Music for Peace: Athena’s Oboe

For our Spring concert this April, we honor the Greek Goddess of Wisdom and the mythical inventor of the oboe with the program “Athena’s Oboe.” Join us as we revisit classical works as well as sample neo-classical ones. Delight in the virtuoso music of Mozart and Beethoven. Revel in the humor and rhapsody of Grazyna Bacewicz. Call forth Spring with Athena’s oboe!

Violinist Jean Bäverstam, violinist/violist Amy Galluzzo, and cellist Sam Ou are critically acclaimed artists who are known for their “riveting,” “nuanced,” “fiery,” and “meltingly melodic outpourings” that have left audiences “speechless.”

Amanda Hardy’s gorgeous oboe sounds are familiar to Boston Symphony Orchestra audiences. She is a frequent guest principal oboist with the BSO and is principal oboist with the Portland Maine Symphony Orchestra.

Program

Beethoven String Trio in G major, op. 9 no. 1
Bacewicz Oboe Trio
Mozart Duo no. 2 in Bb major for Violin and Viola
Mozart Oboe Quartet

The concert will be held at Harvard-Epworth Methodist Church, 1555 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge 02138, near Harvard Law School.

Benefits Massachusetts Peace Action Education Fund.  $25 for Mass. Peace Action members, $10 for students and low incomes.

To reserve, write a check to “Massachusetts Peace Action Education Fund” or “MAPA EF” and mail to MAPA EF, 1991 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02140, or call 617-354-2169 with credit card number.  Or reserve your tickets online.

Donations to support our work for peace are welcome in any amount. Supporters donate $250 or more to Massachusetts Peace Action Education Fund; they receive two tickets with preferred seating in the first 3 rows and recognition in the program. Sponsors donate $500 and receive four tickets; Benefactors donate $1,000 and receive eight tickets.  All contributions above $25 per concert are tax-deductible.

The audience is invited to join the musicians and Peace Action members at a reception after the concert.  The venue is wheelchair accessible via the entrance on the right as you face the church.

Amanda Hardy joined the Portland (Maine) Symphony Orchestra as principal oboe in November 2013 where she occupies the Clinton Graffam Chair. An in-demand artist in New England and beyond, Amanda is a frequent performer with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops, with whom she has both toured internationally and recorded.   Amanda recently joined the faculty at Boston University as Lecturer in Oboe, is Assistant Professor of Oboe at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, and is on the faculty of New England Conservatory Preparatory School. She holds a Bachelor of Music in oboe with a piano minor from Drake University and a Master of Music and Graduate Diploma from NEC. Previous festivals include the Masterworks Festival, the Chelsea Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival and School, and Tanglewood Music Center in 2010 and 2011 where she was awarded the Mickey L. Hooten Memorial Award both summers. Her solo work can be heard on, Dancing with J.S. Bach (2019), on the Chelsea Music Festival Live label. Her teachers include John Ferrillo, Marilyn Zupnik, Anne Gabriele, and Jay Light; summer studies with Elaine Douvas and Richard Woodhams.

Demonstrating “superior leading” (Boston Musical Intelligencer), Taiwanese violinist Jean Huang Bäverstam‘s active performing career has brought her to concert halls internationally and have impacted listeners throughout the United States. “(I was) left speechless after having the chance to watch and listen to Jean Huang close up” is how WBUR-FM described her performance. Huang holds a Doctoral of Musical Arts degree in Violin Performance with honors from the New England Conservatory with the Doctoral thesis topic “A Performative Analysis and the Critical Edition: Francis Poulenc Violin Sonata”. Huang maintains a private studio in Boston, with students ranging from six years old to adults. She also teaches violin at the NEC School of Continuing Education and Preparatory School.

An active performer, Jean serves as the Concertmaster of both Phoenix Orchestra in Boston and Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra and has received recognition from local prominent newspapers and music critics.  Jean’s recent concerto appearances include a sold-out performance of Vaughan William’s Lark Ascending with the CCCO, and Mozart’s Violin Concerto No.5 with the Music for Peace Orchestra under the direction of Victor Rosenbaum.  A consummate artist, Jean delves into all aspects of her field. In the summer of 2013, she designed and created her own violin which was based on a Guarnerius model. Her other affiliations include Miclot Chamber Players, Vangarde Orchestra, Anastasia String Quartet, and Trio Flamecrest.

Praised for her “nuanced Mozartian phrasing” and her “delicacy and, when needed, force” (Boston Musical Intelligencer), violinist and violist, Amy Galluzzo enjoys an active career as both a chamber musician and soloist. For many years, Amy was a member of the Carpe Diem String Quartet, touring around the United States and internationally, performing a wide range of repertoire.  Amy has performed at several prestigious summer festivals, including the Tanglewood Music Festival, Chelsea Music Festival, Taos, and Sarasota Music Festival, and has collaborated with artists such as Masuko Ushioda, John Ferrillo, James Buswell and Carol Ou. More unusual collaborations include Yihan Chen, pipa, Scott McConnell, steel pan, and Dariush Saghafi, santoor.

Amy Galluzzo began her violin studies in Great Britain and went on to study with Dona Lee Croft, a professor at the Royal College of Music, London. Amy received her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music with Honors, and a Graduate Diploma from the New England Conservatory in Boston, where she studied with Marylou Speaker Churchill and James Buswell. She is currently a candidate for the degree of PhD from the Steinhardt School, New York University.  Amy teaches through the New England Conservatory Preparatory School and Continuing Education department.

Praised for his “impassioned performance” (Boston Globe) and playing “with remarkable ease and clarity, while maintaining a graceful—if vociferous—line that fit well into the narrative” (The Boston Musical Intelligencer), cellist Sam Ou enjoys an active musical life in the Greater Boston area.  Mr. Ou gave the world premiere performance of Larry Bell’s Cello Concerto: The Triumph of Lightness with the Boston Civic Symphony at New England Conservatory of Music’s Jordan Hall (NEC).  In March of this year, he performed Yehudi Wyner’s Cello Concerto: Prologue and Narrative with the New England Philharmonic to celebrate the Pulitzer prize-winning composer’s 95th birthday.

An avid chamber musician, Mr. Ou has collaborated and performed with the Borromeo String Quartet, James Buswell, Lucy Chapman, Hung-Kuan Chen, Pi-Hsien Chen, James Dunham, Thomas Hill, Patricia McCarty, Paul Neubauer, Heiichiro Ohyama, Lois Shapiro, Marcus Thompson, and Yehudi Wyner.  As one-half of the Formosa Duo, he performs regularly with pianist Chi-Chen Wu.

Mr. Ou became the new assistant professor of cello and music theory at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania starting in the fall of 2024.  For the past two decades, he has been a faculty member at NEC’s Preparatory School and School of Continuing Education, where he also served as assistant string chair.