East Bay classical music power couple Alison Lee, piano and Isaac Pastor-Chermak, cello are a mainstay of Northern California's performing arts scene, appearing as a duo and as two-thirds of piano trio Ensemble 1828. Join them for a very special online-only recital on Friday, April 17, featuring works by Beethoven, Schumann and Debussy. A 5pm Pacific Time start makes this one-hour program the perfect pre-dinner event for those of us on the West coast, and an ideal after-dinner "virtual soiree" for our friends to the East. Mix a cocktail, pop the champagne, and settle in for a recital delivered straight to the screen of your choice. This ticketed event is presented by Calliope - East Bay Music and Arts, the Bay Area's newest arts nonprofit, and a portion of every ticket sale goes to support Calliope's mission of building community and advancing social justice in the arts.

PROGRAM

Debussy: Cello Sonata
Beethoven: Sonata No. 3 for Cello and Piano in A Major, Op. 69
Schumann: Fantasiestücke (Fantasy Pieces), Op.73

ADMISSION

$25. Please purchase a ticket on EventBrite, and you'll receive a link to the stream in advance of the event. While only one ticket purchase is required per household to view the stream, we hope you would consider purchasing a ticket for each viewer, or adding a donation equivalent to the number of tickets you would purchase for a live event (e.g. if two people plan to watch, purchase one ticket, and consider adding a donation for the value of a second ticket).

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Isaac Pastor-Chermak is Principal Cellist of Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony; Associate Principal Cellist of Stockton Symphony; Assistant Principal Cellist of Opera San Jose and Fresno Philharmonic; and a member of Berkeley Symphony, Santa Barbara Symphony, Monterey Symphony, Santa Cruz Symphony, and Dayton Philharmonic. He spends his summers at the Eisenstadt Classical Music Festival in Austria, where he is Assistant Principal Cellist, and the Lake Tahoe Music Festival, as Principal Cellist. Mr. Pastor-Chermak is the cellist of Black Cedar Trio, the only professional flute-cello-guitar ensemble in the country, and Ensemble 1828, a piano trio, as well as a frequent sonata collaborator with pianists Miles Graber and Alison Lee. He holds degrees from the University of California, Berkeley and San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

A native of Fremont, California, pianist Alison Lee is the first prize winner of several competitions such as Thursday Musical’s Scholarship Competition, the Dorothy Van Waynen Piano Competition and the Pacific Musical Society Competition. She received second prize in the 2016 Midwest International Piano Competition, where she performed Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto with conductor Jason Weinberger and the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony. In 2019, Alison was featured as a soloist with the Coeur d’Alene Symphony Orchestra as a winner of their National Young Artists Competition. In addition to her enthusiasm for the solo piano repertoire, Alison is passionate about playing chamber music and is a founding member of a piano trio called Ensemble 1828. She frequently collaborates with her sister, pianist Katherine Lee, as well as with cellist Isaac Pastor-Chermak, with whom she has presented recitals featuring the complete Beethoven Sonatas for Cello and Piano. Other collaborative performances include appearances with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and violinist Charles Castleman. Alison received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano performance from the University of Minnesota, where she was a student of Lydia Artymiw. Prior to studying in Minneapolis, Alison studied with Jon Kimura Parker at Rice University and Angela Cheng at Oberlin Conservatory. In her free time, Alison loves swimming, visiting national parks, cooking, and learning languages.