Concerts on Kentmere

Where magnificent art and music come together.

The Delaware Art Museum is proud to present the 2010-2011 season of Concerts on Kentmere. These intimate concerts in the Museum’s beautiful galleries Galleries feature our ensemble in residence, the Pyxis Piano Quartet.

Pyxis Piano Quartet
Ensemble in residence

Meredith Amado violin		Hiroko Yamazaki piano		Amy Leonard viola		Jie Jin cello

Ticket sales begin September 1.

Museum Members: $35 per concert
Non-Members: $50 per concert

Pre-Concert Dinner: $45 per person/concert
Limited seating for dinner on the Chihuly Bridge at 6:00 p.m. before evening’s concert.

Box Office: For ticket sales and additional information, call 302.351.8538 or e-mail concerts@delart.org.

Limited seating. Concert ticket includes coffee, tea, and desserts at intermission, and a cash bar. All tickets are non-refundable.

The Pyxis Piano Quartet was founded in 2009 to offer exciting programs which include works from the sonata, duo, and trio repertoire as well as standard and adventurous works for piano quartet. The 2009-10 season features Pyxis in concerts as the Artists-in Residence at the Delaware Art Museum, in appearances on recital series at Grace Church, First and Central Church in Wilmington, the Music School of Delaware, Villanova University, and includes collaborations with guest artists from the Newstead Trio and North Carolina School for the Arts. After a successful inaugural season selling out all three concerts at the Art Museum, they have been invited back for the 2010-2011 season.

The musicians of Pyxis are also committed teachers who perform education outreach concerts. In the fall of 2009, they gave performances at two elementary schools in Georgetown, DE under the auspices of Coastal Concerts. As instructors they reach over 80 students on a weekly basis by maintaining private studios and as faculty and staff members of such institutions as the Pennsylvania Academy of Music in Lancaster, the Nelly Berman School in Haverford (PA), the Shipley School in Bryn Mawr (PA), the Music School of Delaware, the Cathedral Choir School of Delaware, and the internationally acclaimed Aspen Music School and Festival in Colorado.

The group takes its name from the Pyxis constellation, also known as the Mariner’s Compass and as its symbol the compass rose. The points of the compass rose mark the directions of the four winds and represent the new artistic directions the group will travel together while drawing upon the individual backgrounds and experiences of its musicians.

Meredith Amado, violin, Praised by critics for her “technical aplomb and musical responsiveness,” violinist Meredith Amado enjoys a career that spans continents and musical styles. Ms. Amado’s first love is chamber music, and in that capacity she has collaborated with a broad range of today’s finest talents playing recitals across the United States to consistent critical acclaim. Ms. Amado has been heard as a soloist and recitalist in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Colorado, Texas, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, North Carolina, Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania and New York. Her strong devotion to chamber music and entrepreneurial spirit and has given rise to two successful chamber music series (in Missouri and Delaware), a string quartet, a piano quartet and a string trio that made two Atlantic crossings with Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth II. Currently, she performs with pianist Hiroko Yamazaki both in recital and as members of the newly formed Pyxis Piano Quartet – the resident ensemble of the Delaware Art Museum.

Her reach is equally broad as an orchestral player, having toured the West Coast, Midwest and East Coast as a member of the Saint Louis Symphony and the Oregon Symphony. Ms. Amado is the former Associate Concertmaster of the Delaware Symphony and the Oregon Ballet Theater Orchestra. She has also made frequent appearances with the New Jersey Symphony, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the American Symphony Orchestra and the Opera Delaware Orchestra.

In addition to performing, Ms. Amado is a committed teacher. Understanding the value of early, focused and caring guidance, she has introduced dozens of youngsters and their parents to the joys of making music at New York’s School for Strings, Turtle Bay Music School and Lucy Moses School at Merkin Hall. She has also helped older students launch their careers at the Saint Louis University, Southern Illinois University and Eastern Music Festival. Most recently, she was on the faculty of the Pennsylvania Academy of Music in Lancaster, PA.

Ms. Amado received Bachelor and Master’s degree as a scholarship student at The Juilliard School where she worked with renowned pedagogues Dorothy DeLay, Felix Galimir and Robert Mann. Her pedagogical training was done at the prestigious School for Strings in New York. In addition, she has a certificate in Non-Profit Management from Washington University in Saint Louis, MO.

Ms. Amado lives in Wilmington, Delaware and Blue Hill, Maine with her husband, three children and dog. She plays on a 1662 Nicolo Amati violin.

Jie Jin, cello, has been widely recognized for performances in music capitals in North America, Europe and Asia. She has appeared as a soloist with Bay Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, National Repertoire Orchestra and Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. She hold principal cello positions with National Repertoire Orchestra, Mansfield Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Institute of Music and Shepherd School of Music Orchestra at Rice University and played with Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Houston Symphony and New World Symphony . Ms. Jin has been invited to Aspen Music Festival, Tanglewood Music Festival, Ravinia Festival, Colorado Music Festival, Pacific Music Festival, International Summer Academic Prague-Vienna-Budapest Festival, Beijing International Music Festival, Margess International Festival, Daniel Music Festival and Amadeus Masterclass.

Before her move to the United States, she won First Prize in the National Cello Duo Competition of China, the Bao-gang Elegance Art Award and the Excellent Performance Prize in the National Competition of China.  An active chamber musician, Ms. Jin is the founder of the Tang-gu-la String Quartet.  The Quartet has toured England, Switzerland, Austria, Holland, Australia and China and received numerous honors, winning Second Prize in the First National String Quartet Competition.  Shortly after that, the quartet appeared in Isaac Stern’s Oscar-winning documentary “From Mao to Mozart,” performed for President Bill Clinton.
Ms. Jin began her cello study at age 5. She received her Bachelor’s degree from Shanghai Conservatory of Music.  Upon receiving a full scholarship from Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, she came to the United States and studied with Prof. Norman Fischer for her Master’s degree. Ms. Jin also received the Artist Diploma at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Mr. Desmond Hoebig.

A committed teacher, her students won the top prizes in the competitions, performed in Carnegie Hall, Kimmel Center and performed with orchestra as the soloist. Ms. Jin is currently on the faculty at Chamber Strings Summer Workshop. She can also be heard performing in the Pyxis Piano Quartet (ensemble in residence at Delaware Art Museum). Ms. Jin serves as Principal Cello of the Bay-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra and performs with Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Delaware Symphony and Harrisburg Symphony.

Amy Leonard, viola, is a Philadelphia native who received viola performance degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory and the Manhattan School of Music, and has studied baroque viola at Oberlin’s Baroque Performance Institute.  Principal teachers have included Leonard Mogill, Jeffrey and Lynne Ramsey Irvine, Karen Ritscher, Charles Bruck, and Jane Starkman.  Though much of her career has been devoted to the teaching and performing of orchestral music, Ms. Leonard is also an active recitalist and chamber musician, participating in a number of music festivals in North America and Europe such as Aspen, Banff, Spoleto USA, and Mostra Mozart in Venice, Italy.

Ms. Leonard also enjoyed a decade-long relationship with the Pierre Monteux School in Hancock, Maine, first as student, then as administrator and director of the school’s chamber music series.  Past orchestral positions have been with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, the New World Symphony (Miami Beach, FL), and as assistant principal violist with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, where Amy performed with the internationally recognized contemporary ensemble Nua Nos, or “New Noise.”  She taught viola at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Louisiana for four years; her students are now members of the Mississippi and Baton Rouge Symphonies. 

Currently, Ms. Leonard maintains a large and lively studio teaching viola and violin at the Music School of Delaware, the Shipley School in Bryn Mawr, PA and at home.  Recent recital appearances have been at Calvary Episcopal Church in Wilmington, DE, and at the Philadelphia Ethical Society. She is also very much in demand as a free lance musician, performing as a member of  the contemporary ensemble Relache, the Delaware Symphony Orchestra, and the baroque ensembles Tempesta di Mare and Brandywine Baroque. Ms. Leonard also performs frequently with other ensembles such as the Pennsylvania Ballet Orchestra, Philly Pops, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Princeton Symphony and Opera Delaware.

Hiroko Yamazaki, piano, has been heard throughout the United States and abroad as solo recitalist and collaborative pianist. Her appearances at summer festivals include Luzerne, Aspen, Rome and International Festival-Institute at Round Top in Texas, where her performance with Minnesota Orchestra principal oboist, Basil Reeve, was recorded for NPR. She was soloist for Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini with the Wilmington Community Orchestra and has been invited to perform with them in November of 2010.  Highlights of recent seasons also include Master Players Concert Series at the University of Delaware, as featured artist in Delaware Symphony’s Champagne Chamber Series, violin and piano duo recitals with Meredith Amado, and with Pyxis Piano Quartet, the ensemble-in-residence at the Delaware Art Museum.

Ms. Yamazaki was a prizewinner in the Delaware Contest for Young Musicians, as well as the winner of the Austrian-American Society Musical Scholarship Competition, which provided her summer studies at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. She graduated with a Bachelor of Music Degree in piano performance from the University of Maryland as a Creative and Performing Arts Scholarship student of Anne Koscielny and was a recipient of the Presser Foundation Award. She later returned to the University of Maryland, where she received a Masters of Music in Collaborative Piano studying with Rita Sloan.

Ms.Yamazaki also has extensive teaching experience. She taught at the Darlington Fine Arts Center, Luzerne Music Center and held the position of adjunct faculty at the University of Delaware. She spent summers as Accompanying Coordinator and Teaching Assistant to Rita Sloan, Director of Collaborative Arts Program at the Aspen Music School and Festival in Colorado. Currently, she is on the faculty at the Cathedral Choir School of Delaware and Master Piano Faculty with Distinction at The Music School of Delaware, where she previously served as chair of the piano department.

Doris Hall-Gulati, violin, An advocate for "new and old" music, Ms. Hall-Gulati has performed in music festivals and on multiple series as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States, as well as China and Russia.  She is currently principal clarinet in both The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia and the Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra, also based in Philadelphia.  She also served as bass clarinetist in The Opera Company of Philadelphia for fifteen years and was for ten years the principal clarinetist of the Berkshire Opera Festival.

After being awarded First Prize in the Louise D. McMahon International Music Competition, Ms. Hall-Gulati gave her New York debut recital performing the world premiere of John Carbon's "Rhapsody For Clarinet and Orchestra" at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fischer Hall with Gerard Schwarz and the New York Chamber Symphony.  About the performance, Allan Kozinn of The New York Times wrote that she "... played with both virtuosity and nuance."  She made her Carnegie (Weill) Hall debut playing with the Alaria Chamber Ensemble and her Merkin Hall debut premiering Thea Musgrave's "Ring Out Wild Bells" with the Philadelphia Trio.

Ms. Hall-Gulati toured the Silk Road with the International Music Festival in West China in July 2007, performing and teaching in six cities. As a result of this trip, she was invited to serve as a Visiting Professor at the Lanzhou Multicultural University and hopes to return to China in 2011.

Her recordings include works on the MMC, Naxos and New World record labels. Ms. Hall-Gulati also performs annually with Beyond Ourselves, a group of chamber musicians who raise funds for Mennonite Central Committee peace-keeping efforts around the world.

Ms. Hall-Gulati earned her Bachelor's degree from the Peabody Conservatory of Music and her Masters in Music (studying on a graduate fellowship) from the University of Michigan.  She is a Phi Kappa Lambda.  Principal instructors have been Ignatius Gennusa, Loren Kitt, and Fred Ormand, and she was introduced to chamber music by Karen Tuttle, whom she greatly admires.  Most recently, she was named an Artist in Residence at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Leah Kim, violin, A resident of Philadelphia, Leah Kim began her violin studies at the age of eight.  She was honored several times in her native South Korea before coming at the age of fifteen to New York, where she was a scholarship student in the Juilliard Pre-college program.  There, she studied with Margaret Pardee and received several prestigious awards and honors. She obtained the highest score ever in the history of the New York State School Music Association competition and also earned division, state, regional and national prizes in the Music Teachers National Association competition. In addition, she won various competitions held by the New York Times, the Long Island Symphony, and Steinway.

In New York, Ms. Kim performed in the Steinway Recital Hall Concert Series, the Rockaway Young Artist concert, and in various other concerts and recitals. She performed at Tilles Hall as a soloist with the Long Island Symphony and at annual recitals for five years at the Juilliard Recital Hall in Lincoln Center. She also performed the Paganini Violin Concerto live for the New York Times Young Artist Program on radio station WQXR.

After completing her studies at Juilliard, Ms. Kim received a full scholarship to the Peabody Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Berl Senofsky, Victor Danchenko, and Rebecca Henry, earning a Bachelors and two Masters degrees in violin performance and pedagogy. Ms. Kim then studied with Alexandre Brussilovsky at the Conservatoire de National de Versailles, working toward a Perfectionment (post-graduate) degree. While in Paris, she performed as a member of the Riccercata Ensemble de Paris.

Ms. Kim held the position of associate concert mistress in the Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra of South Korea for two seasons and has recorded with the orchestra, as well as performing regularly on Korean television and radio programs. While in Seoul, she was a founding member of the Bellissimo Ensemble. Upon returning to the United States to pursue a doctorate at Temple University, Ms. Kim became a founding member of the Tononi Quartet in Philadelphia, which has performed extensively throughout the East coast.  Ms. Kim is currently an adjunct faculty member and artist in residence at both Temple University and Eastern University.   She is also on the faculty of Temple Music Prep and Settlement Music School, as well as teaching privately.