A recital by the Charter Oak String Quartet

The Kosciuszko Foundation welcomes Charter Oak String Quartet, a project of the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, for the recital featuring music spanning four centuries. The program includes works by Phillip Glass, Ludwig van Beethoven, Jozef Elsner, Jakub Kowalewski, and Karol Szymanowski. A wine reception will follow the recital.

PROGRAM:

String Quartet op.8, no. 1, C-major – Józef Elsner (1769 – 1854)

    Allegro Moderato

   Andantino – Tema con Variazione

Quartet Satz – Philip Glass (1937 -)

Composed for 50 For The Future: The Kronos Repertoire 

String Quartet No.4, Op.18 No.4 – Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

   Allegro, ma non tanto

   Scherzo. Andante scherzoso quasi Allegretto

   Minuet. Allegretto

   Allegro

“Przypływy-odpływy” – Jakub Kowalewski (1977 – )

String Quartet No.2, Op.56 – Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937)

   Moderato dolce e tranquillo               

   Vivace, Scherzando

   Lento

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Award-winning conductor, violinist, artist, and educator, Adrian Sylveen enjoys a performing career both in the United States and in Europe. He is the founder and director of the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, and co-founder of the Connecticut Lyric Opera. Both, now NEA-funded, developed into major music institutions in the region. Since 2015 Sylveen has been an Artistic Director of the Greve Opera Academy and Chamber Music Festival in Greve-In-Chianti, Italy. Sylveen is a winner of prizes in Poland and in the United States and has participated in international Festivals in Weimar, Łancut, and others. He received the American Council for Polish Culture award, the “Primus Inter Pares” Award from the President of the Republic of Poland. He was awarded permanent US residence for “Extraordinary Abilities in the Arts”, among others. Sylveen has conducted numerous major operatic productions, more than 70 symphonies, and chamber orchestral works, with special emphasis on the music of Italian and Slavic heritage. He has performed in the United States, Poland, Italy, Israel, Cuba, Switzerland, Germany, and the former Soviet Union, and worked with such ensembles as the Israel Chamber Orchestra, Holguin Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra da Camera di Greve-In-Chianti, Olsztyn Philharmonic, Elbląg Chamber Orchestra, Classical Orchestra of Pila, Central Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra, and others. His recordings are available on Virtuosi Records.

Sandro Ladu attended the University of Nevada Las Vegas where he studied with Byron Tauchi and Weiwei Le. During this time he was a participant in the Brevard music festival and recipient of the Liberace string quartet scholarship and the Arts Bridge scholarship. Sandro completed graduate studies at California State University Sacramento where he studied with Ian Swensen. During this time he was a multiple-time winner of the Aj and Susanna Watson chamber music competition and the Saturday Club Scholarship. He recently placed 2nd place in the Fresno Musical Club Bell T. Richie award and recently played in Fresno’s Young Artist Spotlight live radio concert. Sandro is pursuing a doctorate of arts in violin performance at the Hartt school at the University of Hartford.

Violist & Resident composer Jonathan Kane is a composer and violist from Newington, Connecticut. He began his musical studies at age seven with violin lessons at the Hartt School Community Division at the University of Hartford. He continued at the Hartt School until graduating high school, also taking lessons in composition, viola, and music theory, as well as playing in the Connecticut Youth Symphony. Jonathan attended the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, as well as Eastman’s “parent” institution, the University of Rochester, getting a Bachelor of Music in Composition and a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics. Since graduating, he has performed with the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra and taught viola and music theory, as well as continuing to compose, arrange, and perform elsewhere. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in composition at the Boston Conservatory. Jonathan has written commissioned pieces for the Grammy Award-winning Ying Quartet and for the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, which premiered his orchestral work Shesh in 2017. His musical style brings together diverse influences, including the music of past composers such as Bach, Debussy, Shostakovich, and Hindemith, but also living composers such as Sofia Gubaidulina. His works are also inspired by music outside of the classical tradition, particularly klezmer and jazz. Jonathan’s music is also very much influenced by his mathematical background. Many of his pieces are closely related to various mathematical concepts, which provide their harmonic structures or forms. In all of his pieces, Jonathan takes both the traditional and the new, and synthesizes them together to create his own style.

A recent graduate of DePaul University and The Hartt School of Music, Zachary Sears has studied and performed across the United States and Europe. He is a cellist with the American Institute of Musical Studies Orchestra in Graz, Austria, a Principal cellist at the 2018 Texas Music Festival in Houston, Texas, and a chamber music fellow at the 2017 Duxbury Chamber Music Festival. Zachary has also performed with the York Symphony Orchestra, Eastern Connecticut Symphony, and UConn symphony, and has served as principal cellist for the Hartt Orchestra. He is the winner of the 2020 Moshe Paranov Concerto Competition and Chamber Music competition at the Hartt School where he studied with Mihai Tetel. Zachary is also passionate about teaching and has worked as a private instructor, coach, and mentor in both New England and Chicago. During his time at DePaul University, he held the Teaching Artist position, working with young musicians in the Chicago Public Schools system. Zachary began his cello studies at age 6 at the UConn Community Music School, and his early teachers include Boris Kogan and Astrid Schween. In 2019 he completed an M.M. at Depaul University with former CSO cellist Stephen Balderston.