Part of The Sheldon’s Notes From Home series. This special concert commemorates the 100th anniversary of Fauré’s legacy with a poignant musical journey through the timeless master’s rhapsodic musical language. Join some of St. Louis’ most highly regarded musicians in this celebration!

Alla Voskoboinikova, piano. Alla Voskoboynikova performs extensively as a soloist and collaborator, regularly accompanying members of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and coaching for the Union Avenue Opera Company as well as the Opera Theatre of St. Louis. Since 2004, she has held the position of Director of Keyboard Studies at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Pavel Ilyashov, violin. Recognized by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch as a “virtuoso from head to toe” and the Miami Herald as a “performer of dazzling virtuosity and rhapsodic expression,” violinist Pavel Ilyashov is acclaimed as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral player, and educator. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Pavel enjoys a varied career. Recent engagements include concertos with the Virginia Symphony, Tacoma Symphony, and the National Philharmonic of Honduras, as well as chamber collaborations with Yo-Yo Ma, Jaime Laredo, Paquito D’Rivera, and members of the Emerson String Quartet. He has been featured at the Caramoor Festival, Bargemusic, and on the radio program Performance Today. His solo recordings for the Albany and Naxos labels have received critical praise. An experienced orchestral musician, Pavel was a full-time member of the Virginia Symphony for 16 years and has substituted with the Chicago Symphony and Philadelphia Orchestra.

Joanna Mendoza, viola. Noted for her “lush, sonorous and assertive tone” (NY Stringer Magazine), and “eloquent phrasing” (New York Concert Review), violist Joanna Mendoza has performed throughout North America, South America, Europe and South Africa and has given master classes in Beijing, China. Summer festival appearances include Interlochen Arts Camp, Madeline Island Music Camp, Killington Music Festival, Mammoth Lakes Chamber Music Festival, and Bellingham Festival of Music. Joanna is the violist of the Arianna String Quartet and Associate Professor of Viola at the University of Missouri – St. Louis.

Kurt Baldwin, cello. Kurt Baldwin is Professor of Cello at the University of Missouri, St. Louis, where he has been a faculty member, along with his colleagues of the Arianna String Quartet, since 2000. As a founding member of the Arianna String Quartet in 1992, Mr. Baldwin has been awarded the Grand Prizes at the Fischoff Competition, Coleman Competition, and Carmel Competition, and was a Laureate at the 1999 Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition. With the ASQ, Mr. Baldwin has concertized throughout five continents, been heard in live radio broadcasts in thirty-five countries and on NPR’s “Performance Today”, and has recorded for the Albany and Urtext classical label.

Benedetta Orsi, mezzo soprano. Italian mezzo soprano Benedetta Orsi has made quite a name for herself in the St. Louis area. Awarded the Paul Harris Fellow as one of the most influential Italian excellences to spread the Italian culture and art abroad, Ms. Orsi has recently been one of the Featured Artists by the Missouri Arts Council. As a recording artist, her latest album, INcanto, recorded for the Swiss Label BAM International at Webster University in collaboration with the Arianna String Quartet and pianist Alla Voskoboynikova, has been awarded the Double Gold Medal at the Global Music Awards as Best Classical Album and Best Female Artist.