Concert
Week of April 13, 2019
Monique Mead and Nahre Sol present an engaging program of romantic Chopin, epic Beethoven, brainy Bach, and flashy fiddling.
Monique Mead
Inspired by Leonard Bernstein, Monique Mead has been a lifelong ambassador for classical music as a violinist, educator and innovator. She has devoted her performing career to nurturing new audiences and deepening the musical experience for seasoned concertgoers. Since 1998, she has appeared regularly on German television and radio featuring her innovative youth concerts with prestigious German orchestras in Berlin, Munich, and Cologne, among others. In the U.S. she has collaborated with the Pittsburgh Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Mainly Mozart, Orcas Island, Rockport Festival, and other organizations to create engaging concert experiences. She currently serves as Board Chair of Chamber Music Pittsburgh and Artistic Director of a Festival at Rancho La Puerta. As Director of Music Entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon School of Music, Monique is passionate about helping students forge new pathways for musicians in the 21st century. Other interests include yoga, hiking, homegrown cuisine, and performing with her two talented teens. She performs on a 1717 Stradivarius violin, graciously on loan from Carnegie Mellon University.
For more on Monique Mead, visit www.moniquemead.com
Nahre Sol in an artist who performs, composes and teaches an eclectic mixture of music, one that draws from aspects of improvisation, the avant-garde, traditional Western forms and harmony, jazz, and minimalism. She is the creator of Practice Notes and Sound Bank, two popular series on Youtube that distill her distinct perspective as a classically-trained pianist with an insatiable appetite for new ideas about music theory, harmony, practicing, and composition. She also co-hosts episodes of Sound Field, a music channel produced by PBS Digital Studios alongside drummer L.A. Buckner.
She holds degrees from The Juilliard School and The Glenn Gould School of The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. As a soloist and chamber musician, she has performed at venues across North America and Europe, including The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., The Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, Gusman Theatre in Miami, in addition to numerous spaces in Canada, France, Holland, Italy, Poland, and Germany. In 2013 she was a recipient of the Harriet Hale Woolley Grant, which enabled her to study in Paris under Gabriel Tacchino and Narcis Bonet, pupils of Francis Poulenc and Nadia Boulanger, respectively. Nahre’s music has been premiered in New York City, Buenos Aires, Paris, and Toronto by artists such as Julian Martin, Han Chen, Jaewon Bang, Jeremy Smith, and Griffin McMahon.
Alongside clarinetist Brad Cherwin, Nahre Sol is the Co-Artistic Director and keyboardist of Happenstance, a Toronto-based concert series and ensemble. With a knack for combining cutting-edge contemporary repertoire with expressive works from the traditional canon, Happenstance attaches a visionary narrative to adventurous repertoire, creating a compelling atmosphere in which audiences can both approach and appreciate challenging artistic programming. Their concerts have been lauded for featuring “an obscene amount of talent” (The WholeNote) and hailed as “bizarrely eclectic, … very intriguing and rewarding” (John Gilks, Operaramblings).
Other recent projects include a set of miniatures combined with video projections commissioned by the Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall, and performances, masterclasses, and talks at institutions such as the Carnegie Mellon University, University of Costa Rica, the Westben Performer-Composer Residency, and the Millbrook School. Nahre is the current recipient of the inaugural New Music Fellowship at The Glenn Gould School at The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.