Program for Duo Penseur – August 2, 2024
Friday, August 2, 2024 at 8 pm
download a copy of this program here.
Mind the Gap
Duo Penseur
Chantel Charis, violin
Alex Fang, piano
Program
Jessie Montgomery (b. 1981)
Peace (2020)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
Violin Sonata No. 7 in C minor, Op. 30, No. 2 (1802)
Allegro con bio
Adagio cantabile
Scherzo: Allegro – Trio
Finale: Allegro
Intermission
Clara Schumann (1819–1896)
Three Romances for Violin and Piano (1853)
Andante molto
Allegretto: Mit zartem Vortrage
Leidenschaftlich schnell
William Grant Still (1895–1978)
Suite for Violin and Piano (1943)
African Dancer
Mother and Child
Gamin
About the music
Duo Penseur, made of violinist Chantel Charis and pianist Alex Fang, is thrilled to present their first program “Minding the Gap” as an official violin and piano duo. Since meeting during their master’s in 2021, the two have studied in close collaboration under the guidance of renowned chamber music faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the Icicle Creek Chamber Music Institute. Chantel and Alex are both in their doctoral studies at “UW”!… though, Chantel is at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where they play in the Rabin String Quartet as the graduate string quartet in residence, and Alex is at the University of Washington, where he plays in the Modern Music Ensemble.
Jessie Montgomery: Peace (2020)
The following are the composer’s own words on her piece:
“Written just a month after the Great Sadness of the first quarantine orders due to COVID-19, facing the shock felt by the whole globe as well as personal crisis, I find myself struggling to define what actually brings me joy. And I’m at a stage of making peace with sadness as it comes and goes like any other emotion. I’m learning to observe sadness for the first time not as a negative emotion, but as a necessary dynamic to the human experience.”
–Jessie Montgomery, May 12, 2020
Ludwig van Beethoven: Violin and Piano Sonata No. 7 in C minor, Op. 30, No. 2 (1802)
Beethoven’s Seventh Sonata for Piano and Violin is one of Beethoven’s most significant works, especially for this instrumentation. In four movements and in “his” fateful key of C minor, it perhaps looks forward to his Fifth Symphony, composed just a few years after this sonata. The energetic first movement balances between menacing and joking, which is then relieved by the singing, reflective second movement. After a lighthearted scherzo, the sonata closes with a relentless finale.
Clara Schumann: Three Romances (1853)
Clara Schumann’s Three Romances, a quintessential example of lyrical and expressive style of the Romantic era, are one of the last pieces she composed herself – after the death of her husband Robert Schumann, she devoted her artistic energy towards editing Robert’s music and touring. The first romance is intricately knitted with counterpoint: each player beautifully strings the other along in a dialogue. The second seems more tied to folk music, with the element of fantasy added to it. The third romance features an outward expression of passion, characterized by the violin’s soaring melody over the pianist’s bubbling accompaniment. Although the first two are by no means easy, this last romance confirms Clara’s status as one of the greatest pianistic talents of the nineteenth century.
William Grant Still: Suite for Violin and Piano (1943)
William Grant Still was the first African-American composer to have a symphony performed and to conduct a major symphony (Los Angeles Philharmonic) in the United States. Each of the three movements in his Suite for Violin and Piano takes inspiration from the works of contemporary Black artists in the Harlem Renaissance: the vigorous first movement is associated with Richmond Barthé’s African Dancer. The tender second movement mirrors qualities from Sargent Johnson’s Mother and Child. The mischievous finale takes inspiration from Augusta Savage’s Gamin, meaning street urchin.
Please stick around for some widely loved encores! 🙂
About the musician
Violinist Chantel Charis received their Bachelor of Music and Performer’s Certificate in violin performance from Northern Illinois University, under the guidance of Mathias Tacke of the Vermeer Quartet. They were the winner of the NIU concerto competition, and went on to receive a Master of Music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where they studied with Cordula Merks (concertmaster of San Francisco Ballet) and Kay Stern (concertmaster of San Francisco Opera). Chantel is currently a doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in violin performance and serves as a Teaching Assistant for String Fundamentals and UW’s All-University Strings ensemble.
Chantel is a dedicated and enthusiastic chamber player as well as a highly experienced orchestral musician, most recently with the Madison Symphony Orchestra, Peoria Symphony Orchestra, Northwest Indiana Symphony, and Rockford Symphony Orchestra, for which they also serve as the orchestral librarian. From 2016-2021, Chantel served as concertmaster for the Northern Illinois University Philharmonic, and in 2023 was concertmaster for the UW Madison Symphony Orchestra.
A certified Suzuki violin instructor, Chantel teaches a thriving private studio and has taught with the NIU Community School of the Arts, Cambridge Studios, Music Academy in Rockford, IL, and the Community Music Lessons program at the UW-Madison Mead Witter School of Music. In addition to their regular teaching schedule, Chantel has also taught as a guest clinician, most recently at the Willamette Violin Academy in Eugene, OR, and as a member of the Rabin String Quartet (UW-Madison’s graduate string quartet in residence) at the Chapel Hill Chamber Music Workshop.
Chantel is also a member of the UW Bridge Ensemble, which combines their passions for performing, teaching, and outreach. Chantel was a founding member of the Esoteric Ensemble, which was selected to serve as artist in residence at the Icicle Creek Chamber Music Festival in Leavenworth, WA.
Outside the practice room, Chantel enjoys writing their own music as well as spending time outdoors with their partner, Ari and border collie, Islay.
A versatile pianist whose playing has been described as “sincere, brilliant, and sensitive,” Alex Fang finds himself at home engaging in solo and collaborative projects featuring standard repertoire as well as lesser-known works.
Recent performances include Rachmaninoff’s First Piano Concerto with the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Orchestra and chamber performances with renowned faculty at the Icicle Creek Chamber Music Festival. Alex has also performed alongside leading pianists of today in SFJazz’s Beethoven Portrait: 32 Sonatas for Piano. In Seattle, he has premiered pieces in many facets, including as a soloist for Harmonia Orchestra and Chorus, as the collaborative pianist for the Seattle Jewish Chorale, and as the Teaching Assistant for the University of Washington Modern Music Ensemble.
Alex’s musical successes include firsts in the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Piano Concerto Competition, firsts in the United States Open Music Competition, and alternate winners in the MTNA Young Artist Performance Piano Competition in Washington and Illinois. He has performed in several international festivals, including the Bowdoin International Music Festival, the Orford Academy, the Amalfi Coast Music Festival, and the Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival. He also has performed in masterclasses of esteemed artists, including Garrick Ohlsson, Kirill Gerstein, Jeremy Denk, Jerome Lowenthal, Ursula Oppens, Dover Quartet, and Notos Quartett.
Deeply passionate about teaching, Alex teaches students of all ages at Cascade Piano Studio, as well as non-major private lessons and keyboard proficiency classes at the University of Washington. He has also taught in tuition-free programs, including Bridge to Arts and Music in San Francisco, an afterschool program for underserved students, and Northwestern University’s chapter of Academy of Music and Arts for Special Education, a program for students with disabilities.
Alex graduated with a Bachelor’s of Music from Northwestern University and a Master’s of Music from San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Under the guidance of Craig Sheppard, Alex is currently pursuing a Doctor of Music and Arts at the University of Washington. Previously, Alex’s principal teachers have included Sharon Mann, Yoshikazu Nagai, Alan Chow, and James Giles. His studies have additionally included pedagogy training under Robin McCabe, Marcia Bosits, and Iris Hsu Shiotsuki.
Outside of music, Alex holds a combined Bachelor’s/Master’s in computer science from Northwestern University. In his free time, Alex enjoys playing badminton and Tetris, and exploring the hikes and food in the Seattle area.