Sunday, March 9, 3:00 pm. Espressivo! Piano Quartet
“Hearing them is a joy!”
Concert Program:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart First Piano Quartet no. 1 in G minor, K. 478
Johannes Brahms Third Piano Quartet in C Minor, op. 60
Antonin Dvořák Second Piano Quartet, in E-flat Major, op. 87
Jaime Laredo, violin; Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt; viola, Anna Polonsky, piano; Sharon Robinson, cello.
About Espressivo!
Espressivo! is an ensemble devoted to the Piano Quartet repertoire – a bastion of great composers’ great achievements. The legendary husband and wife team of Jamie Laredo, violin, and Sharon Robinson, cello have established themselves in every “lane,” every genre, of the classical music world through touring, recording, and concertizing in venues the world over. These two veteran musicians have made a life in Vermont these last many years, and have the freedom to play exactly what they want and with whom they want. Their choice of collaborators is violist Milena Pájaro-Van de Stadt and pianist Anna Polonsky, and the resulting quartet is nothing short of a musical dream team.
“Espressivo! successfully merges the deeply felt tradition of those we think of as the great masters with the brilliance and eclecticism of today’s younger musicians. Hearing them is a joy!”
Jim Lowe, Rutland Herald
Violinist Jaime Laredo has excelled in the multiple roles of soloist, conductor, recitalist, pedagogue, and chamber musician. Since his stunning orchestral debut at the age of 11 with the San Francisco Symphony, he has won the admiration and respect of audiences, critics, and fellow musicians with his passionate and polished performances. That debut inspired one critic to write, “In the 1920’s it was Yehudi Menuhin; in the 1930’s it was Isaac Stern; and last night it was Jaime Laredo.” His education and development were greatly influenced by his teachers Josef Gingold and Ivan Galamian, as well as by private coaching with eminent masters Pablo Casals and George Szell. At the age of 17, Laredo won the prestigious Queen Elisabeth of Belgium Competition, launching his rise to international prominence. With 2009 marking the 50th anniversary of his prize, he was honored to sit on the jury for the final round of the competition.
For fifteen years, Laredo was violist of the piano quartet consisting of renowned pianist Emanuel Ax, celebrated violinist Isaac Stern, and distinguished cellist Yo-Yo Ma, his close colleagues and chamber music collaborators. Together, the quartet recorded nearly the entire piano quartet repertoire on the SONY Classical label, including the works of Beethoven, Mozart, Schumann, Fauré, and Brahms, for which they won a Grammy Award. Recognized internationally as a sought-after violin teacher, Laredo has fostered the education of violinists including Leila Josefowitz, Hillary Hahn, Jennifer Koh, Ivan Chan, Soovin Kim, Pamela Frank, and Bella Hristova.
After 35 years of teaching at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and seven years at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, in 2012 Laredo began teaching at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where his wife, Sharon Robinson, also holds a teaching position. Additionally, Laredo is the conductor of the New York String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, which brings young musicians from around the world to the stage every December. He was born in Bolivia, and now resides with Sharon Robinson in Guilford, Vermont and Cleveland, Ohio.
Cellist Sharon Robinson hails from Texas and is one of five children who played string instruments and who all became successful professional musicians. She made her New York performance debut in 1974, collaborating in a chamber music recital with violinist Jamie Laredo and pianist Samuel Sanders. Praise of her 1977 solo recital debut, which featured works of Beethoven, Britten, Crumb and Rachmaninoff, was effusive.
“She revealed an artistic personality that vitalized almost everything she played … The cello tone
glowed … the result was lovely … an impressive debut.” The New York Times, Allen Hughes
Robinson has performed as a soloist with numerous symphony orchestras and has appeared on television programs including Sunday Morning, The Kennedy Center Honors, The Today Show, The Tonight Show, Great Conversations in Music (PBS), and The Dick Cavett Show. In 1977, Robinson and two colleagues, violinist Jamie Laredo and pianist Joseph Kalichstein, formed the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio. The group, which performed and recorded worldwide while maintaining its original personnel, was considered among the finest chamber ensembles in existence. The Cleveland Institute of Music announced the appointment of Robinson and husband Jamie Laredo to the string faculty in 2012.
Pianist Anna Polonsky is widely in demand as a soloist and chamber musician. She has appeared with the Moscow Virtuosi, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, the Memphis Symphony, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, and many others. Ms. Polonsky has collaborated with the Guarneri, Shanghai, and Juilliard Quartets, and with such musicians as Mitsuko Uchida, Yo-Yo Ma, Richard Goode, Emanuel Ax, Arnold Steinhardt, and Michael Tree. She has performed chamber music at such festivals as Marlboro, Chamber Music Northwest, Seattle, Music@Menlo, Cartagena, Bard, and Caramoor.
Ms. Polonsky has given concerts in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Vienna Konzerthaus, Alice Tully Hall, and Carnegie Hall’s Stern, Weill, and Zankel Halls, and has toured extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. After starting music studies in her native Moscow, she emigrated to the United States in 1990, and attended high school at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. She received her Bachelor of Music diploma from The Curtis Institute of Music under the tutelage of the renowned pianist Peter Serkin, and continued her studies with Jerome Lowenthal, earning her Master’s Degree from the Juilliard School. In addition to performing, she serves on the piano faculty of Vassar College, and in the summer at the Marlboro and Kneisel Hall chamber music festivals.
Praised by The Strad magazine as having “lyricism that stood out … a silky tone and beautiful, supple lines,” Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt has established herself as one of the most sought-after violists of her generation. In addition to appearances as soloist with the New York String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, the Tokyo Philharmonic, the Jacksonville Symphony, the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra, and Symphony in C, she has performed in recitals and chamber-music concerts throughout the United States, Latin America, Europe, and Asia, including an acclaimed 2011 debut recital at London’s Wigmore Hall, which was described in The Strad as being “fleet and energetic … powerful and focused.”
Ms. Pajaro-van de Stadt was the founding violist of the twice-Grammy-nominated Dover Quartet, and played in the group from 2008-2022. During her time in the group, the Dover Quartet was the First Prize-winner and recipient of every special award at the Banff International String Quartet Competition 2013, and winner of the Gold Medal and Grand Prize in the 2010 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. Also during her tenure, the Dover Quartet received the Cleveland Quartet Award and an Avery Fisher Career Grant. Her numerous awards also include First Prize at the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition and top prizes at the Sphinx Competition and the Tokyo International Viola Competition. While in the Dover Quartet, Ms. Pajaro-van de Stadt was on the faculty at The Curtis Institute of Music and Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, and a part of the Quartet in Residence of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. She is now a member of the newly formed piano quartet “Espressivo!” along with acclaimed artists Jaime Laredo, Sharon Robinson, and Anna Polonsky.
Corresponding with Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt
Musician and VCC Board Member Andrea Bonsignore (AB) caught up with with Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt (MPdS) through e-mail for Q&A. Here is what transpired:
(AB) OK, I‘ll be frank and admit that I LOVE the viola voice – likely connected to the fact that I’m a middle child of a large family and relish inner voices, the “middle” lines of great compositions. That said, it stands out to me that you have been committed, from the outset, to performing chamber music (versus orchestral music), with all its demands of a peripatetic life. As a violist, did this seem like the obvious choice to you?
(MPdS) I am so glad to hear that! I love the voice of the viola as well. I started on the violin, and it was precisely the combination of playing viola in chamber music (I first started because I was forming a quartet with my brother, who was a cellist, and my friends, two sisters who were violinists) that made me fall in love with both the instrument and the medium. I felt like I had found my voice and my personality all at once by playing viola in chamber music. I love having the power to really “flavor” the music by way of having such frequent harmonic lines, and I also love the fact that when a solo or melody is given to the viola, it is a distinct coloristic and emotional decision made by the composer. It has such a unique, warm, and soulful voice . . . can you tell I’m obsessed with viola?
(AB) Of the great works that Espressivo regularly performs, which composer writes the best music for viola? Perhaps there is more than one. Which composers stand out, for varied reasons, in their understanding of the exceptional attributes of the viola?
(MPdS) There are many composers whose music we play who wrote (and write) beautifully for the viola. An absolute stand-out to me is Dvořák. Not only did he play viola, but it was his favorite instrument. That is apparent in the way he writes for the instrument and capitalizes on the unique voice it has. He is a precise example of what made me fall in love with viola in chamber music in the first place!
(AB) Follow-up Question: Do you have a good viola joke?
(MPdS) Violists’ fingers are like lightning! … they never strike the same place twice!
Espressivo! plays Fauré c minor Piano Quartet 1st Movement at the Brattleboro Music Center, June 2, 2023