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Opening night
Friday, August 23, 2024 at 7pm, Charles Allis Museum
Ilana Setapen, violin
Yaniv Dinur, piano
Program:
Debussy - Violin Sonata
Boulanger — Deux Morceaux
Rachmaninoff — Deux Morceaux de Salon
* intermission *
Beethoven — Violin Sonata no. 9 "Kreutzer"
Program Notes
Inspired by the French Parlor of the Charles Allis Museum, we decided to open the program with a French-themed first half.
Debussy's Violin Sonata is the last piece that he wrote. Composed in 1917 during World War I, Debussy was sick and weak. Nevertheless, there is no sign of his poor health in the music. Written in three short movements, the piece is full of vibrance, mystery, surprising harmonies, non-western influences, and even humor. The violin part is full of "special effects," such as tremolos, harmonics, arpeggios in extremely high registers, and fast runs up and down the instrument.
French composer Lili Boulanger was the younger sister of the great music teacher Nadia Boulanger, who taught some of the 20th century’s most influential musicians, including Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, and Astor Piazzolla. While Lili did not write much, as she died at a very young age, what she did write is a testament to her genius. The Duex Morceaux (Two Pieces) consist of a poignant Nocturne (night song) and an upbeat Cortege (procession).
Boulanger's Duex Morceaux lead us to Rachmaninoff's similarly named Deux Morceaux de Salon. The Two Pieces are an homage to music that would have been played in someone’s living room—in other words, entertainment music. Consisting of a dark Romance and a virtuosic Hungarian Dance, they are indeed entertaining, yet also masterfully written.
Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata became an iconic piece in the classical music world. Dedicted to violinist Rudolph Kreutzer, who disliked the piece and never played it, the startling new work marked the beginning of the composer's middle period. Beethoven called it a piece in a concerto style, and, indeed, both the violin and piano parts are highly demanding. The piece begins with a surprise—the violin plays by itself, without accompaniment; it then opens up to a stormy first movement. The second movement is written in the form of theme and variations and ends with a long, free-style coda. The last movement is upbeat and virtuosic and contains some of the most joyful music Beethoven ever wrote.
Choose your own concert Experience
Saturday, August 24, 2024 at 7pm, Charles Allis Museum
Jennifer Bouton, flute
Jay Shankar, clarinet
Ilana Setapen and Kyung Ah Oh, violins
Nicole Swanson and Nathan Hackett, violas
Madeleine Kabat and Shinae Ra, cellos
Program:
The Bach Room - Selections from Bach's Cello Suit
The Mozart Room - Mozart's Divertimento for String Trio
The Contemporary Room - 20th and 21st Duos for Flute and Clarinet (click for full list)
* intermission *
Tchaikovsky - Souvenir de Florence
Program Notes
The first half of this unique concert experience presents three different performances that will happen simultaneously in different rooms of the Charles Allis Museum. Madeleine Kabat will be playing selections from Bach's Cello Suites, a staple of the Baroque period and the bread and butter of cello repertoire. Kyung Ah Oh, Nathan Hackett, and Shinae Ra will be performing Mozart's inventive and virtuosic Divertimento--the composer's only piece written for a string trio. Jennifer Bouton and Jay Shankar will play duos for flute and clarinet written by American and French composers from the 20th and 21st Centuries. The audience can curate their own experience by choosing one performance or spending time in all three. Afterward, everyone is welcome to gather in the Great Hall for the second half of the concert.
As the first half of the concert covers the Baroque, Classical, and Contemporary Periods, the second half represents the Romantic Period with perhaps the most romantic composer, Tchaikovsky. His String Sextet for two violins, two violas, and two cellos was first sketched during the composer's visit to Florence, Italy. It is written in four movements and has a symphonic scope, which explains its occasional performance in a full string orchestra version. Although the word "souvenir" in English refers to an object, in French, the word means "remembrance." Therefore the title of the piece is most accurately translated as: "Memories from Florence." The piece opens with an incredible energetic gesture, as if the music is being thrown at the listener. The second movement presents two main ideas - a choral, followed by a beautiful melody accompanied by pizzicato (string plucking). Although the title of the piece refers to Italy, the third and fourth movements are very much Russian in their melodic and rhythmic qualities. Tchaikovsky ingeniously manages to write a piece that has six distinct, individual voices and yet creates a homogenous ensemble.
Closing Concert: Bach and Messiaen
Sunday, August 25, 2024 at 2:30pm, Charles Allis Museum
Jay Shankar, clarinet
Jeanyi Kim, violin
Peter Thomas, cello
Yaniv Dinur, piano
Program:
Bach — Selections from the Art of Fugue
* intermission *
Messiaen — Quartet for the End of Time
Program Notes
Bach's Art of Fugue is the composer's last work, written in the last decade of his life, and remained unfinsihed. It is written in four voices for an unspecified instrumentation, and contains fourteen fugues and four canons. It is, in fact, Bach's culmination of his life's work, experimenting with counterpunctal music. Since the instruments are unspesified, there are many different performance versions of the work, such as solo piano, and string quartet. Tonight's version is dictated by the instrumentation of Messiaen's "Quartet for the End of Time."
Messiaen wrote his "Quartet for the End of Time" while he was a prisoner in a German camp during World War II. The odd instrumentation of the quartet - clarinet, violin, cello and piano, is due to the instruments he had in his disposal, and his fellow prisoners who were able to play them. Messiaen recounted later that the piano he played at the premiere was an out-of-tune upright, and that some of its keys would stick to the bottom of the keyboard while playing. Messiaen provided the following descriptions for each of the eight movements of the piece:
I. Liturgy of crystal. Between the morning hours of three and four, the awakening of the birds: a thrush or a nightingale soloist improvises, amid notes of shining sound and a halo of trills that lose themselves high in the trees. Transpose this to the religious plane: you will have the harmonious silence of heaven.
II. Vocalise, for the angel who announces the end of Time. The first and third parts (very short) evoke the power of that mighty angel, his hair a rainbow and his clothing mist, who places one foot on the sea and one foot on the earth. Between these sections are the ineffable harmonies of heaven. From the piano, soft cascades of blue-orange chords, encircling with their distant carillon the plainchant-like recitativo of the violin and cello.
III. Abyss of the birds. Clarinet solo. The abyss is Time, with its sadnesses and tediums. The birds are the opposite of Time; they are our desire for light, for stars, for rainbows and for jubilant outpourings of song!
IV. Interlude. Scherzo. Of a more outgoing character than the other movements but related to them, nonetheless, by various melodic references.
V. Praise to the eternity of Jesus. Jesus is here considered as one with the Word. A long phrase, infinitely slow, by the cello expatiates with love and reverence on the everlastingness of the Word, mighty and dulcet, “which the years can in no way exhaust.” Majestically the melody unfolds itself at a distance both intimate and awesome. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
VI. Dance of fury, for the seven trumpets. Rhythmically the most idiosyncratic movement of the set. The four instruments in unison give the effect of gongs and trumpets (the first six trumpets of the Apocalypse attend various catastrophes, the trumpet of the seventh angel announces the consummation of the mystery of God). Use of extended note values, augmented or diminished rhythmic patterns, non-retrogradable rhythms – a systematic use of values which, read from left to right or from right to left, remain the same. Music of stone, formidable sonority; movement as irresistible as steel, as huge blocks of livid fury or ice-like frenzy. Listen particularly to the terrifying fortissimo of the theme in augmentation and with change of register of its different notes, toward the end of the piece.
VII. Cluster of rainbows, for the angel who announces the end of Time. Here certain passages from the second movement return. The mighty angel appears, and in particular the rainbow that envelops him (the rainbow, symbol of peace, of wisdom, of every quiver of luminosity and sound). In my dreamings I hear and see ordered melodies and chords, familiar hues and forms; then, following this transitory stage I pass into the unreal and submit ecstatically to a vortex, a dizzying interpenetration of superhuman sounds and colors. These fiery swords, these rivers of blue-orange lava, these sudden stars: Behold the cluster, behold the rainbow!
VIII. Praise to the immortality of Jesus. Expansive violin solo balancing the cello solo of the fifth movement. Why this second glorification? It addresses itself more specifically to the second aspect of Jesus – to Jesus the man, to the Word made flesh, raised up immortal from the dead so as to communicate His life to us. It is total love. Its slow rising to a supreme point is the ascension of man toward his God, of the Son of God toward his Father, of the mortal newly made divine toward paradise.
musicians
Yaniv Dinur, artistic director & piano
Yaniv Dinur is the winner of the 2019 Sir Georg Solti Conducting Fellow Award and Music Director of the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra. He is lauded for his insightful interpretations and unique ability to connect with concertgoers of all ages and backgrounds, from season subscribers to symphony newcomers.
Dinur served as Resident Conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony from 2015-2023. During this period, he conducted 372 concerts, including 144 performances for youth and children.
Dinur’s recent and upcoming guest conducting highlights include subscription debuts with the symphonies of San Diego, Edmonton, Tulsa, Sarasota, Fort Worth, Illinois, Present Music in Milwaukee, Orchestra Haydn in Italy, and Filarmonica de Madrid. He made his conducting debut at the age of 19 with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, which led to multiple return engagements. Since then, he has conducted orchestras around the world, including the Israel Philharmonic, Jerusalem Symphony, Houston Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, New World Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Portugal Symphony Orchestra, Sofia Festival Orchestra/Bulgaria, State Orchestra of St. Petersburg, Torino Philharmonic, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa.
Dinur established a chamber music series at the Villa Terrace Museum in Milwaukee, where he performs with musicians from the Milwaukee Symphony. Recent concerto performances include Brahms' First Piano Concerto with the New Bedford Symphony and Mozart’s D Minor Concerto with the Milwaukee Symphony, for which he received critical acclaim for his “fluid, beautifully executed piano passages” and “deeply musical playing” (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel).
Jeanyi Kim, violin
Jeanyi Kim is the Associate Concertmaster of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and Concertmaster of Milwaukee Musaik (also known as the Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra). A Toronto native, Kim's command as a violinist and orchestral musician have brought her to illustrious venues around the world, including Carnegie Hall, the Barbican Centre, Salle Pleyel, and the Concertgebouw. As a guest, she has appeared as Assistant Leader of the London Symphony Orchestra (UK) under Sir Colin Davis and Valery Gergiev, Concertmaster of the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, Principal Second of the National Arts Centre Orchestra, and substitute musician of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Of her featured solo recital, the Journal Sentinel praised her performance, drawing likeness to that of "a glamorous international star." Kim is equally comfortable in soloist, chamber, and orchestral roles as well as a variety of styles, and her playing has been described as "engrossing…intelligent," and simultaneously having "easy grace" (Journal Sentinel) and "fistfuls of technical fireworks." (Urban Milwaukee)
Recent solo appearances include performances with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Musaik Chamber Orchestra, Sunflower Music Festival Orchestra, Kenosha Symphony Orchestra and Sheboygan Symphony Orchestra. A passionate and energetic chamber musician, Kim is a founding member of the Philomusica Quartet, and is a regular artist at the esteemed Sunflower Music Festival. She has performed in a number of prominent chamber music series, including Frankly Music, Dame Myra Hess, Fine Arts at First, Searl Pickett, as well as on radio broadcasts for Wisconsin Public Radio, WFMT Chicago and Kansas Public Radio. In addition, she serves as Vice President of the Board of Milwaukee Musaik.
A dedicated teacher, Kim has held faculty positions at various institutions, including University of Wisconsin-Parkside and University of New Haven, and during summers has taught at several festivals, including the Eleazar de Carvalho International Music Festival (Brazil) and the Elm City ChamberFest. Under her guidance, many of her students have gone on to win various prizes and honors. Kim is also a frequent adjudicator of competitions. Her major teachers include Erick Friedman, Kyung Yu, Rebecca Henry and Berl Senofsky, and important mentors include Aldo and Elizabeth Parisot, Sidney Harth, and Tokyo String Quartet. As a graduate student at Yale, she served as a teaching assistant to Erick Friedman. Kim holds a DMA from Yale University, where she also earned her BA, MM, and MMA degrees. As an undergrad, Kim was the recipient of the Bach Society Award.
Kim recorded for a Boosey & Hawkes publication/CD entitled, 10 Violin Solos from the Masters, released by Hal Leonard. She performs on a 1705 Petrus Guarnerius violin.
She and her husband, violinist and conductor Alexander Mandl, enjoy the adventures of raising their two young children, Miranda and Nikolas, frequenting their favorite coffee shops, biking, sailing, and traveling.
More information on Philomusica Quartet and Milwaukee Musaik can be found here:
Kyung Ah Oh, violin
Kyung Ah Oh, a distinguished South Korean violinist, captivated audiences with her mesmerizing performances at the esteemed 2019 Queen Elisabeth Violin Competition in Brussels. Praised for her “water-like, smooth, deliciously crafted phrases” and “rich, dark lower range” by Classical Voice of North Carolina, Oh is swiftly emerging as a rising star in the classical music scene.
Oh has collaborated with acclaimed artists such as cellist Camden Shaw of the Dover Quartet, violist Jennifer Stum, cellist Mathhew Zalkind, and Anton Nel. She showcased her talent at the Inaugural Dean’s Master Class with Peter Oundjian and delivered a stunning rendition of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons as a soloist alongside violinists Jinjoo Cho, Min Jeong Koh, and Barry Shiffman at the Inaugural RCM Violin Symposium.
Oh has achieved a string of prestigious accolades, including invitations to renowned competitions such as participation in the George Enescu Violin Competition and the Seoul, and Menuhin violin competitions. She has also garnered top honors at competitions such as the New York International Artist Competition and the Lewisville International String Competition.
Her musical journey began in 2013 when she made her concerto debut at Severance Hall after winning the Cleveland Institute of Music Concerto Competition. Since then, Oh has had a number of solo engagements, including performances with the CIM Chamber Orchestra and a highly acclaimed debut with the Asheville Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Daniel Meyer. She has also performed at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in a debut solo recital that resonated with her audience and recently, she debuted with Royal Conservatory of Music Orchestra in Koerner Hall under the conductor Earl Lee in Toronto.
In 2024, Kyung Ah Oh joined the esteemed first violin section of the Milwaukee Symphony, further solidifying her position as one of the most promising talents in the classical music world.
Ilana Setapen, violin
Since her solo orchestral debut at age 15, Ilana Setapen has been flourishing as a violinist with a powerful and original voice. She is hailed by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel as a violinist with “a sparkling sound” and “the kind of control that puts an audience completely at ease.” She is currently the First Associate Concertmaster of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.
In recent seasons, Setapen has had solo performances with the Milwaukee Symphony, Festival City Symphony, and the Amarillo Symphony, among others. She also held the Assistant Concertmaster position of the Grant Park Music Festival Orchestra in Chicago for 6 years and is a favorite guest concertmaster with the Chicago Philharmonic. In recent summers, she has performed at the Olympic Music Festival on Bainbridge Island and the Lakes Area Music Festival in Brainerd, Minnesota. She has also served on the faculty at Luzerne Music Center summer festival in Lake Luzerne, New York and is currently on the faculty at Center Stage Strings at the University of Michigan.
At the age of 21, Setapen won the concertmaster position of the Riverside Philharmonic in Los Angeles. She has also held concertmaster positions with the Juilliard Orchestra, the Colburn Orchestra, the American Youth Symphony, the National Repertory Orchestra, and the USC Thornton Symphony. As a committed chamber musician, Setapen is in demand as a collaborator throughout the Midwest. She performs frequently with Present Music. Her talent has led her to collaborations with such distinguished artists as Ron Leonard, Lynn Harrell, Toby Appel, Cynthia Phelps, Joseph Kalichstein, Robert DeMaine, Paul Coletti, the Fine Arts Quartet, Stefan Hersh, David Geber, and Joan Tower. Solo and chamber music performances have brought her abroad to China, France, Brazil, Holland, England, Monaco, and Italy.
Setapen grew up in Amarillo, Texas. Her father is a conductor and her first violin teacher was her mother. She was a student of Robert Lipsett both at the University of Southern California and at the Colburn Conservatory. She received her Master of Music Degree from the Juilliard School as a student of Donald Weilerstein and Ronald Copes. She is also a dedicated educator and loves teaching. In her spare time, Setapen enjoys spending time with her husband and their two sons and swing dancing.
Nathan Hackett, viola
Violist Nathan Hackett is a member of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and principal violist of both the Milwaukee Ballet and Milwaukee Chamber orchestras.
Very active in chamber music, Mr. Hackett is a founding member of the Philomusica String Quartet, in residence at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. Now in its third year, the critically acclaimed quartet has been featured on Chicago's WFMT with live broadcasts of the Dvorak and Brahms F Minor piano quintets with Daniel Del Pino. The 2010.11 season brought a performance of the Schumann Piano Quintet at Roosevelt University's Ganz Hall with Winston Choi and a recording of James Grant's Sextet for Strings and Bass Clarinet.
Since 2003, Mr. Hackett has been the violist of the Washington Island Music Festival where he performs chamber music with colleagues from the MSO and other orchestras for two weeks each August. Prior to this he was principal violist at the Woodstock Mozart Festival for 10 years, where his frequent chamber music partner was Mark Peskanov.
Mr. Hackett studied viola with Jerry Homer and chamber music with the Fine Arts Quartet at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. Other influential teachers have been Lewis Rosove, Peter Slowik, and Burton Kaplan.
Teaching is an important part of Mr. Hackett's musical life; he coaches privately and for the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra.
Nicole Swanson, viola
Violist Nicole Swanson has enjoyed a multifaceted career in the performing arts and higher education. Highlights include Assistant Principal Violist with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Symphony San Jose, Teaching Artist for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Manager of Community Engagement Programs at the Colburn School Conservatory of Music, and viola faculty at the University of Minnesota. Nicole has performed in venues from coast to coast including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Disney Concert Hall, and the Miss America stage. Out-of-the-box freelance gigs include performing at the Academy Awards Governors Ball and with the Black Eyed Peas on American Idol. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Nicole hosted and produced “The Intentional, Effective Music Teacher,” an interview series with leaders in music education, neuroscience, and mindfulness. In 2021, Nicole received a Master’s degree from Stanford University Graduate School of Business with a Certificate in Public Management and Social Innovation. A strong believer in the transformative power of the arts and philanthropy for individuals and communities alike, Nicole will soon launch Zircon Arts - an organization dedicated to progress at the intersection of the arts, education, public policy, and social justice.
Madeleine Kabat, cello
Madeleine Kabat gave her solo debut with the Cleveland Orchestra at age 18, and now enjoys a varied career as an orchestral, chamber, and solo cellist. Currently a member of the Milwaukee Symphony’s cello section, Madeleine performed as principal for her first 7 months with the orchestra while serving as Acting Assistant Principal Cello. She has also performed as a substitute with the Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Houston Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. She has appeared as guest principal cellist with the Orquesta Philarmonia Mexico, Madison Symphony, Mansfield Symphony, and CityMusic Cleveland.
Madeleine was the founding cellist of the Lysander Piano Trio (with whom she won a prize at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition), and has acted as substitute cellist for the Jasper String Quartet. She has performed with members of Cleveland, Escher, Dover, and Attacca string quartets. The Fine Arts Quartet has invited her to join them in concerts annually since 2020. Madeleine recently performed in recital with pianists Simon Trpceski in Houston and Orion Weiss in Los Angeles, and at the Lev Aronson Legacy Festival in Dallas and the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts in Brookfield WI. In a 2021 memorial concert honoring the late legendary cellist Lynn Harrell, she performed chamber music with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter. Lynn had become a friend and mentor to her following a Frankly Music concert where they performed Schoenberg’s Verklarte Nacht and Mendelssohn’s Octet together. In 2011, Madeleine was named Visiting Artist at La Sierra University in Riverside, CA. She has appeared on faculty at Clazz, Italy, twice as a featured artist for the Lima International Chamber Music Festival in Peru, and has also performed chamber music in China, Korea, and in Colombia numerous times as faculty artist of Medellin Festicamara. She has also given masterclasses at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point, Northwestern State University, Eastern Michigan University, Minot State University (ND), Sahmyook University (Seoul, Korea) and at La Jolla’s SummerFest.
During her summers, Madeleine enjoys performing as principal cellist at the Lakes Area Music Festival (MN). She has won top prizes in the competitions of Fischoff, Hellam, and Klein International. Ms. Kabat holds diplomas from the Cleveland Institute of Music, Rice University, the Juilliard School, and most recently Oberlin Conservatory, where she served as teaching assistant to her professor, Darrett Adkins.
Shinae Ra, cello
Cellist Shinae Ra joined the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra cello section in 2023. Originally from Fayetteville, North Carolina, she began her cello studies at the age of 8 and has sustained a love for music ever since. Ra made her solo debut with the Raleigh Symphony Orchestra, and has since given solo performances in Bloomington, Indiana and New York City.
Ra received her Bachelor’s degree from Indiana University and masters degree from the Juilliard School, and during her time as a student, Ra served as the principal cellist of the Juilliard Orchestra and several of Indiana University’s Orchestras, as well as the National Repertory Orchestra. She has also participated in prestigious festivals around the world including the Spoleto Festival and Pacific Music Festival, as well as the New York String Orchestra Seminar. She has performed professionally with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, and Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, and has performed in many of the world’s most prestigious halls, including Carnegie Hall, David Geffen Hall, Lotte Concert Hall in South Korea, and Suntory Hall in Japan. Ra had the privilege of working with some of the world’s most eminent conductors such as David Robertson, Michael Stern, Roderick Cox, Jonathon Heyward, Thomas Wilkins, Angel Gil-Ordoñez, John Williams, Steven Schick, Teddy Abrams, and Osmo Vanska, and additionally has worked with renowned groups such as Dover Quartet, Pacifica Quartet, American Quartet, and Arianna Quartet.
Ra‘s primary teachers include Emanuel Gruber, Peter Stumpf, and Natasha Brofsky. She is passionate about music and sharing the concert experience with a variety of audiences. Outside of playing cello, Ra enjoys cooking and baking.
Peter Thomas, cello
Peter J. Thomas has been a member of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra since 2008 and has performed around the world as a multi-genre soloist, clinician, educator, and chamber musician. Peter frequently performs with the 414 Quartet, Present Music, Carthage Trio, and in collaboration with multiple bands. He is also the co-founder of MusiConnect, a community-building music series that safely brought people together during the COVID-19 pandemic, which was nominated as one of Milwaukee’s best music festivals in 2021. Additionally, Peter was the manager and cellist of the award-winning classical crossover indie-rock band, I’m Not A Pilot, that toured extensively across the Midwest at colleges, performing art centers, music festivals and in educational collaboration concerts with high school orchestras from 2009-2016.
Mr. Thomas has presented clinics and workshops across the country through his innovative use of the electric cello and has recorded, arranged, and edited music for numerous artists including 2Cellos and The Piano Guys through Hal Leonard Music. Peter was most recently recognized as the Best Acoustic Musician in the Best of Milwaukee 2021 annual competition by the Shepherd Express. He was also the winner of the Wisconsin Area Music Industry (WAMI)’s String Player of the Year award in 2012 and 2015 and has been nominated for the award five times. As a songwriter, Peter’s original song “Only in Dreams” featuring vocalist Amanda Huff took home the 2019 WAMI award for Song of the Year as well as being recognized in the same category by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
As an educator, Mr. Thomas holds the position of Adjunct Cello Professor at Carthage College and he also maintains a private cello studio of gifted musicians. During the summer, Peter teaches on faculty at CLAZZ, a multi-genre music festival in Arcidosso, Italy. He has also served on the faculty of the American Suzuki Institute each summer since 2013. Peter is the recipient of Civic Music Milwaukee’s 2018 Educator Award for Certificate of Excellence in Studio Music. His students have won competitions and full-tuition scholarships in music programs across the country. Peter has taught master classes at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, UW-Stevens Point, UW-Whitewater, Lawrence University, Gustavus Adolphus College, Eastern Michigan University, Maranatha Baptist University, Washington College, and at dozens of high schools across the state of Wisconsin.
Prior to joining the MSO, Mr. Thomas performed with the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Columbus Symphony Orchestra, and the New World Symphony. Peter appeared as a soloist with the New World Symphony on two separate occasions, where he performed Richard Strauss’s ‘Don Quixote’ and Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85, as the 2008 Concerto Competition winner. Originally from Stevens Point, Wisconsin, where he was born into a family of musicians, Peter began playing cello at age five at the American Suzuki Talent Education Center and received degrees at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and the Cleveland Institute of Music. His primary teachers were Lawrence Leviton, Tanya Remenikova, Joseph Johnson, and Stephen Geber.
Peter enjoys the life of being a music ambassador and strives to spread awareness of the arts in the community through his many outlets. Peter performs on a fine English cello circa 1813 by maker Thomas Kennedy.
Jennifer Bouton, flute
Jennifer Bouton has performed around the world as a guest artist, clinician, and orchestral musician. A member of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra since 2011, she performed two seasons with Lyric Opera of Chicago, and has played guest roles with the Chicago Symphony and Detroit Symphony Orchestras, among others. In 2019 she won an extended appointment with the Australian Ballet and Australian Opera in Melbourne, and was invited to become a permanent member of Orchestra Victoria.
Jennifer’s album of the Vivaldi Piccolo concertos is the first complete recording of the concerti by an American piccoloist. She has performed the most famous of these, the C Major concerto (RV 443), numerous times, including a performance with the Milwaukee Symphony and Nicholas McGegan in 2023. Her own edition of the Vivaldi piccolo concertos will be published in 2025.
Ms. Bouton has been a featured guest artist in numerous American and international festivals, including the Grant Park Music Festival, Lakes Area Music Festival, Peninsula Music Festival, Arizona Music Festival, Sunflower Music Festival, Artosphere Festival Orchestra, National Repertory Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival (Piccolo Fellowship), and AIMS Summer Festival Orchestra in Graz, Austria. In 2012 she was a prize-winner in the National Flute Association's Piccolo Artist Competition.
Jennifer is currently Artist Faculty at Roosevelt University and Carthage College; she has held prior faculty positions at Wisconsin Lutheran College and Carroll University. In 2009 Jennifer was an assistant editor and research assistant for the publication of the revised edition of Jeanne Baxtresser's essential book, Orchestral Excerpts for Flute (Presser). Other publication credits include contributing editor, interview subject, and columnist for Flute Talk Magazine and The Instrumentalist. As a Wm. S. Haynes Performing Artist, she plays a custom 10K gold flute with a 19.5K headjoint. She plays a custom Keefe piccolo with a cocus headjoint and 14K gold sleeve.
Ms. Bouton received a Master of Music degree and Certificate in Advanced Flute Studies from Carnegie Mellon University, and a Bachelor of Music degree from the Peabody Conservatory. Her teachers include Jeanne Baxtresser, Alberto Almarza, and Marina Piccinini. Originally from Denver, Colorado, in her spare time Jennifer enjoys being active outdoors with her husband and two young daughters.
Jay Shankar, clarinet
Jay Shankar is an emerging clarinetist in the classical music world, recently appointed as the Assistant Principal/Second/and Eb Clarinet with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. He was named the winner of the prestigious International Vandoren Competition and a semi-finalist at the International Crusell Competition in Finland, the only American clarinetist to be invited. Shankar is also an avid chamber musician, recently being invited to La Jolla Music Society and the Colburn Chamber Music Society where he collaborated with musicians such as Anthony McGill, Paul Huang, Geoff Nuttall, Inon Barnatan, and Pedja Mužijević. In addition, he is a frequent guest of world-class orchestras such as The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, and The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. He has performed as the Principal Clarinetist in orchestras including the National Youth Orchestra of Carnegie Hall in 2016, The Colburn Orchestra, and Marin Alsop’s Conductors Orchestra in Baltimore. He has participated in orchestra festivals such as the Music Academy of the West, the Immanuel and Olshan Texas Music Festival where he won a prize in the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Young Artist Competition, and as the Principal Clarinet of the 2023 Britt Festival Orchestra. Shankar received his Masters at the Colburn Conservatory of Music with renowned pedagogue Yehuda Gilad and Bachelors from The Peabody Conservatory at The Johns Hopkins University with Eugene Mondie.
Tickets
For tickets click on the following link:
https://events.mketix.com/events/milwaukee-chamber-music-festival-8-23-2024?
Sarah and Charles Allis decided in 1908 to commission a residence on Royall Place and Prospect Avenue — in the heart of Milwaukee’s “Gold Coast” — to house what had become a world-class art collection. They built the mansion with the intention of bequeathing it and their collection to the people of Milwaukee.
The house that architect Alexander Eschweiler built for Sarah and Charles is strongly influenced by the English Tudor style, with symmetrical bay windows and a steeply pitched English slate roof. Construction began in 1909 and was completed in 1911. The mansion was constructed with poured concrete, with the intent of fireproofing the residence and its art collection. The outside walls are surfaced with mauve-brown Ohio brick trimmed with Lake Superior sandstone. The former coach house was located to the west, fronted with a semicircular drive and enclosed by a brick wall and a wrought-iron fence with gates designed by another Milwaukeean, Cyril Colnik.
Charles resided in the mansion until his death in 1918. Sarah continued her residence in the home until her death in 1945.
At the time of the Allis gift, the Milwaukee War Memorial was being planned, and the city was unsure how the Allis mansion and art collection fit into its plans. It was finally decided that the Milwaukee Public Library would receive the gift for use as an art library and museum — the Charles Allis Art Library. In 1979, the house and its contents were transferred to Milwaukee County and renamed the Charles Allis Art Museum. The mansion still houses the Allis collection of Asian porcelains, European bronze sculptures, American and European paintings, and fine furniture, as well as Charles’ art history library.