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Shriver Hall Concert Series Presents March Concerts Feat. Ian Bostridge, Leif Ove Andsnes & Ivalas Quartet

January 31, 2025 | By Morahan Arts and Media

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mallory McFarland | Morahan Arts and Media
mallory@morahanartsandmedia.com | 646-378-9386


SHRIVER HALL CONCERT SERIES PRESENTS
MARCH CONCERT LINEUP FEATURING TENOR IAN BOSTRIDGE,
PIANIST LEIF OVE ANDSNES, AND THE IVALAS QUARTET

Tenor Ian Bostridge & Pianist Julius Drake on Sunday, March 9 at Shriver Hall

Pianist Leif Ove Andsnes on Sunday, March 23 at Shriver Hall

2024-25 Discovery Series Concludes with the Ivalas Quartet
on Saturday, March 29 at UMBC’s Linehan Hall


"Bostridge’s mellifluous line and careful inflection of key words [are] always a delight" –The Guardian

“One of the most gifted musicians of his generation” –Wall Street Journal about Leif Ove Andsnes

www.ShriverConcerts.org

Baltimore, MD (January 30, 2024)Shriver Hall Concert Series (SHCS) — Baltimore’s premier presenter of chamber music ensembles and solo recitalists — presents a stunning lineup of three concerts this March.

On Sunday, March 9, 2025, at 5:30 pm, Grammy-nominated English tenor Ian Bostridge returns to Shriver Hall with pianist Julius Drake for a program featuring a variety of composers inspired by William Shakespeare alongside Bostridge’s heartfelt rendition of Britten’s transcendent Holy Sonnets, with texts by poet John Donne.

According to Ian Bostridge, “Shakespeare has been a part of my life as a performer from the very start. It has been a great joy to rediscover the music in Shakespeare's incomparable texts and the music that has been written over the past four centuries to clothe them, from the simplest songs of his own contemporaries, through the melodic delights of the likes of Haydn, Britten and Finzi to the matchless complexity of the late Stravinsky.” The tenor recorded the album Shakespeare Songs with Sir Antonio Pappano, released on Warner Classics in 2016.

Bostridge makes a triumphant return to both Shriver Hall and Baltimore, last appearing on the concert series in 2009. Renowned for his lyric gifts and “instinct for conveying meaning and emotion with disarming clarity” (The Guardian), his career has taken him to the foremost concert halls, orchestras, and opera houses in the world.

Julius Drake enjoys an international reputation as one of the finest instrumentalists in his field, collaborating with many of the world’s leading artists, both in recital and on disc.

On Sunday, March 23, 2025 at 5:30 PM at Shriver Hall, critically acclaimed Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes performs works by Chopin (Twenty-Four Preludes, Op. 28), Grieg (Sonata in E minor, Op. 7), and Tveitt (Sonata No. 29, Op. 129, “Sonata etere”). Andsnes performs the same program at Carnegie Hall two days following his anticipated concert in Baltimore.

“I am so much looking forward to coming back to Baltimore and to play this diverse recital program,” Andsnes remarks. “The early sonata by Grieg was written shortly after he finished his studies in Leipzig, and it’s a very fresh and inspirational piece. Geirr Tveitt was very influenced by Norwegian folk music, and his sonata has folk melodies at the core of the composition, but it’s also an epic piece, hugely virtuosic and with a fascinating sound world. To study the Chopin Preludes has been my big project this last year, and I am so happy to play this extraordinary cycle of pieces for the first time complete this season. It is a miracle of tenderness and contrasts, drama and playfulness.”

Hailed by The New York Times as “a pianist of magisterial elegance, power, and insight,” Leif Ove Andsnes has won acclaim worldwide, playing concertos and recitals in the world’s leading concert halls and with its foremost orchestras, while building an esteemed and extensive discography. An avid chamber musician, he is the founding director of the Rosendal Chamber Music Festival, was co-artistic director of the Risør Festival of Chamber Music for nearly two decades, and served as music director of California’s Ojai Music Festival in 2012. He was inducted into the Gramophone Hall of Fame in July 2013, and has received honorary doctorates from New York’s Juilliard School and Norway’s Universities of Bergen and Oslo.

Shriver Hall Concert Series concludes its 2024-25 free Discovery Series with the Ivalas Quartet, currently the Graduate Resident String Quartet at Juilliard, on March 29th, 2025 at 3:00 PM at UMBC’s Linehan Hall. The charismatic rising stars present a program traversing the musical heavens. Regarding the program, Osvaldo Golijov took inspiration for his poignant Tenebrae from a planetarium visit with his son. Inspired by a lecture on physics, Eleanor Alberga’s rich and spellbinding quartet explores the ideas of swirling particles and stargazing from outer space. Finally, the group infuses Beethoven’s String Quartet in B-flat major with “tremendous heart and beauty” (The Strad).

“We are incredibly excited and honored to follow in the footsteps of all of the great musicians who have performed on this historic Baltimore series,” the Ivalas Quartet remarks. “We look forward to sharing our program First Light, in which we explore works that have a shared connection to outer space and our place in the universe. The program includes Beethoven’s monumental Opus 130, Eleanor Alberga’s first string quartet, and Osvaldo Golijov’s Tenebrae. We are particularly looking forward to introducing those audience members who may not have heard the Alberga or Golijov to these two wonderful works!”

Dedicated to celebrating BIPOC voices, the Ivalas Quartet – mentored by the renowned Takács Quartet – seeks to enhance the classical music world by consistently spotlighting past and present BIPOC composers. Hailed by The Strad for playing with “tremendous heart and beauty”, they have already performed in great concert halls such as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center.

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, offering greater access to different local communities.

Shriver Hall Concert Series’ season is made possible through generous support from the Maryland State Arts Council, Baltimore County Commission for Arts & Sciences, and Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts.


Concert Information

Ian Bostridge, tenor and Julius Drake, piano
Sunday, March 9, 2025, at 5:30 pm
Shriver Hall | 3400 N. Charles Street | Baltimore, MD 21218
Tickets: $46 Single Tickets and $10 Students
Link: shriverconcerts.org/bostridge 

JOHN DOWLAND: “In darkness let me dwell”
GERALD FINZI: Let Us Garlands Bring, Op. 18
FRANZ SCHUBERT: “An Sylvia,” D. 891
SCHUBERT: “Ständchen,” D. 889
JOSEPH HAYDN: “She never told her love,” Hob. XXVIa/34
ROGER QUILTER: “Come away, death,” Op. 6, No. 1
IVOR GURNEY: “Under the Greenwood Tree”
GURNEY: “Sleep”
ERICH KORNGOLD: “Desdemona’s Song,” Op. 31, No. 1
KORNGOLD: “Come away, death,” Op. 29, No. 1
KORNGOLD: “Adieu, Good Man Devil,” Op. 29, No. 3
BENJAMIN BRITTEN: The Holy Sonnets of John Donne, Op. 35

A Pre-Concert Talk by JHU Writing Seminar's David Yezzi will take place at 4:30 pm in Shriver Hall before the concert.

The Helen Coplan Harrison Concert

Leif Ove Andsnes, piano
Sunday, March 23, 2025 at 5:30 pm
Shriver Hall | 3400 N. Charles Street | Baltimore, MD 21218
Tickets: $46 Single Tickets and $10 Students
Link: https://www.shriverconcerts.org/andsnes 

EDVARD GRIEG: Sonata in E minor, Op. 7
GEIRR TVEITT: Sonata No. 29, Op. 129, “Sonata etere”
FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN: Twenty-Four Preludes, Op. 28

A Pre-Concert Talk by The Peabody Institute's Dr. Paula Maust will take place at 4:30 pm in Shriver Hall before the concert.

The Sidney & Charlton Friedberg Concert

Discovery Series: Ivalas Quartet
Saturday, March 29, 2025 at 3:00 pm
UMBC’s Linehan Concert Hall | 1000 Hilltop Circle | Baltimore, MD 21218
Tickets: Free, RSVP required
Link: shriverconcerts.org/ivalas 

“First Light” 
OSVALDO GOLIJOV: Tenebrae 
ELEANOR ALBERGA: String Quartet No. 1
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN: String Quartet in B-flat major, Op. 130

Ivalas Quartet
     Reuben Kebede, violin
     Tiani Butts, violin
     Marcus Stevenson, viola
     Pedro Sanchez, cello


About Ian Bostridge
Ian Bostridge’s extraordinary international career has taken him to the foremost concert halls, orchestras, and opera houses in the world. Synonymous with the works of Schubert and Britten, his recital career has taken him to the Salzburg, Edinburgh, Munich, Vienna, Aldeburgh, and Schwarzenberg Schubertiade Festivals, and to the main stages of Carnegie Hall, the Bayerische Staatsoper, La Monnaie and Teatro alla Scala. In opera, Ian has received particular praise for his interpretation of Aschenbach in Death in Venice at the Deutsche Oper and Peter Quint in The Turn of the Screw for Teatro alla Scala. His recordings have won all the major international record prizes and have been nominated for 15 Grammys.

Bostridgehas held artistic residencies at the Vienna Konzerthaus and Schwarzenberg Schubertiade, the Barbican, the Luxembourg Philharmonie, the Wigmore Hall, and Hamburg Laeiszhalle. Hehas also participated in a Carte-Blanche series with Thomas Quasthoff at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and a Perspectives series at Carnegie Hall and the inaugural Artistic Residency with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. Ian has worked with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Wiener Philharmoniker, Chicago, Boston, London, and BBC Symphony orchestras, the London, New York, and Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestras, the Rotterdam Philharmonisch Orkest, Accademia di Santa Cecilia, and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Colin Davis, Sir Andrew Davis, Seiji Ozawa, Sir Antonio Pappano, Riccardo Muti, Mstislav Rostropovich, Daniel Barenboim, Daniel Harding, and Donald Runnicles.

His many recordings have won all the major international record prizes and been nominated for 15 Grammys. His recording for Pentatone of Schubert’s Winterreise with Thomas Adès won the Vocal Recording of the Year 2020 in the International Classical Music Awards. Recent recordings include “Respighi Songs” and Die schöne Mullerin with Saskia Giorgini for Pentatone, “Tormento d’Amore, Shakespeare Songs” (Grammy Award, 2017), and “Requiem: The Pity of War” with Pappano for Warner Classics, as well as Berlioz’s Les Nuits d'Eté, Ravel’s Shéhérazade and Debussy’s Le Livre de Baudelaire arr. John Adams with Ludovic Morlot and the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. The 2022-23 season saw the release of his latest two albums through Pentatone: “The Folly of Desire with Brad Mehldau and Schwanengesang with Lars Vogt.

His book Schubert's Winter Journey: Anatomy of an Obsession (The Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize, 2016) was published by Faber &Faber in the U.K. and Knopf in the U.S. in 2014. In the 2020-21 season, Bostridge gave a lecture series for the University of Chicago and took up the position of Visiting Professor at the Munich Hochschule für Musik und Theater. His most recent book, Song and Self, was published by Faber &Faber in 2023. Bostridge was a fellow in history at Corpus Christi College, Oxford (1992-95) and in 2001 was elected an honorary fellow of the college. In 2003 he was made an Honorary Doctor of Music by the University of St Andrews and in 2010 he was made an honorary fellow of St John's College Oxford. He was made a CBE in the 2004 New Year’s Honours.  In 2014 he was Humanities Professor of Classical Music at the University of Oxford.

About Julius Drake
The pianist Julius Drake lives in London and enjoys an international reputation as one of the finest instrumentalists in his field, collaborating with many of the world's leading artists, both in recital and on disc. His passionate interest in song has led to invitations to devise song series for Wigmore Hall, London; The Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; 92nd Street Y, New York; and the Pierre Boulez Saal, Berlin. He curates an annual series of song recitals - Julius Drake and Friends - in the historic Middle Temple Hall in London. Julius Drake is Professor of Collaborative Piano at the Guildhall School of Music in London and he is regularly invited to give masterclasses worldwide.

Julius Drake's many recordings include a widely acclaimed series with Gerald Finley for Hyperion Records of which 'Songs by Samuel Barber', 'Schumann: Dichterliebe & other Heine Settings' and 'Britten: Songs & Proverbs of William Blake' won the 2007, 2009, and 2011 Gramophone Awards; recordings with Ian Bostridge and Alice Coote for EMI; with Joyce DiDonato, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson and Matthew Polenzani for Wigmore Live; and with Anna Prohaska for Alpha. Julius Drake's recording of Janácek's The Diary of One Who Disappeared, with tenor Nicky Spence and mezzo-soprano Václava Housková for Hyperion Records, won both the Gramophone and the BBC Music Magazine Awards in 2020.

Concerts this season include recitals at La Scala, Milan and the Teatro de la Zarzuela, Madrid with Ludovic Tézier; return visits to the Boulez Saal Berlin for the series ' Lied und Lyrik'; a recital tour in the U.S. with Ian Bostridge; the complete Mahler songs in five recitals in the Mahler Festival at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; recitals at the Opera Liceu in Barcelona with Gerald Finley, Sarah Connolly, and Irene Theorin; return visits to the Chamber Music Festivals of Sante Fe, West Cork, and Oxford; concerts in Berlin and at the Aldeburgh Festival with André Schuen; piano duet recitals with Elisabeth Leonskaja in Austria, including at the Schubertiade Festival; recitals in the U.S. and Europe with Fleur Barron, Mercedes Gancedo, Christopher Prégardien, Julia Kleiter Anna Prohaska, and Roderick Williams; and at Wigmore Hall, London the Season Opening concert celebrating the Fauré Anniversary as well as recitals with Alice Coote, Stuart Jackson, Sofia Fomina and Brindley Sherratt.

About Leif Ove Andsnes
Leif Ove Andsnes is “a pianist of magisterial elegance, power, and insight” (The New York Times). With his commanding technique and searching interpretations, the celebrated Norwegian pianist has won acclaim worldwide, playing concertos and recitals in the world’s leading concert halls and with its foremost orchestras, while building an esteemed and extensive discography. An avid chamber musician, he is the founding director of the Rosendal Chamber Music Festival and was co-artistic director of the Risor Festival of Chamber Music for nearly two decades. He was inducted into the Gramophone Hall of Fame in 2013.

In the 2024-25 season, Andsnes performs Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto with Washington’s National Symphony Orchestra, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and Rome’s Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and on tour with the Oslo Philharmonic. He also plays Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto with the Berlin Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Stuttgart Radio Symphony, London Philharmonic, and on a North European tour with Italy’s Mahler Academy Orchestra, and joins the Czech Philharmonic for Edvard Grieg, the Barcelona Symphony for Franz Joseph Haydn, and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra for Claude Debussy’s Fantaisie at the Hamburg International Music Festival. With a solo program combining Chopin’s Twenty-Four Preludes with sonatas by Norwegians Grieg and Geirr Tveitt, he embarks on an extensive transatlantic recital tour, featuring dates at New York’s Carnegie Hall and London’s Wigmore Hall. The latter forms part of a season-long residency at the British venue, to which he returns for chamber collaborations with pianist Bertrand Chamayou and with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra (MCO), as the culmination of its European tour.

As the MCO’s first Artistic Partner, Andsnes has already led the ensemble from the keyboard in two major, multi-season projects: “Mozart Momentum 1785/86” and “The Beethoven Journey.” As captured on Sony Classical, these have been recognized with BBC Music magazine’s “Recording of the Year Award,” France’s Diapason d’or de l’annee for Best Concerto Album of the Year, iTunes's Best Instrumental Album of the Year, Belgium’s Prix Caecilia, and an International Classical Music Award nomination. Altogether, Andsnes’s discography comprises more than 50 titles. Spanning repertoire from the Baroque to the present day, these have been recognized with 11 Grammy nominations, seven Gramophone Awards, and numerous other international honors. Leif Ove Andsnes: The Complete Warner Classics Edition 1990-2010, a 36-CD retrospective of his EMI and Virgin recordings, was released to acclaim in 2023. The recipient of both the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Instrumentalist Award and the Gilmore Artist Award, Andsnes has also received Norway’s Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav and the prestigious Peer Gynt Prize. He has curated Carnegie Hall’s “Perspectives” series, been the subject of the London Symphony Orchestra’s “Artist Portrait Series,” and undertaken season-long artistic residencies with the Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, and Sweden’s Gothenburg Symphony.

Andsnes studied at the Bergen Music Conservatory under Jiri Hlinka, also receiving invaluable advice from Jacques de Tiege. Today he lives with his wife and their three children in Bergen, where he is an Artistic Adviser at the city’s Prof. Jiri Hlinka Piano Academy.

About Ivalas Quartet
Hailed by The Strad for playing with “tremendous heart and beauty,” the Ivalas Quartet has been changing the face of classical music since its inception at the University of Michigan in 2017. Dedicated to the celebration of BIPOC voices, Ivalas seeks to enhance the classical music world by consistently spotlighting past and present BIPOC composers such as Jessie Montgomery, Daniel Bernard Roumain, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, and Eleanor Alberga.

The Ivalas Quartet had the pleasure of performing George Walker’s Lyric for Strings at Carnegie Hall in January of 2020. Later that year, they worked in collaboration with Walker’s son to program his String Quartet No. 1 with Friends of Chamber Music Denver and the Colorado Music Festival. In 2021, they created the first recording of Carlos Simon’s Warmth From Other Suns for string quartet under Lara Downes’ digital label Rising Sun Music.

Currently, the Ivalas Quartet is the Graduate Resident String Quartet at The Juilliard School in New York City, where they study under the Juilliard String Quartet. They were previously in residence at the University of Colorado-Boulder under the mentorship of the Takács Quartet.

The Ivalas Quartet has been featured on various concert series, including Community Concerts at Second in Baltimore, Friends of Chamber Music Denver, Detroit’s WRCJ Classical Brunch, the inaugural Detroit Music Weekend, the Davidson College Concert Series in North Carolina, the Crested Butte Music Festival, the Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival, the Great Lakes Center for the Arts, the Blue Sage Center for the Arts, and CU Presents concert series where the quartet performed alongside the Takács Quartet in 2020 and 2022. Ivalas won the first prize at the 2019 WDAV Young Chamber Musicians Competition in Davidson, NC, as well as the grand prize at the 2022 Coltman Chamber Music Competition in Austin, TX.

The quartet also keeps a busy calendar in the summer, performing in past seasons at the Bowdoin International Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival and School, the Colorado Music Festival, Music In the Vineyards, Madeline Island Chamber Music, and the Anchorage Chamber Music Festival. This past summer Ivalas returned to the University of Michigan in a mentorship role, coaching student groups at Center Stage Strings.

Ivalas was named Caramoor’s 2022-23 Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence and has been presenting multiple concerts at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts. In the fall of 2022, Ivalas appeared at the Austin Chamber Music Center, Newport Classical in Rhode Island, CU Presents Takács Series, Schneider Concerts in NY, and the MacPhail Center for Music in MN. In May of 2023, they presented their first full program at Carnegie Hall, titled First Light.

The members of the Ivalas Quartet have a shared dedication to their roles as educators. Through the Sphinx Organization, Ivalas has presented educational programming in the Metro Detroit area, with an emphasis on community engagement in schools with Black and Latinx communities. In Colorado, they developed a partnership with El Sistema Colorado and were a part of the Aspen Music Festival Musical Connections program. In their new home of New York City, the quartet enjoys working with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center on their Chamber Music Beginnings program.

The Ivalas Quartet has nurtured students from the early stages of their musical journey to the collegiate level, with coaching experience including residencies at the University of Northern Iowa, the University of Central Arkansas, Madeline Island Chamber Music, and the MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis. In New York City, they coach student groups at The Juilliard School.

About Shriver Hall Concert Series
Since 1966, 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.

Photo of Ian Bostridge by Kalpesh Lathigra; photo of Julius Drake by Marco Borggreve; photo of Leif Ove Andsnes by Helge Hansen

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