Internationally acclaimed solo artists Yolanda Kondonassis and Jason Vieaux join forces to showcase the rich colors and unique repertoire for harp and guitar in this unique concert. In 2015, they released their debut duo CD Together, featuring two world premiere recordings.
Multiple GRAMMY-nominated harpist, Yolanda Kondonassis, is celebrated as one of the world’s leading harp soloists and has performed around the globe as a concerto soloist and recitalist. She is hailed as “viscerally exciting” (The Chicago Tribune) and has been praised for her “keen sense of dramatic timing and a range of colour that’s breathtaking” (Gramophone). Also a published author, speaker, professor of harp, and environmental activist, she weaves her many passions into a vibrant and multi-faceted career.
Kondonassis released her first solo recording in 1993 to widespread critical acclaim and has since recorded over twenty albums, and made over two dozen world premiere recordings. Since making her solo debut at age 18 with the New York Philharmonic, Kondonassis has appeared with countless major orchestras in the United States and abroad, in addition to engagements at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Taiwan’s National Concert Hall, and at renowned festivals including Santa Fe, Marlboro, Spoleto, Mainly Mozart, and Tanglewood. She has been featured on CNN, PBS, Sirius XM Radio, and National Public Radio, and is a frequent guest on podcasts and live social media events.
Her most recent publications include The Composer’s Guide to Writing Well for the Modern Harp (Carl Fischer) and the second edition of My Earth, My Home: A Kid’s Book About Why Protecting Our Planet Matters (Sky Horse). Kondonassis is the founder and director of Earth at Heart®, a non-profit organization devoted to inspiring earth conservation awareness and action through the arts.
Grammy-winner Jason Vieaux, “among the elite of today’s classical guitarists” (Gramophone), is described by NPR as “perhaps the most precise and soulful classical guitarist of his generation”.
In appearances from New York’s Lincoln Center to Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and the Seoul Arts Center, Jason Vieaux has cemented his reputation as an artist of brilliance and uncompromised mastery. Sought-after for his extensive concerto repertoire, Vieaux has performed with a long list of orchestras worldwide and worked with renowned conductors. Vieaux’s passion for new music has fostered premieres from Jeff Beal, Avner Dorman, Vivian Fung, Pierre Jalbert, Jonathan Leshnoff, David Ludwig, Mark Mancina, and Dan Visconti, among many others.
Vieaux’s extensive discography includes his “Bach Volume 2: Works for Violin,” “Shining Night” featuring his duo with acclaimed violinist Anne Akiko Meyers, Michael Fine’s “Concierto del Luna” with flutist Alexa Still and the Grammy® Award winning “Play.” Vieaux recorded Pat Metheny’s “Four Paths of Light”, a solo work dedicated to him by Pat, for Metheny’s 2021 album “Road to the Sun.”
Besides his collaboration with Yolanda Kondonassis, Jason Vieaux enjoys ongoing performing and recording collaborations with the Escher String Quartet, mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, violinist Anne Akiko Meyers, accordion/bandoneon virtuoso Julien Labro, and saxophone virtuoso Timothy McAllister.
The youngest winner in the history of the Guitar Foundation of America Competition, Vieaux has taught at the Cleveland Institute of Music for 25 years. In 2011 Vieaux co-founded the guitar department at the Curtis Institute of Music (with David Starobin). Jason’s online Guitar School for Artistworks Inc. has hundreds of subscribers from all over the world. He plays a guitar by Gernot Wagner, 2013, made in Frankfurt.
You will be uplifted and delighted by the joining of these lush, loved string instruments by two virtuosi, blending and contrasting, transporting you away in this concert.
“When one combines artists the caliber of Vieaux and Ms. Kondonassis the results are beguiling.”
—American Record Guide
“Vivid colors and rich textures…truly innovative.”
—SecondInversion.org
Presenting World Class Artists since 1946.
Presenting World Class Artists since 1946.