PMP ALUMNI SPECIAL PERFORMANCE
Isabelle Durrenberger, violin; Rachel Shapiro, violin; Caitlin Lynch, viola; Jia Kim, cello
with Peter Dugan, piano
AEOLUS Quartet
Sunday, April 13, 2025 | 4-5 pm
Outdoor concert and youth program
The Bay Park (Oval)
Bring a chair
1055 Boulevard of the Arts, Sarasota, FL 34236
FREE!
Tuesday, April 15, 2025 | 7:30 pm
Aeolus Quartet Special Performance with Peter Dugan, pianist
LEC – Harvest House
3650 17th Street, Sarasota, FL 34235
Tickets: $30 General Admission | $40 VIP (front rows)
New! $10 Youth Ticket (under 21)
PLEASE NOTE before purchasing!
All ticket purchases are final sales and cannot be refunded under any circumstances.
Sponsored in part by
All ticket purchases are final sales and cannot be refunded.
About Aeolus Quartet
With performances acclaimed for both “high-octane” excitement (Strad) and “dusky lyricism” (New York Times), the Aeolus Quartet has been awarded prizes at nearly every major competition in the United States and performed across the globe with showings “worthy of a major-league quartet” (Dallas Morning News). Formed in 2008, the Quartet is comprised of violinists Isabelle Durrenberger and Rachel Shapiro, violist Caitlin Lynch, and cellist Jia Kim. Mark Satola of the Cleveland Plain Dealer writes, “The quartet has a rich and warm tone combined with precise ensemble playing (that managed also to come across as fluid and natural), and an impressive musical intelligence guided every technical and dramatic turn.” The Aeolus Quartet has performed in venues ranging from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Lincoln Center’s Great Performers Series to Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, to Dupont Underground, a subterranean streetcar station in DC’s Dupont Circle. They were the 2013-2015 Graduate Resident String Quartet at the Juilliard School and are currently Quartet-in-Residence at Musica Viva NY.
Recently garnering praise by the Wall Street Journal for their “vibrant” performance in collaboration with the Mark Morris Dance Group, the Aeolus Quartet’s 2023-24 season also includes featured performances presented by Carnegie Hall Citywide at Madison Square Park, Chamber Music Detroit, and Interlochen Center for the Arts. The Quartet serves as the Artistic Directors for the Charles Wadsworth Piano Competition, an innovative competition with an emphasis on chamber music and a commitment to creating equal access for all applicants.
Strong advocates for contemporary music, the Aeolus Quartet has premiered works by Jonathan Bailey Holland and worked closely with composers such as John Corigliano, Keeril Makan, Missy Mazzoli, Yevgeniy Sharlat, Timothy Mauthe, and Alexandra T Bryant.
The Aeolus Quartet has released several critically acclaimed albums of classical and contemporary works through Naxos and Azica labels which are available on iTunes, Amazon, and major retailers worldwide. The Quartet’s Many-Sided Music initiative has produced two albums in an ongoing effort to promote works by American composers. The latest of these, Ariel and Other Poems, was recorded with Azica Records and released in July 2021.
The Aeolus Quartet’s numerous honors include First Prize at the Coleman International Chamber Ensemble Competition, as well as Grand Prize at both the Plowman Chamber Music Competition and the Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition. They were also prizewinners at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and the International Chamber Music Ensemble Competition in New England. The Austin Critics’ Table named the Aeolus Quartet their 2016-17 “Best Touring Performance” for Rambunctious, a collaboration with Spectrum Dance Theater.
The Quartet has performed across North America, Europe, and Asia in venues such as Alice Tully Hall, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Reinberger Recital Hall at Severance Hall, The Library of Congress, Renwick Gallery, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, and the Shanghai Oriental Arts Center. In addition, the quartet was featured on the hit Netflix miniseries, The Defenders.
Dedicated to sharing the joy of chamber music with new audiences, the Aeolus Quartet has been widely recognized for their highly creative and engaging educational programs. The Quartet was honored to receive a Chamber Music America Residency Partnership Grant, and in recognition of the Quartet’s artistic achievement, CMA awarded this project with the “Guarneri Quartet Residency” title. This residency promoted engagement with multiple interactive performances at Duke Ellington School for the Arts, the Sitar Arts Center, and George Washington University. The Aeolus Quartet received the Educator Award presented by the Fischoff National Chamber Music Association in acknowledgment of the positive impact of their educational efforts in underserved communities. Additionally, the Quartet was awarded the John Lad Prize, which culminated in a residency involving large-scale community engagement work, masterclasses, and performances at Stanford University. The Aeolus Quartet has served as teaching faculty at Interlochen Center for the Arts, Stanford University’s Education Program for Gifted Youth, the Austin Chamber Music Workshop, Point CounterPoint, and the Chloe Trevor Music Academy. Working in collaboration with the University of Texas through the Rural Chamber Music Outreach Initiative, the Quartet has presented educational programs and performances in communities throughout the state of Texas. Through their multiple residencies with the Chamber Music Society of Detroit alone, the Aeolus Quartet has reached over 18,000 students in the greater Detroit metro area.
The Aeolus Quartet has been fortunate to collaborate with many of today’s leading artists, including Renee Fleming, Ida Kavafian, Joel Krosnick, Peter Wiley, Michael Tree, and Paul Neubauer. They studied extensively with the Juilliard, Guarneri, St. Lawrence, Cavani, and Miró Quartets. Other mentors include Peter Salaff, Donald Weilerstein, Itzhak Perlman, and Mark Steinberg. Members of the Quartet hold degrees from the Juilliard School, the Cleveland Institute of Music, the University of Maryland, and the University of Texas at Austin.
Thanks to the generosity of the Five Partners Foundation, the four members play on a set of instruments by famed Brooklyn luthier Samuel Zygmuntowicz. The Quartet is named for the Greek god Aeolus, who governed the four winds. This idea of a single spirit uniting four individual forces serves as an inspiration to the members of the Aeolus Quartet as they pursue their craft.
Isabelle Durrenberger, first violin
American violinist Isabelle Ai Durrenberger is praised for her imaginative, striking performances and her ability to communicate with sincere artistry. Currently based in New York City, Isabelle is a 2023-25 fellow of Carnegie Hall’s renowned Ensemble Connect program.
An avid chamber musician, Isabelle is recognized nationally for her unique collaborative instincts. Her 2024-25 season features solo and collaborative invitations including performances with the Boston Chamber Music Society, Jupiter Chamber Players (NYC), Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in Carnegie Hall (NYC), THe Knights (NYC), and the Grammy-nominated conductorless chamber orchestra, A Far Cry (Boston).
In 2022, she completed her graduate studies at the New England Conservatory in Boston with Soovin Kim and Don Weilerstein. Isabelle spent recent summers making chamber music at the Marlboro Music Festival, Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival, and Four Seasons Spring Workshop.
Isabelle also enjoys exploring music through teaching: she has a private violin studio in New York City and serves on the violin faculty at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School in Boston where she teaches violin lessons and coaches chamber music. More information on how to study with Isabelle can be found under lessons.
Isabelle’s musical life began at birth; both of her parents are pianists and music educators. She began playing piano at age 4, but her parents noticed that she loved singing and thought she might enjoy “singing” on the violin — she began lessons at age 7. Isabelle grew up in Columbus, Ohio, and was extremely lucky to be introduced to Jaime Laredo at age 13. She attended Meadowmount School of Music for four years, graduated high school a year early, and began her undergraduate program in Cleveland at age 16.
She completed her B.M. at the Cleveland Institute of Music where she was mentored by Jaime Laredo for seven years. Her other mentors and influences include Jennifer Koh, Sharon Robinson, Joan Kwuon, Jinjoo Cho, Jan Mark Sloman, and Jun Kim.
Isabelle was the Artist Fellow of the 2021 Alone Together educational project led by Jennifer Koh and ARCO Collaborative. This unique introduction to composers such as Tania León, Du Yun, and Missy Mazzoli has inspired her to prioritize programming living composers, especially highlighting female and multicultural composers.
Isabelle has received many recognitions and awards for her musicianship. Isabelle was the winner of the 2021-22 Borromeo String Quartet Guest Award and performed alongside the quartet in Jordan Hall. In 2020, she was highlighted as the Featured Young Artist of the Music from the Western Reserve concert series. In 2019, Isabelle won the First Prize and Performance Prize from the Tuesday Musical Competition. She was awarded the Milton Preves Memorial 3rd Prize at the 2018 Irving M. Klein International String Competition in San Francisco, as well as the first prize in the 2017 Cleveland Institute of Music Concerto Competition. Isabelle has collaborated with the Columbus Symphony, Asheville Symphony, Cleveland Philharmonic Orchestra, Naples Philharmonic Orchestra, and Lakeside Symphony Orchestra amongst many others.
Isabelle was a semifinalist in the 2022 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, a semifinalist in the 2021 Young Concert Artists Audition, a candidate in the 2019 Sendai International Music Competition, 2017 Isang Yun Violin Competition, and 2017 Stulberg International String Competition. She has participated in masterclasses with Mihaela Martin, Olivier Charlier, David Chan, Noah Bendix-Balgley, and attended the IMS Prussia Cove in the class of Gerhard Schulz. Isabelle performed several times at Carnegie Hall as a member of the New York String Orchestra Seminar.
Born in Taipei in 1998, Isabelle is of Japanese, Taiwanese, and American descent. She performs on a 2020 Zygmuntowicz violin generously loaned to her by a private patron in New York City.
Rachel Shapiro, second violin
Brooklyn-based violinist Rachel Kitagawa Shapiro began playing violin at age four in her hometown of Reading, PA. She has since performed in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, and across the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Norway, Germany, the Czech Republic, the United Arab Emirates, India, China, South Korea, and Japan.
A founding member Aeolus Quartet, her playing has been praised by Mark Satola of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, “in a beautifully balanced interlude wherein the second violin dances attendant to a heartfelt melody… Rachel Shapiro [was] outstanding here.” Collaborations include a performance on the Metropolitan Opera stage alongside Renée Fleming, as well as appearances with Michael Tree, Jon Kimura Parker, the Juilliard Quartet, and the Miró Quartet. She has performed with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic.
Ms. Shapiro is an adjunct Professor of Violin at Montclair State University and has previously served as Professorial Lecturer at the George Washington University. She has recorded for Naxos and Azica record labels and on a recent album by The National. Ms. Shapiro holds an Artist Diploma from the Juilliard School, a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Maryland, a Master of Music from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Bachelor of Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music. She is also a writer and has been published in Strings magazine.
Ms. Shapiro performs on a 1991 Samuel Zygmuntowicz violin graciously on loan to her through the Five Partners Foundation.
Caitlin Lynch, viola
Violist and Grammy Award recipient Caitlin Lynch has performed across the globe in collaboration with artists from Itzhak Perlman to Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood. She is violist of the Aeolus String Quartet, and a member and co-Artistic Director of the conductor less chamber orchestra A Far Cry. Ms. Lynch’s performances as a chamber and orchestral musician, soloist with orchestra, and recitalist have spanned fourteen countries across five continents – from Carnegie Hall to the Sydney Opera House to the United Nations – and include appearances with members of the Tokyo, Cleveland, Juilliard, and Guarneri String Quartets.
Passionate about collaborations with other art forms, she enjoys performing with dancers (Mark Morris Dance Group, Wendy Whelan), artists from other musical genres (Bjork, The National), and on film (Darren Aronofsky’s Mother!). Ms. Lynch is the founder and Artistic Director of Project Chamber Music: Willamette Valley, a nonprofit organization that supports public school music programs and provides funds for private instrumental lessons for students for whom the cost would be otherwise prohibitive. She was an Artist in Residence at Cleveland’s Judson Manor senior living community, an intergenerational relationship that continues today and has been celebrated by CBS and NBC News, The Plain Dealer, and the New York Times.
Recent and upcoming highlights include performances at the Chamber Music Society at Lincoln Center and Lincoln Center’s Great Performers Series with the Aeolus Quartet, the Kennedy Center with A Far Cry, and BAM’s Next Wave Festival. Ms. Lynch performs on an 18th century viola made by English luthier William Forster, and thanks to the generosity of the Five Partners Foundation, a viola by Samuel Zygmuntowicz.
Jia Kim, cello
Korean-American cellist Jia Kim, recipient of the prestigious 2017 career award from the Leonore Annenberg Foundation for Performing and Visual Arts, leads a dynamic musical life as a performer, educator, and a passionate advocate for the Arts. She has appeared on stages across the United States, South America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East with performances broadcasted on WQXR, PBS, KMZT Classical, and acclaimed by the New York Times. An avid chamber musician, Ms. Kim has performed at Tanglewood, Ravinia, Caramoor, Carnegie Hall, Disney Hall, Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, the 92Y, and joined Itzhak Perlman on a tour across Toronto, Mexico City, Virginia Beach, Miami and New York City.
Ms. Kim has been invited as Visiting Artist at the University of Hawaii, American Academy of Jordan, College of William and Mary, Grand Valley State University, and served as a Tone Judge for the Violin Society of America’s 2016 International Competition.
Currently she is on Faculty at The Juilliard School Precollege Division, The Perlman Music Program, and New York Youth Symphony’s Chamber Music Program. As Artistic Director of Central Chamber Series in NYC and Spruce Peak Chamber Music Society in Stowe, VT, she is committed to connecting with a wider audience through the powerful language of Chamber Music, both through education and performance.
Ms. Kim is evermore grateful to her mentors and teachers Ronald Leonard, Itzhak &Toby Perlman, and to Joel Krosnick, with whom she studied at the Juilliard School for a Bachelor and Master Degree in Music. Ms. Kim performs on a Testore cello made in 1748.
Peter Dugan, piano
Pianist Peter Dugan’s debut performances with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony were described by the Los Angeles Times as “stunning” and by the San Francisco Chronicle as “fearlessly athletic.” He is heard every week across America as the host of National Public Radio’s beloved program From the Top. In 2020, he joined acclaimed violinist Joshua Bell for At Home With Music, a national PBS broadcast and live album release on Sony Classical. This season Mr. Dugan continues his collaboration with Bell, touring internationally with recitals at London’s Wigmore Hall, Taipei’s National Theater and Concert Hall, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.
Mr. Dugan’s latest album with baritone John Brancy – The Journey Home: Live from the Kennedy Center – was released on Avie Records in 2021 along with an accompanying documentary film from WNET’s AllArts. Brancy and Dugan have given recitals at Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, and the Kennedy Center, and together won first prize at the 2018 Montreal International Music Competition. Mr. Dugan’s latest project with violinist Sean Lee was PaganiniXSchumann, a digital EP release that accompanied a live performance at Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Mr. Dugan appeared as the piano soloist in Charles Ives’ 4th Symphony with the Houston Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony, and on an album with Michael Tilson Thomas.
Mr. Dugan advocates for a classical music culture that is inclusive and welcoming to all, from a community’s concert halls and theaters, to its schools and hospitals. As a founding creator of Operation Superpower, a superhero opera for children, he has travelled to dozens of schools in the greater New York area, performing for students and encouraging them to use their talents – their superpowers – for good. He is head of the Artist in Residence program at pianoSonoma and a founding faculty member of the Resonance and Soundboard Institutes at Honeywell Arts Academy.
Mr. Dugan holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from The Juilliard School, where he studied under Matti Raekallio. He resides in New York City and is a Yamaha Artist.
Thank you to the sponsor of the Aeolus Quartet Special Performance with Peter Dugan, pianist
