Wie ein Lied: Songs without Words

Bloomfield Hills
Friday, March 29, 8 PM

Ann Arbor
Saturday, March 30, 8 PM

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Pre-Concert Lecture starts at 7:15pm

Violinist Aaron Berofsky will be appearing in place of Noyuri Hazama for both performances. 

In an era of virtuosity in instrumental music, many composers took to the Lied (art song) as an alternative genre of expression, but Leider also influenced instrumental music. Ensemble Florestan’s program explores Schubert and Beethoven’s most cantabile (singable) chamber works, including Schubert’s Grand Duo for Violin and Piano, D. 574 and Beethoven’s renowned ‘Archduke’ Trio, Opus 97. The lyricism in both works exposes their inspiration from the Lied– conceived with the human voice and its expressions in mind.

Violinist Aaron Berofsky has toured extensively throughout the United States and abroad, gaining wide recognition as a soloist and chamber musician. France’s Le Figaro calls his playing “Beautiful, the kind of music-making that gives one true pleasure.”  He has appeared in such renowned venues as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the 92nd Street Y, the Corcoran Gallery, Het Doelen, L’Octogone, Seoul National University, the Teatro San Jose and the Museo de Bellas Artes. Michigan native Eva Lymenstull has performed with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Holland Baroque Society, and as guest principal cellist of the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, Lyra Baroque Orchestra, and Apollo’s Fire. Shin Hwang, a prize-winner of the 1st International Westfield Fortepiano Competition, studied under Penelope Crawford and Arthur Greene at the University of Michigan, and then received the prestigious Fulbright Grant to study at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague.

Violinist Aaron Berofsky has toured extensively throughout the United States and abroad, gaining wide recognition as a soloist and chamber musician. As soloist, he has performed with orchestras in the United States, Germany, Italy, Spain and Canada. He has performed the complete cycle of Mozart violin sonatas at the International Festival Deia in Spain and all of the Beethoven sonatas at New York’s Merkin Concert Hall.  His 2011 recording of the complete Beethoven sonatas with Phillip Bush has been met with great acclaim. France’s Le Figaro calls his playing “Beautiful, the kind of music-making that gives one true pleasure.”  He has appeared in such renowned venues as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the 92nd Street Y, the Corcoran Gallery, Het Doelen, L’Octogone, Seoul National University, the Teatro San Jose and the Museo de Bellas Artes. Mr. Berofsky has been featured on NPR’s Performance Today and on the Canadian Broadcasting Company. His acclaimed recordings can be found on the Sony, Naxos, New Albion, ECM, Audio Ideas, Blue Griffin and Chesky labels. Recent recital tours have taken him to Germany, Italy and Korea, and he was featured soloist on the 2009 NAXOS recording of music by Paul Fetler, performed by the Ann Arbor Symphony, including the debut recording of his Concerto No. 2.  His recording of the complete chamber music of Franz Xavier Mozart was released in 2013 on Equilibrium.

Eva Lymenstull, a native of Michigan, has performed as a baroque cellist and violist da gamba throughout Europe and the US, including appearances with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Holland Baroque Society, and the Orpheon Consort, as guest principal cellist of the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, Lyra Baroque Orchestra, and Apollo’s Fire, and as principal cellist of Symphonie Atlantique. She has performed at the Utrecht, Boston, and Utrecht Early Music Fringe Festivals, and on New York’s Gotham Early Music series. As the winner of the 2017 Voices of Music Bach Competition, Ms. Lymenstull recently recorded Bach’s D minor cello suite. Upcoming season highlights include a CPE Bach cello concerto performance with the CWRU baroque orchestra and a recording project with Lyra Baroque Orchestra. Ms. Lymenstull received a master’s degree in baroque cello from the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, where she studied with Jaap ter Linden, and also holds degrees from Rice University and the University of Michigan. She is currently pursuing a DMA in historical performance practice at Case Western Reserve University.

Shin Hwang, a prize-winner of the 1st International Westfield Fortepiano Competition, is a versatile keyboardist who has won recognition in both modern and historical performance. After completing his Masters degree at the University of Michigan with Penelope Crawford and Arthur Greene, he received the prestigious Fulbright Grant to study in the Netherlands at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague with Jacques Ogg. In 2011, he was invited to perform at the United States Library of Congress for the American Musicological Society Lecture Series: “What the Autograph Can Tell Us: Beethoven’s Sonata in E major, Opus 109”. Other significant performance engagements include solo and chamber performances in the Kleine Zaal of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Vredenburg Leeuwenbergh in Utrecht, Het Bethanienklooste and the UNESCO World Heritage Site in Schokland. As a recipient of the DAAD Grant, he completed additional studies with Robert Hill at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg and is currently completing a Doctorate in Musical Arts in Performance Practice at Cornell University under the guidance of Malcolm Bilson.