Department of Music

The McIntire Department of Music is pleased to present the 2018-2019 University of Virginia Chamber Music Series. This annual series, which presents innovative performances by the University of Virginia's world-class performance faculty and celebrated guest artists, is comprised of six professional performances for the University and the central Virginia community. These intimate concerts are programmed to offer both new and traditional works that will delight audiences of all musical tastes.

On Sunday, March 31 at 3:30 pm, the Rivanna String Quartet presents a program of string chamber classics. The group will be joined by UVA faculty member Pete Spaar, bass, to perform Antonin Dvořák’s formative String Quintet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 77. They will conclude the program with Ludwig van Beethoven’s String Quintet No. 9 in C Major, Op. 59, No. 3. This resident ensemble is comprised of McIntire Department of Music string faculty members Daniel Sender and David Sariti, violins; Ayn Balija, viola; and Adam Carter, cello.

Tickets for all concerts are $15 general admission, $8 for students, and are free for UVA students who reserve in advance and for those under 18. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Arts Box Office at 434.924.3376, or by visitingartsboxoffice.virginia.edu. For additional information, please visit http://music.virginia.edu/uvacms.

Biographies

Ayn Balija
Violist Ayn Balija leads a musically rich life performing and teaching throughout the country.
She is currently the Associate Professor of Viola at the University of Virginia, Principal Violist of the Charlottesville Symphony at the University of Virginia, and violist of the Rivanna String Quartet. She has also been on faculty at James Madison University and Lorain County Community College. She presents masterclasses throughout the south-central region of the country. During the summer she is on faculty at the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts.
As an orchestral musician Ms. Balija has performed in such venues as Heinz Hall and Carnegie Hall with the Pittsburgh Symphony as well as performs with the Richmond Symphony, Williamsburg Symphonia, Charlottesville Opera, Victory Hall Opera, and the Roanoke Symphony. For twelve years she was also a tenured member of ProMusica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus helping to promote new music for chamber orchestra through commissions and recordings of new works under the Summit label. Ms. Balija has performed additional chamber works at Yachats Summer Music Festival (OR), North Carolina Chamber Music Festival (NC), and the Staunton Music Festival (VA).
As a soloist, Ms. Balija has performed recitals in New Zealand, Oregon, North Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Virginia focusing on promoting the versatility of the viola. She has also been invited to solo with the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts Orchestra and the Charlottesville Symphony.
A devoted pedagogue, Ms. Balija strives to promote a diverse learning experience. In 2014, Ms. Balija created Violapalooza, an annual, all-viola day, featuring viola ensembles, workshops, guest viola artists teaching and preforming for the education and enjoyment of violists of all ages.  Guests have included top violists Kim Kashkashian, Roger Tapping, Paul Neubauer, and George Taylor. In addition to maintaining a private studio, she teaches in the Charlottesville City and Albemarle County school districts through the Boyd Tinsley Foundation and the Symphony’s Preludes program coaching and mentoring young musicians.
Ms. Balija has also presented at the American String Teachers Association and been published on the American Viola Society’s Teacher’s Toolbox page. In 2017 she presented a lecture at the 44th International Viola Congress in Wellington, NZ.
Ayn Balija holds a Bachelor of Music from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Masters of Music from The Cleveland Institute of Music and Doctorate of Musical Arts from James Madison University. Her principal mentors have been Peter Slowik, Jeffrey Irvine, and Karen Tuttle.
When not performing, Ms. Balija enjoys spending time in nature and baking for all her colleagues in the orchestra.

Adam Carter
Cellist Adam Carter maintains an active career as a recitalist, chamber and orchestral musician, and teacher.  Recent engagements include recitals and chamber music performances at UNC-Chapel Hill, Wake Forest University, the University of Virginia, Randolph College, Bridgewater College and Hampden-Sydney College.
Dr. Carter is currently the principal cellist of the Charlottesville Symphony and has performed with the Richmond Symphony, Madison Symphony, Winston-Salem Symphony, Erie Philharmonic and Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra.
A top prizewinner at the 1998 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, Dr. Carter continues to enjoy a rich and diverse career playing chamber music.  He currently performs with the Rivanna String Quartet, Artemis Duo and the Virginia Sinfonietta.  A founding member of the Tarab Cello Ensemble, Dr. Carter traveled the country playing new works for cello octet. The ensemble’s accolades include grants from the Howard Hanson Institute for American Music for its accomplishments in the performance and creation of contemporary American music, the Foreman Institute for the Creative and Performing Arts and the Fromm Foundation. The Ensemble has recorded on Bridge Records and Albany Records.
As a teacher, Dr. Carter is on the faculty at the University of Virginia as Lecturer in Cello.  Prior to his appointment at U.Va, he was adjunct professor of cello and bass at Ripon College in Wisconsin.  Dr. Carter grew up in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and attended high school at the North Carolina School of the Arts. He received his Bachelors degree and Masters degree with distinction from the Eastman School of Music, and completed his Doctoral degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His principal teachers include Steven Doane, Rosemary Elliot, Robert Marsh and Uri Vardi. 

David Sariti
Violinist David Sariti enjoys a multifaceted career, with performance and research interests that span four centuries.  Known for bringing fresh interpretive insight to works both familiar and unfamiliar, he has recently appeared as recitalist at universities across the country, as soloist with orchestra, and in diverse chamber collaborations.  A recent all-Mendelssohn piano trio program was hailed as “Chamber music at a high professional level, reflecting credit on the schools that choose to have their students taught by musicians who not only have academic credentials but are also first-class performing artists.” (Classical Voice of North Carolina).  An ardent proponent of new music, he has performed works by composers throughout the Southeast including UVA Professor Emeritus Judith Shatin.
Equally at home with earlier repertoires on the Baroque violin, Sariti has appeared with many notable chamber ensembles and orchestras, including the Washington Bach Consort, The Vivaldi Project, and others.  He is a member of “Mr. Jefferson’s Musicians”, which was founded along with members of the Baltimore Consort to perform music from the collection of Thomas Jefferson in a scholarly and musically engaging way.  The group was recently featured on the Gotham Early Music series in New York.  He has given numerous solo presentations on Jefferson’s music, and is featured on the CD “Music from the Jefferson Collection”.  An improviser of music both old and new, he also plays jazz with Greg Howard, John D’earth, and others.
Faculty at UVa since 2005, he is Director of the period-instrument Baroque Orchestra, performs in the Rivanna Quartet, and is Principal Violin II of the Charlottesville Symphony, having previously performed in over a dozen professional symphonies. His studio teaching emphasizes the development of a relaxed, efficient technique and comprehensive musicianship skills that enable students to make informed interpretive choices.  In 2016-17 he was chosen as part of the first cohort of College of Arts and Sciences Arts Fellows.  He has also taught violin and music history at the Hartt School, University of Hartford, and recently completed a term as Performance Chair of the College Music Society Mid-Atlantic Chapter.  His articles on topics ranging from performance practice to string pedagogy have been featured in Early Music America, American String Teacher, and American Music Teacher. He holds degrees from the Hartt School, the University of Akron, and Ithaca College; studies were with Pamela Gearhart, Katie Lansdale, Pamela Frank and members of the Cleveland and Miami quartets and the Meadowmount Trio.

Daniel Sender
Daniel Sender enjoys a diverse musical career and has appeared in concerts throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and China.  A frequent guest soloist and principal artist with chamber and symphony orchestras throughout the region, Dr. Sender currently serves as concertmaster of the Charlottesville Symphony, Charlottesville Opera and the Virginia Consort.
Dr. Sender was a Fulbright Scholar in Budapest and attended the Franz Liszt Academy of Music as a student of Vilmos Szabadi.  He was formerly the first violinist of the Adelphi String Quartet, which held a fellowship residency at the University of Maryland, and was for four years the violinist of the Annapolis Chamber Players.  Dr. Sender has recorded for Centaur, Sono Luminus, Bifrost and other independent labels.
As a chamber musician, Dr. Sender has had the pleasure of performing with members of the Audubon Quartet, Axelrod and Left Bank quartets and spent two years working intensively under the mentorship of the Guarneri Quartet. Chamber concerts have taken him to venues around the world including the Kennedy Center, Hungarian Embassy, Bartók Hall of the Erdödy Palace (Budapest), Smithsonian Museum of American History, Universität der Kunste (Berlin) and the Museum of Fine Arts (Montreal).
A native of Philadelphia, Dr. Sender attended Ithaca College, the University of Maryland, the Liszt Academy (Budapest) and the Institute for European Studies (Vienna).  His primary teachers include Vilmos Szabadi, Arnold Steinhardt, David Salness, René Staar, and Gerald Fischbach. He is on the performance faculty of the University of Virginia’s McIntire Department of Music and also holds a faculty position at Interlochen’s Adult Chamber Music Camp.
 

Old Cabell Hall is located on the south end of UVA's historic lawn, directly opposite the Rotunda.  (map) Parking is available in the central grounds parking garage on Emmet Street, in the C1 parking lot off McCormick Rd, and in the parking lots at the UVA Corner.  Handicap parking is available in the small parking lot adjacent to Bryan Hall.

To see all events in the UVA Chamber Music Series, please visit http://music.virginia.edu/uvacms

All programs are subject to change.