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Sunday May 7, 2022
Emerson Avenue Salonlines Proudly Presents
a Live YouTube Broadcast
– A “hybrid” concert –
Kassia
Bernard Vallandingham – violin
Adina Vallandingham – violin
Elizabeth Oka – viola
Susanna Mendlow – cello
Kassia Plays Quartets:
Mozart & Bartók
Program
Mozart String Quartet K. 428 in Eb
- Allegro non troppo
- Andante con moto
- Menuetto and Trio. Allegro
- Allegro vivace
Bartók String Quartet No. 3 Sz. 85
- Prima parte. Moderato
- Seconda parte. Allegro
- Ricapitulazione della prima parte. Moderato
- Coda. Allegro molto
Biography
Composer, violinist, and violist Bernard Vallandingham has performed throughout the US at venues including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and the Kennedy Center, and has worked with conductors Kurt Masur, Yuri Temirkanov, Zdenek Macal, Joseph Silverstein, Marco Armiliato, among others. At age 15 he was selected to be a National Symphony Orchestra Youth Fellow, where he was given on loan a 1690 Grancino violin for his remarkable talent. He completed his musical studies at Oberlin Conservatory and Manhattan School of Music where he studied violin and viola with Marilyn Macdonald and Isaac Malkin, and music theory, counterpoint and composition with Warren Darcy, Allen Cadwallader, and Mark Stambaugh. Mr. Vallandingham’s unusual versatility as a violist as well as a violinist has led to invitations to many chamber music festivals including the Kennedy Center Summer String Institute, Naples Chamber Music Festival, Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival, and Avaloch Farm Music Institute.
Currently Mr. Vallandingham resides near Washington DC where he plays with and composes for the Kassia Music Ensemble.
Romanian born violinist Adina Vallandingham is a graduate of Gheorge Dima Conservatory of Music, Cluj, Romania and has performed solo and chamber music internationally in Hungary, Austria, Germany, France, Romania, Holland, and throughout the United States in such venues as Filarmonica Transilvania Hall, Bucharest Athenaeum, Stuttgard Academy, Lyon Conservatory Music Hall, Kravis Center for the Arts, Miami Center for the Arts, Gusman Center for the performing Arts, Strathmore Music Center, among others. She has performed with well-established orchestras such as the Transylvania State Philharmonic, Florida Philharmonic Orchestra, Spokane Symphony, National Philharmonic Orchestra, Miami Opera, Palm Beach Opera under the batons of well-known conductors such as Peter Eros, Marco Armiliato, Stefan Sanderling, Cristian Mandeal, Joseph Silverstein, Fabio Mechetti and Roberto Brignoli among many others. Adina has recorded and performed with famous artists of different genres such as: Gloria Estefan, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Maria Guleghina among others. Adina is a member of the Washington DC based Kassia Music Ensemble and enjoys teaching and cooking world culinary dishes in her free time.
Elizabeth Oka has always loved the intimacy and versatility of chamber music. She has premiered new works in New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall, founded and performed with Sodam and the All-Stars throughout Miami Beach, and presented programs at various museums, correctional facilities, hospitals, bars, and retirement communities. She began playing violin at age 3 but switched to viola in high school. After completing a fellowship at the New World Symphony, Elizabeth joined the Washington National Opera/ Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra as assistant principal violist. She currently play with the Des Moines Metro Opera as principal violist. She has spent summers as a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, the Aspen Music Festival, and the Round Top Festival-Institute.
Elizabeth attended Tufts University and the New England Conservatory. She also served as the Associate Instructor in Viola while pursuing a performance diploma at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. Her many wonderful teachers include Ed Gazouleas, Martha Katz, and Lenny Matczynski. Outside of the viola, she enjoys hiking, reading, and finding new things to eat.
Susanna Mendlow was born to a family of music-lovers and sang her way through childhood. She discovered cello at the age of 6 and has been attached to it since. She plays in a wide variety of styles, including classical, world music, contemporary, and improvisation. Her unconventional musical interests have ushered her through the United States, Canada, Mexico, and across Europe. In 2011 she ventured to Central Asia as a member of Moyindau – a quartet that integrated experimental jazz, free improvisation, modern classical, and ethnic folk music. During her travels she broke bread with semi-nomadic Kyrgz tribes in the Pamir Mountains, danced the night away with children of an orphanage in Shymkent, and improvised with a Tajik didgeridoo player in Almaty. Upon returning to the States, Susanna pursued her DMA at SUNY Stony Brook, where she further nurtured her eclectic musical tastes, presenting a lecture-recital on the technique and art-form of singing while playing the cello. Susanna moved to DC in 2015, and she now serves on the faculty of Wa
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