Enduring favorite cellist Sophie Shao returns to open the 105th season of the Middlebury College Performing Arts Series with an accomplished, all-female ensemble on Saturday, Sept. 28. Violinist Jennifer Frautschi and pianist Christina Dahl will join Shao at the Mahaney Arts Center for a stunning program of Classical sonatas and piano trios, including Nadia Boulanger’s Three Pieces for Cello and Piano, Marguerite Canal’s Sonata for Violin and Piano, Pēteris Vasks’ Castillo Interior (The Interior Castle), and Schubert’s beloved Piano Trio No. 1 in B-flat.

Tickets go on sale to the general public on Sept. 17. This concert will also be streamed, with a 48-hour window for viewing, so everyone can access this beautiful concert.

About the Artists

Cellist Sophie Shao, winner of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant and top prizes at the Rostropovich and Tchaikovsky competitions, is a versatile and passionate artist praised by publications like the New York Times and the Washington Post. She is both a coveted chamber music collaborator and an acclaimed soloist with appearances at the Houston and American Symphony Orchestras, Taiwan and Ukraine’s National Symphony Orchestras, and the BBC Concert Orchestra in London. She holds a BA in religious studies and an MM from Yale University, and serves on the faculty of the University of Connecticut.

Two-time GRAMMY nominee and Avery Fisher career grant recipient violinist Jennifer Frautschi has appeared as a soloist with innumerable orchestras including the Cincinnati Symphony, Chicago Symphony, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. She is an in-demand chamber musician and recording artist as well, recording several discs for Naxos. Frautschi attended the Colburn School, Harvard, the New England Conservatory, and the Juilliard School. She currently teaches in the graduate program at Stony Brook University.

Christina Dahl has been on the piano faculty and served as Director of Chamber Music at SUNY Stony Brook since 2000. She also served on the faculties of Lawrence University, the Cleveland and Peabody Institutes, Ithaca College, and the Eastern Music Festival. Dahl was a cultural ambassador for the U.S. State Department twice. She’s performed at Weill Hall, the National Gallery, and Merkin Hall, as well as the Gilmore International Piano Festival, Aspen, the Banff Centre, the Steans Institute at Ravinia, and twice as a Tanglewood fellow. Dahl has been featured several times on Performance Today, and also appeared on KUSC in Los Angeles, Wisconsin Public Radio, WQXR, and WNYC.

Sophie Shao and Friends will perform at the Mahaney Arts Center’s Olin C. Robison Concert Hall on Saturday, Sept. 28, at 7:30 p.m. Reserved seating tickets are $25 for the general public, $20 for Middlebury faculty/staff and alumni, $10 for youth, and $5 for Middlebury College students; streaming tickets are $15, or $5 for Middlebury College students. For tickets or information, call 802-443-MIDD (6433) or visit middlebury.edu/arts.