Artist Series Concerts of Sarasota Presents NEXUS Chamber Music Chicago

January 3, 2022 – Sarasota

Artist Series Concerts welcomes the return of former Artist Series Concerts competition winner Alexander Hersh and two members of his ensemble, NEXUS Chamber Music Chicago, February 20, 4:00 p.m., at Temple Sinai, 4631 South Lockwood Ridge Road, Sarasota. Hersh will be joined by violinist Maria Ioudenitch and violist Chloé Thominet for a program of string trios by Sibelius, Kurtag, Dohnányi, and Beethoven. Tickets are $40 and are available online at www.ArtistSeriesConcerts.org or by calling 941-306-1202, Monday – Friday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. 

The award-winning young musicians of NEXUS Chamber Music are on a mission: “We have a fervent desire to infect listeners with the same passion for music that inspires us to create it.” Co-founded by cellist Alexander Hersh and violinist Brian Hong, two longtime friends who yearned for new ways to revitalize interest in classical music, NEXUS Chamber Music is a collective of international artists committed to stimulating new interest in serious chamber music. Launched in 2018, NEXUS works under the wing of the non-profit Guarneri Hall, often utilizing Guarneri Hall’s state-of-the-art performance, recording, and web-streaming facility located in the heart of Chicago. There they invite a rotating roster of world class artists to perform a wide variety of music, ranging from familiar works of Bach, Mozart, Schumann, Brahms, and Fauré to the more unconventional and contemporary works of Kraggerud, Sollima, Xenakis, and Widmann.

“Alexander Hersh’s talent, energy and fervor were on clear and impressive display when he was a winner of our 2018 national string competition,” says Marcy Miller, executive director of Artist Series Concerts. “Judges and audience members alike were enthralled with his performances and it is a thrill to bring Alexander back to Sarasota, this time to perform with two colleagues from his exciting new ensemble and initiative, NEXUS Chamber Music.”

Having already performed as soloist with the Houston Symphony and the Boston Pops, cellist Alexander Hersh has quickly established himself as one of the most exciting and versatile talents of his generation. He has received top prizes at competitions worldwide including the 2020 Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant, 2019 Astral Artists National Auditions, Artist Series Concerts’ National String Competition, Borromeo String Quartet Guest Artist Award, the Fischoff National Chamber Music competition and many others.

A 4th generation string player from Chicago, Hersh began playing cello at age five. Hersh’s parents, Stefan and Roberta, are both active professional violinists. His grandfather, Paul Hersh, is professor of viola and piano at San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and his great grandfather, Ralph Hersh, was a member of the WQXR and Stuyvesant String Quartets, and principal violist of the Dallas and Atlanta Symphony Orchestras.

Award-winning violinist Maria Ioudenitch calls herself “an American with a Russian heart and soul.” This year, Maria was awarded first prizes in the Ysaye International Music Competition, the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition and the Joachim International Competition.  She completed her Bachelor’s Degree at the Curtis Institute of Music and her Master’s Degree at New England Conservatory where she is currently continuing her studies with Miriam Fried as an Artist Diploma candidate. Recent solo engagements have been with the Utah Symphony, the Israel Camerata and the Kansas City Symphony and recent chamber music performances have taken her across South America and New England. Both she and Hersh were featured performers at the 2021 Marlboro Music Festival. 

Hersh and loudenitch will be joined by French violist Chloé Thominet. Prior to her arrival in 2010 to the United States, Thominet completed her musical education at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Cergy-Pontoise in France. She then attended the Young Artist Program at the Cleveland Institute of Music where she subsequently earned a Bachelor of Music degree, under the tutelage of Jeffrey Irvine. She went on to complete her Master of Music degree with Heidi Castleman and Misha Amory at The Juilliard School as a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship and is currently studying with Helen Callus at Northwestern University, Bienen School of Music as a student of the Doctoral of Musical Arts program. An avid chamber musician, she took part in the Cleveland Institute’s Intensive Quartet Seminar led by the esteemed Cavani String Quartet and Peter Salaff, and participated in the quarterfinals of the Fischoff competition, 2016. In the summer of 2015, she received the Ravel Foundation’s first prize for the performance of the first and second movement of Ravel’s String Quartet. Thominet, has performed all across the United States as well as in her native France, as a soloist, orchestra player and chamber musician. Performance highlights include appearances in Alice Tully Hall as part of the Wednesdays at One series with the Elysian Quartet, at the Kennedy Center as part of the Conservatory Project in 2016, and in Carnegie Hall as co-principal of the Chamber Orchestra of New York and the Juilliard Orchestra.

True to NEXUS Chamber Music’s mission of delivering inspired and unique programming, the trio’s repertoire for this concert will feature string trios by Sibelius, Kurtag, Dohnányi, and Beethoven.

COVID-19 update: Artist Series Concerts’ top priority remains the health and safety of its patrons, performers and staff. The organization is a partner in SafeArts Sarasota and will be following the policies and protocols set forth by this initiative. Protocols will continue to be revisited and revised and Artist Series Concerts will also continue to comply fully with the current requirements of each of its eight venues. Updates and the most recent COVID-19 statement can be seen at www.ArtistSeriesConcerts.org.