J.S. Bach – Sonata for Viola de Gamba in G Major, BWV 1027
Edgar Meyer – Trio 1986
Edgar Meyer – New Trio
- INTERMISSION -
Edgar Meyer – Trio 1988
"In 1986-1988 I wrote a series of 3 string trips that I premiered with Daniel Phillips and Carter Brey at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. These were the first longer pieces that I had conceived as such, and they set the tone for my next 4 decades. Only one was partially recorded. After meeting Tessa and Joshua a few years ago, I realized that they were perfect for helping me document this personal milestone. I also have set out to write a new trio for us to 'complete the thought'. Following the tour, we will record the old trios and the new one as a set."
- EDGAR MEYER
Commissioning support provided by:
Aspen Music Festival and School, Robert Spano, Music Director
Big Ears Festival
Cal Performances
Jay and Susie Gogue Performing Arts Center at Auburn University
The Lied Center of Kansas – University of Kansas
VIOLIN
Violinist Tessa Lark is one of the most captivating artistic voices of our time, consistently praised by critics and audiences for her astounding range of sounds, technical agility, and musical elegance. In 2020 she was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Classical Instrumental Solo category, and she is also a highly acclaimed fiddler in the tradition of her native Kentucky.
Highlights of Lark’s 2023-24 season include the world premiere of Carlos Izcaray’s Violin Concerto – written for her – under the composer’s baton; and concerts with the Stuttgarter Philharmoniker that mark her European orchestral debut. She reprises Michael Torke’s violin concerto, Sky – also written for her, and the 2020 recording of which earned her a Grammy nomination – with Oklahoma’s Signature Symphony and the Sarasota Orchestra; returns to South Carolina’s Greenville Symphony, the Virginia Symphony, the Buffalo Philharmonic and England’s City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra; and performs as a chamber musician in duos with double bassist Michael Thurber and jazz guitarist Frank Vignola.
Lark’s newest album, The Stradgrass Sessions, features a mix of original compositions by the violinist and her collaborators – double bassist Edgar Meyer, pianist Jon Batiste, mandolinist Sierra Hull and fiddler Michael Cleveland – with a sonata by Eugène Ysaÿe, Bartók violin duets arranged for violin and mandolin and the world premiere recording of John Corigliano’s STOMP. Her debut commercial recording was the Grammy-nominated SKY, and her discography also includes Fantasy on First Hand Records; Invention, marking the debut album for the violin-bass duo made up of Lark and her fiancé, Michael Thurber; and a live performance recording of Astor Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires with the Buffalo Philharmonic.
The violinist has performed with orchestras, recital venues and festivals around the world. She is a recipient of the Hunt Family Award, one of Lincoln Center’s prestigious Emerging Artist Awards, as well as a 2018 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship and a 2016 Avery Fisher Career Grant.
In addition to her performance schedule, Lark champions young aspiring artists and supports the next generation of musicians through her work as Co-host/Creative of NPR’s From the Top. She also serves as Mentor and board member of the Irving M. Klein International Strings Competition.
Lark is a graduate of New England Conservatory and completed her Artist Diploma at The Juilliard School. She plays a ca. 1600 G.P. Maggini violin on loan from an anonymous donor through the Stradivari Society of Chicago.
CELLO
Joshua Roman is a cello soloist and composer, hailed for his “effortlessly expressive tone… and playful zest for exploration” (New York Times), as well as his “extraordinary technical and musical gifts" and “blend of precision and almost improvisatory freedom… that goes straight to the heart" (San Francisco Chronicle). His genre-bending programs and wide-ranging collaborations have grown out of an “enthusiasm for musical evolution that is as contagious as his love for the classics" (Seattle Times).
Committed to bringing Classical music to new audiences, Roman opened the acclaimed 2017 TED Conference, and his performance of the complete Bach Solo Cello Suites after the 2016 U.S. Presidential election was the most-viewed event in the history of TED’s social channels, with nearly a million live viewers. Roman has collaborated with world-class artists across genres and disciplines, including Edgar Meyer, DJ Spooky, Tony-winner/MacArthur Genius Bill T. Jones, Grammy Award-winning East African vocalist Somi, and Tony Award-nominated actor Anna Deavere Smith. His solo performance with the YouTube Symphony at Carnegie Hall was viewed by 33 million people across nearly 200 countries, with Yo-Yo Ma introducing him as “one of the great exemplars of the ideal 21st century musician.”
As a soloist, Roman’s “exceptionally high quality of performances” (LA Times) combines “the expressive control of Casals with the creative individuality and virtuoso flair of Hendrix himself” (Gramophone). He has performed with leading orchestras around the United States and the world, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, New World Symphony, Toronto Symphony, BBC Scottish, and Mariinsky Symphony Orchestra, and he was principal cellist at Seattle Symphony from age 22 to 24.
As a composer, he has been commissioned by Music Academy of the West, Illinois Philharmonic, ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, Grace Cathedral, and more, and he has written for the JACK Quartet, violinist Vadim Gluzman, and conductor David Danzmayr. Equally accomplished as an interpreter of the music of other contemporary composers, Roman has premiered works by Mason Bates, Reena Esmail, Timo Andres, Gabriela Lena Frank, Aaron Jay Kernis, Lisa Bielawa, and others.
A native of Oklahoma City, Roman studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music with Richard Aaron and Desmond Hoebig, and is grateful for the loan of an 1899 cello by Giulio Degani of Venice.
DOUBLE BASS
Hailed by The New Yorker as "...the most remarkable virtuoso in the relatively un-chronicled history of his instrument,” Mr. Meyer’s uniqueness in the field was recognized when he became the only bassist to be awarded the Avery Fisher Prize in addition to a MacArthur Award.
He was honored with his fifth GRAMMY® Award in 2015 for his "Bass & Mandolin" recording with Chris Thile and has been nominated for Best Instrumental Composition, Best Contemporary Instrumental Album, and Best Global Music Performance for the upcoming 66th Annual GRAMMY Awards.
Edgar Meyer’s current projects include the new recording entitled “As We Speak” with Béla Fleck, Zakir Hussain, and Rakesh Chaurasia, released in May 2023. The first leg of the “As We Speak” tour in April and May preceded the album release, and went out again in November of 2023 for the second leg. Meyer recently completed a duo recording with Christian McBride, as well as a recording of his 3 concertos with The Knights, conducted by Eric Jacobsen and produced by Chris Thile. In June of 2023, to complete the concerto project, he recorded his Concertino for Bass and 14 Strings in the UK with the Scottish Ensemble led by Jonathan Morton, who commissioned and toured the piece with Meyer in spring of 2022.
Additionally, Meyer is part of a five-composer group, each composing a movement for a US premiere with Joshua Bell and the New York Philharmonic in September of 2023.
In fall of 2024, his newly formed trio with violinist Tessa Lark and cellist Joshua Roman will tour the US, performing string trios he composed in the 1980’s as well as a newly commissioned work. Mr. Meyer is the subject of an ongoing documentary filmed and produced by Tessa Lark, Andrew Adair, and Michael Thurber.
