CMNW New@Night: Protégés United

• Tate Zawadiuk, cello
• Anton Nel, piano
• Aiden Kane, viola
• Lucy Wang, violin
• Hao Zhou, violin

This thrilling triptych of new works are all the products of CMNW's wildly successful Protégé Project! They will include the West Coast premiere of Alistair Coleman's Cello Sonata, Descendants, a new solo piece composed by Viano Quartet violist Aiden Kane, and the world premiere of a new string quartet by this year’s Protégé composer Kian Ravaei. Come raise a glass to toast these inspiring next-generation artists, and our Protégé Project!

About Viano String Quartet

Praised for their “virtuosity, visceral expression, and rare unity of intention” (Boston Globe), the Viano Quartet are one of the most sought-after performing young ensembles today and currently in-residence at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Bowers Program from 2024-2027. Since winning First Prize at the 2019 Banff International String Quartet Competition, they have traveled to nearly every major city across the globe, captivating audiences in New York, London, Berlin, Vancouver, Paris, Beijing, Toronto, Lucerne, and Los Angeles.

The quartet was named the inaugural June Goldsmith Quartet-in-Residence for the Music in the Morning series in Vancouver until 2025, where their focus will be to commission new works and lead extensive community engagement initiatives. The quartet has also held residencies at the Curtis Institute, Colburn Conservatory, Northern Michigan University, and Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University.

About Chamber Music Northwest (CMNW)

Chamber Music Northwest serves more than 50,000 people annually in Oregon and SW Washington with exceptional chamber music through over 100 events annually, including our flagship Summer Festival, year-round concerts, community activities, educational programs, broadcasts, and innovative collaborations with other arts groups. CMNW is the only chamber music festival of its kind in the Northwest and one of the most diverse classical music experiences in the nation, virtually unparalleled in comparable communities.

Chamber Music Northwest's mission is to inspire our community through concerts and events celebrating the richness and diversity of chamber music, performed by artists of the highest caliber, presenting our community with exceptional opportunities for enjoyment, education, and reflection.

About Tate Zawadiuk, cello

Canadian cellist Tate Zawadiuk is both soloist and chamber musician. Most recently, he performed as a soloist with James Ehnes and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra for their Centennial Celebration Gala Concert. Mr. Zawadiuk has also performed as a soloist with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vancouver Philharmonic, New Westminster Symphony, Richmond Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra, and the Vancouver Academy of Music Orchestra. In these concerts, Mr. Zawadiuk worked with renowned conductors such as Bramwell Tovey, Otto Tausk, Pierre Simard, Evan Mitchell, Leslie Dala, and Edmond Agopian.

As a chamber musician, Mr. Zawadiuk is a founding member of the Viano String Quartet, in residence at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Bowers Program from 2024-2027. The quartet won First Prize at the 2019 Banff International String Quartet Competition. They also won Third Prize at the 2018 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition, and in 2017 they won Third Prize at the Osaka International String Quartet Competition. The Viano String Quartet is the Quartet in Residence at the Colburn Conservatory of Music.

About Anton Nel, piano

Anton Nel, winner of the first prize in the 1987 Naumburg International Piano Competition at Carnegie Hall, continues to enjoy a remarkable and multifaceted career that has taken him to North and South America, Europe, Asia, and South Africa. Following an auspicious debut at the age of twelve with Beethoven’s C-major concerto after only two years of study, the Johannesburg native captured first prizes in all the major South African competitions while still in his teens, toured his native country extensively, and became a well-known radio and television personality. A student of Adolph Hallis, he made his European debut in France in 1982, and in the same year graduated with the highest distinction from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. He came to the United States in 1983, attending the University of Cincinnati, where he pursued his Master’s and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees under Bela Siki and Frank Weinstock. In addition to garnering many awards from his alma mater during this three-year period, he was a prizewinner at the 1984 Leeds International Piano Competition in England and won several first prizes at the Joanna Hodges International Piano Competition in Palm Desert in 1986.

Highlights of Mr. Nel’s four decades of concertizing include performances with the Cleveland Orchestra, the symphonies of Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, Seattle, Detroit, and London, among many others. An acclaimed Beethoven interpreter, Anton Nel has performed the concerto cycle several times, most notably on two consecutive evenings with the Cape Philharmonic in 2005. Additionally, he has performed all-Beethoven solo recitals, complete cycles of the violin and cello works, and most recently, a highly successful run of the Diabelli Variations as part of Moises Kaufman’s play 33 Variations.

As a recitalist, he has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Museum, the Frick Collection in New York, the Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, Davies Hall in San Francisco, and the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. Internationally, he has performed recitals in major concert halls in Canada, England (Queen Elizabeth and Wigmore Halls in London), France, Holland (Concertgebouw in Amsterdam), Japan (Suntory Hall in Tokyo), Korea, China, and South Africa.

About Aiden Kane, viola

American violist Aiden Kane has performed in North America, Europe, and Asia as a current member of the Viano Quartet, First Prize Laureates of the 2019 Banff International String Quartet Competition.

After leaving violin for the dark side, Aiden first studied viola with Daniel Foster through the National Symphony Orchestra’s Youth Fellowship Program. She subsequently earned a Bachelor’s and two Master’s degrees (in viola performance and chamber music studies, respectively) at the Colburn Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Paul Coletti. During her undergraduate years at Colburn, Aiden discovered her love for quartet life as the violist of the Calla Quartet, which received the Silver medal at the 2015 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, and presented Colburn’s inaugural Musical Encounters outreach program.

Since she joined the Viano Quartet, Viano has won prizes, weathered a pandemic, moved from one coast to another, studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in their string quartet-in-residence program, and joined the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Bowers Program – and Aiden loves quartet life even more for it all.

About Lucy Wang, violin

Canadian violinist Lucy Wang has garnered praise as an artist whose “technical prowess, tonal mastery, and stage presence can come as no surprise to anyone who has seen her work” (Peace Arch News). A native of Vancouver, she is a founding member of the Viano Quartet, First Prize Laureates of the 2019 Banff International String Quartet Competition and Bowers artists at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center from 2024-2027.

Lucy has performed as soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician in venues such as Walt Disney Concert Hall, Wigmore Hall, Izumi Hall, Carnegie Hall, and Konzerthaus Berlin. She is a recent graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music’s Nina von Maltzahn quartet-in-residence program, and holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Colburn Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Martin Beaver.

In addition to touring with the Viano Quartet, Lucy maintains an active individual presence on social media, with over 50 million views on her videos and over 600,000 followers across various platforms. Reaching people across six continents, Lucy aims to craft a unique path as an artist that builds bridges across different musical and cultural communities.

About Hao Zhou, violin

Captivating audiences worldwide with his unique exuberance and unbridled enthusiasm, American violinist Hao Zhou rose to international acclaim as both the Grand Laureate of the 2019 Montreal International Violin Competition and a First Prize winner of the 2019 Banff International String Quartet Competition. An accomplished soloist and chamber musician, his performances have taken him all over the world to cities such as Paris, Berlin, Brussels, Osaka, New York City, Beijing, Montreal, Banff, and London.

Hao is a founding member of the award-winning Viano String Quartet, the current 2019-2021 Ensemble-in-Residence at the Colburn Conservatory. Actively dedicated to bringing in audiences from outside the concert hall, the Viano has collaborated with actors and scriptwriters in a comedy theater show called "Over The Top," performed for thousands of elementary school children to bring classical music to younger audiences. His many awards with the Viano String Quartet also include the Grand Prize at the ENKOR Chamber Music Competition as well as Third Prize at the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition, where they also won the Sidney Griller Award and the Haydn Prize.

Hao is a graduate of the Colburn Conservatory of Music, where he studied extensively with Martin Beaver.