Enjoy a whirlwind ride through the works of Beethoven and Dvorak! Violinist Sandy Yamamoto and cellist Saeunn Thorensteindottir are joined by beloved pianist Anton Nel to close out ACMC’s concert season. The program begins with the dramatic edge and psychological depth of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Trio Op. 70, No. 2. Antonín Dvořák’s struggle with loss and identity gives us a passionate finale in his Piano Trio No. 3. Taking place April 17 and 18.
Austin Chamber Music Center’s Friday Night Season Concerts are an up-close-and-personal setting for chamber music at the beautiful Draylen Mason Music Studio at KMFA. Friday night tickets include complimentary drinks and light bites served at a post-concert reception with the artists.
Saturday Night Season Concerts run in tandem with Fridays and take place at the First Unitarian Church; tickets include a post-concert reception that includes appetizers and drinks, as well as a Q&A session with the artists. Subject to availability, $12 Student Rush (with student ID), $33 General Admission, and $48 Premium tickets may be purchased at the box office starting at 6:30 PM on the evening of the Saturday night concert.
Program
Piano Trio in E-flat Major, Op. 70, No. 2 | Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
- Poco sostenuto – Allegro ma non troppo
- Allegretto
- Allegretto ma non troppo
- Finale. Allegro
INTERMISSION
Piano Trio No. 3 in F Minor, Op. 65 | Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904)
- Allegro ma non troppo
- Allegretto grazioso – Meno mosso
- Poco adagio
- Finale. Allegro con brio
Sandy Yamamoto, violin | Matthew Zalkind, cello | Anton Nel, piano
Run time: This concert is approximately 70 minutes, plus one short intermission.
Sandy Yamamoto
Violinist Sandy Yamamoto has dazzled audiences in concert performances around the globe for the past three decades as a soloist and as a member of the Miró Quartet. As a member of the Quartet, she was a recipient of the Naumburg Chamber Music and Cleveland Quartet Awards, won First Prize at the Banff International String Quartet Competition, and was one of the first chamber musicians to be awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant. She is the Associate Professor of Practice in Violin Performance at the Butler School of Music at UT-Austin and was the recipient of the 2016 Butler School of Music Teaching Excellence Award. In the summers, she teaches at the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival in Vermont. This season, Ms. Yamamoto is serving as co-concertmaster of the San Antonio Philharmonic at the invitation of their new Musical Director, Jeffrey Kahane.
Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir
Icelandic cellist Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir brings rare focus and a spirit of exploration to her performances, weaving together tradition and new sounds. She has appeared as a soloist with leading orchestras including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and the Iceland Symphony, and has performed in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall, the Elbphilharmonie, the Barbican Centre, and Walt Disney Concert Hall. Her recent recording Marrow: The 6 Suites for Solo Cello by J.S. Bach has earned international acclaim, and her Sono Luminus releases also include Vernacular and Quake, an award-winning concerto written for her by Páll Ragnar Pálsson and nominated for a 2021 Grammy. A committed advocate for new music and a sought-after chamber musician, she has premiered works by major composers, collaborated with artists such as Itzhak Perlman and Mitsuko Uchida, and served as a founding member of Decoda (Carnegie Hall’s Affiliate Ensemble); she is also artistic advisor for Iceland’s Við Djúpið Music Festival and an Affiliate Professor in the Department of Digital Arts and Experimental Media at the University of Washington.
Anton Nel
Anton Nel, winner of the first prize in the 1987 Naumburg International Piano Competition at Carnegie Hall continues to enjoy a remarkable and multifaceted career that has taken him to North and South America, Europe, Asia, and South Africa. Following an auspicious debut at the age of twelve with Beethoven’s C Major Concerto after only two years of study, the Johannesburg native captured first prizes in all the major South African competitions while still in his teens, toured his native country extensively and became a well-known radio and television personality. A student of Adolph Hallis, he made his European debut in France in 1982, and in the same year graduated with highest distinction from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. He came to the United States in 1983, attending the University of Cincinnati, where he pursued his Masters and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees under Bela Siki and Frank Weinstock. In addition to garnering many awards from his alma mater during this three-year period he was a prizewinner at the 1984 Leeds International Piano Competition in England and won several first prizes at the Joanna Hodges International Piano Competition in Palm Desert in 1986.