Movses Pogossian, violin | Jonah Sirota, viola | Michael Kaufman, cello | Marisa Gupta, piano
presented by Da Camera
March 2, 2024 at 7PM
Pasadena Conservatory of Music, 100 North Hill Ave. Pasadena, CA, 91106,
Barrett Hall
Program:
Lili Boulanger – Nocturne et Cortège
César Franck – Violin Sonata
Gustave Samazeuilh – Prelude
Gabriel Pierné – Chanson
Gabriel Fauré – Piano Quartet No. 1 in C minor
2023-24 Concert Season
Concert 2
Dedicated to the memory of Joseph Chang
With thanks to Robert Ronus
Sunset ChamberFest celebrates 10 years with past performers from our summer festival in the excellent acoustics and intimate setting of Barratt Hall.
Movses Pogossian, violinist
Movses Pogossian made his American debut with the Boston Pops in 1990, about which Boston Globe wrote: "There is freedom in his playing, but also taste and discipline. It was a fiery, centered, and highly musical performance…" Prizewinner of several competitions, including the 1986 Tchaikovsky International Competition, he extensively performed as soloist and recitalist worldwide. As chamber musician, Pogossian has collaborated with such artists as Kim Kashkashian, Alexei Lubimov, Jeremy Denk, Rohan de Saram, and with members of the Tokyo, Kronos, and Brentano string quartets. He is Artistic Director of the acclaimed Dilijan Chamber Music Series, currently in its 15th season.
Champion of new music, Pogossian has premiered over 70 works, and worked closely with composers such as Kurtág, Harbison, Saariaho, Mansurian, and Gabriela Lena Frank. Pogossian's discography includes the Complete Sonatas and Partitas by J. S. Bach, solo violin CDs "Inspired by Bach", "Blooming Sounds", and "In Nomine”, and recently released “Con Anima” album of Tigran Mansurian’s music on ECM label. In his review of Kurtág's "Kafka Fragments" (with soprano Tony Arnold) Paul Griffiths writes: "…remarkable is Pogossian's contribution, which is always beautiful, across a great range of colors and gestures, and always seems on the edge of speaking—or beyond."
Movses Pogossian is Professor of Violin at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music and also Founding Director of the UCLA Armenian Music Program. As Head of the Los Angeles Chapter, he actively participates in the Music for Food project which raises awareness of the hunger problem and gives the opportunity to experience the powerful role music can play as a catalyst for change.
Jonah Sirota, violist
Composer, producer, and violist Jonah Sirota is a new breed of multi-talented musician. Equally at home scoring and recording music for TV, film, and video games, writing concert music, and performing as a soloist and chamber musician, Jonah creates and recreates vivid music for a wide variety of audiences. He has performed and/or arranged music for numerous projects including the 2021 Oscar-nominated animated short If Anything Happens I Love You…, the 2021 Sundance film Wild Hearts, and major cinematic releases from Mulan to the Mandalorian. His recent EP Storylander brings his unique string voice to life in cinematic cues made for visual media. His debut solo recording STRONG SAD features premiere recordings of new elegies for the viola by Nico Muhly, Paola Prestini, Arthur Joseph McCaffrey, Valgeir Sigurðsson, Robert Sirota, Kurt Knecht, and Jonah himself. Recent concert compositions include Entangled—a flute and viola d’amore duo for Christina Jennings and Matthew Dane, and the string quartet Socially Distant, commissioned by the Hartt School of Music.
Jonah was the violist of the recently-disbanded Chiara String Quartet for all of its 18 years. With the Chiara Quartet, he toured internationally, recorded seven albums and played in numerous major venues worldwide. The Chiara Quartet performed much of the string quartet repertoire from memory ('By Heart"), including the complete string quartets of Béla Bartók, a recording of which was released in 2016 on Azica Records. The group was honored with a Grammy nomination (2011, Best Contemporary Classical Composition for Jefferson Friedman's 3rd String Quartet on the New Amsterdam label), the ASCAP/CMA Adventurous Programming Award, the Guarneri Quartet Award, and top prizes at the Paolo Borciani, Astral, and Fischoff competitions. Their albums have been featured on N.P.R., and in "Best of the Year" lists from the Boston Globe, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. In the 2015-2016 season, the group was in residence at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, a venue to which the group returned for their farewell New York concert in May of 2018.
As a concert violist, Jonah performs with pianist Molly Morkoski, with organist Kurt Knecht as the improv duo Mondegreen, and as a member of the revived California String Quartet. He is sought after as a session player and regularly plays with major orchestras, including the Long Beach Symphony, where he is Assistant Principal Viola. He coaches chamber music at the Colburn School, teaches viola at Cal State University Fullerton and the Greenwood Music Camp, and gives viola and composition masterclasses and residencies across the country. He resides in South Pasadena, CA.
Michael Kaufman, cellist
Michael Kaufman is an exciting cellist exploring various facets of the classical music scene. He was the soloist for the opening of the renovated Kodak Hall at Eastman Theater and has performed at prestigious venues such as Zankel and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. Concerto performances and chamber music engagements have taken him across the United States and Western Europe to festivals such as Open Chamber Music at Prussia Cove, Yellow Barn, Music@Menlo, and Verbier.
His diverse performance projects have included chamber music concerts with Midori, Brett Dean’s 12 Angry Men in Disney Hall at the Piatigorsky Festival, the premiere of a concerto written by Sean Friar with the Eastman Wind Ensemble, and leading as principal cello of La Monnaie in Brussels. Founder and artistic director of Sunset ChamberFest and founding member of the cello quintet SAKURA, Michael champions eclectic juxtapositions of music from the classical and contemporary canon and is an advocate for guiding and cultivating future generations of composers.
He received his bachelor’s degree from Eastman studying with Steven Doane and his master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Southern California under the mentorship and guidance of Ralph Kirshbaum. Michael is a member of Los Angeles Opera and teaches at the Pasadena Conservatory of Music and Colburn Community School of Performing Arts.
Marisa Gupta, pianist
Born in the USA of Thai and Indian parentage, pianist Marisa Gupta made her debut performing Prokofiev’s 1st Piano Concerto with the Houston Symphony. She won top prizes at the Concours Maria Canals (Barcelona), the Viotti Competition (Vercelli, Italy), a Fulbright scholarship for study in the UK, and others. She has appeared at venues including the Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Palau de la Música (Barcelona), South Bank Centre, Warsaw Philharmonic Hall, Bucharest’s Ateneul Român, Zipper Hall, LACMA (L.A.), Tokyo Opera City, Munetsugu Hall (Nagoya) and other venues around the world. Broadcasts include BBC Radio 3, BBC TV 4, Radio 4 (Netherlands), Radio Catalunya, KUSC (LA) and KUHF (Houston). She has worked closely with leading composers of today including Brett Dean, Jörg Widmann and Philippe Hersant. Collaborations with prominent artists include, Philippe Graffin, Stephen Kovacevich, Anthony Marwood, Nicolas Dautricourt, members of the Berlin Philharmonic, COE, Verona, Calder, Rolston, and Doric Quartets, Nash Ensemble and others. She studied at the HEM Genève and Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Important mentors include Richard Goode, Horacio Gutierrez, Pascal Devoyon and John and Nancy Weems. She has given masterclasses and lectures at the Kunstuniversität Graz, Guildhall School of Music, Colburn School, Longy School of Music, and Webster University in St. Louis. She was formerly on the faculty of the University of Huddersfield and University of Texas at Austin.