CMFW Spring Festival 2023: “SOUNDS FOR ALL”
presents
Artists’ Concert III
“Above Time”
Friday, April 28th at 7 PM to 8:30 PM
Covenant United Methodist Church on 4410 Duval Rd Austin, TX 78727
Sandy Yamamoto, Violin
Francesco Mastromatteo, Cello
Johan Botes, Piano
“Above Time” describes the essence of classical music through two composers and two masterpieces which are truly titanic cornerstones of this Art: Ludwig Van Beethoven op.70 n.1 and Johannes Brahms op.87. These works establish a concept of sound which challenges our perception of time in every sense. For instance, the Largo of the “Ghosts” trio by Beethoven, with its large values, growing intensity, and extreme dynamics, truly sends the audience into an alternate dimension where time stops. During that experience, we enjoy a rhythm which is no longer human but “other worldly.” In the same way, the energy of the first and third movements of the same trio seem to be a collapse of time where every musical event crumbles into a single entity, a veritable celebration of life. All the musical cells that Beethoven uses keep talking to us, pushing our inner feelings to obliterate our problems, suffering, and despair as we enjoy our heartbeat, our nerves, our never-ending life forces. The c major trio by Brahms, next to Beethoven, continues along this same route, but with a more philosophical bent. Every primitive force in Beethoven and Brahms becomes a deep meditation, a more balanced essence of serenity. The symphonic sound that the late romantic composer gives to the three instruments has nobility and grandeur of immense dimension. Again, the second movement alternates delicacy and power, tenderness and sober intensity. Time leaves us while we listen, so the musical brilliance of the last movement of the op.80 seems to accompany humanity into a land of sheer joy, where, after the turmoil of life passes, we are innocent again, and a fresh breeze brings us the comfort of eternal beauty.
Program
L.V. Beethoven (1770 – 1827): Trio op.70 n.1 “Ghosts”
Allegro vivace e con brio
Largo assai
Presto
Brahms (1833 – 1897): Trio op.87
Allegro
Andante con moto
Scherzo
Finale. Allegro giocoso
Musicians
Sandy Yamamoto, violin
Violinist Sandy Yamamoto has dazzled audiences in concert performances around the globe for the past three decades as a soloist and as a member of the Miró Quartet.
Ms. Yamamoto began her violin studies at the age of 4. At 11, she made her solo debut with the North Carolina Symphony and has since appeared with orchestras throughout the US and Europe to critical acclaim.
With the Miró Quartet, she performed on the major concert stages of the world, regularly concertizing in North America, South America, Europe and Asia. As a member of the Quartet, she was a recipient of the Naumburg Chamber Music and Cleveland Quartet Awards, won First Prize at the Banff International String Quartet Competition and was one of the first chamber musicians to be awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant. She has shared the stage with many prominent musicians including Leif Ove Andsnes, Joshua Bell, Eliot Fisk, Lynn Harrell, Midori, Jon Kimura Parker and Pinchas Zukerman.
Since leaving the Quartet in May 2011, she has been appointed Associate Professor of Practice in Violin Performance at the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin. She also founded the Butler Trio with Miró Quartet cellist, Joshua Gindele and pianist, Colette Valentine. She has since been enjoying a versatile performing career, playing concertos and recitals as well as being a guest artist in the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and the East Coast Chamber Orchestra. In 2016, she was the recipient of the Butler School of Music Teaching Excellence Award.
Ms. Yamamoto was invited as a guest speaker and role model for the winners of the 2003 Glamour Magazine’s Top Ten College Women Award in New York City. In the past two years, she has given a lecture titled the “Juror’s Ear” for the Menuhin International Violin Competition as well as adjudicated for the Coleman International Chamber Music Competition.
When she is not busy teaching and performing, Ms. Yamamoto enjoys spending time with her husband, Daniel, her two sons, Adrian and Brian, and her cat, Poko.
Francesco Mastromatteo, cello
Described as a “virtuosic and passionate musician” by the Dallas Morning News, Italian-born cellist Francesco Mastromatteo is currently on faculty as Associate Director and Professor of Chamber Music at the Conservatory “U. Giordano” – Residency of Rodi Garganico. Francesco also acts as Artistic Director for the non-profit organization Classical Music for the World in Austin, Texas, since its foundation in 2009. Dr. Mastromatteo has performed as soloist with the Meadows Symphony Orchestra, Round Rock Symphony, Balcones Community Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica “Città di Pescara”, Orchestra Sinfonica della Provincia di Foggia, the orchestra “Suoni del Sud”, Meadows Wind Ensemble, Starlight Symphony, Central Texas Medical Orchestra and CMFW Chamber Orchestra. He also performed J.S. Bach’s solo suites in the US and in Italy at the prestigious Ravenna Festival (2009). He maintains a busy schedule as chamber musician and is currently the cellist of the Duo Mastromatteo. He has also collaborated with pianist Antonio Pompa-Baldi on a CD recording of Grieg’s Cello Sonata, which can be heard on Centaur Records. Recently, he has been invited to perform solo recitals and teach master classes at such institutions as Oklahoma City University, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Southern Methodist University, Keene State College, Marshall University, Oklaoma Conservatory.
As an advocate for both historically informed performance practice and contemporary music, Dr. Mastromatteo has performed with critically-acclaimed baroque ensembles such as Concerto Italiano and Camerata Anxanum. He has also performed several world premieres, including Thomas Sleeper’s Cello Sonata, as well as works for solo cello by composers such as Stefano Taglietti, Robert J. Franck, and Kevin Hanlon. He won the first prize in the National Cello Competition “G. Turci” in Ravenna, and first prize as a duo with pianist Tommaso Cogato in the International Competition “Città di Padova”. Dr. Mastromatteo completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Cello Performance at the University of Texas at Austin in 2012 under the mentorship of Bion Tsang. He holds a Master of Music and an Artist Certificate from Southern Methodist University, where he studied with Andrés Diaz. In Italy, he worked with teachers such as A. M. Mastromatteo, M. Shirvani, L. Piovano and R. Filippini. Following a deep passion for all arts, he also holds a Master’s Degree with Honors in Literature and History of Arts from the Università “Aldo Moro” in Bari. Published written works include a volume on Italian composer Umberto Giordano for Bastogi Editrice, and an article on Kodàly Solo Sonata for Cello, op. 8 for the International Journal of Musicology.
Johan Botes, Piano
Johan Botes is known for his extraordinary versatility as a soloist, collaborative musician, and teacher; a career which has brought him recognition in concerts around the world. A native of South Africa, Botes showed musical promise from an early age. Among many notable awards in his native country, he was the 2007 First Prize Winner of the Third UNISA/Vodacom National Piano Competition playing Rachmaninoff’s technically demanding Third Piano Concerto to a standing ovation; a performance for which he also won the Desmond Willson Memorial Prize for best concerto in the final round. In 2008, Botes moved to Europe and continued his studies in London with British pianist Martin Roscoe at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
As a soloist, Botes has performed in venues worldwide. He has appeared as soloist with the Chamber Orchestra of South Africa, the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra in Durban, Juneau Symphony (AK), Bainbridge Symphony (WA), Auburn Symphony (WA) as well as the Texas Chamber Orchestra. He also performed in Prague with the Hadrec Kralove Orchestra and toured to Bulgaria in 2005 where he played with the Varna Philharmonic Orchestra. An equally accomplished organist, he passed the Performers Licentiate in Organ of UNISA in 2006 with distinction and was invited for the overseas bursary competition, where he was awarded the Stephanus Zondagh Overseas Music Scholarship. More recently, Johan has been selected as one of five semi-finalists from across the United States of America for The American Prize in Piano Performance (concerto division), 2023, The Lorin Hollander Award, for his performance of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the Juneau Symphony in Alaska. Dr. Botes holds a D.M.A in Piano Performance from the University of Texas at Austin and a M.M from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. He received another M.M. as well as his B.M. from the University of Pretoria in South Africa. He is currently Associate Professor of Piano at Marshall University in Huntington, WV. He is President of the West Virginia Music Teachers Association, a tributary of the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA). During the summers, he is also Piano Area Coordinator at the world-famous Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan.