Cellist Juliette Herlin and pianist Kevin Ahfat present a concert of French repertoire by Henri Duparc, Reynaldo Hahn, Claude Debussy, Camille Saint-Saëns, and Francis Poulenc for this Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert broadcast.
French cellist Juliette Herlin has performed throughout Europe, the US, and Asia as soloist, chamber musician, and recitalist in such prestigious venues as the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the Musée du Louvre and the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Alice Tully Hall in New York, the Zhuhai and Chonqchin Grand Theaters in China, and the Minsk Philharmony in Belarus. Recently, she made her South Korean debut of Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with the Gustav Malher Orchestra at the Busan Maru International Music Festival. Highlights of this season include a Chicago recital at the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts with pianist Kevin Ahfat, a 10-city China tour with the Aletheia Piano Trio, and performances as part of the Shenson Chamber Music Concerts, Boston Court Pasadena and Le Salon de Musiques.
An avid chamber musician, Ms. Herlin has shared the stage with Donald Weilerstein, Glenn Dicterow, Roger Tapping, and Martin Chalifour, among others. She is a founding member of the Aletheia Piano Trio and has been invited to the Yellow Barn, Perlman Music Program, Music Academy of the West, Encuentro de Santander, and Pablo Casals festivals. Winner of the Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe String Competition, she also received first prizes at the International Vatelot/Rampal Music Competition and UFAM Competition in Paris, and she is a Beverly Hills National Auditions winner. After studying at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and the Juilliard School, Ms. Herlin is now completing her doctoral degree at USC under the guidance of Ralph Kirshbaum.
As a pianist that “leaves no question about his riveting presentation and technical finesse” (Seattle Times), Canadian-born pianist Kevin Ahfat is acclaimed to be “poised to become one of the young heirs of the classical piano realm, with a bold, boundary- pushing, millennial style matched by refined execution” (Vanguard Seattle), “summoning plenty of thunderpower in the big moments, but clearly valuing musicianship over mere showmanship” (American Record Guide). In 2018, Ahfat was named one of CBC Music’s 30 hot Canadian classical musicians under 30 and subsequently released a live recording of Brahms from CBC’s Studio 211.
Highlights of recent seasons include a return to the Seattle Symphony at Benaroya Hall for its first-ever Shostakovich Concerto Festival, a partnership with Juilliard Dance & Juilliard Orchestra in their recreation of Richard Alston’s Sheer Bravado, as well as giving the inaugural masterclass & recital for the Las Vegas Masterclass Series. This past season, he was thrilled to give the North American Premiere of Saint-Saëns’ Third Sonata for Cello and Piano, recently published by Bärenreiter-Verlag. In anticipation of this premiere, Ahfat filmed & produced a mini-documentary titled Soirée pour Camille, a short film documenting the historical context of the work, the artistic partnership of Ahfat & Herlin, and their joint exploration of French music.
Ahfat completed undergraduate and graduate studies at the Juilliard School in New York under the tutelage of Joseph Kalichstein and Stephen Hough. Beginning in the fall of 2018, he is one of select artists to begin the prestigious Rebanks Family Fellowship & International Performance Residency at the Glenn Gould School in Toronto.
Biographies courtesy of IMFChicago.