Friday Music Series: PostClassical Chamber featuring Ben Capps & Wan-Chi Su

Artist Biographies

Cellist Ben Capps enjoys a versatile performing career as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral principal, collaborator, and creator. NYC-born, Capps grew up in Washington Heights, started cello at age 4, first tried composing at 10, and studied conducting at 13. He holds degrees from the Manhattan School of Music, New England Conservatory, and Juilliard - where he served as teaching assistant to David Soyer and Bonnie Hampton. He is currently a candidate for a Doctorate in Music Arts at Michigan State University. When not playing or teaching music, Capps enjoys listening to sound, improvising and composing music, surfing, and yoga. Capps currently serves as the lead professor of chamber music at Georgetown University in DC. and is the principal cellist with the innovative DC-based chamber orchestra PostClassical Ensemble, a resident ensemble at the Kennedy Center. Mr. Capps’ artistry has been praised as “most appealing” by the New York Times, “and virtuosic and impassioned” by the Barre Montpelier Times. Most recently Capps has appeared as solo and chamber music recitalist at the National Gallery of Art, the Washington National Cathedral, and Rockport Music Festival where the Boston Musical Intelligencer reported that “this fearless soloist...left us in staggered disbelief”. With “dazzling technique and a fearsomely meaty tone” he has performed at the American University, Manchester Music Festival, Strathmore, universities, and concert spaces throughout the US, Greece, Spain, Italy, and more. Past highlights include unaccompanied and accompanied solo cello tours in the Midwest, West Coast, Vermont, NYC and surrounding areas, Chicago, Athens, Fujian in China, and South Africa.

Capps can be heard as a soloist, chamber musician, and or orchestral principal on LP Classics, Innova Records, Tzadik Records, Sony, and Naxos. He was also featured on Vermont Public Radio and in multiple performances of the complete cello sonatas of Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Brahms. He is dedicated to contemporary music and art forms, experimental sounds, electronics, world music, and improvisational music, as well as being an advocate for sound as an integral component of holistic healing. When not playing or teaching music, Capps enjoys listening to sound, improvising and composing music, surfing, and yoga.

Praised for her "sensitivity and imagination" by The American Scholar, pianist Wan-Chi Su has performed at prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Salle Cortotin Paris, and Taiwan National Concert Hall. As both a soloist and collaborative artist, she has participated in esteemed festivals including the Taos School of Music and the Paris Piano Program. Born in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Dr. Su earned her bachelor's degree from National Kaohsiung Normal University and her Master of Music, Graduate Performance Diploma, and Doctor of Musical Arts from the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, studying with Seth Knopp and Benjamin Pasternack. Dr. Su is the founder of Duo Sorolla, an artist with the Piatigorsky Foundation, and serves as the organist at Memorial Episcopal Church in Baltimore. A sought-after musician, she performs not only in traditional concert settings but also in underserved communities, including schools, prisons, and shelters. In addition to her active performance schedule, Dr. Su is a dedicated educator, teaching chamber music at Georgetown University and piano at Loyola University Maryland. When not at the piano, she enjoys tending to her plants and spending time with her cat, Sanji.

Host or Publisher Georgetown University Dept. of Performing Arts