Paran Amirinazari & Eric Tran

media release: This event is available in-person - see gracepresents.org for updates on COVID-19 protocols.You can also enjoy a premium-quality livestream of the concert with audio by BKMastersounds and video by Microtone Media. Grace Presents youtube channel!

Violinist Paran Amirinazari and Pianist Eric Tran. Works by Johannes Brahms, Amy Beach, Rachel Eubanks, and a World Premiere by Eric Tran.

Violinist Paran Amirinazari is a recent graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a Doctorate of Musical Arts in violin performance under the tutelage of Soh-Hyun Park Altino. Paran currently leads a diverse career as a performer, chamber musician, orchestral player, educator, and artist director. 

An avid chamber musician and artistic leader, Paran is the founder and artistic director of the acclaimed Willy Street Chamber Players. A native of Boston, Massachusetts, she holds a Bachelor of Music Degree from the New England Conservatory of Music where she studied with Mr. James Buswell IV and a Masters of Music degree from the University of Nevada, Reno. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Paran was a member of the Hunt String Quartet and winner of the 2016 concerto competition. At the University of Nevada, Reno she was the recipient of the Nightingale String Quartet fellowship. Paran is a member of the Madison Symphony Orchestra's first violin section, regularly performs with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and is a former member of the Reno Philharmonic and Reno Chamber Orchestra. 

Outside of classical music, Paran received a doctoral minor in jazz improvisation, has collaborated with various alternative ensembles, and has toured with Ian Anderson (from Jethro Tull), Larkin Grimm, and Beat Circus.

Named a Gilmore Festival Fellow, pianist-composer Eric Tran has performed in Italy, Korea, China, Canada, and in over 20 states in the United States. He has appeared in music festivals such as PianoTexas, Aspen, Art of the Piano, Gilmore, and Chautauqua. His principal studies were with pianists Sharon Mann, Thomas Schultz, and Christopher Taylor; and with composers Jaroslaw Kapuscinski and Laura Schwendinger.

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Eric is a graduate of Stanford University, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and the Mead Witter School of Music. During his studies, he was the winner of the concerto competitions of all three institutions, and he was awarded the prestigious Robert M. Golden Medal for outstanding contributions to the arts. He has won awards from the Wideman Piano Competition and the American Prize, and has been invited to compete at the US Chopin National and Virginia Waring International Competitions.  As a composer, he won the Pacific Musical Society Composition Prize, and his sets of children’s music have been programmed for eight years on the syllabus of the US Open Music Competition. His music has been performed by the St. Lawrence String Quartet and the Friction Quartet, and his debut album, Water, was supported by Stanford University’s Young Alumni Arts Grant.

He comprises one half of the notorious “Happy Dog” piano duo with his longtime friend and piano partner, Nathan Cheung. They won the 1st prize and Abild American Music Award at the Ellis Duo-Piano Competition, hosted by the National Federation of Music Clubs; 1st prize at the inaugural MTNA-Stecher and Horowitz Two Piano Competition; and 1st prize at the Ohio International Duet and Duo Piano Competition. For over a decade, they have performed four-hands originals, transcriptions, and classics alike with a focus on bringing humor and joy to the classical music world.

Did you miss a recent concert, or wish you could go back and hear one you attended again? You can view Mark Brampton Smith's organ concert from Sept 17 and the Gate Check Jazz Quartet's performance from October 15, along with a host of other archived performances, on the Grace Presents youtube channel!