Maynie Bradley, Mary Deck, Hannah Kasun, Victor Stahoviak, Sarah Williams
Grace Episcopal Church 116 W. Washington Ave., Madison, Wisconsin 53703
media release: Late Romantic Chamber Music
Violinist Maynie Bradley (Madison Symphony Orchestra) is joined by Mary Deck (viola), Hannah Kasun (cello), Victor Stahoviak (bass), and Sarah Williams (piano) for a celebratory program of late romantic chamber music by Anton Arensky (a student of Tchaikovsky) and the great English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Stop by during Madison's annual Art Fair on the Square for an exquisite musical experience in the historical nave of Grace Church, one of the finest acoustic spaces in Dane County!
Program details:
String Quartet Op. 35 in A minor by Anton Arensky (completed in 1894)
Piano Quintet in C minor by Ralph Vaughan Williams (completed in 1905)
The performance runs one hour without intermission, and will include spoken program notes by the performers.
ADA accessible entrance is located off of the courtyard entrance on W Washington Ave.
About the artists
Maynie Bradley began playing the violin at age three with the Suzuki Strings of Madison. She went on to study with professors Eugene Purdue and David Perry, graduating from UW Madison with degrees in music performance and psychology. Since graduation, she has been working as an advanced line therapist for people with autism of all ages, from two years old to adulthood, at Achieving Collaborative Treatment (ACT). As a musician, Maynie is a member of the first violin section of the Madison Symphony Orchestra and Madison Opera. As a chamber musician, Maynie has made appearances at the Mimir Chamber Music Festival, the Garth Newel Music Festival, and the Vienna Summer Music Festival. Locally, she has participated in the LunART Festival (highlighting women composers), the National Women's Music Festival, and ChamberFest.
A Madison native, Mary Deck returns fresh off the heels of her studies in Toronto, where she completed an artist diploma in viola in the studio of Steve Dann. She completed her bachelor of music degree in violin performance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, under the tutelage of David Perry and Sally Chisholm. While at UW-Madison, Mary had the honor of playing violin in the Perlman Piano Trio Scholarship, a funded undergraduate chamber group which paves the way for the diverse future of music through a focused study of Germanic repertoire from the late Classical and early Romantic periods. Mary has performed professionally at chamber festivals such as Midsummer’s Music Festival in Door County, and as an undergraduate student she frequently subbed in the viola section of the Madison Symphony Orchestra. More recently, she attended Creative Dialogue France, an intense collaborative experience with young composers and performers at the vanguard of new music, mentored by members of the Zebra Trio and composers such as Magnus Lindberg, Julian Anderson, and Pascal Dusapin. This June, she attended the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute, where she received training on baroque viola and brought new life to rarely performed chamber works. In her programming, Mary searches for new collaborative opportunities and enjoys creating sound worlds with a combination of old and new.
Cellist Hannah Kasun graduated in 2021 with distinction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she earned a full-tuition scholarship to study with professor Parry Karp, member of the Pro Arte Quartet. She performed with the Solana Quartet for three years of her undergraduate degree and with the Perlman Piano Trio and Quintet for one year, receiving coaching from Parry Karp and Martha Fischer. She has attended numerous festivals, including the Mimir Chamber Music Festival and the Wintergreen Music Festival, and has worked with members of the New York-based ensemble Decoda to study music outreach methods. Hannah has performed with a variety of ensembles and organizations in the Madison area, including the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Underground Chamber Collective, and LunART, and has taught students first through seventh grade with Music con Brio, a nonprofit organization offering lessons on a sliding scale. Outside of music, Hannah works in the field of environmental sustainability and is an avid gardener, and you can often find her biking around town or playing ultimate frisbee in one of Madison’s many parks.
Sarah Williams holds a master’s degree in collaborative piano from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she studied with professor Martha Fischer. She earned her bachelor’s degree in piano performance from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh under the guidance of Dr. Eli Kalman. At UW–Madison, Sarah served as a teaching assistant, collaborating with a wide range of ensembles, including the Women’s Chorus and the Opera Theatre. She was named runner-up in the UW–Madison Shain Competition. An active and sought-after collaborative pianist, she regularly partners with students and faculty across the university and frequently performs with members of the Madison Symphony Orchestra. As a soloist, she has won competitions such as the UW–Oshkosh Concerto Competition, the UW-Honors Recital Competition, and the UW Celebration of Scholarship. She was also awarded both the Youra and Patricia Radford Fell Scholarships for excellence in piano performance. In addition to her work as a collaborator, Sarah maintains a private teaching studio in Madison, Wisconsin, where she is committed to nurturing the next generation of musicians.
Victor Stahoviak had expressed an interest in playing the bass when he was little. So little, actually, that his parents saw the cello as a more viable beginning. Nonetheless, he took up the double bass at the earliest opportunity in school. Following his high school and undergraduate studies at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts with Paul Sharpe, and then his master’s degree at the Bienen School of Music with Andrew Raciti, Victor now performs regularly as a member of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the Quad City Symphony Orchestra, and as assistant principal double bass of the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra. When he isn't playing music, Victor's interests include reading, playing video games and cooking new recipes. He also finds comfort in baking bread, especially that which he shares.
All are welcome
All Grace Presents Concerts are FREE and open to the public.
Donations gladly accepted to support the ongoing series