The Berofsky Piano Quartet returns to perform at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance. Professors Aaron Berofsky (violin) and Kathryn Votapek (viola) are joined by their sons Sebastian (cello) and Charles (piano), who are currently based in New York City. PERFORMERS Aaron Berofsky, violin Kathryn Votapek, viola Sebastian Berofsky, cello Charles Berofsky, piano PROGRAM Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 16 I. Grave - Allegro ma non troppo II. Andante cantabile III. Rondo. Allegro ma non troppo Danny Elfman: Piano Quartet (2017) I. Ein Ding II. Kinderspott III. Duett für Vier IV. Ruhig V. Die Wolfsjungen *Intermission* Antonín Dvořák: Piano Quartet No. 2 in E-flat Major, Op. 87 I. Allegro con fuoco II. Lento III. Allegro moderato, grazioso – Un pochettino più mosso IV. Finale. Allegro ma non troppo

Graduate student River Sawchyn performs a final master's degree recital.

Are our life-journeys predetermined by the unstoppable forces of fate or can we shape our own destiny? Two of the most beloved pieces in all of orchestra music seem to provide two contrasting answers. The striking overture to Verdi’s *La Forza del Destino* (The Force of Destiny), portrays a dark account of human struggle against circumstances and fate. Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony tells a different story during a dramatic journey that overcomes its fate motive, culminating in a magnificent and uplifting anthem of human triumph. Hailed by the *New York Times* as “a brilliant soloist,” U-M faculty member Fabiola Kim, is featured in the world premiere of the Violin Concerto by Quinn Mason, the 7th commission of the Michigan Orchestra Repertoire for Equity (MORE) initiative, founded in 2020 by USO Music Director Kenneth Kiesler. Kenneth Kiesler, conductor Fabiola Kim, violin (Mason) PROGRAM Overture to *La forza del destino* Giuseppe Verdi Violin Concerto (world premiere) Quinn Mason Symphony No. 5 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Concert Duration: 1 hour and 40 minutes ––– *Parking / Traffic alert for attendees:*

The University of Michigan’s Baroque Chamber Orchestra studies and performs repertoire from the late Renaissance, Baroque, and the early Classical periods. While directed by faculty members Aaron Berofsky, baroque violin, and Joseph Gascho, harpsichord/organ, many performances are led by the students themselves. Using period instruments and replicas from the university’s growing Stearns Collection, the musicians gain vital hands-on experience and learn about the history and context of early music and performance practice.

Join us for \"Movie Night\" featuring a screening of the 1924 Buster Keaton silent film, *Sherlock Jr.*, with a film score by composer Stephen Prutsman performed live by the Telegraph Quartet with recent U-M doctoral graduate, pianist Takeshi Nagayasu. The program also includes two other works influenced by film or staged works – Dimitri Shostakovich’s *Elegy* and *Polka*, and Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s String Quartet No. 3 in D Major, Op. 34. Shostakovich wrote *Elegy* and its companion piece *Polka* in a single night in 1931. *Elegy* is the transcription of a haunting aria from his opera *Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk*, while *Polka* is a version of a comical dance from his soccer-inspired ballet *The Golden Age*. These short pieces were lost for many years and not rediscovered until the 1980s when they were made available by the USSR State Copyright Agency. Korngold’s String Quartet No. 3 was his last chamber music work, completed in 1945. Korngold was one of the most influential composers in Hollywood, and in his third string quartet he quoted from his scores for films including *Between Two Worlds* (1944), *The Sea Wolf* (1941), and *Devotion* (1943). A stylistically versatile composer, Prutsman has written scores to accompany several of Buster Keaton’s silent films – many of which are decidedly comedic. For this story, which involves a dream sequence, a secret theft, a wild villain chase, and pining after a love interest, Prustman turns to an assortment of tones, rhythms, and musical techniques in order to emphasize the emotional stakes throughout the film. ABOUT TELEGRAPH QUARTET The Telegraph (Eric Chin and Joseph Maile, violins; Pei-Ling Lin, viola; Jeremiah Shaw, cello) formed in 2013 with an equal passion for standard and contemporary chamber music repertoire; they rose quickly, winning the prestigious 2016 Walter W. Naumburg Chamber Music Award and the Grand Prize at the 2014 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. Today, they perform across the United States and abroad, at venues including New York City’s Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and Town Hall; San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre; the Philharmonie de Paris; and at festivals including the Chautauqua Institute, Music in the Vineyards in Napa Valley, and the Emilia Romagna Festival in Italy. The Telegraph Quartet released its celebrated debut album *Into the Light* in 2018 and is currently recording an extensive three-album series titled *20th Century Vantage Points* for Azica Records, exploring string quartets of the 20th century. The first volume, *Divergent Paths* (2022), features two works that (to the best of the Quartet’s knowledge) have never been recorded on the same album before: Maurice Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major and Arnold Schoenberg’s String Quartet No. 1 in D minor, Op. 7. In August 2025, the Telegraph released the second volume, *Edge of the Storm*, which examines the turbulent years of war and its aftermath from 1941-1951 through string quartets by Grażyna Bacewicz, Benjamin Britten, and Mieczysław Weinberg. Volume three will be released in fall 2027. In addition, the Telegraph released a recording of the string quartets of Robert Sirota in summer 2026 (Azica Records) and will release a recording of Kenji Bunch string quartets in spring 2027 (Phenotypic Records). Beyond the concert stage, the Telegraph Quartet seeks to spread its music through education and audience engagement. The Quartet has given master classes, served as artists-in-residence, and launched ChamberFEAST!, a chamber music workshop in Taiwan. In fall 2020, Telegraph launched an online video project called TeleLab, in which the ensemble collectively breaks down the components of a movement from various works for quartet. In the summers of 2022 and 2024, the Telegraph Quartet traveled to Vienna to work with Schoenberg expert Henk Guittart in conjunction with the Arnold Schoenberg Center, researching all of Schoenberg's string quartets.

Step beyond the footlights into a musical world that traverses from magic to masquerades, comedy to romance, and elegance to spectacle. The University Symphony Orchestra presents an evening of music inspired by the stage, featuring 2026 SMTD Concerto Competition winner Grace Ryan (MM ’26, voice), mezzo-soprano, in two very different portrayals of Cinderella: the tender and lyrical *Cendrillon* by Massenet, and the dazzling and playful *La Cenerentola* by Rossini. Mozart’s sparkling *Magic Flute* Overture sets the stage for the evening, which culminates in Richard Strauss’s exuberant *Le Bourgeois gentilhomme*, featuring virtuosic violin, cello, and piano soloists. Witty, energetic, and full of theatrical flair, Strauss’s music brings this journey to a rollicking conclusion. Kenneth Kiesler, conductor Grace Ryan, mezzo-soprano (Massenet and Rossini) PROGRAM Overture to *The Magic Flute*, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart \"Enfin je suis ici\" from *Cendrillon*, Jules Massenet \"Nacqui all'affanno... Non più mesta\" from *La Cenerentola*, Gioachino Rossini *Le bourgeois gentilhomme, op. 60*, Richard Strauss Concert Duration: 1 hour and 15 minutes ––– *Parking / Traffic alert for attendees:*

Students from the violin studio of Professor Fabiola Kim perform a recital.

WORLD PREMIERE Composer Theodore Wiprud and librettist Richard Wesley have created an oratorio examining a widespread expression of racism in America, documented in the landmark book *Sundown Towns* by the late sociologist and historian James Loewen. Conducted by Director of University Choirs Eugene Rogers, *Don’t Let the Sun*, for chorus, vocal soloists, and orchestra, will run approximately 90 minutes (plus intermission). It tells the story of “sundown towns” where residents drove out or actively excluded specific groups from residing there (from being in a town after sunset) through ordinances, signs, and acts of violence. Sundown towns excluded Black people, and in some cases, Chinese Americans, Jewish people, Native Americans, Latinas/os and other racialized groups. Since the 19th century these towns have been prevalent throughout the U.S. and especially in the Midwest, West, and East. These policies did not completely disappear over time. The attitudes that drove them morphed into housing “covenants,” redlining, discrimination within the post-war FHA and discrimination in the granting of bank loans. The results of these decisions and policies haunt our country to this very day. *Don’t Let the Sun* will shine a light on this difficult chapter in America’s ever-expanding history, and help audiences engage productively with “hard” histories. Mr. Loewen’s *Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism* is the definitive history of these phenomena. Another source is the “History and Social Justice” website launched by Dr. Loewen, which has had nearly one million visitors over the last three years, and continues to amass cases and first-hand accounts. Librettist Richard Wesley’s text is inspired by the voices of individuals impacted by sundown towns and more recent policies, examining the harm experienced by both the excluded and the excluders; and recent efforts by many sundown towns to reckon with their past and shape a better future. ––– *Parking / Traffic alert for attendees:* ABOUT THE GUEST ARTISTS THEODORE WIPRUD is a composer, an educator, and a researcher on the musical community’s work toward equity and inclusion. Many of his works address social issues, including vocal works like *American Journal* (Robert Hayden) and *A Georgia Song* (Maya Angelou); and orchestral works like his Violin Concerto *“Katrina”; Wind of Many Voices*, responding to the troubled history of South Dakota; and a second Violin Concerto *“on the brink”* exploring climate grief and climate action. RICHARD WESLEY is a playwright and screenwriter whose many plays deal with social-historical moments. He wrote the libretto for Anthony Davis’ Pulitzer Prize-winning opera *Central Park Five*. Mr. Wesley has received numerous awards including the NAACP Image Award for Best Picture (for *Uptown Saturday Night*) and the National Black Theater Festival’s August Wilson Playwright Award. He teaches at New York University.

The University of Michigan’s Baroque Chamber Orchestra studies and performs repertoire from the late Renaissance, Baroque, and the early Classical periods. While directed by faculty members Aaron Berofsky, baroque violin, and Joseph Gascho, harpsichord/organ, many performances are led by the students themselves. Using period instruments and replicas from the university’s growing Stearns Collection, the musicians gain vital hands-on experience and learn about the history and context of early music and performance practice.

Acclaimed Telegraph Quartet, now in residency at the School of Music, Theatre & Dance, performs a recital. ABOUT TELEGRAPH QUARTET Erin Chin & Joseph Maile, violins Pei-Ling Lin, viola Jeremiah Shaw, cello The TELEGRAPH QUARTET formed in 2013 with an equal passion for standard and contemporary chamber music repertoire. Described by the *San Francisco Chronicle* as “…an incredibly valuable addition to the cultural landscape” and “powerfully adept… with a combination of brilliance and subtlety,” the Telegraph Quartet was awarded the prestigious 2016 Walter W. Naumburg Chamber Music Award and the Grand Prize at the 2014 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. The quartet is currently the quartet-in-residence at the University of Michigan. The quartet has performed in New York City’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s *Chamber Masters Series*, and at festivals including the Chautauqua Institute, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, and the Emilia Romagna Festival. They have collaborated with pianists Leon Fleisher and Simone Dinnerstein; cellists Norman Fischer and Bonnie Hampton; violinist Ian Swensen; and the St. Lawrence Quartet and Henschel Quartett. A fervent champion of 20th- and 21st-century repertoire, the Telegraph Quartet has premiered works by Osvaldo Golijov, John Harbison, Robert Sirota, and Richard Festinger. In 2023, the Telegraph Quartet released *20th Century Vantage Points: Divergent Paths*, the first in a trilogy of recordings on Azica Records exploring the string quartets of the first half of the 20th century – an era of music that the group has felt especially called to perform since its formation. *Divergent Paths* features two works that (to the best of the quartet’s knowledge) have never been recorded on the same album before: Maurice Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major and Arnold Schoenberg’s String Quartet no. 1 in D minor, op. 7. The quartet’s new album, *20th Century Vantage Points: Edge of the Storm* is out now on Azica Records.

This UPO concert includes a world premiere composed by Kristin Kuster, professor of composition, and featuring violin soloist Matt Albert, professor of chamber music. Jayce Ogren, conductor Matt Albert, violin (Kuster) PROGRAM \"Dreaming by the Fireside\" from *Intermezzo*, Richard Strauss Symphony No. 4 in B-flat major, op. 60, Ludwig van Beethoven *Upland Green* (world premiere), Kristin Kuster \"Mars\" and \"Jupiter\" from *The Planets*, op. 32, Gustav Holst

Steven Whiting, Kathryn Votapek, and Christopher Harding will present a lecture concert concerning Beethoven, to include the violin sonata in C Minor, Op. 30 #2. This sonata was written at the same time as Beethoven’s Heiligenstadt Testament, in which he explains his deafness and inability to relate normally with the world. Presented in the 200th anniversary year of Beethoven’s death. PRESENTER BIOS Professor STEVEN WHITING taught at the University of Illinois, where he took his MM and PhD, before joining the University of Michigan faculty. Following his undergraduate education, he studied at Christian-Albrechts-Universität in Kiel, Germany, on a Fulbright study grant. Whiting has published twenty articles and book chapters about Beethoven, Satie, French cabaret music, and E.T.A. Hoffmann, and has co-edited A. L. Ringer’s *Musik als Geschichte*. His book *Satie the Bohemian: From Cabaret to Concert Hall* (Oxford University Press, 1999) was recognized as an outstanding academic book by *Choice*. A former director of the University’s Center for European Studies and associate director of its International Institute, Whiting served SMTD as associate dean for graduate studies from 2003 to 2014. --- A member of the Chester String Quartet for 15 years, violinist KATHRYN VOTAPEK now maintains an active career as a soloist and guest artist at chamber music festivals throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. She has participated in numerous commissioning projects and premieres and can be heard with the Chester Quartet on the Koch International Classics and New Albion labels. Along with pianist Ralph Votapek and clarinetist Paul Votapek, she performs as violinist and violist with the Votapek Trio. She has also given numerous duo performances with her husband, violinist Aaron Berofsky. Votapek has been on the faculty of the Chautauqua Institution, the Meadowmount School of Music, the Interlochen Arts Camp, the Madeline Island Music Musi Camp, the Quartet Program, the Banff International Festival, the Accademia Musicale Chigiana (Italy), the Peter de Grote Summer Academy (Holland), and the Music & More Summerfest (Bosnia and Herzegovina), as well as performing at the Klosterkammerfest (Germany), Speedside Festival (Canada), the International Deia Festival (Spain), the Garth Newel Festival, the Fontana Festival, and with the Chicago Chamber Musicians, and the Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings. Votapek is currently on the faculty at the University of Michigan and is the associate concertmaster of the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra. In prior years she was an associate professor of violin and artist-in-residence at Indiana University – South Bend. Votapek received her bachelor of music degree at Indiana University and master’s degree from The Juilliard School. Her teachers were Robert Mann, Franco Gulli, and Angel Reyes. --- Pianist CHRISTOPHER HARDING maintains an international presence as a noted teacher and performer. He has given solo, concerto, and chamber music performances in venues as far flung as the Kennedy Center and Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., the IBK and Recital Halls of the Seoul Art Center, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the National Theater Concert Hall in Taipei, the Jack Singer Concert Hall in Calgary, and halls and festival appearances in Newfoundland, Israel, Italy, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Romania, Russia, and China. His concerto performances have included concerts with the National Symphony and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestras, the San Angelo and Santa Barbara Symphonies, and the Tokyo City Philharmonic, working with such conductors as Andrew Sewell, Eric Zhou, Taijiro Iimori, Gisele Ben-Dor, Fabio Machetti, Randall Craig Fleisher, John DeMain, Ron Spiegelman, Daniel Alcott, and Darryl One, among others. Mr. Harding’s chamber music and duo collaborations have included internationally renowned artists such as clarinetist Karl Leister, flautist Andras Adorjan, and members of the St. Lawrence and Ying String Quartets, in addition to frequent projects with his distinguished faculty colleagues at the University of Michigan. He has recorded solo and chamber music CDs for the Equilibrium and Brevard Classics labels. He has additionally edited and published critical editions and recordings of works by Claude Debussy (Children's Corner, Suite Bergamasque, the Arabesques and shorter works) and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Viennese Sonatinas) for the Schirmer Performance Editions published by Hal Leonard. Professor Harding has presented master classes and lecture recitals in universities across the United States and Asia, as well as in Europe, Israel, and Canada. He is a Permanent Guest Professor at the Sichuan Conservatory in Chengdu, China; he has additionally served as a Fulbright Senior Specialist at the Sichuan Conservatory (2008) and Seoul National University (2011) and Ewha Womans’ University (2023). He has taught masterclasses and performed lecture recitals at all the major universities and schools of music in South Korea, and throughout China, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore. In addition to serving as Chair of Piano and teaching undergraduate and graduate piano performance and chamber music at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, Mr. Harding also serves on the faculty of the Sicily International Piano Festival and is a regular guest artist and teacher at the Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival in Tampa, Florida. Harding was born of American parents in Munich, Germany and raised in Northern Virginia. His collegiate studies were with Menahem Pressler and Nelita True. Prior to college, he worked for 10 years with Milton Kidd at the American University Department of Performing Arts Preparatory Division, where he was trained in the traditions of Tobias Matthay. He has taken 25 first prizes in national and international competitions and in 1999 was awarded the special \"Mozart Prize\" at the Cleveland International Piano Competition, given for the best performance of a composition by Mozart.

The University of Michigan’s Baroque Chamber Orchestra studies and performs repertoire from the late Renaissance, Baroque, and the early Classical periods. While directed by faculty members Aaron Berofsky, baroque violin, and Joseph Gascho, harpsichord/organ, many performances are led by the students themselves. Using period instruments and replicas from the university’s growing Stearns Collection, the musicians gain vital hands-on experience and learn about the history and context of early music and performance practice.

Professor Aaron Berofsky, new Professor of Cello Yeonjin Kim, and Professor Christopher Harding will present a concert of Beethoven’s first published works: three very great piano trios in E-flat Major, G Major, and C Minor, which announced an immensely talented and ambitious young composer to the world. Presented in the 200th anniversary year of Beethoven’s death. ABOUT THE ARTISTS Violinist AARON BEROFSKY has toured extensively throughout the United States and abroad, gaining wide recognition as a soloist and chamber musician. As soloist, he has performed with orchestras in the United States, Germany, Italy, Spain and Canada. He has performed the complete cycle of Mozart violin sonatas at the International Festival Deia in Spain and all of the Beethoven sonatas at New York’s Merkin Concert Hall. His 2011 recording of the complete Beethoven sonatas with Phillip Bush has been met with great acclaim. France’s *Le Figaro* calls his playing “Beautiful, the kind of music-making that gives one true pleasure”. He has appeared in such renowned venues as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the 92nd Street Y, the Corcoran Gallery, Het Doelen, L'Octogone, Seoul National University, the Teatro San Jose and the Museo de Bellas Artes. Mr. Berofsky has been featured on NPR's *Performance Today* and on the Canadian Broadcasting Company. His acclaimed recordings can be found on the Sony, Naxos, New Albion, ECM, Audio Ideas, Blue Griffin and Chesky labels. Recent recital tours have taken him to Germany, Italy and Korea, and he was featured soloist on the 2009 NAXOS recording of music by Paul Fetler, performed by the Ann Arbor Symphony, including the debut recording of his Concerto No. 2. His recording of the complete chamber music of Franz Xavier Mozart was released in 2013 on Equilibrium. Mr. Berofsky was the first violinist of the Chester String Quartet for fifteen years. The quartet has been acclaimed as \"one of the country's best young string quartets\" by the *Boston Globe*. Tours have taken them throughout the Americas and Europe and the quartet members have collaborated with such artists as Robert Mann, Arnold Steinhardt, Franco Gulli, members of the Alban Berg quartet, Andres Diaz, Eugene Istomin and Ruth Laredo. Some notable projects over the years have included the complete cycles of the quartets by Beethoven and Dvorak, and numerous recordings by such composers as Mozart, Haydn, Barber, Porter, Piston, Kernis and Tenenbom. The Chester Quartet has served as resident quartet at the University of Michigan and at Indiana University South Bend. An alumnus of the Juilliard School, Mr. Berofsky was a scholarship student of Dorothy DeLay. Other important teachers have included Robert Mann, Felix Galimir, Glenn Dicterow, Lorand Fenyves and Elaine Richey. Mr. Berofsky is known for his commitment to teaching and is Professor of Violin at the University of Michigan and served as visiting Professor at the Hochschule fur Musik in Detmold, Germany. He taught at the Meadowmount School of Music for many summers and is currently on the violin faculty of the Chautauqua Institution. He has also given masterclasses throughout the world, including a 2013 tour of Korea which included classes at Seoul National University, Ewha Women’s University, Seoul Arts High School and many others. He has also given class at the Cleveland Institute, Oberlin, Eastman, the Peter de Grote festival in the Netherlands, Domaine Forget in Quebec, Interlochen, the Adriatic Chamber Music Festival and the Conservatorio Palma Mallorca. Mr. Berofsky's interest in early music led him to perform with the acclaimed chamber orchestra Tafelmusik on period instruments, also makingseveral recordings with them for the Sony label. He co-runs University of Michigan’s Baroque Chamber Orchestra with harpsichordist Joseph Gascho. With a strong dedication to new music as well, he has worked extensively with many leading composers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, performing, commissioning and recording music by John Cage, William Bolcom, Zhou Long, Michael Daugherty, Aaron Jay Kernis, Susan Botti, Morton Subotnick, Paul Fetler and Bright Sheng. Aaron Berofsky has been concertmaster of the Ann Arbor Symphony since 2003. He has also served as guest concertmaster for many orchestras throughout the US and Europe. --- Cellist YEONJIN KIM has received international acclaim as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. Kim has performed at major venues including the Kennedy Center, Konzerthaus Berlin, Berlin Philharmonie, Seoul Arts Center, and Suntory Hall, and as a soloist with orchestras in Cleveland, Ann Arbor, Colorado, Seoul, Tianjin, and Manila. Her concerts have been broadcast on television and radio across the United States, Korea, China, and Japan. She has been a top prizewinner in several international competitions, including the Sorantin International Competition, Dichler-Sato International Competition, Viva Hall Competition, and the Korea Philharmonic Orchestra Competition. Her solo recording of Max Reger’s Three Suites for Cello Solo has been praised for its depth and expressive power. An avid chamber musician, Kim has also collaborated with numerous world-renowned artists and performs regularly with her sisters as part of Trio K. Kim has taught and mentored students from around the world, drawing on her extensive experience across Korea, the United States, China, and Japan. She has served on the faculty of the Tianjin Juilliard School and has held teaching appointments at the University of Michigan, Oberlin Conservatory, and Furman University. She has presented master classes at leading institutions such as the Juilliard School, Korean National University of Arts, Liszt Academy, YST Conservatory, Taipei National University of the Arts, and the Shanghai Conservatory. Many of her students have gone on to win international competitions and secure positions in leading orchestras and institutions. A graduate of Seoul National University, Kim earned her orchestra certificate from Toho Gakuen in Japan, her MM from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and her DMA from the University of Michigan. --- Pianist CHRISTOPHER HARDING maintains an international presence as a noted teacher and performer. He has given solo, concerto, and chamber music performances in venues as far flung as the Kennedy Center and Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., the IBK and Recital Halls of the Seoul Art Center, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the National Theater Concert Hall in Taipei, the Jack Singer Concert Hall in Calgary, and halls and festival appearances in Newfoundland, Israel, Italy, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Romania, Russia, and China. His concerto performances have included concerts with the National Symphony and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestras, the San Angelo and Santa Barbara Symphonies, and the Tokyo City Philharmonic, working with such conductors as Andrew Sewell, Eric Zhou, Taijiro Iimori, Gisele Ben-Dor, Fabio Machetti, Randall Craig Fleisher, John DeMain, Ron Spiegelman, Daniel Alcott, and Darryl One, among others. Mr. Harding’s chamber music and duo collaborations have included internationally renowned artists such as clarinetist Karl Leister, flautist Andras Adorjan, and members of the St. Lawrence and Ying String Quartets, in addition to frequent projects with his distinguished faculty colleagues at the University of Michigan. He has recorded solo and chamber music CDs for the Equilibrium and Brevard Classics labels. He has additionally edited and published critical editions and recordings of works by Claude Debussy (Children's Corner, Suite Bergamasque, the Arabesques and shorter works) and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Viennese Sonatinas) for the Schirmer Performance Editions published by Hal Leonard. Professor Harding has presented master classes and lecture recitals in universities across the United States and Asia, as well as in Europe, Israel, and Canada. He is a Permanent Guest Professor at the Sichuan Conservatory in Chengdu, China; he has additionally served as a Fulbright Senior Specialist at the Sichuan Conservatory (2008) and Seoul National University (2011) and Ewha Womans’ University (2023). He has taught masterclasses and performed lecture recitals at all the major universities and schools of music in South Korea, and throughout China, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore. In addition to serving as Chair of Piano and teaching undergraduate and graduate piano performance and chamber music at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, Mr. Harding also serves on the faculty of the Sicily International Piano Festival and is a regular guest artist and teacher at the Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival in Tampa, Florida. Harding was born of American parents in Munich, Germany and raised in Northern Virginia. His collegiate studies were with Menahem Pressler and Nelita True. Prior to college, he worked for 10 years with Milton Kidd at the American University Department of Performing Arts Preparatory Division, where he was trained in the traditions of Tobias Matthay. He has taken 25 first prizes in national and international competitions and in 1999 was awarded the special \"Mozart Prize\" at the Cleveland International Piano Competition, given for the best performance of a composition by Mozart.

The University of Michigan’s Baroque Chamber Orchestra studies and performs repertoire from the late Renaissance, Baroque, and the early Classical periods. While directed by faculty members Aaron Berofsky, baroque violin, and Joseph Gascho, harpsichord/organ, many performances are led by the students themselves. Using period instruments and replicas from the university’s growing Stearns Collection, the musicians gain vital hands-on experience and learn about the history and context of early music and performance practice.