Hoff-Barthelson Music School HB Artist Series presents violist Chi-Chi Lin Bestmann and The Solace Ensemble

Hoff-Barthelson Music School HB Artist Series presents violist Chi-Chi Lin Bestmann and The Solace Ensemble

HBMS Faculty members perform a program of piano quartets by Beethoven and Dvořák

Violist Chi-Chi Lin Bestmann and The Solace Ensemble are the featured artists at Hoff-Barthelson Music School’s HB Artist Recital Series on Sunday, December 11, 2016, at 5:00 pm at the Greenville Community Church, 270 Ardsley Road, Scarsdale. The Solace Ensemble, comprised of Bestmann and fellow HBMS faculty members April Johnson, violin; Peter Seidenberg, cello; and Tomoko Uchino, piano, will perform Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Quartet in E flat Major, Op. 16 and Antonín Dvořák’s expressive Piano Quartet No. 1 in D Major, Op. 23. Program subject to change.

Admission to the recital is $18, $15 for seniors (65+) and free of charge to HBMS students and students 18 years of age and younger. Tickets are available for purchase at the door, or can be ordered by calling 914-723-1169, or by e-mailing hb@hbms.org. Tickets to a series of three or ten recitals are available at a reduced rate.

For Additional Information:
For additional information: 914-723-1169, hb@hbms.org, www.hbms.org.

About the Solace Ensemble:
Violist and conductor CHI-CHI LIN BESTMANN enjoys a diverse career, from performing Mozart in Carnegie Hall to jamming with rapper Jay Z at Radio City Music Hall to conducting The Annual Westchester All-County Orchestra Festival. Her ability to straddle both the role of musician and conductor across many genres has led her to venues including Saturday Night Live, Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Merkin Hall, performing with artists including Kurt Masur, Beyoncé, and Enya. In addition to presenting recitals and collaborative concerts in the US, Europe and Asia, Ms. Bestmann is a devoted teacher. Currently, she teaches at Hoff-Barthelson Music School, The Avenues School, and the Extension Division of Mannes College The New School for Music. Her commitment to education inspired her to found the “Petite Concerts” program, which has the mission of offering live-music experiences to young children and cultivating classical music audiences of the future.

APRIL JOHNSON, violinist, has performed throughout the U.S. as soloist, chamber musician and orchestral freelancer. She has appeared as concertmaster with the Jupiter Symphony and the Galatea Ensemble, the Queens Oratorio Society and the Canton Symphony of Canton, Ohio. She has also performed with the Norwalk Symphony as assistant concertmaster, and the New York Chamber Soloists, the Ridgefield, Bridgeport, New Haven, Fairfield, Harrisburg Symphony Orchestras, and the Pennsylvania Philharmonia. With her husband, cellist Peter Seidenberg and pianist Kate Boyd, she is a member of The Oracle Trio. She has recorded with Lyrichord, Dorian and Newport Classics labels. She has been a member of the faculty of Hoff-Barthelson since 1993.

Cellist Peter Seidenberg has performed in major halls throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia. He made his solo debut with the Chicago Symphony, and has since appeared as soloist with many orchestras, including the Century Orchestra of Osaka, Japan, the New American Chamber Orchestra, the De Paul Chamber Orchestra, New York Chamber Soloists, and the Eastman Rochester Philharmonic. For four years he served as principal cellist with the Century Orchestra of Osaka. He was founding member of the critically acclaimed Elements Quartet which created groundbreaking commissioning projects involving over 30 composers. He has collaborated with members of the Cleveland, Tokyo, Juilliard, and Emerson Quartets, and has participated in the Marlboro, Aspen, Caramoor, Casals, and Norfolk Festivals. Mr. Seidenberg is a Hoff-Barthelson faculty member.

Tomoko Uchino, a native of Japan, has performed in recitals and concerts throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. As a soloist, she has been a top prize winner in such competitions as the Ettlingen International Piano Competition for Young Pianists in Germany and the Takahiro Sonoda Piano Award International Competition in Japan. She has also appeared in recitals, collaborating with numerous instrumentalists and vocalists in concert halls that include Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Weill Hall, Herbst Theater in San Francisco and Hamarikyu Hall in Tokyo, Japan.  Currently she is a member of the chamber music faculty at Hoff-Barthelson Music School.

About the HB Artist Series:
Hoff-Barthelson Music School’s teaching faculty includes many preeminent performers who hold chairs in prominent New York orchestras, are members of world-class chamber ensembles, and are in international demand as solo artists. Our superb faculty has contributed to the Music School’s national recognition for unsurpassed leadership in music education and performance. Hoff-Barthelson is proud to present these distinguished performers on its annual HB Artists Series. Held in Scarsdale, these recitals guarantee riveting music making of the highest caliber, in an intimate setting, at prices far below those in New York’s major concert halls.

About Hoff-Barthelson Music School:
One of Westchester County’s most cherished and active cultural resources, Hoff-Barthelson Music School has achieved national recognition as a premier community music school for its unsurpassed leadership in education, performance and outreach for more than seventy years.

Pictured: Violist Chi-Chi Lin Bestmann, photographed by Becky Oehlers.