Bruch and Vivaldi

Antonio Vivaldi: Recorder Concerto in A minor, RV 108
I. Allegro
II.Largo
III. Allegro

Antonio Vivaldi: Recorder Concerto in G Minor, RV439 
I. Largo
II. Allegro
III. Largo
IV. Allegro
V. Largo
VI. Allegro

Max Bruch: String Octet in B-flat major, Op. Posth 
I.Allegro moderato
II.Adagio
III.Allegro molto

About the Program

Antonio Vivaldi: Recorder Concerti
Antonio Vivaldi was a Venetian composer of the Baroque era. He lived from 1678 until 1741.
Vivaldi was a man of many talents. Not only did he compose a huge library of music, he was
also a violinist, a violin teacher, conductor, and for a time, a Catholic priest. His music was an
integral part of the transition into the classical period and was inspiring to composers such as
Johann Sebastian Bach.

In early 18th century Venice, abandoned or orphaned girls were often sent to live in an
institution where they were given a musical education! Vivaldi was a teacher and composer for
the female music students at one of these orphanages, the Pio Ospedale Della Pieta. He
composed most of his compositions during the 30 years he worked there. However, in the midst
of his duties as a music professor at the orphanage, Vivaldi found time to explore other
ventures. He was hired by the prince and governor of Mantua to work in his court as an opera
composer. Late in his career Vivaldi moved to Vienna in the hopes of securing a position as
composer for Emperor Charles VI. However, the emperor died shortly after Vivaldi’s relocation.
Without a secure source of income and the waning popularity of his music, Vivaldi faced great
financial hardship at the end of his life. He died of an infection at the age of 63.
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Today, Vivaldi’s most famous and widely known composition is Le Quattro Stagioni or The Four
Seasons. However, he also wrote more than 500 concertos, 46 operas, 90 sonatas, a large
number of choral works, and sinfonias. Vivaldi wrote at least 15 concertos for transverse flute.
Two were left incomplete, two are for solo recorder, and three are for an instrument called
flautino which is closest to a soprano recorder.


Max Bruch: String Octet in B-flat major, Op. Posth 
Max Bruch was a German composer of the Romantic era. He lived from 1838 until 1920. Bruch
took an interest in music from an early age and started studying music theory seriously by 1849.
At the age of 14 he composed his first string quartet and was consequently awarded a scholarship to study in Cologne. Bruch composed more than 200 works during the course of his
career including operas, symphonies, symphonic choral works, and concertos. His first violin
concerto and The Scottish Fantasy are among his most loved and famous works. The violin was
Bruch’s famous instrument. He considered a melody to be the soul of music and supposedly
said that the violin could sing a melody better than other instruments!

Bruch conducted the Liverpool Philharmonic Society from 1880 until 1883. During these years
Bruch also married Clara Tuczek and had two children.

In 1890 Bruch moved to Berlin where he taught composition at Berlin Hochschule für Musik until
he retired in 1910. Among his most famous students were Respighi and Vaughan Williams! In
1918 Bruch composed two string quintets, one of which would inspire his string octet. In 1920,
the year that Bruch died, he finished his octet for four violins, two violas, cello, and double bass.
While many composers of the time such as Schoenberg and Stravinsky were composing in new
ways and utilizing new compositional techniques, Bruch remained rooted in Romantic era
tradition. Although the octet is a virtuosic and exciting piece and is loved by modern audiences,
Bruch was widely criticized for his conservative compositional style at the end of his career.


-Ann Fink

CONCERT ARTISTS

Rachel Siegel/Baroque Recorder
Rachel Siegel is a clarinetist and baroque recorderist, as well as a Master of Social Work candidate, based in St. Louis, MO. She has performed on clarinet with several orchestras, including the National Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony, the Washington National Opera Orchestra, and the Richmond Symphony. Her recorders have brought her to the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony, the NSO, and more, performing film soundtracks by John Williams. The Philadelphia Inquirer has described her recorder playing as “beautiful…and charmingly folksy.”

Rachel previously held the position of clarinetist with the “President’s Own” United States Marine Band, the premiere military band in the U.S. While in the Marine Band, she performed Vivaldi’s Recorder Concerto in C Minor with the “President’s Own” Chamber Orchestra. She received her BM from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities and her MM from the University of Southern California, and a second MM from Rice University. Her teachers include Burt Hara, Yehuda Gilad, and Tina Ward.
Ann Fink/Violin
Ann Fink most recently performed as a violin fellow with New World Symphony in Miami Beach. She holds bachelors and master’s degrees in music from the Juilliard School and also studied at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. Fink is a past winner of the Kate Neal Kinley Memorial Fellowship from the University of Illinois. She has performed with the Opera in the Ozarks, the National Repertory Orchestra, the Spoleto Orchestra, and the Schleswig Holstein Festival Orchestra and has studied with Alexander Kerr, Elmar Oliveira, Carol Cole, Hyo Kang, and Sergiu Schwartz. Fink recently performed Wieniawski’s Concerto No. 2 with the New World Symphony under the baton of Tito Munoz, after she was selected as one of the 2012-13 New World Symphony concerto competition winners. A certified Suzuki Violin teacher, Ann Fink has worked as violin faculty at the Preparatory Center at Brooklyn College, Lucy Moses School, and the Music Institute of Long Island.
Melody Lee/Violin
Vancouver-born violinist, Melody Lee, received her Bachelor of Music Diploma and Professional Studies Certificate from the Colburn Conservatory of Music, where she was a student of Robert Lipsett. Her appearances as soloist include those with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Colburn Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra. She has been Concertmaster of the Colburn Orchestra as well as being Associate Concertmaster at the YMF Debut Orchestra in Los Angeles. Recently, she performed Joan Towers' Second String Force for solo violin in the Symphony's Equal Play concert series, which highlights female composers. As a winner of the Seattle Musical Club Competition in 2011, she gave a recital tour throughout Western Washington. Melody has also attended the Aspen Music Festival for six summers, three of which were with a fellowship. The 2019/2020 season will be Melody’s seventh year of playing with the St. Louis Symphony.
Hannah Ji/Violin
Violinist Hannah Ji joined the first violin section of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in 2020 after spending two seasons as a one-year replacement member. Ji’s playing has been hailed by critics as "engaging, mature, well thought-out, and honed down to the finest details" (głos na Wieniawskiego,Polish Radio Journal). She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Curtis Institute of Music, studying with the late Aaron Rosand, a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School, studying with Ida Kavafian, and an Artist Diploma degree from The Colburn School, studying with Robert Lipsett. She began her musical studies at the age of seven in South Korea and previously attended Manhattan School of Music's Precollege Division, studying with Grigory Kalinovsky.

As a soloist, Ji's performances have been widely publicized on NPR’s “From the Top,” Philadelphia’s WHYY, Taos’ KTAOS Solar Radio, and “Live from Lincoln Center” by PBS, which broadcast throughout North America. She performed in Canada Day concerts with Maestro Pinchas Zukerman in Centre National des Artes, with pianist Jeremy Denk for the non-profit organization, "The Art of Giving Back,” and a gala concert with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble at Lincoln Center. Additional venues at which Ji has performed include: The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, David Geffen Hall, Carnegie Hall, Steinway Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall and A. Mickiewicz University Hall in Poland. She has also recently performed at the United States Embassy of Canada.

As a classical and contemporary chamber musician, Ji has collaborated with renowned groups and artists such as Jamie Laredo, Jennifer Koh, Roberto Díaz, The Borromeo String Quartet, The Calidore String Quartet and Time for Three. She has worked with members of the Borromeo, Brentano, Shanghai, Emerson, Guarneri and Orion String Quartets, respectively. Ji has been an active participant in The Juilliard School's ChamberFest and Focus! Festival, which features U.S. and world premieres of works by composers around the world. She was also a contemporary ensemble artist at Atlantic Music Festival. As an orchestra musician, she served as Concertmaster and Principal Second with Symphony in C, Spoleto Festival USA, YMF Debut Orchestra, The Colburn School, The Juilliard School Orchestra and Curtis Symphony Orchestra. She has been a participant at the Sarasota Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, Artosphere Festival Orchestra, Taos School of Music Festival, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Summit Music Festival and the National Arts Centre's Young Artist Programme.
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Additionally, Ji has held Artist Faculty positions at The Danbury Music Centre's Chamber Music Intensive, The Bronx Conservatory of Music, Manhattan in the Mountains, and The Curtis Institute's SummerFest Young Artists Program & Adult Chamber Music Program. She was a substitute faculty member at The Manhattan School of Music Precollege Division, and had a large studio in New York City, the students of which have been accepted to conservatories and summer festivals across the country. She currently enjoys working as a mentor through the SLSO’s Mentoring the Music: Peer to Peer program.
Andrea Jarrett/Violin
Named a 2009 Presidential Scholar in the Arts by the U.S. Department of Education, violinist Andrea Jarrett received her Master of Music Degree from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in May 2015. While obtaining her degree, Jarrett was a student of Kathleen Winkler and served as concertmaster of both the chamber and symphony orchestras. She received her Bachelor of Music Degree from the Juilliard School in 2013, where she studied with David Chan. Jarrett joined the second violin section of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in September 2015.

Prior to her appointment with the SLSO, Jarrett participated in the 2013 New York String Orchestra Seminar under the direction of Jaime Laredo. While attending Juilliard, Andrea gave the world premiere of composer Neil Rolnick’s concerto for violin and electronics in November 2012, Gardening at Gropius House. In the same year, Jarrett served as concertmaster of the Juilliard Chamber Orchestra. Another highlight during her undergraduate years was her performance of the Mendelssohn Octet in the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Meet the Music! Concert Series. Jarrett was a member of the first YouTube Symphony Orchestra in 2009, with concerts in Carnegie Hall under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas. A native midwesterner, Jarrett has performed as a soloist with the Dearborn, Birmingham-Bloomfield, Toledo, and Ann Arbor symphony orchestras.

During her high school years, Jarrett was a member of the Music Institute of Chicago’s Academy program, where she studied with Almita and Roland Vamos. Jarrett received the Silver Award in Music/Violin from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts in January of 2009. Also an active chamber musician, Jarrett was a member of Quartet Polaris, Gold Medal Winners of the 2008 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, Junior Division. She performed with Quartet Polaris on NPR’s From the Top. The quartet also performed in The Kennedy Center and Carnegie Weill Hall as part of an East Coast tour through the Music Institute of Chicago.

Jarrett’s summer studies have brought her to many corners of the world. She attended the Taos School of Music in 2013, where she worked closely with the Borromeo and Brentano String Quartets to perform Beethoven’s entire quartet cycle. In 2012, Jarrett traveled to Japan to attend the Pacific Music Festival, where she served as concertmaster under Fabio Luisi. Other festivals attended include Music Academy of the West, Spoleto Festival, Astona International Academy (Switzerland), Heifetz International Music Institute, and Interlochen Arts Camp.
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Following in her mother’s footsteps, Andrea Jarrett loves spending her spare time cooking and baking. Her newest hobby is knitting, and she can often be spotted at “Knitorious,” St. Louis’s specialty yarn shop.
Xi Zhang/Viola
Violist Xi Zhang joined the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra viola section in 2014. She also won associate viola principal position in Kansas City Symphony prior to St. Louis. Born in Hubei Province, China, Zhang completed both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at New England Conservatory, where she studied with Martha Katz and Kim Kashkashian, as a recipient of the Ivanka and Bogdana Tchakarova Scholarship.
Throughout her time at NEC, Zhang frequently served as viola principal with the NEC Philharmonia, NEC Chamber Orchestra and NEC Philharmonia Opera from 2009-2014. In 2013 she served as principal violist with the Verbier Festival Orchestra, under the direction of Charles Dutoit, and in 2012 was principal violist for a tour with the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra, under the direction of Christoph Eschenbach. She also served as viola associate principal for New York String Seminar from 2009-2010, and viola associate principal for Colorado College Music Festival in 2009 and Spoleto USA orchestra in 2013. Other summer festival participation include: Grant Park Music Festival, Tanglewood, and Pacific Music Festival. During her studies in Boston, she played in local orchestra including Boston Philharmonic from 2008-2013, and Atlantic Symphony from 2009-2013. Zhang served as viola associate principal in Symphony Nova from 2013-2014. 

As an active chamber musician, Zhang regularly performs and collaborates with her colleagues in the SLSO at St. Louis’s Sheldon Performing Arts Center. Zhang appeared throughout Europe in summer 2008. Her chamber concerts in the United States included regular performances from 2008-2013 at New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall that featured the string quartets of Beethoven, Brahms, and Mendelssohn.
Shannon Farrell Williams/Viola
Shannon Williams lived in several places throughout her childhood but calls Wisconsin, where she spent the most time, her home state.  She began playing the violin at the age of five after seeing Itzhak Perlman on Sesame Street and by age seven, had dreams of becoming a member of the Green Bay Symphony.  Sadly, that dream was never realized, though she was quite happy to join the viola section of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in 2005, David Robertson’s inaugural season as Music Director.

While in high school, she studied violin with the great pedagogue, Mimi Zweig, and was concertmaster of the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra.  Gently persuaded by Zweig, Williams gave the viola a try in a chamber music setting.  She and some fellow Milwaukee musicians formed what became known as the Dubinsky Quartet, named after Rostislav Dubinsky, an early mentor of theirs and the founder of the Borodin Quartet.  The group went on to win several competitions and accolades, including the junior division of the Fischoff Competition and Indiana University’s Kuttner Quartet competition.  In 1999, they were one of ten chamber groups worldwide invited to participate in Australia’s prestigious Melbourne Chamber Music Competition and were also prizewinners in California’s Coleman Competition.

Williams began her undergraduate studies as a violin student of Miriam Fried at Indiana University but ultimately decided the viola was her true voice, at which point she began studying with Atar Arad and received her Bachelor’s degree in viola performance.  She then went to the New England Conservatory where she received her Master’s Degree under the tutelage of Martha Katz.

Williams remains an avid chamber musician as a member of the SLSO, performing regularly as a trio with violinist Kristin Ahlstrom and cellist Bjorn Ranheim, and is always eager to tackle the challenging modern repertoire performed at the SLSO’s Live at the Pulitzer series.  She has also been a featured soloist with the SLSO, as a competition winner at Indiana University, and at the Colorado Music Festival, where she spent several summers as their principal viola.
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She is also a wife and a mother to three beautiful, rambunctious children. She enjoys hiking, biking and relaxing with a giant glass of wine at the end of another crazy day.
Yin Xiong/Cello
Cellist Yin Xiong was appointed by Music Director David Robertson to the cello section of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra at the start of the 2016/2017 season. Yin was awarded notable prestigious prizes from an early age, including the 4th International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians as well as top prizes at the 4th and 5thNational Cello Competition of China. She won the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts concerto competition for an unprecedented consecutive five years. As a soloist, Yin made her debut with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra at age 17 under conductor Edo de Waart. She has also collaborated with conductors János Fürst, François-Xavier Roth, and Alexander Shelley.

An avid chamber and orchestral musician, Yin was strongly influenced by her parents, themselves both professional cellists. As a member of the Academy String Quartet, she served as a representative of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, and gave concerts regularly in Asia and Europe.  As part of the Hong Kong based cello ensemble, Cellistra, Yin presented concerts and community engagement activities throughout Asia.  She was the founding cellist of the Hsin Trio, with whom she gave the American debut of the Toshio Hosokawa’s Piano Trio, was featured in the Juilliard Open Studio, and gave concerts across the United States and China.

As an orchestral musician, Yin received her first job at the age of 20, joining the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, at the same time performing regularly with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. Yin has also served as the principal cellist of the Hong Kong Academy Orchestra, the Oberlin Orchestra, and was co-principal of the Juilliard Orchestra. She was the principal cellist of the Pacific Music Festival from 2006-2009 where she had the privilege to work with conductors Valery Gergiev, Riccardo Muti, Christoph Eschenbach and Michael Tilson Thomas.

Yin was a fellowship student at the Aspen Music Festival and School where she was part of the Finckel–Wu Han Chamber Music Studio Program. Other festivals include the Kronberg Academy in Germany, Kneisel Hall, Banff Chamber Music Residency, and the Taos School of Music.

As a dedicated music educator and advocator, Yin served as a faculty member of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Macau Youth Orchestra. She was also a teaching assistant for Professor Darrett Adkins at the Oberlin Conservatory.
Born in Shanghai, China, Yin attended the Shanghai Conservatory, and attended the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts on a full scholarship to study with Professor Ray Wang. She holds a Professional Diploma With Distinction from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and an Artist Diploma from the Oberlin Conservatory. She recently graduated from the accelerated Bachelor and Master of Music degree program at the Juilliard School where she studied with Darrett Adkins and Joel Krosnick. Besides playing the cello, Yin also enjoys playing the baroque cello and viola da gamba. She took secondary lessons with Catharina Meints at the Oberlin Conservatory and Phoebe Carrai at the Juilliard School. 
Grace Eunhey Park/Cello
Grace Eunhey Park, began playing cello at 10 years old. She is a cellist with a passion for ensemble performance. She is a member of Ensemble Secreta, and was a member of Key Trio in Indiana. She is associate principle cellist of the Muncie Symphony Orchestra, and plays regularly with the Marion Philharmonic Orchestra, Anderson Symphony Orchestra, and Peoria Symphony Orchestra. She was an associate member of the Chicago Civic Orchestra and holds substitute positions with in the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and Huntington (WV) Symphony Orchestra and St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. In 2012 Grace won first prize of Indianapolis Matinee Musical Competition, graduate string/woodwind level and she received honorable mention in the Graduate Concerto Competition at Ball State University in 2011. She is a native of the Republic of Korea where she won the Catholic University of Daegu Competition in 2003, and her ensemble was awarded first prize in the Fringe Festival of the Tongyeong International Music Festival(TIMF) in 2006. Grace took second prize in the string division of Daesin University in 2013 in Korea. She was previously a member of the Daegu Opera Festival Orchestra in Korea. Grace was a cellist in the Orchestre de la Francophonie in Montreal, Canada, in 2013 and in 2008 attended the Festival Ensemble of the TIMF Academy in Korea on a full scholarship.
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She earned an Artist Diploma from Ball State University, where she studied with Peter Opie with a full assistantship. Prior to entering Ball State, she completed Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from Yeung-nam University in Korea, where she studied with Seungzhin Lee.
David DeRiso /Bass
Originally from New York City, David DeRiso received his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from Rice University where he studied with Timothy Pitts and Paul Ellison. After school, DeRiso spent one year playing in the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, a training ground for young musicians, before winning his position with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in 2005.