Chamber Music with the Phil– Deborah Wong, violin, Kyle Armbrust, viola, Maureen Hynes, cello, Gregg August, bass, and Andrew Gordon, piano perform the Hummel Piano Quintet, and theVaughan Williams: Piano Quintet in C Minor.
The Vaughan Williams quintet debuted in 1905. It was not performed again until…1995. Once you hear it, you will wonder why.
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.
Maureen Hynes enjoys an active career as cellist, conductor, chamber musician and educator. She performs regularly with the Westchester Philharmonic, American Ballet Theater, the American Symphony Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, Opera Orchestra of New York, the Bard Festival Orchestra, and the Queens Symphony. She has also appeared with the Royal Ballet, the San Francisco Ballet, at the Spoleto and Aspen Festivals, the Lake George Opera Festival and with the Bard Festival Chamber Players. Her work in New York has also included substitute work in many Broadway shows and for the Radio City Christmas show.
Her solo and chamber music appearances have included performances at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Phillips Collection in Washington D.C., the Kennedy Center, the New York Society for Ethical Culture, the Bayside Historical Society and the historic Old Whaler’s Church in Sag Harbor. A winner of the Concert Artists Guild Award with the Janus Ensemble, she is currently a member of the Pierrot Consort. She has performed in Europe, Canada, Korea and Hong Kong both as cellist and on the viola da gamba. Since the summer of 2011, she appears as soloist, chamber musician and faculty at Songe d’été en musique in Québec, Canada.
Ms. Hynes is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, where she received her B.M. and M.M. degrees. She has given Cello Master Classes in Seoul, Korea and on Long Island and has recorded for the Albany label. She is a member of Chamber Music America, Early Music America, NAFME and the American String Teachers Association.
Andrew Gordon, a graduate of the New England Conservatory and the Juilliard School, is a pianist, accompanist, vocal coach, composer, and teacher. He has been a member of the Greenwich Symphony since 1994; he serves as Organist and Music Director at Diamond Hill United Methodist Church in Cos Cob, CT, and is an adjunct professor in the voice department at Western CT State University in Danbury. Most recently he has been preparing a new English translation for West Conn’s upcoming production of Pauline Viardot’s Cendrillon, to be performed this coming April; he is also the conductor on Centaur’s recent release of Seymour Barab’s children’s opera, Little Red Riding Hood, featuring West Conn alumni and faculty. His music is published by Oxford University Press.
Deborah Wong is a long-time member of the Westchester Philharmonic violin section, frequently occupying the assistant concertmaster or Principal 2nd chairs. She graduated from the Juilliard School with both a Bachelors and Masters degree under the tutelage of the renowned Dorothy Delay. Her violinistic abilities span a wide range of styles and activities, from chamber music to symphonies to cutting edge contemporary. As a soloist, she has performed with the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, the Brattleboro Bach Festival Orchestra, the Stony Brook Symphony, the North Country Chamber Players, the Civic Orchestra of New Haven, the American Chamber Orchestra and the Greater Bridgeport Symphony. As a chamber musician she is a member of the Atlantic String Quartet and the Hawthorne Piano Trio. With Adam Grabois, her duo cello partner, she has recorded Martinu, Kodaly, and Ravel Duos on Mr. Grabois’ own label, Reflex Editions. A champion of new music, Ms. Wong performs in New York with such groups as the Washington Square Contermporary Music Ensemble, Speculum, ISCM, and the New York New Music Ensemble. In 2010 she was invited as a master teacher-performer to Panama, to work with the students at the Orquestra Juvenil de Nata. Ms. Wong has recorded for Deustche Gramophone, Elysium and CRI and New World Records. She resides in New York with her husband, Chris Finckel, cellist and co-director of the Sarajevo Chamber Music Festival, and their two children, Emeline and Paul.
Bassist and composer Gregg August spans the classical, avant-garde, jazz and Latin jazz worlds making him one of the most versatile musicians on the scene today. He is an associate member of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra as well as a member of the American Composers Orchestra and Orchestra of St. Luke’s. Gregg is also the former Principal Bass of La Orquestra Ciutat de Barcelona and the Brooklyn Philharmonic. As a jazz bassist Gregg is a member of the JD Allen Trio, having recorded 10 albums with the group. He also played and served as an arranger for many years with Arturo O’Farrill’s Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra.
In 2020 Gregg released his album Dialogues on Race (Iacuessa Records) for which he received a GRAMMY nomination in the Best Large Jazz Ensemble category. An extended suite for a 12 piece large jazz ensemble, three vocalists, strings and narrator, the work deals with the subject of race relations in the United States. He utilizes poems by Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes, Marilyn Nelson and others to create a musical conversation that is intended to help bring awareness and foster understanding on the issues surrounding race. Gregg was awarded two Grand Prizes by the International Society of Bassists for the 2020 David Walter Composers Competition in both the Chamber Ensemble and Bass Ensemble categories. He has also composed many full length concert works, including Variations on a Theme by Pérotin which was commissioned and premiered by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in 2021, as well as Una Rumba Sinfonica, a commission from the Jazz Composers Orchestra Institute and Earshot, which was premiered by the Buffalo Philharmonic. In 2003 Gregg formed his own record label, Iacuessa Records, for which he has recorded four critically acclaimed albums of entirely his own orginal music: Four by Six ( 2012), One Peace (2007), Late August (2005) and Dialogues on Race (2020). Gregg has performed and/ or recorded with The New York Philharmonic, Steve Reich, The Bang on a Can All Stars, Alarm Will Sound, as well as Ornette Coleman, Chick Corea, Branford Marsalis and Ray Barretto. Gregg was on the Downbeat Magazine Critics’ Rising Star Poll in 2017, 2015 and 2013. An adjunct professor at New York University, the Manhattan School of Music and Williams College, Gregg has also been on faculty at the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival at MASS MoCA (North Adams, MA) since 2003. Gregg received his bachelor’s degree from the Eastman School of Music and his master’s from the Juilliard School.
Violist Kyle Armbrust has performed as soloist with The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Lake George Chamber Orchestra, Maple City Chamber Orchestra, and Musica Bella Orchestra of New York. He has been described as "assured, brilliant, and stylish" in The New York Times, and "musically mature" and "technically sound" in the New York Post. Kyle was awarded first prize in the Chicago Viola Society, Midwest Young Artists, and Rembrandt Chamber Players Competitions, and the Faber Prize at the 2003 Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition. As winner of the 2002 Juilliard Concerto Competition, Kyle performed the Bartok Viola Concerto with the Juilliard Orchestra under the direction of Kurt Masur in Avery Fisher Hall. An active chamber musician, Kyle is a founding member of the Phaedrus String Quartet. Formed in 1999, the quartet has performed extensively in Europe, including recitals in the Aix en Provence, Schleswig Holstein, and Verbier Festivals, and collaborations with Nicholas Angelich, Yuri Bashmet, Joshua Bell, Dimut Poppen, and Yevgeny Sudbin. Kyle has participated in the Marlboro and Ravinia Festivals, has gone on tour with Musicians from Ravinia's Steans Institute, and was invited to perform with Itzhak Perlman and Yo-Yo Ma at the Neue Gallery in New York City in 2005. In addition to his solo and chamber music activities, Kyle was recently named Assistant Principal Violist of the New Jersey Symphony. He performs with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Knights Chamber Orchestra and is a substitute member of the New York Philharmonic and Philadelphia Orchestra. Kyle received his BM ('03), MM ('06), and Artist Diploma ('08) from The Juilliard School and studied with Heidi Castleman, Misha Amory, and Michael Tree.