Bard College Conservatory of Music Presents

Guest Artist Recital: Laurie Smukler, violin and Qing Jiang, piano

Join violinist Laurie Smukler and pianist Qing Jiang for an afternoon of Brahms, featuring all three of his Violin Sonatas.

Violinist Laurie Smukler, praised for her “powerful and deeply affecting” artistry, enjoys a career that spans deeply involved chamber music collaborations, solo performances, artistic directing, and major violin and chamber music teaching. 
With her husband of over 40 years, Ira Weller, Smukler was a founding member of the Mendelssohn String Quartet. During her eight years as first violinist of the ensemble, it won the Young Concert Artists competition in 1981; presented concerts across the United States; recorded works of Schoenberg, Dvorak, Mendelssohn, and Mozart; and was praised in the New York Times for its “enthusiasm, confidence, and sense of adventure.”  Smukler and Weller also collaborated over many years to present “The Collection in Concert,” a chamber music series at New York’s Morgan Library, which featured repertoire whose original manuscripts were part of the institution’s extensive collection.

Since 1997, Smukler has taught at Kneisel Hall Chamber Music School and Festival, whose Artistic Directorship she assumed in 2016.  Among particular highlights over many summers in Blue Hill, was her devoted trio collaboration, with cellist Joel Krosnick and pianist Seymour Lipkin.. Her duo collaborations with Lipkin and Krosnick individually were extensive as well, As Kneisel’s Artistic Director, she has expanded the Festival in meaningful ways, presenting Continuum concerts featuring collaborations between KH Faculty and alumni; inviting an Alexander Technique practitioner to campus, establishing an annual Music For Food concert to support the food pantry in Blue Hill; and beginning a series, Composers Now, which brings a major living composer to Blue Hill for an annual residency each summer.

Since 2014, Smukler has served full-time on the faculty at Juilliard, where she works with an extraordinary class of undergraduate and graduate-level violinists; coaches serious young chamber music groups and co-directs the String Quartet Survey for entering first-year students. Prior to her work at Juilliard, Smukler taught at The Manhattan School of Music, Mannes, SUNY Purchase, and the Bard Conservatory of Music. 

Praised for “spirited” (Boston Globe) playing and “vigorous and passionate” (New York Times) performances, Chinese-born pianist Qing Jiang enjoys a diverse career in solo, chamber, and contemporary music.

Jiang has soloed under renowned conductors Oliver Knussen and Zushan Bian, and appeared in Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, and Snape Maltings Hall (U.K.).  Passionate about chamber music, Jiang has collaborated with Itzhak Perlman, Joel Krosnick, David Shifrin, as well as the Juilliard, Shanghai, Jasper, Aeolus, and Parker string quartets. Jiang has also performed extensively with Laurie Smukler, Natasha Brofsky, and Roger Tapping, including a multi-city China tour. She has been heard at numerous festivals, including Ravinia, Britten-Pears, Music@Menlo, Garth Newel, Yellow Barn, Interlochen, Perlman Music Program, and Aspen. Versatile in style and interests, Jiang has worked closely with composers Jennifer Higdon, Jörg Widmann, and Colin Matthews, and commissioned works by Shulamit Ran, Zhou Tian, Juri Seo, Eric Nathan, and Daniel Temkin.  Starting piano at age three with her mother, her principal teachers include Shuxing Zhen, Caio Pagano, Robert McDonald, Wha-kyung Byun, and Patricia Zander.  Previously taught at Curtis, NEC Prep, and Bucknell, Jiang currently is an Associate Professor of Piano and Director of Collaborative Keyboard Arts at Florida State University, and a faculty member of the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music School and Festival. 

Free and open to the public.

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For more information, call 845-758-7196, or e-mail [email protected].

Time: 4:00 pm EST/GMT-5

Location: Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space

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