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Press Releases
Emerald City Music brings Clarinet Dances to Bellingham, Seattle, Olympia, WA
Emerald City Music Presents Clarinet Dances
Violinist Kristin Lee, Artistic Director
Thursday, April 28, 2022 at 7pm
Presented by the Bellingham Festival of Music and Emerald City Music
Bellingham Ferry Terminal | 355 Harris Avenue | Bellingham, WA
Friday, April 29, 2022 at 8pm
415 Westlake | 415 Westlake Avenue N | Seattle, WA
Saturday, April 30, 2022 at 7:30pm
Minnaert Center | 2011 Mottman Road SW | Olympia, WA
Tickets and Information: www.emeraldcitymusic.org/
“Now as we’re finally starting to gather again for live music, one classical-music presenter, Emerald City Music, now in its seventh season, is renewing its efforts to attract new listeners by providing what artistic director Kristin Lee calls a ‘Friday date-night vibe,’ setting up an atmosphere in which ‘musicians can engage as much with the audience as with each other.’” – The Seattle Times
www.emeraldcitymusic.org
Bellingham, Seattle & Olympia, WA – Emerald City Music (ECM) continues its sixth season under the leadership of Artistic Director and violinist Kristin Lee. On Thursday, April 28, 2022 at 7pm in Bellingham (Bellingham Ferry Terminal, presented by Bellingham Festival of Music and ECM), Friday, April 29, 2022 at 8pm in Seattle (415 Westlake) and Saturday, April 30, 2022 at 7:30pm in Olympia (Minnaert Center), ECM presents Clarinet Dances, featuring two remarkable and colorful clarinet quintets by Carl Maria von Weber and David Bruce. ECM’s performing artists for these concerts are Jose Franch Ballester, clarinet; Kristin Lee, violin; Jason Ueyama, violin; Tien-Hsin Cindy Wu, viola; and Ani Aznavoorian, cello.
Carl Maria Von Weber’s Clarinet Quintet was written for his close friend, the clarinet virtuoso Heinrich Baermann. While the latter would have preferred a concerto to perform with orchestras, this work was designed such that the clarinetist could travel town to town and gather the local musicians to support the four string parts of this colorful work.
David Bruce’s Gumboots is a thematic clarinet quintet that brings to light the brutal labor conditions of South Africa under Apartheid. Black miners were chained together and wore Gumboots (wellington boots) while they worked in the flooded gold mines. Slapping the boots and chains was used by the workers as a form of communication which was otherwise banned in the mine. The composer describes the first half of his quintet as yearning for tranquility and peace, while the finale consists of five lively and joyful dances.
Full artist biographies and high-resolution images: www.emeraldcitymusic.org/
Emerald City Music’s full COVID-19 Policy: www.emeraldcitymusic.org/
Clarinet Dances
Thursday, April 28, 2022 at 7pm at Bellingham Ferry Terminal (355 Harris Ave.) in Bellingham
Friday, April 29, 2022 at 8pm at 415 Westlake in Seattle
Saturday, April 30, 2022 at 7:30pm at Kenneth J Minnaert Center for the Arts at South Puget Sound Community College in Olympia (2011 Mottman Road SW)
Tickets and Information: www.emeraldcitymusic.org/
Hear two remarkable and colorful clarinet quintets in one night! Carl Maria Von Weber’s Clarinet Quintet was written for his close friend, the clarinet virtuoso Heinrich Baermann. While the latter would have preferred a concerto to perform with orchestras, this work was designed such that the clarinetist could travel town to town and gather the local musicians to support the four string parts of this colorful work. David Bruce’s Gumboots is a thematic clarinet quintet that brings to light the brutal labor conditions of South Africa under Apartheid. Black miners were chained together and wore Gumboots (wellington boots) while they worked in the flooded gold mines. Slapping the boots and chains was used by the workers as a form of communication which was otherwise banned in the mine. The composer describes the first half of his quintet as yearning for tranquility and peace, while the finale consists of five lively and joyful dances.
CARL MARIA VON WEBER (1841-1904) CLARINET QUINTET IN Bb Major, OP. 34
DAVID BRUCE (b. 1970) GUMBOOTS
Jose Franch Ballester, clarinet
Kristin Lee, violin
Jason Ueyama, violin
Tien-Hsin Cindy Wu, viola
Ani Aznavoorian, cello
About Kristin Lee, ECM Artistic Director
A recipient of the 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant, as well as a top prizewinner of the 2012 Walter W. Naumburg Competition and the Astral Artists’ 2010 National Auditions, Kristin Lee is a violinist of remarkable versatility and impeccable technique who enjoys a vibrant career as a soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and educator. “Her technique is flawless, and she has a sense of melodic shaping that reflects an artistic maturity,” writes the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and The Strad reports, “She seems entirely comfortable with stylistic diversity, which is one criterion that separates the run-of-the-mill instrumentalists from true artists.
In addition to her dynamic performing career, Lee was recently appointed to the faculty of University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music as Assistant Professor of Violin. She is the artistic director of Emerald City Music in Seattle, a chamber music series she co-founded in 2015. Also an accomplished chamber musician, Kristin Lee is a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, performing at Lincoln Center in New York and on tour with CMS throughout each season, as well as a member of Camerata Pacifica in Santa Barbara, sitting as The Bernard Gondos Chair.
Kristin Lee has appeared as soloist with leading orchestras including The Philadelphia Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Ural Philharmonic of Russia, Korean Broadcasting Symphony, Guiyang Symphony Orchestra of China, Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional of Dominican Republic, and many others. She has performed on the world’s finest concert stages, including Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, the Kennedy Center, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Ravinia Festival, the Louvre Museum in Paris, Washington, D.C.’s Phillips Collection, and Korea’s Kumho Art Gallery.
Born in Seoul, Lee began studying violin at age five and within one year won First Prize at the Korea Times Violin Competition. In 1995, she moved to the US to continue her studies under Sonja Foster and in 1997 entered The Juilliard School’s Pre-College. In 2000, Lee was chosen to study with Itzhak Perlman after he heard her perform with the Pre-College Symphony. Lee holds a Master’s degree from The Juilliard School.
For more information, visit www.violinistkristinlee.com.
About ECM
Emerald City Music (ECM) is the Pacific Northwest home for eclectic, intimate, and vibrant classical chamber music experiences. Deemed "the beacon for the casual-classical movement" (CityArts), ECM hosts world-renowned musicians in unique concert experiences in its South Lake Union home venue, 415 Westlake. Catch them on tour also in residence in Olympia, Bellingham, and New York City.
Founded in 2015, Emerald City Music produces and tours seven productions annually, with each tour visiting Seattle’s South Lake Union (415 Westlake, a chic contemporary venue with an open bar), Olympia’s Minnaert Center (a 495-seat modern concert hall), a once annual concert at the Bellingham Music Festival, and an annual concert in New York City.
ECM gained recognition regionally and nationally as a major player in the chamber music scene. Artistic Director Kristin Lee –– a touring violinist awarded the Avery Fisher Career Grant and who is a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center –– is regarded for her innovative programming that both honors the tradition of chamber music while expanding the genre’s boundary past common limits. Emerald City Music made a name for itself beginning in its second season with a national collaborative commission with Grammy-winning composer John Luther Adams, and has continued to press the boundary of chamber music with accolades like a tour of Steve Reich’s iconic and rare Music for 18 Musicians, a pitch-black performance of Georg Haas’s “In the Dark” quartet, the West Coast debut of the Danish folk group The Dreamers’ Circus, and the World Premiere of the double Grammy-Nominated Seven Pillars by Andy Akiho, performed by Sandbox Percussion.
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