Trio to open fall Music Series at Akin
international piano trio of Alessio Bax, violinist Stefan Jackiw and cellist Paul
Watkins will open the 2013-2014 season of the Music Series at Akin at 7:30 p.m.,
Thursday, October 24, at Akin Auditorium at Midwestern State University. This is
the third season of the series, sponsored by the Perkins-Prothro Foundation and
Joe and Dale Prothro with the Lamar D. Fain College of Fine Arts at MSU.The
program will include Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 66 and
Rachmaninoff’s Piano Trio No. 2 in D Minor, Op. 9.“Normally one would have to
travel to New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago to see musicians of this caliber,”
said Dr. Tim Justus, Chair of the Department of Music. “This is a great
opportunity for the community to hear world-class performers right here in
Wichita Falls. We are fortunate to have this trio of artists be part of the Music
Series at Akin.”Bax, a native of Italy, is praised by critics for his elegant style and
lyricism at the piano. He has appeared as a soloist with more than 100
orchestras, including the London and Royal Philharmonic orchestras, and the
Dallas and Houston symphonies. He has recently performed at the Kennedy
Center in Washington, D.C., New York City’s Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, and with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He was
first-prize winner at the Leeds and Hamamatsu international piano competitions
and a 2009 recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant. He is the recipient of the
2013 Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award and recently received Lincoln Center’s
Martin E. Segal Award, which recognizes young artists of exceptional
accomplishment.Bax and his wife, pianist Lucille Chung, a Music Series at Akin
guest earlier this year, are the artistic directors of the Joaquin Achucarro
Foundation based in Dallas. The foundation aims to maintain the legacy of the
Spanish pianist with study opportunities, recitals, and concerts. They will release
a duo album, Bax & Chung, on Nov. 19.Paul Watkins has been called
“Britain’s finest cellist” by The Guardian. He was appointed principal cellist of the
BBC Symphony Orchestra at age 20, and has collaborated with world renowned
conductors such as Leonard Slatkin and Andrew Litton. He has performed with
the London Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic, and at concert halls such
as New York’s Lincoln Center. A dedicated chamber musician, Watkins was a
member of the Nash Ensemble from 1997 to 2013, and joined the Emerson
String Quartet in May 2013.Watkins also maintains a busy schedule as a
conductor. He won the 2002 Leeds Conducting Competition and has conducted
all the major British orchestra including the London Symphony Orchestra and the
Royal Philharmonic, in addition to international orchestras such as the Vienna
Chamber Orchestra, the Prague Symphony, the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris,
and the Melbourne Symphony. Watkins plays a cello made by Domenico
Montagnana and Mateo Goffriller in Venice, c. 1730.Violinist Stefan Jackiw
began playing the violin at age 4 and made his European debut in London while
Generated on 9/13/2015 8:18:43 PM, by iNews Publisher, Expinion.net
still a teenager. He has appeared as a soloist with the Boston, Chicago,
Cleveland, New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco symphony orchestras. In
2002, Jackiw received the Avery Fisher Career Grant. Critics at the Washington
Post wrote of him: “The violinist’s weeping tone and spot-on intonation made you
wonder whether this was what it was like to hear a Perlman or a Stern in his early
years.”He has released a CD of Brahms’ violin Sonatas with pianist Max
Levinson. Jackiw’s solo performance of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with the
YouTube Symphony Orchestra at Australia’s Sydney Opera House in March was
seen live on YouTube by more than 30 million people worldwide.The Miro
Quartet with pianist Shai Wosner will perform April 8, 2014. The Music Series at
Akin began in spring 2012 with pianist Yefim Bronfman. Cellist Alisa Weilerstein
and pianist Inon Barnatan, and Irish pianist Barry Douglas also have been guests
of the series.Tickets may be purchased by contacting the MSU Music
Department secretary at the Fain Fine Arts Center at 940-397-4267 between 1-5
p.m. when school is in session. Payments may be mailed to Music Series at
Akin, MSU Department of Music, 3410 Taft Blvd., Wichita Falls, Texas 76308.
Cash or check only, credit cards cannot be processed. General admission tickets
are $25 for each performance or $40 for season tickets. Tickets for senior
citizens and military are $22.50 for each or $36 for season tickets.
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