Montreal Chamber Music Festival presents

Canada Arts Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank Winners / Lauréats de la Banque d’instruments du Conseil des arts du Canada

A free 55-minute lunchtime concert featuring the new generation of rising stars.

Artists
Byungchan Lee, violin

Violinist Byungchan Lee is a sought-after performer in solo, chamber, and orchestral concerts on the international stage. First garnering global attention as prizewinner of the inaugural 2009 Yuri Yankelevitch International Violin Competition, he was selected as one of Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s “Next!” classical music stars in 2015 and was subsequently named one of their “30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians Under 30” in 2017.  Lee has played alongside Stevie Wonder at the Bell Centre in Montreal, and was featured as solo violinist in photographer Edward Burtynsky’s digital installation “In the Wake of Progress” filmed at Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto. He has been featured in The Strad and La Scena Musicale, and heard on CBC/Radio-Canada, ICI Musique, The New Classical FM, and BBC Radio 3 (UK).  He has also performed in most major halls across Canada, and in prominent venues around the world including Alice Tully Hall and David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Helsinki Music Centre, and the Berwaldhallen in Stockholm.

Lee has performed as soloist with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the McGill Symphony Orchestra as winner of the McGill Concerto Competition, I Medici di McGill (Montreal), and Prairie Virtuosi (Saskatoon).  He was invited by the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra as guest alumni soloist at their 85th anniversary gala in 2015.  He has concertized extensively throughout Canada at productions presented by the Arte Musica Foundation, Banff International String Quartet Festival, Festival de Lanaudière, Fondation Place des Arts, Montreal Chamber Music Festival, Orford Musique, Ottawa Chamberfest, Vancouver Chamber Music Society, and the Korean Cultural Centre/Korean Embassy in Ottawa.

Lee received his Master of Music in 2018 from The Juilliard School graduating with a Norman Benzaquen Career Advancement Grant for artistic merit and leadership. He received his Bachelor of Music in 2015 and Artist Diploma in 2016 from McGill University’s Schulich School of Music, where he was recipient of the Lloyd Carr-Harris Scholarship and the Golden Violin Award – Canada’s largest collegiate music prize.

Chloé Dominguez, cello

Chloé Dominguez maintains a very active life as cellist in the Montreal contemporary and chamber music community. Chloé completed in 2009 her Ph.D. in Performance under the guidance of Matt Haimovitz, at McGill University, where she won the largest privately funded music scholarship in Canada, the Schulich School of Music’s Golden Violin award.

Deeply committed to contemporary music, and an associate of the interdisciplinary research centre CIRMMT,  she is solo cello of the Ensemble Contemporain de Montréal + and has premiered many works. Chamber music being at the heart of her activities, she has shared the stages with artists such as Mark Fewer, James Campbell, Paul Stewart, Charles-Richard Hamelin, Jonathan Crow, Douglas McNabney, Andrew Wan and Guy Few. Chloé is a member of the ensemble Spirit ’20 and is the solo cello of the McGill Chamber Orchestra,  As a chamber musician and soloist, Chloé has appeared at the Festival de Lanaudière, Concerts aux Iles du Bic, Montreal Chamber Music Festival, MusiMars, Domaine Forget, Festival of the Sound, Casalmaggiore, Computer Music Conference, Orford Arts Centre and the Festival Classica. She was a recipient of many prestigious awards and scholarships including Radio-Canada’s Jeunes Artistes and Galaxie awards, the first prize at the Festival de musique du Royaume, Canada Council for the Arts Career Development grant as well as the Schulich Scholars and the Max Stern Fellowship in Music from McGill University.

Chloé Dominguez was a guest cello teacher at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University in 2014-2015. She currently teaches chamber music at McGill University and at the summer music academy of the Domaine Forget and cello, at the Université du Québec à Montréal.

Kevin Ahfat, piano

An artist that “leaves no question about his riveting presentation and technical finesse” (Seattle Times), Canadian pianist Kevin Ahfat is acclaimed to be “poised to become one of the young heirs of the classical piano realm, with a bold, boundary-pushing, millennial style matched by refined execution” (Vanguard Seattle). Possessing “a balanced mix of expressiveness and virtuosity” (Musical America), he “summons plenty of thunderpower in the big moments, but clearly values musicianship over mere showmanship” (American Record Guide).

Ahfat continues performances and recordings as the newest core member of the three-time Grammy-nominated ARC Ensemble, one of Canada’s preeminent chamber ensembles and foremost cultural forces.  Their latest releases on Chandos Records have been nominated for a 2022 Juno Award, 2022 OPUS Klassik Award, as well as being named one of the “Top 10 classical musical albums of 2020” by The Boston Globe and one of WQXR’s “Best Classical Albums of 2020”.

Ahfat was named one of CBC Music’s 30 hot Canadian classical musicians under 30 in 2018 and subsequently released a live recording of Brahms from CBC’s Studio 211.  Highlights of recent seasons include engagements as soloist throughout North America and abroad, including at the Maison symphonique in Montreal, at the Toronto Centre for the Arts and Harbourfront Centre in Toronto, Alice Tully Hall in New York, and with the Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra in Los Angeles.  Further highlights include a return to the Seattle Symphony at Benaroya Hall for its first-ever Shostakovich Concerto Festival, as well as a partnership with Richard Alston & Juilliard Dance in their recreation of Alston’s Sheer Bravado (2006) in New York.

Program
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Sonata for Violin and Piano in E-flat major, Op. 12 no. 3
Allegro con spirito
Adagio con molt’ espressione
Scherzo. Presto – Trio. Andante sostenuto
Rondo. Allegro molto

Piano Trio in E-flat major, Op. 70 no. 2
Poco sostenuto – Allegro ma non troppo
Allegretto
Allegretto ma non troppo
Finale. Allegro

Bourgie Hall
Monday, June 12th, 2023 at 12pm
To reserve your free tickets visit: www.placedesarts.com

To learn more about the Montreal Chamber Music Festival visit: www.themontrealeronline.com/2023/05/the-montreal-chamber-music-festival

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