Cosmos Sessions Chamber Music Festival

• Event dates: June 20 & 22, 2024
• Showtimes: 7:30-9:30pm
• Featured Artists:

  Jae Cosmos Lee, violin
  Danielle Farina, viola
  Julian Schwarz, cello
  William Amsel, clarinet
  Marika Bournaki, piano

  Location:
  Cape Symphony Falmouth Campus
  60 Highfield Drive Falmouth, MA 02540

• Buy Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cape-symphony-presents-cosmos-sessions-chamber-music-festival-tickets-884359321537?aff=oddtdtcreator

Join us for an extraordinary musical experience as Cape Symphony Concertmaster, Jae Cosmos Lee, curates an unforgettable chamber music festival in Falmouth! Delve into a journey spanning from the 19th to the 21st centuries, featuring masterpieces by Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, Kodaly, Martinu, Caroline Shaw, and Quinn Mason. Be captivated by intimate yet larger-than-life duets, trios, and quartets that will ignite your senses and make your heart skip a beat. Don't miss out on this exhilarating event - mark your calendars and secure your tickets now for an evening of unparalleled musical brilliance!

The Performers:

Jae Cosmos Lee, violin
Danielle Farina, viola
Julian Schwarz, cello
William Amsel, clarinet
Marika Bournaki, piano

About the Musicians:

Julian Schwarz was born to a multigenerational musical family in 1991. He made his concerto debut at the age of 11 with the Seattle Symphony, and his US touring debut with the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra in 2010. Since being awarded first prize at the inaugural Schoenfeld International String Competition in 2013, he has led an active career as soloist, having made over 200 concerto appearances in the US and abroad. As a chamber musician, Julian performs extensively in recital with pianist Marika Bournaki. In 2016 the Schwarz-Bournaki duo was awarded first prize at the inaugural Boulder International String Competition’s “The Art of Duo”, and embarked on an extensive 10-recital tour of China in 2017. Julian is a founding member of the New York based Frisson Ensemble and the Mile-End Trio. He performs frequently at Bargemusic in Brooklyn, and as a member of the Palladium Chamber Players in St Petersburg FL.

Julian is an ardent supporter of new music, and has premiered concertos by Richard Danielpour, Samuel Jones and Dobrinka Tabakova. In the 17-18 season, he gave the world premiere of Lowell Liebermann’s first Cello Concerto with a consortium of six orchestras. A devoted teacher, Mr. Schwarz serves as Associate Professor of Cello at Shenandoah Conservatory, on the artist faculty of New York University and the Eastern Music Festival, and has filmed pedagogical tutorials for the online platform Tonebase. Other faculty appointments include faculty teaching assistant to Joel Krosnick at The Juilliard School and cello faculty at the Eastern Music Festival where he runs programming for the Tuesday evening chamber music series.

Born in Seattle, WA, Mr. Schwarz studied at the Academy of Music Northwest and the Lakeside School. He continued to the Colburn School in Los Angeles and then The Juilliard School to study with mentor Joel Krosnick (BM 14, MM 16). Other influential teachers include the late David Tonkonogui, the late Toby Saks, the late Lynn Harrell, and Ronald Leonard. Julian plays a Neapolitan cello made by Gennaro Gagliano in 1743. He is an active contributor to Strings Magazine’s Artist Blog, has a series of edited editions for Carl Fischer Publishing, and sits on the music committee of the National Arts Club. A Pirastro and Melos artist, he endorses and plays the Pirastro "Perpetual" edition set of cello strings and Melos light rosin.

William Amsel is the principal clarinetist of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, where he also regularly appears as soloist. Before joining the BPO in 2017, he was the second and E-flat clarinetist of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra for five seasons. In addition, he has performed with many ensembles across the country, including as guest principal clarinet with the symphony orchestras of Baltimore, Milwaukee, and Oregon. He previously held positions with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, Sarasota Opera Orchestra, and was principal clarinetist of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra in New Jersey. As a chamber musician, he has performed with the Buffalo Chamber Players, Society for Chamber Music in Rochester, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Marlboro Music Festival, First Monday at Jordan Hall, and the Borromeo String Quartet, among many others.

Amsel grew up in Texas, went to college at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, and received a master’s degree from Temple University in Philadelphia. His primary teachers were Ricardo Morales, Thomas Martin, and Ilya Shterenberg. As a student, he spent two summers as a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, where he was awarded the Gino B. Cioffi Memorial Prize, and received fellowships at the Pacific Music Festival (Japan), Aspen Music Festival, and New York String Orchestra Seminar. He has been on the faculty at SUNY Buffalo State College, and in addition to teaching privately, has given masterclasses throughout western New York, the US, and internationally.

He and his wife, bassoonist Natalya Rose Vrbsky, and their two daughters live in Amherst, New York.

Described as “the Celine Dion of classical” by The Huffington Post, Marika Bournaki is at once a world-class performer, dazzling pianist, vivacious young woman and one of the freshest faces on the classical music scene. Ms. Bournaki not only brings distinctive interpretations to favorite standards, but extends her passion for music by commissioning works from younger composers and collaborating with artists from various fields. Marika has appeared as guest soloist with the symphony orchestras of Bozeman, Duluth Superior, Richmond, Roanoke, Springfield (MO), Topeka, Montréal and St. Petersburg (Russia), along with Maryland’s Chesapeake Orchestra, The SYMPHONIA (FL), Romania’s Timisoara Filharmonica, Switzerland’s Verbier Chamber Orchestra and Canada’s Orchestre Métropolitain and Sinfonia Toronto. In addition to a benefit recital for the Glenn Gould Foundation at New York City’s Carnegie Hall, she has been presented in solo recitals and chamber music collaborations throughout the United States, Canada and the world, including Belgium, England, Germany, Greece, Italy, Romania, Switzerland and South Korea. Of special note was her survey of Beethoven’s complete 32-work piano sonata cycle, presented by the distinguished Bargemusic in Brooklyn.

A devoted chamber musician, Marika Bournaki performs regularly at Brooklyn’s Bargemusic, the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival and the Frankly Music series in Milwaukee, while serving on the faculties of the Eastern Music Festival and Canada’s Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance. She tours internationally with duo partner cellist Julian Schwarz, and together won 1st prize in the 2016 Boulder International Chamber Music Competition’s “The Art of Duo.” Ms. Bournaki is also a member of the Mile-End Trio with Mr. Schwarz and violinist Jeffrey Multer. The award-winning documentary “I am Not a Rock Star,” featuring Marika Bounaki and directed by Bobbi Jo Hart, has captivated international audiences of all ages. The feature-length film chronicles Ms. Bournaki’s evolution as an artist from the age of 12 to 20. A runaway success at multiple film festivals throughout the world, screenings of “I am Not a Rock Star” and solo performances were recently presented in Chicago, Dallas, Memphis, Miami, Napa Valley, Palm Springs, Toronto and Vancouver, as well as in Greece, México and Spain. The film has also been seen in Greece (ERT), The Netherlands (NTS), Norway (NRK), Sweden (SVT) the United Kingdom (BBC4), Australia (SBS) and New Zealand (Sky). The documentary is the recipient of awards for Best Arts Documentary and Best Editing from the 2014 Canadian Screen Awards.

Marika Bournaki’s innovative approach to her art and performance is reflected in a number of multimedia projects intended to reach out to new audiences. Additionally, her role as Ambassador to the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal’s summer event, “A Cool Classical Journey,” afforded new and stimulating ways to share her music with the public. Marika Bournaki holds both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from The Juilliard School, where her principal teachers were Yoheved Kaplinsky and Matti Raekallio. Since 2021, she is Assistant Professor of Piano Pedagogy and Performance at Shenandoah Conservatory at Shenandoah University in Winchester.

Cape Symphony Presents is an eclectic showcase of world-class music that transcends genres, shares stories, and brings people together at venues across the Cape and Islands.