Cellist

Beethoven and Banjos, an annual project organized by the Northwoods Music Collaborative, is more than a simple presentation of the respective styles of classical and traditional music. The program integrates music and musicians from around the world to create new music and new interpretations of old music. Their past performances at NMU have been very well-received, and this year Beethoven and Banjos will be featuring Icelandic music with musicians Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir and Halldór Smárason. Evan Premo performs with Saeunn through his work with Decoda (an affiliate ensemble of Carnegie Hall). Saeunn and Halldór, along with Evan Premo and Laurel Premo will present classical and folk music from Iceland.

Beethoven and Banjos

Northern Michigan University

EPSG:4326

Miró Quartet Plays Schubert

Sarasota Orchestra

Combine these 20th-century works for two, three, and four musicians, and the result is an intriguing concert that expands horizons. Written in 1994, Jean Françaix’s lighthearted Trio for Oboe, Bassoon, and Piano is charming and witty. Folk and classical idioms intertwine in Erwin Schulhoff’s 1925 Duo for Violin and Cello, while Maurice Ravel’s revolutionary encounter with jazz reverberates throughout his electrifying second Sonata for Violin and Piano. The Borromeo String Quartet, heralded for their “edge-of-the-seat performances” (Boston Globe), takes on the intelligent intensity of the String Quartet No. 6 by Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz.

Two, Three, Four

The 60th Anniversary Festival begins with a program that unites the past, present, and future. With Music Director Jeffrey Kahane on harpsichord, SMF alum Marianne Gedigian shimmers in a work from the archives—Francois Couperin’s elegant Le Rossignol en amour (The Nightingale in Love). Bohuslav Martinů’s mid-20th-century Sonata, written on Cape Cod, offers a thought-provoking contrast with its jazz infused rhythms.

60th Anniversary Concert

This program features our Artistic Advisor and pianist Pedja Mužijević in a concert with friends including flutist Brandon Patrick George and clarinetist Mark Dover, both of Imani Winds; violinist Rebecca Anderson; cellist Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir; and pianist Jenny Chen. The effervescent Jenny Chen, in her fourth appearance at Tippet Rise, kicks things off alongside Pedja Mužijević with Summer Dreams for Piano Duet, Op. 47 by Amy Beach, one of the first American female composers to reach notoriety. Brandon Patrick George and Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir, both returning performers to Tippet Rise, and Pedja Mužijević will then perform Vox Balaenae (Voice of the Whale) for Flute, Cello, and Piano by George Crumb, one of the most original American composers who passed away at age 92 in February of 2022. Rebecca Anderson and Pedja Mužijević will also perform the World Premiere of a Tippet Rise Commission by Valentyn Silvestrov – Three Waltzes of the Moment for Violin and Piano (2019) – the sixth of ten works commissioned by the art center by Ukraine’s most important composer. The program concludes with Beethoven’s Trio for Clarinet, Cello, and Piano, Op. 11 featuring Mark Dover in his Tippet Rise debut with Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir, and Pedja Mužijević.

Brandon Patrick George, flute, Mark Dover, clarinet, Rebecca Anderson, violin, Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir, cello, Jenny Chen, piano, Pedja Mužijević, piano

Tippet Rise Art Center

Pianist and Tippet Rise Artistic Advisor Pedja Mužijević begins this performance alongside the effervescent Jenny Chen, in her fourth appearance at Tippet Rise, with two contrasting works for piano duet, two centuries apart – a Mozart sonata combined with the whimsical soundscapes of George Crumb. Violinist Rebecca Anderson, in her Tippet Rise debut weekend, and Chen will perform Two Pieces for Violin and Piano by Lili Boulanger, the first female winner of the Prix de Rome composition prize in 1913. Returning cellist Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir, a champion of music from her native Iceland, will present contemporary composer Veronique Vaka’s Neige etérnelle: 2. for Solo Cello. Anderson and Chen will return to the stage with Adoration for Violin and Piano by Florence Price, born in Little Rock in 1887 and who became the first African American female composer to be performed by a major orchestra (Chicago Symphony). Friday evening’s concert concludes with Anderson, Thorsteinsdóttir, and Chen performing Piano Trio in G Minor, Op. 17, which was deemed pianist and composer Clara Schumann’s likely “greatest achievement” by her biographer Nancy B. Reich.

Cellist

Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir

Events

Past events

Oct 10, 2025

Beethoven and Banjos · Northern Michigan University School of Music, Theatre and Dance

Jun 12, 2025

Miró Quartet Plays Schubert · Sarasota Orchestra

Future and recently performed repertoire

Cello in Piano Trio No. 1 by Arensky

Sarasota Music Festival

Cello in String Quintet by Schubert

Sarasota Orchestra

Cello in Duo for Violin & Cello by Schulhoff

Sarasota Music Festival

Cello in Portrait by Cornish

Sarasota Music Festival

Cello in Bow to String by Bjarnason

Sarasota Orchestra

About

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