Lee To Host Duo-B For A Guest Recital Wednesday

Lee University will present guest musicians Duo-B, along with faculty members Dr. Megan Chisom Peyton on viola and Dr. Cahill Smith on piano, to perform a chamber music recital on Wednesday, at 8 p.m. in Squires Recital Hall. 

The program will feature works by Beethoven, Schumann, Martinu, and Rochberg. 

“Duo-B is unique in the music world due to their dedication to works for violin and cello duo,” said Dr. Smith, assistant professor of piano. 

Duo-B members violinist Hirono Sugimoto Borter and cellist Philip Lawrence Borter met at the Hochschule fur Musik-Freiburg in Germany in 2009. Since then, they have dedicated their careers to promoting the wealth of music for violin and cello duos. As winners of the Eastman Concerto Competition, they have performed across three continents including landmark performances in Kodak Hall at the Eastman Theatre, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the Universitat der Kunste in Berlin, and Minatomirai Hall in Yokohama, Japan. 

At a young age, Ms. Borter received multiple awards through competitions in Japan and has since appeared regularly as a soloist with professional chamber orchestras. She has traveled throughout Europe presenting masterclasses and festivals in Austria, France, Germany, Holland, and Italy. 

Mr. Borter has appeared on stage with different artists including Andrea Bocelli, Joshua Bell, and Michael Tilson, among others. He also performs frequently with the Rochester Philharmonic, Richmond Symphony, and Naples Philharmonic. Most recently, he won the American String Teachers Association Competition and has been recognized at other national and international competitions as well. 

“Individually they are consummate artists, but together they deliver performances at a level which few ensembles can attain,” said Mikhail Kopelman of the Kopelman Quartet. 

Duo-B has a repertoire representing music from a great variety of genres and cultures. In addition to performing this repertoire, the two musicians place an emphasis on the communicative power and intimacy found in the string duo. 

A native of Dallas, Texas, Dr. Peyton began playing viola at age 12. Since then, she has performed across the United States as a chamber and orchestral musician. Currently, she is a member of the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera, where she also serves as music librarian. She is a Suzuki-trained teacher and maintains a studio where she works with private students and chamber music groups of all ages. 

Dr. Peyton is a graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy. She holds doctorate and master’s degrees in viola performance from the University of Georgia with a doctoral minor in music theory and a bachelor of music in viola performance from the University of Texas at Austin. 

Born and raised in Alabama, Dr. Smith began playing at age 10. He has given recitals at venues in the U.S. and abroad, including three programs at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, the PolyTheater in Chongqing, China, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s Calderwood Hall in Boston, Cleveland Museum of Art, the Royal Dublin Society’s Concert Hall, and Kodak Hall. He has also been featured as a concerto soloist with the National Ukrainian Symphony Orchestra in Kiev, the Eastman Philharmonia, the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, and more. 

Dr. Smith earned his Doctorate of Musical Arts at the Eastman School of Music. There, he won the Eastman Concerto Competition and was awarded the Prize in Excellence for Teaching as a graduate assistant. He earned his master’s degree at the University of Michigan and his bachelor’s degree at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is a festival artist for Lee’s International Piano Festival and Competition in the summer. 

Duo-B will also present a masterclass with Lee chamber music students on Monday from 2-4 p.m. in Squires Recital Hall.  

Both events are free and open to the public. 

For more information about the recital or the masterclass, call 614-8240 or email music@leeuniversity.edu.