Program

Les folies d’Espagne – Marin Marais (1656–1728)

          Syrinx, L. 129 – Claude Debussy (1862–1918)

Fantasia No. 2 in A Minor, TWV 40:3 – Georg Philipp Telemann (1681–1767)

Chaconne for Solo Flute, Op. 107, No. 30 – Sigfrid Karg-Elert (1877–1933) 

Christian Paquette, flute

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Sonata in G Minor for Cello and Piano, Op. 19 – Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873–1943)

i. Lento – Allegro moderato

ii. Allegro scherzando

Álvaro Vázquez Osa, cello & Allison Freeman, piano

About the Artists

French Canadian flutist Christian Paquette is the Principal Flute of the York Symphony Orchestra, and is currently in the Doctoral Program at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University under the tutelage of Marina Piccinini. He has also worked in flute repairs with Adam Workman, founder of Flutistry Boston.  He has frequently performed back in his hometown of Ottawa, Canada with the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra and the Thirteen Strings Ensemble. He was also the President of the Ottawa Flute Association from 2015 to 2017.

Christian has performed in the Shriver Hall Concert Series, Music and Beyond Festival, recitals at the National Arts Centre Fourth Stage, Concerto performances with the Peabody Symphony Orchestra (Nielsen) under the baton of Miguel Harth-Bedoya, the University of Ottawa Symphony Orchestra (Ibert and Nielsen), and with the Ottawa Chamber Orchestra (Rodrigo). He is greatly looking forward to his performance of the Reinecke Flute Concerto with the Farnborough Symphony Orchestra in England later in 2021. He is the recipient of numerous competition awards, such as the MPIMC (Marina Piccinini International Master Classes) Concerto Competition, first prize at the Yale Gordon Competition, Canadian Music Competition, the National Music Festival, the NACO Bursary Competition and many others.  Past teachers include Paula Robison, Denis Bluteau, and Camille Churchfield.

Christian is extremely grateful to the Baxter & Alma Ricard Foundation and the Sylva Gelber Music Foundation for their generous help in his doctoral studies at the Peabody Institute.

​His “delicate intuition and musical taste”, his “special sensitivity”, as well as his “excellent teamwork skills” are some of the characteristics that people stand out about the young cellist Álvaro Vázquez Osa, both in his solo work and in his collaborations with orchestras and chamber music groups.

As a soloist, he has performed Dvorak’s violoncello concerto with the Orquesta Sinfónica del Real Sitio, and Beethoven Triple Concerto with the Leon Youth Orchestra. He has also given recitals in several festivals such as the KlassicFest of CentroCentro Cibeles in Madrid and the TIHMS in Bergen, Holland.

He has been part of a multitude of young national and international orchestras, being the principal violoncello in many of them; he has been invited to play with professional orchestras like Orquesta Sinfonica de Madrid, under the baton of Pablo González, Spanish Chamber Orchestra and the Andrés Segovia Chamber Orchestra.

After discovering at the age of 19 that music is his true passion, and after a lifetime of combining studies, conservatory, and semi-professional basketball, Alvaro prepared and entered the Valencia Conservatory of Music. Shortly afterwards he met Adolfo Gutiérrez Arenas and moved to Madrid to continue his cello studies with him at the Centro Superior Katarina Gurska, where he obtained one of the artistic excellence scholarships.

Alvaro complemented his studies receiving lessons from Maria de Macedo, Lluís Claret, Gary Hoffmann and Philippe Muller, among others. He just finished his undergraduate studies and a Master in Solo Performance at the CSKG with the highest qualifications. He has also been selected to be the violoncello and contrabass professor at the Leon Youth Orchestra. He is currently a Fulbright scholar at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, studying with Amit Peled.

A native of North Carolina, pianist Allison Freeman is equally established as a soloist and collaborator. She earned her Master’s degree at the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University as a student of Boris Slutsky, and completed her undergraduate studies with Alvin Chow at Oberlin Conservatory.

Allison has performed at the Southeastern Piano Festival, Meadowmount School Of Music, Bowdoin International Music Festival, the Banff Centre, and Beijing International Music Festival, and has appeared as soloist with the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra and the Oberlin Orchestra. While at Oberlin, Allison was a recipient of the Rudolf Serkin Prize, the Faustina Hurlbutt Prize, and the Pi Kappa Lambda Prize. 

Allison has served as a collaborative pianist for the Castleman Quartet Program and the Heifetz International Music Institute, and currently works as a collaborative pianist at the Peabody Conservatory.