Program
Goldberg Variations, BWV 988
Aria (Theme): William Ransom, piano
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
Var. 1: Jens Korndörfer, Wortsman Memorial Organ
Var. 2: The Vega Trio
Var. 3: Brass Trio
Var. 4: Geoffrey Haydon, jazz piano
Var. 5: Julie Coucheron, piano
Var. 6: John Easter, Graves Memorial Portative Organ
Var. 7: Sergio Gallo, piano
Var. 8: Peter Marshall, harpsichord
Var. 9: Brent Runnels, piano
Var. 10: Jens Korndörfer, Wortsman Memorial Organ
Var. 11: Elizabeth Pridgen, piano
Var. 12: The Vega Trio
Var. 13: John Easter, Graves Memorial Portative Organ
Var. 14: Robert Henry, piano
Var. 15: Brass Trio
Var. 16: Alex Wasserman, piano
Var. 17: Jens Korndörfer, Wortsman Memorial Organ
Var. 18 and 19: Glenn Memorial Chancel Choir (arr. Eric Nelson)
Var. 20: Elizabeth Pridgen, piano
Var. 21: Peter Marshall, harpsichord
Var. 22: Glenn Memorial Chancel Choir (arr. by Eric Nelson)
Var. 23: Robert Henry, piano
Var. 24: Brass Trio
Var. 25: The Vega Trio
Var. 26: Alex Wasserman, piano
Var. 27: Geoffrey Haydon, jazz piano
Var. 28: Elizabeth Pridgen, piano
Var. 29: Julie Coucheron, piano
Var. 30: Jens Korndörfer, Wortsman Memorial Organ
Aria: William Ransom, piano
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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, and by music lovers like you.
Performer Biographies
The Glenn Memorial Chancel Choir, composed of a mix of amateurs and professional musicians, strives to offer a high quality of musical leadership at the 11:00 a.m. Worship Service, while holding the core value of being warm and welcoming to people of all ability levels. Its principal role is to provide vocal leadership for worship on Sunday mornings. The choir also presents special concerts for the Atlanta community. Men’s and women’s ensembles are formed from the Chancel Choir for special musical offerings throughout the year. It is directed by Michael Dauterman and Käthe Wright Kaufman.
Born in Oslo, Norway, Julie Coucheron began playing the piano at age four. She has a bachelor’s and master’s degree with honors from the Royal Academy of Music in London. Coucheron has established an international career, winning awards in Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States. She has worked with musicians including Claude Frank, Emanuel Ax, Yo-Yo Ma, and Elton John, and has toured Europe, America, South America, and Asia, performing in halls including Verizon, Wigmore Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Carnegie Hall.
Coucheron has performed with the Norwegian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic, and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and she regularly performs at festivals including the Oslo Chamber, Bergen International, Highlands-Cashiers, and Amelia Island music festivals. She is the artistic director for the Kon Tiki Chamber Music Festival in Oslo. In August 2014, she was appointed artist in residence at Kennesaw State University.
Jonathan Easter is a graduate of Emory University, where he studied with Timothy Albrecht and Eric Nelson and earned a double master’s degree. Easter now serves as director of fine arts and organist at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in midtown Atlanta, where he oversees a program of adults, children, handbells, brass, and drama. In addition to his responsibilities at St. Mark’s, Easter also works throughout the Emory music community accompanying the Emory University Chorus and Concert Choir and serving as the accompanist for the Atlanta Master Chorale under the direction of Eric Nelson. Easter has an undergraduate degree from Shorter College where he studied with Peter Dewitt and Helen Ramsaur.
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Sergio Gallo is professor of piano at Georgia State University and is on the faculty at Rocky Ridge Music Center where he teaches every summer. He is a winner of the concerto competition of the Sao Paulo Symphony and has toured several countries in Europe and Asia. He is a Steinway Artist and records for Naxos, Grand Piano, and Divine Arts labels. Gallo’s recordings have received high praise from the BBC, American Record Guide, and Gramophone magazine, and have been aired on major radio outlets around the world. Upcoming releases include an album of solo works by Anton Rubinstein, as well as Scarlatti sonatas.
Geoffrey Haydon has successfully bridged both classical and jazz styles of performance. Known as a classical and jazz artist, he has received rave reviews in his solo, chamber, and concerto performances given throughout the United States, Europe, Russia, China, Japan, South America, and Central America. He has performed with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and such world-famous artists as Joan Rivers and Il Divo. Haydon is also a member of the Haydon/Parker Duo, Joe Gransden Big Band, and the Georgia State University Faculty Jazztet. He has performed with well-known jazz artists including Eddie Daniels, Randy Brecker, Joe Henderson, Gordon Goodwin, Eddie Gomez, Bobby McFerrin, Bob Mintzer, Bill Watrous, Jerry Weldon, Ndugu Chancler, Conrad Herwig, and Hal Crook. Haydon has performed with numerous Broadway shows and can be heard on Gershwin Plus— Piano Solos and Novelty Arrangements, a solo piano recording of George Gershwin’s music, the jazz recording Cabin Fever by the McLean-Haydon Jazz Quartet, and My Foolish Heart and Reunion—two jazz piano/vibraphone recordings by the Haydon/Parker Duo.
Brass Trio: Josh Bynum, trombone; Kevin Lyons, trumpet; James Naigus, horn
Josh Bynum keeps an active schedule balancing roles as educator, soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral trombonist. He is professor of trombone at the University of Georgia, trombone artist faculty for the Sewanee Summer Music Festival, and an artist and clinician for the Edwards Instrument Company. Bynum performs regularly with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, as well as with the Atlanta Opera and Atlanta Ballet. He is also on the artist roster for the IRIS Orchestra. Bynum has given clinics and featured performances at the American Trombone Workshop, International Trombone Festival, and Georgia Music Educators Association Conference. His solo CD Catalyst received the Creative Research Medal in Arts and Humanities and is available through all streaming platforms.
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Trumpeter Kevin Lyons has long had a dual passion for both classical and jazz music. After receiving his early training at Louisiana State University, Lyons attended the Cleveland Institute. During that time he was awarded the Bernard Aldestein Award in Trumpet. After conservatory life, he went on the road for two years playing with the Glenn Miller Orchestra, touring the United States, Canada, and Japan. Upon returning to the United States, Lyons landed in his current home of Atlanta, where he won the positions of associate principal trumpet with the Atlanta Symphony as well as principal trumpet of the Atlanta Ballet Orchestra and the Greenville (South Carolina) Symphony. Lyons also enjoys playing with other classical ensembles—he joined the Cleveland Orchestra for a European tour, and has been guest principal trumpet for the Malaysia Philharmonic, Nu Deco Ensemble, and the Miami City Ballet Orchestra.
James Naigus is lecturer of horn at the University of Georgia and hornist with the Georgia Brass Quintet. He is co-founder of the Cor Moto Horn Duo with Drew Phillips, and co-editor/contributor of the Creative Hornist and Technique Tips columns in the Horn Call, the journal of the International Horn Society. Naigus has toured Europe and South America as a member of the American Chamber Winds. He has also performed on recitals at the MidNorth, Midwest, Midsouth, and Southeast horn workshops, as well as the International Horn Symposiums. His compositions have been performed throughout the United States and beyond. Naigus was composer-in-residence at the Southeast Horn Workshop in Richmond, Virginia. He has a DMA from the University of Iowa and he studied horn and composition at the University of Florida while earning a master’s degree.
Robert Henry is an internationally distinguished pianist, performing throughout the world as orchestral soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. Since winning first prize in four international piano competitions, he has presented solo debuts at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Wigmore Hall. In 2016, he released a third critically acclaimed recording, As the Songbird Sings: Music of Schubert and Brahms. Henry has a doctor of musical arts degree from the University of Maryland, with additional studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Glinka Conservatory in St. Petersburg, Russia. He is an MTNA Nationally Certified educator and has lectured and performed at universities, conservatories, and festivals worldwide. He has served as a recitalist, clinician, and juror for state, regional, and national MTNA conventions and competitions. He has been featured in American Music Teacher, Clavier, and Gramophone, and is a founding member of the Summit Piano Trio. He is director of the Atlanta Boy Choir, music director and organist/choirmaster of Saint George’s Episcopal Church in Griffin, and an International Steinway Artist.
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Jens Korndörfer directs the organ program at Georgia State University and the music program at First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta. He concertizes regularly in Asia, Europe, and North America, and has recorded five CDs. More information is available at jenskorndoerfer.com
Known throughout the Southeast for his versatility and expressiveness at the keyboard, Peter Marshall performs on piano, harpsichord, and organ. He has appeared as a soloist with major orchestras in Atlanta; Washington, DC; Richmond; Norfolk; Buffalo; Columbus; and Charlotte; and has given solo recitals in the United States and abroad. Marshall holds the Hugh and Jessie Hodgson Keyboard Chair at the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO) and performs numerous concerts with the ASO throughout the year. Active as an accompanist and coach in Atlanta since 1993, he is in frequent demand as a keyboardist in vocal and instrumental recitals and in chamber music. Marshall was a member of the faculty of the Georgia State School of Music from 2001 until 2022. He chaired the organ department at the Catholic University of America from 1984 to 1993 and served as chapel organist at Duke University from 1981–1984. He has degrees from Oberlin College and Yale University and studied at the Musikhochschule Lübeck as a Fulbright Scholar.
Pianist Elizabeth Pridgen has distinguished herself as a soloist and chamber musician. Named artistic director of the Atlanta Chamber Players in 2014, she has led the group in performances of both new and standard chamber works to critical acclaim. Pridgen made her major orchestral debut with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra conducted by Robert Spano and recently released the album Icons with violinist Robert McDuffie, featuring music of Philip Glass, John Adams, and John Corigliano. A graduate of the Juilliard School and Peabody Conservatory of Music, Pridgen served for more than 10 years as a Distinguished Artist and Piano Chair at the McDuffie Center for Strings and held the G. Leslie Fabian Piano Chair at the Townsend School of Music at Mercer University.
William Ransom appears around the world as soloist with orchestras, recitalist, and chamber musician. He regularly collaborates with musicians including Yo-Yo Ma, Richard Stoltzman, William Preucil, Stephen Isserlis, Robert McDuffie, and members of the Emerson, 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. He also performs and gives master classes at numerous schools of music and universities. He has
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recorded for ACA Digital and Rising Star Records. Ransom is the Mary Emerson Professor of Piano at Emory 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 and Classics Festival and also one of Musical America Worldwide’s “30 Musical Innovators.” Recently, he was appointed artistic director of the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival.
Brent Runnels is the director of music at Oglethorpe University. As a pianist, Runnels has won several competition prizes and received critical acclaim for his domestic and international performances. He has appeared as an orchestral and recital soloist, chamber musician, and jazz pianist—performing with such orchestras as the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO), Prague Radio Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Kosice State Philharmonic, Ural Academic Philharmonic, Slovak Sinfonietta of Zilina, Florida Orchestra, Florida Symphony, Dubuque Symphony, Orlando Philharmonic, Mansfield Symphony, Brevard Symphony, and the Gwinnett Philharmonic. He founded and performed with the Inman Piano Trio from 1998–2009. A CD with the late violinist Beth Newdome of the Herbert Howells violin sonatas was released on Mark Records. He has appeared with such jazz artists as Jon Faddis, Clark Terry, Gene Bertoncini, Lou Soloff, Laurie Holloway, Francine Reed, the New York Voices, and Joe Gransden. He sings with the ASO Chorus and Chamber Chorus and performs frequently with the Atlanta Pops Orchestra. He serves on the board of directors with the Atlanta Chamber Music Festival and is artistic director of Jazz @ACMF. Runnels has a bachelor of music degree from Ithaca College and then was a scholarship student at the Manhattan School of Music. There he earned both a master of music degree and a doctor of musical arts degree as well as the school’s highest graduate honor, the Harold Bauer Award.
The Vega Quartet: Emily Daggett Smith and Jessica Shuang Wu, violins; Yinzi Kong, viola; Guang Wang, cello
The Vega Quartet, quartet-in-residence at Emory University, is cultivating a new generation of chamber music lovers through dynamic performances and innovative community engagement. The New York Times raved that “[the quartet’s] playing had a kind of clean intoxication to it, pulling the listener along . . . the musicians took real risks in their
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music making” and the Los Angeles Times praised its “triumphant L.A. debut.” The musicians concertize both nationally and internationally, most recently in Baltimore, Chicago, Nashville, Berlin, San Miguel (Mexico), the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and the Brahmssaal in Vienna’s Musikverein. The quartet’s major performing projects at Emory have included the complete cycle of Beethoven quartets, as well as pairing Bach’s complete works for solo violin, viola, and cello with the six Bartók quartets. The quartet has also developed a series of “Jazz Meets Classics” programs, bringing the two genres together.
One of the unique aspects of the quartet’s residency at Emory is to bring performance into the classroom, collaborating with academic professors to create interdisciplinary parallels and conversations. The members of the quartet also enrich the cultural life of their community, having founded the Emory Youth Chamber Music Program, which gives intensive training in small ensemble playing to advanced pre-college students. The quartet was appointed to the roster of the Woodruff Arts Center’s Young Audiences program, engaging thousands of students throughout the greater-Atlanta school system. It has also held residencies in Augusta, Jacksonville, and Juneau that combined traditional performances with educational outreach, performances in non-traditional venues, and master classes for area students.
The Vega Quartet has won numerous international awards, including at the Bordeaux String Quartet Competition, as well as top prizes from the Coleman Chamber Ensemble Competition, the Carmel Chamber Music Competition, and the National Society of Arts and Letters String Quartet Competition. The quartet tours throughout Asia, Europe, and North America, and has appeared at Weill Hall and Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, Bargemusic, and Duke Hall at the Royal Academy of Music, London. The members of the Vega Quartet collaborate with some of the world’s finest musicians including Andres Cardenes, Eliot Fisk, Christopher O’Riley, William Preucil, Richard Stoltzman, Mark O’Connor, Robert Spano, Charles Wadsworth, Peter Wiley, and the Eroica Trio. The musicians also commission, premier, and record works by leading composers. The quartet is a frequent guest at numerous music festivals including Amelia Island, Aspen, Brevard, Highlands-Cashiers, Juneau Jazz & Classics, Kingston, Mostly Mozart, Rockport, San Miguel de Allende, and SummerFest La Jolla.
Alexander Wasserman maintains an active concert schedule. His performances are frequently broadcast on television and radio stations throughout the country. As a concerto soloist, Wasserman has appeared
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with the Hollywood Chamber Orchestra, Thousand Oaks Philharmonic (California), the New Valley Symphony (California), the Suburban Symphony (Ohio), the Santa Barbara Choral Society and Orchestra (California), the DeKalb Symphony (Georgia), the Rome Symphony (Georgia), the Reinhardt Symphony (Georgia), the Atlanta Community Symphony Orchestra (ASO), and the Parma Symphony (Ohio). As a chamber musician, Wasserman frequently collaborates with members of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and has appeared as guest pianist with the Riverside Chamber Players and the Atlanta Chamber Players. Recent chamber music highlights include performances on the ASO Pre-Concert Chamber Music Series. Equally dedicated to education, Wasserman is assistant professor at Reinhardt University. In addition, he serves as founder and artistic director of the Reinhardt Piano Festival and Academy. Wasserman has degrees from the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music (BM), the Cleveland Institute (MM), and Peabody. Most recently, he completed a doctor of musical arts program at the Cleveland Institute.
Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta
Celebrating its milestone 30th anniversary season, the Southeast’s largest and most active chamber music organization brings together some of the city’s finest resident musicians with internationally known performers who are dedicated to performing the most delightful, exciting, and interesting music from the chamber repertoire in some of the most acoustically and visually beautiful spaces in Atlanta. Guests have included Yo-Yo Ma, Richard Stoltzman, Alan Gilbert, Dave Brubeck, William Preucil, Eliot Fisk, Mark O’Connor, Robert Spano, and many others.
Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta’s mission is to create new generations of passionate and educated music lovers who will cherish and support this great art forever. To support this mission by giving to ECMSA, visit chambermusicsociety.emory.edu.
A full schedule of ECMSA events taking place on Emory’s campus and throughout the community can be found online by visiting chambermusicsociety.emory.edu or by scanning this QR code.
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