April 11: Shriver Hall Concert Series Presents Violinist Jennifer Koh in Bach and Selections from her Alone Together Project

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Katy Salomon | Morahan Arts and Media
katy@morahanartsandmedia.com | 863.660.2214

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Shriver Hall Concert Series Presents 
Violinist Jennifer Koh, April 11

Performing a Virtual World Premiere Solo Recital
to Include Bach Partita No. 3, Bach Sonata No. 3,
and Selections from Koh’s Acclaimed Alone Together Project 

Sunday, April 11, 2021 at 5:30pm ET
www.shriverconcerts.org/concert/koh 

“In the top echelons of classical music, the violinist
Jennifer Koh is by any measure a star.” – The New York Times

www.shriverconcerts.org

 

Baltimore, Maryland (March 16, 2021) —  Shriver Hall Concert Series (SHCS) — Baltimore’s premier presenter of chamber music ensembles and solo recitalists — presents acclaimed violinist Jennifer Koh in a world premiere virtual recital on Sunday, April 11, 2021 at 5:30pm ET. Koh, “a masterly Bach interpreter and a champion of contemporary repertory” (The New York Times) juxtaposes two of Bach’s landmark works for solo violin – Bach’s Partita No. 3 E Major, BWV 1006 and Sonata No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1005 – with 12 micro-works that she commissioned in 2020 as part of her Alone Together project, a response to the pandemic and the financial hardship it has placed on many in the arts community. Composers who contributed to Alone Together include Katherine Balch, Vijay Iyer, Patrick Castillo, Hanna Benn, Ellen Reid, Andrew Norman, Kati Agócs, Angelica Negrón, Darian Donovan Thomas with electronics by Ian Chang, George Lewis, Cassie Wieland, and Layale Chaker. The recital was pre-recorded at Okataven Audio in New York.

Koh says “I am honored to be a part of Shriver Hall’s Concert Series this April. For this program, I include works that directly engage with this time of COVID while also including works that help us imagine a new world that awaits us after these difficult days. I chose Bach‘s Partita No. 3 to open the program. While it is a work that I have long loved, it is also the first solo Bach work that I learned when I was a child, and I chose this piece as a musical signal of a re-birth in a post-COVID world. This concert also contains new works from Alone Together. I was able to fund this project through ARCO Collaborative, a non-profit I started 6 years ago to advocate for inclusivity in classical music, as well as creating a space for artist-led projects. I approached 20 composers with salaried positions or institutional support and asked them to recommend a freelance composer that they musically felt connected to. They generously donated their own compositions to help launch this project and support their mentees.”

She continues, “Composed within the first weeks of the shelter-in-place order in New York City, these pieces directly engage with the emotional and aural experiences of that time. Now, months later, I have realized that these works are a musical archive of that painful time. The musical works presented on this program include the sounds of ambulance sirens; works written in memoriam to musical mentors who died from COVID; to newfound relationships to the fragility of our physical bodies, as well as the life force of blood running through our veins; and finally, there are works that grapple with the restrictions of this time and the creative actions we take to expand our lives during this time of contraction.”

"This program concludes with Bach’s Sonata No. 3 in C Major. The fugue is the most complex of all the fugues in Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas, metamorphosizing from a simple theme into a complex musical testament of human potential. Bach closes this sonata with two movements that offer us hope and joy, bringing us light at the end of this dark time. I hope you will find comfort and solace in this program while we look towards better days ahead of us.”

Ticket holders can watch the concert on demand for a week after the premiere and also have access to a post-concert chat with Koh, moderated by Shriver Hall Concert Series Executive Director Catherine Cochran. 

Concert Information
Jennifer Koh, violin
Sunday, April 11, 2021 at 5:30pm ET
Tickets: $15. Tickets include concert access and on-demand streaming of the concert for one week following, plus access to a post-concert artist conversation. 
Link: www.shriverconcerts.org/concert/koh 

Program:

Selections from Alone Together
     HANNA BENN: Exhalation
     PATRICK CASTILLO: Mina Cecilia’s Constitutional
     KATI AGÓCS: Thirst and Quenching
     LAYALE CHAKER: Bond of the Beloved (Bastanikar)

BACH: Partita No. 3 in E Major, BWV 1006

Selections from Alone Together
     KATHERINE BALCH: Cleaning 
     VIJAY IYER: For Violin Alone
     ANDREW NORMAN: Turns of Phrase
     CASSIE WIELAND: Shiner

BACH: Sonata No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1005

Selections from Alone Together
     ELLEN REID: Brick Red Mood
     GEORGE LEWIS: Un petit brouillard cérébral
     ANGELICA NEGRÓN: Cooper and Emma
     DARIAN DONOVAN THOMAS with electronics by IAN CHANG: Art/Nat

Performance to be followed by Artist Conversation with Shriver Hall Concert Series Executive Director Catherine Cochran

About Jennifer Koh
Recognized for intense, commanding performances, delivered with dazzling virtuosity and technical assurance, violinist Jennifer Koh is a forward-thinking artist dedicated to exploring a broad and eclectic repertoire, while promoting equity and inclusivity in classical music. She has expanded the contemporary violin repertoire through a wide range of commissioning projects, and has premiered more than 100 works written especially for her. Her quest for the new and unusual, sense of endless curiosity, and ability to lead and inspire a host of multidisciplinary collaborators, truly set her apart. 

Ms. Koh’s critically acclaimed series include Alone Together, Limitless, The New American Concerto, Shared Madness, Bach and Beyond, and Bridge to Beethoven. Her most recent project, Alone Together was developed in response to the coronavirus pandemic and the financial hardship it placed on many in the arts community. This online commissioning project brings composers together in support of the many freelancers among them with the more established composers each donating a new micro-work for solo violin, while also recommending a fellow freelance composer to write their own solo violin micro-work on paid commission from Ms. Koh’s artist-driven nonprofit ARCO Collaborative. Initiated in 2018 at Brooklyn’s National Sawdust, Limitless is a commissioning project that engages leading composer-performers, including Lisa Bielawa, Vijay Iyer, Missy Mazzoli, Qasim Naqvi, Tyshawn Sorey, Wang Lu, Nina Young, and Du Yun, to write duo compositions that explore the artistic relationship between composer and performer. Performed by Ms. Koh and the composers themselves, these works appear on recording in September 2019, released by Cedille Records. The New American Concerto is Ms. Koh’s ongoing, multi-season commissioning project that explores the form of the violin concerto and its potential for artistic engagement with contemporary societal concerns and issues through commissions from a diverse collective of composers. Ms. Koh has premiered five concertos as part of the project: Tyshawn Sorey’s For Marcos Balter, premiered with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 2020; Lisa Bielawa’s Sanctuary, premiered with the Orlando Philharmonic in 2020; Courtney Bryan’s Syzygy, premiered with the Chicago Sinfonietta in 2020; Christopher Cerrone’s Breaks and Breaks, premiered with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 2018; and Vijay Iyer’s Trouble premiered at the 2017 Ojai Music Festival. 

In recital, Ms. Koh continues to perform music from her Bach and Beyond series, which traces the history of the solo violin repertoire from Bach’s Six Sonatas and Partitas to 20th- and 21st-century composers; and her Shared Madness commissioning project, comprising short works for solo violin that explore virtuosity in the 21st century, written for the project by more than 30 of today’s most celebrated composers. In addition to experiencing Shared Madness in the concert hall, listeners are also able to hear recordings of the premiere performances and interviews between Ms. Koh and the composers via the Shared Madness radio show, which originally aired on WQXR’s New Sounds (formerly Q2) during the summer of 2017 and remains available on demand. Another important project created by Ms. Koh is Bridge to Beethoven which she performs with her frequent recital partner Shai Wosner. Bridge to Beethoven pairs the Beethoven’s violin sonatas with new and recent works inspired by them to explore the composer’s impact and significance on a diverse group of musicians.

Ms. Koh performs a broad range of concertos that reflects the breadth of her musical interests from traditional to contemporary. Highlights of her orchestral appearances have included performances of such traditional repertoire as Bach’s Violin Concerti with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra; Dvorák’s Violin Concerto with the Pittsburgh Symphony led by Manfred Honeck and RAI National Symphony with James Conlon; Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic led by Bramwell Tovey and St. Louis Symphony led by Nicolas McGegan; Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with the Munich Philharmonic led by Lorin Maazel; and Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons with the Detroit Symphony led by Nicolas McGegan.  

She has performed 20th-century works including Bartok and Berg concerti with the Milwaukee Symphony led by Edo de Waart; Bernstein’s Serenade with the Minnesota Orchestra led by Juanjo Mena and the Philadelphia Orchestra led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin; Lutoslawski’s Chain 2 with the New York Philharmonic led by Lorin Maazel and the Philharmonia Orchestra with Esa-Pekka Salonen; Scelsi’s Anahit with the Los Angeles Philharmonic led by Gustavo Dudamel; and Sibelius’s Violin Concerto with the New Jersey Symphony led by Xian Zhang, the São Paulo Symphonies with Marin Alsop, and the Columbus Symphony led by Rossen Milanov. An advocate for music from our current millennium, she has performed Anna Clyne’s The Seamstress with the BBC Symphony led by Sakari Oramo, the Chicago Symphony led by Ludovic Morlot, and Cincinnati Symphony conducted by Louis Langrée; Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Violin Concerto with the Houston Symphony led by Christoph Eschenbach, Nashville Symphony conducted by Giancarlo Guerrero, and Cincinnati and Gothenburg Symphonies conducted by Santtu-Matias Rouvali; and Steven Mackey’s Beautiful Passing with the Baltimore Symphony under Marin Alsop. 

Ms. Koh played the role of Einstein in the revival of Philip Glass and Robert Wilson’s Einstein on the Beach from 2012 to 2014; and a particular highlight of her career was performing with St Vincent (Annie Clark) and S. Epatha Merkerson at the 2018 Kennedy Center Honors in a tribute to Mr. Glass. She has also performed for former First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama and former First Lady of South Korea Kim Yoon-ok in 2011. 

Ms. Koh brings the same sense of adventure and brilliant musicianship to her recordings as she does to her live performances. She has now recorded fourteen albums with Chicago-based Cedille Records. Most recently, in November 2020, the label released the third and final installment of her Bach & Beyond recording series. Her previous recordings for the label include Limitless, based on her aforementioned duo project, released in the fall 2019; and a collection of works by Kaija Saariaho, whose music she has long championed and with whom she has closely collaborated, released in 2018. Titled Saariaho X Koh, the album includes the chamber version of the violin concerto Graal Théâtre with the Curtis Chamber Orchestra; Cloud Trio with violist Hsin-Yun Huang and cellist Wilhelmina Smith; Tocar with pianist Nicolas Hodges; Aure with cellist Anssi Karttunen, with whom she premiered the violin and cello version in 2015; and Light and Matter with both Mr. Hodges and Mr. Karttunen, with whom she performed the French premiere in 2017.

Ms. Koh’s discography on Cedille Records also includes Tchaikovsky: Complete Works for Violin and Orchestra with the Odense Symphony Orchestra conducted by Alexander Vedernikov, Bach & Beyond parts 1 and 2; Two x Four in collaboration with her former teacher, violinist Jaime Laredo, and featuring double violin concerti by Bach, Philip Glass, and new commissions from Anna Clyne and David Ludwig; Signs, Games Messages, a recording of violin and piano works by Janácek, Bartók, and Kurtág with Mr. Wosner; Rhapsodic Musings: 21st Century Works for Solo Violin; the Grammy-nominated String Poetic, featuring the world premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s eponymous work, performed with pianist Reiko Uchida; Schumann’s complete violin sonatas, also with Ms. Uchida; Portraits with the Grant Park Orchestra under conductor Carlos Kalmar with concerti by Szymanowski, Martinu, and Bartók; Violin Fantasies: fantasies for violin and piano by Schubert, Schumann, Schoenberg, and saxophonist Ornette Coleman, again with Ms. Uchida; and Ms. Koh’s first Cedille album, from 2002, Solo Chaconnes, an earlier reading of Bach’s Second Partita coupled with chaconnes by Richard Barth and Max Reger. Ms. Koh is also the featured soloist on a recording of Ms. Higdon’s The Singing Rooms with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra led by Robert Spano for Telarc. 

She is active not only in the concert hall and recording studio, but also as a lecturer and teacher, and has been in residence at Brown, Cornell, Duke, and Tulane Universities, as well as the Curtis Institute of Music, Oberlin Conservatory and College, and University of California, Santa Barbara. In 2018, she was a keynote speaker on diversity and inclusion in classical music at the League of American Orchestras annual conference, and in 2020 spoke as part of the Royal College of Music’s Yellow Peril in Classical Music Conference. 

Ms. Koh is the Founder and Artistic Director of ARCO collaborative, an artist-driven nonprofit that fosters a better understanding of our world through a musical dialogue inspired by ideas and the communities around us. The organization supports artistic collaborations and commissions, transforming the creative process by engaging with specific ideas and perspectives, investing in the future by cultivating artist-citizens in partnership with educational organizations. Ms. Koh is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Foundation for the Advancement for the Arts, a scholarship program for high school students in the arts.

Born in Chicago of Korean parents, Ms. Koh began playing the violin by chance, choosing the instrument in a Suzuki-method program only because spaces for cello and piano had been filled. She made her debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at age 11. She has been honored as “A Force of Nature” by the American Composers Orchestra and Musical America’s 2016 Instrumentalist of the Year. Ms. Koh was a top prize winner at Moscow’s International Tchaikovsky Competition, winner of the Concert Artists Guild Competition, and a recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from Oberlin College and studied at the Curtis Institute, where she worked extensively with Jaime Laredo and Felix Galimir. For further information, visit jenniferkoh.com.

About Shriver Hall Concert Series
Founded in 1966, Shriver Hall Concert Series has been Baltimore’s premier presenter of chamber music ensembles and solo recitalists with the mission of making music consonant with the highest aspirations of musical art, creating performances and providing educational training programs at the highest level of excellence for more than 50 years. Presenting its coveted Subscription Series each year, free Discovery Series concerts around the Greater-Baltimore area, and other special events, the Series has featured many of the world’s most renowned soloists and ensembles. The Series has been called “Baltimore’s finest importer of classical music talent” by The Sun and is the five-time recipient of Baltimore Magazine’s distinction “Best Classical Music” in its annual “Best of Baltimore” issue. For more information, visit www.shriverconcerts.org.

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Image Credit: Jennifer Koh by Juergen Frank