Piano on Park presents:
Sam Boutris & Hilda Huang - clarinet and piano duo
Clarinetist Sam Boutris’ nuanced and genuine performances balance artistic originality with elegant interpretations that engage both audiences and critics alike.
Doors at 7.00 pm; Music at 7:30 pm
free admission (with donation for musicians appreciated)
PROGRAM:
Ravel: Vocalise-étude en forme de Habanera
Pierné: Canzonetta
Cahuzac: Cantilene
Verdi/Bassi: Concert Fantasia on “Rigoletto”
Schumann: Fantasiestücke
Brahms: Sonata in Eb, Op. 120
Sam Boutris’ current and recent season highlights include a featured recital on the award-winning Crypt Sessions series in New York City, a live broadcast solo recital on WQXR’s Midday Master Series at the Greene Space; solo recitals at Dame Myra Hess (Chicago) Lincoln Centers’ Paul Hall and Wilson Theater, the Harvard Club of New York, La Maison Française at New York University, and a featured recital of the Mozart and Brahms Clarinet Quintets with the Attacca Quartet on the Rockerfeller Noon Series.
Boutris was the recipient of the ‘Musica Solis’ grand prize at the 2019 Chamber Music Northwest International Clarinet Competition and subsequently performed the Mozart Clarinet Concerto with the festival orchestra on two programs. Other recent concerto engagements include performances with the Vermont Mozart Festival Orchestra and the Yale Undergraduate Chamber Orchestra
As an orchestral musician Boutris has performed as guest principal clarinet with the Louisville Symphony Orchestra, and ‘Symphony in C.’ He has also appeared as guest clarinet with the New Haven and Princeton symphonies.
Mr. Boutris habitually contrasts the standard clarinet literature with his own adaptations of violin, piano, and vocal repertoire, which he incorporates generously into his programs.
A native of Fort Worth, Texas, Boutris began his orchestral studies as a member of the Fort Worth Youth Symphony. Since then, Boutris has been a member of the Curtis Symphony and Yale Philharmonia and has performed many concerts in collaboration with musicians from America’s top orchestras, allowing him to engage with orchestral musicianship of the highest level. He has rehearsed and performed under the baton of many renowned conductors including Charles Dutoit, Yannick Nezet-Seguin, and Giancarlo Guerrero, among others. Boutris has made appearances as soloist with orchestras across the nation, and has also participated in a number of music festivals across the globe spanning from Dresden’s annual music festival to Carnegie Hall’s famed New York String Orchestra Seminar. Boutris has been a member of the Lake George Music Festival Symphony Orchestra since 2015. These collaborations and others have lent Boutris the opportunity to perform in close quarters with world-class artists including Joseph Silverstein, Roberto Diaz, and Noah Bendix-Balgley.
Starting in the fall of 2017, Boutris took a position in the prestigious Artist Diploma program at the Juilliard School in New York. He also holds degrees from Yale University and the Curtis Institute of Music.
Sam Boutris performs Cantilene by Cahuzac
website: http://samboutris.com
Pianist Hilda Huang came to international attention after being awarded first prize in the 2014 Leipzig International Bach Competition. The first American to have received this prize in the history of the competition, she also has the singular distinction of being awarded the top prizes at both the Würzburg and Tureck International Bach Competitions. Her performances of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and more recently Ludwig van Beethoven have been hailed for achieving “philosophical depths” (West-Allgemeine Zeitung) and for possessing an “alluring extroversion” (New York Concert Review); she has been praised for a “mind that can multi-task and ears that can... ‘multi-listen’” (San Francisco Examiner),
Huang made her professional, orchestral, and recording debut in 2008 under Erich Kunzel with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra (From the Top at the Pops, TELARC). Since then, she has appeared in recital at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, at BASF Ludwigshafen, and both the Leipzig and Montréal Bach Festivals as part of the Steinway Prizewinners' Concert Network. She presents annual solo recitals under the auspices of Thürmer Pianos at venues in Bochum and Meißen in Germany, San Francisco Noontime Recitals at Old St. Mary’s Church, and the Whitney Cultural Arts Center in New Haven, CT. She will also return as soloist with the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra in the 2019-2020 season, after appearing as their Debut Artist in 2011.
Highlights of the upcoming seasons include recitals at the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts Series in Chicago, IL and at High Point Univesity in High Point, NC. Her Masters Recital at Yale University in New Haven, CT will feature Bach’s French Overture and Beehtoven’s Diabelli Variations. She will moreover make appearances at Chamber Music Northwest and the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival in Norfolk, CT. Her debut solo album, Hilda Huang plays Bach, is set to release on Orpheus Classical in 2020.
Hilda Huang studies with Melvin Chen at the Yale School of Music, where she pursues a Masters of Music, serves on the student advisory board, and received the Harriet Gibbs Fox Memorial Prize for achieving the highest GPA in the first year of study. Previously, she was a long-time student of pianist John McCarthy and harpsichordist Corey Jamason in the Preparatory Division of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She has received additional instruction in performance, musicianship and conducting from Michael Friedmann, Wu Han, Robert Levin, David Shifrin, and Benjamin Simon.
Huang graduated magna cum laude from Yale College in 2017, receiving a B.S. in chemistry with distinction and the Wrexham and Sharp prizes from the department of music. Her work on the music of J.S. Bach has been featured on Michael Lawrence’s documentary film, Bach and Friends, as well as Discovery Channel’s Curiosity.com. She is a 2013 Presidential Scholar in the Arts, a Gold Award recipient from the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts’ YoungArts Week, and a 2008 Davidson Fellow.
website: http://www.hildahuang.com/
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
This concert has limited seating available (First Come First Sit!). If you need to be able to sit, please kindly send us a message so we can reserve a chair for you. Also keep in mind that the event is taking place in a "shoe-free zone". Choose your socks wisely!
About Piano on Park:
Piano on Park offers an intimate and refreshing way to experience live music. The house concert series was launched when pianist Cyrus von Hochstetter opened his doors to host regular performances by soloists, chamber ensembles and small bands of all musical styles and colors. The venue enables a direct and unhindered exchange between performers and public, resulting in a unique and impactful musical experience.