The Magellan Quartet Sails Into Saranac For Gala Finale Concert

Concluding its tenth anniversary celebration season, Northern Lights: Musical Luminaries from the North Country, Hill and Hollow Music is proud to present two of our region’s most accomplished musicians—mother and son—pianist Susan Johnson Aceto and violinist Jonathan Aceto. Jonathan Aceto returns to the North Country as a member of the Magellan String Quartet, one of the premiere chamber music ensembles in the Southeastern United States, while Susan Aceto returns from her dual residence in Arizona and Maine. The Magellan Quartet and Susan Aceto will perform together in concert on Sunday, May 22, at 3:00 p.m. at the Saranac School Auditorium.

The Magellan String Quartet (founded 1990) is ensemble-in-residence at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Georgia. Along with Jonathan Aceto, its members are Ryan Kho, violin; Carl Purdy, viola; and Ruth Berry, cello. The Quartet performs an extensive range of repertoire, including complete cycles of the quartets of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Brahms, as well as 20th century masterworks. They have also premiered numerous works of contempory Georgia composers, commissioned especially for them. In addition to the Magellan’s busy performance schedule throughout the Southeast and faculty responsibilities at Georgia Southern, all four members all serve as principal strings of the Augusta (GA) Symphony.

Opening the gala program will be Maurice Ravel’s stunning Quartet in F Major in four movements. Susan Aceto will then perform two pieces from Ravel’s Miroirs (Mirrors), an exquisite work for solo piano: Oiseaux tristes (Sad Birds) and Une barque sur l’océan (A Boat on the Ocean). In the second half all five musicians will join forces for Amy Beach’s monumental Piano Quintet in F-Sharp Major, an eloquent, lyrical, and well-structured work. One of the most significant chamber music works to come out of the United States in the first quarter of the 20th century, Mrs. Beach’s Piano Quintet stands proudly alongside those of Brahms, Fauré, and Franck.

Susan and Jonathan Aceto will give a pre-concert talk at 2:00 p.m. to prime the audience for a most interesting listening experience. Advance-sale, reserved-seating tickets at $10 are available by mail through Hill and Hollow Music and at the Corner-Stone Bookshop and Peacock Music in Plattsburgh. Tickets will also be available at the door. For further information, please call 518-293-7613 or visit online: www.hillandhollowmusic. com.

Performer Profiles

Jonathan Aceto holds performance degrees from the Eastman School of Music and Arizona State University, where he completed a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in 1998. He has studied violin with Eric Rosenblith, Ronald Copes, and Catherine Tait, and chamber music with members of the Juilliard and Fine Arts String Quartets. In 1999 Dr. Aceto was appointed to the Caroline Paul King Professorship of Strings at Mercer University. While there he conducted the Mercer/Macon Symphony Youth Orchestra and served as acting concert-master of the Macon Symphony. In 1998 he performed in his second Wagner Ring cycle as a long-time member of the Arizona Opera company, and he has spent summers performing in the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy and its American counterpart, the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina. Presently, Dr. Aceto plays second violin with the Magellan String Quartet and is Principal Second Violin with the Augusta Symphony. Along with the other members of the string quartet, Dr. Aceto is an Associate Academic Professional at Georgia Southern University.

Having grown up in Plattsburgh, a product of the Hudson School of Music, Susan Johnson Aceto studied with Edna Hudson Falconer from the age of six. She received her first degree from Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam, where she received the Letter of Highest Commendation upon graduation. Following marriage and the birth of two sons, she continued her piano studies at Eastman School of Music and McGill University and ultimately earned the Master of Music degree from the University of Maine. She considers Orazio Frugoni, Edwine Behre and Joseph Fuchs her most influential music teachers beyond high school.

Aceto has had an active career as a recitalist, chamber musician, and soloist with orchestras throughout the northeast. Active for many years as a teacher of piano and chamber music coach, she was awarded Master Teacher Certification in 1987 by the Music Teachers National Association. She recently retired as adjunct teacher of piano at Williams College, where she also performed with the Williams Chamber Players. While living in the Berkshires of Massachusetts she served as artistic director of the Smith House Concert Series at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, served on the Massachusetts Cultural Council’s grant-approval panel, and was founding member of Opus Berkshire Concert Series. She has performed on WAMC’s Off the Record and WGBYs Morning Pro Musica and has recorded for Capstone Records. Susan and her husband, Tom, recently retired President of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, live in Tucson, AZ, and Roque Bluffs, ME.

The Magellan String Quartet is in residence at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Georgia. In addition to the Quartet’s responsibilities at Georgia Southern University, its members serve as principal strings of the Augusta (GA) Symphony.

The Magellan String Quartet (founded 1990) has an active performing schedule between its own chamber music series and many visiting artist series throughout the Southeast. The Quartet is also regularly engaged for educational concerts, lecture recitals, master-classes, and community outreach programs. It has performed at diplomatic functions for ambassadors, state governors, and city mayors. The Quartet members are currently on the approved touring roster of the Georgia Council for the Arts and the South Carolina Arts Council. The Magellan String Quartet established a chamber music competition for high school students, has coached for ASTA chamber music clinics, and performed for students at the Georgia Governor’s School.

The Quartet performs an extensive range of repertoire, which includes complete cycles of celebrated composers (Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Brahms), as well as stylistically diverse programs such as “The Evolution of the String Quartet” (movements from landmark compositions by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Dvorak, Debussy, Bartok, and George Crumb).

The Quartet has commissioned and premiered works to enthusiastic audiences by Georgia Southern University composer Michael Braz: By George! and Diamonds from the Duke are compositions commemorating the centennial celebrations of George Gershwin’s and Duke Ellington’s birthdays; Bluescape is a portrait of famous blues artists, featuring the “Statesboro Blues by regional musician “Blind Willie” McTell.

Other commissions and premieres include A Spiritual Fantasy by Michael Braz (composed in honor of the 200th anniversary of the founding of Springfield Baptist Church – one of the first churches formed by freed slaves as well as the original home of Morehouse College). The Quartet has premiered several works by Clyde Tipton, Professor of Music at Georgia College and State University (most recently his String Quartet No. 5 in 1998). The Magellan String Quartet also premiered the String Quartet in a minor by Charles Loeffler, which was edited and reconstructed for the quartet by Bruce Gbur, University of Georgia.  Performances by the Quartet are often broadcast state-wide on Georgia Public radio, and have received high acclaim, bringing well-deserved recognition to this fine String Quartet.

Ryan Kho is the concertmaster of the Augusta Symphony, and has studied with such violin notables as Dorothy Delay, Paul Kantor, Tibor Vaghy, and Thomas Wang. He received a full scholarship to attend the New England Conservatory of Music and upon graduation made his New York debut at Carnegie Hall as guest artist with Boston Musica Viva. Since then he has held positions of Concertmaster and Principal Second Violin in professional orchestras in Canada, the United States, and Hong Kong. While holding these key positions, he has worked under many world-class conductors including Charles Dutoit, Pierre Boulez, Simon Streatfield, Leon Fleisher, and Klaus Tennestedt. Most recently he was Guest Concertmaster of the Hong Kong Sinfonietta and traveled with them on their first tour of France.

Mr. Kho has also held conducting positions with orchestras at Dalhousie University (Canada) and Augusta State University, and at the Summer Workshop Program of University of Georgia. He has also guest conducted the Georgia Southern University orchestra. His solo performances have taken him worldwide from Symphony Nova Scotia, Montreal, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Georgia, to Hong Kong. He is also very active as chamber musician, performing with such notables as Walter Trampler, Malcolm Lowe, Gary Hoffman, Charles Wadsworth, and Colin Carr, with concerts broadcast on CBC Radio Canada, WQXR (New York), and NPR Radio.

Mr. Kho’s teaching positions include Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, University of Georgia at Athens, and, presently, University of South Carolina in Columbia and Georgia Southern University, where he is in residence as first violinist of the Magellan String Quartet. Mr. Kho spends his summers in New Hampshire performing with the New Hampshire Music Festival. He plays on a 1670 Andrea Guarnerius with a reparation top made by JB Guadagnini.

Carl Purdy was a pupil of Heidi Castleman and Walter Trampler at the New England Conservatory of Music, where he earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees. He was the principal violist of the La Crosse Symphony in Wisconsin before moving to Georgia for the position of violist with the Magellan String Quartet and Principal Viola with the Augusta Symphony in 1986. Mr. Purdy and Mr. Kho have taught and performed together as members of the Franciscan Chamber Players in residence at the Summer Music Monterey music camp. The Franciscan Chamber Players recorded a compact disc with Stephane Grappelli in 1991.

Mr. Purdy recently performed as soloist and chamber musician on the faculty of the 15th International Music Festival at Vale Veneto, Brazil. A versatile musician, he has recorded and toured internationally on the viola, jazz violin and viola, recorder, classical guitar, and folk guitar. He teaches viola and humanities at Augusta State University, and teaches viola and guitar at Georgia Southern University.

Ruth Berry was a pupil of Leslie Parnas at Boston University School of Music, and completed a Master’s at Cornell University. At Cornell she studied baroque cello with John Hsu and completed courses for a doctorate in musicology. Ms. Berry has held several principal cello positions and has recorded on the Spectrum and Nonesuch labels. She has taught at Mansfield University and did research for the New Grove Dictionary of Jazz.

Ms. Berry has performed as guest cellist with the Borromeo and Ying string quartets, and Bachman-Klibonoff-Fridman trio. She has performed at masterclasses for Yo Yo Ma, Janos Starker, Joseph Silverstein, and Rafael Druian. Ms. Berry joined the Magellan String Quartet and the Augusta Symphony as cellist/Principal Cello in 1990. She teaches cello and music appreciation at Georgia Southern University. Ms. Berry performs on cello and baroque cello with the Glimmerglass Opera company in Cooperstown, New York during the summers.