Sophie Shao and Friends

Perennial favorite cellist Sophie Shao returns to open our 105th season with an accomplished, all-female ensemble, performing a stunning program of sonatas and piano trios. Violinist Jennifer Frautschi and pianist Christina Dahl join Shao in an evening featuring Nadia Boulanger’s Three Pieces for Cello and Piano, Peteris Vasks’ Castillo Interior (The Interior Castle), Marguerite Canal’s Sonata for Violin and Piano, and Franz Schubert’s beloved Piano Trio No. 1 in B-flat Major, D.898.

About the Artists: Cellist Sophie Shao, winner of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant and top prizes at the Rostropovich and Tchaikovsky competitions, is a versatile and passionate artist praised by publications like the New York Times and the Washington Post. She is both a coveted chamber music collaborator and an acclaimed soloist with appearances at the Houston and American Symphony Orchestras, Taiwan and Ukraine’s National Symphony Orchestras, and the BBC Concert Orchestra in London. She holds a BA in religious studies and an MM from Yale University, and serves on the faculty of the University of Connecticut.

“eloquent, powerful”—The New York Times

“Her tone is unfailingly gorgeous and deeply expressive. Has anybody ever made a cello sing more beautifully than this?”—Gregory Berg, The Journal of Singing

Two-time GRAMMY nominee and Avery Fisher career grant recipient violinist Jennifer Frautschi has appeared as a soloist with innumerable orchestras including the Cincinnati Symphony, Chicago Symphony, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Frautschi is an in-demand chamber musician and recording artist as well, recording several discs for Naxos. Frautschi attended the Colburn School, Harvard, the New England Conservatory, and the Juilliard School. She currently teaches in the graduate program at Stony Brook University.

Christina Dahl has been on the piano faculty and served as Director of Chamber Music at SUNY Stony Brook since 2000. She also served on the faculties of Lawrence University, the Cleveland and Peabody Institutes, Ithaca College, and the Eastern Music Festival. Dahl was a cultural ambassador for the U.S. State Department twice. She’s performed at Weill Hall, the National Gallery, and Merkin Hall, as well as the Gilmore International Piano Festival, Aspen, the Banff Centre, the Steans Institute at Ravinia, and twice as a Tanglewood fellow. Dahl has been featured several times on Performance Today, and also appeared on KUSC in Los Angeles, Wisconsin Public Radio, WQXR, and WNYC.

Program: 
NADIA BOULANGER Three pieces for Cello and Piano (8”)
MARGUERITE CANAL Sonata for Violin and Piano (20”)
FRANZ SCHUBERT Piano Trio No. 1 in B-flat Major, D.898 (45’)

Reserved Seating. Tickets: $25 General public | $20 Middlebury ID holders | $10 Youth (Under 21) | $5 Middlebury students. Streaming tickets $15 / $5. In-person tickets will include access to the stream. Buy tickets: http://go.middlebury.edu/tickets 

Approximate running time: 90 minutes including intermission.

Sponsored by the Performing Arts Series, the Paul Nelson Performance Endowment, and the Rothrock Family Residency Fund.

This concert will also be streamed, with 48-hour access available starting Saturday, September 28 at 7:30 PM ET.

About streaming and sound: Our streams are meant to capture the “sound in the room” without post-production sound editing. Bear in mind the sound quality will not compare to a studio recording.

Learn more about the artists:
http://sophieshao.com
https://www.jenniferfrautschi.com/
https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/music/people/faculty-and-staff/performance/christina_dahl

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shaosophie
Instagram: http://instagram.com/shaosophie1
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@shaocello
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/25IlFx9vjinYtFw1lDl1kO

Watch a video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kM896DEVuZs

Performance subject to change.