The Pyxis Piano Quartet will play works by Strauss, Turina and Saint-Saens at the Mainstay in Rock Hall on Sunday February 5 at 4:00 p.m as part of the Hedgelawn Classical Music Series sponsored by the Hedgelawn Foundation. Admission is $15. For information and reservations call 410-639-9133. Information is also available at the Mainstay’s website.
The Pyxis Piano Quartet was founded in 2009 to perform chamber music concerts featuring traditional and contemporary masterpieces for piano quartet: violin, viola, cello and piano. Based in Delaware, their performances are compelling, engaging, and informative. They are artists-in-residence at the Delaware Art Museum in Wilmington where they usually play to sold-out audiences.
Their 2010-2011 season included a sold-out concert at the DuPont Hotel Gold Ballroom as part of the Delaware Symphony Orchestra Champagne Chamber Series, performances at Villanova University (PA), St. Andrew’s School (DE), and a benefit concert for the Harmony for Peace Foundation. Their 2011-2012 season includes return concert series engagements in Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.
The group takes its name from the Pyxis constellation, also known as the Mariner’s Compass whose symbol is the compass rose. The points of the compass rose represent the artistic directions the group travels together while recognizing the different backgrounds and experiences of its musicians.
Meredith Amado, violin, has been praised by critics for her “technical aplomb and musical responsiveness.” She has been heard as a soloist and recitalist from the Pacific Northwest to the Mid-Atlantic. Her strong devotion to chamber music and entrepreneurial spirit has given rise to two successful chamber music series (in Missouri and Delaware), a string quartet, a piano quartet and a string trio that made two Atlantic crossings with Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth II. Currently, she performs with pianist Hiroko Yamazaki both in recital and as members of the Pyxis Piano Quartet. She has toured the West Coast, Midwest and East Coast as a member of the Saint Louis Symphony and the Oregon Symphony and is the former Associate Concertmaster of the Delaware Symphony and the Oregon Ballet Theater Orchestra. She has made frequent appearances with the New Jersey Symphony, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the American Symphony Orchestra and the Opera Delaware Orchestra.
Amado received Bachelor and Master’s degree as a scholarship student at The Juilliard School and she has a certificate in Non-Profit Management from Washington University in Saint Louis, MO. She is from Charlottesville, Virginia where she began violin studies at the age of five. She now lives in Wilmington, Delaware. She plays a 1662 Nicolo Amati violin.
Philadelphia native Amy Leonard, viola, received performance degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory and the Manhattan School of Music, and has studied baroque viola at Oberlin’s Baroque Performance Institute.
Leonard is active recitalist and chamber musician, participating in a number of music festivals in North America and Europe such as Aspen, Banff, Spoleto USA, and Mostra Mozart in Venice, Italy. Past orchestral positions have been with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, the New World Symphony (Miami Beach, FL), and as assistant principal violist with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, where she performed with the internationally recognized contemporary ensemble Nua Nos, or “New Noise”. In demand as a free lance musician, she has performed as a member of the contemporary ensemble Relache, the Delaware Symphony Orchestra, and the baroque ensembles Tempesta di Mare and Brandywine Baroque. She also performs frequently with other ensembles such as the Pennsylvania Ballet Orchestra, Philly Pops, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Princeton Symphony and Opera Delaware.
Jie Jin, cello, has been widely recognized for performances in music capitals in North America, Europe and Asia. She has appeared as a soloist with Bay Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, National Repertoire Orchestra and Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and held principal cello positions with National Repertoire Orchestra, Mansfield Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Institute of Music and Shepherd School of Music Orchestra at Rice University. She has played with Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Houston Symphony and New World Symphony.
Before her move to the United States, Jin won First Prize in the National Cello Duo Competition of China, the Bao-gang Elegance Art Award and the Excellent Performance Prize in the National Competition of China. She is the founder of the Tang-gu-la String Quartet that has toured Europe, Australia and China, received numerous honors, appeared in Isaac Stern’s Oscar-winning documentary “From Mao to Mozart,” and performed for President Bill Clinton.
Jin began her cello study at age 5. She received her Bachelor’s degree from Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Upon receiving a full scholarship from Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, she came to the United States for her Master’s degree. Jin also received the Artist Diploma at the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Hiroko Yamazaki, piano, has performed throughout the United States and abroad. She has collaborated with instrumentalists and vocalists including members of Tonhalle Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Delaware Symphony in performances at venues including the Smithsonian Institution, Kennedy Center, Swarthmore College, Aspen Music Festival, Marcella Sembrich Opera Museum, New York City and Puerto Rico. Her appearances at summer festivals include the Luzerne Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, the Rome Festival, and the International Festival-Institute at Round Top in Texas, where her performance with Minnesota Orchestra principal oboist Basil Reeve was recorded for NPR.
Yamazaki holds a Bachelor of Music Degree in piano performance from the University of Maryland, where she was a recipient of the Presser Foundation Award and initiated into Pi Kappa Lambda. She later received the University of Maryland’s Collaborative Piano Award and completed her Master of Music degree there in Collaborative Piano.
The Mainstay (Home of Musical Magic) is the friendly informal storefront performing arts center on Rock Hall’s old time Main Street. It is a 501(c)(3), non profit dedicated to the arts, serving Rock Hall and the surrounding region and committed to presenting local, regional and national level talent, at a reasonable price, in an almost perfect acoustic setting. Wine, beer, sodas and snacks are available at the bar. The Mainstay is supported by ticket sales, fundraising including donations from friends and audience members and an operating grant from the Maryland State Arts Council. . For information and reservations call 410-639-9133. More information is also available at the Mainstay’s website .
Upcoming Mainstay performances include:
Feb. 12 University of Delaware Jazz Ensemble with Zack Smith
Feb. 16 “The Music of New Orleans” discussion with Tom McHugh
Feb. 18 The New Line Brass Band
Feb. 20 US Army Blues Swamp Romp
Feb. 23 Conservatory Classic Jazz Band
Feb. 26 Potomac Guitar Trio
March 3 Jazz Samba – a tribute to the Stan Getz / Charlie Byrd album at 50 with Scott Silbert, Nate Najar, Chuck Redd and Tommy Cecil
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