InterHarmony Artists Perform Piano Trios and Opera Arias in Phantom of the Archduke at Carnegie Hall on April 24 at 8PM

Music includes Beethoven’s Archduke Trio, Trios by Piazzolla and Glinka performed by cellist Misha Quint, violinist Lenora Marya-Anop, and pianists Alice Chenyang Xu and Miles Fellenberg, and Opera Arias sung by soprano Ninfa Azucena Garcia Yanez and mezzo-soprano Brianna Davies, both with Alla Milchtein on piano. These artists have performed at InterHarmony International Music Festival in Italy.

The InterHarmony showcase will be like an easel with a phantom of fantasies on a colorful musical palette in the evening’s key work, Beethoven’s Archduke Trio, at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall on April 24 at 8PM. Beethoven's Archduke Trio will be the arch through which this season of InterHarmony's events arrive in the final show of the season at Carnegie Hall in the series’ twelfth year. Tickets are $55 and can be purchased online at www.carnegiehall.org or by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800. For more information, visit www.interharmony.com.

The opening of the concert will set a theme of celebration with the vivid, singing tones of Glinka’s Trio pathétique. Originally written for Clarinet, Bassoon and Piano, it can be interchangeably manifested with Violin, Cello and Piano This combination creates an exciting spin on dynamics and  technical abilities of the performers. This brief piece feels like a one-movement fantasy with one musical phrase, rippling from beginning to end in one breath. Quint, Marya-Anop, and pianist Miles Fellenberg will perform in Trio pathétique.

After the operatic-like trio, the audience should really fasten their belts for a voyage through the blooming colors of vocal masterpieces performed by two emerging artists, mezzo-soprano Brianna Davies and soprano Ninfa Azucena Garcia Yanez with collaborative pianist Alla Milchtein. The music will include arias from Madame Butterfly (Puccini), Carmen (Bizet), Barber of Seville (Rossini), Marriage of the Figaro (Mozart), Susanna (Floyd), and Werther (Massenet).

Between the singers, the XuBerg Duo (Alice Chenyang Xu and Miles Fellenberg) will present two short Dvorak Slavonic Dances for Piano 4-Hands: the beloved and lyrical Op.72 in e minor and fun and robust Op.46, No.8 in g minor. 

This is the Carnegie Hall debut for the two singers, discovered by InterHarmony during its summer festival in Acqui Terme Italy. These young talents will be a bright light of the concert, offering a variety of musical crowns for the Archduke in the second half of the concert.

Beethoven's Archduke Trio will be the arch through which this season of InterHarmony's events arrive in the final show of the season at Carnegie Hall in the series’ twelfth year. Lenora Marya-Anop (violin), Misha Quint (cello), and Alice Chenyang Xu (piano), will give a glimpse of their artistry to New Yorkers before sharing it with an enthusiastic audience in Italy at the InterHarmony International Music Festival.

Beethoven’s iconic work plays like a symphony for piano trio providing intense moments for all three instruments. The five-note motif recurring throughout the whole trio creates a unique sound arch connecting all the movements. The piano’s role is dramatically prominent throughout the whole piece yet remains in perfect balance with the violin and cello, giving the strings an opportunity for sound projection.

Dedicated to Archduke Rudolf of Austria—Beethoven’s benefactor, student, and friend—it was the last of Beethoven’s piano trios. The premiere of the Archduke Trio was one of Beethoven’s final concert performances as a pianist because of his increasing deafness, in April of 1941, 201 years ago.

For the concert’s finale, there will be a pleasant surprise for spectators. The crown of this concert will be Astor Piazzola's well-known Oblivion Trio.

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ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

Misha Quint, cello

Russian-born cellist MISHA QUINT captivates his audiences with his lyricism, passion and dazzling technique. Described by Harris Goldsmith as a "brilliantly accomplished virtuoso - an embodiment of interpretive and executive music-making at its rarefied best", Quint is Founder and Music Director of the InterHarmony® International Music Festival that take place in Acqui Terme, Piedmont, Italy, the InterHarmony® Concert Series at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York City, and the InterHarmony International School of Music. Upcoming and recent engagements include appearances with the Grosseto Symphony and L’Appassionata in Tuscany and Verona, and recitals and concerts in Italy, Spain, and the USA with Andrey Baranov, Alexei Volodin, Giancarlo De Lorenzo, and Antonio Di Cristofano. A graduate of the Leningrad Special School for the Gifted and the Leningrad State Conservatory, Misha Quint made his orchestral debut at the age of 13 after winning first prize at the Boccherini Competition in St. Petersburg. Quint performed with such celebrated as orchestras as Orquestra Sinfônica do Teatro Nacional do Brasilia, New York Chamber Orchestra, National Irish Symphony, Brooklyn Philharmonic, London Soloists Chamber Orchestra at Queen Elizabeth Hall, Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra, and Euro Sinfonietta Wien. His repertoire ranges from Bach to premieres of the most outstanding composers of today: Sophie Goubadalina, Robert Sirota, Nathan Davis, and Alfred Schnittke. Quint’s recording of Tchaikovsky’s Valse Sentimentale is featured in the 2022 Italian Netflix production of Fedeltà.  www.mishaquintcello.com   www.interharmony.com  www.interharmonymusicschool.com

Lenora Marya-Anop, Violin

Lenora Marya-Anop is Professor of Violin and Viola, and Director of Strings at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE). A passionate, dedicated, and accomplished pedagogue, her students have won orchestral positions in the United States and Asia, have competed in regional and national chamber music competitions, and have been appointed to teaching positions across the United States, Asia, and the Middle East. A testament to her success: her studio is filled with many grand-students, i.e. students of her former students, who have sent forward the next generation of instrumentalists. Students blossom under her caring, supportive, thorough, and dedicated tutelage. Dr. Anop also enjoys a busy performing career as a soloist, chamber musician, and concertmaster. She is “ravishing . . . with [her] lean yet intense … violin particularly capturing the spirit of [the] music” (San Francisco Chronicle), “a highly skilled and invested violinist, who brought a lovely singing tone to her playing … top-notch performance(s) … meltingly sensitive” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch). She “played with balance and sympathy . . . [and] achieved a fine, lyric intensity” (Cleveland Plain Dealer); had “beautiful soloistic passages . . . well-performed”; “first-rate” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch). Following a performance of a J.S. Bach violin concerto: “Concertmistress Lenora-Marya-Anop assayed the solo part with passion and clarity. This was a fiery performance, as fine as one would wish to hear in any of the world’s musical capitals.” (St. Louis Beacon). She is the Concertmaster of the Bach Society of Saint Louis Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, the Salem Chamber Orchestra, and is the violinist of Trio Musici. An avid period artist, she also performs on Baroque and Classical period instruments. “BACH Unlocked” is her current project. By meticulously combing through the four original manuscript sources of J. S. Bach’s Cellos Suites Nos. 1 & 2, she wrote and recorded a scholarly violin transcription of these two suites through which she introduces the student / performer to period performance style and baroque ornamentation. The CD is available for purchase on her website: BACHUnlocked.com and the companion score will be available in summer 2021. Other recent projects include solo performances of violin concerti by Mozart, J. S. Bach, Vaughan Williams, Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, as well as soloing while leading the orchestra in Bach’s Brandenburg concerti. Beginning her violin studies at age 3 in Denver, Colorado (USA), she was one of the very first Suzuki students in the United States. She received her Bachelor of Music with Honors in Performance from the New England Conservatory of Music, Master of Music degree from Yale University, and Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Michigan. She performs on a violin made by Hieronymus Amati II in Cremona, Italy (1692).

Miles Fellenberg, Piano

Described by the Washington Classical Review as “Graceful composure…sensitively rendered" and with “All of the dazzling harmony and interior voice-leading made clear” by The Boston Musical Intelligencer, American pianist Miles Fellenberg is regularly invited as a pianist, conductor, and educator throughout the United States and abroad.  Fellenberg has performed in recital at numerous colleges and universities, where he frequently gives lectures or masterclasses, including The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, New England Conservatory, Harvard University, Yale University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and at notable concert venues, including Alice Tully Hall, Weill Recital Hall, Jordan Hall, Museum of Modern Art, Aspen Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, Bowdoin International Music Festival, and internationally in Mexico, Ecuador, Italy, China, and South Korea.

Fellenberg formerly taught piano and chamber music at Church Street School of Music & Art, Brooklyn Musical Arts, and the Rappahannock Summer Music Camp and was a guest teacher at Manhattan School of Music (Precollege Division), National Youth Orchestra of the USA, El Conservatorio Franz Liszt (Ecuador), Shenyang Conservatory (China), and Chageun-Byeol Music Academy (South Korea). He is on the piano faculty at Interharmony International Music Festival (Italy), the New England Flute Institute, and teaches Ear Training, Music Theory, Keyboard Skills, and Vocal Coaching at New England Conservatory. He recently joined the piano faculty at the New England Conservatory Preparatory Division.

He holds a Bachelor of Music from Oberlin Conservatory, a Master of Music from The Juilliard School, and doctoral studies at New England Conservatory. His principal teachers include Jonathan Feldman, Cameron Stowe, Margo Garrett, Robert Shannon, and Arkady Aronov.

Alice Chenyang Xu

Hailed by The Boston Musical Intelligencer as “incisive and with innate musicality,” pianist Alice Chenyang Xu brings a thoughtful and evocative approach to her performances. She has captivated audiences as a soloist and chamber musician with appearances across the United States, Canada, Italy, Germany, and China, spanning solo recitals, concerto performances, and chamber music engagements. Highlights include Lincoln Center, Chicago Symphony Hall, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago Auditorium Theatre, Corbett Auditorium in Cincinnati, Boston Symphony Hall, Jordan Hall in Boston, Leipzig Hochschule Musik Hall, and Chiesa dell’Addolorata in Piedmont.

Xu has performed at international festivals such as Yellow Barn, Annapolis Chamber Music Festival, Internationale Mendelssohn-Akademie, Art of Piano, and Morningside Music Bridge. She has collaborated with the Borromeo String Quartet, members of the Cleveland Quartet, Anthony Marwood, John Myerscough, Bonnie Hampton, Lucy Shelton, William Sharp, Christina Dahl, and the Chicago Chamber Musicians. She has also worked with composers George Crumb, Jörg Widmann, Shulamit Ran, Helen Grime, and Mehmet Ali Sanlikol, and performed for former Secretary of State Colin Powell under the auspices of the Eisenhower Fellowships.

Xu teaches at Tufts University, NEC’s Preparatory School and Piano for Non-Majors program, and the InterHarmony International Music Festival. Her principal teachers include Vivian Weilerstein, Wha-Kyung Byun, Russell Sherman, Winston Choi, Meng-Chieh Liu, and Seymour Lipkin. She holds degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music, Roosevelt University, and a DMA from New England Conservatory.

Brianna Davies, Mezzo-Soprano

Brianna Davies (Mezzo-Soprano), is a first year Masters in Music student studying Vocal Performance and Opera with Professor MaryAnn McCormick as her Vocal Instructor at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Brianna has performed with many Symphony Orchestras and also made her professional Opera debut with Opera Tampa in 2024 in their productions of Don Giovanni and La Traviata. She is also a two time concerto and aria competition winner performing with the University of Tampa Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Dr. Aaron Campbell (2023) and Dr. Megan Maddaleno (2024). Brianna has also had the honor of being part of the Porto Heli International Music Festival as well as the InterHarmony International Music Festival where she had the honor to work with so many world renowned professors and had the pleasure to perform with so many rising artists. Some of her recent opera credits with the New England Conservatory include “Estelle” in Later the Same Evening, “Dorabella” (cover) in Cosí fan tutte, and “Arnalta” in L’incoronazione di Poppea. Brianna is excited to be making her Carnegie Hall.

Ninfa Azucena Garcia Yanez, Soprano 

Honduran soprano and flutist Ninfa Garcia is known for her captivating and inspiring voice. She has won first prize at the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) competition three times in a row. Additionally, she has performed as a soloist in Acqui Terme, Italy. In the realm of opera, she took on the role of the First Lady in "The Magic Flute." In Honduras, Ninfa has emerged as a nationally recognized singer, performing as a soloist at the Teatro Manuel Bonilla. Beyond her achievements as a singer, she has also excelled as a flutist on both national and international stages. She has served as a principal flutist and soloist in Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. Furthermore, she was a member of the National Flute Association's (NFA) Professional Flute Traverse Choir. Currently, she is completing her second master's degree, having already earned one in flute performance and now pursuing one in opera singing. 

Alla Milchtein, Piano

Alla Milchtein is a collaborative pianist in New York City, maintaining an active performing career with vocal and instrumental partners and chamber ensembles.
Currently Alla is a staff pianist at both The Juilliard School and the Mannes School of Music. She is also an Adjunct Professor at William Paterson University. Alla has performed at festivals throughout Europe, Mexico and the United States. Ms. Milchtein has served as a staff pianist at prestigious Competitions and also worked as coach at different Opera programs.
Alla Milchtein has received both the Bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance and the Master’s degree in Piano Performance and Chamber Music from Rotterdam Conservatory (The Netherlands), where she studied with Mila Baslawskaja. Ms. Milchtein has also pursued her Professional Studies in Collaborative Piano at the Mannes School of Music, where she studied with Cristina Stanescu. During her studies she was awarded a scholarship and was also a recipient of the “excellence in accompanying” award.
Ms. Milchtein has been awarded a fellowship from COJECO BluePrint to record an album of solo piano music of Jewish composers from around the world titled "Musical Journeys through the Jewish Diaspora”. Recently Alla has two new releases: Album titled “Al Menos Cantos” songs of Jack Délano, with mezzo soprano Laura Virella, recorded on Lexicon label.  Another album “ A Portrait”, works by Grazyna Bacewicz with violinist Kinga Augustin, recorded on Centaur.