Eric Gratz, violin; Joseph Skerik, viola; Haddon Kay, cello; Victor Santiago Asunción, piano

Program

  • Caroline Shaw (b. 1982) - Thousandth Orange (2018) (10')
  • Arthur Foote (1853-1937) - Piano Quartet, Op. 23 (1890) (28')
  • I. Allegro comodo
  • II. Scherzo: Allegro vivace
  • III. Adagio, ma con moto
  • IV. Allegro non troppo
  • Caroline Shaw (b. 1982) - Thousandth Orange (2018) (10')
  • A composer, producer, violinist, and vocalist, Caroline Shaw is a force of contemporary collaboration between musical genres. She describes herself as “a musician who moves among roles, genres, and mediums, trying to imagine a world of sound that has never been heard before but has always existed.” Of her 2018 composition Thousandth Orange, Shaw writes: Thousandth Orange begins with a very simple 4-chord progression. Nothing fancy. Nothing extravagant. Just something quite beautiful and everyday, that is enjoyed and loved and consumed and forgotten. Something you’ve probably heard before, in a pop song or a music theory class. While considering my love of Brahms' piano quartets and my memory of playing them—and more generally how our memories of beloved music evolve over time—I began thinking about the history of still-life paintings. Those bowls of fruit we see framed in museums—sort of lovely and banal, at first glance, but then richer when considered in the long story of humans painting things that they see, over and over and over again. There's a reason that Van Gogh painted those vases of sunflowers again and again, or Caravaggio his fruit. Maybe after the tenth, or the hundredth, or the thousandth time one paints, or looks at, or eats, an orange (or plays a simple cadential figure), it is just as beautiful as the first time. There is still more to see and to hear and to love. More angles reveal themselves—more perspectives and corners and stories, more understanding—more appreciation of something that most would consider unremarkable. Thousandth Orange is about these tiny oblique revelations that time's filter can open up in a musical memory. The title also suggests a thousand different shades of the color orange, or the image of a thousand oranges, or perhaps a thousand ways of looking at an orange. —Caroline Shaw, 2020
  • Arthur Foote (1853-1937) - Piano Quartet, Op. 23 (1890) (28')
  • If Arthur Foote's name is not entirely unknown, it is fair to say that his music is. This is a shame, especially as far as chamber musicians are concerned. Foote’s chamber music is first-rate, deserving of regular public performance. Foote certainly was the equal of nearly any of his European contemporaries, but the fact that he was an American, at a time when American composers were not generally taken seriously, was without doubt an insurmountable obstacle to his achieving the reputation he deserved. Foote was born in Salem, Massachusetts and was one of the first important American composers trained entirely in America. His main teacher was John Knowles Paine, from whom Foote gained an admiration for and was primarily influenced by the leading Central European Romantic composers of the day, such as Mendelssohn, Schumann, Dvořák, and Brahms. The Piano Quartet was completed in 1890 and was, during Foote's lifetime, one of his most popular works, receiving numerous performances in both the U.S. and Europe before inexplicably disappearing from the concert stage. The celebratory opening movement, Allegro comodo, is sunny and full of good spirits. A vivacious and energetic Schumannesque Scherzo follows. The third movement, Adagio, ma con moto, is a leisurely, joyous theme of thanksgiving. The appealing finale, Allegro non troppo, is full of excitement, wonderful melodies, and even a fugue before the satisfying coda. Program notes by Edition Silvertrust

Since his concerto debuts at the age of 14 in the United States, Spain, and Portugal, violinist Eric Gratz has enjoyed a multifaceted career as soloist, concertmaster, chamber musician, curator, and educator. He is Artistic Director of the American Chamber Music Society in Chicago, and frequently performs on the series. Gratz previously served for nine seasons as concertmaster of the San Antonio Symphony, where he took part in numerous world premieres and regularly play-conducted the orchestra. As both soloist and concertmaster, he has appeared with more than two dozen orchestras, including those of Cleveland, Louisiana, Phoenix, San Antonio, Tucson, Santa Fe Opera, and the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra. Equally at home performing complete Bach Brandenburg cycles with Jeannette Sorrell as he is championing modern concerti by Kurt Weill, Béla Bartók, and Alvin Etler, he possesses an unusually large repertoire, reflecting an ever-expanding range of interests.

Gratz made his Kennedy Center recital debut at age 17, and has since appeared regularly on major series, including Austin Chamber Music, Mainly Mozart Festival, Maui Classical Music Festival, Cactus Pear Festival, Castleton Festival, Frankly Music, Chatter PDX, and Memphis Chamber Music Society, performing with artists such as Vadim Gluzman, Julian Schwarz, Orion Weiss, Anton Nel, and members of the Pacifica, Vertavo, Mendelssohn, Formosa, Rosamunde, and Fine Arts Quartets. Formerly Artistic Director of the Olmos Ensemble, he has served as a core member of the San Antonio-based group for over a decade. Gratz is a prolific recording artist, with two albums scheduled for release in 2026 on Centaur and Divine Art labels.

Gratz has given masterclasses at various institutions in the U.S., as well as in Ecuador, Italy, and China. He is on faculty at Music Institute of Chicago, North Central College, and the summer faculty at Interlochen Arts Camp as a Valade Concertmaster. A familiar face on digital platforms, he has recorded several Tonebase Violin courses on music by Beethoven, Kreisler, and Ysaÿe. For more information, please visit ericgratz.com.

Since 2023, Joseph Skerik has served as violist of the Vega String Quartet, in residence as faculty at the Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta and Emory University. Quartet activities include recording for PBS and collaborating with the Juilliard Quartet, Zuill Bailey, Jon Kimura Parker, Mark and Maggie O’Connor, Ransom Wilson, Ettore Causa and Amy Moretti, with appearances at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, The National Gallery in Washington D.C. and venues in Charlotte, Raleigh, California, Mexico, Atlanta, New York, Memphis, Maine, Washington, Texas and Alaska.

 

Joseph’s solo and chamber music accolades include the Yale School of Music’s Broadus Erle Prize in Chamber Music, and prizes in the Nedbal Viola Competition in Prague, American Viola Society Competition in Los Angeles and National YoungArts. Joseph also appears as a guest violist on series and festivals such as the Highlands-Cashiers Festival, Newport Classical, Classical Music Chicago, Montecito Music Festival, Tallgrass Chamber Music Festival, Methow Valley Festival, Vivace Festival and the Lake George Festival. He has also appeared on numerous tours for the Heifetz Institute as a soloist and chamber musician. 

 

Committed to presenting chamber music in his home state, Joseph serves as co-artistic director of Viridian Strings, a chamber series in Northern Michigan now entering its ninth season and welcoming artists such as Nina Bernat, Nathan Meltzer, Brian Isaacs, Umi Garrett and Claire Wells, among others. 

 

Joseph teaches chamber music and viola performance at Emory University and as of 2025 also directs the chamber music program at Emory’s Oxford Campus.

Born in 1999, Chinese-American cellist Haddon Kay is one of the young rising stars of his generation, capturing audiences with his lyricism and musical eloquence. Haddon first gained recognition when he became a finalist for the Chicago Symphony Young Artist Competition and performed the Barber Cello Concerto with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. The following summer, he became the principal cellist of the National Youth Orchestra of the United States under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas for an international tour in Asia.

 

Most recently, Haddon captured third prize in Bucharest, Romania at the 2024 George Enescu International Cello Competition. He was selected as the 2024 Luminarts Fellow in Classical Strings and was awarded the 2023 American Opera Society of Chicago Scholarship Award. Additionally, Haddon competed in the 2nd Queen Elisabeth Competition in Belgium and was a winner of Northwestern University’s Concerto/Aria competition, after which he performed the Dvorak Cello Concerto with the Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Victor Yampolsky. In 2016, he was the first place winner in the strings division in the Walgreens Concerto Competition. In 2015, Haddon was the selected soloist for the New North Shore Chamber Orchestra, winner of the DePaul Concerto Competition, and performed with the Oistrakh Symphony of Chicago.

 

A dedicated chamber musician, Haddon is a founding member of the Galvin Cello Quartet, formed in 2021 at the Bienen School of Music, which recently won Concert Artists Guild’s 2022 Victor Elmaleh Competition and the silver medal at the 2021 Fischoff Competition. The Galvin Quartet continues to regularly tour in concerts around the United States. Haddon has appeared at Music@Menlo, Bravo!Vail, and the Meadowmount School of Music. He has worked with many notable musicians such as David Finckel, Wu Han, Gilbert Kalish, Arnaud Sussman, Shmuel Ashkenazi, and the Dover Quartet. Haddon also performs regularly with members of the Lyric Opera of Chicago through the Rembrandt Chamber Musicians. He has also won 1st prizes at the Rembrandt and Discover Chamber Music Competitions with various groups. As the cellist of those ensembles he has also appeared on National Public Radio’s From the Top and on Chicago radio’s WFMT Introductions.

 

Born and raised in the Chicago area, Haddon is a graduate of Northwestern University, receiving his Bachelor’s Degree in 2022 and his Master’s Degree in 2024. Haddon is currently pursuing his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Northwestern, continuing his studies under the tutelage of Hans Jorgen Jensen. Haddon has also studied with Jens Peter Maintz, Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, and Clive Greensmith through the Kronberg Masterclasses and the Vivace Music Foundation.

 

In addition to playing the cello, Haddon is an avid volleyball player and was on Northwestern University’s men’s club volleyball team.

Hailed by The Washington Post for his “poised and imaginative playing,” Filipino-American pianist Victor Santiago Asuncion has appeared in concert halls in Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, Mexico, the Philippines, Spain, Turkey and the USA, as a recitalist and concerto soloist. He played his orchestral debut at the age of 18 with the Manila Chamber Orchestra, and his New York recital debut in Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall in 1999. In addition, he has worked with conductors including Sergio Esmilla, Enrique Batiz, Mei Ann Chen, Zeev Dorman, Arthur Weisberg, Corrick Brown, David Loebel, Leon Fleisher, Michael Stern, Jordan Tang, and Bobby McFerrin.

 

A chamber music enthusiast, he has performed with artists such as Lynn Harrell, Zuill Bailey, Andres Diaz, James Dunham, Antonio Meneses, Joshua Roman, Cho-Liang Lin, Giora Schmidt, the Dover, Emerson, Serafin, Sao Paulo, and Vega String Quartets. He was on the chamber music faculty of the Aspen Music Festival, and the Garth Newel Summer Music Festival. He was also the pianist for the Garth Newel Piano Quartet for three seasons. Festival appearances include the Amelia Island, Highland-Cashiers, Music in the Vineyards, and Santa Fe.

About the Rush Hour Concerts

The concerts are generously sponsored by the Irving Harris Foundation and partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council.

Upcoming Performances

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