"The Eisendrath Years: Art Inspires Music" featuring the Perseid String Quartet

Co-Sponsor: Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum

Student compositions by:

Preston Lam
Kelly Stathis
Thomas Ferkol
Christian Del Rio
Teddy Wenneker
Anna Mai
Joseph Jakubowski

Followed by:

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)                                            String Quartet No. 8 in C minor, Op. 110 (1960)
"Dedicated to the Victims of Fascism and War"
 
Largo
Allegro Molto
Allegretto
Largo
Largo
 
Between 1960 and 1968, the Washington University Gallery of Art (today the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum) acquired a significant collection of vanguard European and American post-World War II abstraction. These works were attained largely through donation by a group of influential local collectors whose goal it was to make the University an important center for the collection and display of modern and contemporary art. Under the direction of William N. Eisendrath, Jr., the Museum acquired works by significant postwar artists such as Karel Appel, Alberto Burri, Richard Diebenkorn, Jean Dubuffet, Sam Francis, Lucio Fontana, Antoni Tàpies, and Pierre Soulages. Focusing on these works of postwar abstraction, as well as a small group of early twentieth-century modernist works acquired by the University in these years, this exhibition highlights not only the history of institutional collecting practices, but also the way in which these works of international abstraction were interpreted and valued in the late 1950s and 1960s America.
 

Perseid String Quartet

Formed in 2013, The Perseid String Quartet has already generated acclaim for its polished, energetic performances and engagement with audiences. The 2014-2015 season sees the Quartet perform in such diverse venues as the Ladue Chapel Concert Series, Schmidt Art Center at Southwestern Illinois College, First Presbyterian Church in Edwardsville, IL, Washington University in St. Louis, and the Tavern of Fine Arts. The Quartet seeks to perform chamber music to the highest possible artistic standards, and has performed works by Grieg, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, and Haydn, along with lesser-known pieces by composers such as Hindemith and Golijov. Collaborations in the current concert season include concerts with pianist Diana Umali and Soprano Emily Truckenbrod.

Members of the Quartet serve as faculty members at colleges and community music schools, and their collective performing experience includes positions in regional orchestras and opera productions, historically informed performance on Baroque instruments, and playing in a rock band. Members of the quartet hold degrees from such institutions as the Eastman School of Music, Cleveland Institute of Music, Rice University, and University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Violinist Hannah Frey is an active chamber and orchestral musician. She is currently concertmaster of the Winter Opera St Louis Orchestra, and plays with the Illumine Ensemble. She also performs as an extra with the St Louis Symphony, the Union Avenue Opera Orchestra, and the Illinois Symphony. Before moving to St Louis in 2008 she was a member of several different orchestras, including the Charlotte Symphony and the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra. Additionally she has held the positions of concertmaster of the Mansfield Symphony and assistant concertmaster of the Cleveland Chamber Symphony. Hannah is also a dedicated educator with a large private studio. She believes that anyone can learn to play the violin and is insistent on sharing her love of music with others. She is trained in the Suzuki method and teaches students of all ages and levels out of her home in St Louis. Hannah previously taught at a variety of schools including the St Louis School of Music, Fairmount School of Music, St Margaret of Scotland School and Good Shepherd Lutheran School.

Hannah is a native of Clinton, South Carolina. She received both her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Linda Cerone and William Preucil. In her free time Hannah can be found curled up with a good book, playing with her two cats and dog, or running in a nearby park.

 

Manuela Kaymakanova was born in Rousse, Bulgaria, and began her violin studies at the age of 5. Manuela holds a Bachelor of Music from Webster University, where she received the Buder Scholarship for gifted students and studied with Yuly Iliashov.  Further studies led to a Master’s degree from the University of Missouri at Kansas City, where she was awarded a graduate string quartet assistantship for three years.  Her teachers there included Benny Kim and Gregory Sandomirsky.  Presently Manuela teaches at the Community Music School of Webster University and maintains a private studio.  Manuela is an active chamber music and orchestral performer in the St Louis area.  

 

 

Eliana Haig enjoys an active career as both a performer and educator.  Since relocating to St Louis in 2012, Eliana has performed with the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra, Illinois Symphony Orchestra, Winter Opera Saint Louis, and Chamber Project Saint Louis. Chamber music appearances include the Webster University Chamber Music Series, Saint Louis Central Public Library, and Missouri History Museum. Eliana has served as a section violist in the Erie Philharmonic and Binghamton Philharmonic Orchestras and as a substitute in the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.  She was awarded a section position with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and performed as a substitute. Summer festival appearances include the National Repertory Orchestra, Chautauqua Festival Orchestra, and National Orchestral Institute.

A sought-after private teacher and clinician, Eliana is adjunct Professor of Viola at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, and maintains a private viola studio at the Community Music School of Webster University. Eliana holds a Master of Music in Performance from the Eastman School of Music and a Bachelor of Music with honors from Lawrence University. As an undergraduate student, Eliana spent a year in Austria on scholarship, where she studied music and German at the University for Music and Dramatic Arts in Graz. Her primary teachers include Ira Weller, George Taylor, Matthias Maurer, and Matthew Michelic. 

 

An active and versatile musician, Stephanie Hunt performs on both modern and baroque cello. While she has performed with a number of modern and baroque orchestras, she enjoys chamber music and plays frequently as a continuo cellist. Her current activities include performances with Chamber Project St. Louis and the Coromell Ensæmble, a Mexican Early Music ensemble. Stephanie has participated in numerous international music festivals, including the Nederlandse Orkest- en Ensemble-Academie, Royaumont Formations Professionnelles (France), the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme, and two summers as a Tanglewood Music Center Fellow. Her studies on modern cello led to a B.Mus. summa cum laude from the University of Miami's Frost School of Music and a M.Mus. from Rice University's Shepherd School of Music. Following her American studies, Stephanie moved to Europe and earned both a B.Mus. Honours and a M.Mus. in baroque cello from the Utrecht Conservatory in the Netherlands. Her teachers include Viola de Hoog, Norman Fischer, Hans Jørgen Jensen, Ross Harbaugh, and Monique Bartels. After five years studying and performing in the Netherlands, Stephanie recently returned to the United States, settling in the St. Louis area. In addition to her performing, she teaches cello in the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville Suzuki program and at Southwestern Illinois College, and maintains a private studio in St. Louis.