As an active performer in comprehensive musical genres, violinist Michelle Lie has been featured in diverse performances throughout the country. Currently performing with the Tesla Quartet, she was a founding member of the Iannis String Quartet and has performed as first violinist with Aeolus String Quartet (Silver Medal winner of Fischoff Competition 2011) during its residency at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival in the summer of 2010. Her musical education in violin started at the age of 14 from the influence of her vocalist father and she was quickly recognized through high profile performances and awards. Michelle received her Bachelor’s Degree from Dankook University, where she studied with Deashik Kang; her Master’s Degree from the New England Conservatory, where she studied with Eric Rosenblith; a Professional Studies certificate from the Cleveland Institute of Music with William Preucil; and a Doctor of Music Degree in 2013 with Mark Kaplan at Indiana University.
An avid chamber musician, Ross Snyder is the founding first violinist of the Tesla Quartet, which formed at the Juilliard School in 2008. Recent prizes of the Tesla Quartet include the Gold Medal at the 2012 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and Third Prize at the 2012 Wigmore Hall London International String Quartet Competition. Ross has studied chamber music with members of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and such world-renowned ensembles as the Borromeo, Guarneri, Juilliard, Miró, St. Lawrence, Takács, Tokyo, and Vermeer string quartets. He spent the summer of 2008 serving as an assistant concertmaster of the UBS Verbier Festival Orchestra in Switzerland and also participated in the VFO’s 2008 European tour to Milan, Luzern, Berlin, and Madrid. Having recently received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder, Ross received his Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Joel Smirnoff. He received his undergraduate degree from the New England Conservatory in Boston, where he studied with Malcolm Lowe.
Watch Michelle and Ross’s Recital:
Michelle Lie and Ross Snyder, the violinists of the world-renowned Tesla Quartet, perform a recital featuring some of their favorite violin duets by Joseph Haydn, Ignaz Pleyel, and Béla Bartók.
Haydn’s Op. 99 No. 2 Duo is his arrangement of his earlier Op. 9 No. 2 string quartet, and even without the viola and cello, this is a rich work with a variety of moods and characters.
Pleyel’s duo shows the two violinists as equals, with dazzling passagework and lyrical melodies that were typical of the brilliant style of Paris musicians of the time.
Bartók’s rustic tunes were all inspired by folk music from Eastern Europe and North Africa – some are quirky, some are sad, some are rambunctious, but they’re all great fun!
Thoughts from Our Week 3 Curator:
Margaret Murray, Associate Curator of Public Programs
Museum of Fine Arts of St. Petersburg, FL
“Here at the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, the entire staff is working together, in the safest manner possible, to provide opportunities for artists and audiences to enjoy a shared exploration of art in our collections and exhibitions. This is taking many forms: we are developing lessons that allow children and their families to take inspiration from works in our collection; visiting regional artists from our upcoming “Skyway” exhibition in their studios to hear how the decrease in human interaction will shape the natural world in the future; streaming films, and of course… working with the many musicians and presenters who continue to create and inspire so many around the world with their work!
Prior to so many cultural institutions temporarily closing their doors, we were putting the final touches on our Marly Music performance series, which is devoted to showcasing emerging and established classical or jazz artists. The Museum of Fine Arts collection is encyclopedic in nature, spanning thousands of years of art history and showcasing it under one roof, and we’re fortunate that we’re often able to invite our musical performers to interact thematically with works in the museum.
The art in our collection allows us to journey musically through a wide range of eras, cultures, and geographies; as a result, we have recently hosted the Detroit-based Sphinx Virtuosi Orchestra, and presented pop-up musical performances throughout the museum; a piano concert inspired by a contemporary origami exhibition; contemporary rock bands; classical guitar, and silent film accompaniment by orchestral performances.
At every point, we strive to provide the highest quality engagement we can for our members, visitors and community, all while offering opportunities for them to deeply and profoundly connect with our performing and visual artists. There’s no better time to give yourself over to music than in moments of crisis, and I’m so grateful for every musician who has pushed aside their own concerns to provide an amazing soundtrack of hope in this uncertain time. It has been a source of solace, comfort, and connection for so many, and I’m honored to play a small role in bringing these amazingly talented musicians to a wider audience.”
Margaret Murray is Associate Curator of Public Programs at the Museum of Fine Arts of St. Petersburg in St. Petersburg, FL. She curates the Marly Music concert series each year, featuring a global roster of renowned artists performing in a variety of genres, including classical, chamber, jazz, and world music.
Public Health Sponsors
The first three weeks of Robinson Recitals have been sponsored by three doctors at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health: Dr. Caroline Buckee, Associate Director of the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics and Associate Professor of Epidemiology; Dr. Satchit Balsari, Assistant Professor in the Department of Global Health and Population; and Dr. Yonatan Grad, Melvin J. and Geraldine L. Glimcher Assistant Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases.
About Robinson Recitals
| The Robinson Recitals initiative is an innovation competition for “live” social distancing video concerts specifically designed for retirement and nursing homes, hosted by Boston-based classical music management firm Ariel Artists. Weekly winners of the Robinson Recitals competition receive a $500 prize and will have their concerts distributed widely to the retirement home and nursing home communities nationwide, where residents, their family members from afar, staff, and others can enjoy them as they are able to during their days. Family members and their mothers, fathers, grandmothers, and grandfathers living in retirement homes can watch the same live concert video together at the same time at their own convenience, from their separate residences, and in that way, share a live performance in real time. Applications are open on a rolling basis. Winning concerts will be distributed every Thursday for as long as funding lasts. |
Past Winners
| Week 1: Danae Dörken’s 30-minute recital, which she calls “A Musical Journey” and narrates along the way, includes works by Grieg, Schubert, the Greek composer Manolis Kalomiris, and Béla Bartòk. She performs from her living room in Berlin, Germany. |
Week 2:
Benedict’s recital, titled “Song of the Birds” is inspired by the great cellist Pablo Casals and begins with Saint Saëns’ iconic “The Swan.” He then performs Casals’ favorite encore, Song of the Birds, Giovanni Sollima’s virtuosic Lamentatio, and Johann Sebastian Bach’s Cello Suite in D Major No. 6, from the set of suites which Casals transformed from practice exercises to famous concert works.