Eureka Chamber Music Series: Piano Quartet Performing April 27th

The Piano Quartet, featuring Vladimir Stoupel, Judith Ingolfsson, Tom Stone, and Melissa Kraut

The Eureka Chamber Music Series presents their final concerts of the season with a superb Piano Quartet featuring superstar violinist Judith Ingolfsson, violinist and ECMS artistic director Tom Stone, cellist Melissa Kraut, and pianist Vladimir Stoupel on Saturday, April 27th at 7:30 p.m. at Calvary Lutheran Church in Eureka, and on Sunday, April 28th at 3:00 p.m. at the Lutheran Church of Arcata.

Repertoire for the Saturday evening concert includes Kodály’s Intermezzo for String Trio, Mozart’s Piano Quartet No. 1 in G Minor, Debussy’s Sonata for Violin and Piano in G Minor, and Fauré’s Piano Quartet No. 1 in C Minor. On Sunday afternoon, a special Concert & Conversation will feature a fresh set of musical offerings interspersed with insights about the music and music-making coming directly from the artists, featuring repertoire by Beethoven and Rebecca Clarke, a British-born composer and violist who spent much of her life in the United States and whose “passionate and powerful” music reflects many of the major musical styles of the early 20th Century, but remains largely unpublished.

Mainstage Concert tickets are $40 general and $10 for students. Concert and Conversation tickets are $20 general and $5 for students. Tickets may be purchased in advance by following the links on www.eurekachambermusic.org, or by searching the Eureka Chamber Music Series Collection on Eventbrite. Any remaining tickets will be sold at the door.

Born in Reykjavik, Iceland, to an Icelandic father and Swiss mother, Judith Ingolfsson began her violin studies at the age of 3 and gave her first public performance on Icelandic State Television at age 5. She is recognized for her intense, commanding performances, uncompromising musical maturity, and charismatic performance style.

Based in Berlin and Baltimore and enjoying a global career, she performs regularly as soloist, chamber musician and in recital as the Duo Ingolfsson-Stoupel, founded in 2006. The New York Times has characterized her playing as producing “both fireworks and a singing tone” and Strings Magazine described her tone as “gorgeous, intense, and variable, flawlessly pure and beautiful in every register.”

Ingolfsson studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and at the Cleveland Institute of Music with Jascha Brodsky, David Cerone, and Donald Weilerstein. In addition to winning the Gold Medal at the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis in 1998, Ingolfsson was also a prizewinner at the Premio Paganini Competition in Genoa and at the Concert Artists Guild Competition in New York. In 1999, she was honored by National Public Radio as Debut Artist of the Year.

Ingolfsson is currently Professor of Violin at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, co-artistic director and founder of the Festival Aigues-Vives en musiques in France and the International Bach Academy Eisenach in Germany. She performs on a Lorenzo Guadagnini violin, crafted in 1750, and a viola by Yair Hod Fainas.

Pianist Vladimir Stoupel is an individualist with an extremely rich tonal and emotional palette. His extraordinary technical command allows him to explore the outermost limits of expression, mesmerizing audiences with his musical intensity. As a piano soloist, he has appeared with orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Konzerthaus Orchestra Berlin, the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig, the Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio, the German Symphony Orchestra and the Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin.

The Washington Post praised his “protean range of expression,” and Der Tagesspiegel Berlin described his performance as “enthralling,” After a solo recital, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung granted the pianist a critic’s greatest compliment: “Unforgettable!”

In recent years Stoupel has also made a name for himself as a conductor. He conducts chamber operas at Konzerthaus Berlin and has guest conducted orchestras including the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, the Mainz State Orchestra, the Brandenburg State Orchestra, the Czech Chamber Philharmonic, the Berlin Kammerphilharmonie, the Orquesta Sinfonica de Cuidad d’Oviedo, the Mendelssohn Chamber Orchestra Leipzig and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Marseille among others. In 2022 Stoupel was decorated by the French government as Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres.

Together, the Duo Ingolfsson-Stoupel was formed with the goal of exploring new paths and directions in the intimate atmosphere of the violin-piano recital. They have found common interests and passions in the music of the 20th century. Their aim is to present programs that explore the countless fascinating connections between composers, history, and the power of musical communication. Within this context, many projects were born in the nearly 20 years they have worked together.

Co-head of the cello department at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Dr. Melissa Kraut is recognized as one of the leading pedagogues of her generation. Having developed and trained some of the outstanding young musicians of today, Kraut has demonstrated a unique ability to teach all ages and stages of dedicated students, helping them reach their highest potential both at and away from the cello.

With degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music, the University of Iowa, and Northwestern University, Kraut has had the opportunity to study with the great pedagogues Alan Harris and Hans-Jorgen Jensen as well as summer study/master classes with cellists such as Aldo Parisot, Frank Miller, Yo-Yo Ma, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi and David Soyer. As a student, she participated in the Aspen Music Festival, Banff Center for the Arts and the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival in Europe.

An active performer, Kraut has led a diverse career on stage, with solo and chamber performances throughout the United States and Europe. She has held leadership positions in several orchestras, and has played under the baton of conductors such as Sir Georg Solti, Valery Gergiev and Semyon Bychkov.

Kraut currently enjoys performing chamber music with her friends and colleagues throughout the world. She also enjoys reaching students from all over the world through master classes and workshops. Her status as a Suzuki Teacher Trainer enables her to pass on her love of pedagogy to the next generation of teachers. In addition, she is passionate about public speaking and the ability to reach audiences of a larger scope, about topics broader than the cello.

Kraut’s students have achieved great success, with top prizes in National and International competitions. Her students have won the Gold Medal and Audience Award at the Gaspar Cassado Competition in Hachioji, Japan, Grand Prize in the Music Teachers National Association Competition, First Prize in the American String Teachers Association, Grand Prize in the Walgreen’s Competition, Grand Prize in the Fischoff Competition, as well as prizes in many local and regional competitions.

Tom Stone was a founding member of the Cypress String Quartet and performed thousands of concerts throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Praised by Gramophone for “artistry of uncommon insight and cohesion,” and by the New York Times for “tender, deeply expressive” interpretations, they recorded over 15 albums and are heard regularly on radio stations throughout the world.

Stone was born in Chicago where he studied music with Hilel Kagan. At age 16 he attended Tanglewood Music Festival where he coached with Eugene Lehner of the Kolisch Quartet and played in an orchestra under the direction of Leonard Bernstein. After this experience, his focus on music became increasingly intense. Stone went on to pursue studies at the Eastman School of Music and the Cleveland Institute of Music. His major teachers have included Donald Weilerstein, Gyorgy Sebok, and Merry Peckham.

Stone is currently artistic director of the Eureka Chamber Music Series and Vice President of InterMusic SF. He has served as artistic director of Centrum Chamber Music Festival and as a board member of Chamber Music America. He has also served as Vice-President for Strategic Initiatives at Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chorale.

Dedicated to mentoring and training the next generation of exceptionally talented musicians, Stone has mentored the prize winners of the Banff International String Quartet Competition and has been a visiting artist at Harvard, MIT, Stanford, University of California, Berkeley and other elite universities. Stone plays on a violin made in Cremona, Italy by Carlos Bergonzi, circa 1725.

Stone and Kraut grew up playing music together in childhood, sharing one of their very first string quartet experiences. They continue to share a strong musical bond that has developed over more than four decades. Ingolfsson and Stone met in school where they studied with the same violin teacher, Donald Weilerstein, who was the founder of the Cleveland Quartet. Additionally, Ingolfsson, Stoupel, and Kraut have been performing and teaching together at music festivals for decades.

Incorporated in 2019 as a non-profit after decades of private funding, the Eureka Chamber Music Series serves to enrich the cultural landscape of the North Coast by bringing world-class musicians to Humboldt County, and by ensuring that the mission of ECMS is community supported and sustainable. Public concerts presented in Eureka and Arcata, as well as county-wide educational outreach programs, are funded through the generosity of local businesses, individuals, and foundations, as well as by subscription and individual ticket sales.

Mainstage Concert

Date: Saturday, April 27, 2024

Time: 7:30 p.m.

Location: Calvary Lutheran Church, Eureka

Price: $40 General, $10 Students

Concert & Conversation

Date: Sunday, April 28, 2024

Time: 3:00 p.m.

Location: Lutheran Church of Arcata

Price: $20 General, $5 Students Advanced Ticket Purchase: www.eurekachambermusic.org

Duo Ingolfsson-Stoupel

Tom Stone

Melissa Kraut