Gloria Chien
Ricardo Morales
Miro String Quartet
Lee University will host its third ChamberFest for the final installment of its 25th Presidential Concert Series. The three-concert event featuring pianist , clarinetist Ricardo Morales, and the Miro String Quartet begins Monday, March 13, in Pangle Hall at 7:30 p.m. On Tuesday, March 14, ChamberFest will continue with a 6:30 p.m. performance at the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga as part of the String Theory concert series of which Chien is the Artistic Director. On Wednesday, Chamberfest will return to Lee’s campus for the final concert which will take place in Squires Recital Hall at 7:30 p.m.
Monday’s performance will include Prokofiev’s Overture on Hebrew Themes, Brahms’ String Quartet no. 1, and Brahms’ Piano Quartet, No. 3. Tuesday’s concert will feature Weber’s Grand Duo Concertante and Clarinet Quintet, while Wednesday’s will include Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet and Dvorak’s Piano Quintet.
A masterclass with Mr. Morales will take place at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, also in Squires Recital Hall. Students from the studio of Nick Hartline and Lee’s Will Casada will perform.
Dr. Chien is an artist-in-residence at Lee, and has been a member of the Lee music faculty since 2004. She began playing piano at the age of five in her native Taiwan. Hailed as “a coat-of-many-colors pianist,” she is a prize winner of the World Piano Competition, the San Antonio International Piano Competition, and a recipient of the Harvard Musical Association Award. Dr. Chien has presented solo recitals at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Harvard Musical Association, Sanibel Musical Festival, Caramoor Musical Festival, Salle Cortot in Paris, and the National Concert Hall in Taiwan.
Dr. Chien was appointed the director of the Chamber Music Institute at Music@Menlo, a chamber music festival and institute in the San Francisco Bay Area, and has participated there for 10 years. She has been a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since 2012, and now frequently plays at Alice Tully Hall in New York as well as other venues around the country with CMS on Tour. She is the founding director of String Theory at the Hunter, a chamber music series in Chattanooga, now in its eighth season, and was recently named co-artistic director with Soovin Kim of the Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival, an August festival in Burlington, Vermont. Dr. Chien is a Steinway artist.
Mr. Morales, one of the most sought after clarinetists of today, joined the Philadelphia Orchestra as principal clarinet in 2003. Prior to this, he was principal clarinet of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. His artistry as a soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician has been recognized in concert halls all around the world. He has been a featured soloist with many orchestras, including the Metropolitan Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the Cincinnati Symphony, the Indianapolis Symphony, the Seoul Philharmonic, and the Flemish Radio Symphony.
A native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Mr. Morales began his studies at the Escuela Libre de Musica and continued his studies at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and Indiana University, where he
received his Artist Diploma.
The Miró Quartet returns to Lee for this special celebration of chamber music. Formed in 1995, the quartet is consistently praised for its deeply musical interpretations, exciting performances, and thoughtful programming. For the past 20 years, they have performed throughout the world on the most prestigious concert stages, earning accolades from critics and audiences alike. Based in Austin, Texas, the Miró takes pride in finding new ways to communicate with audiences of all backgrounds while honoring the longstanding tradition of chamber music.
Highlights of recent seasons include a highly anticipated and sold-out return to Carnegie Hall to perform Beethoven’s Opus 59 quartets, a performance at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center as part of the CMS of Lincoln Center’s inaugural residency, and the world premiere of a new concerto for string quartet and orchestra by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts.
Tickets for the Monday and Wednesday concerts are $15 for adults and $5 for seniors and children and are available at the Lee University Box Office in the Dixon Center or by contacting 614-8343, Monday-Friday, 3-6 p.m.
Tickets for the Tuesday evening String Theory performance are $30 for members of the Hunter Museum, $40 for non-members, and $10 for students and can be purchased by visiting http://stringtheorymusic.org/tickets/ or calling 414-2525.
For more information about ChamberFest, contact Kristi Vanoy at kvanoy@leeuniversity.edu or 614-8243.