Program Includes:
- Prometheus Overture – Ludwig van Beethoven
- Triple Concerto – Ludwig van Beethoven (Featuring Emily Daggett Smith, violin; Zuill Bailey, cello; William Ransom, piano)
- Symphony No. 5 in D minor – Dmitri Shostakovich
CLASSICS 5 – Musical Revolutionaries
In our grand season finale, we mark the 200th anniversary of Beethoven’s passing as the performance begins with his Prometheus Overture, the opening to his only ballet. We are delighted to then be joined on stage by three internationally renowned soloists for Beethoven’s Triple Concerto: violinist Emily Daggett Smith (first violin of the Vega Quartet, Quartet-in-Residence at Emory University), cellist Zuill Bailey (Grammy Award-winning musician, Juilliard graduate, and professor of cello), and pianist William Ransom (Mary Emerson Professor of Piano at Emory University, Juilliard graduate, and award-winning artistic director).
Beethoven was unquestionably something of a revolutionary: he challenged the music of the day by pushing the boundaries of harmonic language, advancing new ideas, and pioneering unique approaches to musical structure and form. His iconic Ninth Symphony is an obvious example of this, introducing vocal soloists and a symphonic chorus into what had previously been an exclusively instrumental genre. The Triple Concerto brought a Classical chamber music ensemble—a piano trio—into a contemporaneous concerto setting, allowing the complexities and dialogues unique to an intimate chamber music environment to be experienced within an epic orchestral canvas.
The season concludes as it began, with the music of Dmitri Shostakovich. Like Beethoven, Shostakovich was deeply influenced by revolutionary, turbulent periods, with his music acting as a reflection of societal upheaval and the struggle for human freedom. While Beethoven was inspired in part by the French and American Revolutions to redefine musical structure in the early 19th century, Shostakovich’s life was shaped by the Russian Revolution and Stalinism. His Symphony No. 5 in D minor, composed during the height of the Stalinist purges, functioned as a creative response to severe political criticism. It is noted for its profound emotional depth and vigorous lyricism, combining forced optimism with underlying tension, despair, and defiance, as Shostakovich navigated the repressive political regime in a never-ending quest for a freedom of expression enjoyed and celebrated in many Western countries.
About Emily Daggett Smith
Praised as playing “gorgeously” (The Boston Globe) and with “irrepressible élan” (The Seattle Times), violinist Emily Daggett Smith has performed across the United States, Europe, South America, and Asia. Dr. Smith made her New York concerto debut playing the Beethoven Violin Concerto with the Juilliard Orchestra in Alice Tully Hall, and she has since performed with orchestras including the Iris Orchestra, the Festival Mozaic Orchestra, and the New York Classical Players. She has given solo recitals across the country at venues including the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater and Music in the Loft in Chicago.
Dr. Smith has performed with renowned musicians, including members of the Cleveland, Emerson, and Juilliard String Quartets, and her performances have taken place at some of the world’s greatest halls, including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Shanghai Grand Theatre, and the Vienna Konzerthaus. As concertmaster of the Juilliard Orchestra, she worked with renowned conductors including Michael Tilson Thomas and Leonard Slatkin, and she has appeared as guest concertmaster for orchestras including the Iris Orchestra, the Orlando Philharmonic, and The Knights.
Equally passionate about performing old and new music, Dr. Smith has premiered dozens of works as a soloist, chamber musician, and member of The Knights chamber orchestra. In 2021, as part of the University at Albany Art Museum’s exhibition WELL/BEING, Dr. Smith commissioned two new pieces, performed solo recitals, led masterclasses, and organized a chamber music program with The Knights. Despite her busy performance schedule, Dr. Smith is dedicated to teaching and has served on the faculty at the Bard Conservatory Pre-College, Bard College at Simon’s Rock, Stony Brook University, and The Juilliard School, where she is an assistant to Laurie Smukler. She holds Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Stony Brook University. Her teachers have included Soovin Kim, Philip Setzer, Joel Smirnoff, Laurie Smukler, and Donald Weilerstein. She plays on a Johannes Cuypers violin, generously donated by Dr. Marylou Witz.
About Zuill Bailey
Zuill Bailey, widely considered one of the premier cellists in the world, is a Grammy Award-winning, internationally renowned soloist, recitalist, artistic director, and teacher. His rare combination of celebrated artistry, technical wizardry, and engaging personality has made him one of the most sought-after and active cellists today.
Mr. Bailey has been featured with symphony orchestras and music festivals worldwide. He won the Best Classical Instrumental Solo Grammy Award in 2017 for his recording of Michael Daugherty’s Tales of Hemingway with the Nashville Symphony, led by Giancarlo Guerrero. His extensive discography includes his newest release: the world premiere recording of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s Cello Concerto with the Santa Rosa Symphony. In 2021, he released his second recording of the Bach Cello Suites for PS Audio’s Octave Records label, recorded and mixed in stereo and multichannel sound.
He appeared in a recurring role on the HBO series Oz and has been heard on NPR’s Morning Edition, Tiny Desk Concerts, Performance Today, Saint Paul Sunday, BBC’s In Tune, XM Radio’s Live from Studio II, and Sirius Satellite Radio’s Virtuoso Voices. His latest disc of Bach Suites was named Disc of the Week on SiriusXM’s Symphony Hall. Mr. Bailey received his Bachelor’s Degree from the Peabody Conservatory, where he was named the 2014 Johns Hopkins University Distinguished Alumnus, and he received a Master’s Degree from The Juilliard School. He performs on the “rosette” 1693 Matteo Goffriller cello, formerly owned by Mischa Schneider of the Budapest String Quartet.
He is the Artistic Director of El Paso Pro-Musica (Texas), the Sitka Summer Music Festival/Series and Cello Seminar (Alaska), Juneau Jazz & Classics (Alaska), the Northwest Bach Festival (Washington), and the Classical Inside Out Series at the Mesa Arts Center (Arizona). He is also the Director of the Center for Arts Entrepreneurship and Professor of Cello at the University of Texas at El Paso.
About William Ransom
Pianist, artistic director, master teacher, editor, and judge for international competitions, William Ransom has appeared around the world as a soloist with orchestras, a recitalist, and a chamber musician. He regularly collaborates with leading musicians including Yo-Yo Ma, Richard Stoltzman, David Shifrin, William Preucil, Steven Isserlis, Chee-Yun, Cho-Liang Lin, and Mark O’Connor, as well as members of the Emerson, Tokyo, Cleveland, Juilliard, American, St. Petersburg, Borromeo, Parker, Ariel, Vega, Lark, Dover, Dalí, and Attacca String Quartets.
Ransom is the Mary Emerson Professor of Music at Emory University, where he is the founder and Artistic Director of the Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta. A graduate of The Juilliard School, Ransom serves in the summers as Artistic Director of the Highlands-Cashiers Chamber Music Festival and was an artist-faculty member at the Kamisaibara Pianists Camp in Japan for a decade. In 2016, he was named Artistic Director of the Juneau Jazz & Classics Festival and was recognized as one of Musical America Worldwide’s “30 Professionals of the Year: Innovators.” In 2022, he was appointed Artistic Director of the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival, and in 2024, he was awarded Chamber Music America’s “Community Impact/Presenter of the Year” prize. Most recently, he helped found Music Milton, a new concert series in Milton, GA.
