Seattle Chamber Orchestra: Grieg Finness'd
$50 ($35 ages 65 & over, $20 student w/ID)
- Brendan Shea, violin
- Erica Johansen, violin
- Jordan Voelker, viola
- Mara Finkelstein, cello
- Lorenzo Marasso, piano
Michael Finnissy — Grieg Quintettsatz (US premiere)
When was the last time you attended the US premiere of a piece by Edvard Grieg? Unless you were alive before 1907, never! And did you know that there are still works by the famous Nordic composer that have not been premiered? To experience two US premières in a single evening, join us on April 7 for SCO's inaugural concert.
On April 7, you will hear a lesser-known Piano Quintet by the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg, who began composing this work in 1892 but left it unfinished. In 2007, British composer Michael Finnissy took on the challenge to complete the piece and give justice to it. Parallel to this effort, Mr. Finnissy wrote his own Grieg-esque Piano Quintet, borrowing material from Grieg but also impersonating the contemporary artist who wishes to experience and reproduce works of the past, very much like how Pablo Picasso elaborated other works by Diego Velázquez, or Andy Warhol’s transcriptions of Leonardo, or David Hockney’s versions of Claude Lorraine’s Sermon on the Mount.
The two works received their European performance in Grieg’s native land at the 2013 Bergen International Festival and we are truly excited in bringing them to the US and to Pacific Northwest, an area with so many affinities with the European’s Nordic countries. Edvard Grieg’s Piano Quintet in B-flat Major and Michael Finnissy’s Grieg Quintettsatz will be performed by members of the Seattle Chamber Orchestra, with Violinist Brendan Shea, Violinist Erica Johansen, Violist Jordan Voelker, Cellist Mara Finkelstein and Pianist & SCO Music Director Lorenzo Marasso.
Join us at 7:15pm for an aperitif and a pre-concert talk with King FM’s Sean Maclean. Concert begins at 8pm, and a reception with wine and appetizers follows the performance. Admission includes wine upon arrival and following the concert a reception with light appetizers prepared by Seattle's finest.
About Seattle Chamber Orchestra
Founded in 2021, Seattle Chamber Orchestra seeks to bring music lovers tantalizing combinations of the traditional and modern, performed by world-class professional musicians. Brought to life through thoughtful programming that educates as much as it inspires, SCO seeks to reinvigorate live classical music, which has suffered most of all during the pandemic, by providing opportunities musicians and audiences to explore new music and challenge established boundaries.
https://www.seattlechamberorchestra.org/About Brendan Shea, violin
Brendan Shea is an award winning violinist and chamber musician. His chamber music awards were won when he played with the Wasmuth Quartet and include the Bronze Medal at the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition, Gold Medal and Audience Award at the Chesapeake International Chamber Music Competition, and Grand Prize at the Coleman Chamber Music Competition. As a founding member of the Wasmuth (now Verona) Quartet, he performed across the United States, Germany, and Japan.
Brendan has performed with many world class ensembles and performers. As a soloist he has performed with orchestras in Washington D.C, Brussels, Sendai, Indianapolis, and South Bend. His award winning duo, the Shea-Kim Duo, has competed internationally and performed recitals in Asia, Europe and North America. Their awards include the Ackerman Chamber Music Award and Gold Medal at the Manhattan International Music Competition. Their second CD, The Sound and the Fury, was released by Blue Griffin Records in November of 2021. He premiered Frederic Rzewski’s Night, Death, and Devil with the Emmy Award winning 8th Blackbird. He has been a finalist and semi-finalist at the Queen Elisabeth, Isang-Yun, Seoul, Sibelius, and Carl Nielsen, and has taken first place with Honors at the Glazunov International Competition in Paris. He and his wife Yerin Kim formed the Shea-Kim Duo in 2015, and recently released their first studio album "The Sound and the Fury '' Under Blue Griffon Records.
He recently moved to Seattle from South Bend, Indiana where he was a member of the Euclid Quartet at Indiana University South Bend, visiting professor of violin/viola at the University of Notre Dame, and concertmaster of the South Bend Symphony. He is currently the concertmaster of the Boise Philharmonic and Langroise Trio Artist-in-Residence at the College of Idaho.
https://www.brendansheaviolin.comAbout Erica Johansen, violin
Erica Johansen grew up on both coasts, spending equal childhood years on Cape Cod and in the Monterey Bay area. Since 1998 she has resided in the Pacific Northwest where she enjoys a healthy balance of teaching and performing while raising a family.
Johansen holds a Master of Music in violin performance from the University of Washington and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Puget Sound. Her primary teachers include Ed Seferian, Rochelle Walton, Kyung Chee and Rene Staar. Erica has been a member of the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra and the Lake Washington Symphony Orchestra and has also frequently performed with the Northwest Sinfonietta. In 2018 Johansen performed as a soloist with the Pazardzhik Symphony Orchestra in Bulgaria. Johansen enjoys performing with rock bands when she can and has performed with or recorded for artists including Zan Fiskum, Sky Cries Mary, Sera Cahoone, Sufjan Stevens, and Mastodon. Erica is currently concertmaster of the Lake Union Civic Orchestra and performs in the new music group Scrape. She is in her 14th year teaching and conducting at Lakeside School, where she runs a robust string program of four orchestras of students in grades 5-12.
About Lorenzo Marasso, piano
Lorenzo Marasso is an impassioned and sympathetic conductor, concert pianist, chamber musician, educator and radio host. Dubbed the "king of repertoire," Lorenzo's creative programming reveals lesser known masterpieces and rarely performed arrangements. Lorenzo's performances have been broadcast in numerous media outlets, including Seattle's 98.1 Classical King FM and NPR. In 2021 Lorenzo founded the Seattle Chamber Orchestra and is serving now as the ensemble's music director. In the same year he also started hosting a weekly radio program called Dress Rehearsal on 107.3FM KBFG Seattle. Equally inspired by contemporary music, Lorenzo has commissioned and performed world premieres of new works by several international composers who have written and dedicated pieces to him. In July 2020 he completed the Invention Project, a commission of new pieces for piano inspired by J.S. Bach's Inventions and Sinfonias. Further commissions included works composed by Michael Finnissy, Edward Cowie and Bernhard Lang.
https://www.lorenzomarasso.com