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Event
A Duet among the Daffodils
Praised by critics for their expressive grace and finesse and playing that is vibrant and focused, the Miller-Porfiris Duo has been delighting audiences since 2005. Anton Miller, violin and Rita Porfiris, viola first met over 20 years ago while studying at the Juilliard School. The duo has given concerts and masterclasses at festivals and institutions across the United States, Central America, and Europe. With intimate tables arranged around the performers in the Guild Hall. $20/$15 seniors/students includes refreshments during the performance. Sponsored by Friends of Music at St. Johns. A Newport Daffodil Days event. $5 off to wearers of a Daffodil Days daffy deals pin! (When ordering tickets online, please pay the full price; if you arrive with tickets wearing a pin, we will give you $5 back.)
The PROGRAM on April 20 is entitled "An American Songbook, Reimagined: Music of Jerome Kern, George Gershwin, Martinu, and more!"
Miller Porfiris Duo
Anton Miller, violin
Rita Porfiris, viola
"You would have to go a long way to hear better duet playing than this"-The Whole
note.com, May 2017
The Miller-Porfiris Duo has been delighting audiences since 2005. Recent seasons
have seen tours around the United States, Europe and Israel; appearances on the
Chamber Music of Little Rock, Chamber Music Pittsburgh, Tel Aviv Museum, and
Sheldon Friends of Music series; and collaborations with Lynn Harrell, Jamie Laredo,
and Joseph Kalichstein.
On faculty of the Hartt School in Connecticut, the duo has been in residency and given
seminars and masterclasses at festivals and institutions such as New York University,
Duke University, Kutztown University, Foulger Festival, St. George International Festival
in Greece, ARIA International Arts Academy at Mt. Holyoke College, Three Bridges
International Chamber Music Festival at the University of Minnesota Duluth, the Festival
Eterna Primavera in Cuernavaca Mexico, Conciertos de la Villa Santo Domingo, and
the Iceland Academy for the Arts. They were recently appointed co-directors of the Point
Counterpoint Chamber Music camp for High School students.
Committed to expanding the repertoire for violin and viola, in 2010 they commissioned
and recorded 3 new works for violin and viola by Belize-born British composer Errollyn
Wallen, Argentinean composer Mario Diaz Gavier, and American composer Libby
Larsen for their debut CD Five Postcards. Their second CD, titled Eight Pieces and
released in 2013, was deemed a fine new recording and praised for its wonderfully
smooth ensemble work and vibrant and focused playing by Gramophone and Audible
Audiophile Magazines. Recent acclaim from Fanfare for the Duo's third CD, entitled
"Divertimenti" declares their playing "a lightning bolt" and speaks to the "color, fire, and
passion."
For more information about their CDs and schedule of concerts and masterclasses, visit
their website at www.millerporfirisduo.org.
"Violinist Anton Miller and violist Rita Porfiris sailed through the piece with admirable
expressive flair and technical poise, smoothly backed by conductor and ensemble. The
soloists tossed in a welcome encore -- a souped-up version of the Handel-Halvorsen
Passacaglia that included a wry touch of Piazzolla -- and played the heck out of it"
-Baltimore Sun
"The troupe navigated the complex counterpoint well in movement one. Soloists play
well together, assisted by their constant attention to each others performance nuances.
The attention produced an excellent show for the Miller-Porfiris Duo with standing,
cheering patrons wanting more." - Lincoln Journal-Star
Bio ANTON MILLER
Since giving his Carnegie Hall concerto debut, American violinist ANTON MILLER has
appeared throughout the United States and abroad as a soloist, chamber musician, recitalist, and pedagogue. Mr. Miller has performed over fifty violin concertos with a number of orchestras on four continents. His world premiere performance of Xiogang Yes Last Paradise for violin and orchestra in Beijing, China with the Central Philharmonic Orchestra was recorded for broadcast throughout Asia and released on CD. Mr. Miller has also been concertmaster for a number of orchestras including almost thirty years with Lincoln Symphony Orchestra and the New Jersey Festival Orchestra. He was also
concertmaster for an Argentinian tour of the American Ballet Theatre.
He has made a number of recital and chamber music tours to Europe with
performances in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Greece and England. A long
time resident of the East Coast, Anton has performed more than a hundred chamber
music concerts and recitals in the New York City area. Performances have included
such venues as Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall and Merkin Hall. Mr.
Millers dedication to expanding the violin repertoire can be seen in his frequent
commissions and premieres of the music of living composers. Recently recorded and
released CDs include three albums with violist Rita Porfiris (Miller-Porfiris Duo) one of
which features new music for violin and viola by composers of the Americas. Another
newly released CD features Kurt Weill's Violin Concerto. Anton's complete discography
can be found on Dorian, Jericho, Full House, Hugo, Naxos, Klavier and MP2 Records.
Anton Miller completed his Master of Music degree at The Juilliard School studying with
renowned violin pedagogue Dorothy DeLay and chamber music with Felix Galimir
and members of the Juilliard Quartet. He received his Bachelor of Music Degree
from Indiana University as a student of Franco Gulli and was awarded the
prestigious Performers Certificate.
He is currently Professor of Violin at The Hartt School. He previously has been on the
faculty of New York University, the Oberlin Conservatory, Lawrence University, and
Swarthmore College. Mr. Miller was a founder and Artistic Director of the Three Bridges
International Chamber Music Festival in Minnesota, as well as a co-Artistic Director of
the Silver Bay Festival. Past and current festival faculty positions also include Foulger
International Music Academy, the Intensive String Quartet Workshop at New York
University, Aria International Academy, the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, the Festival
Eterna Primavera in Cuernavaca, Mexico, the Summer Festival of Thessaloniki,
Musicorda, Hsing Tien Kon (Taiwan), Bearstown (Korea), Killington, Hot Springs, and
New Arts Festival. As a chamber musician he can be heard in concert with the Miller-
Porfiris Duo, Hartt Quartet, Con Brio Ensemble and the Phenix Ensemble.
www.antonmiller.com
Bio RITA PORFIRIS
American violist RITA PORFIRIS has performed in major concert halls and music festivals
worldwide as a chamber musician, orchestral musician, and as a soloist.
Currently the Associate Professor of Viola and Director of Chamber Music at The Hartt School, she has also been on the faculties of New York University, the University of Houston Moores School of Music, Florida International University, and the Harlem School for the Arts in New York. She has given master classes, lectures and clinics across the U.S., United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Argentina, Brazil, Iceland, and the Dominican Republic.
Ms. Porfiris is a member of the Hartt String Quartet and the Miller-Porfiris Duo. As a founding member of the Plymouth Quartet, she was in-residence at the Ojai Festival, Mainly Mozart, Point Counterpoint, and the Internationale Quartettakademie Prag-Wien-Budapest. She was the recipient of Austrias prestigious Prix Mercure, a prize winner in the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition and the Primrose International Viola Competition, and a laureate of the Paolo Borciani International Quartet Competition.
In her 20 year-long career as an orchestral musician, 15 years of which were spent with the Houston Symphony, she worked under some of the most recognized conductors of the 20-21 Centuries, including Leonard Bernstein, Sergiu Celibidache, Kurt Masur, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Christoph Eschenbach. Equally at home in a.wide variety of genres, Rita has shared the stage with Burt Bacharach, Ray Charles, Bernadette Peters, Lyle Lovett, Rod Stewart, and Tony Bennett, to name a few.
Highlights of recent seasons include sold-out Bartok Concerto appearances at the historic
Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Germany, and a performance of the rarely played Romantic Rhapsody for Violin, Viola and Orchestra by Arthur Benjamin as part of the Miller-Porfiris Duo. In May 2016, the Baltimore Sun declared "Rita Porfiris proved an ideal soloist, as much for her richness of tone and impeccable articulation as for the warmth and subtlety of her phrasing."
Ritas transcriptions for the viola of both classical music staples and pop favorites have been enjoyed worldwide by audiences and performers. Gramophone Magazine called her
transcription of Glieres Eight Pieces Op. 39, recorded on the Miller-Porfiris Duos second CD Eight Pieces, "satisfying" and "sung with beautiful warmth." Ms. Porfiris received both her BM and MM in Viola Performance from The Juilliard School, studying with William Lincer. Other teachers and mentors included Paul Doktor, Norbert Brainin, and Harvey Shapiro.
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LocationGuild Hall of Church of Saint John the Evangelist, Newport (View)
61 Poplar Street
Newport, RI 02840
United States
Categories
| Minimum Age: 5 |
| Kid Friendly: Yes! |
| Dog Friendly: Yes! |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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