Cellist Johannes Moser & Pianist Marc-André Hamelin Conclude Shriver Hall Concert Series Season

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

CELLIST JOHANNES MOSER & PIAINIST MARC-ANDRÉ HAMELIN
CONCLUDE SHRIVER HALL CONCERT SERIES 2023-24 SEASON

The Duo Joins Forces in Works by Hamelin, Boulanger, Debussy & Franck

Sunday, April 21 at 5:30 pm at Shriver Hall

"radiant playing"
—The Baltimore Sun about Johannes Moser

"Near superhuman technical prowess"
—The New York Times about Marc-André Hamelin

www.shriverconcerts.org

Baltimore, MD (March 28, 2024) — Shriver Hall Concert Series (SHCS) — Baltimore’s premier presenter of chamber music ensembles and solo recitalists — welcomes cellist Johannes Moser and pianist Marc-André Hamelin for the conclusion of its 2023-24 Subscription Series on Sunday, April 21, 2024, at 5:30 pm. These two artistic powerhouses join forces for a memorable and illuminating duo recital, performing works by Marc-André Hamelin himself and Nadia Boulanger, a paragon of 20th-century classical music, plus sonatas by Claude Debussy and César Franck, two of the great masterworks of the cello-piano repertoire.

Johannes Moser shares, “For years I have been a deep admirer of Marc and his playing. He embodies the universal musician, being the legendary pianist and thoughtful composer and collector he is. I really wanted to perform his own composition with him and around it we built a program of French delicacies. Exploring this repertoire with the marvelous audience in Baltimore will be pure joy – I can’t wait to be back and present this program that is so very close to our hearts and minds.”

Marc-André Hamelin remarks, “I’m thrilled to perform with Johannes as part of the Shriver Hall Concert Series. For this concert, we're presenting a program of French highlights from the repertoire for cello and piano, and also my own Four Perspectives. It's a little wild, but also very inviting in the way it involves the piano and cello in both jarring and consonant ways. I hope that everyone finds the program as unique and intriguing as I do. I’m greatly looking forward to performing again in Baltimore.”

Each section of Hamelin’s Four Perspectives for Cello and Piano is defined by a different kind of movement and a different relationship between the two instruments and the sonic spaces they inhabit. In the 12-minute-long work, Hamelin explores the contrasting personalities of the cello and piano, which move in and out of sync as their gestures, dynamics, and range grow steadily more expansive.

The concert will showcase Boulanger’s Three Pieces for Cello and Piano, initially composed for the organ in 1911 and later adapted by the composer in 1914 for cello and piano. Debussy’s Cello Sonata, with three brief movements, demonstrates the French style's clarity of expression, precision, and concise form. Lastly, Franck’s Cello Sonata in A Major embodies the essence of French Romanticism.

Before closing its 2023-24 season, Shriver Hall Concert Series welcomes French ensemble Ébène Quartet to Shriver Hall for its Baltimore debut on Sunday, April 7, 2024 at 5:30 pm. The program includes works by Alfred Schnittke, Edvard Grieg, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

SHCS recently announced its 2024-25 and 59th concert season. The Subscription Series features performances at Shriver Hall by pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason in her solo Baltimore Recital Debut on Sunday, October 6, 2024, at 5:30pm; Escher String Quartet with violist Jordan Bak on Sunday, October 27, 2024, at 5:30pm; Baroque ensemble ACRONYM in its Baltimore Debut on Sunday, December 8, 2024, at 5:30pm; cellist Pablo Ferrández in his Baltimore Recital Debut with pianist Julio Elizalde on Sunday, January 19, 2025, at 5:30pm; Dover Quartet with pianist Michelle Cann on Sunday, February 2, 2025, at 5:30pm; tenor Ian Bostridge with pianist Julius Drake on Sunday, March 9, 2025, at 5:30pm; pianist Leif Ove Andsnes on Sunday, March 23, 2025, at 5:30pm; and pianist Richard Goode on Sunday, June 1, 2025, at 5:30pm.

SHCS’s free Discovery Series, which spotlights emerging artists on the classical music scene, includes recitals by guitarist Raphaël Feuillâtre in his Baltimore Debut on Saturday, November 16, 2024, at 3pm at the Baltimore Museum of Art; the winner of the 2024 Yale Gordon Concerto Competition on Saturday, February 8, 2025, at 3pm at the Baltimore Museum of Art; and Ivalas Quartet on Saturday, March 29, 2025, at 3pm at UMBC’s Linehan Concert Hall.

Concert Information
Johannes Moser, cello and Marc-André Hamelin, piano
Sunday, April 21, 2024 at 5:30 pm
Shriver Hall | 3400 N. Charles Street | Baltimore, MD 21218
Tickets: $46 Single Tickets, $10 Students
Link: https://www.shriverconcerts.org/moserhamelin 

NADIA BOULANGER: Three Pieces for Cello & Piano
MARC-ANDRÉ HAMELIN: Four Perspectives for Cello & Piano
CLAUDE DEBUSSY: Cello Sonata
CÉSAR FRANCK: Cello Sonata in A Major

A Pre-Concert Talk at 4:30 pm will take place in Shriver Hall

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 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, Han 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 Johannes Moser
Hailed by Gramophone Magazine as “one of the finest among the astonishing gallery of young virtuoso cellists,” German-Canadian cellist Johannes Moser has performed with the world’s leading orchestras, such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, BBC Philharmonic at the Proms, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest, and Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich; the Chicago, Tokyo NHK, and London symphonies; the New York and Los Angeles philharmonics; and the Philadelphia and Cleveland orchestras and with conductors of the highest level, including Riccardo Muti, Lorin Maazel, Mariss Jansons, Valery Gergiev, Zubin Mehta, Vladimir Jurowski, Franz Welser-Möst, Christian Thielemann, Pierre Boulez, Paavo Järvi, Semyon Bychkov, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and Gustavo Dudamel.

His recordings include the concertos by Antonín Dvorák, Édouard Lalo, Edward Elgar, Witold Lutoslawski, Henri Dutilleux, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, which have gained him the prestigious Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik and the Diapason d’Or. Gramophone commented, “[Lutoslawski and Dutilleux Cello Concertos]...Anyone coming afresh to these masterly works...should now investigate this new release ahead  of all others….”

A dedicated chamber musician, Moser has performed with Emanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Jonathan Biss, James Ehnes, Vadim Gluzman, Leonidas Kavakos, Midori, Menahem Pressler, Andrej Korobeinikov, Gloria Campaner and Yevgeny Sudbin. He is also a regular at festivals including the Verbier, Schleswig-Holstein, Gstaad, and Kissinger festivals; the Mehta Chamber Music Festival; and the Colorado, Seattle, and Brevard music festivals.

Renowned for his efforts to expand the reach of the classical genre, as well as his passionate focus on new music, Moser has been involved in commissioning works by Julia Wolfe, Ellen Reid, Thomas Agerfeldt Olesen, Johannes Kalitzke, Jelena Firsowa, and Andrew Norman. In 2011 he premiered Magnetar for electric cello by Enrico Chapela with the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, and in the following season, he continued this relationship with the orchestra performing Michel van der Aa’s cello concerto Up-close. Throughout his career, Moser has been committed to reaching out to all audiences, from kindergarten to college and beyond. He combines most of his concert engagements with masterclasses, school visits, and pre-concert lectures.

Moser holds a professorship at the prestigious Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln. Born into a musical family in 1979, he began studying the cello at the age of eight and became a student of Professor David Geringas in 1997. He was the top prize winner at the 2002 Tchaikovsky Competition, in addition to being awarded the Special Prize for his interpretation of the Rococo Variations. In 2014 he was awarded the prestigious Brahms Prize.

A voracious reader of everything from Kafka to Collins, and an avid outdoorsman, Moser is a keen hiker and mountain biker in what little spare time he has. Johannes Moser plays on an Andrea Guarneri Cello from 1694 from a private collection. His website is www.johannes-moser.com.

About Marc-André Hamelin
A performer of near-superhuman technical prowess” (The New York Times), pianist Marc-André Hamelin is known worldwide for his unrivaled blend of consummate musicianship and brilliant technique in the great works of the established repertoire, as well as for his intrepid exploration of the rarities of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. He regularly performs around the globe with the leading orchestras and conductors of our time and gives recitals at major concert venues and festivals worldwide.

Highlights of Mr. Hamelin’s 2023-24 season include a vast variety of repertoire performed with the Philharmonisches Orchester Hagen (Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3), Netherlands Radio Philharmonic (Max Reger’s Piano Concerto), and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (music by César Franck and Nadia Boulanger). Recital and chamber music appearances take Mr. Hamelin to Prague, Poland, Oslo, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, London’s Wigmore Hall, Amsterdam’s Muziekgebouw, Portland Piano International, and Cleveland Chamber Music Society; to Cliburn Concerts and Brevard Music Center with Johannes Moser; and across the U.S. with the Takács Quartet. Festival appearances include Tanglewood, Le Festival de Lanaudière, Grand Teton Music Festival, Tuckamore Festival, Schubertiade, and Rockport Chamber Music Festival.

Mr. Hamelin is an exclusive recording artist for Hyperion Records, where his discography spans more than 70 albums, with notable recordings of a broad range of solo, orchestral, and chamber repertoire. In September 2023, the label released Mr. Hamelin’s recording of Fauré’s Nocturnes and Barcarolles, including a short four-hand suite, played with his wife, Cathy Fuller. In 2022, he released both a two-disc set of C.P.E. Bach’s sonatas and rondos and a two-disc set of William Bolcom’s complete rags that both received wide critical acclaim.

Mr. Hamelin has composed music throughout his career, with over 30 compositions to his name. The majority of those works—including the Etudes and Toccata on “L’homme armé,” commissioned by the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition—are published by Edition Peters. Mr. Hamelin performed his Toccata on “L’homme armé” along with music by C.P.E. Bach and William Bolcom on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts in 2023. His most recent work, his Piano Quintet, was premiered in August 2022 by himself and the celebrated Dover Quartet at La Jolla Music Society.

Mr. Hamelin makes his home in the Boston area with his wife, Cathy Fuller, a producer and host at Classical WCRB. Born in Montreal, he is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the German Record Critics’ Association and has received seven Juno Awards, 11 Grammy nominations, and the 2018 Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano Performance from Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music. In December 2020, he was awarded the Paul de Hueck and Norman Walford Career Achievement Award for Keyboard Artistry from the Ontario Arts Foundation. Mr. Hamelin is an Officer of the Order of Canada, a Chevalier de l’Ordre national du Québec, and a member of the Royal Society of Canada.

Mr. Hamelin’s website is www.marcandrehamelin.com.

Image at top of release: Johannes Moser by Sarah Wijzenbeek, Marc-André Hamelin by Sim Canetty-Clarke

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