Alessio Bax & Lucille Chung, Pianos

The real-life marriage of concert pianists Alessio Bax and Lucille Chung—with their abundant artistic chemistry, passion, and stunning virtuosity—has led to one of the most appealing and impressive piano duos of our time. In the words of the UK magazine Music and Arts, “Theirs is a marriage of wondrous colors and dexterous aplomb, subtly balanced to make a musical performance sound as one.” Bax and Chung will perform Mozart’s K. 449 and the Middlebury premiere of Bartók’s Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion with a supremely talented group of collaborative musicians: violinists Bella Hristova and Arnaud Sussmann, violist Paul Neubauer, cellist Sophie Shao, double bassist Joseph Conyers, and percussionists Ayano Kataoka and David Rosenbaum.

This concert comes to us from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. CMS has developed a new digital initiative enabling local venues to present CMS: FRONT ROW, a series of exceptionally high quality, digital chamber music concerts. Middlebury is one of the national broadcast sponsors of the series, featuring beautifully shot, full-length HD performance videos from the CMS archive with remarks and Q&A sessions with the artists. Featuring multiple artists who’ve become dear to our campus audiences, the series is curated by CMS co-artistic directors and Performing Arts Series friends, cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han. This series will sustain audiences and provide a new way to experience this beautiful art form from the virtual “front row” in the comfort and safety of listeners’ homes.

Middlebury’s CMS: FRONT ROW broadcasts are part of the Nelson Fund series, and are made possible with generous support from Raphael and Jane Bernstein.