Elisa Barston, Amy Yang, Sarah Rommel, & Noah Geller
Friday, January 12, 2024, 7:30 pm
Elisa Barston, Principal Second Violin
Seattle Symphony Orchestra
Elisa Barston, Seattle Symphony Principal Second Violin and multi-award-winning artist, has performed as soloist with world-leading orchestras, including Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Taipei, and, at the request of Sir Yehudi Menuhin, made her European debut with the English Chamber Orchestra. Notable performances include the U.S. premieres of two previously unpublished violin concerti by Antonio Vivaldi, Philip Glass’s Violin Concerto No. 1, Sergei Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1, and Astor Piazzolla’s “Four Seasons of Buenos Aires” with the Seattle Symphony.
Ms. Barston performs on a c. 1715 – c. 1720 violin by Joseph Guarnerius filius Andrea, Cremona, utilizing a c. 1830 bow by Francois Xavier Tourte, Paris. Her guests (see below) for January 12th with The Seattle Series will be returning-pianist Amy Yang of the Curtis Institute of Music; cellist Sarah Rommel, making her TSS debut; and violinist Noah Geller, concertmaster of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra.
Amy Yang, piano
Curtis Institute of Music
Amy Yang, winner of the 2018 Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia prize and the Kosciuszko National Chopin Piano Competition, is an alumna of Curtis Institute of Music, Juilliard School, and Yale School of Music, where she received the Parisot Award for Outstanding Pianist and the Alumni Association Prize. Collaborating with leading musicians, Ms. Yang has toured with Patricia Kopatchinskaya, Tito Muñoz, and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and premiered music by Michael Hersch at Cal Performances, Ojai Music Festival, and Aldeburgh Festival. Additional collaborations include performances with Richard Goode, Anne-Marie McDermott, Ida and Ani Kavafian, Miriam Fried, Bomsori Kim, Roberto Díaz, Kim Kashkashian, Tessa Lark, Paul Neubauer, Tara Helen O’Connor, Joseph Silverstein, members of Guarneri String Quartet, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Dover Quartet, Aizuri String Quartet, Jasper String Quartet, and A Far Cry.
Sarah Rommel, cello
University of Washington, Artist-in-Residence
Sarah Rommel, a top prizewinner of the 2014 George Enescu International Cello Competition, has been the recipient of numerous awards and grants including a Frank Huntington Beebe Fund Grant and Jack Kent Cooke Young Artists Award. She has collaborated with leading composers and musicians such as John Adams, Jennifer Higdon, Kaija Saariaho, Jonathan Biss, Lucy Chapman, Kim Kashkashian, and Peter Wiley, and received invitations to major chamber series across the nation. The current Artist in Residence-cello and faculty at the University of Washington, Ms. Rommel’s former teachers include Efe Baltacigil, Hans Jørgen Jensen, Ralph Kirshbaum, and Peter Wiley, Curtis Institute of Music
Noah Geller, violin
Concertmaster, Seattle Symphony Orchestra
Noah Geller is the David and Amy Fulton Concertmaster of the Grammy- and Gramophone-winning Seattle Symphony Orchestra. Named to that post at the conclusion of a multi-year search, Mr. Geller is among a small cadre of elite violinists who serve as both leaders and featured performers for the nation’s acclaimed orchestras. He performed the Saint-Saëns la muse et le poète double concerto with Principal Cello Efe Baltacigil for the symphony’s 2022-23 opening night and the Bartók Violin Concerto No. 2 with the Seattle Symphony in February 2023. He has previously brought to life the Glazunov and Mendelssohn concerti, Vaughan Williams The Lark Ascending, and Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherezade in Seattle’s Benaroya Hall, home of the Seattle Symphony.
An enthusiastic supporter of contemporary makers, Mr. Geller performs on a 2020 violin by award-winning Philadelphia luthier Justin Hess utilizing a c. 1830 bow by Claude Joseph Fonclause for Etienne Pajeot.
