Efe Baltacigil, Helen Kim, Nothing Gold, and Anna Polonsky
Friday, February 19, 2027, 7:30 pm
Efe Baltacigil, Principal Cello
Seattle Symphony Orchestra
Efe Baltacigil, the Marks Family Foundation Principal Cello of the Seattle Symphony orchestra, Turkey’s String Player of the Year, 2013, and awardee of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, is lauded for his risk-taking, passionate performances that immediately capture the heart and imagination.
Recipient of the Peter Jay Sharp Prize, Washington (DC) Performing Arts Society Prize, and a first-prize awardee in concerto competitions of Istanbul, New York, and the Pennsylvania Schadt String Competition, Baltacigil experienced early acclaim as winner of the 2005 Young Concert Artists International Auditions. He later served as Associate Principal Cello of the Philadelphia Orchestra before joining the Seattle Symphony as Principal Cello.
A highly sought-after and respected chamber musician, Mr. Baltacigil performs for such renowned festivals as Seattle Chamber Music Society, Marlboro, Lincoln Center, Music@Menlo, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, La Jolla, Kingston (Rhode Island), Saratoga, and Taos, and chamber series such as Lyric Chamber Music Society, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Lyon & Healy Hall, and The Seattle Series. Recent highlights include the Shostakovich No. 1, Brahms Double, Camille Saint-Saëns Le Muse et le Poete, Dvorák, and Haydn concerti with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra.
Mr. Baltacigil received his Bachelor’s degree from Mimar Sinan University Conservatory, Istanbul, and an Artist Diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia, where he studied with Peter Wiley and David Soyer and was awarded the Curtis Institute’s Jacqueline DuPré Scholarship.
Mr. Baltacigil resides in Seattle with his wife, attorney Heather MacClintock, and their precocious, cello-playing, and vocalist daughter.
Helen Kim, Associate Concertmaster
Seattle Symphony Orchestra
Helen Kim, praised by the San Francisco Chronicle as “astoundingly gifted”, was named Associate Concertmaster of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra in 2022, having previously served as Associate Principal Second Violin of the San Francisco Symphony.
In recent seasons, she has performed concertos under conductors Peter Oundjian, Jun Märkl, and Nicholas McGegan, amongst others, and, of special note for Seattle patrons, Kim performed the Vivaldi Four Seasons concerti with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra on the Benaroya Hall main stage to wide acclaim and three sold-out audiences, May 1-3, 2025, hailed in The Strad, the international periodical of strings: “Abounding with surprises, Kim’s playing showed a gift for making even the most familiar passage feel freshly imagined, avoiding eccentricity while underscoring Vivaldi’s innovation. . . . It was also a deeply collaborative performance, . . . echoing bird calls with fellow strings and engaging in spirited dialogue with cellist Meeka Quan DiLorenzo.”
Of special note for Seattle patrons, Kim will perform the Vaughn Williams Lark Ascending concerto on April 8 and 10, 2027, with the Seattle Symphony.
In addition to orchestral work, Ms. Kim is a dedicated interpreter of contemporary music and has performed such works as Salvatore Sciarrino’s Sei Capricci on San Francisco Symphony’s Soundbox series as well as Pierre Boulez’s Anthèmes II and Morton Feldman’s evening-length For John Cage on the Pulitzer Arts Foundation’s contemporary music series.
Following her concerto debut at the age of 8, Ms. Kim earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California, where she was a Presidential Scholar, a master’s degree from the Yale School of Music, and has given performances at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, BBC Proms, Suntory Hall, and Disney Hall, among other leading venues.
Ms. Kim resides in Seattle with her husband, composer Samuel Adams, a 2019 Guggenheim Fellow, and their two sons.
Nothing Gold Vocal Ensemble
Seattle, WA
Nothing Gold is a Seattle-based professional vocal octet founded in 2024 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. It comprises 8 to 9 highly skilled vocalists who perform carefully curated repertoire spanning timeless classics and innovative contemporary works, creating captivating experiences through the art of vocal chamber music. The ensemble is dedicated to evoking warmth, joy, and vibrancy through music that honors both tradition and innovation—and to sharing the unique intimacy and power of the human voice in its most refined form.
At the heart of each Nothing Gold performance is the concert experience; the listener steps into a space of suspended time—music unfolds, inviting closed eyes and presence in the moment, even as it passes. The singers’ joy and connection are palpable.
The ensemble includes Maria Männistö, Soprano; Danielle Reutter-Harrah, Soprano; Nori Heikkinen, Alto; John Garlid, Alto; Carson Truett Lott, Tenor; Lyon Stewart, Tenor; James Wilcox, Bass; Scott Fikse, Bass; and Andrew Jones, Bass.
Our Seattle artists’ guest for the evening is multi-award-winning pianist Anna Polonsky.
Anna Polonsky, piano
New York, NY
Noted chamber artist and soloist Anna Polonsky has collaborated with the Guarneri, Orion, Juilliard, and Shanghai Quartets, and such musicians as Mitsuko Uchida, Yo-Yo Ma, Richard Goode, and Emanuel Ax, and has toured extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia, presenting concerts in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, and on Carnegie Hall’s Stern, Weill, and Zankel stages. The 2025/26 season marked Polonsky’s third return to Carnegie Hall’s Stern stage as soloist with the New York String Orchestra. She is also a frequent guest at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
Ms. Polonsky made her solo piano debut at age seven at the Special Central Music School in Moscow, Russia, and emigrated to the United States in 1990, where she attended high school at Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. She is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, under Peter Serkin, and of The Juilliard School, under Jerome Lowenthal. In addition to performing, Ms. Polonsky serves on the piano faculty of Vassar College and the summer Marlboro and Kneisel Hall chamber music festivals. She is a recipient of a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship and the Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award.
Together with violinist Jaime Laredo, violist Milena Pájaro-van de Stadt, and cellist Sharon Robinson, Polonsky is a member of the Espressivo! Piano Quartet. With the clarinetist David Shifrin and cellist Peter Wiley, she performs with the Polonsky-Shifrin-Wiley Trio.
Ms. Polonsky is a Steinway Artist.
https://www.annapolonsky.com/
