Colloquium Concert: Beethoven Cello SonatasFebruary 17, 2020 at 7:30–9 p.m.
The Department of Music presents cellist David Carter and pianist Esther Wang in concert.
About the performers:
Cellist David Carter is professor of music at St. Olaf College. He holds degrees from the University of Minnesota, Indiana University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Carter's principal cello teachers include Robert Jamieson, Gary Hoffman, Janos Starker and Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi. He has also worked extensively with Pedro de Alcantara, a world-renowned practitioner of the Alexander Technique.
Though legally blind as a result of the retinal disease choroideremia, Dr. Carter maintains an active performing and teaching schedule. He is Artistic Director of the Bridge Chamber Music Festival, performed for many years as cellist of the Melius Trio, and recently served as Cello Editor for the Minnesota String Teachers Association newsletter, StringNotes. Dr. Carter has served as Principal Cellist of the Wichita Symphony, performing as soloist with that ensemble in addition to the Minnesota Orchestra under Neville Marriner and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. He served on the faculty of Wichita State University, as well as the Rocky Ridge Music Center, the Red Lodge Music Festival, and currently the Interlochen Summer Music Camp. Recent performances include concerto appearances with the Century Chamber Orchestra and the Winona State University Chamber Orchestra, and recitals and master classes at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Interlochen Arts Academy.
Over a 30-year career of college teaching, Dr. Carter's students have gone on to study cello at some of the nation's top graduate schools, including the New England Conservatory, the Cleveland Institute of Music, Rice University, and Indiana University.
Dr. Carter can be heard on two recordings on the Centaur label, in “Three Pieces for Solo Cello” by Phillip Rhodes and works by Amy Beach, and on the Limestone label with the Melius Trio in trios by Mendelssohn, Clarke and Peter Hamlin. He performs on a cello made by David Folland (2008, Northfield, Minn.)
Esther Wang is an active soloist and collaborator throughout the United States and has appeared on numerous concert series, including the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts in Chicago and the A. Mozart Fest Series in Austin, TX. The San Jose Mercury News has called Wang "a forceful, take-charge kind of artist with personality...spirited and vital," and the Double Reed journal called her a "magnificent accompanist" after the 1999 International Double Reed Conference.
She won prizes in the Kingsville and Shreveport Young Artists Competitions and has appeared as concerto soloist with numerous orchestras, including the Green Lake Festival Orchestra under Sir David Willcocks. As a chamber musician, Wang has collaborated with members of the New York Philharmonic, the LaSalle String Quartet, the Maia Quartet, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra,The Cleveland Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Minnesota Orchestra.
Wang received the Bachelor of Music at Baylor University, where she studied with Roger Keyes. She continued her studies with Frank Weinstock at the University of Cincinnati, earning the Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees. She also studied privately with renowned pianist Lilian Kallir and attended the Tanglewood, Kneisel Hall, and Taos Chamber Music summer festivals.
Wang is an enthusiastic teacher and adjudicator. She has served on faculties at St. Olaf College, The University of Texas at Austin, University of WI-Oshkosh, University of WI-Platteville, Baylor University, Northeast MO State University, Northern Kentucky University, Lutheran Summer Music, the New England Music Camp, and Neighborhood Music School in New Haven, CT. She performs and lectures on J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier as a member of The Bach Four and has recorded solo and chamber works by Jan Radzynski on the Centaur label. In the summers, she teaches at the Interlochen Arts Camp and the Adamant Music School (VT).
