Shriver Hall Concert Series Presents Baltimore Debuts of Cellist Sterling Elliott & Pianist Elliot Wuu, Plus Thalea String Quartet in Recital

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mallory McFarland | Morahan Arts and Media
mallory@morahanartsandmedia.com | 646.241.0899

SHRIVER HALL CONCERT SERIES PRESENTS
BALTIMORE DEBUTS OF
CELLIST STERLING ELLIOTT & PIANIST ELLIOT WUU,
PLUS THALEA STRING QUARTET IN RECITAL

Free Discovery Series Concerts at UMBC’s Linehan Concert Hall

February 18 - Sterling Elliott & Elliot Wuu
March 11 - Thalea String Quartet

“Baltimore’s finest importer of classical music talent” – The Baltimore Sun

www.shriverconcerts.org

Baltimore, MD (January 12, 2023) — Shriver Hall Concert Series (SHCS) — Baltimore’s premier presenter of chamber music ensembles and solo recitalists — continues its 2022-23 free Discovery Series season with performances by cellist Sterling Elliott with pianist Elliot Wuu in their Baltimore debuts on Saturday, February 18, 2023 at 3:00pm, plus a concert by the Thalea String Quartet on Saturday, March 11, 2023 at 3:00pm. Both performances will take place at University of Maryland Baltimore County’s Linehan Concert Hall.

Rising star Sterling Elliott is a recipient of the 2021 Avery Fisher Career Grant and is the youngest ever winner of the national Sphinx Competition. Just weeks ago, he performed in the nationally telecast 45th Kennedy Center Honors, paying tribute to honoree Tania León, and now makes his highly anticipated Baltimore debut with award winning pianist Elliot Wuu on Saturday, February 18, 2023 at 3:00pm. The program opens with Bach’s Suite No. 6 for Solo Cello in D major, and continues with Dallapiccola’s “Ciaccona” from Ciaccona and Mendelssohn’s Cello Sonata No. 2 in D major, Intermezzo e Adagio. Mother and Child by William Grant Still closes the concert, which takes place at UMBC’s Linehan Concert Hall.

Wrapping-up SHCS’ free Discovery Series and taking place at UMBC’s Linehan Concert Hall on Saturday, March 11, 2023 at 3:00pm is the Thalea String Quartet. Lauded by San Francisco Classical Voice for their “vibrant performance” and “sincere expressivity”, the acclaimed Quartet – mentees of the renowned Kronos Quartet – presents a stunning program exploring the influence of American musical traditions, such as bluegrass, rock ‘n’ roll, hip-hop, the blues, and spirituals: Gabriella Smith’s Carrot Revolution, Abbey Road Suite by the Beatles, Daniel Bernard Roumain’s String Quartet No. 5, “Parks”, and Antonín Dvorák’s String Quartet No. 12 in F major, “American”.

The Discovery Series, an initiative created specifically for the community, is an annual series of concerts featuring extraordinary young artists emerging on the international scene, with most making their Baltimore debuts on the series. Recitals are presented in different, intimate venues and neighborhoods throughout the region, thereby offering greater access to different local communities.

SHCS’ 2022-23 Discovery Series opens with a rare tuba recital by Jasmine Pigott, winner of the 2022 Yale Gordon Competition, on Saturday, January 28, 2023 at 3:00pm at the Baltimore Museum of Art.

Shriver’s 2022-23 Subscription Series at Shriver Hall include appearances by the Dover Quartet and double-bassist Joseph Conyers, in his Baltimore debut, on Sunday, February 26, 2023 at 5:30pm; the Tetzlaff-Tetzlaff-Dörken Trio – made up of violinist Christian Tetzlaff, cellist Tanja Tetzlaff, and pianist Kiveli Dörken – on Sunday, March 26, 2023 at 5:30pm; pianist Piotr Anderszewski on Sunday, April 23, 2023 at 5:30pm; and Grammy-nominated quintet Imani Winds on Sunday, May 14, 2023 at 5:30pm.

Concert Information
Discovery Series: Sterling Elliott, cello and Elliot Wuu, piano (Baltimore Debuts)
Saturday, February 18, 2023 at 3:00pm
UMBC’s Linehan Concert Hall | 1000 Hilltop Circle | Baltimore, MD 21250
Tickets: Free, RSVP required. $10 Suggested donation.
Link: www.shriverconcerts.org/elliott 

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH: Suite No. 6 for Solo Cello in D major, BWV 1012 
LUIGI DALLAPICCOLA: Ciaccona from Ciaccona, Intermezzo e Adagio for Solo Cello
FELIX MENDELSSOHN: Cello Sonata No. 2 in D major, Op. 58
WILLIAM GRANT STILL: Mother and Child

Discovery Series: Thalea String Quartet
Saturday, March 11, 2023 at 3:00pm
UMBC’s Linehan Concert Hall | 1000 Hilltop Circle | Baltimore, MD 21250
Tickets: Free, RSVP required. $10 Suggested donation.
Link: www.shriverconcerts.org/thalea 

GABRIELLA SMITH: Carrot Revolution
THE BEATLES: Abbey Road Suite (arr. Alexander Vittel)
DANIEL BERNARD ROUMAIN: String Quartet No. 5, “Parks”
ANTONÍN DVORÁK: String Quartet No. 12 in F major, Op. 96, “American”

About Shriver Hall Concert Series
For more than 50 years, Shriver Hall Concert Series (SHCS) has been “Baltimore’s finest importer of classical music talent” (The Baltimore Sun) and the area’s premier presenter of chamber music ensembles and solo recitalists with a mission to craft performances and educational programs at the highest level of excellence. A 5-time recipient of Baltimore Magazine’s distinction “Best Classical Music” in its annual “Best of Baltimore” issue, the coveted subscription series features many of the world’s most renowned soloists and ensembles, presented in The Johns Hopkins University’s Shriver Hall.

Founded in 1966 by Dr. Ernest Bueding, a pharmacologist at The Johns Hopkins University, and a group of similarly dedicated music enthusiasts, SHCS set out to make an important contribution to the vitality of an already vibrant city. When flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal walked onto the stage of Shriver Hall for the first concert, more than 1,100 people witnessed the launch of what is now recognized as a remarkable success story: Shriver Hall Concert Series. In the succeeding years SHCS has presented hundreds of acclaimed and emerging international artists in classical chamber music and recitals and a legacy of important debuts and premieres. In addition, SHCS collaborates with local schools and subsidizes hundreds of student tickets each season.

The list of artists presented by SHCS is remarkable—Radu Lupu, Murray Perahia, Ewa Podlés, Maurizio Pollini, Jacqueline du Pré, Mstislav Rostropovich, Jordi Savall, András Schiff, Rudolf Serkin, Janos Starker, Daniil Trifonov, Lynn Harrell, Emmanuel Ax, Alban Berg Quartet, Guarneri Quartet, Kronos Quartet, Cleveland Quartet, and Quartetto Italiano, among many others. SHCS also has a history of championing important musicians early in their careers, including Richard Goode, Hilary Hahn, Hélène Grimaud, Dawn Upshaw, Lang Lang, and the Emerson String Quartet. Commissioned composers include Timo Andres, Sebastian Currier, Jonathan Leshnoff, James Lee III, Hannah Lash, Caroline Shaw, and Nina C. Young.

Designed specifically for the community, SHCS offers the Discovery Series, a series of free concerts presented in venues throughout the region focused on artists emerging on the national and international scene. Artists featured include Narek Hakhnazaryan, Colin Currie, Xavier Foley, Eric Lu, and the Dover Quartet. SHCS also offers the annual Spring Lecture Series, a series of free talks focused on annual topics related to the intersection of music and society, and a variety of student programs.

For more information, visit www.shriverconcerts.org.

About Sterling Elliott
Cellist Sterling Elliott? is a 2021 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient and the winner of the Senior Division of the 2019 National Sphinx Competition.

His orchestral appearances in the 2021-22 season include Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 2 with the San Antonio, Richmond, West Virginia symphony orchestras and the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra; the Popper Hungarian Fantasy with the Orlando Philharmonic and Hawaii Symphony Orchestra, and the Elgar Concerto with the Midland Symphony. He will appear in a Tuesday Matinee recital at Merkin Hall at the Kaufman Music Center, Ashmont Hill Chamber Music Society, and Tuesday Musicale, as well as chamber music at Festival Mozaic and with Shai Wosner and friends for Peoples’ Symphony Concerts. During the summer of 2021 Sterling debuted with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl performing the Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations led by Bramwell Tovey, with further appearances at Chamberfest Cleveland, and Music@Menlo.

Previous orchestral engagements have included the Philadelphia Orchestra with Yannick Nezet-Seguin, the New York Philharmonic with Jeffrey Kahane, the Boston Symphony with Thomas Wilkins, the Cleveland Orchestra, Detroit Symphony with Mei Ann Chen, the Dallas Symphony, Virginia Symphony and Buffalo Philharmonic among others. 

Sterling has enjoyed a simple and humble musical journey. As the youngest of 3 siblings, he did not want to play the cello but the violin like his older brother and sister. After a bit of encouragement, he completed The Elliott Family String Quartet by learning to play the cello at the age of three under the direction of Suzuki Cello teacher Susan Hines. He went on to make his concerto debut at the age of 7 by winning the Junior Division of the PYO Concerto Competition, and later the 2014 Richmond Symphony Concerto Competition, the Bay Youth Orchestra Concerto Competition. Sterling has a long history with the Sphinx Organization where he first received 2nd place in the 2013 National Sphinx Competition Junior Division, then won the 2014 Junior Division. In 2016 he received the Isaac Stern Award by the Sphinx Organization and toured with the Sphinx Virtuosi in 2018 before winning in 2019.

He is a two-time alum of NPR’s From the Top where he was a recipient of a scholarship from The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation and performed several concerts in Switzerland at the 2019 World Economic Forum. He is a Young Strings of America ambassador for SHAR Strings. In 2019, he was the first recipient of The National Arts Club’s Herman and Mary Neuman Music Scholarship Award. 

Sterling Elliott is currently a Kovner Fellow at The Juilliard School where he is pursuing his Masters of Music degree studying with Joel Krosnick and Clara Kim. He completed his undergraduate degree in cello performance at Juilliard in May 2021. He currently performs on a 1741 Gennaro Gagliano cello on loan through the Robert F. Smith Fine String Patron Program, in partnership with the Sphinx Organization. His website is sterlingelliott.com.

About Elliot Wuu
Praised for his "power, speed and finesse of artists twice his age" (Tribune Star), Elliot Wuu has captured audiences with colorful tones, sensitive musicality and emotional depth in his music. Wuu, a Young Steinway Artist, was named a 2018 Gilmore Young Artist, one of the most prestigious awards bestowed every two years to two young pianists up to 22 years old. Wuu is a winner of the Salon de Virtuosi 2021 Career Grant. 

In recent years, Wuu has won numerous state, national and international competitions and performed across the globe. In 2015, Wuu won First Prize in the Hilton Head International Piano Competition for Young Artists. In the same year, he also won Second Prize and special Schubert Prize in the International e-Piano Junior Competition, Third Prize and special Mozart Prize in the Cleveland International Piano Competition for the Young Artists, Second Prize and the Best Performance award of a composition by Russian Composers in the Bösendorfer and Yamaha USASU International Piano Competition. He was also the winner of the 2017 National YoungArts Competition. In addition, Wuu was named a 2014-16 Young Scholar of the Lang Lang International Music Foundation and a 2016-21 MTAC Young Artist Guild (YAG) member, the highest honor awarded to California music students.  

Wuu has performed in major venues in the U.S., France, Italy, Germany, United Kingdom, Poland, Romania and China. In NYC, Wuu performed at the United Nations Headquarters in the presence of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, at the WQXR Greene Space, and at Carnegie Hall for the Grammy's Salute to Classical Music concert. Other notable concert performances were at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, Aspen Festival,  Ravinia Festival, Hilton Head Bravo Piano Festival and Chopin Foundation of the United States. In 2013, Wuu was selected as one of the twelve young pianists from around the world to participate in the Inaugural Lang Lang Junior Music Camp in Munich, where he performed and worked with Lang Lang in concerts and masterclass. Wuu was also featured on WQXR's Young Artists Showcase  and NPR's From the Top radio programs. 

After making his debut at age 16 with the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra performing Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Wuu has appeared as soloist with the Lansing Symphony Orchestra, Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Parnassus, and Arad State Philharmonic in Romania, among many others.

In addition to performing, Wuu has worked with legendary artists such as Dame Fanny Waterman, Leon Fleisher, Gary Graffman, and Ruth Slenczynska in masterclasses.

Born in September 1999 in Fremont, CA, Wuu began piano studies at the age of six. Throughout high school years, Wuu was a music scholarship student, studying piano with Yoshikazu Nagai, at the San Francisco Conservatory Pre-College, as well as at the Valley Christian High School Conservatory of the Arts. His previous teachers include Jed Galant and Rose Chen. As a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship Award at The Juilliard School, Wuu received his Bachelor of Music degree and continues his studies of Master of Music under the tutelage of Robert McDonald. His website is elliotwuu.com.

About Thalea String Quartet
The Thalea String Quartet brings their signature vibrancy and emotional commitment to dynamic performances that reflect the past, present, and the future of the string quartet repertoire while celebrating diverse musical traditions from around the world. Fueled by the belief that chamber music is a powerful force for building community and human connection, the Thalea String Quartet has performed across North America, Europe, and China, and has appeared at the Kennedy Center, Massey Hall, and Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall. They have shared the stage with luminaries of the chamber music world, including members of the Emerson, Borromeo and St Lawrence String Quartets, and they have performed alongside celebrated artists including Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw, violist Lawrence Power, acclaimed Canadian band BADBADNOTGOOD, and visionary hip hop artist Jay Electronica.

Committed to shaping and contributing to the future of the string quartet repertoire, the Thalea String Quartet has premiered dozens of new works and have collaborated on new commissions with composers including Paola Prestini, Anthony R. Green, Akshaya Avril Tucker, and Tanner Porter.   

Winners of the 2021 Ann Divine Educator Award from the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, the members of the Thalea String Quartet have been celebrated for their innovative approach to education and community engagement. Pioneers of virtual educational programming, TSQ has developed a variety of digital content, including two digital video series for students of all ages and the CHAMPS Virtual Chamber Music Seminar, which brought together students from across North America for an eight-week intensive study of the music of Florence B. Price, Joseph Haydn, and Antonín  Dvorák. The members of the TSQ have presented masterclasses and workshops at institutions across North America, including the Berklee College of Music, the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, and San Francisco State University. They have presented lectures and led discussions at institutions including the University of Maryland, Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, and Wayne State Medical School in Detroit, where they presented a workshop on non-verbal communication to first year medical students alongside the Emerson String Quartet. 

The Thalea String Quartet is the Doctoral Fellowship String Quartet at the University of Maryland. The quartet has also held fellowship positions at the University of Texas at Austin and the San Francisco Conservatory. They served as Associated Artists at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Waterloo, Belgium for the 2019-20 season and were the 2019-20 Ernst Stiefel Quartet-in-Residence at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts. They were top prize winners at the 2018 Fischoff Competition and 2018 Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition. 

Christopher Whitley (violin) is originally from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Kumiko Sakamoto (violin) is from Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada; Lauren Spaulding (viola) is from San Antonio, Texas; and Alex Cox (cello) is from West Palm Beach, Florida.

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