This preview has been provided by The Music House.
The Music House welcomes Hillary Herndon, viola, and Jennifer Muñiz, piano, in a performance on Saturday, November 9, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. The Music House, owned by ECU Music Professor John O’Brien, is a Victorian home – one of the oldest in Greenville – which has been meticulously preserved and decorated in period style. It was built in 1901-04 by Jesse Moye and is located at 408 West 5th Street, Greenville, NC 27834. Reservations are required – Contact Professor O’Brien at (252)367 1892 or themusichouseingreenvillenc@embarqmail.com. Suggested donations: General Admission $20; Seniors $15; Students $5.
Program for November 9, 2013
Polonaise
Luise Adolpha Le Beau (1850-1927)
Viola Sonata No. 1 in F-minor, op. 120
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Allegro appassionato
Andante un poso Adagio
Allegretto grazioso
Vivace
-Intermission and Wine Tasting-
Viola Sonata, Op. 46
Sergei Vasilenko (1872-1956)
Allegro moderato, Andante amorevole, Fugetta
Le Grand Tango
Astor Piazolla (1921-1992)
-Coffee and Sweets-
About the Artists:
Violist Hillary Herndon has earned a national reputation for her brilliant playing, insightful teaching and creative programming that draws from multiple disciplines. She has been heard on NPR and PBS and has collaborated with some of the world’s foremost artists, including Carol Wincenc, James VanDermark and Itzhak Perlman, who described Hillary as “having it all… a gifted teacher and an excellent musician.”
Hillary’s passion for integrating music with other interests has led to collaborations with actors, dancers, social workers and sociologists, the first trans-Atlantic master class, the use of high-tech scientific equipment to analyze bow strokes, and performances reaching beyond the concert hall to venues such as the American Museum of Science and Energy and city book fairs.
Ms. Herndon is dedicated to expanding the repertoire for viola through research, performance and advocacy of little known works. Her recitals will often feature composers such as Fernande Decruck, Minna Keal and Sergei Vasilenko alongside standard viola repertoire of their contemporaries. Herndon’s first recording, “La Viola: Music for Viola and Piano by Women Composers of the 20th Century,” has recently been released on MSR Classics. International Record Review calls the album “uncommonly interesting and strongly recommended. Very finely played.”
In addition to her chamber and solo performances, Hillary Herndon has acted as Principal Violist of the New World, Colorado Springs, Eastman and Juilliard Symphony Orchestras under the direction of today’s best conductors, including Michael Tilson-Thomas, Seiji Ozawa, Neeme Jarvi, Yuri Temirkanov, James Levine and Sir Norrington. She has participated in International music festivals, including Tanglewood, Interlochen, the Heidelberg Scholssfestspiele and the National Repertory Orchestra.
A committed teacher, Ms. Herndon has a thriving studio at the University of Tennessee and has held summer positions at both the Sewanee Summer Music Festival in Tennessee and the Round Top Festival Institute in Texas. In 2013, she joined the faculty at the Montecito Music Festival. She is the director and founder of the Annual UT Viola Celebration, an event that has involved hundreds of violists from across North America. Ms. Herndon is a founding faculty member of the Viola Winter Intensive events with Kathryn Dey, George Taylor, and Juliet White-Smith. Her recent appearances include presentations and master classes at Juilliard, the University of Michigan, LSU, Brazil and the 2012 International Viola Congress. Herndon’s teaching articles have been published in the Journals of the American Viola Society and the American String Teacher Association. Ms. Herndon serves as an Executive Board Member of the American Viola Society.
Ms. Herndon received her Masters Degree from the Juilliard School where she studied with Heidi Castleman, Hsin-Yun Huang and Misha Amory while serving as a Teaching Assistant to Ms. Castleman. She also holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Eastman, where she studied with George Taylor and graduated with High Honors.
Pianist Jennifer Muñiz, D.M.A., has performed in Spain, Italy, Mexico and the United States. Muñiz has garnered numerous awards and honors since her concerto debut at age eleven, including several public radio broadcast performances, a four-year performance grant for chamber music from the Liberace Foundation, her New York solo debut at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, performances at the United Nations, Steinway Hall, and the Polish Embassy in Chicago, and a solo recital at the Auditorio Principe Felipe in Oviedo, Spain.
Muñiz currently performs as a solo and collaborative pianist, with an emphasis in contemporary music, and has upcoming recitals in Tennessee and North Carolina. She presents performance lectures, at conferences such as the Goshen College Piano Institute, and the College Music Society, with an upcoming presentation at the national conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts in fall 2013.
For nine years preceding college, Ms. Muñiz studied with Beatrice Laurain, then earned her Bachelor of Music, summa cum laude, as a student of Lydia Artymiw, at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Ms. Muñiz completed her Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees from Manhattan School of Music as a student of Phillip Kawin.
She has taught on the keyboard skills faculty of Manhattan School of Music, and served there as a vocal accompanist, and at Barnard College. She maintained a private studio in New York City for seven years. Muñiz served as a piano instructor and accompanist at the University of Notre Dame for four years, including Opera Notre Dame, and taught as an associate faculty member at IU South Bend. From 2012-2013, she served on the faculty of the Swinney Conservatory of Music at Central Methodist University in Fayette, Missouri as Assistant Professor of Music, Piano and Theory. Muñiz joined the faculty of IU South Bend in summer 2013 as Assistant Professor of Music.
