MUSIC AT KOHL MANSION Welcomes The 2024 Winter/spring Season Of World Renowned Chamber Musicians In 5 Not-to-be Missed Concerts

Music at Kohl Mansion (MAKM), the Bay Area's venerable presenter of the finest international chamber music, continues its 41st anniversary with the much-anticipated 2024 winter and spring concert series, showcasing many of the world's leading artists in musical programs of exceptional repertoire spanning classical masterworks to newly praised chamber music works.

The series will commence January 28 with the newly formed Frautschi, Manasse, Nakamatsu Trio; the Horszowski Trio Feb. 25; the Poulenc Trio and the MAKM debut of guest artist, soprano Shawnette Sulker, March 17; Korean-born pianist Joyce Yang in recital, April 7; and pianist Ilya Yakushev with members of the St. Lawrence String Quartet, May 5. All concerts are presented at the historic Kohl Mansion, 2750 Adeline Drive, Burlingame, on Sunday evenings at 7 p.m.

The 2024 Winter/Spring Season Artists and Repertoire

FRAUTSCHI, MANASSE, NAKAMATSU TRIO

Sunday, January 28, 2024 at 7 p.m.

Claude Debussy: Sonata for Violin and Piano in G minor, L. 140

Claude Debussy: Première Rhapsodie for Clarinet and Piano, L. 116

Frédéric Chopin: Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise Brilliante, Op. 22

Darius Milhaud: Suite for Violin, Clarinet and Piano, Op. 157b

Igor Stravinksy: L'Histoire du soldat Suite for Violin, Clarinet and Piano

John Novacek: Two Rags for Violin, Clarinet and Piano

Jennifer Frautschi*, violin; Jon Manasse, clarinet; Jon Nakamatsu, piano

MAKM proudly presents the recently formed trio of Jennifer Frautschi, Jon Manasse and Jon Nakamatsu, nationally renowned musicians in a collaborative evening of beautiful music and virtuosic playing.

Two-time Grammy-nominee and Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient Jennifer Frautschi, has garnered worldwide acclaim as a deeply expressive, musically adventurous violinist with impeccable technique and a wide-ranging repertoire. Her concerto appearances have included the symphony orchestras of Los Angeles, Chicago, Minnesota, Cincinnati, and Buffalo, in addition to extensive chamber music performances with the Boston Chamber Music Society, and such premier festivals and venues as: Caramoor, Newport, Ojai, Santa Fe, Philadelphia, Seattle, Spoleto USA, Bravo! Vail, and The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Frautschi plays a rare Stradivarius violin, the “ex-Cadiz,” dated to 1722.

Among the most distinguished classical artists of his generation, clarinetist Jon Manasse is internationally recognized for his inspiring artistry, uniquely glorious sound and charismatic performing style. An avid chamber musician, Manasse has been featured in programs with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Merkin Concert Hall, in addition to the festivals at Aspen, Caramoor, Colorado Springs, Newport and Sarasota. His extensive performance credits include his position as principal clarinetist with the American Ballet Theater Orchestra, Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, and as former principal with the MET Opera Orchestra. With pianist Jon Nakamatsu, he continues to tour nationwide as half of the acclaimed Manasse/Nakamatsu Duo. A performance highlight for the duo was the world premiere of Paquito D'Rivera's The Cape Cod Concerto with Symphony Silicon Valley, conducted by Leslie B. Dunner. Since 2007, Manasse and Nakamatsu have served as Artistic Directors of the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival.

Pianist Jon Nakamatsu catapulted to international attention in 1997 as the Gold Medalist of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition and as Gold Medalist at the United States National Chopin Piano Competition. He has been a guest soloist with over 150 orchestras worldwide including those of Berlin, Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles, Milan, Seattle, and Tokyo. Nakamatsu is on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and is Artist in Residence at the Chautauqua Institution Piano Program. Nakamatsu is a frequent guest with ensembles such as the Emerson, Tokyo, Prazak, Escher, Jupiter and Ying String Quartets. He has also toured extensively with the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet. With clarinetist Jon Manasse, Nakamatsu tours as a member of the Manasse/Nakamatsu Duo. Following their Boston debut in 2004, the Duo released its first CD of Brahms sonatas for clarinet and piano earning high praise from The New York Times, naming the recording among the “Best of the Year” for 2008.

HORSZOWSKI TRIO

Sunday, February 25, 2024 at 7 p.m.

Clara Schumann: Trio in G minor, Op. 17

Phantasiestücke Project – After Robert Schumann

Paul Chihara: Little Dragonfly

David Fulmer: Eldorado

Derek Bermel: Remembrance 

Dmitri Shostakovich: Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67

Jesse Mills, violin; Ole Akahoshi, cello; Rieko Aizawa, piano

Giving performances that are “lithe, persuasive” (The New York Times), “eloquent and enthralling” (The Boston Globe), and described as “the most compelling American group to come on the scene” (The New Yorker), the Horszowski Trio has quickly become a vital force in the international chamber music world since its formation in 2011. Earlier this year, the “Horszowski Trio Prize” was created by the prestigious Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, to award piano trio winners. The Horszowski Trio has appeared at major venues in the U.S., including New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, as well as Mexico, Canada, Japan, and throughout Europe and Asia. In addition to their performance cycles of the complete trios of Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms, the Horszowski Trio is a passionate advocate for the music of our time. Recent premieres include musical works by Kenji Bunch, Stewart Goodyear, Scott Lindroth, Louis Karchin, and Charles Wuorinen, in addition to the Phantasiestücke Project which celebrated the Trio's 10th anniversary with three new works by composers Derek Bermel, Paul Chihara and David Fulmer.

The Horszowski Trio will appear in a free public conversation performing musical excerpts at the San Mateo Public Library, Saturday February 24 at 3 p.m., Oak Room, 55 West 3rd Avenue, San Mateo.

POULENC TRIO with Guest Artist, Soprano SHAWNETTE SULKER*

Sunday, March 17, 2024 at 7 p.m.

Francis Poulenc: Trio for Oboe, Bassoon and Piano, FP43

Francis Poulenc: Sonata for Oboe and Piano, in D Major, Op. 166

Viet Cuong: Explain Yourself!  

Francis Poulenc; new arrangement by Zakarias Grafilo for the trio and soprano: two song cycles, Métamorphoses and Cocardes, and À sa guitare

William Grant Still: Vignettes

Gioachino Rossini: Fantaisie Concertante on Themes from Semiramide

Aleh Remezau*, oboe; Bryan Young, bassoon; Irina Kaplan Lande, piano; Shawnette Sulker, soprano *

“The Poulenc Trio brought an intriguing and beautifully played program … urbane and sophisticated with near-effortless lightness and grace. The Poulenc Trio does its namesake proud!” (The Washington Post)

The Poulenc Trio is celebrating its 20th year of captivating performances and inspiring the next generation of musicians. With over 25 commissioned pieces written or arranged for the ensemble, they have significantly expanded the repertoire for oboe, bassoon, and piano. The group's most recent commissions include Explain Yourself! by composer Viet Cuong, two works by Juri Seo, Melodie de Poulenc, and Breathing Light, a collaboration with accordionist Hanzhi Wang. In a recent review, The New York Times praised the Trio for its “elegant rendition” of Piazzolla's Tangos and has been called “virtuosos of classical and contemporary chamber music” in one profile for Russian television.

A native of Guyana, soprano Shawnette Sulker has sung leading roles with many opera companies including San Francisco Opera, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Internationale Opera Producties, Opera Naples, Union Avenue Opera, Natchez Opera Festival, Pacific Opera Project, Opera Parallèle, West Edge Opera, Festival Opera, West Bay Opera, Music in the Mountains, and Mendocino Music Festival. Sulker's upcoming engagements include Barber's poetic Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with San Jose Chamber Orchestra; a joint recital with soprano Hope Briggs in Palo Alto; and two roles in Opera Parallèle's double-bill premiere of Birds & Balls.

Pianist JOYCE YANG in Recital

Sunday, April 7, 2024 at 7 p.m.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Selections from The Seasons, Op. 37a

Sergei Rachmaninoff: Seven Preludes from Op. 32 and Op. 23

Modest Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition 

Blessed with “poetic and sensitive pianism” (The Washington Post) and a “wondrous sense of color” (San Francisco Classical Voice), GRAMMY-nominated pianist Joyce Wang captivates audiences with her virtuosity, lyricism, and interpretive sensitivity. She first came to international attention in 2005, when she won the Silver Medal at the 12th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. The youngest contestant at 19 years old, she took home two additional awards: Best Performance of Chamber Music and Best Performance of a New Work. A year later, Yang made her celebrated New York Philharmonic debut alongside Lorin Maazel at Lincoln Center followed by the orchestra's tour of Asia, making a triumphant return to her hometown of Seoul, South Korea. Yang has subsequently returned to perform with the New York Philharmonic several times and regularly appears with the orchestras of Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Toronto, Berlin, Sydney, and London, and summer festivals including Aspen, Wolf Trap, Sun Valley and Grant Park. An avid chamber musician, Yang has collaborated with the Takács Quartet for Dvořák – part of Lincoln Center's Great Performers series – and Schubert's “Trout” Quintet with members of the Emerson String Quartet at the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center. Yang has fostered an enduring partnership with the Alexander String Quartet and together released three celebrated recordings under Foghorn Classics.

Pianist ILYA YAKUSHEV with members of the ST. LAWRENCE STRING QUARTET

Sunday, May 5, 2024 at 7 p.m.

Sergei Rachmaninoff: Vocalise, Op. 24, No. 14 for Violin and Piano

Nadia Boulanger: Trois pièces for Cello and Piano 

Andrea Casarrubios: Silbo for Cello and Piano

Bohuslav Martinů: Duo No. 1 for Violin and Cello, H. 157  

George Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue for Piano

Johannes Brahms: Piano Trio No. 1 in B Major, Op. 8

Owen Dalby, violin; Christopher Costanza*, cello; Ilya Yakushev, piano

Virtuosic pianist Ilya Yakushev returns to Kohl Mansion for a unique collaborative concert with members of the elite St. Lawrence String Quartet, Owen Dalby and Christopher Costanza, in a program anchored by the glorious Brahms Piano Trio, No. 1. From the haunting melody of Rachmaninoff's Vocalise to a jazzy 100th anniversary commemoration of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, this special evening of classic and contemporary music in the hands of these highly talented artists, promises to be a memorable conclusion to the season.

Praised as “dazzling” (The New York Times), “expert and versatile” (The New Yorker), and “a fearless and inquisitive violinist” (San Francisco Classical Voice), Owen Dalby leads a rich musical life as a chamber musician, soloist, new and early music expert, orchestral concertmaster, and educator. Dalby is regularly invited to perform as a soloist and chamber musician at festivals from Hamburg to Honolulu, and from Iceland to Mumbai. As the newest member of the St. Lawrence String Quartet and an Artist in Residence at Stanford University, Dalby made his debut at the 2015 Spoleto Festival USA.

For over three decades, cellist Christopher Costanza has enjoyed a varied and exciting career as a soloist, chamber musician, and teacher. Costanza joined the St. Lawrence String Quartet (SLSQ) in 2003, and tours and records extensively with that ensemble, performing over 100 concerts annually throughout the world. As a member of the SLSQ, he is an Artist in Residence at Stanford University, where he teaches cello and chamber music. Costanza has performed to wide critical acclaim in the U.S., Canada, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Australia, New Zealand, China, Korea, and Europe. His summer festival appearances include the Marlboro, Yellow Barn, Santa Fe, Taos, Chamber Music Northwest, Seattle, Bay Chamber Concerts, Ottawa, and Bravo! Vail Valley festivals.

In recent seasons, Ilya Yakushev has performed in various prestigious venues worldwide, including St. Petersburg's Glinka Philharmonic Hall, Singapore's Victoria Hall, Carnegie Hall, Davies Symphony Hall and Sejong Performing Arts Center in Seoul. His critically acclaimed credits include performances with the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, the Boston Pops, and Utah Symphony. The winner of the 2005 World Piano Competition, Yakushev made a fiery “unforgettable debut” debut in 2007 with the San Francisco Symphony's Prokofiev Festival under Michael Tilson Thomas, performances praised by the San Francisco Chronicle as “One of the Top 10 Classical Music Events of the Year.”

Messrs. Yakushev, Dalby and Costanza will appear in a free public conversation performing musical excerpts at the San Mateo Public Library, Saturday May 4 at 3 p.m., Oak Room, 55 West 3rd Ave, San Mateo.

Single tickets for all five concerts are now on sale and priced $58 (adult), $55 (senior) and $25 (age 30 and under). To purchase concert tickets, call the Box Office at (650) 762-1130 or order online via musicatkohl.org.

St. Lawrence String Quartet cellist and educator Christopher Costanza will offer an informative and lively pre-performance lecture at 6 p.m. in the Kohl Mansion Library before all five concerts. All programs include a complimentary post-performance reception with the artists. Free and ample parking is available.

Major support of Music at Kohl Mansion's 41st Season is provided, in part, by the San Mateo County Arts Commission, Sam Mazza Foundation, Mervyn Brenner Foundation, and many generous individual donors.

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