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Meet Jennifer Frautschi

Two-time GRAMMY nominee and Avery Fisher career grant recipient Jennifer Frautschi has garnered worldwide acclaim as a deeply expressive, musically adventurous violinist with impeccable technique and a wide-ranging repertoire.  Equally at home in the classic and contemporary repertoire, her recent seasons have featured performances and recordings of works ranging from Robert Schumann and Lili Boulanger to Barbara White and Arnold Schoenberg.  She has also had the privilege of premiering several new works composed for her by prominent living composers.  Critics have described her performances as ‘electrifying,’ ‘riveting’ and ‘mesmerizing’, lauding her ‘staggering energy and finesse’ and ‘fierce expression.’ After a recent performance of the Brahms Violin Concerto, Cleveland Classical wrote:  ‘We witnessed the most magnificent performance by a guest soloist in recent memory.  From the outset of the Brahms Concerto, she was a stunning presence, her playing a breathtaking conflation of grace and grit, and at times downright ferocious.’

Ms. Frautschi’s concerto appearances have included the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Pierre Boulez, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Christoph Eschenbach, Minnesota Orchestra under Osmo Vänskä, Boston Philharmonic, Buffalo Philharmonic, Cincinnati Symphony, Florida Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony, Rhode Island Philharmonic, St Paul Chamber Orchestra, Utah Symphony, Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival, and Orchestra of the Teatro di San Carlo Opera House.

Ms. Frautschi is an Artist Member of the Boston Chamber Music Society, and has performed at  virtually all of the premier chamber music series and festivals in the United States:  Caramoor, Charlottesville, Lake Champlain, La Musica, Moab, Newport, Ojai, Salt Bay, Santa Fe, Seattle, and Spoleto USA Chamber Music Festivals; Bravo! Vail, Chamber Music Northwest, La Jolla Summerfest, Music@Menlo, and Tippet Rise Arts Center; and at the Library of Congress, New York’s Metropolitan and Guggenheim Museums of Art, the 92nd Street Y, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Phillips Collection, and Mainly Mozart in San Diego. 

Internationally, she has been invited to present recitals in the Salzburg Mozarteum, Vienna Konzerthaus, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, La Cité de la Musique in Paris,  Brussels’ Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, London’s Wigmore Hall, and Beijing’s Imperial Garden, and toured England with musicians from Prussia Cove.

She has performed at Chanel’s Pygmalion Series in Tokyo, the Cartagena International Music Festival in Columbia, San Miguel de Allende Festival in Mexico, the Spoleto Festival of the Two Worlds and Rome Chamber Music Festival in Italy, Pharo’s Trust in Cyprus, Kutna Hora Festival in the Czech Republic, Toronto Summer Music in Canada, and St. Barth’s Music Festival in the French West Indies. She has premiered important new works by Barbara White, Mason Bates, Oliver Knussen, Krzysztof Penderecki, Michael Hersch, and others, and has appeared at New York’s George Crumb Festival and Stefan Wolpe Centenary Concerts. 

Her extensive discography includes several discs for Naxos: the Stravinsky Violin Concerto with the Philharmonia Orchestra of London, conducted by the legendary Robert Craft, and two GRAMMY-nominated recordings— Schoenberg’s Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra and the Schoenberg Third String Quartet.   Her most recent releases are with pianist John Blacklow on Albany Records: the complete sonatas of Robert Schumann, and American Duos, featuring works by contemporary American composers Barbara White, Steven Mackey, Elena Ruehr, Dan Coleman, and Stephen Hartke. The three recordings she released on Artek have received universal acclaim: the two Prokofiev Concerti with Gerard Schwarz and the Seattle Symphony; music of Ravel and Stravinsky for violin and piano; and 20th-century works for solo violin. Other recent recordings include a disc of Romantic Horn Trios, with hornist Eric Ruske and pianist Stephen Prutsman, and the Stravinsky Duo Concertant with pianist Jeremy Denk. 

Born in Pasadena, California, Ms. Frautschi began the violin at age three under the Suzuki Method.  She was a student of Robert Lipsett at the Colburn School for the Performing Arts in Los Angeles. She attended Harvard, the University of Southern California, the New England Conservatory of Music, and finished her studies with Robert Mann at The Juilliard School.  She is an Artist-in-Residence at Stony Brook University. She performs on a glorious Antonio Stradivarius violin from 1722, the ‘ex-Cadiz,’ on generous loan to her from a private American foundation with support from Rare Violins In Consortium.

Meet Zuill Bailey

Zuill Bailey, widely considered one of the premiere cellists in the world, is a Grammy Award winning, internationally renowned soloist, recitalist, Artistic Director and teacher.  His rare combination of celebrated artistry, technical wizardry and engaging personality has secured his place as one of the most sought after and active cellists today.

A consummate concerto soloist, Mr. Bailey has been featured with symphony orchestras worldwide, including Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Detroit, Indianapolis, Dallas, Louisville, Honolulu, Milwaukee, Nashville, Toronto, Colorado, Minnesota, Utah, Israel, Cape Town, Philharmonia (UK) and the Bruchner Orchestra in Linz, Austria. He has collaborated with such conductors as Itzhak Perlman, Alan Gilbert, Andrew Litton, Neeme Jarvi, Giancarlo Guerrero, James DePriest, Jun Markl, Carlos Kalmar, Andrey Boreyko, Krzysztof Urbanski, Jacques Lacombe, Grant Llewellyn and Stanislav Skrowaczewski.  He also has been featured with musical luminaries Leon Fleisher, Jaime Laredo, the Juilliard String Quartet, Lynn Harrell and Janos Starker.

Mr. Bailey has appeared at Disney Hall, the Kennedy Center, the United Nations, Alice Tully Hall, the 92nd St. Y and Carnegie Hall, where he made his concerto debut performing the U.S. premiere of Miklos Theodorakis’ “Rhapsody for Cello and Orchestra.” In addition, he made his New York recital debut in a sold out performance of the complete Beethoven Cello Sonatas at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.   Bailey also presented the U.S. premiere of the Nico Muhly Cello Concerto with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.  World premieres include works by composers such as Lowell Lieberman, Phillip Lasser, Roberto Sierra, Alistair Coleman, Benjamin Wallfisch, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Jeff Lippencott and Michael Daugherty.

His international appearances include notable performances with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra in its 50th anniversary tour of Russia as well as concerts in Ukraine, Korea, Australia, the Dominican Republic, France, Israel, Spain, South Africa, Hong Kong, Jordan, Mexico, South America and the United Kingdom. Festival appearances include Ravinia, the Interlochen Center for the Arts, Manchester Cello Festival (UK), Wimbledon (UK),  Consonances- St. Nazaire ( France), Australian Festival of Chamber Music, Deia Music Festival- Mallorca (Spain), Montreal (Canada), Santa Fe, Caramoor, Chautauqua, Bravo!, Vail Valley, Maverick Concert Series, Brevard, Interlochen,  Cape Cod and the Music Academy of the West.  In addition, he was the featured soloist performing the Elgar Cello Concerto at the Bard Festival in the World Premiere of the Doug Varrone Dance Company performance of “Victorious.”

Renowned recording artist Zuill Bailey has produced more than 30 chart topping titles. Mr. Bailey won a  Best Solo Performance Grammy Award in 2017,  for his Live Recording of “Tales of Hemingway,” by composer Michael Daugherty.  The award winning CD, recorded with the Nashville Symphony, Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor,  also won the “Triple Crown,” with Grammys for best composition, “Tales of Hemingway,” and Best Compendium.  His celebrated “Bach Cello Suites”, Britten Cello Symphony/Sonata CD with pianist Natasha Paremski, Haydn Cello Concertos CD and recently released Schumann/Brahms Concertos immediately soared to the Number One spot on the Classical Billboard Charts. Other critically acclaimed recordings include his live performances with the Indianapolis Symphony of the Bloch Schelomo, Muhly Cello Concerto (World Premiere), Brahms Sextets with the Cypress Strings Quartet,  Elgar and Dvorak Cello Concertos, described by Gramophone magazine as the new “reference” recording and one that “sweeps the board.” In addition, the Dvorak Cello Concerto CD is listed in the “Penguin’s Guide,” as one the Top 1000 Classical Recordings of all time.  Zuill Bailey’s other releases include “Brahms” complete works for cello and piano with pianist Awadagin Pratt, and “Russian Masterpieces” showcasing the works of Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich performed with the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra.  Mr. Bailey is featured on the chart topping Quincy Jones- produced “Diversity,”   with pianist/composer Emily Bear.  Other releases include his innovative “Spanish Masters” CD for Zenph Studios, where he forms a unique duo blending with recordings of composer Manuel de Falla and an all American recital program with Pianist Lara Downes on the Steinway and Sons label. His discography also includes a debut recital disc for Delos, Cello Quintets of Boccherini and Schubert with Janos Starker, Arensky and Dohnanyi works with Lynn Harrell, Saint-Saens Cello Concertos No. 1 and 2 “Live,” and the Korngold Cello Concerto with Kaspar Richter and the Bruckner Orchestra Linz for ASV.

Zuill Bailey was named the 2014 Johns Hopkins University Distinguished Alumni and was awarded the Classical Recording Foundation Award for 2006 and 2007 for Beethoven’s complete works for Cello and Piano. The highly touted two disc set with pianist Simone Dinnerstein was released on Telarc worldwide. In celebration of his recordings and appearances, Kalmus Music Masters has released “Zuill Bailey Performance Editions,” which encompasses the core repertoire of cello literature.

Network television appearances include a recurring role on the HBO series “Oz,” NBC’s “Homicide,” A&E, NHK TV in Japan, a live broadcast and DVD release of the Beethoven Triple Concerto performed in Tel Aviv with Itzhak Perlman conducting the Israel Philharmonic, and a performance with the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico City. Mr. Bailey is also featured in the televised production of the Cuban premiere of Victor Herbert’s Cello Concerto No. 2 with the National Orchestra of Cuba. He has been heard on NPR’s “Morning Edition,” “Tiny Desk Concert,” “Performance Today,” “Saint Paul Sunday,” BBC’s  “In Tune,” XM Radio’s “Live from Studio II,” Sirius Satellite Radio’s “Virtuoso Voices,”  the KDFC Concert Series, KUSC, Minnesota Public Radio, WQXR’s “Cafe Concert”, WFMT and RTHK Radio Hong Kong.

Mr. Bailey received his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees from the Peabody Conservatory and the Juilliard School. His primary teachers include Loran Stephenson, Stephen Kates and Joel Krosnick. Mr. Bailey performs on the “rosette” 1693 Matteo Gofriller Cello, formerly owned by Mischa Schneider of the Budapest String Quartet. In addition to his extensive solo touring engagements, he is the Artistic Director of El Paso Pro-Musica (Texas), the Sitka Summer Music Festival/Series and Cello Seminar, (Alaska), Juneau Jazz and Classics, (Alaska), the Northwest Bach Festival (Washington),  Classical Inside Out Series- Mesa Arts Center(Arizona) and is Director of the Center for Arts Entrepreneurship and Professor of Cello at the University of Texas at El Paso.

Meet Christopher Shih

Physician and pianist Christopher Shih has a remarkable dual career as both full-time practicing physician and actively concertizing pianist. Hailed by the New York Times as "an intelligent and thoughtful musician," with "effortless performances" and "consummate control," he has performed in major venues worldwide and has soloed with numerous orchestras, including repeated engagements with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall in Washington DC. His performance with the National Symphony on the Capitol Lawn for an audience of 50,000 prompted the Washington Post to declare, "If Shih is as gifted in medicine as he is in music, he has some serious career decisions to make. His performance was fluent, gracious, miraculously light, and a joy to the ear." Other orchestral engagements include the Georgetown, Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, New England Conservatory, Harvard-Radcliffe, Newton, Lancaster, Calgary Civic, and Paris Garde Republicaine symphony orchestras. 

Christopher is the winner of the sixth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs in Fort Worth, Texas. He was also a press and audience favorite at the professional tenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram raved, "He demonstrated a magical touch in voicing and a fine Chopinesque rubato...a total sense of style across three centuries. For Shih, technical control supports impeccable musicianship." Christopher is also the grand prize winner of the amateur competitions in Paris, Boston, and Washington DC. His playing and interviews have been featured in television and radio programs worldwide, including NPR's All Things Considered, APM's Performance Today, WGBH's Inner Voice, WQXR, WETA, WGMS, WBJC, Radio France, Radio Classique, Canadian CBC, Taiwan CTV, and Pianist Magazine.

Christopher is currently a board-certified gastroenterologist with U.S. Digestive Health in Lancaster, PA. He received his B.A. cum laude from Harvard University and his M.D. from The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He did his internal medicine residency training at the University of Pennsylvania and his gastroenterology fellowship training at Johns Hopkins. He is also active in community and charitable services, formerly sat on the GI board exam committee of the American Board of Internal Medicine, and is a Fellow of the American College of Gastroenterology. An avid chamber musician, he regularly performs with world-class artists, ensembles, and principals of major orchestras across the nation. In recent seasons he has appeared with violinists Nurit Bar-Josef, Alexander Kerr, David Kim, Elizabeth Pitcairn, Michael Shih, and Scott Yoo; cellists Narek Hakhnazaryan and Amit Peled; clarinetist Anthony McGill; pianist Jon Kimura Parker; the American, Daedalus, Dalí, Dover, Escher, Miró, Pacifica, and Ying Quartets; and the string quintet Sybarite5. He also serves on the Board of Directors for Chamber Music America.

Christopher performs only selectively now due to ongoing struggles with focal dystonia.