Mimir Chamber Music Festival celebrates 22nd season

FORT WORTH, Texas – Nationally recognized as a leading summer music series and teaching workshop, Mimir Chamber Music Festival celebrates its 22nd season. Joining Mimir this year is the Horszowski Trio. Performances will be held at PepsiCo Recital Hall on the campus of Texas Christian University, with a matinee concert at the Kimbell Art Museum’s Renzo Piano Pavilion.

Mimir presents an intensive week-long immersion in chamber music performance and instruction by some of North America’s most renowned professional musicians. Mimir Artists are selected not only for their superb performance skills, but also for their ability to teach three pre-formed groups who have been selected by international audition for participation. Five unique, exciting and provocative musical performances will be given during the festival by the professional musicians, with two concerts presented by Mimir Emerging Artists.

Mimir Artists Concerts are: July 3, July 5, July 7, July 9, and July 12. All concerts are held at TCU's PepsiCo Recital Hall at 7:30 p.m., except for the July 7 performance, which will be 2 p.m. at the Kimbell’s Renzo Piano Pavilion. Mimir Artists tickets are $35 (general), $30 (seniors) and $10 (students); Emerging Artists concerts are $10 (general) and $5 (students).

This year's guest artists:

Rieko Aizawa (piano) is making her second Mimir appearance. She is a founding member of the Horszowski Trio with fellow Mimir artists Jesse Mills and Raman Ramakrishnan. A graduate of The Juilliard School and the Curtis Institute of Music, where she was awarded the prestigious Rachmaninoff Prize, she has performed in solo and orchestral engagements throughout North America and Europe. She been a guest artist of the Boston, Philadelphia and Seattle Chamber Music Societies, and has appeared in numerous festivals. A Steinway Artist, she became an artistic director of the Alpenglow Chamber Music Festival in Colorado in 2010, and is on the faculty at Longy School of Music of Bard College.

Joan DerHovsepian (viola) is Associate Principal Viola of the Houston Symphony Orchestra, and is an Artist Teacher of Viola at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music. She spends her summers in Wyoming performing with the Grand Teton Music Festival and in Wisconsin as Principal Viola of the Peninsula Music Festival.

Jun Iwasaki (violin) serves as concertmaster of the Nashville Symphony since his appointment in 2011. He previously served as concertmaster with the Oregon Symphony (2007) and with the Canton Symphony Orchestra (2005-2007). A graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music's prestigious Concertmaster Academy, he has been hailed for his combination of dazzling technique and lyrical musicianship.

Wenhong Luo (viola) is making her Mimir debut. She is the 3rd prize winner at the 12th Lionel Tertis Viola competition and the 19th Johnnes Brahms competition. At age of 22, she moved to the states and began her studies at the New England Conservatory of Music. Her performances have been recorded on Linn records and Naxos. In 2018, she participated the prestigious “Chamber Music Connects the World” at Kronberg, where she collaborated with Andries Schiff, Steve Isserlis, and Christian Tetzlaff. A native of Beijing, China, she is currently a doctoral candidate with Kim Kashkashian.

Jesse Mills (violin) makes his third Mimir appearance in 2019. The two-time Grammy nominated violinist graduated from The Julliard School of Music. He has performed throughout North America in concert halls and music festivals and in London, Paris, Amsterdam, Milan and Brussels. He is co-founder of Horszowski Trio with fellow Mimir artists Rieko Aizawa and Raman Ramakrishnan. With Ms. Aizawa, he became co-artistic director of the Alpenglow Chamber Music Festival in Colorado in 2010. He is also on the faculty at Longy School of Music of Bard College and New York University.

Clancy Newman (cello) is making his Mimir debut. A first prize winner of the prestigious Naumburg International Competition and recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant, he has had the unusual career of a performer/composer and has performed as soloist throughout the United States, as well as in Europe, Asia, Canada, and Australia. He can often be heard on NPR’s “Performance Today” and has been featured on A&E and PBS. He is a graduate of the five-year exchange program between Juilliard and Columbia University, receiving a M.M. from Juilliard and a B.A. in English from Columbia.

John Novacek (piano) is a Grammy-nominated musician who regularly tours the world as a solo recitalist, chamber musician and concerto soloist. He has recorded more than 30 CDs. He is a much sought-after collaborative artist and has performed with Joshua Bell, Matt Haimovitz, Leila Josefowicz, Cho-Liang Lin, Yo-Yo Ma, Truls Mork, Elmar Oliveira and Emmanuel Pahud.

Raman Ramakrishnan (cello) is a founding member and current cellist of the Horszowski Trio. As a soloist he has given recitals in New York, Boston, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. As a guest member of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, he has collaborated with musicians from the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra and performed in New Delhi and Agra, India and in Cairo, Egypt. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in physics from Harvard and a Master’s degree in music from The Juilliard School. Mr. Ramakrishnan’s principal teachers have been Fred Sherry, Andrés Díaz, and André Emelianoff. He plays a Neapolitan cello made by Vincenzo Jorio in 1837.

Stephen Rose (violin) is the Principal Second Violinist of the Cleveland Orchestra and serves on the faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music. He also serves on the faculty of Kent/Blossom Music, The National Orchestral Institute and The New World Symphony. He is a featured artist in festivals world-wide, appearing as a soloist and in chamber music concert performances.

Brant Taylor (cello) is a member of the Chicago Symphony, and has appeared as a guest soloist with orchestras and music festivals throughout North America, Europe, Australia and Asia. He holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and Indiana University School of Music and serves on the faculty of the DePaul University School of Music. He is a former member of the popular band Pink Martini.

Curt Thompson (violin) is the founding director of Mimir and was appointed Head of Strings at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music in 2012. Previously, he was associate professor of violin at the TCU School of Music. Thompson has performed as soloist, recitalist and chamber musician on five continents, and is the former concertmaster of the Corpus Christi, Las Colinas and San Angelo Symphonies, the Texas Chamber Orchestra, and has appeared as concertmaster of the Melbourne Symphony and Fort Worth Symphony orchestras.

Mimir Chamber Music Festival Celebrates 22nd Season
June 12th 2019

Mimir Chamber Music Festival Announces Emerging Artists
June 12th 2019