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Sunday, January 11, 2026
— a “hybrid” event —
BogaSuToff Quartet
Natasha Bogachek, violin
Zino Bogachek, viola
Joseph Gotoff, cello
Wan-Chi Su, piano
Storms, but Light:
Mozart and Brahms
Two masterpieces in minor keys shape an evening of intensity, reflection, and radiance. Mozart’s Piano Quartet in G minor, K. 478 was bold and unconventional at its premiere—expansive in scale, dramatic in voice, and alive with striking contrasts. Set in one of Mozart’s most turbulent keys, the work balances urgency and lyricism, offering moments of both orchestral power and intimate dialogue.
Brahms’s Piano Quartet No. 3 in C minor, Op. 60 dives even deeper into emotional terrain. Long in the making and often described as Brahms’s most personal chamber work, it wrestles with darkness, longing, and inner conflict, yet reveals passages of remarkable warmth and clarity. Its sweeping architecture and raw expressiveness place it among the great achievements of Romantic chamber music.
PROGRAM
Piano Quartet in G minor, K. 478 (1785)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
I. Allegro
II. Andante
III. Rondo
Piano Quartet No. 3 in C minor, Op. 60 (1875)
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
I. Allegro non troppo
II. Scherzo. Allegro
III. Andante
IV. Finale. Allegro comodo
Praised by The American Scholar for her “sensitivity and imagination,” pianist Wan-Chi Su, a native of Taiwan, is an active performer, collaborator, and educator. She has appeared at distinguished venues including Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage, Washington National Cathedral, and Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore.
Wan-Chi is a founding member of Duo Sorolla and an artist with the Piatigorsky Foundation, through which she performs widely throughout the United States in both traditional concert halls and community-centered settings. She frequently collaborates with musicians from the National, Baltimore, and Philadelphia Symphony Orchestras.
An advocate for contemporary music, Wan-Chi has premiered numerous works and collaborated with composers such as George Walker, Aaron Jay Kernis, and Binna Kim. She serves as organist at Memorial Episcopal Church in Baltimore and is on the faculties of Georgetown University and Loyola University Maryland. She is the Artistic Director of Chamber Music in Historic Landmarks, curating chamber music programs in partnership with Manor Mill in Monkton, Maryland.
Wan-Chi holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University.
Praised for his “clarity and an approachable sensitivity” (The Boston Musical Intelligencer), cellist Joseph Gotoff is recognized as a thoughtful and emotive performer, scholar, and teacher. With a repertoire spanning the Baroque to the modern era, Joseph is a champion of living composers, and has premiered works by Lowell Liebermann, Cody Forrest and Binna Kim among others. In 2020, his debut album “The Voice of the Cello” was released to critical acclaim on the Spice Classics label.
Joseph is most passionate about chamber music, and has appeared as a recitalist and chamber musician in concert halls across Europe, Asia and the Americas. In the United States, he can often be seen performing with such diverse ensembles as Counterpoint Concerts, Washington Classical Arts, the New Orchestra of Washington, and the Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra. His recital programming, with duo partner and pianist Dr. Wan-chi Su, focuses largely on works by female composers of the 20th and 21st century. This season, Joseph will premiere a cello concerto by composer Cody Forrest with the Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra, in addition to performing the iconic Schumann Cello Concerto at the National Music Festival in June 2026.
A dedicated teacher and mentor, Joseph was appointed to the faculty of Towson University as Assistant Professor of Cello in 2021, where he also serves as conductor of the Towson University Symphony Orchestra. As a conductor, Joseph is passionate about bringing to life both classic works and lesser-known gems. Joseph also teaches at Levine School of Music in Washington, D.C., where he instructs adult cello ensembles as well as conducting the Levine Philharmonic. Joseph’s festival appearances the Orfeo International Music Festival in Vipiteno, where he performed as a member of the Chestertown Piano Quartet, as well as Summer Music in Tuscany in Sarteano, Italy. He has served as an artist mentor for the National Music Festival since 2023.
Joseph Gotoff plays on a Frank Ravatin cello made in 1995. His mentors include Orlando Cole, Barbara Stein-Mallow, and Yeesun Kim, with additional chamber music studies from the Brentano and Borromeo String Quartets.
Violinist Natasha Bogachek, a native of Russia, received her B.M. and M.M. degrees from the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory and continued her studies at the Peabody Conservatory, earning both her Graduate Performance and Artist Diplomas. Her primary teachers include A. Vinnitsky, B. Senofsky, and H. Greenberg.
Ms. Bogachek’s past solo engagements include performances in Russia, former Yugoslavia, France, and Finland with orchestras such as the Sverdlovsk Philharmonic and Sibelius Academy Symphony, among others.
While in the United States, she has appeared as a soloist with the National Symphony, Knoxville Symphony, Centennial Philharmonic, and Eclipse Chamber Orchestras, and performed with various chamber music groups throughout the country. Ms. Bogachek was a member of the Knoxville Symphony and the North Carolina Symphony prior to joining the National Symphony Orchestra in September 2000.
Duo Concertone — Zino and Natasha Bogachek, the husband and wife violin/viola duo, were both born in the former Soviet Union and share many similarities in their lives. They both attended special music schools for gifted children and continued their studies with renowned violinists and master teachers – Natasha in Moscow Conservatory with Prof. A. Vinnitsky and Zino in Lviv Conservatory with Prof. M. Veitzner. At an early age they began concert careers, performing recitals and appearing as soloists with various orchestras in the former USSR, Europe and the United States. They met and were married after coming to the United States when Natasha was earning an Artist Diploma at Peabody Conservatory with Professors B. Senofsky and H. Greenberg and while Zino received his Master’s Degree from Boston University studying with Professors Y. Mazurkevich and E. Lehner. Duo Concertone was founded in 1997 out of a desire to offer audiences a variety of programs including a lesser-known repertoire of works for two violins. Since then Duo Concertone has performed numerous recitals throughout the United States and Italy, including solo appearances with Centennial Philharmonic and Eclipse Chamber Orchestra and recorded for classical music radio stations in Colorado and Tennessee. In 2003 Duo Concertone in collaboration with Vernissage Records released a world premiere recording of Telemann’s Six Sonatas for Two Violins, Op. 2. Praised for their homogeneity and style, Duo Concertone has presented critically acclaimed programs of works taken from three centuries of music. Currently, Zino and Natasha are members of the Washington, D.C. major ensembles, the Washington National Opera Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra respectively.
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