Program: Alessandro Rolla CONCERTANTE DUO in E-Flat Major for Violin and Viola, Op. 5 Sebastian Huydts Selected Movements from Delicias de Blancanieves (27 Spanish Fairy Tales) (2015) Justinian Tamusuza MU KKUBO ERY’OMUSAALABA for Clarinet Quartet (1993) (Arr. by Kathryne Pirtle and Florentina Ramniceanu) Antonin Dvorak PIANO QUARTET in E-Flat Major, Op. 87 About the Orion Ensmble: Florentina Ramniceanu, Violin Judy Stone, Cello Kathryne Pirtle, Clarinet Diana Schmück, Piano Recognized as one of Chicago’s finest chamber music groups, the ORION ENSEMBLE…

"I’ve heard her perform in public many times, and each time the audience reacted as I’ve not heard since Horowitz took the stage. Had Ketevan Kartvelishvili lived in any era, she would have been hailed as a keyboard giant.” — PAUL HARVEY, JR. Ketevan Kartvelishvili was born to a family of physicists in Tbilisi, Georgia. Her extraordinary talent was recognized at the age of five. When she was twelve, she made her debut performance with the Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra. Ketevan…

The New York Times has hailed Daniel Baer as a pianist who plays with “fluidity, warmth, and sparkle” who “achieved the often elusive…goal of putting virtuosity at the service of bigger ideas.” He has performed across the United States and Europe, including in solo and collaborative recitals at the International Bergen Arts Festival, the Grieg Society of Oslo, Avery Fischer Hall, Kilbourn Hall, Nichols Hall, and Steinway Hall. Dr. Baer won first prize, the Marshall Prize, at the 2015 Grieg…

LING-JU LAI, a native of Taiwan, has garnered consistently favorable reviews for her creative interpretation of Baroque keyboard music, particularly the music of J.S. Bach. Sir András Schiff expresses, “Ms. Lai has a questing musical mind. Her approach is unusual and valuable, a very gifted musician and pianist.” The Baltimore Sun writes, “The depth of the sound sinks in with startling poignancy as Ling-Ju Lai lets the notes linger long in the air…a moment of musical insight to savor.”  Featured…

With his zany, heartfelt songbook of Broadway, the Great American Songbook, and specialty ditties, that ‘one-man parade of entertainment’ Scott Gryder, with the amazing Nick Sula on piano, brings a night of musical mayhem to PianoForte with SIMPLY SCOTTY!

Rising guitarist Tobias James “performs with great energy, musicality, technique and a genuine enthusiasm for the repertoire” (Jason Vieaux, Grammy-Award winning guitarist) and is bursting onto the musical scene with great passion. A native of the Chicago area, Tobias was born into a musical family where he started to play Suzuki classical guitar at age six and Suzuki cello at age eight. After studying guitar at the Northwestern High School Music Institute as a freshman in high school, he decided…

Jeremy Siskind is celebrating the release of a new book and CD of his Perpetual Motion Etudes by performing a special classical-meets-jazz crossover album with Grammy-winning pianist Angelin Chang. The two will exchange written-out performances and improvised explorations, showcasing their virtuosity while staring in the face of musical danger. Fans of Brad Mehldau, Chick Corea, Nikolai Kapustin, Herbie Hancock, Fred Hersch, Egberto Gismonti, and others will love this performance. MTNA teachers welcome! Pianist-composer JEREMY SISKIND is “a genuine visionary” (Indianapolis…