Forest Hills Chamber Music Series

musicians silhouette

This series was founded in 2019 by cellist, Ari Evan, and Cantor Emily Wigod Pincus of The Reform Temple of Forest Hills, which is generously hosting the concerts.

The program strives to highlight Jewish composers of the past 100 years through pairing their works with 18th and 19th-century masterworks of the same instrumentation.  It also hopes to reach audiences in the Forest Hills community that may not readily have access to live, top-quality chamber music. If you would like to be a sponsor for the series, please email Cantor Pincus at cantorpincus@rtfh.org

All proceeds go to benefit RTFH programming.

Thursday, March 28, 2024, 7:30 PM

The Reform Temple of Forest Hills
71-11 112th Street, Forest Hills, NY 11375

Tickets:

Members: $18
Non-members: $25
Door: $36

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Concert will be livestreamed at rtfh.org/live

String Quartets
Maureen Nelson and Eunice Kim, violins
Tanner Menees, viola
Ari Evan, cello
PROGRAM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791): String Quartet No. 19 in C Major, K. 465 “Dissonance”
I. Adagio-Allegro
II. Andante cantabile
III. Minuetto
IV. Allegro
Osvaldo Golijov (b. 1960)
Tenebrae for String Quartet
INTERMISSION
Benjamin Britten (1913-1976): String Quartet No. 2 in C major, Op. 36
I. Allegro calmo, senza rigore
II. Vivace
III. Chacony: sostenuto
Upcoming Concert:
Saturday, June 15 at 8 pm
Born and raised in New York, cellist Ari Evan recently completed his Artist Diploma at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapelle in Belgium, under the tutelage of Gary Hoffman. During his time in Europe, Ari maintained a varied and active performing career. Solo highlights include a performance of Haydn D with Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia, Beethoven Triple Concerto with the Vienna Concert Orchestra, and a recital at Flagey. Ari was featured on the Chapelle’s landmark Cesar Franck CD, recording his first three piano trios with Frank Braley. Especially fond of string quartets, Ari served as guest cellist of the Quatuor MONA, performing in the Paris Philharmonie, and toured with the internationally acclaimed Rolston String Quartet through Europe, Canada, and the US. He also served as guest principal cellist with Belgium’s Ataneres Ensemble.

A versatile chamber musician, Ari has performed with many of the world’s pre-eminent artists, including Itzhak Perlman, Shumel Ashkenasi, Corina Belcea, Colin Carr, Miriam Fried, Gary Hoffman, Hsin-Yun Huang, Ani Kavafian, Robert McDonald, as well as former members of the Cleveland and Artemis Quartets. He often performs music of living composers, having world-premiered works by Augusta Reed Thomas, Philip Lasser, and Pieter Schuermans, and worked with Esa-Pekka Salonen, John Zorn, Eric Montalbetti, Kinan Azmeh, George Lewis, Thierry Escaich on their compositions. Many of the relationships Ari cultivated through chamber music have led to CD recordings—he is featured on the Alpha Classics, DUX, MSR Classics, and Sono Luminus labels. He has also played with many of New York’s premiere ensembles, working with Metropolis Ensemble, New York Classical Players, Frisson Ensemble, and Exponential Ensemble.

A passionate educator, Ari has coached chamber music at Juilliard Pre-College since 2016, and held a cello faculty position at the Opus 118 School of Music during the 2017-18 academic year. He has also served as guest artist faculty at the Heartland Chamber Music Festival in Kansas (2021), and the Merit School of Music in Chicago (2017), where he led chamber music masterclasses. His philosophy as a private teacher is to adapt his style to suit the individual needs of each student, and to always strive to help every student connect with their innate love of music. Ari was a member of Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect from 2018-2020, and studied with Timothy Eddy at the Juilliard School, where he received his Master’s Degree in 2017. He also holds a Bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University, where he graduated with honors.
Eunice Kim, violinist, is a native of the San Francisco Bay Area.  She made her solo debut at the age of seven with the Korean Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra. Called “just superb” The New York Times, she recently made her solo debut with The Philadelphia Orchestra and the Louisville Symphony, and performed George Tsontakis’ Unforgettable with the Albany Symphony Orchestra. Also recently, she performed at the Library of Congress on the “Ward” Antonio Stradivari violin, and she toured Taiwan, Hong Kong, Germany and South Korea with “Curtis On Tour.”
A winner of Astral’s 2012 National Auditions, Eunice is the recipient of awards and honors from the California International Violin Competition, the Pacific Music Society Competition, the Korea Times String Competition and the Youth Excellence Scholarship for the Arts. She also represented the Curtis Institute of Music and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in the Millennium Stage Series Conservatory Project at the Kennedy Center.
An enthusiastic advocate for community engagement, she has partnered with The Philadelphia Orchestra Department of Education to perform an outreach series, and regularly participates in Astral’s Community Engagement & Education programs. She has taught at numerous international music festivals, most recently at the Teatro Del Lago Festival in Chile and the Valdres Music Academy in Norway. She has participated in the Music from Angel Fire and Marlboro Music festivals.
Tanner Menees, violist, was born in Orange, CA, in 1993. Tanner is forging an enviable career as a chamber musician and has collaborated in chamber music performances with a range of notable artists, including Martin Beaver, Miriam Fried, Clive Greensmith, Lynn Harrell, Frans Helmerson, Gary Hoffman, Kim Kashkashian, Laurence Lesser, Danny Phillips, Marcy Rosen, Mitsuko Uchida, and Donald Weilerstein.
Tanner has performed internationally at festivals such as the Marlboro Music Festival, Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, Caramoor Evnin Rising Stars, Chamberfest Cleveland, Menuhin Festival String Academy, Edinburgh Music Festival, Juilliard String Quartet Seminar, and with NEXUS Chamber Music Chicago. He has performed as a soloist with the Colburn Orchestra under maestro Thierry Fischer and with Symphony New Hampshire. Tanner is featured in Mike Grittani’s video, Dreaming of Boccherini, shot in Guarneri Hall as part of the NEXUS Chamber Music Festival in 2019
Tanner received his Bachelor of Music degree and Artist Diploma from the Colburn School, where he studied with Paul Coletti. Later he studied with Kim Kashkashian at the New England Conservatory where he earned a Master of Music degree. Tanner plays on a viola of the Tarasconi school made in Milan, Italy c. 1880 courtesy of Guarneri Hall NFP and Darnton & Hersh Fine Violins.
Maureen Nelson, violinist, has been a full-time member of The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra since 2016, and currently serves as Assistant Director for Programming and Projects. As former founding member and first violinist, she led the Grammy-nominated Enso String Quartet for nearly two decades, captivating audiences from major concert stages of the world, regularly concertizing throughout North America and abroad. Founded at Yale University in 1999, the quartet has been described by Strad magazine as “thrilling” and praised by the Washington Post for its “glorious sonorities…half honey, half molten lava.” The quartet quickly went on to win top prizes at the Concert Artists Guild competition and the Banff International String Quartet Competition. Classical Voice praised the ensemble as “one of the eminent string quartets of our era.” Along with a busy touring and teaching schedule, Maureen made numerous critically acclaimed recordings on the Naxos label with the Enso.
A native of Pennsylvania, Maureen was enrolled in Temple University’s Center for Gifted Young Musicians at the age of 12, and began attending the Curtis Institute of Music shortly thereafter. As a winner of the Greenfield Competition, Maureen appeared as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra when she was 16. While studying in Germany, she was concertmaster of the Detmolder Kammerochester and has been a member of the Houston-based River Oaks Chamber Orchestra since 2010. During summers, Maureen spends her time away from SPCO visiting family, performing at chamber festivals and is a member of Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra. She is married to percussionist Matthew McClung and together they enjoy a daily coffee & crosswords ritual.