Mozart: Duo for Violin-Viola No. 2 in B-flat Major, K. 424 Prokofiev: Violin Sonata No. 2 in D Major, Op. 94a
Excellent idea! However you plan your Wednesdays, you'd be wise to include this 50 minute interlude of transporting music that imbues a sense of inner power and communal peace. Your biggest decision is lunch afterward.
This concert is made possible, in part, with the generous support of the Brian Wallach Agency, White Plains, New York. Personal and Commercial Insurance since 1949.
A Cleveland native, Robin Bushman began her musical studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music which honored her with the 1992 Alumni Achievement Award. A three-time concerto winner at the National Music Camp in Interlochen, Michigan, she received her Bachelor's Degree from Oberlin College and a Master's Degree from The Juilliard School where she studied with Oscar Shumsky.
In 2005, Ms. Bushman appeared with the Long Island Philharmonic in a performance of the Bach Concerto for Three Violins. She was a soloist in "The Four Seasons" of Vivaldi with the Orchestra of St. Luke's in Monterrey, Mexico, and has performed on the Second Helpings Series with St. Luke's. During 2006, Robin was a soloist with the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and appeared with members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center at the OK Mozart Festival in Oklahoma. In 2009, she accompanied Michel Legrand at "Birdland" in New York City as part of a string quartet.
Ms. Bushman is a member of the Orchestra of St. Luke's and serves as assistant concertmaster of the Westchester Philharmonic. A founding member of the Portsmouth Chamber Ensemble, she debuted at Weill Concert Hall in New York, having won the Artist's International competition. She has toured extensively with the Orpheus Chamber Ensemble, St. Luke's, and the New York Philharmonic.
Robin is happily married to Dr. Robert Fried, professor emeritus, City University of New York.
Liuh-Wen Ting received her MM and BM degrees from the Juilliard School, studying with William Lincer and Karen Tuttle. She was a member of the award-winning Meridian String Quartet for seven years, and a co-founder of Ensemble Meme, which debuted at Zankel Hall to critical acclaim. She has appeared both as soloist and chamber musician at festivals such as the Prague Spring Music Festival, Ostrava Days in Czech Republic, the Warsaw Autumn Music Festival, Primavera en la Habana international electro-acoustic music festival in Cuba('02 &'20), and most recently New Mexico Music Festival ('21).
A proponent of contemporary music, Liuh-Wen is on the performance staff of the Composers Conference and Chamber Music Center at Brandeis University. She made her debut at Merkin Hall for the Interpretation Series with five commissioned pieces by Shih Hui Chen, Mari Kimura, Elliott Sharp, Frances White and Inessa Zaretsky. Other chamber works premiered and recorded included music by George Walker, Gabriela Lena Frank, Bung-Ching Lam, AACM members Richard Muhal Abraham, George Lewis, Roscoe Mitchell, Leo Wadada Smith, among many others. Her chamber and solo works can be heard on recordings for Albany, Capstone, Mode, Pogus, Innova, Naxos, and Tzadik labels.
A multi-faceted performer, she was featured with the renowned Persian vocalist Shahram Nazeri and his son Hafez Nazeri for several North American tours, performing at venues such as Disney Hall, Kodak theater, Place des Art, Roy Thomson Hall, as well as collaborating with composer/vocalist Fredo Viola on many projects. She has appeared on commercial recordings with artists across many spectrums and has chaired in the orchestras for twelve Broadway productions. Liuh-Wen is a member of the Orchestra of St. Luke's, American Composers Orchestra, SEM ensemble, the Berkshire Bach Ensemble, and a faculty member at the prep division of the Mannes School of Music.
Christopher Oldfather has devoted himself to the performance of twentieth-century music for more than thirty years. He has participated in innumerable world-premiere performances, in every possible combination of instruments, in cities all over America. The Westchester Philharmonic's Principal Keyboardist for twenty-two years, he has also been a member of Boston's Collage New Music since 1979, New York City's Parnassus since 1997, appears regularly in Chicago, and as a collaborator has joined singers and instrumentalists of all kinds in recitals throughout the United States. In 1986 he presented his recital debut in Carnegie Recital Hall, and since then he has pursued a career as a freelance musician. This work has taken him as far afield as Moscow and Tokyo, and he has worked on every sort of keyboard ever made, even including the Chromelodeon. He is widely known for his expertise on the harpsichord, and is one of the leading interpreters of twentieth-century works for that instrument. As a soloist he has appeared with the MET Chamber Players, the San Francisco Symphony, and Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt, Germany. His recording of Elliott Carter's violin-piano Duo with Robert Mann was nominated for two Grammy Awards in 1990. He has collaborated with the conductor Robert Craft, and can be heard on several of his recordings.
Christopher Oldfather was nominated for a 2010 Grammy in the Best Chamber Music Performance category for Schoenberg: String Quartets Nos. 3 & 4 with the Fred Sherry String Quartet.