Day: April 11, 2022

Heidi Dallin shares Spring Bouquet concert details from Cape Ann Symphony:

Cape Ann Symphony Musicians Unleashed Concert Series 

LIVE ON SATURDAY, April 16: SPRING BOUQUET

Featuring works by Boulanger, Beethoven, Franck, Grieg, Mozart and Faure

& An Original Improvisation by Cape Ann Symphony violist Anna Stromer

at Manchester’s Crowell Chapel

Cape Ann Symphony proudly announces a Musicians Unleashed Concert, Spring Bouquet at 3:00 pm on Saturday, April 16, 2022 at The Crowell Chapel, 3 Rosedale Avenue, Manchester-by-the-Sea.  The ticket price for Spring Bouquet is $40.  Call CAS at 978-281-0543 or go to www.capeannsymphony.org to purchase tickets.

Five musicians will perform 6 works by 6 composers, plus violist Anna Stromer will perform an original improvisation.

“The Musicians Unleashed program on April 16 will give audiences an occasion to see extraordinary CAS musicians playing in an intimate venue. The music in the program really highlights the artistry of these 5 musicians. Plus the exciting improvisation from violist Anna Stromer is a once in a lifetime opportunity!  This piece has never been played before and will never be played again! Spring Bouquet is a concert not to be missed! “

Maestro Udagawa  

The Spring Bouquet concert program includes works by Lili Boulanger, Ludvig van Beethoven, Cesare Franck, Edvard Greig, Wolfgang A. Mozart, Gabriel Faure and Anna Stromer performed by CAS musicians: Stephanie Stathos, flute; Olga Kradenova, violin; Anna Stromer, viola; Johnny Mok, cello; and Tianhong Yang, piano. Boulanger’s D’un matin de printemps will be played by Stephanie Stathos, flute and Tianhong Yang, piano; Beethoven’s Spring Sonata No.5, 1st Movement will be played by Olga Kradenova, violin and Tianhong Yang, piano; Franck’s Sonata 4th Movement will be played by Johnny Mok, cello and Tianhong Yang, piano; Greig’s To Spring (from The Lyric Pieces for Piano) will be played by Tianhong Yang, piano; Stromer’s Original Improvisation will be created and played by Anna Stromer, viola; Mozart’s Flute Quartet, 1st Movement will be played by Stephanie Stathos, flute, Olga Kradenova, violin, Anna Stromer, viola and Johnny Mok, cello; and  Faure’s Piano Quartet No. 1 in C Minor, 4th Movement played by Olga Kradenova, violin, Anna Stromer, viola and  Johnny Mok, cello and Tianhong Yang, piano.

Stephanie Stathos is the Principal Flute of the Cape Ann Symphony. She earned her degree in Flute Performance from Boston University’s School for the Arts. Based in Lincoln, MA, Ms. Stathos is first piccolo for the Lexington Symphony. She has served as the piccolo and second flute with the touring orchestra of the National Lyric Opera of New York. As soloist she has performed throughout the United States and Europe. Other appearances include performances with many of New England’s ensembles including Boston Landmarks Orchestra, Rhode Island Philharmonic, Symphony New Hampshire, Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, Concord Chorale (NH), Newburyport Choral Society, and North Shore Chamber Music. Ms. Stathos also is passionate about jazz, new music and ethnic music.

A Native of St. Petersburg, Russia, violinist Olga Kradenova holds a bachelor’s degree with distinction from the St. Petersburg Conservatory and Royal Northern College of Music in United Kingdom, and a Master’s degree from Cambridge’s Longy School of Music. She played with the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra and appeared as a chamber musician and a soloist throughout Europe. Currently, Ms. Kradenova performs regularly with orchestras and chamber ensembles in the Boston area including Cape Ann Symphony and  the Rivers Symphony as well as teaching privately and at the Brooks School in North Andover.

Johnny Mok, Cape Ann Symphony’s  principal cellist, is currently a freelance musician and teacher in the Greater Boston Area. He began his cello studies at the age of five at the Hong Kong Performing Arts Academy and continued his studies after immigrating to New Mexico. During Mr. Mok’s primary and secondary education, he was very active in the Albuquerque Youth Symphony Program and participated in multiple competitions where he was awarded with first prize. He continued to pursue Music Performance with a  full scholarship at the University of Alabama where he entered competitions throughout the state of Alabama and was awarded first prize in the Birmingham Music Club, Alabama Federation of Music Clubs, and the Camilla Huxford Symphony Concerto Competition, among others.  Following a summer as an Orchestra Fellow at the Texas Music Festival in Houston,  Mr. Mok pursued  a Master’s Degree and the Professional Studies Certificate in Cello Performance at The Boston Conservatory. He has performed with many symphonies throughout the US including Huntsville Symphony Orchestra, Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra, Charleston Symphony Orchestra, Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra, Cape Symphony, Tupelo Symphony, Boston Chamber Symphony, and National Repertory Orchestra,  In addition to Cape Ann Symphony, Mr. Mok is also currently the Principal Cellist of New Hampshire Philharmonic, and Portsmouth Symphony Orchestra. In 2020, he founded the Aroma Duo with his duo piano partner, Tianhong Yang. Since then, Aroma Duo has performed in several chamber music series in the New England area.

Violist Anna Stromer has collaborated with jazz, rock, reggae, blues and hip hop artists in the Boston area as a student at Berklee College of Music. She has performed with Wyclef Jean, Mark O’Connor, Eugene Friesen, Mili Bermejo and Issac Delgado. As a founding member of the performing and recording string quartet originally affiliated with rock band Art Decade, she has recorded two full-length albums, performed at the South By Southwest Music Festival in 2010 and 2011. In May of 2011 she was selected to be the violist for the Vitamin String Quartet (a long-standing studio recording quartet known for its renditions of rock and pop classics) for its first live performance on MTV Unplugged (July 2011). Thirty Seconds to Mars’ song, Hurricane, which featured her viola mirroring the lead singer’s voice, was awarded MTV’s Best Live Performance of 2011. The year ended with special performances by VSQ with 30 Seconds to Mars in NYC as they completed their two year world tour. The live Vitamin String Quartet was also featured on the hit TV show Gossip Girl (100th episode). The Boston Ballet  selected Stromer to be the violist in a quartet performing in Alexander Ekman’s Cacti in May 2014. This innovative choreographer features a string quartet improvising on stage with the dancers; the quartet also performs classical repertoire with the Boston Ballet orchestra.

Based in Boston, Chinese born pianist Tianhong Yang has made  solo appearances in a number of prestigious festivals and venues across Europe, Asia and the USA. Yang made her UK debut in 2010 at the St. David’s Hall, Cardiff, performing Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto, Op.37, under the direction of Maestro David Jones. Throughout Yang’s competition career, she has participated and won numerous top prizes in international piano competitions such as Liege International Piano Competition and Andree Charlier International Piano Competition. At the age of four, Yang started her piano lessons and continued her studies in the Middle School program at Wuhan Conservatoire of Music, then later was admitted to the High School of Central Conservatoire of Music in Beijing, China. After Yang’s intensive primary school training in China’s most prestigious conservatories, in 2009, she was awarded the inaugural Steinway Full Scholarship to further her studies at the Royal Welsh College of Music under the tutelage of Richard McMahon. In 2013, Yang was invited to study with the Piano Legend, Dmitry Bashkirov, at Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia in Spain and she was sponsored with a full scholarship by the Yamaha Europe Association and the Albeniz Foundation. Yang simultaneously began her master’s degree in performance at the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp, Belgium, with Polina Leschenko, and performance diploma program at the Accademia Pianistica Internazionale Incontri Col Maestro, Italy, with Vovka Ashkenazy and Boris Petrushansky. Yang also works closely with Chinese composer, Haofu Zhang, promoting Chinese-Western contemporary compositions. Yang is currently working on her doctoral degree in Piano Performance at Boston University, under the guidance of Pavel Nersessian.

The Cape Ann Symphony’s Musicians Unleashed programs were launched in 2019 and have become a wonderfully popular series with overwhelmingly enthusiastic audience response. Ticket prices for Spring Bouquet are $40. Call Cape Ann Symphony at 978-281-0543 or go to www.capeannsymphony.org for tickets.

Courtesy photos

Photo 1: Stephanie Stathos, Flute

Photo 2: Johnny Mok, Cello

Photo 3: Anna Stromer, Viola

Photo 4: Olga Kradenova, Violin

Photo 5: CAS Music Director Yoichi Udagawa

Photo 6: Tianhong Yang, Piano