Program

Passacaglia in G Minor from Rosenkranzsonaten– Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1644–1704)

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Sonate für Violine solo, Op. 31, No. 2 – Paul Hindemith (1895–1963)

i. Leicht bewegte Viertel

ii. Ruhig bewegte Achtel

iii. Gemächliche Viertel

iv. Fünf Variationen über das Lied “Komm, lieber Mai“ v. Mozart

Holly Nelson, violin

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Sonata No. 3 in F Minor, Op. 5 – Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)

i. Allegro maestoso

ii. Andante espressivo

Maxwell Foster, piano

About the Artists

Originally from Connecticut, violinist Holly Nelson is passionate about contemporary music. In 2010, she premiered Rashaad Newsome's piece FIVE at the 2010 Whitney Museum of American Art's Biennial in New York City and from 2014-2015 she toured Switzerland and Luxembourg as a member of the Lucerne Festival's Young Performance Ensemble. The group premiered Tod Machover's composition Fensadense, an experimental work incorporating improvisation, acting and interactive wearable electronics developed by MIT. In 2017, as a Contemporary Ensemble Fellow at the Atlantic Music Festival in Maine, she premiered 22 works and served as the festival orchestra's concertmaster. In 2018 she gave the premiere performance of Fabian Beltran's work for violin and piano, Witchcraft-Incantos, at National Sawdust in Brooklyn, New York with pianist Huizi Zhang. In 2017, she was a fellow at Canada's Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, where she performed alongside members of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) and renowned experimental jazz musicians Matana Roberts and Peter Evans.  

Her eclectic taste in music and love of improvisation have led Holly to a variety of collaborations outside classical music. In 2015, Holly opened for jazz pianist Chick Corea at New York City's Blue Note Jazz Club as a member of the jazz/funk fusion band The Flowdown and in 2018 she performed with Paul McCartney as part of the band The Elements. 

In 2015, Holly Nelson was introduced to early music studies at the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute and since then she has studied with some of the leading baroque violinists in the United States, including Elizabeth Blumenstock, Robert Mealy and Cynthia Roberts. She has performed in master classes for Julie Andrijeski and Marilyn McDonald at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, François Fernandez at the Paris Conservatory and Elisa Citterio at Tafelmusik in Toronto, Canada. In 2015, sponsored by an artist grant from the government of Taiwan, she completed a concert tour of three cities in Taiwan with harpsichordist Hsiu-Tzu Ryan. In 2016, she was a baroque violin fellow at the American Bach Soloists Academy in San Francisco. Holly has performed with some of the most sought-after early music ensembles in New England: The Sebastians, Clarion Music Society and Project Amadeus. 

As an orchestral musician, Holly has had the pleasure of collaborating with many fine conductors including Sir Simon Rattle, Pierre Boulez, Marin Alsop, Fabio Luisi, JoAnn Faletta and David Robertson. Holly has performed in master classes for Rachel Barton Pine, Augustin Hadelich, Pavel Vernikov, Vadim Gluzman, James Ehnes, Martin Chalifour and Sally Thomas. She completed her Bachelors degree at The Mannes College of Music with Dr. Ann Setzer and her Master of Music Degree at The University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music (CCM,) where she was the teaching assistant to Giora Schmidt and taught with Kurt Sassmannshaus as a faculty member of the precollege Starling Strings Program. She is currently completing her Doctor of Musical Arts degree as a student of Vadim Gluzman at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. 

​ A native of Brisbane, Australia, Maxwell Foster started studying the piano at the age of three. Moving to Melbourne at the age of twelve, Maxwell attended the Australian National Academy of Music under the guidance of Rita Reichman. During his time in Melbourne, Maxwell became a staple amongst the classical music community, winning the Young Performer of the Year award and regularly appearing in the concert seasons of every major Orchestra in Australia. Maxwell has made numerous appearances at Hammer Hall, the Sydney Opera House, the Perth Concert Hall, and the Queensland Performing Arts Centre, and has performed at such international venues as Carnegie Hall and Wigmore Hall. 

After moving to the United States to study, Maxwell has gained his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees at the Juilliard School, and his Master of Musical Arts degree at Yale University.  Maxwell is now pursuing his Doctorate of Musical Arts degree at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins under the guidance of Yong-hi Moon.