CMNW: David Ludwig's 'The Anchoress'

• Hyunah Yu, soprano
• Zitong Wang, piano
• Stewart Goodyear, piano

Rarely in one concert will you experience a string quartet with piano, a saxophone quartet, a woodwind quintet, and a poetic monodrama! Set to poetry by Portland native Katie Ford, The Anchoress combines a chorus of nine wind instruments with the human voice to explore the medieval mystic tradition called anchorism – with the remarkably expressive Hyunah Yu inhabiting the role of the Anchoress. CMNW Protégé alums the Kenari Quartet perform Quantum Shift, "an 8-minute virtuosic powerhouse" for saxophones. Pianist Stewart Goodyear and the Catalyst Quartet also uncover Florence Price's lively Piano Quintet.

About Kenari Quartet

Applauded for their “flat-out amazing” performances and “stunning virtuosity” (Cleveland Classical), the highly acclaimed Kenari Quartet delivers inspiring performances that transform the perception of the saxophone. The quartet aims to highlight the instrument’s remarkable versatility by presenting meticulously crafted repertoire from all periods of classical and contemporary music.

The Kenari Quartet has found a home performing on many of the premiere chamber music series in the United States. Recent engagements include appearances at Chamber Music Northwest, the Grand Teton Music Festival, and Chamber Music Tulsa, among others. For many chamber music institutions, the Kenari Quartet has been proud to serve as the first ensemble of its kind to be presented.

In addition to cultivating the highest level of performance, the Kenari Quartet has a deep passion for collaboration and innovation. Most recently, the quartet premiered J.P. Redmond’s "9×9: Nine Pieces for Nonet" alongside the inimitable Imani Winds. As a testament to the flexibility of the saxophone quartet, the Kenari Quartet was recently a featured artist in Baldwin Wallace Conservatory’s 86th Annual Bach Festival. Here, they collaborated with faculty, student musicians, and academics to present an unprecedented residency centering around the influence of J.S. Bach on the late composer David Maslanka, as well as improvisation throughout musical history.

Formed in 2012 at Indiana University, the quartet’s name is derived from the Malay word “kenari,” which may be translated as “songbird.” Expanding on the age-old idea that birds communicate through song, the Kenari Quartet seeks to exemplify this concept through concert hall performances. By not only connecting with their audiences via song, but also through physical movement, Kenari amplifies the standard concert experience with their striking visual communication and powerful stage presence.

About Catalyst Quartet

Hailed by The New York Times at its Carnegie Hall debut as "invariably energetic and finely burnished… playing with earthy vigor," the Grammy Award-winning Catalyst Quartet was founded by the internationally acclaimed Sphinx Organization in 2010. The ensemble (Karla Donehew Perez, violin; Abi Fayette, violin; Paul Laraia, viola; and Karlos Rodriguez, cello) believes in the unity that can be achieved through music and imagine their programs and projects with this in mind, redefining and reimagining the classical music experience.

The Catalyst Quartet, known for "perfect ensemble unity" and "unequaled class of execution" (Lincoln Journal Star), has toured widely throughout the United States and abroad, including sold-out performances at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., at Chicago's Harris Theater, Miami's New World Center, and Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall in New York. The quartet has been guest soloists with the Cincinnati Symphony, New Haven Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá, and has served as principal players and featured ensemble with the Sphinx Organization's featured ensemble, the Sphinx Virtuosi, on six national tours. They have been invited to perform at important music festivals such as Mainly Mozart in San Diego, the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Sitka Music Festival, Juneau Jazz and Classics, Strings Music Festival, and the Grand Canyon Music Festival, where they appear annually. The Catalyst Quartet was ensemble-in-residence at the Vail Dance Festival in 2016 and in the 2021-22 season were in residence with San Francisco Performances where they presented the complete series of works from their Uncovered Project. In 2022, the Catalyst Quartet was named ensemble in residence for the Chamber Music Northwest Festival in Portland and for the Met Museum's LiveArts series in NYC.

The Catalyst Quartet members hold degrees from The Cleveland Institute of Music, Curtis Institute of Music, Juilliard School, and New England Conservatory.

About WindSync

WindSync has established itself as a vibrant chamber ensemble performing wind quintet masterworks, adapting beloved music to their instrumentation, and championing new works by today’s composers. The quintet often eliminates the “fourth wall” between musicians and audience by performing from memory, creating an intimate connection. This personal performance style, combined with the ensemble’s three-pronged mission of artistry, education, and community-building, lends WindSync its reputation as ”a group of virtuosos who are also wonderful people, too” (Alison Young, Classical MPR).

WindSync launched an international touring career after winning the 2012 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition and the 2016 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. In 2018, they were finalists at the M-Prize Chamber Arts Competition. WindSync has appeared in recital at the Library of Congress, Ravinia, Shanghai Oriental Arts Center, and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. Their commissions and premieres include The Cosmos, a concerto for wind quintet and orchestra by Pulitzer finalist Michael Gilbertson, and recent works by Ivan Trevino, Marc Mellits, Erberk Eryilmaz, and Akshaya Avril Tucker. Their album, "All Worlds, All Times," was released on Bright Shiny Things in 2022, debuting at no. 2 on the Billboard Traditional Classical charts.

WindSync’s thematic programming responds to the people and places where they work. In their artistic hometown of Houston, they curate a four-concert season and present the Onstage Offstage Chamber Music Festival each April, spotlighting everyday public spaces as gathering places for culture. The ensemble’s educational work includes tour stops at public schools and ongoing collaborations with the social music programs Sistema Ravinia and Houston Youth Symphony Coda Music Program. WindSync has been featured in educational concerts presented by the Seattle Symphony, the Hobby Center, and Orli Shaham’s Bach Yard, and the ensemble’s concerts for young people reach over 5,000 students per year. In recognition of this work, they are the winners of the 2022 Ann Divine Fischoff Educator Award.

The members of WindSync have led masterclasses at New World Symphony, Eastman School of Music, Florida State University, and Northwestern University, among others. The quintet has also served as Ensemble-in-Residence for the Nevada Chamber Music Festival, the Chamber Music Festival of Lexington (KY), the National Museum of Wildlife Art, and the Grand Teton Music Festival.

About Chamber Music Northwest (CMNW)

Chamber Music Northwest serves more than 50,000 people annually in Oregon and SW Washington with exceptional chamber music through over 100 events annually, including our flagship Summer Festival, year-round concerts, community activities, educational programs, broadcasts, and innovative collaborations with other arts groups. CMNW is the only chamber music festival of its kind in the Northwest and one of the most diverse classical music experiences in the nation, virtually unparalleled in comparable communities.

Chamber Music Northwest's mission is to inspire our community through concerts and events celebrating the richness and diversity of chamber music, performed by artists of the highest caliber, presenting our community with exceptional opportunities for enjoyment, education, and reflection.

About Zitong Wang, piano

Award-winning Chinese pianist Zitong Wang made her solo recital debut at age 13 in the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing. She has performed at such venues as the Steinway Hall in New York, Verizon Hall in Philadelphia, and Severance Hall in Cleveland. She has appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Galicia Symphony Orchestra, Hangzhou Philharmonic, Yakima Symphony, and Waring Festival Orchestras. She has worked with conductors Jahja Ling, Xian Zhang, Lina Gonzalez-Granados, José Trigueros, and Yang Yang.

Among others, she won first prize in the Rosalyn Tureck International Bach Competition and Virginia Waring International Concerto Competition, second prize in the Thomas and Evon Cooper International Competition, and first prize in the Princeton Festival Competition and France Music Competition. In 2022, she won first prize and the “Nelson Freire Prize” for the best performer of a piece by Frederick Chopin in the XXXIII Ferrol International Piano Competition.

About Stewart Goodyear, piano

Proclaimed "a phenomenon" by the Los Angeles Times and "one of the best pianists of his generation" by the Philadelphia Inquirer, Stewart Goodyear is an accomplished concert pianist, improviser, and composer. Mr. Goodyear has performed with, and has been commissioned by, many of the major orchestras and chamber music organizations around the world.

Mr. Goodyear's discography includes the complete sonatas and piano concertos of Beethoven, as well as concertos by Tchaikovsky, Grieg, and Rachmaninoff, an album of Ravel piano works, and an album, entitled "For Glenn Gould," which combines repertoire from Mr. Gould's US and Montreal debuts. His Rachmaninoff recording received a Juno nomination for Best Classical Album for Soloist and Large Ensemble Accompaniment. Mr. Goodyear's recording of his own transcription of Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker (Complete Ballet)" was chosen by The New York Times as one of the best classical music recordings of 2015. His discography is released on the Marquis Classics, Orchid Classics, Bright Shiny Things, and Steinway and Sons labels. His newest recording, Adolphus Hailstork's Piano Concerto with the Buffalo Philharmonic under JoAnn Falletta, was released in March 2023 on the Naxos label.
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