It is with heavy heart that we must cancel our January 13th concert, as cellist/ composer Clancy Newman is unable to travel from Philadelphia, having contracted the virus. Our thoughts are with him and we hope for his speedy recovery. We will endeavor to reschedule this remarkable artist, who was scheduled to play such a wonderful and unique American program.
The Reiko Uchida, Ayano Ninomiya, Raman Ramakrishnan: Brahms / Clara Schumann program on January 20th is scheduled to proceed.
We continue with full COVID protocols in place as we have throughout this season: Full vaccination, masks, distancing inside and out, and hand sanitizer stations.
Difficult times remain, but we are getting through it together.
Looking forward to being with you,
Nuvi Mehta,
General Director,
ECHO Chamber Music Series
Program
Natalie Zhu and Clancy Newman
Natalie Zhu, piano
Clancy Newman, cello
Sonata for Cello and Piano in C Minor, Op. 6
Samuel Barber (1910-1981)
Allegro ma non troppo
Adagio
Allegro appassionata
Capriccio for Cello and Piano (1946)
Lukas Foss (1922-2009)
Pop-Unpopped: Inspired by the Billboard Charts
Clancy Newman (b. 1977)
I: "Thinking Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran
II: "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson
From Method to Madness (2008)
Clancy Newman (b. 1977)
Intermission
Broken Music for Cello and Piano
Kenji Bunch (b. 1973)
Broken Voice
Broken Chord
Broken Verse
Broken Music
Natalie Zhu, piano
Known for captivating interpretations of a wide repertoire, Natalie Zhu is the recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, Musical Fund Society Career Advancement Award, the Andrew Wolf Memorial Chamber Music Award and Astral Artists Award. The Philadelphia Inquirer heralded Zhu’s performance in recital as a display of “emotional and pianistic pyrotechnics”.
Ms. Zhu has performed throughout North America, South America, Europe, and Asia as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. She has performed with the Vermeer, Miami, and Daedalus quartets, and collaborated with members of the Guarneri, Orion, Mendelssohn, and Ying Quartets; and the Beaux Arts Trio, Variation Trio and Time For Three. Ms. Zhu has toured with renowned violinist Hilary Hahn since 1997. They released a CD for the Deutsche Grammophon label in September 2005.
Highlights of the current season include her return to the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Seattle Chamber Music Society, Crested Butte Chamber Music Festival, The Friends of Chamber Music Reading Concert Series, Brooklyn Library Chamber Music Series, Maestro Foundation Concert Series, Curtis On Tour project, and concert tours in China and Korea.
Ms. Zhu has been Artistic Director of the Kingston Chamber Music Festival since 2009 and has featured in festivals such as Marlboro, Amelia Island, Skaneateles, Tanglewood, Chicago Chamber Musicians, and Great Lakes, as well as Kingston. She recently formed the Clarosa Piano Quartet, dedicated to exploring and enriching the piano quartet repertoire. The quartet consists of Zhu’s husband, violist Che-Hung Chen of the Philadelphia Orchestra, his orchestral colleague, first associate concertmaster Juliette Kang, and cellist Clancy Newman.
Ms. Zhu began her piano studies with Xiao-Cheng Liu at the age of 6 in her native China and made her first public appearance at age nine in Beijing. At age 11 she immigrated with her family to Los Angeles, and by age 15 was enrolled at the Curtis Institute of Music, where she received the prestigious Rachmaninoff Award and studied with Gary Graffman. In 2001, she joined the Curtis faculty as staff pianist. She received a Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music where she studied with Claude Frank.
Clancy Newman, cello
Cellist Clancy Newman, first prize winner of the prestigious Walter W. Naumburg International Competition and recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant, has had the unusual career of a performer/composer. He has performed as soloist throughout the United States, as well as in Europe, Asia, Canada, and Australia. He can often be heard on NPR’s “Performance Today” and has been featured on A&E and PBS. A sought after chamber musician, he has been a member of Chamber Music Society Two of Lincoln Center and Musicians from Marlboro, and is a current member of the Clarosa piano quartet. He has been a featured composer on series by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Chicago Chamber Musicians, and his piano quintet was premiered at the opening ceremony of the 2019 National Cherry Blossom Festival. His “Pop-Unpopped” project, ongoing since 2014, has taken cello technique in directions heretofore unimagined. Mr. Newman is a graduate of the five-year exchange program between Juilliard and Columbia University, receiving a M.M. from Juilliard and a B.A. in English from Columbia.