Salon 58 Season Opening: Rare chamber music by Schubert, Schumann, Mahler – new york, NY

This program will offer an opportunity to hear two rarely-performed chamber works by the teen-aged Schubert and Mahler along with Schumann’s exuberant and extraverted Piano Quartet in E-flat, Op. 47. Schubert’s String Trio in B-flat and Mahler’s Piano Quartet, both written in Vienna, are a microcosm of their later, large-scale masterpieces.

Mahler’s Piano Quartet, written when he was merely 16, was only rediscovered by his widow in the 1960s and is the only surviving glimpse into his chamber writing.

Schumann’s Piano Quartet, from Schumann’s so-called “year of chamber music” was written under the spell of the Viennese works of Beethoven and Haydn.

The Salon 58 concert is dedicated to early musings and a mature masterpiece:

• Franz Schubert: Trio in B-flat major, D. 471
• Gustav Mahler: Piano Quartet
• Robert Schumann: Piano Quartet in E-flat, Op. 47

performed by:

• Lukas Stepp, violin
• Holger Grohs, viola
• Ayoun Alexandra Kim, cello
• Matthew Graybil, piano

LUKAS STEPP, violin

Since the beginning of 2019, Lukas Stepp has been concertmaster of the second violins of the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden. Born 1989 in Stuttgart, Germany, Lukas Stepp has appeared as violinist with chamber music groups at festivals throughout Germany and has won prizes in competitions including the Klassikpreis Munster, Concertino Praga, Charles Hennen Concours, the youth prize of the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Brahms Competition, Portugal’s Competition Julio Cardona, and at the Schoenfeld String Competition in Harbin in China.

As a soloist, he performed with the Kaerntener Symphoniker, Macau Youth Orchestra, Youth Orchestra of Baden-Wurttemberg, Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, and Staatsorchester Hildesheim. He was a 2016 graduate of the Hanns Eisler University of Music Berlin where he studied with Feng Ning and Stephan Picard. Later on he studied violin in the master’s program at The Juilliard School with Ida Kavafian. Since 2019, Lukas Stepp has been the principal second violinist at the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden.

He received the most important impulses for his violin playing at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music from Stephan Picard, Feng Ning and in the years 2016-2018 from Ida Kavafian at the Juilliard School of Music in New York.

Lukas Stepp is a multiple first prize and special prize winner at the national competition “Jugend musiziert”. He has won further prizes as a soloist at international competitions such as the Brahms Competition (2010), the “Julio Cardona” competition in Portugal (2011) and the “International Schönfeld String Competition” (Harbin/China 2014).

Lukas Stepp has performed as a soloist with the Stuttgart Philharmonic, the Carinthia Symphony Orchestra, the Junge Ensemble Berlin, the Baden-Württemberg State Youth Orchestra, the Hildesheim State Theater, the Badische Kammerphilharmonie and the Hamburger Camerata, among others.

Lukas Stepp was first violinist of the “Stepp Quartet”, which performed between 2001 and 2012 at festivals such as the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Rheingau Music Festival and the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival.

https://www.instagram.com/lukasnstepp/

HOLGER GROHS, viola was born in Erlangen, Germany in 1972, beginning his violin studies at the age of six. He completed his music curriculums at both the University of Music and Performing Arts in Frankfurt under the direction of Walter Forchert, and later at the Conservatory of Music in Wuerzburg under the guidance of Herwig Zack, where he received a Master Class Diploma.

His artistic development was then significantly influenced by Franco Gulli, under whose tutelage Holger studied for two years at Indiana University in Bloomington, USA. There, he also collaborated intensively with artists such as Leonard Hokanson and Janos Starker. Alongside live solo performances on Bayerischer Rundfunk (Bavarian state radio in Germany), Holger Grohs was awarded German scholarships by the Peter Fuld Foundation in Bavaria as well as the Carl Flesch Academy in Baden-Baden.

He then gained further inspiration at numerous master seminars and festivals, including with Saschko Gawriloff at the Carl Flesch Academy, at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Sienna, and at the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo. Since 2001 Holger Grohs has been a member violinist of the prestigious Staatskapelle Dresden -the Dresden State Orchestra – in 2013 becoming the Deputy Concert Master of the second violins, and in December 2015, rising to the position of Concertmaster of the Second Violins. An equally important focus of Holger’s musical creativity for many years has been the viola, propelled by definitive, favorable assessments from both Wilfried Strehle and Felix Schwartz.

As a keenly welcomed chamber music member, Holger Grohs has toured frequently at home and abroad throughout his career including the “Joyful Moments” series in China.

AYOUN ALEXANDRA KIM, cello: a dynamic and captivating performer, renowned for her excellence in both chamber music and solo performances, all while actively promoting community engagement through her music.

In 2024, Kim took center stage alongside the Telegraph Quartet as a guest artist, performing the Fanny Mendelssohn String Quartet at the Rossmoor Creek Chamber Music Society’s 2024 season concert. She shared the stage with acclaimed artists Inon Banatan, Melissa White, and Julio Elizalde for the Chamber Music Tuesday series in 2023 in San Francisco. Notably, she collaborated with composer David Garner, a faculty member of San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM), to perform “Capriccio for Cello and Piano.”

Kim’s musicality has been recognized in esteemed competitions such as theYamaha Young Performing Artist Competition, Artist Presentation Society Competition, and the Musicians Club of Women Competition in 2022. She has been invited to perform at renowned music festivals worldwide, including the Norfolk Music Festival, Sarasota Music Festival, Kneisel Hall, Orford Academy, Verão Classico, and Sommerakademie Mozarteum. Throughout her career, she has had the privilege of performing for esteemed musicians such as Laurence Lesser, Steven Doane, Myung-Wha Chung, Frans Helmerson, Gary Hoffman, Maria Kliegel, Peter Ounjian, and the Brentano String Quartet.

In addition to her performance endeavors, Kim’s passion for community engagement and teaching led to her appointment to the

In addition to her performance endeavors, Kim’s passion for community engagement and teaching led to her appointment to the junior faculty of the Vivace Music Foundation in 2022. She has also showcased her versatility as a principal cellist in the 2023 Spoleto Festival Orchestra.

Kim holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Juilliard School, where she studied under the mentorship of Natasha Brofsky and Astrid Schween. Currently, she is furthering her artistic journey by pursuing an Artist Diploma at the SFCM under the guidance of Jennifer Culp.

https://www.ayounalexcello.com/

MATTHEW GRAYBIL, piano: Praised by The New Yorker as an “exceptional young artist” and as a “major talent” (Sarasota Herald-Tribune), American pianist Matthew Graybil has performed throughout the United States, Canada, France and Holland and Mexico in venues such as Carnegie’s Zankel Hall, Le Poisson Rouge, Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center and Lincoln Center.

He has appeared on radio and television, including WNYC, WQXR, WWFM, CBS Chicago, the Discovery Channel and PBS. Since making his orchestral debut at age 14, he has performed with the Fort Worth Symphony and the National Chamber Players among many others. An avid chamber musician, he has been invited to festivals including the American Academy in Fontainebleau, the Ravinia Steans Institute, the Sarasota Music Festival and the Perlman Music Program.

He has been a prize-winner in the MTNA/Yamaha National Piano Competition, the New York Piano Competition, the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts, the Juilliard Gina Bachauer Competition, the Missouri Southern International Piano Competition and the Wideman International Piano Competition.

Graybil was a pupil of Vincent Craig and Harvey Wedeen before completing his Bachelor and Master’s degrees at The Juilliard School, where he worked with Jerome Lowenthal and Matti Raekallio.

https://www.matthewgraybil.com/