The Music and More Foundation presents
Musical Expressions and Impressions
for Dante & Dmitri
Monday, February 3, 2025, 7:00 PM
Americas Society
680 Park Avenue
New York City
Join us for a stellar evening of music performed by both world- renowned artists and young, up and coming musicians. Our featured program “Musical Expressions and Impressions” juxtaposes the traditional with the innovative, the known and unknown, and the old with the new.
The Music and More Foundation is a 501(c))(3) non-profit, US-based charitable organization. All Proceeds from the event benefit The Music and More Foundation’s mission. Ticket costs and all contributions are tax-deductible and 100% of donations are devoted to our vision.
Program
Sonata in G major for Two Cellos by Jean-Baptiste Barrière
III: Allegro prestissimo
Patrick Jee, cello and Elizabeth Kate, cello
INFERNO for Two Violins and Piano (2015) by Ionel Petroi
Movements 1-17, after Dante’s Divine Comedy
Weichao Zhu, violin; Danny Yang, violin; Ionel Petroi, piano
As One by Elizabeth Kate
Elizabeth Kate, cello & voice
Preludio-Fantasia, from the Suite for Cello Solo by Gaspar Cassadó
Patrick Jee, cello
Sonata for Cello and Piano in D minor, Op.40 by Dmitri Shostakovich
I: Allegro non troppo
II: Allegro
III: Largo
IV: Allegro
Patrick Jee, cello and Tatjana Rankovich, piano
Event Schedule
7:00 PM – Cocktail Hour
7:30 pm – Performance
8:45 pm – Reception
(Reception served by the Iconic NYC establishment PJ Bernstein)
Cost
$100 per person. Larger donations are gladly accepted.
Location
A New York City Landmark, The Americas Society is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Previously the Percy Rivington Pyne House that later served as the Soviet Mission to the United Nations, the building was acquired by Americas Society in 1965 when David Rockefeller established its organization as a premier forum dedicated to education, debate and understanding of the Americas.
Tickets
RSVP by getting your ticket online or send checks made out to The Music and More Foundation and mailed to: 230 Riverside Drive, Suite 12H, New York, NY 10025
The Music and More Foundation is a 501(c))(3) non-profit, US-based charitable organization. All Proceeds from the event benefit The Music and More Foundation’s mission. Ticket costs and all contributions are tax-deductible and 100% of donations are devoted to our vision.
About the Artists
Tatjana Rankovich a versatile musician, described by The New York Times as an “astonishingly good pianists,” Tatjana Rankovich has performed throughout the US, Canada, Europe, Central and South America. Her numerous recordings featuring many premier works can be heard on Naxos, Albany, Phoenix USA, IBox, Artek, Citadel and Dezil. She holds her BM and MM from the Juilliard and her Doctorate from Rutgers. Tatjana Rankovich is on the piano faculty at Mannes Prep and a visiting Professor at ECPD – European Center for Peace and Development in Belgrade, Serbia. She is a Founding Director of the Music & More SummerFest – International Classical Music Festival & Summer Academy in Trebinje, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and President of The Music and More Foundation, a non-profit charitable organization based in the US.
Cellist Patrick Jee joined the New York Philharmonic in 2013. A native New Yorker, a cellist known for his splendid sound, extraordinary technical ability and interpretive clarity and charisma has toured extensively in the US, Europe, Asia, making appearances at all major concert halls around the worlds. A Grand Prize winner of the Carlos Prieto International Cello Competition, he has appeared as a soloist with the Buffalo and Rochester Philharmonic, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Edmonton Symphony and Orchestra National d’ÎIe de France among many others. Patrick Jee is an avid chamber musician. Heholds his degrees from The Juilliard and Yale. And he can be heard on Albany, Urtext, and HM record labels.
Elizabeth Kate is a cellist and vocalist—often both at the same time—based in both Brooklyn, NYC and Oslo, Norway. Her work focuses on the contemporary classical genre, expanding and pioneering a new repertoire of music for vocalizing cellists. Elizabeth is actively composing and commissioning new works as a solo artist and with her contemporary ensemble, AREPO, which features a unique instrumentation of accordion, cello, clarinet, and electric guitar and which was founded during her time in Norway. She has performed at major events, including the Eighth Blackbird Creative Lab and a forthcoming album release concert for Listening: Time, a 40-minute piece composed by Ferdinand Schwarz, set to release in April 2025 under the experimental music label Another Timbre. Elizabeth holds a BM and BA from Oberlin College and Conservatory and an MM from the Norwegian Academy of Music. She plays on a French 18th-century Andrea Castegnari cello, gifted by the Virtu Foundation for emerging artists.
Ionel Petroi is a prolific composer who has written more than 90 orchestral, chamber music, ballet music, film music, opera and instrumental ensemble works, many of which were performed by the Belgrade Philharmonic, Luxembourg Philharmonic, Orchestre d’lle de France, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Radio France Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France and others. A French citizen, Ionel was born in 1958 in Uzdin, the Former Yugoslavia, of Romanian parents. After winning the prestigious First Prize in Composition, “Stevan Hristic” in Belgrade in 1983, he continued his postgraduate studies at the Conservatoire National Superiur de Musique in Paris, where he won the Premier Prix of 1988, in Composition. There, he studied with Claude Ballif and Marius Constant and was under the tutorship of: Massiaen, Ligeti, Xenakis and Boulez. His works have been broadcasted worldwide and are published by: Universal Music Publishing Classical (Durand, Salabert), Ricordi and IBOX.
Hsiang-Jen (Danny) Yang, a versatile violinist and educator, has been recognized for his artistry and leadership in the classical music field. He is the 1st Place Winner of the National Tsing Hua University Concerto Competition (2016) and the Pragues National Music Competition in Taiwan, Junior Division (2011). These accomplishments highlight his technical proficiency and musical expressiveness, which have earned him acclaim on national and international stages. Danny has captivated audiences through both solo and collaborative performances. And as a frequent concertmaster with various orchestras, Danny is known for his exceptional leadership and musicality. Currently pursuing his Doctor of Musical Arts in Violin Performance at Arizona State University under the guidance of Professor Danwen Jiang, Danny continues to refine his craft and inspire the next generation of musicians.
Weichao Zhu, a student of Professor Cyrus Beroukhim, is currently a doctoral student majoring in violin performance at New York University. He previously studied violin with Professor Danwen Jiang at Arizona State University for his Bachelor’s degree, followed by Master’s degree in Performance and Literature with Professor Renée Jolles at Eastman School of Music. He is amultiple award winner in statewide and worldwide music competitions including the Golden Classical Musician Award of 2021 Grand Prize Virtuoso International Violin Competition, the National Top-Six of 2021 United States Music Teachers National Association Young Artist String Competition, the First Place of 2020 MTNA Arizona State and Southwest Division Young Artist String Competition, and the First Prize of 2017 Vienna Leschetitzky International Violin Competition. As the recipient of the Harriet L. Freye Memorial Music Scholarship and the Gladys O’Donnell String Fellowship, Weichao Zhu has appeared at several annual summer performance festivals including International Keyboard Arts Society CollabFest, Music&MoreSummerFest in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montecito International Music Festival in California, Red Rocks Music Festival in Arizona, InterHarmony International Music Festival in Italy, Zodiac Music Academy and Festival in France, Hong Kong International Music Festival, and Sulzbach-Rosenberg Music Festival in Germany.