon, the Master of Music in Early Keyboard Performance at the University of Oregon, and the Bachelor of Music in Organ Performance from the University of Iowa. She has extensive performance experience of early music, as well as European, Balkan and Middle Eastern folk music. She has often performed as harpsichordist or organist in Piccolo Spoleto, on the Early Music, Choral Artists/Festival of Churches, and L'Organo series. In her spare time she enjoys playing the bagpipes with the City of Charleston Police Pipes and Drums.

April 22nd: Chamber Music Charleston to Perform at the Art Trail Gallery

The last concert of the 2011-12 season at the Art Trail Gallery will be presented Sunday April 22 at 5 PM. The featured performers will be Chamber Music Charleston, who received a standing ovation earlier in the season. The program will include Franz Joseph Haydn String Quartet No.53 in D Major “The Lark” and Franz Schubert String Quartet in a minor. The musicians will be Frances Hsieh and Jenny Weiss, violin; Ben Weiss, viola and Tim O’Malley, cello. Tickets are $10 available at the door. The concert is approximately one hour followed by a reception with the artist.

Chamber Music Charleston (CMC) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing the audience for classical music through chamber music concerts and educational performances of high artistic quality by musicians of the Lowcountry. All programs presented by CMC are developed to highlight the diversity, eclecticism and excitement possible in chamber music.

Frances Hsieh, a native of Chapel Hill, began studying violin at age five under Dorothy Kitchen of the Duke University String School.  She continued her studies with Eric Pritchard as an A.J. Fletcher Scholar at Duke University earning degrees in Music and Biology.  Frances received her Masters in Violin Performance at the Eastman School of Music.   Frances is a core member of Chamber Music Charleston and has performed with numerous symphonies including the North Carolina and Phoenix Symphonies and has won positions with the Colorado Music Festival, Richmond and Charleston Symphony Orchestras.

Cellist Timothy O'Malley was first introduced to the cello at the age of nine when he participated in a strings program in Tucson, Arizona. Since then his studies have brought him across the United States and to Europe. Mr. O'Malley received his Bachelor’s Degree in Cello Performance from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and his Master’s Degree in Orchestral Performance from the Manhattan School of Music. Mr. O'Malley is a core member of Chamber Music Charleston and plays frequently with the Charleston and Hilton Head Orchestras.

A native of Indiana, violist Ben Weiss attended the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music where he completed his Bachelor of Music degree and Performer Diploma in violin as well as a Performer Diploma in viola. While at Indiana University he was a member of the Richmond Symphony Orchestra, Terre Haute Symphony, Carmel Symphony and the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic. Ben and his wife Jenny enjoy performing together as the Weiss Duo and he has made Charleston his home to teach violin and viola at the Ashley Hall School.  In addition to Chamber Music Charleston, he also performs regularly with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra and teaches at the College of Charleston. 

Jenny Weiss, originally from Delaware, Ohio, began studying the violin at the age of 5.  She completed her Bachelors Degree and Performer Diploma at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music as a student of Federico Agostini.  While living in Bloomington, Jenny was a member of the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, Carmel Symphony, Terre Haute Symphony, and Richmond Symphony Orchestra.  She enjoys performing regularly with her husband Ben and since moving here, Jenny has performed regularly with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, The Sound of Charleston, and also teaches violin at Ashley Hall School.