Wister Quartet with Caroline Goulding & Joel Fan

Pianist Joel Fan in action:

Caroline Goulding plays the devil out of the Devil’s Trill”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwNiUK9sNBA

Gretna Music is thrilled to welcome The Wister Quartet. Known for  their superb musicianship and memorable performance style, the popular Philadelphia-based ensemble will take the stage with virtuosos Caroline Goulding and Joel Fan in a memorable evening of brilliantly performed classical music.

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Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)

Polonaise-fantasie in A-flat Major, Op. 61

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), attrib.

String Quartet in F Major, Hob. III:17, “Serenade”

Presto

Andante cantabile

Menuetto

Scherzando

Intermission

Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)

Concerto in d minor for violin, piano, and strings, MWV O4

Allegro

Adagio

Allegro molto

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Chopin & Mendelssohn

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Caroline Goulding, Violin: Widely recognized by the classical music world’s most distinguished artists and institutions for her “vibrant and intensely musical” playing (Cleveland Plain Dealer),Caroline was a recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2011 and in 2009, she won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions and was the recipient of the Helen Armstrong Violin Fellowship. She has also garnered significant attention from music and mainstream press, appearing on NBC’s Today, MARTHA and Germany’s Stars von Morgen hosted by Rolando Villazón. Caroline has also been heard on NPR’s Performance Today, From the Top, and SiriusXM Satellite Radio. Caroline has studied with Christian Tetzlaff, Donald Weilerstein, Paul Kantor, Joel Smirnoff and Julia Kurtyka.A past member of the Stradivari Society, Caroline currently plays a Giovanni Battista Rogeri (1675), courtesy of Peter and Cathy Halstead. Since her 2006 Cleveland Orchestra debut, Caroline has appeared as soloist with the Symphony Orchestras of Toronto, Detroit, Dallas, Houston, Nashville, Indianapolis, Phoenix, Boise, Victoria, Denver, Milwaukee, Stamford, Pasadena, Alabama, the National Symphony, Florida Orchestra and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s in North America. She has also appeared extensively in Europe and Asia with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Netherlands Philharmonic, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic.  She has appeared in recital at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Beijing’s Forbidden City Concert Hall, the Tonhalle-Zurich, the Louvre Museum, KKL-Lucerne, Beethoven-Saal Stuttgart, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.  A past participant of the Marlboro Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival and Interlochen Arts Academy, Caroline enjoys connecting with others through chamber music masterpieces.

Joel Fan, Piano: As a concerto soloist, Fan has performed over 40 different concertos with orchestras worldwide, including the New York Philharmonic, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, the Odessa Philharmonic, Singapore Symphony, the Boston Pops, and London Sinfonietta, with conductors such as David Zinman, Zubin Mehta, Alan Gilbert, Keith Lockhart, and David Robertson. As a recitalist, Joel Fan has found an enthusiastic following on numerous stages ranging from the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, Jordan Hall in Boston, Calgary Celebrity Series, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, to the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. Internationally, Fan has performed recitals on four continents – most recently in tours of China, Cuba and South America. Fan is recognized for his work with cellist Yo-Yo Ma as a member of the Silk Road Ensemble, appearing at Carnegie Hall and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C., and on the television programs Good Morning America and Late Night with David Letterman. Fan has also collaborated with numerous leading ensembles, including the Shanghai Quartet, Orion Quartet, Imani Winds, and A Far Cry chamber orchestra. Joel Fan was born in New York City to Taiwanese parents, began early musical studies at the Juilliard School, earned his undergraduate degree from Harvard University, and a Master of Music degree in piano performance from the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University. He attended the Tanglewood Music Center and the Steans Institute at the Ravinia Festival. Fan is a prize winner of several international competitions, including the Busoni International Piano Competition in Italy. He was also the winner of the Kosciuzko Foundation’s Chopin Prize, and named a Presidential Scholar by the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. Fan studied with the composer Leon Kirchner and the pianist Leon Fleisher.

Wister Quartet: The Philadelphia-based Quartet was named to honor Frances Anne Wister, founder of the Volunteer Committees of The Philadelphia Orchestra. It has performed throughout the Eastern United States including concerts at Haverford, Swarthmore, Gettysburg, Ursinus, and Gloucester County (NJ) Colleges and has also appeared in concert in China, South America and Europe.
The Wister Quartet appears frequently on established series such as those presented by The Chamber Music Society of Bethlehem, the Laurel Hill Concerts by Candlelight in the historic Philadelphia mansion of that name in Fairmount Park, the Glencairn Museum, and Arcadia University. Since its earliest days, the Wister Quartet has been featured on the Philadelphia Orchestra’s Chamber Music Series, and since 1991 in performances on the Lenape Chamber Players Summer Festivals and at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center chamber series.
In 1993 the Wister Quartet established its own Chamber Series of five Sunday afternoon concerts in the historic headquarters of the German Society of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. These feature the great quartet literature as well as unusual and rarely-played works.The Quartet is also the core group of the popular Philadelphia chamber ensemble, 1807 & Friends. They’ve played with world-renowned artists including Yefim Bronfman, Alicia de Larrocha, Christoph Eschenbach, Wolfgang Sawallisch, and Yo-Yo Ma.

Nancy Bean was a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1983 and was its Assistant Concertmaster for 23 years before retiring in 2009 to devote herself to chamber music. She is the Artistic Director of 1807 and Friends chamber ensemble, director of The Liberty String Orchestra, and violinist with the Amerita Chamber Players, Florian Trio, Trio Montage, Barnard Trio, Duo Parisienne, Duo Paganini and Wister Quartet.

Davyd Booth is a master of many instruments, including violin, celesta, piano, and harpsichord. He joined the Philadelphia Orchestra violin section in 1973. He made his professional debut at the age of 13, touring the United States for four years and touring Mexico at the age of 16. He is currently on the faculty of the Temple University Preparatory Department, where he serves as conductor of two student orchestras. He is co-music director and harpsichordist for the Amerita Chamber Ensemble and the Wister String Quartet.

Pamela Fay is substitute violist for the Philadelphia Orchestra and is a member of the Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia. She was a member of the Toronto Symphony and the LeClair String quartet, and is currently violist for 1807 and Friends and the Wister Quartet. She is a graduate of the University of Toronto.

Lloyd Smith, Cellist, was a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1967. He was named Assistant Principal in 1988 and Acting Associate Principal in 2002 before retiring in 2003 to devote himself to chamber music and composing. He is the cellist of 1807 and Friends chamber ensemble, the Florian Trio, Trio Montage, the Barnard Trio, the Amerita Chamber Players, and the Wister Quartet.

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