Program:

L'isle joyeuse (1904) - C. Debussy

Satoko Hayami - piano

Sonata for Cello and Piano (1915) - C. Debussy

I Prologue: Lent, sostenuto e molto risoluto

II Sérénade: Modérément animé

III Finale: Animé, léger et nerveux

Satoko Hayami - piano and Magdalena Sas - cello

Sonata for Violin and Piano (1942-43) - F. Poulenc

1. Allegro con fuoco

2. Intermezzo

3. Presto tragico

   Satoko Hayami - piano and Evgeny Zvonnikov - violin

Rain Tree Sketch (1982)- T. Takemitsu

Satoko Hayami - piano

Suite Divertissement for Piano Quartet (1929) - A. Tansman

I Introduction et Marche

II Sarabande

III Scherzino. Polka

IV Melodie

V Nocturne

VI Finale

Evgeny Zvonnikov - violin, Maritsa Hristova - viola, Magdalena Sas - cello, Satoko Hayami - piano

Guest artists:

Satoko Hayami - piano

A native of Japan, Satoko Hayami (she/her), DMA, is an active pianist and educator/teaching artist, whose works explore music as an act of empowerment and empathy. Satoko regularly collaborates with diverse partners including vocalists and instrumentalists, composers, interdisciplinary artists, and community organizations. A versatile pianist, also performing on harpsichord and toy piano, Satoko has performed and taught solo and chamber music all over the world, most notably, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, and Canada. In the United States, Satoko has performed at venues such as the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in D.C.; Millers Outdoor Theater in Houston, TX; Harris Hall in Aspen, CO; Cleveland Museum of Art, OH; Shannon Hall of Memorial Union in Madison, WI. A passionate performer of new music, she co-founded Sound Out Loud Collective, a contemporary chamber ensemble, which won the first prize in Chamber Music Performance, American Prize in 2018.

She serves as a Lecturer in Collaborative Piano at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and is on the piano faculty at Beloit College. Satoko is also an interdisciplinary artist-teacher at Madison Japanese Language School, and Community Engagement Coordinator at LunART Inc. in Madison, Wisconsin.

She received her master's degrees in Collaborative Piano from Cleveland Institute of Music and Rice University, and Doctorate of Musical Arts in Collaborative Piano from University of Wisconsin-Madison as a recipient of the Paul Collins Distinguished Wisconsin Fellowship.

Maritsa Hristova - viola

Composer singer-songwriter violist Maritsa Hristova holds a Masters Degree in Viola Performance from Longy School of Music of Bard College, Cambridge, MA, and is a recipient of several distinguished awards in solo and chamber performance as well as scholarships awarded especially for performances of her own compositions. Her principle viola teachers have included Dimitri Murrath, Lenny Matczynski, Jesus Alfonzo, Dana Maben (baroque viola), and Mimi Rabson (improvisation).

Maritsa’s creative journey started when she discovered the magnetism and magic of her country’s oral folk traditions. The earliest live performances of Bulgarian folk songs, which she experienced when she was 3 in her father’s village of Zvezdetz (Strandja region of Bulgaria), affected her profoundly.

As a young performer Maritsa nourished her gift of folk singing and interpreting, immersing herself in performing as well as observing folk customs, the insight from which later would become the basis of her artistic identity. She began her formal Western classical music training on violin, later viola, and continued studies in the USA.

Maritsa’s curiosity for innovative performances drew her to composition while in high school in Bulgaria, where she wrote her first folk-inspired composition at the age of 15. When moving to the USA at 16, she left Bulgaria with a dream of sharing her country’s wisdom with the world. Today, her work as a singer- songwriter, composer, and recording artist seeks to invite fresh new energy directed towards inner transformation. The intention behind Maritsa’s songs is to artistically embody new perspectives of wisdom with the highest level of authenticity and purity of heart. She is excited to present her newest songwriting material, and as a culture carrier, to educate and ignite curiosity through her folk-inspired compositions and cultural programs.