World-renowned violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and prestigious classical pianist Anne-Marie McDermott will be performing as a pair on Friday at 7:30 p.m. in Sauder Concert Hall as part of the Performing Arts Series.
On Salerno-Sonnenberg’s personal website, Sauder Hall is listed among performances at venues in Tokyo, Japan, New York City and Vancouver. As a professional in both solo and chamber violin, Salerno-Sonnenberg has been on tour with both full chamber orchestras and with only herself and her violin commanding the stage.
Shortly after emigrating to the United States from Italy to study violin at The Curtis Institute of Music when she was eight years old, Salerno-Sonnenberg starting gaining a reputation for herself in the music world. She won the Walter W. Naumburg International Violin Competition in 1981, followed by an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 1983. This success paid off years later when she was awarded the Ovations Debut Recording Artist of the Year in 1988 and the Avery Fisher Prize in 1999. Now, as a recording artist and music director of the New Century Chamber Orchestra, Salerno-Sonnenberg is recognized as one of the most expressive, emotive, and—as is easy to see with a glance at her resume—experienced classical violinists in practice today.
And she doesn’t settle for just any accompaniment.
Anne-Marie McDermott will play alongside Salerno-Sonnenberg. McDermott has been playing for 25 years, beginning at the Manhattan School of Music. Also a recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant—as well as being a winner of the Young Concert Artists Award—McDermott has led an astounding career of touring, directing and creative musicianship.
Together, Salerno-Sonnenberg and McDermott have recorded two albums of classical duets, one including the complete Brahms violin and piano sonatas. Though they produce mainly classical music, their sound is far from conventional. According to a review of one of the duo’s live performances published by the New York Times and listed on the McDermott/Salerno-Sonnenberg website, “Ms. Salerno-Sonnenberg and Ms. McDermott are musicians who bring considerable energy and emotional rawness to the music at hand.”
To purchase tickets for the performance, visit the Welcome Center, call at (574)-535-7566, email welcomecenter@goshen.edu or purchase at www.goshen.edu/tickets. Ticket prices begin at $20.
