Trio Duende
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MUSICIANS:
Tom Stone – violin
Awadagin Pratt – piano
Sophie Shao – cello
Advance Tickets: $40/Adults, $20/Students
(Please note tickets on the door will be $5 extra per person)
This show is general admission seating
More about the members of Trio Duende….
Since launching onto the international stage after winning the prestigious Naumburg International Piano Competition in 1992 and receiving a 1994 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Awadagin Pratt has received acclaim for delivering “forceful, imaginative, and precisely tinted” performances (Washington Post) and is hailed as “one of the great and distinctive American pianists and conductors of our time” (WGBH). He has appeared at addresses as familiar as 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (at the invitation of the Clinton and Obama administrations) and Sesame Street (at the invitation of Big Bird). His breakneck concert schedule has taken him across six continents for performances with the Boston and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, the New York Philharmonic, and many others; solo recitals at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center; and chamber music collaborations with Zuill Bailey, Simone Dinnerstein, and the Harlem and St. Lawrence String Quartets.
Awadagin’s commitment to ushering in the next generation of agile, creative, and inventive pianists is evidenced by his work as founding director of the Next Generation Festival, the Art of the Piano Foundation, and the Nina Simone Piano Competition, a new biennial competition that celebrates diversity in classical music by showcasing the tremendous talents of young Black pianists. He has adjudicated the Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition, Cleveland International Piano Competition, Minnesota e-Competition, Unisa International Piano Competition, and the International Competition for Young Pianists created in memory of Vladimir Horowitz. Having recently left his position as Professor and Artist in Residence at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) after two decades, Awadagin is now Professor of Piano at the San Francisco Conservatory. He remains the only graduate of the Peabody Institute to earn performance certificates in three areas — violin, piano, and conducting — and has received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Johns Hopkins University and honorary doctorates from Illinois Wesleyan University, Susquehanna University, and the Boston Conservatory.
Tom Stone was a founding member of the Cypress String Quartet and performed thousands of concerts throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America. Praised by Gramophone for “artistry of uncommon insight and cohesion,” and by the NY Times for “tender, deeply expressive” interpretations, they recorded over 15 albums and are heard regularly on hundreds of radio stations throughout the world. The CSQ was heard on the Netflix original series “House of Cards,” and collaborated with leading artists ranging from Michael Franti of Spearhead to modern dance companies.
Mr. Stone is currently artistic director of the Eureka Chamber Music Series and Vice President of InterMusic, SF. He has served as artistic director of the Centrum Chamber Music Festival and board member of Chamber Music America. Mr. Stone has also served as Vice-President for Strategic Initiatives at Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chorale. Dedicated to mentoring and training the next generation of exceptionally talented musicians, Mr. Stone has mentored the prize winners of the Banff international String Quartet Competition and was a visiting artist at Harvard, MIT, Stanford, University of California, Berkeley and other elite universities.
Cellist Sophie Shao, winner of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant and top prizes at the Rostropovich and Tchaikovsky competitions, is a versatile and passionate artist whose performances the New York Times has described as “eloquent, powerful,” “beautifully phrased and interestingly textured,” the LA Times noted as “impressive” and the Washington Post called “deeply satisfying.” Shao has appeared as soloist to critical acclaim throughout the United States, and has premiered Howard Shore’s cello concerto “Mythic Gardens” with Leon Botstein and the American Symphony Orchestra, the UK premiere with Keith Lockhart and the BBC Concert Orchestra, and European premiere with Ludwig Wicki and the 21st Century Orchestra at the KKL in Lucerne.
Ms. Shao has given recitals in Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Middlebury College, Phillips Collection, Walter Reade Theater and Rose Studio in Lincoln Center, the complete Bach Suites at Union College and in New York City. She was a member of Chamber Music Society Two/Bowers Program, a young artist residency of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Ms. Shao’s recordings include the Complete Bach Suites, Andre Previn’s Reflections for Cello and English Horn and Orchestra on EMI Classics, Richard Wilson’s Diablerie and Brash Attacks and Barbara White’s My Barn Having Burned to the Ground, I Can Now See the Moon on Albany Records, Howard Shore’s original score for the movie ‘The Betrayal’ on Howe Records, Marlboro Music Festival’s 50th Anniversary on Bridge Records, and Howard Shore’s “Mythic Gardens” on Sony Classical.
A native of Houston, Texas, Ms. Shao began playing the cello at age six, and was a student of Shirley Trepel, the former principal cellist of the Houston Symphony. At age thirteen she enrolled at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, studying cello with David Soyer and chamber music with Felix Galimir. After graduating from the Curtis Institute, she continued her cello studies with Aldo Parisot at Yale University, receiving a B.A. in Religious Studies from Yale College and an M.M. from the Yale School of Music, where she was enrolled as a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellow. She is on the faculty of University of Connecticut and plays on a cello made by Honore Derazey from 1855 once owned by Pablo Casals.
