“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched—they must be felt with the heart.” — Helen Keller
The Most Beautiful
Hear the stories of composers who struggled with disability, and their triumphs of beauty and connection. Music by Beethoven, Frederick Delius, Smetana, and Gabriela Lena Frank.
Friday Intimate Concerts take place at KMFA 89.5. Friday night tickets are only available in advance and include drinks and light bites during a post-concert reception with the artists. Saturday Synchronism Concerts take place at the First Unitarian Church. 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.
Pre-Concert Performance
Duetto Concertato on Themes from Verdi | Antonio Torriani (1829–1911) & Pietro Morlacchi (1828–1868)
ACMC Student Pre-Concert Performance by 2024 Coltman Competition Semi-Finalist Izoro Trio
Nadia Verlinsky, flute | Bowie F. Wu, bassoon| Grant Qu, piano
Program
Violin Sonata No. 2 | Frederick Delius (1862–1934)
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
Children’s Dance from Four Folk Songs | Gabriela Lena Frank (b. 1972)
Piano Trio in G Minor, Op. 15 | Bedrich Smetana (1824–1884)
- Moderato assai
- Allegro ma non agitato
- Finale. Presto
Sandy Yamamoto, violin | Amy Levine-Tsang, cello | Michelle Schumann, piano
Approximate music run time: 79 minutes
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. The New York Times describes her performance as playing with “explosive vigor and technical finesse.” With the Quartet, she performed on the major concert stages of the world, regularly concertizing in North America, South America, Europe and Asia. 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. Currently, she is the Associate Professor of Practice in Violin Performance at the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at 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. Ms. Yamamoto often performs with the East Coast Chamber Orchestra as well as the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. When she is not busy teaching and performing, Ms. Yamamoto enjoys spending time with her husband Daniel, her two sons Adrian and Brian, her cat Poko, and her two gerbils Sawyer and Silas.
Amy Levine-Tsang
Cellist Amy Levine-Tsang enjoys an active career as a chamber musician and teacher. Ms. Levine-Tsang has collaborated with many ensembles including the Brentano, Cassatt, Colorado, and Meridian String Quartets; and the New Jersey Chamber Music Society. She is a former member of the Richardson Chamber Players and the award-winning Laurel Trio. Ms. Levine-Tsang has performed at many festivals including the Marlboro Music, Gerhart Chamber Music, Portland Chamber Music, and Cactus Pear Music Festivals; as well as Music in the Vineyards and Laurel Festival of the Arts. She formerly taught cello at Princeton University and now teaches privately in Austin. Her most dedicated students have gone on to major in cello performance at schools such as Boston Conservatory, Cleveland Institute, Eastman School of Music, Northwestern University, TCU, UNT, and UT-Austin.
Michelle Schumann
Hailed for her “sensitive, flexible, and tempestuous dexterity” (Fanfare Magazine), pianist Michelle Schumann has built a reputation for evocative and moving performances. Since 2006, Michelle has served as Artistic Director of the Austin Chamber Music Center, where she “is fearlessly expanding our definition of chamber music” (Austin-American Statesman). Her brand of performance includes an enthusiastic interplay with audiences, bringing diverse music together under a narrative blanket. She was named “Best Classical Musician” in the Best of Austin 2019 Readers Poll by the Austin Chronicle.
Schumann is Professor of Piano at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. She received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin and additionally holds a Performance Diploma from the Vienna Conservatory.