This concert is made possible by the Musical Performance Trust Fund, and the American Federation of Musicians Local 161-710.
Performers
| Kayla Moffett, violin | Adria Sternstein Foster, flute |
| Erika Gray, viola | Susan Robinson, harp |
| Amy Frost Baumgarten, cello |
Program
| Maddalena Lombardini Sirmen String Trio in D Major, Opus 1 no. 3 – Allegro cantabile – Menuetto. Grazioso Allegro assai | (1745 -1818) |
| Lera Auerbach Three Dances in the Old Style for violin and cello – Andantino scherzando – Andante – Andante | (b. 1973) |
| Juhi Bansal Trail of Stars for solo harp | (2022) |
| Stella Sung Dance of the White Lotus Under the Silver Moon for flute and harp | (b. 1959) |
| Intermission | |
| Elena Ruehr Red for solo violin | (2008) |
| Fanny Mendelssohn from String Quartet in Eb – III. Romance | (1805 -1847) |
| Libby Larsen Trio in Four Movements for flute viola and harp | (b. 1950) |
About the Performers
Cellist Amy Frost Baumgarten enjoys a robust performing and teaching career. Highlights have included three trio tours in rural France; guest performances with Colorado Chamber Players; a quintet tour across South Africa; multiple recitals on NPR with Eastern Chamber Players; a year with San Francisco’s musician-led New Century Chamber Orchestra; and concerts with D.C’s own chamber collective, the Inner Loop Chamber Players. She serves as Lecturer at the Rome School of Performing Arts at Catholic University and has taught at Eastern Festival of Music since 1992. In 2000 Amy joined the Washington National Opera/Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra as principal cellist. In addition to opera and ballet, her performances there include dozens of shows in the string quartet for Hamilton; as a featured soloist with American Ballet Theatre and Dance Theater of Harlem; and onstage in Steve Martin’s musical “Bright Star.”
Praised by the Washington Post for her “molten phrasing” and tone of “sheer iridescence,” Adria Sternstein Foster is the Principal Flutist of the Washington National Opera/Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra. Solo recordings include Vivaldi’s flute concerto “Il Gardellino” on the disc IBIS x 2, and Iridescence, a CD of works for flute and harp with harpist Susan Robinson. A graduate of the Juilliard School, Adria is honored to have collaborated with her mentor Jeanne Baxtresser on Volume 2 of the indispensable publication for flutists: “Orchestral Excerpts for Flute with Piano Accompaniment.”
D.C. based violist Erika Gray has been captivating audiences worldwide for two decades with her rich sound and charismatic stage presence. A sought-after chamber player and orchestral musician, she frequently appears as a substitute with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Washington National Opera/Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, and the National Symphony. Inspired by summers at Angel Fire, Erika worked with Midori as a quartet participant in her International Community Engagement Program (ICEP), bringing music to hospitals, schools, disability facilities, and detention centers in Cambodia and Japan. She is a member of the Kassia contemporary chamber music ensemble whose innovative programming blends classical traditions with folk and rhythmic influences. She is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music where she received her bachelor’s degree in music performance. Erika performs on a 2011 Gary Garavaglia viola from the William Harris Lee shop in Chicago.
Kayla Moffett enjoys a diverse career of orchestral and small ensemble leadership, chamber music, and teaching. Before starting her position as Principal Second Violin of the Washington National Opera/Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, she played four seasons as a full-time member of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. She played on and wrote the liner notes for their Grammy award-winning album with violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja. Kayla is also a member of the Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center and a core member of Sound Impact, an organization that serves underprivileged youth in the DMV area and helps train the next generation of Latin American classical musicians in Panama. She also plays with the self-conducted string orchestra A Far Cry. Kayla performs in Duo Violet, a violin duo that champions living composers and lost compositions of the 20th century with Minnesota Orchestra violinist Sarah Grimes. She has been a fellow at Yellowbarn, Tanglewood Music Center, and the Lucerne festival in Switzerland. She received her Masters’ from Yale University, where she studied with Syoko Aki and received the Yale Chamber Society award, and went to USC under Martin Chalifour for her BM, where she won first prize in the annual Solo Bach Competition.
Susan Robinson is the principal harpist of the Washington National Opera/Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra. She has performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Boston ‘POPS,’ Tampa’s Florida Orchestra and the Sarasota Opera Festival, and the National Symphony Orchestra. An avid performer of chamber music, Susan was a founding member of IBIS Chamber Music, which was praised as “splendid” and “compelling” by the Washington Post. Her recordings include the CD “Iridescence” with flutist Adria Sternstein Foster, and IBIS CD’s “Souvenir: Music for Violin and Harp” and “IBIS x 2” performing harp concerti by Handel and Debussy. A life in music has brought such adventures as travels throughout the US, Greece, Europe, the Far East and South Africa, playing at Super Bowl XXXVI (the Patriots won!), and performing with acclaimed violinist Joshua Bell at the memorial service of Dr. Jane Goodall. Susan is a graduate of Harvard University with a cum laude degree in Art History and French Literature. She also holds an Artist Diploma in Harp Performance from the Boston University School for the Arts, where she was a student of Lucile Lawrence.
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