CMW presents the first of two performances from Sonata Series Event #1 of Season 27, recorded on Thursday, October 26, 2023 at the Music Mansion in Providence, RI, featuring violinist Becca Kasdan and guest pianist Andrei Baumann.
THE PROGRAM:
Sonata in D Major, Op. 26 “Spring”
Dora Pejačević, composer (1885-1923)
I. Allegro
II. Andante con moto
III. Allegro molto
Becca Kasdan, violin
Andrei Baumann, piano
PROGRAM NOTES:
CMW Resident Musician Becca Kasdan, violinist, is equally passionate about teaching, performance, and community engagement. Becca received a DMA at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where she studied with Meg Freivogel of the Jupiter String Quartet and taught applied violin lessons and chamber music. Previously, Becca studied with Violaine Melancon at McGill University and the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. During the summer, Becca is a violin faculty member at Luzerne Music Center and the Easton Chamber Music Festival. She has presented masterclasses at the Paul Rolland String Pedagogy Workshop, ASTA National Conference, Tonebase Violin, Virginia Tech, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and DePauw University. Prior to CMW, Becca was a Core Teaching Artist with Apollo’s Fire- the Cleveland Baroque Orchestra. Becca is the recipient of the Johns Hopkins President’s Commendation for Achievement in the Arts and currently serves on the Board for the Volunteer Musicians for the Arts.
Guest pianist Andrei Baumann has performed extensively in the USA, Europe, Canada and Venezuela. As winner of the 2009 Borromeo String Quartet Guest Artist Award, he performed with the quartet in Jordan Hall. His Carnegie Hall debut occurred in 2008 with violinist Lily Francis as part of the Distinctive Debuts series. Other notable performances include a solo recital on the Sundays Live Concert Series at LA County Arts Museum, solo recitals at the Crocker Art Museum Classical Music Series in California, performances at Caramoor Festival and with Itzhak Perlman at the Perlman Music Program. Currently living in Providence, Andrei performs regularly with CMW musicians. He teaches at the Rhode Island Philharmonic Music School and at the University of Massachusetts in Dartmouth.
Countess Maria Theodora Paulina (Dora) Pejačević was a Hungarian-Croatian composer, violinist, and a member of a noble family. She is credited with founding modern Croatian chamber and orchestral music. Pejačević composed her first known piece at the age of 12, and was mostly self-taught, aside from occasional private lessons. Her artistic talent was primarily developed through interactions with leading figures of her time such as the pianist Alice Ripper, artist Clara Rilke-Westhoff, writers Annette Kolb and Karl Kraus, poet Rainer Maria Rilke, and other prominent personalities of the European cultural scene. In her early career, Pejačević’s primary musical themes were highly representative of the Romantic period, but this would change after her experience working as a paramedic in the First World War, when her works featured motifs of death, isolation, and futility of war. Pejačević died at age 38, one month after giving birth to her first child. Her legacy includes a large catalogue of compositions, most of which have yet to be published.
Audio by James Moses
Video by Kelly Riley/ Highproof Films