Calling all music fans! Looking for something new to stream? Check out Great Performances’ digital original series, Taking Note! Taking Note is a new digital series spotlighting rising instrumentalists who have received Career Grant Awards from the Avery Fisher Artist Program. Each year, the program awards $25,000 to instrumentalists and chamber ensembles in support of professional music development. The premiere season features pianist Clayton Stephenson, Sandbox Percussion, violinist Njioma Chinyere Grevious, the Balourdet Quartet and violinist Julian Rhee. The series features both performances and interviews with awardees sharing past and present inspirations, training and goals.
Taking Note – Clayton Stephenson
A Juilliard Pre-College student at age 10, pianist Clayton Stephenson only decided in the past few years to pursue piano professionally after studying economics at Harvard University. Playing Godowsky’s “Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes from Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus,” Stephenson believes that the piano portrays many instruments.
Taking Note – Sandbox Percussion
After meeting in graduate school in 2011, members Terry Sweeney, Jonny Allen, Victor Caccese, and Ian Rosenbaum created Sandbox Percussion. The chamber percussion group chose their name as a reference to a playful and dedicated space for creativity. Using a diverse range of instruments including homemade steel pipes, the group performs “Pillar V” by contemporary composer Andy Akiho. Sandbox Percussion is the first percussion ensemble to be awarded the Career Grant.
Taking Note – Njioma Chinyere Grevious
With early inspiration from her mother’s love of music, Njioma Chinyere Grevious took up the violin after watching her sister learn to play. Gaining initial skills through lessons from Boston’s Project STEP, Grevious particularly values the training she received in high school from teacher James Buswell whose instruction included both musical insight and life lessons. Grevious performs a violin sonata by Ravel that also features the piano.
Taking Note – Balourdet Quartet
The Balourdet Quartet’s name was inspired by the food of Antoine Balourdet, the chef at the Taos School of Music, for which violinists Angela Bae and Justin DeFilippis and cellist Russell Houston shared a passion in addition to their music. Violist Benjamin Zannoni later joined the group, and the quartet was borne based on the group’s love for the repertoire and chamber music. The quartet performs a movement from Beethoven’s “Razumovsky” string quartet.
Taking Note – Julian Rhee
When his love for the violin formed between high school and college, Julian Rhee continued to be inspired by his teachers and his family. Playing on a 1699 Stradivarius on loan from the Mary B. Galvin Foundation and the efforts of the Stradivari Society, Rhee performs a sonata for violin and piano by Saint-Saens that he feels shows off the full range of the violin.