BRATTLEBORO — The Brattleboro Music Center's Chamber Series welcomes cellist Sophie Shao, winner of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant and top prizes at the Rostropovich and Tchaikovsky competitions.
Shao is a versatile and passionate artist whose performances The New York Times has described as “eloquent, powerful” and the Washington Post called “deeply satisfying,” according to a news release.
Her “Sophie Shao and Friends” performance on Friday, Feb. 23, at 7:30 p.m., highlights important works for piano and string quartet. Joining her will be Nikki Chooi and Carmit Zori, violins; Paul Neubauer, viola; and Orion Weiss, piano.
Performed works will include Haydn's Trio in E-flat Major, Hob XV:29 with Nikki Chooi; Frank Bridge's Piano Quintet, H.49 with Nikki Chooi, first violin; and Dvorak's Piano Quintet No. 2, op. 81 with Carmit Zori, first violin.
Shao received an Avery Fisher Career Grant at age 19, was a major prizewinner at the 2001 Rostropovich Competition, and a laureate of the XII Tchaikovsky Competition in 2002.
She has given the world premiere performances of Howard Shore's Mythic Gardens, a concerto written for her, and Richard Wilson's Concerto for Cello and Mezzo-Soprano with Leon Botstein and the American Symphony Orchestra.
Shao has made recital and chamber music appearances with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Chamber Music Northwest, Middlebury College, and Vassar College. She can be heard on EMI Classics, Bridge Records (Marlboro Music's 50th anniversary recording), and on Albany Records, and will be releasing a double-CD set of the Bach Cello Suites this season.
This season, Chooi begins his appointment as concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. From 2015-2016, he was part of Astral laureate string trio Time for Three. First Prize winner of New Zealand's 2013 Michael Hill International Violin Competition and a Laureate of the Queen Elisabeth Violin Competition, he also won the top prize at the Irving M. Klein International and L'Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal Standard Life competitions, and has been a soloist with orchestras worldwide. He holds degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School.
Zori is an international soloist and prominent chamber music performer who has collaborated with many of the world's finest musicians. Winner of the Leventritt and Pro Musicis Awards, she has toured internationally with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and with Musicians from Marlboro.
Neubauer's exceptional musicality and effortless playing led The New York Times to call him “a master musician.” Appointed Principal Violist of the New York Philharmonic at age 21, he has appeared as soloist with more than 100 orchestras. He has recorded widely and is on the faculty of The Juilliard School and Mannes College.
One of the most sought-after soloists of his generation, Weiss has performed with the major American orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and New York Philharmonic.