Sara Su Jones & Tatyana Stepanova: Recital (In Person & Live-Streamed) at Fourth Presbyterian Church
Schedule
Fri Mar 21 2025 at 12:10 pm to 01:00 pm
UTC-05:00Location
Fourth Presbyterian Church | Chicago, IL
In celebration of Women’s History Month, violinist Sara Su Jones and pianist Tatyana Stepanova present an eclectic program centered on something fresh and new from a century ago: the gorgeous and deeply moving—yet virtually unknown—Sonata for Violin and Piano by Marguerite Canal (1890-1978). Canal was the first French woman to conduct an orchestra (in 1917) and the second woman, after Lili Boulanger, to win the prestigious Grand Prix de Rome composition prize (in 1920). Canal's four-movement Sonata traverses an intensely expressive emotional landscape while portraying a young girl’s journey into womanhood. Early on, the Sonata was performed by such renowned violinists as Zino Francescatti and Henryk Szeryng, but it later fell into obscurity along with most of Canal’s other works.Sara Su and Tatyana will also perform the haunting "Midsummer Moon" by the pioneering British-American violist and composer Rebecca Clarke. The program will begin with Brahms's rousing FAE Scherzo and conclude with the rarely performed, incredibly fun "Hexapoda: Five Studies in Jitteroptera" by the American composer and arranger Robert Russell Bennett, with movement titles like "Jane Shakes Her Hair" and "Jim Jives."
This free concert will take place in the Sanctuary of Chicago's beautiful Fourth Presbyterian Church as part of its Noonday Concert Series. You are warmly invited to attend in person or watch the live-streamed concert online.
https://www.fourthchurch.org/concerts/
Watch online:
www.bit.ly/fpcprograms
www.bit.ly/fpcvideos
https://www.facebook.com/fourthchurch/
About the artists:
As duo partners for more than 16 years, Chicago-based violinist Sara Su Jones and pianist Tatyana Stepanova have given recitals at the Harvard Club of New York as well as in Reykjavik, Iceland; Washington, DC; and Andover, Massachusetts. The duo has appeared multiple times on “Live from WFMT,” the flagship recital-and-conversation series of Chicago’s classical-music radio station, and performed throughout the Chicago area, including in the Noonday Concert Series at Fourth Presbyterian Church and in sold-out recitals at Glessner House, the Cliff Dwellers Club, and Newberry Library. Their eclectic, creative programming often highlights striking but little-known works, including those composed by women like Dorothy Howell and Gwyneth Walker.
Hailed as a “violinist of enviable gifts” by a Chicago Sun-Times music critic, Sara Su Jones was the 2022 winner of The American Prize (instrumental soloist) and has been a featured soloist on WFMT, WBEZ, and BBC Radio. A top prizewinner in competitions in both the USA and UK, including that of the Harvard Musical Association, Sara Su has given numerous recitals abroad, including with her partner, longtime WFMT host and pianist Dennis Moore, in London, Lisbon, and Reykjavik. She earned an AB (Economics) and JD, both with honors from Harvard (where she served for three years as assistant concertmaster of the symphony orchestra), and worked as a consultant at McKinsey and as a lawyer at Ropes & Gray before founding her educational-coaching business. Sara Su performs on a violin made for her in 2017 by the Icelandic luthier Hans Johannsson. www.sarasujones.com
Tatyana Stepanova is a noted performer and teacher, praised as a “fine” and “persuasive” pianist (Chicago Tribune). A Kyiv native and graduate of the Tchaikovsky (Kyiv) and Rimsky-Korsakov (St. Petersburg) State Conservatories, she has performed with members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the orchestra of the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Tatyana teaches at Midwest Young Artists and has also served as a faculty accompanist at Northwestern. She is a sought-after teacher and chamber-music coach; her piano students and chamber groups have won prizes in the CSO Young Artists and Walgreens National Concerto Competitions, as well as in the Fischoff, Discover, Barnett, and M-Prize national chamber music competitions.
