Brahms' Piano Quintet 10/5/2025
Giora Schmidt and Doori Na, violin
William Frampton, viola
Jia Kim, cello
David Kaplan, piano
PROGRAM
Schubert Impromptu Op. 90, No. 1
Allegro molto moderato
Haydn String Quartet in E Flat major Op. 33, No. 2 “The Joke”
Allegro moderato
Scherzando. Allegro -Trio
Largo sostenuto
Finale. Presto
Brahms Piano Quintet in f minor
American-Israeli violinist Giora Schmidt has been captivating audiences with his “lyricism, tonal warmth, and boundless enthusiasm" over the span of his career. As featured guest artist, he has appeared with the globally renowned Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and the symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Toronto, Vancouver, and Ottawa’s National Arts Centre.
Giora Schmidt’s symphonic collaborations include those conducted by Andreas Delfs, Asher Fish, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Domingo Hindoyan, Jun Märkl, Itzhak Perlman, Carlo Rizzi, James DePriest, Grant Llewellyn, Alexander Mickelthwate, Thomas Wilkins, and since 2023 with Yaniv Attar, Dirk Kaftan, Tito Muñoz, Zbyněk Müller, Gerard Schwarz, Andrew Sewell and Yoel Levi.
In 2024-2025, Mr. Schmidt will be featured by the Rockford Symphony Orchestra, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and Haifa Symphony Orchestra in Israel.
As violin soloist, Giora has also appeared in front of nationally renowned symphony orchestras in San Diego, Fort Worth, Knoxville, Naples, Louisville, Columbus (OH), North Carolina, Arkansas, Charleston, Anchorage, Santa Barbara, Sarasota, Las Vegas, Albany, San Luis Obispo and Bellingham (WA), as well as the ABT Orchestra; abroad, with Orchestre Symphonique et Lyrique de Nancy, Israel Chamber Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Chile, and Orquesta Filarmónica de la UNAM in Mexico.
Born in Philadelphia, Giora began playing the violin at the age of four. A graduate of the Juilliard School, he is the recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant, The Classical Recording Foundation's Samuel Sanders award, and was a Starling Fellow at the Juilliard School. As an educator, Mr. Schmidt is currently on the artist faculty at New York University (NYU Steinhardt).
Giora plays a c. 1830 violin by Giuseppe Rocca and strings kindly sponsored by Thomastik-Infeld, Vienna.
Praised for his captivating performances and expressive artistry, Doori Na has played on the stages of Carnegie Hall, the Berlin Philharmonie, and beyond. In 2018, he made a notable debut with the San Francisco
Symphony, performing Bach's Double Violin Concerto alongside the legendary Itzhak Perlman under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas.
A dynamic and versatile musician, Doori is known for his deep commitment to chamber music, his leadership as concertmaster for orchestras, and his innovative work in contemporary music. He has collaborated with Itzhak Perlman, members of the Juilliard String Quartet, the New York Philharmonic, and many more. These experiences paved the way for his leadership in various orchestras, including the Central Chamber Orchestra and the Fort Greene Orchestra.
As a longtime member of both the Argento New Music Project and New Chamber Ballet, Doori has performed internationally, premiering numerous new works and showcasing his dedication to bringing contemporary music to life. His passion extends to reviving neglected works and composers, particularly those overlooked due to class and race. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he recorded and promoted the music of great American composers who had been marginalized, helping to bring their work into the
spotlight.
Violist William Frampton has been praised by critics for his “impressive” performances (The New York Times) and “a glowing amber tone” (The Boston Globe). Since his New York recital debut in 2009 at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, William has enjoyed a career as chamber musician, soloist, orchestral player, and teacher. These performances include over 100 performances with a string quartet led by Midori Goto in tours of Asia and North America. He is Principal Viola of the American Symphony Orchestra, an Associate Musician with The Metropolitan Opera, and member of the Harlem Chamber Players String Quartet. He can also be heard in the Broadway orchestras of Hamilton, Wicked, and The Lion King, and in film scores including The Joker, The Greatest Showman, The Girl on the Train, West Side Story, and many others.
Frampton is the Artistic Director and co-founder of Music at Bunker Hill. William’s festival appearances include Bard Summerscape, Verbier, and IMS Prussia Cove, and as soloist with conductors Joseph Silverstein and David Hoose. He holds degrees from New England Conservatory and the Juilliard School, and studied with Kim Kashkashian, Samuel Rhodes, Choong-Jin Chang, and Byrnina Socolofsky. William teaches viola at The College of New Jersey.
Cellist Jia Kim, chosen as a recipient of the prestigious 2017 Leonore Annenberg Fellowship Fund, began her cello studies at the age of ten in Korea where she has won first place in the Korean Music Association Competition, the National Symphony Orchestra Competition of Korea and the Young Musician Foundation's National Debut Concerto Competition. Since then Ms. Kim has taken the stage in cities across the United States, South America, Europe and South Korea. Her performances have been reviewed by the New York Times, Vermont Today, South Florida Classical Review, and have been broadcast on WQXR, PBS and KMZT Classical.
As a passionate and active chamber musician, Ms. Kim has worked with renowned artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Robert Mann, Kim Kashkashian, Frans Helmerson, Robert Spano, Emmanuel Villaume, John Williams, as well as members of the Juilliard String Quartet, Cleveland Quartet, Takacs Quartet, Orion String Quartet, and guest appearances with the East Coast Chamber Orchestra (ECCO), The Knights, and A Far Cry. She has taken the stage at venues including Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Chicago Symphony Center's Orchestra Hall, Miami's Arsht Center, Valle De Bravo in Mexico, Toronto's Royal Conservatory, Walt Disney Concert Hall, The Korea Society in NYC, Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Al-Hussein Cultural Center at the National Music Conservatory of Jordan, and many more.
Ms. Kim is a recipient of numerous awards including the Jack Smith Memorial Award, Most Promising Young Talent at the 2005 Pasadena Showcase House Instrumental Competition in California, and Performing Arts Scholarship at the Cerritos Center of Arts Education. She received a full scholarship to the Crossroads School in Santa Monica and the Colburn School in Los Angeles.
As a teenager, she spent five summers at The Perlman Music Program Summer Music School in Shelter Island which gave her life-changing musical experiences. She has also been invited to participate at Académie musicale de Villecroze, Kneisel Hall, White Mountains Music Festival, Sitka Music Festival, and The Perlman Music Program's Chamber Music Workshop, where she was invited to tour with Itzhak Perlman in Israel, Toronto, Mexico City, Virginia Beach, and Miami.
A devoted educator, Ms. Kim has worked with students from the Cleveland Institute of Music, American Academy of Jordan, Tel Aviv Conservatory of Music, Grand Valley State University, and has been invited to do a Visiting Artist Residency at the University of Hawaii and College of William and Mary. In 2016, she served as Tone Judge for the Violin Society of America Competition.
Ms. Kim serves on the Faculty of The Juilliard School pre college division, The Mannes School of Music, The Perlman Music Program, and New York Youth Symphony’s Chamber Music program.
Ms.Kim is the cellist of the award-winning Aeolus Quartet.
As Artistic Director of Chamber Music Stowe in Vermont and Central Chamber Series in NYC, Ms. Kim is committed to connecting with a wider audience through the powerful language of chamber music.
She is forever grateful to her mentors and teachers Ronald Leonard, Toby and Itzhak Perlman, and Joel Krosnick, with whom she studied at The Juilliard School for a Bachelor and Master Degree in Music. Ms.Kim performs on a Testore cello made in 1748 and a cello by Samuel Zygmuntowicz.
David Kaplan, pianist, has been called “excellent and adventurous” by The New York Times, and praised by the Boston Globe for “grace and fire” at the keyboard. As orchestra soloist, he has appeared with the Britten Sinfonia at London’s Barbican and Das Sinfonie Orchester Berlin at the Philharmonie, as well the Symphony Orchestras of Hawaii and San Antonio. As recitalist, he has performed at the Ravinia Festival, Sarasota Opera House, Music on Main in Vancouver, Strathmore, Washington’s National Gallery, and New York’s Carnegie and Merkin Halls.
Kaplan has consistently drawn critical acclaim for creative programs that interweave classical and contemporary repertoire, often featuring newly commissioned works. As a guest artist of Piano Spheres at Los Angeles’ Zipper Hall, he recently premiered “Quasi una Fantasia,” a program exploring the grey area between composition and improvisation through works by Anthony Cheung, Christopher Cerrone, and Andrea Casarrubios, together with Couperin, Beethoven, Schumann, Saariaho, Ligeti, and his own improvisations. Kaplan’s “New Dances of the League of David,” a recital infusing Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze with 16 new works by composers including Augusta Read Thomas, Marcos Balter, Caroline Shaw, and Andrew Norman was cited among the “Best Classical Music Performances of 2015” by The New York Times.
Balancing solo performances with meaningful collaborations, Kaplan has played with the Attacca, Ariel, Enso, Hausman, and Tesla String Quartets. As a core member of Decoda, the Affiliate Ensemble of Carnegie Hall, he performs frequently in New York’s most exciting venues, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art to National Sawdust, as well as creating innovative residencies as far away as Abu Dhabi, Mexico, and Scotland. He is a veteran of numerous distinguished chamber music festivals and series, such as the Seattle Chamber Music, Bard, and Mostly Mozart Festivals, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Chamber Music Northwest, and Barge Music. He is an alumnus of Tanglewood and the Ravinia-Steans Institute, and performs regularly as an alumnus of the Perlman Music Program, including with Itzhak Perlman at Miami’s Arsht Center. He serves as Co-Artistic Director of Lyrica Chamber Music, a community series in Morris County, NJ currently in its 36th season.
Kaplan has recorded for Naxos and Marquis Records, as well as for Nonesuch as part of his longstanding duo with pianist/composer Timo Andres. In September 2023, Bright Shiny Things will release Vent, Kaplan’s debut album with his wife, flutist Catherine Gregory, to include music by Gabriela Lena Frank, David Lang, Mr. Andres, Schubert, and Prokofiev.
Kaplan was a student of the late Claude Frank, and previously studied with Walter Ponce and Miyoko Lotto. His mentors over the years have included Anton Kuerti, Richard Goode, and Emanuel Ax. He studied conducting at the Universität der Künste Berlin with Lutz Köhler, under the auspices of a Fulbright Fellowship from 2008-2010. The recipient of a DMA from Yale University in 2014, Kaplan earned his Bachelor from UCLA, where he has also served on the faculty since 2016, and now is the Assistant Professor and Inaugural Shapiro Family Chair in Piano Performance.
David is proud to be a Yamaha/Bösendorfer Artist, and when at home in Los Angeles, he enjoys practicing on his childhood piano, a 1908 Hamburg Steinway model A. Away from the keyboard, he loves cartooning and cooking, and is mildly obsessed with classic cars.
