Lee University music professor Dr. ChoEun Lee, piano, and Chattanooga Symphony & Opera Associate Concertmaster Dr. Josh Holritz, violin, will perform a recital on Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the Squires Recital Hall, in Lee’s Humanities Center.
Drs. Lee and Holritz will present three of Beethoven’s Sonatas for Violin and Piano. Beethoven’s compositions for violin and piano cover a period from about 1797 until 1812. The first three works were dedicated to one of Beethoven’s teachers in Vienna, Antonio Salieri, from whom Beethoven received lessons free of charge for two years. From Salieri, Beethoven acquired a growing understanding of vocal writing. This concert is the first of several concerts over the next few years in which the complete sonata cycle will be performed.
Dr. Lee has extensive collaborative experiences in vocal and chamber music repertoires and has given numerous performances in Korea, the United States, Austria, Italy, Australia, and New Zealand, in major venues including Carnegie Hall in New York City, Ozawa Hall in Tanglewood Music Center and Harris Concert Hall in Aspen Music Festival.
She currently serves as an assistant professor in collaborative piano and vocal coaching at Lee University. She has worked in recitals and masterclasses with renowned musicians such as Stephanie Blythe, Phyllis Curtin, Dawn Upshaw, Martin Katz, and Anne Sofie von Otter, among others.
Dr. Lee was twice invited to Tanglewood Music Festival and has been named a recipient of the Grace B. Jackson Prize. In the summers of 2016 and 2017, she was invited to the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, and will be returning in 2018.
Noted for his “particularly outstanding” playing, Dr. Holritz is a violinist and violist who has performed as soloist, orchestral, and chamber musician in Europe, Asia, Africa, and in more than 20 states around the continental United States.
Dr. Holritz is currently the associate concertmaster of the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera. He has been a member of the Glens Falls Symphony, Greensboro Symphony, and served as concertmaster for the Buffalo Community Orchestra. He has performed with the Vienna Radio Orchestra and New World Symphony and currently substitutes with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra and Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
An avid chamber musician, Dr. Holritz was a founding member of the Emmaus Quartet which gave over 100 performances in the Southeast between 2004-2006. He currently maintains a busy performance schedule with Schaafritz, a duo with his wife, CSO principal flutist Kristen Holritz. Additionally, he performs weekly with the CSO String Quintet in their effort to bring classical music to local schools and the greater Chattanooga community.
Dr. Holritz currently serves as adjunct instructor of violin for The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and adjunct professor at Covenant College where he teaches violin, viola, and chamber music.
The Friday evening recital is free, non-ticketed, and open to the public.
For more information about the concert, contact the School of Music at 614-8240 or by email at music@leeuniversity.edu.