Emory
Chamber Music Society of Atlanta William Ransom, artistic director
Cooke Noontime Series Friday, November 20th, 2020 First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta
Beethoven 2020 Music of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Sonata #5 in D Major, Op. 102, #2 Allegro con brio Adagio con molto sentimento d'affetto Allegro - Allegro fugato Charae Krueger, cello; Elizabeth Pridgen, piano
Sonata #9 in A Major, Op. 47, “Kreutzer� Adagio sostenuto- Presto Andante con variazioni Finale: Presto David Coucheron, violin; William Ransom, piano
The Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta is supported by the Cherry L. Emerson Endowment, the Rebecca Katz-Doft Chamber Music Endowment, the Ethel Orentlicher Gershon Fund, a generous gift from Dr. John and Linda Cooke, the Friends of Music at Emory, and by music lovers like you.
Cellist Charae Krueger is Principal Cellist for the Atlanta Opera Orchestra and the Atlanta Ballet Orchestra. She is also Professor of Cello at Kennesaw State University and performs with the Summit Piano Trio and KSU Faculty String Quartet. Ms. Krueger enjoys chamber music and solo recital work and plays throughout the U.S. She is a regular featured artist at the HighlandsCashiers Chamber Music Festival, the Grand Teton Music Festival and at the North Georgia Chamber Music Festival. Her solo and chamber music recitals have been featured on NPR's Performance Today, WABE Radio Atlanta and WGBH Radio Boston. She also plays frequently with the Atlanta Symphony. Ms. Krueger also enjoys recording studio work and has played on albums of Bruce Springsteen, Faith Hill and Natalie Cole. Recent concerts include performances with violinists William Preucil and Tim Fain at HighlandCashiers Chamber Music Festival, performances at the North Georgia Chamber Music Festival, Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta, performance with SO Percussion Ensemble, appearances with Sonic Generator, Atlanta Chamber Players, and Fringe concert series, as well as concerto performances with the DeKalb Symphony and Atlanta Community Orchestra, the KSU Orchestra. She has twice performed the entire Beethoven cycle of Cello Sonatas with pianist Robert Henry and has done a recital tour and accompanying live CD of the Southeastern US with pianist Stanley Yerlow. Ms. Krueger received her early cello training in Canada at the Regina Conservatory of Music. She went on to study at Brandon University and received her Bachelor of Music Performance degree from New England Conservatory. She also holds an Artist Diploma from the Longy School of Music. She continued her training during the summers at the Banff Centre in Canada and did quartet training with the Juilliard Quartet at the summer program at The Juilliard School. Ms. Krueger was also a participant in the New York String Orchestra Seminar under the direction of Alexander Schneider with concerts at Carnegie Hall. Pianist Elizabeth Pridgen has distinguished herself as a soloist and chamber musician with recent concerts including appearances at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall, Merkin Hall, the Tilles Center on Long Island, Spivey Hall in Atlanta, and the "Rising Stars Series" at the Ravinia Festival. Ms. Pridgen has also performed at Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, and the Kosciuszko Foundation, and in recitals in Washington D.C., Miami, San Francisco, and throughout the Southeast and Caribbean. Ms. Pridgen performs regularly at festivals including the Rome Chamber Music Festival in Rome, Italy, the Strings Music Festival in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival, the River To River Festival, the Highlands-Cashiers Chamber Music Festival, the Water Island Music Festival, and the Madison Chamber Music Festival. An avid chamber performer, she has collaborated with artists such as Elmar Oliveira, Robert McDuffie, Lynn Harrell, Hilary Hahn, Sarah Chang, Anne Akiko Meyers, Jennifer Koh, Mark O'Connor, the Diaz String Trio, Cuarteto Latinoamericano, and the
American String Quartet. She also performs regularly as a member of the Georgian Chamber Players. Ms. Pridgen is currently a Distinguished Artist and Piano Chair at the McDuffie Center for Strings and holds the G. Leslie Fabian Piano Chair at the Townsend School of Music at Mercer University and is also Artistic Director of the Atlanta Chamber Players. She received her Master of Music degree at The Juilliard School where she studied with Joseph Kalichstein and earned her bachelor's degree at the Peabody Conservatory of Music as a student of Ann Schein.
David Coucheron joined the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra as Concertmaster in September 2010. At the time, he was the youngest concertmaster among any major U.S. orchestra. Throughout his career, Coucheron has worked with conductors Robert Spano, Michael Tilson Thomas, Simon Rattle, Mstislav Rostropovich and Charles Dutoit, among others. He has performed as soloist with the BBC Symphony, Bergen Philharmonic, Sendai Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Trondheim Symphony. Coucheron has given solo recitals at Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, the Kennedy Center and the Olympic Winter Games at Salt Lake City, as well as in Beograd, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Serbia, Singapore and Shanghai. His chamber music performances have included appearances at Suntory Hall as well as Wigmore Hall and Alice Tully Hall. Coucheron serves as the Artistic Director for the Kon Tiki Chamber Music Festival in his hometown of Oslo, Norway. He is also on the artist-faculty for the Aspen and Brevard Music Festivals. An active recording artist, recordings with sister and pianist Julie Coucheron include “David and Julie” (Naxos/Mudi) and “Debut” (Naxos). He is also the featured soloist on the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s recording of Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending, which was released on ASO Media in Fall 2014. Coucheron began playing the violin at age three. He earned his Bachelor of Music degree from The Curtis Institute, his Master of Music from The Juilliard School and his Master of Musical Performance from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, studying with teachers including Igor Ozim, Aaron Rosand, Lewis Kaplan and David Takeno. Coucheron plays a 1725 Stradivarius. Pianist, Artistic Director, master teacher, editor and judge for international competitions, William Ransom appears around the world as soloist with orchestras, recitalist and chamber musician. His performances have been broadcast on National Public Radio and Television in the US, Argentina, Poland and Japan. He regularly collaborates with musicians including Yo-Yo Ma, Richard Stoltzman, William Preucil, Stephen Isserlis, Robert McDuffie, and members of the Tokyo, Cleveland, Juilliard, American, St. Petersburg, Borromeo, Parker, Ariel and Lark String Quartets; the Empire Brass Quintet, Eroica Trio, and the percussion group Nexus among others. As a master teacher, he also performs and gives master classes at numerous schools of music and universities around the world. He has recorded for ACA Digital and Rising Star Records. Ransom is the Mary Emerson Professor of Piano at Emory University in Atlanta where he is founder and Artistic Director of the Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta. A graduate of
The Juilliard School and the University of Michigan, in the summers, Ransom is Artistic Director of the Highlands-Cashiers Chamber Music Festival in North Carolina and for a decade was an artist-faculty member at the Kamisaibara Pianists Camp in Japan. In 2016 he was named Artistic Director of the Juneau Jazz & Classics Festival and also one of Musical America Worldwide’s “30 Musical Innovators”.