Hanson-Koobs series returns with viola, piano performance

Los Angeles Philharmonic Assistant Principal Violist Ben Ullery, accompanied by noted concert pianist Dominic Cheli will perform works by Frank Bridge, Rebecca Clarke, and Johannes Brahms. The performance begins at 7:30 p.m. and serves as the Department of Music’s 2021-22 season opener.

Ullery’s background includes three seasons as a member of the Minnesota Orchestra and as guest principal viola with the Detroit Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra, and Aspen Chamber Symphony. He has been featured in chamber music performances on NPR’s Performance Today as well as local broadcasts on K-USC in Los Angeles and Minnesota Public Radio. He has recorded chamber works for Bridge and Albany records. Recent summer festival appearances include the Aspen, Grand Teton, Mozaic, and Music in the Vineyards festivals. He is a faculty member at the Colburn School and a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory.

Cheli, a native of St. Louis, Mo. participates in collaborative music outreach with Project: Music Heals Us, a nonprofit that presents interactive classical music to diverse audiences. He is also the LIVE Director of Tonebase Piano in which he hosts and presents numerous virtual lectures, performances, and workshops covering topics of music theory, history, piano technique and more.

Cheli is first prize winner of the 2017 Concert Artists Guild Competition and recently debuted at Carnegie Hall and Walt Disney Concert Hall with Maestro Valery Gergiev. Future performances include debuts at Lincoln Center and Kennedy Center as well as concertos with the Seattle and Indianapolis Symphonies. Recording projects include Recovered Voices initiative, a unique organization that encourages greater awareness and more frequent performances of music by composers whose careers and lives were disrupted during the years of the Nazi regime in Europe. A seven-part documentary series featuring his performances of the music of Erwin Schulhoff will premier November 2021. He has recorded on the Delos and Naxos labels which his first CD featuring the music of Muzio Clementi, and a second CD, containing the music of Liszt/Schubert, scheduled for release in the 2020-21season.

Hanson-Koobs recital tickets are available for online purchase only and are $18 general admission; $12 alumni and seniors aged 55 and over; $7 students. Ticket purchases are available at https://www.itickets.com/events/456682

In order to attend La Sierra University Department of Music performances, proof of vaccination against Covid-19 is required. Guests must be fully vaccinated (one dose of Johnson & Johnson or a second dose of Pfizer or Moderna vaccines) two weeks prior to the date of the event.

To enter campus and attend music events, printed or digital smart phone tickets must be presented along with physical or digital vaccination cards at the security kiosk at the university front entrance on Riverwalk Parkway.

For information contact 951-785-2036 or music@lasierra.edu. La Sierra University is located at 4500 Riverwalk Parkway, Riverside, Calif., 92505.