Belmont Abbey College

The Degas Quartet is one of America’s finest performing ensembles, celebrated by audiences and critics alike for vibrant performances of classical and contemporary repertoire. Founded at the Bowdoin Music Festival in 2000, the Degas Quartet has since performed in many of the world’s finest halls, including Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, Atlanta’s Spivey Hall, and the Library of Congress.

The Degas Quartet is committed to developing innovative residency programs that bring chamber music to the widest possible audience. The Degas Quartet is the current recipient of a residency grant from Chamber Music America for their North Carolina Quartet Project. This project combines university residencies at Appalachian State University, UNC Wilmington, and UNC Pembroke with extensive community education and outreach activity. Prior to this residency project, the Degas Quartet held a three-year residency with the Western Piedmont Symphony in Hickory, North Carolina.

Strong advocates for the performance and composition of new music, the Degas Quartet has premiered numerous new compositions and sponsored commissions from many of America’s leading composers.

The Degas Quartet has performed with many esteemed artists in concert, including pianist Wu Han at the Aspen Music Festival, pianist Awadagin Pratt at the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, cellist Steven Doane, and jazz bassist Christian McBride.

Beginning her piano study in Hong Kong at the age of four, Cynthia Lawing was recognized as an outstanding concert pianist at an early age.  She studied at Wittenburg University and at The Cleveland Institute of Music.

Her performance career has taken her throughout the United States and Asia, where she is highly respected as a concert soloist and chamber artist.  She has performed with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the Charlotte Symphony, the Davidson College Symphony Orchestra, The Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, the Springfield Symphony, and the Piedmont Concert Band.

Aside from traditional Classical repertoire from various eras, she has specialized in recitals with particular themes.  An active member of the Orpheus Alliance, she frequently presents world premieres of new music.More recently, she has explored the emerging repertoire of Chinese piano music in the folk tradition, and has featured this on recitals.  Currently, she is focusing upon transcriptions of some of the major jazz stylists.

She has been heard on four continents as a soloist, performing recitals and concertos in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, France, and Chile. In addition to her solo work, she has enjoyed a lifelong partnership with her sister, Gloria Cook, also a concert pianist.  The two have frequently toured together, in the U.S. and in Asia, and have performed many recitals and concertos.

She has enjoyed being a chamber performer throughout her career including many collaborative performances with William Lawing.

She is an Artist Associate in Piano at Davidson College, Davidson, NC and a composer  works for piano, for solo instrument and piano, and for choir.

To worship God through one's craft was the highest artistic ideal of medieval times. Carolina Pro Musica interprets the emotions of life with an eye on times gone by. This musical journey, inspired by the artistic creativity of 11th c. Hildegard and the pilgrimages (Cantigas de Santa Maria and The Llibre Vermell), offers insight for the 21st century. Belmont Abbey Basilica, reverberant and highly suitable for voices and early instruments, provides a perfect setting.

More: Belmont Abbey's resident early music ensemble Carolina Pro Musica was established in 1977 to provide an early music presence for the Charlotte, North Carolina region. A Charlotte concert series is now in its 32nd season. The ensemble performs music of all periods but specializes on music before 1800 with early instruments. In 2004 the ensemble presented a medieval program at Belmont Abbey for a Lilly Fellows Regional Conference.

Hailed by critics as “a grand departure from the usual” (News Herald), the Manhattan Piano Trio has quickly become one of the most creative, exciting, and dynamic young ensembles in the United States. With more than 300 concerts in its first five seasons alone, it is one of the most active groups in the classical music scene, welcomed by enthusiastic audiences in over 30 states, across three continents, and in venues such as Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall, and the Ravinia Festival. The Sarasota Herald Tribune said “one seldom is privileged to enjoy music of such a wide range of styles performed with self-effacing skill and relaxed assurance.”

In 2010, the Trio will release its third album, a disc of Schumann and Chopin trios for the Marquis Classics label, in celebration of the composers’ bicentennials. Since its formation, MPT has carved out a unique niche for itself by performing concerts in a much wider range of settings – from major concert halls around the country to venues in smaller towns.  Past seasons have brought the group to virtually every part of the country. As part of the community rebuilding effort in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, they were one of the first musical groups to perform in the city and were honored to give a benefit concert at the University of New Orleans.

The Manhattan Piano Trio is an ensemble that embodies, in the deepest sense, the borough that provides its namesake: these three musicians represent starkly different backgrounds, and yet connect on a fundamental level to enjoy making music together. Wayne Lee, violinist, is originally from San Francisco; the group’s cellist, Dmitry Kouzov, grew up in St. Petersburg, Russia; and Milana Strezeva, pianist, is a native of Kishinev, Moldova and a naturalized American. Dmitry and Milana are founding members of the group; Wayne joined in 2008.In addition to their concert schedule, the members of MPT are award-winning soloists who have performed internationally. They are also devoted teachers; Milana and Wayne maintain private studios in New York, and Dmitry is Assistant Professor of Cello at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The performers themselves all completed graduate degrees at the Juilliard School, and the group still resides and performs regularly in Manhattan.

Carolina Pro Musica was established in 1977 to provide an early music presence for the Charlotte, North Carolina region with a concert series that continues. The ensemble has performed in eastern United States (primarily the southeast), in Europe and in the United Kingdom including Hatchlands (The Cobbe Collection) and the Handel House Museum. The group has received grants from local, state and national organizations and project funding from private and public sources.

Under the direction of Robert Pritchard and accompanied by J. Michael Grant, the group performs short-form classical music from all periods and genres. Renaissance is comprised of talented singers who share a love for the choral instrument and the vast body of literature written for that instrument. Renaissance will perform music from the English Choral tradition including works by Gibbons, Wood and Boyle.