Friday, June 7 at 7:30 p.m. —ROCHESTER—The Rochester Chamber Music Society celebrates 30 years in south-central Vermont. Artistic director and concert artist Cynthia Huard has curated the varied and dynamic programming during the past 30 years and will retire from RCMS this summer. Huard, a long-time favorite on the series with her sensitive, expressive piano performances has performed with many world-class musicians and will continue to perform in venues throughout Vermont. Appointed in mid-December, violinist Adda Kridler will take over as the new artistic director and will join RCMS for two concerts in July.
A summer fixture in Rochester and considered by many as “a real gem,” the 2024 series opens on Friday, June 7, at 7:30 p.m. in the Rochester Federated Church with cellist Peter Stumpf and pianist John Blacklow. The program includes Beethoven’s Sonata in F major, Op. 5, No. 1, sonatas by Debussy and Chopin.
Peter Stumpf is professor of cello at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Prior to his appointment, he was the principal cellist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for 9 years following a 12 year tenure as associate principal Cellist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. He received a bachelor’s degree from the Curtis Institute of Music and an artist’s diploma from the New England Conservatory of Music.
A dedicated chamber music musician, he is a member of the Weiss-Kaplan-Stumpf Trio and has appeared at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center, as well as in Amsterdam, Tokyo, and Cologne. He has performed with the chamber music societies of Boston and Philadelphia, and at numerous festivals including Marlboro, Santa Fe, Bridgehampton, Spoleto, and Aspen. He has toured with Music from Marlboro, and with pianist Mitsuko Uchida in performances of the complete Mozart Piano Trios. As a member of the Johannes Quartet, he collaborated with the Guarneri String Quartet on a tour that included premieres of works by Bolcom and Salonen. Concert appearances have included the Boston Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Aspen Festival among others. Solo recitals have been at Jordan Hall in Boston, on the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society series, on the Chamber Music in Historic Sites series in Los Angeles and at the Philips and Corcoran Galleries in Washington D.C. His awards include first prize in the Washington International Competition. He has served on the cello faculties at the New England Conservatory and the University of Southern California.
Hailed for his “powerful and eloquent” playing (New York Times), as “a brilliant performer—a gifted musical presence with a high sense of pianistic fantasy” (Salzburger Nachrichten), “capable of the utmost in virtuosity” (Fanfare Magazine), pianist John Blacklow has been appeaed as a soloist and chamber musician in such venues as the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.; Carnegie’s Zankel Hall; in Amsterdam at the Concertgebouw; in Paris at Salle Gaveau, Louvre Auditorium and Cité de la Musique; the Konzerthaus in Berlin; in London at Royal Albert Hall , Queen Elizabeth Hall, and Wigmore Hall; in Vienna at the Musikverein and Konzerthaus; in Brussels at the Palais des Beaux Arts and Royal Conservatoire; the Mozarteum in Salzburg; the Megaron in Athens; and HO-AM Hall in Seoul, South Korea.
Recently Albany Records released a disc of the complete Schumann sonatas for violin and piano of Blacklow with violinist Jennifer Frautschi, as well as an American Duos album consisting of five works by living American composers. EDI Records released his solo piano CD Prism in 2009, featuring works by Berg, J.S. Bach, Schumann, and Chopin. Blacklow has performed frequently as keyboardist with orchestras that include Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, under Esa-Pekka Salonen, Pierre Boulez, Leonard Slatkin, John Adams, Edo de Waart, Jeffrey Kahane, and many others. He has also appeared on National Public Radio in the US, BBC-3 in the United Kingdom, and Radio France. Blacklow studied piano with Tatiana Yampolsky, John Browning, and Bella Davidovich, graduating from both Harvard and Juilliard. Blacklow serves as professor of piano at the University of Notre Dame, has recorded for Universal Music Inc., Albany Records, Bridge Records, EDI, and Deutsche Grammophon iTunes, and is a Steinway Concert Artist.
RCMS presents Triton Brass Quintet, winners of the Fischoff Competition, on the Rochester Park on June 30 at 6 p.m. as public thank you to the community and to RCMS supporters. Their wide ranging program includes Gabrieli, Monteverdi, Bach, Piazzolla, Gershwin, Dave Brubeck, and Disney.
For more information, visit: cmsvt.org. or call 802-767-9234.
