Classical Music Chicago to Present John-Henry Crawford In Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts

On Wednesday, September 13, 2023 at 12:15PM CT, award-winning cellist John-Henry Crawford will be featured alongside acclaimed pianist and frequent collaborator Victor Santiago Asunción in the weekly Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts series, a Chicago institution. Crawford has been recognized from an early age as one of his generation's leading cello talents, releasing his third album with Asunción - Voice of Rachmaninoff - in June 2023.

Their performance in the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts series, presented by Classical Music Chicago, will be held at the Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist, Chicago and live-streamed on WFMT. The program includes all four movements of Rachmaninoff's Cello Sonata Op. 19, also featured on the recent album, as well as Amy Beach's 4 Sketches, Op.15: III Dreaming.

Presented as a "lunch break for the soul" and typically featuring emerging artists at the start of their careers, the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts series dates back to 1977. The afternoon concert series was named for the celebrated British pianist Julia Myra Hess, best known for the afternoon concerts she performed at London's National Gallery during World War II, when nighttime "blackout" policies to avert German bombings made evening concerts virtually impossible. She was presented with a Damehood by King George VI in 1941 for her contribution to maintaining the morale of the people of London.

On a fitting note, Crawford has his own musical connection to World War II: He plays on a rare 200-year old European cello smuggled out of Austria by his grandfather, Dr. Robert Popper, who evaded Kristallnacht in 1938.

About John-Henry Crawford
Born in Shreveport, Louisiana, cellist John-Henry Crawford has been lauded for his "polished charisma" and "singing sound" (Philadelphia Inquirer). In 2019, he won First Prize in the IX International Carlos Prieto Cello Competition and was named Young Artist of the Year by the Classical Recording Foundation, and in 2021, he was named the National Federation of Music Clubs' 2021-2023 Young Artist in Strings.

At age 15, Crawford was accepted into the Curtis Institute of Music to study with Peter Wiley and Carter Brey. He continued to complete a Master of Music at The Juilliard School with Joel Krosnick, an Artist Diploma at the Manhattan School of Music with Philippe Muller, and furthered his studies in Chicago with Hans Jørgen Jensen. He has given concerts in 25 states as well as Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, France, Germany, Mexico, and Switzerland at venues such as The International Concert Series of the Louvre in Paris, Volkswagen's Die Gläsern Manufaktur in Dresden, and the inaugural season of the Tippet Rise Arts Center in Montana. Crawford gave his solo debut with The Philadelphia Orchestra as First Prize Winner of the orchestra's Greenfield Competition.

In its first week, Crawford's debut album DIALOGO (Orchid Classics - June 2021) appeared on the Billboard Top 10 chart as well as the top 5 on iTunes and #1 on Amazon's Classical New Releases. The Arts Fuse wrote, "Crawford's performance is, in equal parts, intense and exuberant... Even if their example won't resolve our age's absurd self-centeredness, props to Crawford and Asunción for reminding us that, while our predicaments aren't new, there might be ways through the darkness," while The Strad claimed, "The clean, close recording is like seeing everything through a very powerful lens... a striking interpretation."

While studying in Chicago, Crawford appeared on WFMT's Impromptu series and toured extensively with Steinway artist and pianist Victor Santiago Asunción. An advocate for the importance of artists leveraging social media, Crawford commands a strong Instagram presence, attracting tens of thousands of viewers to his project #The1000DayJourney, where he films artistic cinematic videos daily from his practice and performances for over 55,000 followers (@cellocrawford) to give a glimpse into the working process of a musician, recently passing the 1000-day mark.

Crawford's numerous competition prizes also include Grand Prize and First Prize Cellist at the 2015 American String Teachers National Solo Competition, the Lynn Harrell Competition of the Dallas Symphony, the Hudson Valley Competition, and the Kingsville International Competition. He has competed in the Tchaikovsky and Queen Elisabeth competitions and was accepted at the prestigious Verbier Academy in Switzerland for study under the tutelage of Ralph Kirshbaum and Torleif Thedeen.

John-Henry Crawford has been a fellow at Music from Angel Fire in New Mexico, the National Arts Centre's Zukerman Young Artist Program in Canada, The Fontainebleau School in France, and the Perlman Chamber Music Program. He was invited to perform at Boston's French Cultural Museum in a chamber music concert with Boston Symphony concertmaster Malcolm Lowe, Curtis President Roberto Diaz, and members of the Borromeo Quartet, and was the only student performer on a tour series to Costa Rica, Mexico, and Brazil, collaborating with artists Soovin Kim, Roberto Diaz, and Jason Vieaux as part of Curtis on Tour. While a student at Curtis, Crawford's recital performances were broadcast on WHYY public television in Philadelphia. He was interviewed for the recently released documentary Maestro about conductor Paavo Järvi, and is also interviewed and quoted in Dan Coyle's The Talent Code by Dan Coyle, a best-selling book about the science and neurology behind skill development.

Crawford is from a musical family and performs on a rare 200-year old European cello smuggled out of Austria by his grandfather, Dr. Robert Popper, who evaded Kristallnacht in 1938. He also performs on a fine French bow by the revolutionary bowmaker Tourte "L'Ainé" from 1790. Before attending Curtis, Crawford studied with concert cellist Andres Diaz of Southern Methodist University. In addition to music, he enjoys learning languages, reading about astrophysics, nature, performing magic tricks, and photography. Learn more at www.johnhenrycrawford.com.

About Victor Santiago Asunción
Hailed by The Washington Post for his "poised and imaginative playing," Filipino- American pianist Victor Santiago Asunción has appeared in concert halls in Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, Mexico, the Philippines, Spain, Turkey and the USA, as a recitalist and concerto soloist.

A chamber music enthusiast, he has performed with artists such as Lynn Harrell, Zuill Bailey, Antonio Meneses, Joshua Roman, Giora Schmidt, the Dover, Emerson, and Vega String Quartets. He was on the chamber music faculty of the Aspen Music Festival, and the Garth Newel Summer Music Festival. He was also the pianist for the Garth Newel Piano Quartet for three seasons. Festival appearances include the Amelia Island, Highland-Cashiers, Music in the Vineyards, and Santa Fe.

His recordings include the complete Sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven for Piano and Cello, Sonatas by Shostakovich and Rachmaninoff with cellist Joseph Johnson, the Rachmaninoff Sonata with the cellist Evan Drachman, and the Chopin and Grieg Sonatas, also with cellist Evan Drachman. He is featured in the award-winning recording Songs My Father Taught Me with Lynn Harrell, produced by Louise Frank and WFMT-Chicago. Mr. Asunción is the Founder, and Artistic and Board Director of FilAm Music Foundation, a non-profit foundation that is dedicated to promoting Filipino classical musicians through scholarship, and performance. Victor Santiago Asunción is a Steinway Artist. Learn more at https://victorsantiagoasuncion.com/.

Photo Credit: Jiyang Chen

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