50th Anniversary Concert
Bold and Timeless
Artists
Peter Zazofsky, violin
Zenas Hsu, violin
Noriko Futagami, viola
Caitlyn Lynch, viola
Ronald Lowry, cello
Andrew Mark, cello
The Needham Concert Society celebrates its fiftieth anniversary with a commissioned work by Pulitzer-nominated composer David Post and two string masterpieces, a classically elegant string quintet by Mozart and Dvořák’s romantic and exuberant string sextet.
Program
David Post, Premiere of work for two cellos
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, String Quintet No. 4 in G minor, K. 516
Antonín Dvořák, String Sextet in A major, Op. 48, B. 80 for two violins, two violas, and two cellos
About the Artists
Composer David Post started musical training early, studying cello and composition. Among his awards is a Pulitzer Prize nomination for his Fourth String Quartet. His choral, orchestral, and chamber works have been performed and recorded in the U.S. and Europe by the likes of the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Moravian Philharmonic, and the Salem Philharmonic. He has received commissions from many groups, including the Terezin Music Foundation, the Fennimore Quartet, the Martinu and Hawthorne Quartets, the Aolis Collective, the New England Reed trio, and now, the Needham Concert Society.
Violinist Peter Zazofsky has appeared as soloist with many great orchestras, including the Boston Symphony, the Berlin Philharmonic, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. He often is a featured soloist with Israeli orchestras. As first violinist of the Muir String Quartet, Mr. Zazofsky is proud to have performed many complete cycles of the Beethoven quartets, and to have promoted new works by American composers. Early in his career, Mr. Zazofsky won top prizes in the Queen Elisabeth and Montreal International Competitions. He is a faculty member at Boston University and also teaches at New England Conservatory Preparatory School.
Violinist Zenas Hsu received early instruction at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and holds degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music and New England Conservatory. He is a founding member of Chamber Music by the Bay, a California-based interactive music series. In Boston, Mr. Hsu is a member of the Grammy-nominated orchestra A Far Cry, and he serves as concertmaster of Phoenix, a Boston orchestra that focuses on approachable concert experiences. He is a frequent guest artist of Bard Music West and the Wellesley Chamber Players and guest concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
Violist Noriko Futagami performs with the Radius Ensemble, Boston Musica Viva, Emmanuel Music, Cantata Singers, and Winsor Music. She is principal violist for Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and section violist with Rhode Island Philharmonic and Portland Symphony Orchestra. As principal violist for Albany Symphony in 2014, she participated in a Grammy winning recording of John Corigliano’s Conjurer. Ms. Futagami performs regularly with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Odyssey Opera Orchestra, the Monadnock Festival Orchestra, Boston Pops, Boston Ballet, and Boston Landmarks Orchestras. She is a faculty member at Brown University.
Violist Caitlin Lynch performs with artists ranging from Itzhak Perlman to Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood. She is violist of the Aeolus String Quartet, violist and co-artistic director of A Far Cry, and has appeared with the Cleveland, Guarneri, Juilliard, Takács, and Tokyo String Quartets. Recent and upcoming performances include Carnegie Hall Citywide, the Chamber Music Society at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and NYC’s Kaufman Music Center. Ms. Lynch is a graduate of the Juilliard School and the Cleveland Institute of Music. She performs on an eighteenth-century Forster viola and a 2020 Zygmuntowicz viola.
Needham Concert Society artistic director Ronald Lowry is principal cellist of the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra and the Boston Ballet Orchestra, and he performs frequently with the Boston Symphony. He has presented solo recitals in Jordan Hall, at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and throughout New England. He has been guest artist with the Boston Chamber Music Society, the New England Conservatory First Mondays concert series, and the Muir String Quartet. Mr. Lowry teaches at New England Conservatory Preparatory School, Walnut Hill School for the Arts, and Rivers School Conservatory.
Cellist Andrew Mark, an accomplished advocate of new music, has performed with the Boston Symphony and the Boston Pops and is currently cellist with the Portland String Quartet. He has been a member of the Boston Composers String Quartet and the award-winning CORE Ensemble and was named Artistic Ambassador by the U.S. State Department. A graduate of New England Conservatory, Mr. Mark is on the faculty of the Heifetz Institute, has chaired the Boston Conservatory string department, and has earned awards from American String Teachers Association and the Foundation for Advancement of String Education.
