String Theory at Hunter tonight - Dec. 19

Thursday, December 19, 2013

photo Clockwise from left: Ani Kavafian, Yura Lee, Gloria Chen, Peter Wiley and Steven Tenenbom.

IF YOU GO* What: String Theory concert.* When: 6:30 p.m. today, Dec. 19.* Where: Hunter Museum of American Art, 10 Bluff View.* Admission: $25 Hunter members and groups of 20 or more, $35 nonmembers, $10 students with ID.* Phone: 423-267-0968.* Website: stringtheorymusic.org.

The fifth season of String Theory chamber music concerts will continue today, Dec. 19, with six celebrated artists: sisters Ani and Ida Kavafian, Yura Lee, Steven Tenenbom, Peter Wiley and series founder Gloria Chien.

The concert, set for 6:30 p.m. at the Hunter Museum, will feature Beethoven's Variations on an Original Theme in E Flat, Moszkowski's Suite in G and Brahms' String Quintet No. 2 in G.

At 6 p.m., Chien will host "Musical Dialogues," featuring an in-depth conversation with the performers about their lives, inspirations and the masterpieces being performed.

* Ani Kavafian (violin) enjoys a prolific career as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. She has performed with virtually all of America's leading orchestras. Her numerous solo recital engagements include performances at New York's Carnegie and Alice Tully halls, as well as in major venues across the country. She is a professor of violin at Yale University.

* Ida Kavafian (violin/viola) is an artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and former violinist of the renowned Beaux Arts Trio. She is a faculty member at The Curtis Institute, The Juilliard School and Bard College.

* Yura Lee (violin/viola), at age 12, was the youngest artist to receive the Debut Artist of the Year prize at the "Performance Today" awards given by National Public Radio. In 2007, she was the recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant.

* Steven Tenenbom (viola) is established as a chamber musician, soloist, recitalist and teacher with credits ranging from Avery Fisher Hall in New York City to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. He is the coordinator of string and piano chamber music at the Curtis Institute of Music.

* Peter Wiley (cello) has an active career as a performer and teacher. He is a member of the piano quartet Opus One, a group he co-founded in 1998 with pianist Anne-Marie McDermott, Ida Kavafian and Tenenbom. He has been awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant, nominated for a Grammy Award in 1998 with the Beaux Arts Trio and in 2009 with the Guarneri Quartet. He teaches at the Curtis Institute of Music and Bard College Conservatory of Music.

* Gloria Chien (piano) has emerged in recent years as one of America's finest young chamber musicians. She has participated for six years in Music@Menlo, a chamber music festival and institute in the San Francisco Bay Area. She was appointed director of the institute in 2011.

Founded in 2009, String Theory is presented as a partnership between the Hunter Museum and Lee University.