University’s Chamber Music Series to feature noted artists

On Sun., April 9 at 7 p.m., a string sextet comprised of Grace Park, violin, Jason Uyeyama, violin, Ben Ullery, viola, Franklin Shaw, viola, Robert deMaine, cello, and Ani Kalayjian, cello will perform Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s “Souvenir de Florence, Op. 70” and Johannes Brahms’ “Sextet in G Major, Op. 36.”

The players have appeared in major concert venues around the world and with such top-tier groups as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and many others.

Park has led a diverse career that has moved her from concert halls to universities around the world as a soloist, collaborator, coach, and educator. She has been featured as a soloist at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Library of Congress, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Jordan Hall, Carnegie Hall, the Rudolfinum in Prague, and more. Recent collaborations include work with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Mark Morris Dance Company, members of Silk Road Ensemble, principle dancers of La Scala Ballet Theater, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and Australian Chamber Orchestra. She has both taught and coached ensembles at Washington and Lee University, North Dakota State University, Skidmore College, and at the Innsbrook Institute. This season’s appearances include concerto debuts in Mexico and Poland. Park received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.

Uyeyama, La Sierra’s director of string studies organizes the Chamber Music Series. He performed with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra in an East Coast tour and has played with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Music Director Gustavo Dudamel. Uyeyama serves as the founder and director of the Orange County String Studio (http://www.ocstringstudio.com) where he offers lessons and instruction. Uyeyama has also served as music director of Community Kids Connection in San Bernardino where he has provided free violin lessons to underprivileged children. He received his master’s degree from The Juilliard School where he studied with Masao Kawasaki.

Ullery is assistant principal viola for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and is a faculty member at the Colburn School where he teaches orchestral repertoire and coaches the Colburn Orchestra’s viola section. He has performed as guest principal viola with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, and the Aspen Chamber Symphony and has been featured in chamber music performances on American Public Radio’s “Performance Today.” He has recorded chamber works for Bridge and Albany records. Ullery is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory, where he studied violin with Gregory Fulkerson.

Shaw is the co-founder of A Far Cry, Boston’s self-conducted orchestra which consists of 17 young musicians. The group is currently on tour for its 10th anniversary season. He has collaborated with the Audubon and Borromeo quartets and has toured extensively throughout America, Asia and Europe. Recent appearances include performances at the Musikverein in Vienna, Boston Symphony Hall, Jordan Hall, Ravinia Festival, Chautauqua Institution, and the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, among others. He has recorded on Centaur Records, Azica Records, PARMA Recordings, and performed on American Public Radio’s “Performance Today,” Boston's WGBH as well as Maine and Vermont public radios. Shaw studied music at the Cleveland Institute of Music and New England Conservatory as a student of Jeffrey Irvine and Martha Katz.

Highly sought-after solo artist and chamber musician deMaine is the principal cellist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He has appeared on the stages of Carnegie Hall, Teatro Colón, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, the Berlin Philharmonie, Vienna Konzerthaus, Moscow's Tchaikovsky Hall, Auditorium du Louvre, the Seoul Arts Center, Shanghai Oriental Arts Center and Conservatory, and London’s Wigmore Hall, among others. As soloist, he has collaborated with many of the world’s most distinguished conductors, including Neeme Järvi, Gustavo Dudamel, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Joseph Silverstein, and Leonard Slatkin. He has been featured on the BBC, PBS, “Performance Today,” the Canadian Broadcasting Company, France Musique, and RAI, and more. deMaine studied at The Juilliard School, the Eastman School of Music, the University of Southern California, Yale University, and the Kronberg Academy in Germany. He is the recipient of a career grant from the Helen M. Saunders Foundation, and the gift of a Vuillaume cello from the Cecilia Benner Foundation.

Internationally acclaimed Armenian-American cellist Kalayjian has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, Japan and Lebanon. Her appearances range from outreach performances at hospitals and schools to major concert halls. She is the grand prize winner of the International Chamber Music Competition of New England and of the Anglo-Czechoslovak Trust competition in England where she was granted the Bohuslav Martinu Foundation Prize. This season’s schedule includes appearances around the United States and a debut at the Chateau de la Moutte festival in St. Tropez. Her extensive appearances include serving as a featured artist in a BBC documentary. Kalayjian was one of two cellists accepted into the David Finckel and Wu Han’s Music@Menlo festival. She received her master’s degree at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England as a student of Ralph Kirshbaum.