Recital Series Features Violinist and Pianist

Release Date: 10/24/2000. Expired: 11/6/2000

Denise Baker, violinist and Melissa Rose, pianist will be the guest performers in the rotunda at The Renaissance Center on Monday, Nov. 6, 2000 at 7 p.m. Recitals in the Rotunda are free and open to the public.

Baker, currently a member of the Nashville Symphony and a faculty member at Vanderbilt University, began playing the violin at age 14. She received her training at the North Carolina School of the Arts with violinist Elaine Richey, where she received both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in music.

She has appeared as soloist with the Western Piedmont Symphony, where she held the position of Concertmaster before joining the Nashville Symphony in 1996.

She has been praised as being “a delight to hear” and is said to play the violin with an “amazing ease that seems effortless.” She has performed throughout the United States and Europe as a member of the International Music Program and participated in festivals such as the Chamber Music Festival of Saugutuck, Brevard Music Center, and Great Music West.

Melissa Rose has performed as a collaborative pianist in chamber music and song recitals in Russia, Argentina, and throughout the United States. Since 1994 she has been the pianist in residence for the Summerfest Chamber Music Series in Kansas City.

She has also served as an official accompanist for several national competitions. Broadcasts of her performances have been heard on public radio in several regions of the country and a recent recording of chamber music for Nashville Public Television won a 1999 performance award from the National Educational Telecommunications Association.

She is currently pursuing her interest in studying and performing Russian song literature. Rose received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano chamber music and accompanying from the University of Michigan and her piano performance degrees from Yale University and West Chester University. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Piano at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music.

Baker and Rose will be playing three pieces written and dedicated to specific people. “Fratres” by Arvo Pärt was written in 1980 for Elena and Gidon Kremer at the Salzburg Festival. It features virtuosic violin writing, with a steady chordal piano accompaniment.

The sonatas by Ravel and Beethoven place the violin and piano in an equal partnership. The Beethoven Sonata, op. 30, no. 2, was one of three written in 1802 and dedicated to Czar Alexander I of Russia. Unfortunately, Beethoven received no monetary reward for his work until 1815 when Czarina Elisabeth was visiting the Congress of Vienna with her husband.

Ravel completed his sonata for violin and piano in 1927, the same year as his famous “Bolero.” It is dedicated to Hélène Jourdan-Morhange, a virtuoso violinist who also served as technical consultant during its composition. It features a ‘blues’ movement and a perpetual motion movement.

For more information, please call (615)740-5600.