Mozart & Brahms

Paul Huang, violin | | Alessio Bax, piano | Barry Shiffman, viola | Nicholas Canellakis, cello

Four chamber music virtuosos—Paul Huang, hailed as “one of those rare artists who casts a spell” (Violinist.com), Alessio Bax, praised as “clearly among the most remarkable young pianists now before the public” (Gramophone) and Nicholas Cannelakis, described as “the superb young soloist” (The New Yorker) and Artistic Director and violist Barry Shiffman come together for an evening of masterworks by Mozart, Grieg and Brahms.

PROGRAM

MOZART: Piano Quartet in E-flat major, K.493
GRIEG: Violin Sonata No. 3, Op. 45
INTERMISSION
BRAHMS: Piano Trio No. 1 in B Major, Op. 8

“Huang is one of those rare artists who casts a spell and keeps the audience in his thrall.” –Violinist.com

ABOUT PAUL HUANG

Recipient of the prestigious 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant and the 2017 Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists, violinist Paul Huang is considered one of the most distinctive artists of his generation. The Washington Post remarked that Huang “possesses a big, luscious tone, spot-on intonation and a technique that makes the most punishing string phrases feel as natural as breathing,” following his recital debut at the Kennedy Center.

“Huang is one of those rare artists who casts a spell and keeps the audience in his thrall.” – Diana Skinner, Violinist.com

Recent highlights include an acclaimed debut at Bravo!Vail Music Festival stepping in for violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter in Mozart’s Violin Concerto No.4 with Chamber Orchestra Vienna-Berlin; appearances with the Rotterdam Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, and Houston Symphony among others, and recital debuts at the Lucerne and Aspen Music Festivals. In Fall 2021, Huang became the first classical violinist to perform the National Anthem for the opening NFL game in Charlotte, North Carolina to an audience of 75,000. His debut album Kaleidoscope was released in October 2023 with a second album scheduled for release in January 2025.

During the 2024-25 season, Huang returns to the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, San Diego Symphony and Tucson Symphony, among others, and makes his London debut at the Barbican Hall with BBC Symphony as well as with Oregon, Indianapolis, and Toledo Symphonies.

ABOUT ALESSIO BAX

Combining exceptional lyricism and insight with consummate technique, Alessio Bax is “among the most remarkable young pianists now before the public” (Gramophone). He catapulted to prominence with First Prize wins at both the 2000 Leeds International Piano Competition and the 1997 Hamamatsu International Piano Competition. He has appeared with over 150 orchestras, including the New York, London, and St. Petersburg Philharmonic and Boston Symphony Orchestras, collaborating with eminent conductors including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Sir Andrew Davis and Sir Simon Rattle. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with Joshua Bell, Lucille Chung and Steven Isserlis, among many others and appears regularly in festivals such as Ravinia, Aspen and Tanglewood. Since 2017, he has been the Artistic Director of the Incontri in Terra di Siena Festival.

“Alessio Bax is clearly among the most remarkable young pianists now before the public.” -Gramophone “Editor’s Choice”

Bax’s extensive discography includes works by Beethoven, Mozart and Bach; Scriabin & Mussorgsky (named “Recording of the Month … and quite possibly … of the year” by MusicWeb International); Brahms (a Gramophone Critics’ Choice) and Rachmaninov (an American Record Guide Critics’ Choice). His Baroque Reflections album was also a Gramophone Editor’s Choice.

Bax is on the piano faculty of Boston’s New England Conservatory and serves as co-artistic director of the Joaquín Achúcarro Foundation for emerging pianists.

ABOUT NICHOLAS CANELLAKIS

Nicholas Canellakis is one of the most sought-after and innovative cellists of his generation, praised as a “superb young soloist” (The New Yorker) and “impassioned … the audience seduced by Mr. Canellakis’s rich, alluring tone” (The New York Times).

“the superb young soloist” – The New Yorker

Recent concert highlights include concerto appearances with numerous orchestras including the New Haven Symphony as Artist-in-Residence, and the American Symphony Orchestra in Carnegie Hall. He performs recitals throughout the U.S. with his longtime duo collaborator, pianist-composer Michael Stephen Brown; recent appearances have included Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, the Saratoga Performing Arts Center and Wolf Trap Performing Arts Center.

As an artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Canellakis performs regularly in Alice Tully Hall and internationally, including London’s Wigmore Hall and The Louvre in Paris, among others. He is a regular guest artist at many leading music festivals, including Santa Fe and Ravinia. He is the artistic director of Chamber Music Sedona and was recently appointed to the cello faculty of the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, his alma mater.

Canellakis’s latest album (b)romance, featuring original compositions and arrangements, was released by First Hand Records in 2023 and has received over one million streams on Apple Music.

ABOUT BARRY SHIFFMAN

Artistic director of the Rockport Chamber Music Festival and classical music at Rockport Music, internationally acclaimed violinist and violist Barry Shiffman is well-respected as a musician, educator and administrator. He was co-founder of the St. Lawrence String Quartet (SLSQ), and currently serves as both the Associate Dean and Director of Chamber Music at the Glenn Gould School and Dean of the Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists at The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. During his 17 years with the SLSQ he appeared in over 2,000 concerts in venues around the globe and recorded several critically acclaimed discs under an exclusive contract with EMI Classics. He has also served in numerous roles at the Banff Centre, including Director of Music Programs (2006-2010), Artistic Director of the Centre’s Summer Music Programs (2010-2016) and Executive Director of the Banff International String Quartet Competition, which he continues to direct.