Noon Hour Concert: Hidden Gems by Women Composers

Wednesday, October 5, 2022 12:30 pm - 1:20 pm EDT (GMT -04:00)

The Mathieu-Chua Duo comprises Canadian violinist Ի辱Ծ .

They are dynamic and compelling artists whochampion the contemporary music of emerging composers alongside those that are internationallyestablished, as well as relish in re-introducing the works of forgotten composers of the Baroque,Classical and Romantic periods to a new audience. It is important to Mathieu-Chua Duo that their collaborations and performances spark newartistic and social developments. They hope to contribute to the evolution of classical music aswell as forge new connections between composers and audiences – two parties that might otherwise remain isolated without committed performers and committed performances. Our aimis to inspire emerging Canadian composers to the artistic and technical possibilities ofinstrumental chamber writing and to inspire the next generation of performers to the potential ofcontemporary repertoire.

Meeting in 2012, Mathieu-Chua Duo has quickly established themselves in Canada. They havepresented recitals at Music Toronto’s Discovery Series, 21C Festival at the Royal Conservatoryof Music (Toronto), Sound Symposium XVII (St. John’s, NF), New Works Calgary, OttawaNew Music Creators, 5-Penny New Music Concerts (Sudbury, ON), Palais Montcalm (QuebecCity), and COC’s Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre (Toronto); as well as at Universities ofOttawa, Western Ontario, Guelph, and ݮƵ. In their short history together, Véronique and Stephanie have commissioned and premiered a number of works by emerging Canadian composers includingGabriel Dufour-Laperrière, Brian Harman, Emilie Lebel, Adam Scime, and Caitlin Smith, andestablished composers Alice Ho (Canada) and David Vayo (USA). They have collaborated withthe composers of Spectrum Music (Toronto, ON) and Canadian-born, Brooklyn-basedinterdisciplinary artist Karen Ostrom to present 'Patent Pending', an installation, animated filmaccompanied by live music at CONTACT Photography Festival 2014 (Toronto). The duoreleased their debut recording 'True North' on the Centrediscs label in 2017. GapplegateClassical-Modern Review notes that the duo “trip the light fantastic with a dramatic sense ofexpression and a remarkable sense of balance and poise”.Mathieu-Chua Duo will also be releasing a 2nd recording together featuring all female composerson PARMA Recordings.

Stephanie Chua & Veronique Mathieu

Programme

Elizabeth Jacquet de la Guerre (1665-1729) - From Sonata no. 6 for violin and piano

Pauline Viardot (1821-1910)- Sonatine for violin and piano

Alice Ping Yee Ho (1960-) - Four Seasons for violin and piano

Amy Beach (1867-1944) - Romance for violin and piano

Florence Price (1887-1953) -Two pieces for violin and piano

Biographies

Véronique Mathieu

Described as a violinist with 'chops to burn, and rock solid musicianship' (The Whole Note), Canadian violinist Véronique Mathieu enjoys an exciting career as a soloist, chambermusician, and music educator. An avid contemporary music performer, she has commissionedand premiered numerous works by American, Brazilian, and Canadian composers, and hasworked with composers such as Pierre Boulez, Heinz Holliger, and Krzysztof Penderecki.

Current projects include the commission of a large-scale solo violin work by Odawa FirstNations composer Barbara Croall and a set of 12 pedagogical pieces written in collaboration with12 internationally renowned composers with the support of the SSHRC and the Canada Council for the Arts.Dr. Mathieu has performed as a soloist with orchestras such as the National Arts CentreOrchestra, Esprit Orchestra, Shenyang Symphony Orchestra, Saskatoon Symphony, ColumbusIndiana Philharmonic, Montreal Contemporary Ensemble, and the Orquestra Sinfonica de Indaiatuba (Brazil). She recorded for the labels of Radio-Canada, Parma, Centrediscs, Naxos,Pheromone, and the CD series New Music at Indiana University. Her recordings are frequentlyheard on the radio, and she was recently featured on a BBC series dedicated to the composerWitold Lutoslawski. Following the release of her 3rd solo CD (Cortège), Dr. Mathieu was afinalist in the Classical Artist/Ensemble of the Year category at the 2021 Western CanadianMusic Awards.

Véronique Mathieu holds the David L. Kaplan Chair in Music at the University of Saskatchewan whereshe serves as an Associate Professor of Violin. She previously served on the faculty at State University ofNew York (SUNY) in Buffalo, and the University of Kansas. In addition, she is the co-founder andartistic director of NAVO Inc., a non-for-profit arts organization based in Kansas City. Dr. Mathieu hasserved on the jury of several national and international violin and strings competitions, and is a memberof the jury for the 2022 Chicago International Music Competition and Festival. Dr. Mathieu is a graduateof the Québec Conservatory, McGill University, the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and the Glenn Gould School in Toronto.

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Stephanie Chua

Stephanie Chua is an expressive and versatile Canadian pianist devoted to presenting andperforming contemporary works through musical insight and innovative programming. She hasbeen broadcast across Canada on CBC Radio 2 and in Europe on Rondo Classic FM and hasperformed in solo and chamber recitals across Canada, Europe, and Asia.

Recent highlightsinclude being a featured performer in Soundstreams’ sold-out 2018 season opener ‘Six Pianos’ atKoerner Hall (Toronto), solo recitals at SOUL Live Music Project in Ho Chi Minh City(Vietnam) in partnership with Saigon Classical, New Music Edmonton, and Music Toronto’sDiscovery Series; along with performances at Shanghai New Music Festival, Impuls Contemporary Music Festival (Graz, Austria), and Sound Symposium (St.John’s, NFLD).As a much sought-after collaborative pianist, Stephanie has performed in some of Canada's mostimportant contemporary ensembles including Continuum Contemporary Music, Esprit Orchestra,Trio Fibonacci, and Toca Loca. In 2009, Stephanie co-founded junctQín keyboardcollective with Elaine Lau and Joseph Ferretti. junctQín is a trio of pianists committed toperformances of contemporary music and commissioning new works for their uniqueinstrumentation. Since its inception, the group has commissioned and premiered over 40 newworks from emerging to internationally established living composers. junctQín released their debut recording ‘reTHiNK’ on Redshift Records in 2020. Musicworks Magazine noted that their“. . . unfaltering, polished performance is a testament to years of work as a unit”.

Stephanie also performs regularly as a duo with violinist, Véronique Mathieu. The duo releasedtheir debut recording 'True North' on the Centrediscs label in 2017.Stephanie completed her Master of Music from the University of Toronto and her Artist Diplomafrom the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music. She was also Artist-in-Residence at the Banff Centre for the Arts and earned her Bachelor of Music from the University of Victoria. Her main teachers were Robin Wood and Marietta Orlov. Stephanie has alsopursued private studies with pianist/musicologist Ian Pace in London, England.
Upcoming projects include a recording with cello duo VC2, a second recording with violinistVéronique Mathieu (to be released on Navona Records), and a large-scale creation and recordingcollaboration with the Bozzini String Quartet and Canadian composers Rebecca Bruton andJason Doell.

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