CLASSICAL WITH A TWIST: I'VE GOT RHYTHM Comes to Cherry Street Music

Cherry Street Music will present Classical with a Twist- I’ve Got Rhythm, on Sunday, December 15th at The Allen Center in West Newton (MA).   Artistic Director Allison Eldredge will present a program that is both “classical” featuring chamber music by Johannes Brahms, and has a “twist,” courtesy of music by George Gershwin.

Guest artists violinist Alexander Velinzon, Cathy Basrak (viola) and pianist Max Levinson, along with Allison Eldredge on cello  form the quartet that will bring Brahms’ G minor Piano Quartet to life. Levinson will play the solo piano arrangement of Rhapsody in Blue and will be joined by Eldredge in additional works from Gershwin’s rich trove of chamber music.

“It is inspiring to play chamber music with exceptional musicians who are, gratefully, also friends,” said Eldredge. “I can’t wait to make music with Alex, Cathy and Max and explore Gershwin and Brahms in our warm Allen Center! Gershwin and Brahms have identifiable melodies and harmonies that hug your ears with their mesmerizing beauty!”

A native of St. Petersburg, violinist Alexander Velinzon joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra in January 2000. He became assistant concertmaster in 2005 and was promoted to associate concertmaster in 2015 and to first associate concertmaster in 2024. In addition, he has been invited to play as concertmaster with such orchestras as the London Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Seoul Philharmonic, WDR Symphony Orchestra, and NDR Radio Philharmonic among others.  He has been a member of the LiveARTS String Quartet since 2009. 

A native of the Chicago area, Cathy Basrak earned her bachelor’s degree from the Curtis Institute of Music in 2000. At the start of the 2000-2001 season, she became the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s assistant principal viola and principal viola of the Boston Pops Orchestra. Basrak has participated in the Marlboro, Banff Centre for the Arts, and Norfolk Chamber Music festivals, and has performed with the Brandenburg Ensemble and Boston’s Metamorphosen Ensemble.

Recipient of the Andrew Wolf Award, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and first prize in the 1997 Dublin International Piano Competition, Newton resident Max Levinson has appeared as a soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, St. Paul Chamber and Boston Pops orchestras, as well as the St. Louis, Detroit, San Francisco, Baltimore, Oregon, Indianapolis, Colorado, and Utah symphony orchestras. He has performed in chamber music concerts with Pinchas Zukerman, Richard Stoltzman, Tokyo, Vermeer, Mendelssohn, and Borromeo Quartets and has appeared at major music festivals, including the Santa Fe, Marlboro, Tanglewood, and Mostly Mozart.  Levinson is on the faculty of The Boston Conservatory at Berklee and The New England Conservatory of Music.

Since winning the coveted Avery Fisher Career Grant at 19, solo cellist Allison Eldredge has been performing from Berlin to Moscow to Tokyo to Beijing to Amsterdam to Carnegie Hall as soloist with many of the world's great orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Montreal Symphony and the Royal Philharmonic and performed with such distinguished conductors as Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, Andre Previn, Charles Dutoit, Leonard Slatkin, Krzysztof Penderecki, Yevgeny Svetlanov, Hans Vonk and Jaap van Zweden.  Chamber Music collaborations have included performances with Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Gil Shaham, Andre Previn and Shmuel Ashkenasi. In addition to serving as Cherry Street Music Artistic Director, Allison is the Allen Center’s Artist in Residence and a resident of Newton.

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