Saturday, January 5, 7:30 p.m.
Figge Art Museum, 225 West Second Street, Davenport IA
Works of lauded composers from the late-19 and early-20th Centuries will be celebrated on January 5 when the Figge Art Museum hosts the first WVIK/QCSO Signature Series event in the radio station's and Quad City Symphony Orchestra's 2019 season: Ravel & Debussy, an evening of gorgeous compositions and the composers' noted tonal and harmonic gradation boasting performances by violinist Naha Greenholtz, cellist Hannah Holman, and pianist Rene Lecuona.
Canadian violinist Greenholtz was born in Kyoto, Japan, where she began her musical studies at age three. Since her solo debut at 14, concerto appearances include engagements with the Vancouver, Madison, Quad City, Burnaby, Kelowna, and National Repertory Orchestras in works ranging from Bach to Stravinsky. She has also has participated in prominent music festivals throughout the U.S. and Europe, including at Maine's Kneisel Hall, New Mexico's Taos, Italy's Spoleto, Switzerland's Lucerne, and the New York String Orchestra Seminar at Carnegie Hall. Greenholtz has also had an active career as an orchestra musician. In addition to her duties as Concertmaster of both the QCSO and the Madison Symphony Orchestra, her performance highlights include guest concertmaster appearances with the Oregon Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, National Ballet of Canada, Omaha Symphony, and Memphis Symphony, among many others.
An active chamber musician and principal cellist for the QCSO, Holman studied at the Eastman School of Music and Michigan State University, where she completed her Bachelor of Music degree, and obtained her Master of Music Degree with Fritz Magg at the New England Conservatory. A founding member of the Beaumont Piano Trio, which performed around the United States and England, Holman was also a founding member of Quadrivinium, a music ensemble-in-residence at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. From 2002-2011, she was a member of the Maia Quartet, the University of Iowa's quartet-in-residence, which toured China, Japan, and throughout the United States, including teaching residencies at Interlochen Center for the Arts, the Great Wall International Music Academy in China, and the Austin Chamber Music Center. Holman regularly performs in chamber ensembles with musicians from throughout the United States, and Fanfare magazine raved that “her tone and technique are the stuff that cello legends are made of.”
A professor of piano at the University of Iowa, Lecuona earned a doctor of musical arts degree in piano performance and was awarded a performer’s certificate at the Eastman School of Music. She received undergraduate and master's degrees at the Indiana University School of Music, and her principal teachers have included Menahem Pressler of the Beaux Arts Trio, the late György Sebök, Edward Auer, Shigeo Neriki, and Rebecca Penneys. Lecuona made her Carnegie Hall debut in Weill Recital Hall with mezzo-soprano Katherine Eberle and in the Goodman Hall at Lincoln Center with soprano Rachel Joselson, and her playing has been featured on many albums, including a recording of the music of Margaret Brouwer that won the 2000 Contemporary Art Music Burton Award.
The first WVIK/QCSO Signature Series concert of the year will boast 7:30 p.m. Figge Café performances of Claude Debussy's “Sonata for Cello & Piano in D minor” and “Piano Trio in A minor, M. 67,” Maurice Ravel's “Sonata for Violin & Cello,” and Nadia Boulanger's “D'un Soir Triste for Piano Trio.” Admission to the January 5 event is $10-25, and more information and tickets are available by calling (563)322-7276 or visiting QCSO.org.
