MATAthon 2024

“A Transfigured Night”

featuring a new commission by MATA Festival 2024 Alumni, Composer Danae Venson in response to Arnold Schoenberg’s “Verklärte Nacht” and a new poem by Author of Natural Beauty, Ling Ling Huang, who will weave her script into the textures of Schoenberg’s score, performed by a string sextet led by violinist Henry Wang.

Schedule

• 7:00pm - Champagne & Hors d’oeuvres
• 7:30pm - Presentation and Performance
• 8:00pm - Wine & Desserts

Danae Venson is a composer and multi-instrumentalist from Houston, Texas. She is

currently pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree at The Juilliard School with the combined

guidance of Dr. Amy Beth Kirsten and Valerie Coleman.

In 2020, after paying close attention to troubling events of racial violence, Danae

decided to find a way to “speak without words.” Since then, she has afforded the

attention of collaborators and commissioners nationwide. Venson–a winner of National

Sawdust’s Hildegard Commission and a recipient of an ASCAP Morton Gould Young

Composers Honorable Mention–has gained the experience of working with the Denyce

Graves Foundation, MATA Festival, New York Youth Symphony, the Houston Ballet

Academy, Castle of our Skins, The Juilliard School, and up-and-coming film and play

directors in London and New York City.

Ling Ling Huang started violin at the age of 4 with her mother, Lilan Z. Huang.

She continued studying violin with Fredell Lack until her admission to the

Cleveland Institute of Music at the age of 15. There, while studying with Paul

Kantor, she won the concerto competition and performed the Stravinsky Violin

Concerto with the CIM Orchestra. For her Master of Music graduation, she was

awarded a special commendation for her comprehensive exams from Susan

McClary.

Ms. Huang performed the Britten Violin Concerto with the Shepherd School

Symphony as a result of winning the Concerto Competition at Rice University’s

Shepherd School of Music where she continued her studies with Paul Kantor in

the Artist Diploma Program. Ms. Huang is a current substitute violinist in the

Oregon Symphony, Opera Columbus, and ProMusica Columbus. In the past, she

has played with the New York Philharmonic, the Baltimore Symphony, the

Houston Symphony, participating in their 2018 European Tour, the Houston

Grand Opera, most recently for Siegfried and Götterdämerung, and has been the

substitute concertmaster of the Houston Ballet Orchestra. In New York, she plays

with the Experiential Orchestra, with whom she won a Grammy award in 2021,

and Music Kitchen, an organization that has partnered with Carnegie Hall to bring

commissioned concerts to shelters. She has appeared on The Tonight Show

backing Gunna and Metroboomin and can be heard on various recordings, most

recently the movie soundtrack for Judas and the Black Messiah. She has spent

summers at Artosphere, Sunset Chamberfest LA, and for the last 8 years, the

Grand Teton Music Festival. In 2023, she published her first novel, Natural

Beauty, which was a New York Times Editor’s Choice pick. It is being turned into

a television series by Constance Wu and Drew Comins.

Henry Wang

A native of St. Louis, Grammy Award-winning violinist Henry William Wang has captivated audiences with his artistry, earning praise from the Washington Post as an violinist "that makes the audience cheer lustily.

" He has won several engagements as soloist with orchestras including the University of Chicago Chamber Orchestra, the Alton Symphony Orchestra, the University City Symphony, the Belleville Philharmonic, and the Saint Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra. Venues of solo performances have included The John F . Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Powell Symphony Hall.

Currently based in New York, Henry performs with a variety of ensembles, including the New York Classical Players, Metropolis Ensemble, Trinity Wall Street NOVUS Ensemble, and the Manhattan Chamber Players. He is also a substitute violinist with the New York Philharmonic and the concertmaster of The Orchestra San Antonio. His solos can be heard on the Grammy Award-winning album "The Pr*son," performed by the Experiential Orchestra, where he serves as concertmaster.

Henry is a graduate of the Juilliard School, where he studied under Glenn Dicterow as a C.V. Starr Scholarship Student. He continued his studies with Glenn Dicterow and Lisa Kim at the Manhattan School of Music in the Orchestral Performance Program. Previously, he earned his Bachelor of Music degree as a student of Almita and Roland Vamos at Northwestern University. Beyond the classical music scene, Henry is active in the jazz world, regularly performing with

legends such as Steve Coleman and Billy Childs. He has also appeared on an album by The Roots and on the hit TV show, America's Got T alent. Additionally, Henry has been featured in many major motion pictures, including "Joker,” “Barbie,” "The Greatest Showman,” and "In the Heights.”

Alex Fortes

A native of San Diego, violinist Alex Fortes is recognized for his versatility and warmth. Recent orchestral and chamber music performances have included performances in France, Germany, Denmark, Austria, and Indonesia, as well as throughout North America with groups such as the Henschel Quartett, Dalí Quartet, Franklin String Quartet, Momenta Quartet, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the Knights, Quod Libet, and A Far Cry.  His playing is featured on A Far Cry’s 2014 Grammy-nominated album, Dreams and Prayers, as well as on Law of Mosaics, which The New Yorker’s Alex Ross hailed as one of the top ten albums of 2014. He can also be heard on a forthcoming album with the Henschel Quartett and pianist Donald Berman featuring the music of Chris Theofanidis.

Fortes holds a strong interest in finding new contexts in which to experience familiar music. His recent arrangements of Schubert lieder and chamber music were hailed by the Boston Globe as “uniformly resourceful and complementary…smart, subtle.” In May 2016, A Far Cry premiered his arrangement with Sarah Darling of Bach’s Goldberg Variations in collaboration with pianist Simone Dinnerstein.

Alex has participated in educational residencies in both English and Spanish related to entrepreneurship, music performance and education,  at colleges and public schools throughout the United States. He holds degrees from Harvard College and Mannes College, and his teachers include Mark Steinberg, Peter Zazofsky, Hernan Constantino, Mary Gerard, and Michael Gaisler.

Mario Gotoh

Born in Japan, Dr. Mario Gotoh (EA WA) is recognized as a Grammy Award winner, five-time Grammy Nominee, sought for distinguished roles as an innovative and creative violinist, violist, passionate educator and composer with a remarkably unique style of expression in all genres. An avid interdisciplinary collaborator, Dr. Gotoh performs worldwide as a member of the Silkroad Ensemble (led by Rhiannon Giddens, and founded by Yo-Yo Ma), and is also a member of The Knights in NYC.

Dr. Gotoh has performed at the Park Avenue Armory, Holland Festival, Tate Modern, Ruhr Festival, and Miami Arsht Center as an original featured actor in William Kentridge's large-scale production, The Head & The Load, about Africans in WWI. Mario frequently performs as soloist, concertmaster and principal with numerous orchestras, she regularly premieres and records newly created works, and also records and performs with numerous renown artists and on soundtracks, including: "Succession", "Moonlight"", Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Brian Wilson, Roger Waters, Sting, Doja Cat, Ed Sheeran - performing live on The Grammys, SNL, MTV VMAs, Colbert, Letterman, The White House, Madison Square Garden, Barclays Center, Elbphilharmonie, Musikverein Vienna, Newport Folk Festival, Beijing Egg, Sydney Opera House, Tanglewood, Ravinia, Aspen, Banff and many other major venues. She was the original violinist-violist in Hamilton: An American Musical on Broadway, Original Cast Recording, and Movie. Dr. Gotoh holds dual-degree Doctorates in both Violin and Viola Performance. She is currently on faculty at Longy School of Music of Bard College, teaches workshops through Silkroad Connect and Kennedy Center's Turnaround Arts, and has taught workshops and classes in Taiwan, China, Canada and colleges and institutions across the US. Mario is inspired by her community activism, language, literature, cooking, writing, visual arts, film, swimming, and exploring cultures everywhere.

Will Frampton

Violist William Frampton has been praised by critics for his “impressive” performances (The New York Times) and “a glowing amber tone” (The Boston Globe). Since his New York recital debut in 2009 at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, William has enjoyed a career of performances around the world as a chamber musician, soloist, and orchestral player. Highlights include over 100 performances with a string quartet led by Midori Goto in tours of Asia and North America, appearances as guest artist with Escher Quartet and Johannes Quartet, and world premieres of chamber music by J. Mark Stambaugh and a concerto by Peter Homans. William is Principal Viola of American Symphony Orchestra, Associate Musician with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and member of Harlem Chamber Players String Quartet. He performs in the Broadway orchestras of Hamilton, Wicked, and The Lion King, and on film scores including Barbie, The Joker, West Side Story, The Greatest Showman, The Girl on the Train, and many others.

William is Artistic Director of Music at Bunker Hill, a chamber music series in Southern New Jersey he co-founded in 2008 that brings five professional chamber music performances to Gloucester County, New Jersey every year. The community built as a result of Music Bunker Hill has brought regular collaborations with schools, libraries, orchestras, and civic organizations, contributing to the cultural life of Southern New Jersey.  He has performed at festivals including Bard Summerscape, Verbier, and IMS Prussia Cove, and as soloist with conductors including Joseph Silverstein, David Hoose, and Charles Peltz. He holds degrees from New England Conservatory and the Juilliard School, and studied with Kim Kashkashian, Samuel Rhodes, Choong-Jin Chang, and Byrnina Socolofsky. William teaches viola and chamber music at The College of New Jersey.

Estelle Choi

Choi has garnered top prizes as a soloist and as a chamber musician. She has gained international recognition as a founding member of the Calidore String Quartet, an ensemble that celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2020. Praised by the New York Times for its “deep reserves of virtuosity and irrepressible dramatic instinct” the Calidore won the Grand-Prize of the 2016 M-Prize International Chamber Music Competition. As a member of the Calidore, Choi is an Avery Fisher Career Grant winner, recipient of the Lincoln Center Emerging Artist award, BBC 3 New Generation Artist and Borletti-Buitoni Trust recipient. Choi and the Calidore are members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and alumni of the Bowers Program (formerly CMS Two). Choi’s artistry with the Calidore has been broadly praised by critics like Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times who wrote that “her tone is rich, deep and powerful, giving the impression that music and the room are a single living being.” Choi studied with John Kadz in Calgary, Aldo Parisot at the Yale School of Music and Ronald Leonard at the Colburn Conservatory. She instructed cello performance and chamber music at the University of Houston. With the Calidore, Choi teaches and performs at the University of Delaware. She holds a Masters degree from the Yale School of Music, and a Bachelor and Artist Diploma from the Colburn Conservatory of Music.

Coleman Itzkoff

Cellist and performer Coleman Itzkoff stands at the intersection of baroque/classical/new music, contemporary dance, and experimental theater. Whether premiering works by living composers and performing baroque music on historical instruments in the same concert, delivering enigmatic monologues in a piece of avant-garde dance theater (as well as dancing in said piece), composing, arranging, and recording music for the Amazon film ‘Le Bal des Folles’, or simply playing a piece of solo Bach for hospital patients in the time of COVID, Coleman continues to push the boundaries of what it means to be a musician of the 21st century, bringing his diverse range of interests and shape-shifting presence to every room and stage he occupies.

Hailed by Alex Ross in the New Yorker for his “flawless technique and keen musicality,” Coleman has performed in the great halls and festivals of America and abroad. As a soloist, he has had the privilege of being the featured soloist with many great orchestras, including recent appearances with the Houston, San Diego, and Cincinnati Symphonies. As a recitalist, he is allowed to express his eclectic taste and inventive programming, and is constantly experimenting with the form and format of a solo concert, playing with unique lighting, unconventional spaces, and often with an accompaniment of dance or text.

Collaboration is the heart of Coleman’s art making. To that end, he is a dedicated member of several ensembles, including the early music ensembles Ruckus and Twelfth Night, and is a founding member of AMOC, the American Modern Opera Company. Coleman holds a Bachelors in Music from Rice University, a Masters in Music from USC, and an Artist Diploma from The Juilliard School.

Host or Publisher MATA Festival