Jonathan Bagg, viola & Emely Phelps, piano

Duke viola professor Jonathan Bagg and pianist Emely Phelps perform a concert of shorter contrasting works that range from the 1930s up to the present moment. Andrew Norman's glorious "Sabina" evokes a breathtaking moment: dawn breaking in one of Rome's oldest churches and filling it with light. A world premiere by David Kirkland Garner evokes Philip Glass with pulsing rhythms and gorgeous harmonies. An early sonata by African American composer Ulysses Kay, a mature work by TJ Anderson, a long-time resident of Chapel Hill, and American Marion Bauer's Viola Sonata fill out the program with their distinguished, freshly awakened voices.

Free admission: no tickets or registration needed.

Jonathan Bagg is violist of the Ciompi String Quartet and Professor of the Practice at Duke University, where he teaches viola and chamber music and is former Chair of the Department of Music. His career with the Ciompi includes hundreds of concerts at chamber music venues across the U.S. and around the world, as well as many recordings. Currently co-Artistic Director of Electric Earth Concerts in New Hampshire, he also serves as principal violist of CityMusic chamber orchestra in Cleveland.

Prior to founding Electric Earth Concerts in 2013, Bagg directed the Monadnock Music festival for six years. Bagg's work as an Artistic Director has been supported by many different granting organizations, such as the NEA, the Goelet, Argosy, Copland foundations. As an Artistic Director, he has initiated creative collaborations between authors, poets, and choreographers, resulting in dozens of newly commissioned works.

Recitals have brought Bagg to venues such as the Phillips Collection in Washington, Boston's Jordan Hall, New Hampshire's Currier Gallery, and many other locations. Festival appearances include the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, the Eastern Music Festival, the Portland Chamber Music Festival, the Sebago-Long Lake festival, and the Highlands, Mohawk Trail, and Castle Hill festivals.

Praised by the Boston Globe for her "fleet, energetic, and bright-toned" playing, pianist Emely Phelps enjoys a versatile career as a chamber musician, soloist, and teacher. A finalist for the 2019 Pro Musicis International Award and the 2022-2023 Ernst Bacon Prize for American Music, Emely has given more than 40 performances over the past two years.