Praised by World News for her “sensitive, stylistic playing, with great finesse, emotion, and gorgeous tone,” cellist Sophie Shao — a perennial Middlebury favorite — has surrounded herself with some of the most talented artists in music. She returns for her 10th consecutive season on the Middlebury Performing Arts Series with an exciting new ensemble of friends, performing works by Haydn, Bridge and Dvo?ák at the Mahaney Center for the Arts on Wednesday, Feb. 28.
“Sophie Shao and her seemingly endless collective of talented friends have refined the collaborative and impromptu chamber music concert into an exhilarating art form,” Series Director Allison Coyne Carroll said.
Shao, winner of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant and top prizes at the Rostropovich and Tchaikovsky competitions, is a versatile and passionate artist. A native of Houston, Texas, Shao began playing the cello at age six. At age 13 she enrolled at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and upon graduation went on to earn a B.A. in Religious Studies from Yale College and an M.M. from the Yale School of Music. She is on the faculty of Vassar College and the Bard College Conservatory of Music, and she will join the faculty of Mason-Gross Rutgers in Fall 2018. She plays on a cello made by Honore Derazey in 1855 that was once owned by Pablo Casals.
The concert on Feb. 28 is part of the Nelson Chamber Music Series with support from PASS members Marny and Rob Lichtenstein. The show will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Mahaney Center for the Arts’ Robison Hall. Tickets are $30 for adults; $25 for Middlebury College faculty, staff, emeriti, and alumni; $10 for youth 18 and under; and $6 for Middlebury College students, and are on sale at 802-443-MIDD (6433) or middlebury.edu/arts/tickets.