Performers

CONRAD TAO, piano
LUN LI, violin
NICOLE KUESTER, horn

Paths through forest, light, and memory shape this program, where nature is both muse and mirror. The evening opens at water’s edge with Franz Liszt’s Au bord d’une source, evocative of a spring bubbling to life. This gentle motion accelerates into the elemental forces in Béla Bartók’s second violin sonata, stormy and rhapsodic. Written during a time of upheaval, the sonata blends grit with transcendence. After a quiet piano transcription of Bach’s famous "Hunting Cantata” aria, Brahms’s emotionally rich masterpiece closes the program. Pianist Conrad Tao, the 2024 winner of our Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award hailed as shaping the future of classical music, brings his singular artistry to this collaboration with Lun Li, an acclaimed violinist known for her thought-provoking concert experiences, and Nicolee Kuester, a dynamic performer and advocate for the expressive range of the horn.

The Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award was created to honor the life and legacy of Andrew Wolf, co-founder of Bay Chamber Concerts and an acclaimed chamber music pianist.  

Program

LISZT Au bord d’une source
BARTOK Violin Sonata No. 2
J.S. BACH Schafe können sicher weiden (Sheep may safely graze) for solo piano BRAHMS Horn Trio in E-Flat Major for Violin, Horn, and Piano, Op. 40

Tickets: Age 35+: $42 | 22-34: $20 | 21 & Under: Pay What You Wish.