Mimir Chamber Music Festival celebrates 25th Anniversary Season with live, in-person concerts
April 10th 2022Festival runs June 27-July 8, 2022 at PepsiCo Recital Hall/TCU, and Kimbell Museum; Grammy Award winners Pacifica Quartet and renowned pianist Alessio Bax to headline Opening Week with celebrated Mimir Artists reuniting for week two
Mimir Chamber Music Festival, internationally, recognized as a leading summer music series and teaching workshop, is celebrating its 25th anniversary season, returning to live, in-person concerts for the first time in two years after presenting two challenging seasons of innovative “virtual" concerts during the Coronavirus shutdown.
A captivating opening week will be headlined by fan-favorite renowned pianist Alessio Bax and multi-award-winning Pacifica Quartet, 2021 Grammy Award Winners for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble for "Contemporary Voices." The festival’s second week will feature the Horszowski Trio joined by Mimir veterans from the Chicago, Houston, and Nashville symphonies, The Cleveland Orchestra and crowd favorite pianist/composer John Novacek. Mimir performances will be held at PepsiCo Recital Hall on the campus of TCU, with evening and matinee concerts at the Kimbell Art Museum’s Renzo Piano Pavilion.
Mimir presents an intensive two-week 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 and mentor three pre-formed groups of Emerging Artists selected by international audition for participation. The Mimir Festival’s traditional five-concert series will expand for the 25th season, offering concertgoers six exciting and provocative musical performances by professional musicians during the festival, and two concerts presented by the 2022 Mimir Emerging Artists.
Mimir Artists Concerts are June 29, July 1, July 3, July 5, July 6, and July 8. All concerts are held at TCU's PepsiCo Recital Hall at 7:30 p.m., except for the July 1 and 3 performances, which will be at 7:30 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. at the Kimbell’s Renzo Piano Pavilion. Mimir Artists tickets are $35 (general), $30 (seniors), and $10 (students); Emerging Artists concerts are July 2 and July 7 at 7:30 p.m. at PepsiCo Recital Hall. Tickets are $10 (general) and $5 (students).
This year's guest artists:
Rieko Aizawa (piano) is making her third Mimir appearance. She is a founding member of the Horszowski Trio with fellow Mimir artist Jesse Mills and Raman Ramakrishnan, a past Mimir artist. 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 has 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.
Ole Akahoshi (cello) is making his Mimir debut as a member of the Horszowski Trio, which he joined in 2020. As a soloist, he has performed with the Orchestra of St. Luke's under the direction of Yehudi Menuhin, Symphonisches Orchester Berlin, and the Czechoslovakian Radio Orchestra, among others. He has also performed and served on the faculties at numerous festivals including the Aspen Music Festival, Banff Centre for the Arts, and Norfolk Chamber Music Festival.
Alessio Bax (piano) has performed with more than 100 orchestras worldwide, including the London and Royal Philharmonic orchestras, the City of Birmingham, Dallas and Cincinnati symphonies and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic with Yuri Temirkanov. He is a First Prize winner of the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition and an Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient. He has recorded on Warner Classics and Signum Records. Mr. Bax is currently on the teaching faculty of the New England Conservatory.
Lucille Chung (piano), is a First Prize winner of the Stravinsky International Piano Competition. Chung has performed in more than 30 countries as a recitalist and as a soloist with many of the world’s most prestigious orchestras including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Moscow Virtuosi, and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Ms. Chung opened the 2017-2018 season of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center with her husband, and pianist, Alessio Bax.
Joan DerHovsepian (viola) is Acting 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.
Simin Ganatra (violin) is a member of the Pacifica Quartet and has won wide recognition for her performances throughout the United States and abroad. She is the recipient of several awards and prizes, including the Naumburg Chamber Music Award, Cleveland Quartet Award, and a Grammy for chamber music performance with Pacifica Quartet. She is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory, where she was Concertmaster of the Oberlin Conservatory Orchestra and recipient of the Louis Kaufman Prize for outstanding performance in chamber music. She has served on the faculty of the University of Chicago, and now serves on the faculty of Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, where the Pacifica Quartet is in residence.
Austin Hartman (violin) is a member of the Pacifica Quartet and serves on the faculty of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. He has distinguished himself as a chamber musician and soloist with performances throughout North America, Europe and Asia. As a soloist, he was the winner of the Stulberg International Competition and made two solo appearances with the Philadelphia Orchestra. He has served on the faculty of numerous festivals including Brevard Music Center, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Innsbrook, Heifetz International Music Institute, and the Lucerne Music Center. Mr. Hartman previously served as Assistant Professor of Violin at the University of Indianapolis. He earned Artist Diplomas from both the Juilliard School and Yale School of Music as well as degrees from the New England Conservatory and Cleveland Institute of Music.
Mark Holloway (viola) is a member of the Pacifica Quartet and a sought-after chamber musician in the United States and abroad. As an artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, he has appeared at prestigious festivals and series such as Marlboro, Music@Menlo, Ravinia, Caramoor, Banff, Taos, Music From Angel Fire, Mainly Mozart and Alpenglow, and with the Boston Chamber Music Society. He has been principal violist at Tanglewood and of the New York String Orchestra, and has frequently appeared as a guest artist with the New York Philharmonic, Orpheus, and Metropolitan Opera orchestras. He received his B.M. Summa cum laude and his Diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music.
Jun Iwasaki (violin) has served 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.
Jesse Mills (violin) makes his fourth Mimir appearance in 2022. 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 past Mimir artist 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.
John Novacek (piano) is a Grammy-nominated pianist and composer 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.
Stephen Rose (violin) is Principal Second Violin of the Cleveland Orchestra, a position he has held since 2001. He is Head of the Violin Department at The Cleveland Institute of Music where he maintains a studio and directs the orchestral violin repertoire classes. He also serves on the faculty of Kent/Blossom Music, National Orchestral Institute, and The New World Symphony. Mr. Rose is a participant at many summer music festivals. He received his Master of Music degree and Performers’ Certificate from the Eastman School of Music and a Bachelor of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music.
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 an Associate Professor of violin at the TCU School of Music. Thompson has performed as a 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.
Brandon Vamos (cello) is a member of Pacifica Quartet and has performed solo and chamber music recitals in the United States and abroad to critical acclaim. As a soloist, he has performed with the Taipei City Symphony, Sumon Symphony (Seoul), New York Philharmonic Orchestra, and Elgin Symphony Orchestra. He has collaborated with many distinguished artists, including Paul Katz, Michael Tree, Yo-Yo Ma, Menachem Pressler, and Emerson Quartet. He earned a Bachelor’s of Music degree at the Eastman School of Music, and received his Master of Music degree from Yale University. Vamos and fellow Pacifica Quartet members were named Musical America’s Ensemble of the Year in 2009 and have received two Grammy Awards for chamber music performance.