TAKING CENTER STAGE AT THE KENNEDY CENTER
Seven Shepherd School students selected to perform in May at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

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Ellen Chang
Media Relations Specialist
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Email: ellenc@rice.edu

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Seven students from the Shepherd School of Music have been chosen to perform at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington in May. Benjamin Jaber, horn; Hyojin Ahn and Lola Astanova, piano; and the Enso String Quartet, the graduate quartet-in-residence, will perform the week of May 24 for the Conservatory Project at the Kennedy Center on the Millennium Stage. The performance will be broadcast live on the Web.

In 2003, the Shepherd School was selected by the Kennedy Center as one of eight leading music conservatories to participate in its new program, the Conservatory Project, a new program designed to develop and present young talent from the leading music schools in the United States.

"In this first year, students from our string, woodwind/brass and piano departments will be featured on the program," said Robert Yekovich, dean of the Shepherd School of Music. "Having been selected by the faculty, these students are indicative of the extraordinary level of talent that is pervasive in the Shepherd School, and we're delighted to have them as this year's representatives. Our appearance at the Kennedy Center will only further enhance the lofty reputation enjoyed by the Shepherd School."

The project showcases young performers who show extraordinary talent with seven performances of classical music, jazz and opera. The participants will have the opportunity to be critiqued by world-renowned musicians, including Leonard Slatkin and Placido Domingo. After the initial series in May, the project will be presented biannually in late winter and late spring.

The other colleges and universities chosen to participate in the project are Berklee College of Music, Boston, the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester, the Juilliard School in New York, the Peabody Conservatory of Music at Johns Hopkins University, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the School of Music at Indiana University at Bloomington.

The repertoire to be presented by the Shepherd School students will begin with "Concertino for Horn, Op. 45, No. 5" by Lars-Erik Larsson and "Flight of Fancy" by Richard Lavenda, professor of composition and theory at Rice. Both pieces will be performed by Jaber, who will be accompanied by Ahn.

Benjamin Jaber, a senior horn performance major, has gained widespread recognition as a musician with a diverse range and accomplishment through his performances in solo, orchestra and chamber music. He made his solo debut performing Mozart's "Concerto No. 3 in E-flat" with the American Radio Chamber Orchestra in 2000. In 2003, he also performed alongside Jacek Muzyk, who currently serves as the Dallas Symphony's associate principal horn, in "Concerto for Two Horns" by Antonio Vivaldi with the Houston Chamber Orchestra. Jaber also received first prize at the University Division of the American Horn Competition in 2003.

Recently appointed principal horn of Houston's Orchestra X, Jaber is also a substitute hornist with the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra, having participated in many nationally broadcast productions. As a chamber musician, Jaber is the hornist of the Texas Brass Ensemble and a frequent performer with the Paragon Brass Ensemble.

"I am honored beyond words to have been chosen to represent the Shepherd School in this great event," Jaber said. "Being a student here has been a dream come true, but I could never have imagined that the great, eminent artists who make up our faculty would have the faith in me to allow me to perform in this capacity. It is a blessing, and I intend to make the absolute best of it."

Hyojin Ahn, a doctoral candidate in piano performance, began winning prestigious piano competitions when she was 9 years old in Korea. She has also received numerous scholarships and fellowships in Korea and the United States. Ahn, a proponent of new music, has also premiered several new compositions for solo piano and a variety of ensembles. She was a member of Contemporary Directions Ensemble directed by Jonathan Shames and has collaborated with composers Karen Tanaka, Evan Chambers and Susan Botti. Ahn has also performed with the University of Michigan Band Orchestra, the Shepherd School Chamber Orchestra and Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra and given recitals in Italy, Korea, Mexico and the United States.

The third Shepherd School student to perform, Astanova, is a graduate student in piano performance. She will play Frédéric Chopin's "Sonata No. 2 in B-flat Minor, Op. 35 'Funeral March.'"

Lola Astanova began touring at the age of 8 and has played at concerts in the United States, Germany, France, Austria, Italy and Russia both as a soloist and with orchestras. In 1996, Astanova was selected as a laureate of the second international Chopin Competition for Young Pianists in Moscow. Her performances at the Big and Small Hall of the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory were featured in a Chopin Compilation album released in Europe by Zvuk Records and the Russian Chopin Society. During that same year, she played at a UNESCO event in Paris; her performance was featured in a UNESCO documentary, "Prodigies of the 20th Century." Her performances have been featured by international media, including CNN and the BBC. Astanova is completing the recording of her first solo album, which is scheduled for release later this year in the United States.

She said she is very excited to be chosen to represent the Shepherd School. "The Kennedy Center is a legendary concert hall and performing there is a very special opportunity for any musician," Astanova said. "It is overwhelming to think of all the brilliant names that have performed there over the years. I am sure that being on that stage will be a very powerful experience."

The Enso String Quartet - composed of violinists Maureen Nelson and Tereza Stanislav, violist Robert Brophy and cellist Richard Belcher - will perform "String Quartet in C Minor, D. 703 'Quartettsatz'" by Franz Shubert and "Episodes for String Quartet" by Kurt Stallmann, assistant professor of composition and theory at Rice.

The Enso String Quartet is quickly becoming one of America's leading young ensembles. The quartet was a winner of the 2003 Concert Artists Guild International Competition and also earned top prizes at the Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition and the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. In April, the quartet will make its New York debut on the Concert Artists Guild series at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.

Its future engagements include performances at the La Jolla Chamber Music Society Sum-merFest, concerts at New York City's Merkin Concert Hall, the Chautauqua Institution, Brooklyn Friends of Chamber Music, Chicago's Music in the Loft Series, Market Square Concerts, Newtown Friends of Chamber Music and the Bedford Chamber Music Series.

The Enso String Quartet has performed throughout the United States and abroad since its inception in 1999. It has also performed at the Mostly Music and the Dame Myra Hess Series of Chicago; SYZYGY, New Music at Rice; the Rockford Symphony Orchestra and the Champaign-Urbana Symphony at the Krannert Center for Performing Arts. The quartet also toured Costa Rica as guest artists in the 12th international Costa Rica Music Festival. Past performances have taken the ensemble to England and Canada, where the group was a finalist in the Banff Seventh International Quartet Competition.

Before becoming the graduate quartet-in-residence at the Shepherd School, the group held a graduate residency at Northern Illinois University. The ensemble's commitment to bring classical music to the community includes program performances at the Shepherd School geared toward children that emphasize interaction between the audience and the quartet.

The Enso String Quartet draws together four musicians from around the world whose members hold degrees from the Juilliard School, Curtis Institute of Music, Indiana University, Royal Northern College of Music in the United Kingdom and the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. The members of the ensemble met while pursuing graduate degrees at Yale University, where they later worked with the Tokyo String Quartet.