INTRODUCTIONS FROM THE STAGE

Nicholas Mathew is a professor in the Department of Music at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of the books Political Beethoven and The Invention of Beethoven and Rossini, and several essays on the history, aesthetics, and performance of music from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. He was born in Norwich, England, and read music at Oxford University while studying the piano at the Guildhall School in London. Later on, he would combine doctoral research at Cornell University with the study of fortepiano with Malcolm Bilson. He is currently on the editorial board of the interdisciplinary journal Representations, as well as the boards of the Journal of Musicology and Eighteenth-Century Music. Together with James Davies, Mathew founded the book series New Material Histories of Music at the University of Chicago Press.

Ana Kim is a versatile cellist who performs on modern and historical instruments with various ensembles throughout the world, including Les Arts Florissants, the Sebastians, Musica Angelica, American Classical Orchestra, Teatro Nuovo, and Shattered Glass. Festival appearances include Yellow Barn, Verbier Academy, Music@ Menlo, and Birdfoot Festival. Ana holds a Doctorate from the University of Southern California and studied Historical Performance at Juilliard. Her teachers include János Starker, Ralph Kirshbaum, Laurence Lesser, and Phoebe Carrai. With a keen interest in education, Ana has participated in outreach residencies with Kneisel Hall Festival and Listen Closely, and has worked with Boston-based Music for Food. She has taught at Pacific Union College.

Suren Barry is well known to audiences across Canada, and his concertizing has brought him overseas as well. An avid chamber musician, Suren regularly performs in various ensembles at the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival and at the Festival Pontiac Enchante. Suren holds a Bachelor of Music from Carleton University, a Master’s in Piano Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music, and is currently pursuing his doctorate at the Schulich School of Music in Montreal. He recently received a Sylva Gelber Music Foundation Award, as well as a prestigious Doctoral Fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) for his research on keyboard improvisation in the 18th century. This project focuses on helping pianists reclaim the rich and vibrant tradition of improvised classical music.