If Music Be the Food

World-class musicians offer their talents to increase support and awareness for those struggling with food insecurity in our community. Partnering with the Maryland Food Bank, If Music Be the Food has raised thousands of meals for those in need. As the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, our virtual food drive aims to help meet the increasing need for food assistance.

Please consider making a contribution.

https://mdfoodbank.fenly.org/music/

Program

Invocation, Op. 55 – Amy Beach (1867–1944)

Holly Jenkins, violin & Lior Willinger, piano

         Drei Romanzen, Op. 94 – Robert Schumann (1810–1856)

i. Nicht schnell

ii. Einfach, innig

iii. Nicht schnell

Jacob Shack, viola & Lior Willinger, piano

Three Miniatures for Solo Piano (2018) – Elijah Daniel Smith (b. 1995)

i. Tensely

ii. Serenely

iii. Spaciously

Sonata in B-flat Major, D960 – Franz Schubert (1797–1828)

i. Molto moderato

Lior Willinger, piano

About the Artists

​Originally from House Springs, Missouri, Holly Jenkins joined the violin section of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in September, 2016.

Ms. Jenkins has performed as both a soloist and a chamber musician in recitals in seven different countries, and in such venues as Carnegie Hall in New York City, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C, Cleveland’s Trinity Lutheran Church, and at St. Louis’ Sheldon Concert Hall. She began her performing career at the age of 11, when she was selected to solo with the Alton Symphony Orchestra. Subsequent concerto performances have included appearances with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Oberlin Conservatory Orchestra, St. Louis Chamber Orchestra, Richardson Symphony Orchestra, Sarasota Music Festival Orchestra, Eastern Music Festival Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra, Principia College Orchestra, Belleville Philharmonic, and the Clayton Symphony. Ms. Jenkins was also a member of the New York City based conductorless string ensemble, Shattered Glass, from 2013-2016, touring the Midwest and East Coast and performing regularly across New York City.

In addition to performing, Ms. Jenkins is passionately committed to promoting peace, dialogue, and cross cultural awareness through music. During the summer of 2011, she and a colleague conducted a tour of Jordan and the West Bank in cooperation with Musicians Without Borders, Nablus a Culture, and several other organizations, teaching and performing in schools and community centers. In 2012 she participated in a two-week trip to Pakistan with Cultures in Harmony to perform and conduct music workshops.

Ms. Jenkins holds degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and Manhattan School of Music. Her teachers have included Milan Vitek, Laurie Smukler, Amy Oshiro-Morales, and Winifred Crock.

Appointed Fourth Chair Viola of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in 2016, Massachusetts native Jacob Shack earned his Master of Music degree at The Juilliard School as a student of Misha Amory and Heidi Castleman and frequently performed as co-principal of the Juilliard Orchestra. As an undergraduate at Harvard College, Jacob enjoyed playing with the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra as principal violist, including on their tours to Cuba and the Middle East. He has toured the world as a chamber and orchestral musician, performing on four continents, most recently in Hong Kong at Bright Sheng’s Intimacy of Creativity Festival and in Colombia at the Medellín International Music Festival. He has performed at several other music festivals, including the Aspen Music Festival, the Sarasota Music Festival, Spoleto Festival USA, and the Tanglewood Music Center, where he was the recipient of the Maurice Schwarz Prize. In addition to his dedication to orchestral and chamber music performance, Jacob is a devoted teacher, maintaining a private studio in Baltimore as well as serving as an instructor of viola at Baltimore School for the Arts. He has collaborated in performance with world-renowned artists such as James Buswell, Steven Doane, James Dunham, Joseph Kalichstein, Robert Levin, and Joseph Silverstein, and has received numerous awards and scholarships from The Juilliard School and Harvard University, as well as from his alma mater Phillips Academy.

Award-winning pianist Lior Willinger performs as a solo and chamber artist in the US and abroad. At the age of 19, he made his New York concerto debut at Carnegie Hall performing Piano Concerto No. 1 by Dmitri Shostakovich. He won grand prize and audience prize in the Camerata Artists International Piano Competition following his performance of Piano Concerto No. 3 by Sergei Prokofiev at Merkin Hall.

An avid chamber musician, Mr. Willinger has collaborated in recitals with musicians of the Atlanta Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, and Minnesota Orchestra. He currently serves as Director of the Homewood Chamber Music Seminar, coaching student chamber groups at Johns Hopkins University. Passionate about the music of our time, Mr. Willinger has premiered countless works and has released a 10-part commissioning/performance/video/article series on I CARE IF YOU LISTEN called Active Listening. Each work in the project hopes to bring awareness and action to a social justice issue chosen by the composer.

Mr. Willinger earned the Bachelor of Music degree and the Master of Music degree from the Peabody Conservatory, where he is currently pursuing the Doctor of Musical Arts degree with renowned artist-teacher, Yong Hi Moon. During his graduate studies, Peabody Conservatory honored Mr. Willinger with the Sidney Friedberg Prize in Chamber Music and the Presser Music Award "given to a student demonstrating excellence and outstanding promise for a distinguished career in the field of music.”

Active in the Baltimore community, Mr. Willinger is the Founder/Artistic Director of the If Music Be the Food concert series in Baltimore which acts to increase support and awareness for those struggling with food insecurity. The series, which partners with Maryland Food Bank, has raised thousands of meals for those in need. He also serves as resident pianist for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's Orchkids program which provides a free music education to students in underserved areas.