The Ciompi Quartet

Presented by Jonathan Bagg, viola

Tickets available from the Duke University Box Office.

The first concert of the Ciompi Quartet Presents 2023 Summer Chamber Music Series features Jonathan Bagg with guest artists Benjamin Fingland (clarinet), Maiani da Silva (violin), Emely Phelps (piano) and Laura Gilbert (flute). The title for his presentation is drawn from a Bartók work that was written for Benny Goodman in 1938. The program features a unique musical combination with unusual instrumentation.

Program: Béla Bartók Contrasts; George Crumb Eleven Echoes of Autumn (1966); Undine Smith Moore Afro-American Suite (1969)

Jonathan Bagg is Professor of the Practice at Duke University. As violist with Duke’s Ciompi String Quartet, he has performed hundreds of concerts in the U.S. and around the world. Currently co-Artistic Director of Electric Earth Concerts in New Hampshire, he also directed the Monadnock Music festival for six years. Bagg has performed at the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, the Portland Chamber Music Festival, the Eastern Music Festival, Sebago Long-Lake, Highlands-Cashiers, Mohawk Trail, and Castle Hill festivals. He is principal viola with the CityMusic Cleveland Chamber Orchestra and has appeared with many notable ensembles, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Bagg has recorded solo vi0la music on the Bridge, Albany, Centaur and Gasparo labels.

Clarinetist Benjamin Fingland’s playing has been praised for its “spiritedness and humor,” “unflagging precision and energy,” and “eloquence and passion” (NY Times). He is a founder of the critically acclaimed new music collective counter)induction and a member of the renowned Dorian Wind Quintet. He has performed, recorded, and toured worldwide, collaborating with a broad variety of artists – ranging in scope from Brooklyn Rider, to Pierre Boulez and the Ensemble Intercontemporain, to jazz/pop icons Ornette Coleman and Elton John. Formerly Principal Clarinet of the New Haven and Prometheus orchestras, he is currently Principal Clarinet of the New Jersey Festival Orchestra. A graduate of The Juilliard School, he teaches at Sarah Lawrence College and the Third Street Music School in NYC. He has performed at the Festival since 2022.

Maiani da Silva is a contemporary violinist, performer, arranger, and educator.  She is a member of the four-time Grammy-winning sextet Eighth Blackbird, co-founder of performance-art duo The Furies, as well as Lecturer at Yale’s Department of Music and Visiting Distinguished Professor at University of Oregon. She has premiered concertos with the Cincinnati Symphony and the U.S. Navy Band, premiered staged works by David Lang/Anne Bogart, and has also collaborated with Bang On a Can All-Stars, Electric Earth Concerts, Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music, Wild Up, Louis Andriessen, Viet Cuong, Ted Hearne, Nina Shekhar, Childish Gambino, George Lewis, Taylor Mac, Julianna Barwick, Joe Hisaishi, and more.  Maiani studied under the tutelage of Irina Muresanu at The Boston Conservatory at Berklee, and Mela Tenenbaum in Brooklyn, N.Y.  Other mentors include Lenny Matczynski, and Andrew Mark. She is also an Artist in Residence and Fellow at Yale University’s Morse College.

For more info: https://www.maianidasilva.com

Praised by the Boston Globe for her “fleet, energetic, and bright-toned” playing, pianist Emely Phelps enjoys a multilayered career as a soloist, chamber musician, and teacher.  A finalist for the 2019 Pro Musicis International Award, Emely has given nearly 40 performances over the past two years, including Brahms’s Second Piano Concerto with the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony Orchestra and Ohio University Symphony Orchestra, and solo recitals at Denison University and Bucknell University. Emely has presented recitals throughout North America and Europe with repertoire ranging from Bach to Carter, and is a passionate advocate for new music. She has worked closely with Jörg Widmann, Shulamit Ran, Lei Liang, Robert McClure, and Richard Wernick in performances of their works. As a founding member of Trio Cleonice, Emely spent eight years with the ensemble, performing across the United States, touring Europe and winning second prize at the Schoenfeld International String Competition in Harbin, China. Emely performs regularly at the Icicle Creek Chamber Music Festival and with Electric Earth Concerts. She is currently Artist-Teacher of Piano at Ohio University.

Laura Gilbert, has appeared worldwide as flutist and lecturer. She is co-Founder/Artistic Director of Electric Earth Concerts and is a founding member of Auréole Trio. She has performed with many ensembles including Musicians from Marlboro, Brandenburg Ensemble, Music at the “Y,” Saint Luke’s Ensemble, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, New York Philharmonic and Speculum Musicae, as well as Borromeo, Brentano, and Saint Lawrence string quartets. Laura performs with guitarist Antigoni Goni: as advocates of folk-inspired classical music, the duo has commissioned and recorded many new works. Her discography includes over 30 solo and chamber music recordings. Laura is principal flutist of CityMusic, Cleveland and Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic and serves on the faculties of Mannes College of Music and Saint Ann’s School.