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Sunday April 18, 2021
Emerson Avenue Salonlines Proudly Presents
a live YouTube Broadcast…
Myriam Avalos
piano
and
Jane Bowyer Stewart
violin
SPRING PASSION
We invite you to join pianist Myriam Avalos and violinist Jane Bowyer Stewart as they share their passion for the music of the early Romantic period. During the pandemic, the longtime dear friends have gathered regularly to feed their souls with the rich sonata literature for piano and violin. Soon they became eager to share their favorites with this audience, as both have always enjoyed performing in Jackie and Bill’s spectacular music room. Tonight they present two of the works they have explored together this spring: music by Schubert and Beethoven. In addition, Myriam offers three solo piano gems by Chopin, including the celebrated G minor Ballade.
Spring seems an apt season for breathing fresh life into beloved masterpieces. You can expect an expansive array of passions within this program!
Myriam finds that Chopin’s music poetically reflects the full spectrum of emotions nesting in our hearts. Playing his nocturnes, she sees and imagines a “sad smile.” Playing his ballades, she feels his yearning, his protests, his fury, his sobbing, his kindness, his genuineness.
Together Myriam and Jane have marveled at the depth of pathos revealed by Schubert as a mere teenager, in the springtime of his brief life. Equally astounding is Beethoven’s having created such a sunny, exuberant sonata even as he was facing the heartbreak of his hearing loss. Increasingly, the musicians detect tragic notes in the glorious slow movement, the emotional heart of the sonata.
Program
Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849)
Nocturne in F minor, Op. 55 #1
Nocturne in E-flat Major, Op. 55 #2
Ballade in G minor, Op. 23
Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
Sonatina No. 2 in A minor, Op. post. 137, D. 385
Allegro moderato
Andante
Allegro
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
Sonata in G Major, Op. 30 #3
Allegro assai
Tempo di Minuetto, ma molto moderato e grazioso
Allegro vivace
Biographies
At the age of three, pianist Myriam Avalos gave her first public performance; at twelve she made her orchestral debut with the National Symphony Orchestra of Peru. She was awarded full scholarships to the Eastman School of Music and the Peabody Conservatory.
Dr. Avalos holds a doctoral degree in Chamber Music. She is a collaborative pianist at the Kennedy Center, maintains a private studio in Northern Virginia, and performs and teaches at festivals in the United States, Europe, and Latin America. Her presenters have included the Phillips Collection, Dumbarton Concert Series, Embassy Concert Series, Purcell Room in London, Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm, Voice of the OAS, San Antonio Festival, WGMS Radio, Teatro Municipal de Lima, and the U.S. State Department, which sponsored her tours of China and Brazil. For her pedagogy, Steinway & Sons recognized Dr. Avalos with the Top Teacher Award for outstanding instruction and leadership in piano education.
In 2004, Dr. Avalos was conferred the title of Cultural Ambassador by the Government of Peru. Her mission is to promote and expand the arts in Peru, and to present and exchange Peruvian artists and students throughout the world.
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Jane Bowyer Stewart is a first violinist with the National Symphony Orchestra, which she joined in 1981. She earned both her Bachelor of Arts (summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) and Master of Music degrees from Yale University.
A devoted chamber musician, Ms. Stewart is a regular guest artist with the Kennedy Center Chamber Players and the 21st Century Consort. She has performed extensively at the Terrace Theater, the Phillips Collection, the Corcoran Gallery, and the Library of Congress. Currently a member of the Columbia String Quartet and the Eclipse Chamber Orchestra, she has also performed and recorded with the Chamber Soloists of Washington, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Chamber Ensemble, and the Manchester String Quartet. Her several chamber music CDs include one Grammy nominee.
As a concerto soloist, Ms. Stewart has appeared with the National Symphony, the New Jersey Symphony, and the Eclipse Chamber Orchestra. She plays a violin made in 1691 by Venetian master Matteo Goffriller.
“A performance of sincerity and opulence. . . . The amazing range of [Avalos’] tone and faculty for expression went beyond the powers of most players.” – The Times of London
“[A] spectacular and virtuosic performance. . . . Stewart’s technique was breathtaking but never overpowering. She has a seemingly effortless ability to create elegant phrases.” — Washington Post
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