DUC Chamber Music Series - Peter Henderson, piano and Celeste Golden Boyer, violin
PROGRAM:
Bach/Brahms: Chaconne for piano left-hand
Massenet: Meditation from Thaïs
Vitali: Chaconne for violin and piano
Schubert: "Wanderer" Fantasy
Biographies:
Celeste Golden Boyer joined the Saint Louis Symphony as Second Associate Concertmaster at the start of the 2011-2012 season. Celeste began her musical studies at three years of age. When she was nine years old, she became a student of Arkady Fomin, violinist in the Dallas Symphony, and at fifteen, Celeste was accepted into the Curtis Institute of Music, studying with Jaime Laredo and Ida Kavafian. She completed her Bachelor of Music degree at Curtis in 2005, and in 2007, she received a Master of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music where she studied with David Cerone and Paul Kantor.
Celeste is a laureate of several national and international competitions. Most notably, she was the Bronze Medalist at the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis in 2006. Celeste has appeared as soloist with numerous symphony orchestras around the world, including the St. Louis Symphony, the Latvian Chamber Orchestra in Riga, Latvia, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. As a chamber musician, she has appeared in series and festivals such as the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players, the Festival de San Miguel de Allende, the Chamber Music Festival of Lexington, the Innsbrook Institute Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival and School, and the Marlboro Music Festival. Celeste won a three-year fellowship to the Aspen Music Festival and School in 2004, and was subsequently awarded the Dorothy Delay Memorial Fellowship by the festival, an award given to only one violin student each summer.
Celeste was the concertmaster of the New York String Orchestra Seminar in 2005 with concerts at Carnegie Hall. She also performed as concertmaster for the Orchestra of St. Luke's in the New York City premiere of John Adams' opera, "A Flowering Tree" at Lincoln Center in 2009. Celeste was a member of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra from 2010-2011, and currently performs frequently with the IRIS Orchestra in Germantown, Tennessee.
Ms. Boyer resides in St. Louis, MO with her husband of two years, Brandon Boyer, and their one-year-old toy poodle, Presley Rose.
A versatile pianist, Peter Henderson is active as a performer in solo, chamber and orchestral settings. Henderson is currently Associate Professor of Music and Artist in Residence at Maryville University, where he has served on the faculty since fall 2005. He performs frequently as an ensemble keyboardist with the STL Symphony, and made his debut as a subscription concert soloist with that orchestra in January 2008. He also often gives pre-concert lectures from the Symphony’s Powell Hall stage introducing subscription concert programs. Henderson has been an orchestral and chamber keyboardist with the Sun Valley Summer Symphony since its 2004 season; he has been appointed principal keyboardist of the Sun Valley Summer Symphony beginning in July 2015. He is an advocate of new music, having given several premieres of solo piano and chamber works. In recent years, Henderson has played solo recitals focused on works of a single composer: during the 2011-12 season, he performed the 32 piano sonatas of Beethoven; in November and December 2012, he presented the complete piano works of Debussy; and in November 2013, he played Chopin’s 27 Études in a single concert. His discography includes collaborations with violinist David Halen, flutist Mark Sparks, violist Jonathan Vinocour, bass trombonist Gerry Pagano, and soprano Marlissa Hudson; he appears on CDs published by AAM Recordings, AMP Records, and other labels. Henderson holds the degree of Doctor of Music from Indiana University, Bloomington, where he studied piano with Dr. Karen Shaw. He and his wife Kristin Ahlstrom live in St. Louis with their lively, sweet terrier-mix Zinni.
