Daniel Seyfried, piano, with Sandra Cotton, mezzo soprano; Simon Ertz, viola; Bonnie Thron, cello

This program explores Johannes Brahms' late style. Admission is free.

Daniel Seyfried is a Staff Accompanist in the Duke University Department of Music. He is a flexible performer with broad interests including Debussy and early twentieth-century composers, jazz-influenced classical composers, and performance on the fortepiano and historical instruments. Daniel earned his D.M.A. in Piano Performance and a Cognate in Pedagogy from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) in 2017. He has had many professional engagements including a lecture recital at The University of California at Berkeley, guest performances at The Manhattan School of Music, a Steinway Spotlight Performance in North Carolina, a recital in Taipei, Taiwan, and many rewarding regional performances. Daniel has the distinct privilege of working in a dynamic music department at Duke University as a staff accompanist in the voice area, for Duke Opera Theater, and is in demand as a collaborator in the Triangle.

Sandra Cotton, mezzo-soprano, joined the Voice Faculty at Duke University in 2007, where she teaches studio voice, the physiology of singing, class voice, diction, and musical theater performance. She received her undergraduate education at Northern Arizona University, where she studied with Dr. Lloyd Hanson. A student of Dr. Nancy Walker and Dr. Robert Wells, she received the Master of Music and Doctorate of Musical Arts in Vocal Performance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Simon Ertz is principal viola of the Winston Salem Symphony, North Carolina Opera and North Carolina Chamber Orchestra. As principal of Winston Salem Symphony he regularly performs solos, including in November 2016 performing the Britten Double Concerto. He plays as a regular substitute in both the North Carolina and Charlotte Symphonies. As an educator he teaches viola privately as well as at North Carolina State University, Duke University and Meredith College.

Bonnie Thron joined the North Carolina Symphony as principal cellist in 2000. She is an active chamber musician and recitalist and locally has been a guest artist with the Mallarmé Chamber Players and the Ciompi Quartet, as well as occasionally joining the Jacobowitz-Larkin Duo to form a clarinet trio called Three For All. In the Washington, D.C. area, she has recently been a guest with the American Chamber Players and performs regularly on the Washington Musica Viva series.