A Vibrant Legacy: Chamber Music of a Lost Generation

Yumi Hwang-Williams, violin

Sheila Reinhold, violin, viola

Seoyoen Min, cello

Feiner Family Chapel, Temple Emanuel Denver

51 Grape Street, Denver CO 80220

Admission free, registration required (registration link)

In observance of Colorado Holocaust Remembrance Week, please join violinist Yumi Hwang-Williams, violinist/violist Sheila Reinhold, and cellist Seoyoen Min for a concert in Temple Emanuel Denver’s intimate Feiner Chapel, featuring music   

by composers who were murdered or who suffered persecution, exile, and tragic loss during the Holocaust. We are fortunate to be able to play these wonderful works, and their beauty and creativity still speak to us today.

This year's short and varied program will include the lyrical Serenade for string trio by Sándor Kuti, killed in 1944 at age 36; the witty 1924 Duo for Violin and Cello by Hanns Eisler, who escaped to the United States in 1938 only to be deported in the McCarthy era; the hauntingly beautiful Sonata for Two Violins by Mieczysław Weinberg, who at age 19 was the only one of his family to survive the Nazi invasion of Warsaw; and the powerful Tanec (Dance) for string trio by Hans

Krása, written in the Terezin internment camp before he was transported to his death in 1944.

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Yumi Hwang-Williams (violin) has served as Concertmaster of the Colorado Symphony since 2000. She made her debut at the age of fifteen as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, six years after emigrating from South Korea, and has appeared as soloist with major orchestras both in the U.S. and abroad, including the Cincinnati Symphony, the Indianapolis Symphony, Sinfonieorchester Basel (Switzerland), and the Bruckner Orchester Linz (Austria), in addition to frequent performances as soloist with the Colorado Symphony. As a chamber musician, she has performed with Gary Graffman, Ida Kavafian, Jeffrey Kahane, Christopher O'Riley, Jon Kimura Parker, and Andrew Litton, and she is especially committed to the work of current-day composers, Strings magazine calling her “a modern Prometheus” who has “emerged as a fiery champion of contemporary classical music”. She is Adjunct Violin Professor at the University of Denver Lamont School of Music and is actively involved in advancing the arts in the community.

 Sheila Reinhold (violin/viola), curator of this concert, first performed as soloist with orchestra at age nine. At fifteen, she joined Jascha Heifetz’s master class, where she studied for five years. Her career has included chamber music with Heifetz and cellist Gregor Piatigorsky, appearances as soloist with major orchestras, and freelance work from Broadway to movie scores. She has had a lifelong dedication to teaching, serving as adjudicator, guest teacher and chamber music coach at, among others, the Juilliard School, Mannes College, Manhattan School of Music, Eastman School of Music and Columbia University, in addition to her private teaching. She is the founder and Music Director of Intimate Voices, a chamber music series with community outreach in New York City, now in its 15th season. Last season she offered an evening course through the University of Denver Enrichment Program on the topic of persecuted composers and the Holocaust,  Banned Music Reborn: The Rediscovery of Two Generations of European Composers. 

Seoyoen Min (cello) has served as Principal Cello of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra since the 2019-2020 season. A native of South Korea and a graduate of Seoul National University, she has won first prize in the Strad Music, Music Association of Korea, and Segye Times competitions, among others. She received her M.Mus.degree from Northwestern University in Chicago, studying with Hans Jørgen Jensen, and made her debut in 2016 in the Young Artist of Youngsan Debut Concert Series. She is an active soloist in both the United States and South Korea, and her chamber music activities have included collaborations with cellist Lynn Harrell and violinist Kyung Sun Lee. In addition to her position with the Colorado Symphony, she is active locally both as chamber musician and teacher, and she has served as guest faculty at a variety of music institutions, including recently teaching a masterclass at the University of Wyoming.