10 March 2013 2:30 p.m.
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| Britten | Simple Symphony |
| Britten | Double Concerto |
| Haydn | Symphony No. 92 “Oxford” |
Violinist Michael Jinsoo Lim has been praised by Gramophone for playing with “delicious abandon” and described as “bewitching” by the Seattle Times. Acclaimed for his role as concertmaster of the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra in Seattle (“beautifully executed, clear violin solos”—Dance International), Lim is also in demand as a chamber musician and as a performer of new and experimental music (“a formidable violinist who gave a knockout reading of Davidovsky’s Synchronisms No. 9” –The Stranger). He is co-founder of the renowned Corigliano Quartet and a member of Open End, a New York City-based ensemble specializing in contemporary music and improvisation.
As a member of the Corigliano Quartet (www.coriglianoquartet.com), Lim has enjoyed critical acclaim across the U.S. and abroad and has won numerous awards, including the Grand Prize at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition and the ASCAP/CMA Award for Adventurous Programming. The Corigliano Quartet has performed in the nation’s leading music centers, including Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall, and the Kennedy Center. The quartet’s Naxos label CD, featuring string quartet works by John Corigliano and Jefferson Friedman, was named as one of The New Yorker’s Top Ten Classical Recordings of the Year.
Lim received his formal training at Indiana University, where he studied with the legendary violinist and teacher Josef Gingold. While at Indiana, he won First Prize in the school’s Violin Concerto Competition and served on the faculty as a Visiting Lecturer. Lim later studied chamber music at the Juilliard School and taught there as an assistant to the Juilliard String Quartet. He currently serves on the faculty of Cornish College of the Arts, where he teaches violin and chamber music.
Lim has recorded for Naxos, DreamWorks, Albany Records, CRI, Bayer Records, and Aguava New Music, and appears on numerous television and film soundtracks, including the Oscar-winning score to Brokeback Mountain. He has been heard on NPR programs such as Performance Today and All Things Considered. Lim currently lives in Seattle with his wife, violist Melia Watras. For more information on Michael Jinsoo Lim, please visit www.michaeljinsoolim.com.
Described as “staggeringly virtuosic” by The Strad, violist Melia Watras (meliawatras.com) has distinguished herself as one of her instrument’s leading voices: as a soloist, recording artist, and co-founder of the acclaimed Corigliano Quartet. An accomplished and adventurous performer, Watras has championed the works of living composers throughout her career. She has commissioned, premiered and recorded numerous new compositions, while appearing onstage at prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall, and Alice Tully Hall. Highlights of the upcoming season include the New York City premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winner Shulamit Ran’s Perfect Storm (a solo viola piece that was written for and given the world premiere by Watras), and the release of Short Stories, Watras’s third solo CD.
Watras’s expanding discography has garnered considerable attention and praise from the media. Of her debut solo CD, Viola Solo, Strings remarked, “Watras is a young player in possession of stunning virtuosic talent and deserving of the growing acclaim,” while The Strad called her “excellent” and “authoritative.” For the CD, Watras adapted John Corigliano’s Fancy on a Bach Air for viola. Her edition of this work is published by G. Schirmer, Inc. Watras’s second solo CD, Prestidigitation, features world premiere recordings of five works written especially for her and was described by Strings as “astounding, and both challenging and addictive to listen to.” With the Corigliano Quartet, she has recorded for Naxos, Albany, Bayer, CRI, Riax, and Aguava and has appeared on NPR’s All Things Considered and Performance Today and WFMT-Chicago’s Live from Studio One. The quartet’s Naxos label CD was named one of the Ten Best Classical Recordings of the Year by The New Yorker. The group’s numerous awards include the Grand Prize at the Fischoff Competition and the ASCAP/CMA Award for Adventurous Programming.
A versatile performer, Watras has enjoyed collaborations with dance and theater. She has appeared as violist/dancer at the Merce Cunningham Studio in New York City, served as music consultant at the Seattle Repertory Theatre, and had music from her Viola Solo CD featured in a production at Intiman Theatre.
Watras studied with Atar Arad at Indiana University and served as a teaching assistant to the Juilliard String Quartet while at the Juilliard School. She is currently Associate Professor of Viola, chair of Strings, and a Donald E. Petersen Endowed Fellow at the University of Washington School of Music.