$15 presale, $20 at the door, $5 students
Seated
Doors open at 3:30 pm
Liz Chang
https://www.elizabethchang.net
Elizabeth Chang, violinist, enjoys a varied career as performer, teacher, and arts administrator. She is currently Professor of Violin at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a faculty member of the Pre-College Division of the Juilliard School, and previously served on the faculties of Rutgers and New York University. Throughout her career, Ms. Chang has embraced leadership roles in the arts community. In September 2021 she was appointed Artistic Director of Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, one of the pre-eminent summer study programs for string players in the country. She is also founder and director/co-director of the Lighthouse Chamber Players, Five College New Music Festival, UMass Amherst Bach Festival and Symposium, and Long River Concerts, among other projects.
Ms. Chang has an active chamber music career, collaborating with some of the most prominent artists in the field, and has appeared as soloist, chamber musician and master class teacher in South America, Europe, and Asia. In 2021, she released the critically acclaimed CD Transformations: Works by Kirchner, Sessions, and Schoenberg with Albany Records. A native New Yorker, Ms. Chang is a graduate of Harvard University and was the recipient of the Presidential Scholar in the Arts Award. She was a student of Louise Behrend, Joseph Fuchs, Roman Totenberg, Max Rostal, Leon Kirchner and Luise Vosgerchian.
“Elizabeth Chang’s playing is amazing; at one point one hears two violins playing two different pieces of music, of differing character, simultaneously. Even more important is her deep musicality, shared with her colleagues. They make all of this supposedly “difficult” music easy listening, maintaining both warmth and clarity throughout. There have been other recordings of all these pieces, but I doubt that any are so completely winning.”
The Amherst BID presents
Chamber at The Drake: a 5 part series of classical & chamber music
1/22 Bandwidth
2/5 Elizabeth Chang and Steven Beck
3/26 Jamie-Rose Guarrine
4/16 Rasa String Quartet
5/7 Ed Arron and Jeewon Park
Steven Beck
A recent New York concert by pianist Steven Beck was described as “exemplary” and “deeply satisfying” by Anthony Tommasini in the New York Times. He is a graduate of the Juilliard School.
Mr. Beck made his concerto debut with the National Symphony Orchestra. His annual Christmas Eve performance of Bach’s Goldberg Variations at Bargemusic has become a New York institution. As an orchestral musician he has appeared with the New York Philharmonic and Orpheus.
Mr. Beck is an experienced performer of new music, having worked with Elliott Carter, Pierre Boulez, Henri Dutilleux, Charles Wuorinen, George Crumb, George Perle, and Fred Lerdahl. He is a member of the Knights, the Talea Ensemble, Quattro Mani, and the Da Capo Chamber Players. His discography includes George Walker’s piano sonatas, for Bridge Records, and Elliott Carter’s “Double Concerto” on Albany Records. He is a Steinway Artist, and is on the faculty of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.