Asheville Chamber Music Series 2023-24 Season Opener Presents “YCA on Tour” – A Blend of Chamber Music and Song
Asheville, NC – “YCA on Tour” will open the 2023-24 ACMS season program featuring a unique mix of voice with violin, cello and piano, a combination frequently showcased in the finest European chamber festivals but rarely heard on American chamber music programs, says Polly Feitzinger, Asheville Chamber Music Series Program Chair. “This will be the first time the ACMS has presented such a program and we are looking forward to sharing it with our audience,” she added. Featured artists in the groups inaugural tour include Chinese violinist, Lun Li, Danish cellist, Jonathan Swensen, Spanish/Dutch pianist, Albert Cano Smit, and American tenor, Daniel McGrew.
The program will travel from Ludwig van Beethoven’s Germany in 1816 and Robert Schumann’s Germany in 1847, all the way through Joseph Marx’s Austria in 1916 and Salina Fisher’s New Zealand in 2020. These distinctive programs offerings are sure to delight chamber music audiences.
Program:
Ludwig van Beethoven: An die ferne Geliebte
Joseph Marx: Lieder No. 2 and No. 3 (From Four Lieder for tenor, violin, cello, and piano)
Salina Fisher: Kintsugi
Robert Schumann: Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor Op. 63
Artists:
Lun Li, violin – A native of Shanghai, China, violinist Lun Li won First Prize in the 2021 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions. The Paul A. Fish Memorial Prize, the Buffalo Chamber Music Society Prize, and was named John French Violin Chair at YCA. Additionally, he is also the recent joint winner of First Prize at the Lillian and Maurice Barbash J.S. Bach Competition.
An avid chamber musician, Lun has participated in the Marlboro Music Festival, the Verbier Music Festival Academy, Music@Menlo’s International Program, and Music from Angelfire. He has had the pleasure to work alongside such prestigious musicians as Ani Kavafian, Ida Kavafian, Peter Wiley and with members of the Calidore, Doric and Miro Quartets. Further accomplishments include winning second prize in Shanghai’s Haydn Chamber Competition, resulting in an invitation to perform at the Helsinki Music Center Festival. Beginning in 2024 Lun will be a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s prestigious Bowers Program.
He holds degrees from Curtis Institute of Music, and the Juilliard School of Music.
He plays on the Stradivarius “Samazeuilh” 1735 violin, on loan from the Nippon Music Foundation.
Jonathan Swensen, cello – Considered a rising star of the cello, Jonathan Swensen is the recipient of the 2022 Avery Fisher Career Grant and was recently featured as both Musical America’s ‘New Artist of the Month’ and ‘One to Watch’ in Gramophone magazine. He first fell in love with the cello upon hearing the Elgar Concerto at the age of six, and ultimately made his concerto debut performing that very piece with Portugal’s Orquestra Sinfonica do Porto Casa de Musica.
His debut recording, “Fantasia,” on Champs Hill Records, an album of works for solo cello received rave reviews, including from Gramophone, BBC Music, and The Strad, which commented, “An exciting young talent emerges, I would gladly buy a ticket to see Svenson on the strength of this appealing calling card.”
Jonathan has performed with orchestras including the Philharmonia Orchestra Ciudad de Granada, Copenhagen Philharmonic, Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, Odense Symphony, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Mobile Symphony Orchestra and the Greenville Symphony. He made his critically acclaimed recital debuts at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theatre and New York’s Merkin Concert Hall, with additional performances in Boston’s Jordan Hall, and the Morgan Library and Museum.
He will join the Bowers Program of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in 2024. He is the winner of First Prizes at the 2019 Windsor International String Competition, 2018 Khachaturian International Cello Competition, and the 2018 Young Concert Artists International Auditions. A graduate of the Royal Danish Academy of Music, Jonathan continued his studies with Torleif Thedeen at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, and Laurence Lesser of the New England Conservatory, where he received his Artist Diploma in 2023.
Albert Cano Smit, piano – A musician who has been praised as “a moving young poet,” Albert Cano Smit enjoys a growing international career on the orchestral, recital and chamber music stages. He has appeared as a soloist with the Las Vegas Philharmonic, the San Diego Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Montreal Symphony, and the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra among other engagements.
Recital highlights have included his Carnegie Hall debut presented by The Naumburg Foundation, his Merkin Concert Hall debut presented by Young Concert Artists, recitals at San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre, Paris’ Foundation Louis Vuiton, the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theatre, Germany’s Rheingau Music Festival, and return performances at the Steinway Society in San Jose.
During the 23-24 season he will appear in recital and chamber music performances with the Buffalo Chamber Music Society, The Morgan Library & Museum (NYC), Madison-Morgan Cultural Center (GA) and will also participate in the inaugural tour of “YCA on Tour.” In addition, Albert will also appear as a concerto soloist with the Rochester Philharmonic, Colorado Springs Philharmonic, Gulf Coast and Albany Georgia Symphonies.
Albert was First Prize winner at the 2017 Walter W. Naumberg Piano Competitions. Additional special prizes included the 2019 Young Concert Arts International Auditions, The Paul A. Fish Memorial Prize, The Alexader Kasza-Kasser Concert Prize for support of his Kennedy Center debut, the Friends of Music Concert Prize (NY) and the Sunday Musicale Prize (NJ).
He was born in Geneva, Switzerland and holds a BA in Piano Performance from the Colburn School, as well as a MM and Artistic Diploma from the Juilliard School.
Daniel McGrew, tenor. Praised for his “lovely, nuanced tenor” (Boston Musical Intelligencer), Daniel McGrew is an active performer of a broad range of repertoires spanning opera, musical theatre, early, and new music. Deeply committed to the art of song, he has appeared in concert with Brooklyn Art Song Society, Five Boroughs Music Festival, Mirror Visions Ensemble, New York Festival of Song, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and the University Musical Society, where he joined Martin Katz and three other singers for two recitals comprising the complete Mörike Songs of Hugo Wolf.
Daniel holds degrees from Oberlin Conservatory and Yale University; he recently completed his doctoral studies at the University of Michigan.
For tickets to the “YCA on Tour” concert or more information about the 2023-24 ACMS season please visit: www.ashevillehambermusic.org.
