RISING STAR VIOLINIST, BELOVED ASPEN ALUMNA SIMONE PORTER TO PERFORM WINTER MUSIC RECITAL

Press Contact:
Jessica Cabe
PR and Publications Associate
jcabe@aspenmusic.org, 970-205-5072

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Feb. 23, 2017

ASPEN, COLORADO—Violinist Simone Porter, winner of a 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant, will play the second concert in the Aspen Music Festival and School’s (AMFS) Winter Music Recital Series at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 2, at Harris Concert Hall, 960 N. Third St. The 19-year-old rising star will perform a program consisting of three seminal works for the violin—Mozart’s Violin Sonata in F major, Janáček’s Violin Sonata and Brahms’ Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor—as well as Arvo Pärt’s Fratres, a piece recognizable from the soundtrack of the major motion picture “There Will Be Blood” and that is frantic one moment and peaceful the next, illustrating the composer’s statement that “the instant and eternity are struggling within us.” Pianist Armen Guzelimian will play as Porter’s accompanist.

Porter is an AMFS alumna and rising star violinist. She made her professional solo debut at age 10 with the Seattle Symphony and her international debut at 13 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2014, she made her debut as a guest artist with the AMFS after spending seven summers here as a student. In 2015, after performing with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Times wrote that she is “on the cusp of a major career.” That same year, Porter was named a young-artist-in-residence with NPR’s Performance Today and a recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant.

Asadour Santourian, vice president for artistic administration and artistic advisor to the AMFS, has been watching Porter grow as a musician for almost a decade. He still remembers the first time he heard her play.

“She played a Sarasate piece for me,” Santourian said. “And I was bowled over by the fact that, alongside all the bravura that she executed, she actually was keenly interested in communicating the musical material in the piece. Since then, it’s been a wonderful journey, and it’s a wonderful magic carpet ride with her artistically. She’s been able to evolve herself into an exceptional communicator through her instrument.”

Visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com or call 970-925-3254 for tickets and more information.