New Album, Eclipse, features MIC alumna and faculty
November 4th, 2016
Chicago composer and MIC Composer-in-Residence, Mischa Zupko, has a new album of world-premiere pieces for piano trio released by Cedille Records on November 11, 2016 entitled Eclipse: Chamber Music by Mischa Zupko. Zupko is joined by two close friends and musical colleagues, violinist Sang Mee Lee, string department chair at the Music Institute of Chicago and cellist Wendy Warner, an MIC alumna. Portions of the record were recorded at Nichols Concert Hall.
For more information about the album click here >>
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Winner of top prizes at the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition, Leopold Mozart International Violin Competition, and other showcases, Sang Mee Lee has performed as guest soloist with symphony orchestras conducted by Erich Leinsdorf, Sir Yehudi Menuhin, and Mstislav Rostropovich. Her chamber music pursuits have included performances with Chicago’s Fifth House Ensemble and International Chamber Artists and collaborations with members of new-music ensembles ICE, Fulcrum Point, Anaphora, and Eighth Blackbird. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in violin performance from The Juilliard School and has taught at the Music Institute of Chicago since 2000. From 2005–2007, she was on the chamber music faculty at Northwestern University.
Wendy Warner first garnered international attention in 1990 winning the top prize at the Fourth International Rostropovich Competition in Paris. She made her New York debut with the National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich. She later embarked on a European tour with the Bamberg Symphony, again under the great Russian-born conductor-cellist’s direction. In chamber music, she has collaborated with the Vermeer and Fine Arts Quartets, Chicago Chamber Musicians, Jupiter Chamber Players, violinists Gidon Kremer and Vadim Gluzman, and pianist Irina Nuzova in the WarnerNuzova duo. She teaches at the Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University in Georgia, where she holds the Leah D. Hamer Distinguished Faculty Chair.
One of “the city’s most interesting composers” (Chicago Tribune), Mischa Zupko is composer-in-residence at the Music Institute of Chicago and teaches at DePaul University School of Music. In 2010–2011, he was composer-in-residence for Chicago’s Fulcrum Point New Music Project. He’s received plaudits from The New York Times and Los Angeles Times. Zupko has been featured in the Chicago Reader and New Music USA’s New Music Box, which called him “a humble, energetic, and constantly searching artist.” Chicago’s New City hailed him as a composer “with something to say, and the adventurous listener will be rewarded.” His music has been championed by the Minnesota Orchestra, Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, American Modern Ensemble, Eighth Blackbird, Corigliano Quartet, Lincoln Trio, and members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as well as members of the Kronos, Vermeer, and Pacifica Quartets. Camerata Chicago performed Zupko’s Chamber Symphony: Pilatus on its 2013 tour to the Czech Republic, France, and Italy.