Audiences will hear two very different and personal reactions in the aftermath of World War II. Sergei Prokofiev’s haunting, visceral Violin Sonata No. 1 in F minor, composed 1938-46, is juxtaposed with Ross Lee Finney’s tender, optimistic suite of folk tunes, Fiddle-Doodle-Ad (1948). The sunny, rambunctious disposition of Beethoven’s 8th Violin Sonata sets the context for some of Beethoven’s inner turmoil in the early 1800s. Beethoven was conflicted: he admired Napoleon Bonaparte, but he also sensed that Napoleon had his military eye on Austria. Shortly after the publication of this work, Napoleon marched into Vienna and brazenly declared himself Austrian Emperor. Leoš Janáček’s turbulent Violin Sonata is steeped in Moravian folk music. “I wrote the Violin Sonata at the beginning of the war when we were expecting the Russians in Moravia,” he said. But those hopes were dashed on August 1, 1914, when Germany declared war on Russia. Janáček later dramatically inscribed this momentous date into the manuscript of the Sonata, which he published in 1922.

MIRANDA CUCKSON

Miranda Cuckson has delighted audiences with her playing of a wide range of music and styles, from older eras to the newest creations. A distinctive and greatly acclaimed soloist and collaborator, she performs at venues large and small, from casual spaces to concert halls. These have included the Berlin Philharmonie, Suntory Hall, Casa da Musica Porto, Teatro Colón, Cleveland Museum, Art Institute of Chicago, Strathmore, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra’s Liquid Music series, 92nd St Y, National Sawdust, and the Ojai, Bard, Marlboro, Portland, Music Mountain, West Cork, Grafenegg, Wien Modern, and LeGuessWho festivals. Miranda made her Carnegie Hall debut playing Piston’s Concerto No. 1 with the American Symphony Orchestra. She recently premiered Georg Friedrich Haas’ Violin Concerto No. 2 with four orchestras in Japan and Europe, and Violin Concerto by Marcela Rodriguez with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México. Upcoming concerts include recitals at San Francisco Performances and on tour in Germany, and a performance of the Haas concerto in Vienna.

Reflecting her deeply felt perspective as a multiethnic American, Miranda works with an array of artists from many backgrounds. She has given innumerable premieres, had many substantial works written for her, and works with promising young artists and the most renowned composers of our era. She is a member of interdisciplinary collective AMOC* and founder/director of non-profit Nunc. She has guest curated at National Sawdust and done programming of chamber concerts at the Contempo series in Chicago and Miller Theater in New York, among others.

Miranda’s many lauded albums include Világ featuring the Bartok Solo Sonata along with new works; a live recording of the Ligeti Violin Concerto; the Korngold and Ponce concertos; several albums of music by major American composers; Bartók, Schnittke and Lutoslawski on ECM; Melting the Darkness, an album of microtonal and electronic music; and Nono’s La lontananza nostalgica utopica futura, which was named a Best Recording of the Year by The New York Times.

Miranda is an alumna of The Juilliard School, having studied there from Pre-College through her doctorate, and she was awarded the school’s Presser Award. She teaches at the Mannes School of Music at New School University.

BLAIR MCMILLEN

Hailed by the New York Times as “prodigiously accomplished and exciting” and as one of the piano’s “brilliant stars,” pianist Blair McMillen has forged a musical life that is unbounded by convention. He is well-known for his advocacy of living composers and contemporary music, as well as for championing very early keyboard music and more recent neglected masterpieces. For more than two decades, McMillen has divided his time as piano soloist, chamber musician, music festival director, and educator/teacher.

Blair McMillen has performed in major concert venues in New York, throughout the United States, and around the world. Recent appearances include concertos with the American Symphony Orchestra in Carnegie Hall, solo appearances with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and a 3-week solo tour of Brazil sponsored by the US State Department. He is a member of several prominent ensembles, including the American Modern Ensemble, the six-piano “supergroup” Grand Band, and the Perspectives Ensemble, among others. For 10 years he was pianist for the Naumburg Award-winning Da Capo Chamber Players. He has also performed with the International Contemporary Ensemble, the Knights, and the LPR Ensemble.