Brightmusic Chamber Ensemble

Summer Festival IX - “Beethoven Festival – 250th Birthday Celebration”

ALL SELECTIONS COMPOSED BY LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)

GUEST ARTIST: NATALIE ZHU, PIANO

Praised for her “emotional and pianistic pyrotechnics” (The Philadelphia Inquirer), Natalie Zhu is recipient of multiple prestigious awards, including the 2003 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Andrew Wolf Memorial Chamber Music Award and the Astral Artistic Services’ 1998 National Auditions, selections from which were broadcast on National Public Radio’s “Performance Today.” Ms. Zhu began her piano studies with Xiao-Cheng Liu at the age of six in her native China and made her first public appearance at age nine in Beijing. At eleven she immigrated with her family to Los Angeles and by age fifteen was enrolled at the Curtis Institute, where she studied with Gary Graffman and received the Rachmaninoff Award. She received a Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music. 

Ms. Zhu has appeared as a soloist with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and the Bergen and China philharmonic orchestras.  Her recital appearances include the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, New York’s Steinway and Merkin halls, the Portland Piano International Summer Festival, Munich’s Herkulessaal and Beijing Concert Hall.  She toured and collaborated with violinist Hilary Hahn for several years, with projects including a Carnegie Hall recital debut and a recording for Deutsche Grammophon. An active chamber musician, she has appeared in the Skaneateles, Marlboro, Tanglewood, Amelia Island, Great Lakes and Kingston festivals.

CONCERT NO. 1

• Trio for Piano, Violin and Cello in B-flat Major, Op. 97, “Archduke”
• Quartet in F Major, Op. 59, No. 1 “Razumovsky”

CONCERT NO. 2 

• Romance in F Major, Op. 50 (for violin and piano)
• Trio for Piano, Violin and Cello in C Minor, Op. 1, No. 3 
• Adelaide for Clarinet and Piano, Op. 46, arranged by Müller
• Quintet for Piano and Winds in E-flat Major, Op. 16

CONCERT NO. 3 

THE MAE RUTH SWANSON MEMORIAL CONCERT

• An die ferne Geliebte, Op. 98 (for tenor and piano)
• Sonata for Piano and Violin in C Minor, Op. 30
• Trio in E-flat Major for Clarinet, Cello and Piano, Op. 38, arranged by Beethoven

CONCERT NO. 4 

• Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 36 for Piano Trio, transcribed by Beethoven
• Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 55, “Eroica,” arranged for Piano Quartet by F. Ries

(Programs subject to change)

FESTIVAL PASSES @ $50/PERSON ARE AVAILABLE BY MAIL, ONLINE OR AT THE CONCERT DOOR. SEASON 17 SUBSCRIBERS, STUDENTS AND ACTIVE-DUTY MILITARY WITH ID DO NOT NEED PASSES. SPECIAL FESTIVAL CONTRIBUTIONS FROM ALL ARE NEEDED AND WOULD BE WELCOMED.

Concerts will be performed at St. Paul’s Cathedral, 127 NW 7th St. in downtown OKC.