Wine & Music: Opus Nova "À La Carte" Concert

Chandor Gardens Foundation is excited to welcome back Fort-Worth-based Opus Nova, Chamber Music Series: "À La Carte" Concert to the Great Room of Chandor Gardens in Weatherford, TX on Thursday, March 20, 2025 with a one-of-a-kind concert where you decide the program!

Each audience member will receive a musical menu featuring works from Baroque to Contemporary, Classical to Jazz—enjoy the show you the audience help to create, as your musical choices lead the direction of the evening.

The concert includes a complimentary pre-concert reception from 6:30 PM to 7:00 PM with refreshments and hors d’oeuvres. Enjoy this wonderful chamber music concert played by outstanding artists in an intimate atmosphere. Share the moment with fellow music lovers and artists.
For this concert, we are very excited to have Mikhail Bersetnev, who was praised by Theater Jones as "an astonishingly gifted pianist", Stas Chernyshev & Ann Hung – clarinetists and founders of Opus Nova, and Sedici Strings, a string quartet comprised of Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra musicians - Jen Betz & Molly Baer on violins, Dmitry Kustanovich on viola, and Allan Steele on cello.

Equally adept as a recitalist, soloist, and chamber musician, Mikhail Berestnev brings to every performance the experiences of a career spanning the globe, including performances in cities such as Sydney, Dublin, Moscow, Brussels, Rio de Janeiro, and Barcelona in addition to concert halls across the United States.

He has performed as a featured soloist with the Sydney Symphony, Brazilian Symphony, Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia, Fort Worth Symphony, Corpus Christi Symphony, Irving Symphony, Plano Symphony, San Angelo Symphony, Russian Philharmonic Orchestras of Rostov-on-Don, Voronezh, and Yaroslavl.

​Recent collaborations include solo appearances under the direction of Maestro Hector Guzman, composer Dr Robert Xavier Rodriguez. In chamber music with violinists Emanuel Borok, Aaron Boyd, Hubert Pralitz, Eunice Keem, with the MAKE Trio (Danny Goldman, clarinet & Grace Kang Wollet, violin), Julius String Quartet. Performed as a soloist and collaborative at music festivals such as Piano Texas International Festival and Academy (Fort Worth, TX), Basically Beethoven Festival (Dallas, TX), International Keyboard Odyssiad & Festival (Fort Collins, CO).

Mikhail Berestnev is Artist-in-Residence with the St Matthews Cathedral Arts Program in Dallas, guest artist and collaborative pianist with the "Musica Nova" Ensemble at the University of Texas at Dallas, Texas Ballet Theater, and featured artist at the "Cliburn in the Classroom" Program by The Cliburn Foundation.

He won prizes at Gnessins International Competition, Stanislav Neuhaus International Competition, Sydney International Competition of Australia, BNDES International Piano Competition in Rio de Janeiro and American International Piano Festival & Competition in Washington DC.

Graduated from the Russian Academy of Music named after Gnessins, Texas Christian University College of Fine Arts and Meadows School of Arts at the Southern Methodist University. He studied piano with Irina Grebyonkina, Andrei Khitruk, Alexei Skavronski, Vladimir Tropp, Tamás Ungár and Joaquin Achucarro.

An "eloquent" clarinetist with "incredible artistry” Russian-born Stas Chernyshev has established a versatile career as an orchestral musician, soloist, chamber musician, and educator (Dallas Morning News, Theater Jones).

Principal clarinetist of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Chernyshev has performed at such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall in New York, Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., as well as in Switzerland, Spain, Germany, Russia, South Korea and Japan. A devoted chamber musician, Mr. Chernyshev has collaborated with Grammy-winning ensembles Eighth Blackbird and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, commissioned new works for his instrument. He has been featured on WQXR -New York’s classical music station and WHYY’s television program - On Stage at Curtis. He is the founder and artistic director of Fort Worth Performances for Autism, and a co-founder of Opus Nova Chamber Music Series. Mr. Chernyshev holds a Bachelor’s degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, and a Master’s degree from St. Petersburg Conservatory.

Ann Hung, born in Taipei, Taiwan, began her musical studies at a young age, starting with piano at age five and clarinet at age nine. Dr. Hung is an active performer in the Dallas and Fort Worth area who regularly performs in the realms of both the orchestral and chamber music. She has shared the stage with the Fort Worth Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the members of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the faculty of the Juilliard School. Dr. Hung is always pushing the boundaries of her repertoire and skills, such as collaborating with jazz musicians and commissioning new composers. As a proponent of new music, she has avidlycommissioned new works including a wind quintet with her quintet Opus Now premiering in Symphony Space in NYC. One of the new works that Dr. Hung commissioned is included in a recently released album “Stained Glass Story” by Eldad Tarmu. Dr. Hung is currently teaching in Lewisville ISD, Burleson ISD as private lesson instructor and often plays with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. She is the associate director of the Fort Worth Performances for Autism and co- founder of Opus Nova Chamber Music Series.

Jen Betz has been a member of the first violin section of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra since 2012. Originally from California, she began playing the violin at age seven.

She studied at the preparatory division in San Francisco Conservatory with Doris Fukawa and then with Zaven Melikian at the San Domenico School in San Anselmo, CA. She was accepted into the studio of Almita and Roland Vamos at Northwestern University and was also a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago from 2007-2008. After graduating with a Bachelor of Music degree, she moved to Miami to play with the New World Symphony as a Fellow for four years. There she worked closely with conductors Michael Tilson Thomas and Esa- Pekka Salonen. She now lives in Fort Worth with her husband, her beautiful daughter, and two rescued lab mixes.

Molly Baer joined the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra in 2012. Before moving to Texas, Molly was a violin fellow at the New World Symphony in Miami Beach.

She graduated from the New England Conservatory in Boston as a student of Miriam Fried, and received her Master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Music, where she studied with Andrés Cárdenes. Molly has participated in the National Orchestral Institute, National Repertory Orchestra, Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan, and Music Academy of the West. Molly grew up in a suburb of Baltimore and enjoys returning to spend time with her family.

A native of St. Petersburg, Russia, Dmitry Kustanovich immigrated with his family to the U.S. at age 5, settling in Worcester, MA. After completing violin studies at the New England Conservatory and Manhattan School of Music, Dmitry became a violist. He then attended the Curtis Institute of Music, working with Joseph de Pasquale.

Dmitry joined the FWSO in 2005. He has also performed with the Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Seattle Symphony orchestras. He has toured the U.S. and Europe, working with many of the world's greatest conductors.

His summers at the Greenwood Music Camp and participation in Alexander Schneider's New York String Seminar propelled him into a career in music. In his spare time, Dmitry enjoys playing chamber music with his FWSO colleagues in their group Sedici Strings, road trips, hiking, cycling, baseball and chess.

Allan Steele, principal cellist with the Fort Worth Symphony, is a performer, teacher, and composer. Mr. Steele maintains an active solo career and has performed with the Mesquite Symphony Orchestra, the Northwest Symphony Orchestra, the American Youth Symphony, and others.

He has premiered several works in chamber or orchestral settings by composers such as Mark Antony Turnage and Stephen Cohn, as well as performing the world premiere of Henri Lazarof's Fifth Cello Concerto. Mr. Steele has studied with a number of notable pedagogues such as Tanya Carey, Hans Jensen, and Susan Moses. Music festival appearances include Indiana University's Summer String Program, The Meadowmount School of Music, and the Montreal International String Quartet Academy. He is a graduate of the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles, where he studied with Ronald Leonard.

He is a regular in the chamber music scene, performing with musicians such as Edgar Myers, Paul Coletti, Arnold Steinhardt, and Vadym Kholodenko. Steele is a founding member of the classical music group, "MC2" and devotes much of his spare time to composing and arranging. ​

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