2017-18 Sunday Recital Series Opens with Violinist Emily Ondracek-Peterson and Pianist Richard Masters

The Music Department at Mary Baldwin University is pleased to announce the first Sunday Recital of the season. On Sunday, September 24 at 3 pmacclaimed violinist Emily Ondracek-Peterson and pianist Richard Masters will take the stage at Francis Auditorium. They will treat the audience to a delightfully varied program, which includes works of Heinrich Biber and Philip Glass, along with the masterful Third Sonata of Johannes Brahms.

“This program features two pieces which may be new to audiences (Biber and Philip Glass) and one old chesnut (the Brahms),” explains pianist Masters.  “I think of it as a ‘something for everybody!’ program. The Biber Sonata is an odd one in that the violinist imitates animal sounds(!). Biber was ahead of his time and one of the first violinists to explore what we now call ‘extended techniques.’” The duo will also perform a recent sonata composed by American Philip Glass.

“General audiences are perhaps most familiar with Glass’s film music; his score for The Hoursbeing the most famous,” says Masters. “This is a rare chance for audiences to hear this sonata, which is a perfect distillation of his minimalist style. I find it hypnotic and beautiful!” They will close the program with Brahms’s magnificent Third Sonata in D Minor, a favorite both with audiences and performers. Of the three violin sonatas, it is often considered the most dramatic, with moments of turmoil alternating with calm and repose.

Emily Ondracek-Peterson began studying violin at age 4 and gave her solo debut at age 16 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. As first violinist of the acclaimed Voxare String Quartet, she has performed in every major hall in New York including as soloist with the New York Philharmonic in Avery Fisher Hall. She is the director of string studies and full-time professor of violin at the Metropolitan State University of Denver and is also on the faculty at Teachers College, Columbia University.

Richard Masters is a soloist, opera coach, chamber musician and orchestral pianist based in Blacksburg, VA, where he is an assistant professor of piano and collaborative piano at Virginia Tech’s School of Performing Arts. Significant collaborations include concerts with Grammy-winning baritone Donnie Ray Albert, the late Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano Barbara Conrad, and many others.

Mary Baldwin’s Sunday Recital Series also includes performances by pianist Paulo Steinberg (October 8); soprano Jessica Spafford (November 5); the Terra Voce Flute-and-Cello Duo (January 28); pianist Lynne Mackey (February 11); and clarinetist Lynda Dembowski with pianist Lise Keiter (March 18). Audiences will also not want to miss the opening Carl Broman Concert—the award-winning Seraph Brass (an all-female brass quintet) performs Tuesday, November 14 at 7:30 pm.

Single tickets for September 24 may be purchased at the door and are $5 for the General Public and $4 for students and seniors (free for Mary Baldwin students). Season tickets are also available. To purchase tickets online or find more information, please visit https://go.marybaldwin.edu/arts/music/ or call 540-887-7294.