Dinuk Wijeratne: Two Pop Songs of Antique Poems and A Letter from Afterlife
Paul Wianko: Benkei’s Standing Death
Franz Schubert: String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, “Death and the Maiden”
Sam Weiser, violin, was formerly a member of the award-winning Del Sol Quartet, is a lifelong chamber musician and advocate of contemporary music.
Sam has performed all over the country, from the Herbst Theater and the Kennedy Center to a raft floating along the Yampa River. He has premiered over 150 new works by composers such as Vijay Iyer, Huang Ruo, and Chen Yi. Sam is the violinist in sfSound, a member of One Found Sound, and the Assistant Concertmaster of the California Symphony. He studied with Ian Swensen, Lucy Chapman, James Buswell, and Patinka Kopec. He holds bachelor’s degrees from Tufts University (computer science) and the New England Conservatory (violin), as well as a master’s degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (chamber music).
Dr. Marisa Ishikawa is a performer, entrepreneur, and educator located in Houston, TX. She serves as the second violinist of the internationally recognized Carpe Diem String Quartet. She has performed nationally in venues such as Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, and Jordan Hall, and internationally in Italy, Switzerland, and China. With degrees in both music and business administration, she co-founded the nonprofit chamber music organization Austin Camerata. Since 2016, Austin Camerata has been dedicated to broadening the audience for chamber music through creative artistic collaborations, performing in unique venues, and inclusive concert experiences. She is also the co-founder of Opus 1 Chamber Music School, Houston’s chamber music program for pre-college and adult students. Dr. Ishikawa holds degrees in music and business administration from the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Texas at Austin. In her free time, Dr. Ishikawa enjoys yoga and cooking her favorite recipes from NYT Cooking.
Korine Fujiwara is a professor of violin, viola, chamber music, and composition at Pacific Lutheran University. She served for many years on the music faculty of Ohio Wesleyan University and is in great demand for master classes and clinics throughout the United States. She is a founding member of the Carpe Diem String Quartet, a devoted and sought-after chamber musician and teacher, and a gifted composer and arranger.
Named as one of Strings Magazine’s “25 Contemporary Composers to Watch,” Korine has received multiple commissions, including works for opera, chamber ensembles, chorus, concerti, and music for modern dance. Her works have been performed throughout the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, Australia, China, and Japan.
Critics have remarked on Ms. Fujiwara’s music, “The ear is forever tickled by beautifully judged music that manages to be sophisticated and accessible at the same time” (Fanfare Magazine); “She knows how to exploit all the resources of string instruments alone and together” (Strings Magazine). “Fujiwara beautifully meets the challenge of weaving together different emotions across generations that make sense musically while delighting the ear.” (WOSU Classical 101 by Request) “Fujiwara’s music is rich and beguiling throughout.” (The Columbus Dispatch) “Artfully layered and knitted together” (The Wall Street Journal)
Korine is a recipient of an Opera America Commissioning Grant from the Opera Grants for Female Composers program, made possible through the generosity of The Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation, for her award-winning composition “The Flood,” with Stephen Wadsworth, librettist, premiered in full production by Opera Columbus and ProMusica Chamber Orchestra in February 2019.
Ms. Fujiwara holds degrees from The Juilliard School and Northwestern University and began her orchestral career with the Brooklyn Philharmonic and the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus. She was also a member of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, where she held the position of Acting Assistant Principal Second Violin.
Korine performs on a 1790 Contreras violin, 2004 Kurt Widenhouse viola, and bows by three of today’s finest makers, Paul Martin Siefried, Ole Kanestrom and Charles Espey, all of Port Townsend, WA, USA. Outside of her musical endeavors, she enjoys chocolate, ramen, and geocaching.
www.korinefujiwara.com
Ariana Nelson, cellist, is primarily based in Houston, where she is a member of the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra. She frequently performs with other ensembles in the Houston area, including the Houston Symphony, Houston Ballet, and is a core member of the new music collective Loop38. She is an avid proponent of new music and loves experimenting with different styles, including improvisation and folk music. Her eclectic tastes have led her to appearances at Jazz at Lincoln Center, performances for patients recovering in Mount Sinai Hospital’s transplant ward, and a performance with Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble at Tanglewood.
In recent summers, Ariana has performed at the Grand Teton Music Festival, the Strings Music Festival, Fontainebleau Conservatoire Américain, Spoleto Festival USA, Tanglewood Music Center, Aspen Music Festival and School, Le Domaine Forget Chamber Music Festival, the Olympic Music Festival, and the Zephyr International Chamber Music Festival in Italy.
A graduate of the Juilliard School and Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, Ariana is an adjunct faculty member at Texas Southern University, maintains a private cello studio, and is a coach for AFA’s Chamber Music Academy. She is originally from Seattle, Washington, and when not making music, enjoys hiking, yoga, and podcasting.
One of the most unique and sought-after ensembles on the concert stage today, the Carpe Diem String Quartet is a boundary-breaking ensemble that has earned widespread critical acclaim for its performances of traditional repertoire, new music, genre-bending collaborations, and community engagement. The Quartet appears regularly on traditional concert series stages like Carnegie Hall in New York City, Jordan Hall in Boston, The National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, The Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, National Library Concert Hall in Beijing, and The BinHai Performing Arts Center in Tianjin, as well as in unconventional venues like Poisson Rouge in NYC, the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society of Half-Moon Bay, CA, and the Mug & Brush in Columbus, OH.
Carpe Diem defies classification with programming and collaborations that encompass and blend new and old classical, tango, folk, pop, rock, jazz, and multicultural music. The Quartet has contributed to and premiered works by composers from a variety of backgrounds and traditions, including Korine Fujiwara, Jonathan Leshnoff, Reza Vali, and Erberk Eryilmaz. Carpe Diem has also appeared in concert playing original charts by folk icons Jeff Midkiff and Jayme Stone and rock singer-songwriter Willy Porter.
Devoted to expanding the reach and impact of community engagement, Carpe Diem has been awarded six transformative outreach grants from the PNC Foundation ArtsAlive Awards. The Quartet’s outreach performances incorporate diverse and eclectic repertoire tailored to specific audience demographics; use cameras, video, and artistic contributions to enrich presentations visually; rely on communication from the stage to introduce music and engage the audience; and explore fun, imaginative, and thought-provoking themes to connect audiences to chamber music. These carefully crafted performances have allowed the Quartet to reach underserved audiences, including the Apache Nation, Ohio Women’s Reformatory residents, and families at the Columbus Museum of Art.