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Monday, June 18, 2012
Enjoy quiet reflection as you explore the grounds of the Bryn Athyn Historic District in lights. Enjoy music at Bryn Athyn Cathedral and trips to the Glencairn Museum tower.
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Sunday, April 29, 2012
Ben Odhner was born in Boston and started his violin studies at age five. He received a full tuition scholarship from the D. R. Starling Foundation for his undergraduate studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he served as concertmaster and graduated with a degree in violin performance in May 2011. He is currently pursuing graduate studies with Paul Kantor.
Ben won his first concerto competition at age 13 and has appeared as a soloist with numerous ensembles. He was associate concertmaster of the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra from 2004 to 2006. A member of Settlement Music School’s Gray Charitable Trust Piano Trio, Ben was featured with the trio on National Public Radio’s “From the Top” in 2007. He was selected to participate in the New York String Orchestra Seminar at Carnegie Hall in 2008 and 2009. He also participated in the first YouTube Symphony Orchestra, performing at Carnegie Hall in April 2009. A fellowship recipient at the Aspen Music Festival and School, Mr. Odhner has been concertmaster of the Aspen Sinfonia, the Aspen Concert Orchestra and other festival ensembles. In 2011 Ben became a member CityMusic, a professional chamber orchestra that performs throughout northeastern Ohio. He has also performed with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in Great Britain, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, and the Cleveland Pops Orchestra. He has played frequently at Glencairn.
Ben has received scholarships from the New Church Music Scholarship Fund and the Greater Rochester Area Community Foundation. He performs on a violin provided by a scholarship grant from the Virtu Foundation. When he returns to the Museum, he will be accompanied by pianist Chorong Park.
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Sunday, April 22, 2012
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Sunday, April 15, 2012
Fourteen year old cellist Bihn Park began lessons at age 7 in Chicago. After moving to Philadelphia, he continued his studies with Metta Watts and the legendary Orlando Cole. Mr. Cole gave him lessons once a week until two months before his death at age 101, and was purported to have said to virtuoso Yo Yo Ma that, in his 70 years of teaching cello, Bihn was the most talented student he had ever worked with.
Bihn debuted with the Philadelphia Orchestra at age 12. He has soloed with the Ambler Symphony, Bucks County Symphony, Temple Music Prep Youth Chamber Orchestra, Temple Music Prep Baroque Orchestra, Warminster Symphony and Ocean City Pops Orchestra. He has taken first place honors in numerous competitions, including Tri-county music festivals, PADE ASTA (American String Teacher Association), Wagner College’s Young Artist Competition, Kennett Symphony and the Pottstown Symphony. He is currently the Principal Cellist of the Temple Music Prep Youth Chamber Orchestra and studies with Metta Watts, Thomas Kraines, and Lynn Harrell. He has also had master classes with the American String Quartet, Daedalus Quartet and with cellist Marcy Rosen. In August of 2012, Bihn will perform the Brahms Double Concerto with the Kennett Symphony. Being a very active chamber musician as well as a soloist, he will also play the Schubert Death of the Maiden on National Public Radio’s “From the Top”.
At his Glencairn debut, Mr. Park’s performance will feature the Bach's Suite IV in Eb Major, fresh off of playing it for a scheduled March audition at the Curtis Institute of Music. Acclaimed pianist Nozomi Takashima will accompany Bihn for the rest of the program, which will include Beethoven’s Sonata in A major, Op. 69; Dvorak’s Concerto in B minor, Op. 104, first movement; Rachmaninoff’s Sonata in g minor, Op. 19, third movement; and David Popper’s Elfentanz. Ms. Takashima is a Curtis graduate, where she studied with Vladimir Sokoloff. She has accompanied for the studios of the Guarneri and Curtis Quartets, Julius Baker, Karen Tuttle, Joe de Pasquale and many others. Her summer engagements include Strings Intenational, the Quartet Progam, Banff Arts Festival, and the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy. She is the staff accompanist for the Center for Gifted Children at Temple University, plays with many members of the Philadelphia Orchestra and is an active chamber musician in the Philadelphia area.
At the conclusion of the concert the audience is invited to meet the performers at a reception where light refreshments will be served, and ride up nine floors in the Museum’s elevator to the tower observation deck, with its commanding view of the local area and the Philadelphia skyline.
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Friday, March 23, 2012
Violin virtuoso Elizabeth Pitcairn playing the famed 1720 “Red Violin”; Curtis Institute Alumni Yumi Kendall (Cello), Hannah Jin Cole (Violin), Jungeun Kim (Piano); and the Bryn Athyn College Ensemble are confirmed at this time. They will once again raise funds for a Bryn Athyn College music program while paying tribute to Lachlan Pitcairn, a retired performing cellist and one of the area’s preeminent backers of classical music. Mr. Pitcairn, 89, is the seventh of nine children of Raymond and Mildred Pitcairn - whose family home now houses Glencairn Museum - and a grandchild of industrialist John Pitcairn. A prominent supporter of classical music in the region, Pitcairn today assists the Museum with its concert series as well.
For an extra fee the audience is invited to meet and greet the performers at a post-concert reception where wine and dessert will be served.
In hopes of providing students with further opportunities to study classical music, Bryn Athyn College has established the Lachlan Pitcairn Music Fund to generate sustaining income and support for the new Bryn Athyn College Ensemble. This fund will allow the College to provide scholarship and music education to its students for years to come, and will “further promote music in our community,” said Hannah Jin Cole in a recent interview. Ms. Cole has won numerous competitions, is a former member of The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, a substitute member of The Baltimore Symphony, and is a co-coordinator of this event. This fundraising concert aims to build a sustainable music scholarship, said Cole. “It is my goal to attract talented music students with a passion for music and offer them an opportunity to perform.”
Elizabeth Pitcairn, the great-niece of Raymond and Mildred Pitcairn, has performed to rave reviews with some of the world’s top orchestras, and has recorded several critically acclaimed CDs. She plays the red Mendelssohn Stradivarius, which she acquired through Christie’s Auction in 1990, and which is said to have inspired the Academy Award-winning film, “The Red Violin.” She collaborated with Lionsgate Films for a documentary on the Red Violin, with interviews by Pitcairn and Oscar-winning composer John Corigliano.
In addition to Pitcairn, the concert will feature Jungeun Kim, a prize-winning pianist who has performed worldwide and is a faculty member at the Curtis Institute; and Yumi Kendall, the Assistant Principal Cello of The Philadelphia Orchestra. Lloyd Smith, veteran cellist of Philadelphia’s Grammy-nominated chamber music ensemble, the Wister Quartet, and member of The Philadelphia Orchestra from 1967 to 2003 has said of Kendall, “Yumi is a wonderfully gifted cellist, with great expressive power, exquisitely developed technical powers and a delightful personality.”
www.elizabethpitcairn.com
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Sunday, March 11, 2012
When the Grammy-nominated ensemble returns to Glencairn, their program will include works by Mozart, Frank James Staneck and Alexander Borodin.
The famed chamber music quartet, in their 25th season, consistently earns high marks from critics and audiences alike for outstanding musicianship and memorable performances with artists like cellist Yo Yo 
Ma. Group members include Lloyd Smith, cello; Nancy Bean, violin; Davyd Booth, violin, and Pamela Fay, violin. The ensemble has performed at Glencairn a number of times since its debut here in 1992. Of the venue, Smith said in a recent interview, “It is an architectural treasure and visual masterpiece.”
Lloyd has been a member of The Philadelphia Orchestra since 1967 and was its Acting Associate Principal cellist before retiring in 2003 to devote himself to chamber music and composing. He is cellist of the Wister Quartet, a member of 1807 & Friends chamber ensemble, the Barnard Trio, the Florian Trio and the Amerita Chamber Players. A graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music, his teachers were Leonard Rose and Orlando Cole. At the Marlboro Music Festival he was coached by Pablo Casals and members of the Budapest String Quartet. His compositions include a cello sonata, a string quintet, two string quartets and a work for six celli.
Nancy Bean became a member of The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1983 and was its Assistant Concertmaster from 1986 until 2009, when she retired to devote herself to chamber music. She is Artistic Director of 1807 & Friends, first violinist of the Wister Quartet and the Amerita Chamber Players, and violinist with the Barnard Trio, the Florian Trio, Duo Paganini and Duo Parisienne. A Seattle native, she is a graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Jascha Brodsky and Felix Galimir. She has performed in chamber concerts with Wolfgang Sawallisch, Christoph Eschenbach, Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, Alicia de Larrocha, Radu Lupu, Yo-Yo Ma and Garrick Ohlsson.
Davyd Booth, who plays both violin and piano, has been a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra since 1973 as a violinist and in 1999 became its harpsichordist. He is Co-Director and harpsichordist of Amerita Chamber Players, second violinist of the Wister Quartet, pianist of the Barnard Trio, and a member of 1807 & Friends chamber ensemble. He was a member of the Philarte Quartet for fourteen years and with that group has made tours to South America, Asia and Central Europe. A graduate of the New School of Music, he studied violin with Jascha Brodsky and piano with Susan Starr and Martha Massena.
Pamela Fay is a native of Vancouver, Canada. She is a graduate of the University of Toronto where she studied with Lorand Fenyves. She participated in the Banff Summer Music Festival where she was coached by William Primrose and members of the Hungarian String Quartet. She is a substitute with The Philadelphia Orchestra and is the violist of the Wister Quartet, 1807 & Friends chamber ensemble and the Amerita Chamber Players. She has performed in chamber concerts with Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, Alicia de Larrocha, Garrick Ohlsson, Andrew Davis, Janos Starker, Wolfgang Sawallisch and Yo-Yo Ma. She and her colleagues from Wister have recorded with Direct-to-Tape Records.
As David Greene of the Bethlehem, PA Globe-Times wrote, "The Wisters, individually and collectively, produce some of the richest string sound I've encountered. Their ensemble is magnificent and they play with imagination and passion." Daniel Webster of the Philadelphia Inquirer put it simply, "The Quartet has become the foremost [Philadelphia] chamber music ensemble."
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Thursday, February 9, 2012 (Snow Date February 16)
Come and experience Glencairn Museum’s latest exhibition featuring pieces on loan and from the museum’s permanent collection. Meet the team responsible for the conception, research and display of the exhibition, while enjoying wine and desserts. Opening remarks by Professor Michael Cothren of Swarthmore College. Dr. Cothren is consultative curator of medieval stained glass at Glencairn.
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