July 2019 Concert

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About the Artistic Director, Odin Rathnam

Friendships: in print and on screen, music is the expression of human emotion. The Romantic works in this program, although composed well over a century ago and each written for a dear friend, have each been given a pivotal role in literature, and on screen.

Kafka on the Shore, written by Haruki Murakami in 2002, uses the Archduke Trio to explain the relationship between two main characters, Nakata and Hoshino. Beethoven wrote this trio for his friend and student Archduke Rudolph of Austria.

Piano Trio Opus 97, ‘Archduke’                  Ludwig van Beethoven

Allegro moderato

Scherzo

Andante Cantabile

Allegro moderato

 Heard in the 2014 movie Miss Julie, directed by Liv Ullman and starring Jessica Chastain and Collin Farrell, this sultry piano trio, dedicated to the composer’s dear friend, cellist Charles Davidoff, is characterized by warm, luxurious melody and intimate dialogue between the instruments.

Piano Trio No. 1 Opus 32               Anton Arensky

Allegro moderato

Scherzo. Allegro molto

Elegia. Adagio

Finale. Allegro non troppo

Dorothy Braker, cellist

Dorothy Braker had her very first lesson in music at the age of 4 with Dr. Shinichi Suzuki, whose new idea about musical study through unlocking each child’s innate potential was first being brought to the United States. Her studies in cello, starting at the age of 8, were with Lois Yopp, Phil Blum, Karl Fruh, and Harvey Shapiro. Primarily a soloist and chamber musician, she has performed extensively across the United States, chiefly with performances associated with “Music History a bore? Not a chance!” that went across the Appalachian Valley in local schools, many schools in New York State, and to many fine museums and libraries, including the Newberry Library in Chicago and the Bennington Museum in Vermont. As the founder and Artistic Director of Aliento Chamber Players, she performed and managed a five-year chamber music concert series in the Seacoast area.  Here in New Hampshire, in addition to many chamber music and solo appearances with area groups including the Portsmouth Symphony and Merrimack Valley Orchestra, she is principal cellist and Outreach Coordinator with The Portsmouth Symphony, coaches chamber music and has a private studio of students. As the Outreach Director of the Portsmouth Symphony, she helped to create and currently maintains the Concerto Competition, the MyPSO youth music arm of the Portsmouth Symphony that also has an outreach concert series for local schools, and the “Get Cozy with the Portsmouth Symphony” monthly chamber music concert series at the Dance Hall in Kittery, Maine, now in its fifth season.

Mary Towse-Beck, pianist

Pianist Mary Towse-Beck has been a performing artist for the past twenty-five years. Equally at home as both soloist and collaborative artist, she has performed throughout Europe, Australia and the United States. She has been a featured artist on Australian National Radio and her 2013 release of The Impressionists not only received critical acclaim but also extensive airplay throughout North America. Recently, she gave a solo recital at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and appeared as soloist with the Portsmouth Symphony.

Mary received her Masters and Bachelors of Music from Indiana University where she studied with James Tocco and Edward Auer, and also received coaching from many renowned teachers including Josef Gingold, Janos Starker and Gyorgy Sebok. She attended Eastman School of Music as an undergraduate studying with Rebecca Penneys, after having studied with Jerome Rose in her hometown of Toledo, Ohio. After completing her Masters, she continued her studies in London with Norma Fisher and Benjamin Kaplan.

After having lived in England for twenty years, Mary returned to the United States in 2007 and now resides in New Hampshire. She maintains a large teaching studio in her home in Kensington, NH, and also continues to perform chamber music and solo recitals.

About the Artistic Director, Odin Rathnam

Since his critically acclaimed Lincoln Center debut in 1993, the American violinist Odin Rathnam has established himself as one of the most passionate and versatile artists of his generation. He has received unanimous praise from critics and audiences for his “captivating temperament,” “brilliant technique” and a sound “recalling the legendary violinists of the past”. A veteran performer at many major European and American festivals including the Algarve International Music Festival in Portugal, Denmark’s Tivoli and Vendsyssel Festivals, Deia International Festival in Mallorca, Boswil Festival in Switzerland, Aspen, Caramoor and Endless Mountain Music Festivals, he has also appeared in recital on the Market Square Concerts series, Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Recital Hall, where he first appeared at the age of 15.

As a soloist, Odin Rathnam has performed with the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, the Philippine Philharmonic, the Colombian National Symphony, the Harrisburg Symphony, Philadelphia Virtuosi, the Lancaster Symphony, the York Symphony, the EMMF Orchestra, The New Amsterdam Symphony , the San Juan Symphony Orchestra, Randers Chamber Orchestra, among others. During his distinguished career of more than 30 years, he has enjoyed the fortune of collaborating as a guest soloist, concertmaster and leader with many distinguished conductors, including Sergiu Commissiona , Pinchas Zukerman, JoAnnFalletta, Stephen Gunzenhauser, Olivier Ochanine, Lawrence Golan, Arthur Post, Stuart Malina, Daniel Spalding and many more, appearing in the United States, Canada, Europe and the Far East.

Recent performances include concerti of Brahms , Mendelssohn, Korngold, Vivaldi, Piazzolla and Bruch, a performance of Sarasate “ Zigeunerweisen” with the Hershey Symphony at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall as well as recitals in the United States and Portugal. In 2007, he made his Tivoli Festival debut playing Prokofiev Sonata for Two Violins with Nikolai Znaider. The Danish newspaper, Kristelig Dagblad, hailed the “outstanding, full-blooded romantic violin playing by both players.” Four years later, he made his Danish orchestral debut, playing and conducting Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, with the Randers Chamber Orchestra.

Upcoming performances include a three concert series in the Mid State of Pennsylvania, presenting the complete Sonatas and Partitas of J.S. Bach, as well as works by Paganini, Ysaye , Kreisler and Piazzola, a regional tour of violin and piano recitals with works by Strauss, Stravinsky, Chausson and Sarasate and orchestral solo appearances featuring works by Bruch, Bach and Sarasate.

Mr. Rathnam ‘s commitment to the development of young talents has led many of his students to be accepted at major conservatories throughout the United States and abroad, several going on to win prizes in national and international competitions, including the Fischoff, Nielsen and Queen Elizabeth competitions. He has served as a performing faculty member at Anker Buch’s Danish Summer School for Strings on the island of Mors, Danish Strings, and the Nordic Music Academy led by Nikolai Znaider . In 2012, Mr. Rathnam accepted an appointment as artistic director of the Academia de Verao in Lagos, Portugal. He then established the Silkeborg Classic Academy, with Danish conductor, Christian Horbov-Meier , which takes place annually in Denmark. In 2013, Mr. Rathnam was invited to give his lecture /masterclass series “ Lost in Translation-Demystifying the Principles of Ivan Galamian in Practical Application” at Juilliard, for the Starling DeLay Symposium, classes he has also presented in Chicago ,Copenhagen, Zambales ( Philippines), Portugal and at the Universities of Penn State, James Madison, New Mexico State University and Fort Lewis College, in Durango, Colorado. In the fall of 2016, Mr. Rathnam accepted a sabbatical post as professor of violin at Penn State University, in State College.

As a chamber musician, Odin Rathnam has collaborated ( violin/viola) with many leading artists of his generation including: violinists Nikolai Znaider, Gil Shaham, Adele Anthony and Kurt Nikkanen; pianists Rohan De Silva, Albert Tiu, Robert Koenig, Christopher Guzman, and Anton Nel; and cellists Matt Haimowitz, Bion Tsang, Sara Sant’Ambrogio, Wendy Warner, and Daniel Gaisford, Concertante ( the critically acclaimed ensemble he founded in 1995), the Rafael Trio, the Ying Quartet , the Sweet Plantain String Quartet, and the Fry Street Quartet.

Mr. Rathnam received his formal training at Juilliard Pre-College and Mannes College of Music with Sally Thomas and Ann Setzer, returning to the Juilliard School as a full scholarship student of Dorothy DeLay and Masao Kawasaki. He studied chamber music with Julius Levine, Felix Galimir, Joel Smirnoff, and Josef Gingold. He also worked closely with the Danish violinist and pedagogue Anker Buch , who is credited by many for bringing Ivan Galamian’s teachings to Denmark.

Mr. Rathnam’s recordings can be found on The Helikon, West Branch and Kleos labels, with works by Mendelssohn, Vivaldi, Strauss and Schoenberg.

Odin Rathnam performs on a late 19th century violin crafted by an unknown master, in the manner of Guarnerius Del Gesu’s middle period.