Winter Concert
​January 19th and 20th 2024

Tonight’s Experience
​String Quartet No. 2 in A minor
Florence Price (1887-1953)

I. Moderato
II. Andante cantabile
III. Juba
IV. Finale

​brief intermission

String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
​
I. Animé et très décidé
II. Assez vif et bien rythmé
III. Andantino doucement expressif
IV. Très modéré

Artists

Armenian- American violinist Hoorig Taline Poochikian has performed at a number of prestigious venues across North America including Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, the Kennedy Center, and the National Arts Center in Canada. She received her doctoral degree in violin performance in May 2020 from Stony Brook University studying with Hagai Shaham. She also earned degrees from University of Maryland studying with Dr. James Stern, and the University of Ottawa studying with Yehonatan Berick. An avid chamber musician, Hoorig has collaborated with members of the Emerson String Quartet, Avalon String Quartet, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, pianist Christina Dahl and composer Vache Sharafyan. She made her live radio broadcast debut on Classical KING FM in Seattle, performing with pianist Oksana Ejokina. With a special passion for education, Hoorig currently teaches privately and at several music schools in the DC metro area. She also maintains an active career as a freelance chamber musician performing at various concert series around the country.
A native of Central Virginia, cellist Emma Hays Johnson is a performing artist, private instructor, and co-founder of the original concert series, Empath Concerts. Currently residing near the D.C. and Baltimore areas, she performs chamber concerts regularly with Washington Musica Viva and has worked alongside artists such as two time grammy winning violinist from the Attacca Quartet, Domenic Salerni as well as Michael Buble, Il Divo, and the Transiberian Orchestra. During her Quartet Fellowship at UMass Amherst she had the opportunity to be coached by members of world renowned ensembles including the Ying Quartet, the Dover Quartet, and the Juilliard Quartet. Through her invitations to be a Next Generation Alumni Artist at East Carolina University, she has worked alongside Xiao-Dong Wang, Hye-Jin Kim, Ara Gregorian, Colin Carr, Emanuel Gruber, and Raman Ramakrishnan. She has been a member and sub of several notable orchestras including the Richmond Symphony Orchestra, the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Apollo Orchestra, and the American Festival Pops Orchestra.

Prior to receiving her second Masters in Music Performance at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst under the tutelage of Edward Arron, she held the position of adjunct professor at Beaufort County Community College in North Carolina. Emma Hays studied at Converse College and George Mason University under the tutelage of Kenneth Law where she received her Bachelor's Degree, and she graduated with her first Master’s Degree from East Carolina University under the instruction of Emanuel Gruber. Emma Hays likes to spend her free time outdoors rock climbing, backpacking and backcountry camping.
Violinist Johnathan Spence received his Doctorate of Music in Violin and Viola under the study of Hagai Shaham at Stony Brook University in 2017. He is also a graduate of East Carolina University, where he studied with Ara Gregorian.

Focusing on his passion for teaching and performing chamber music, Spence returned to his home town and founded his strings academy now known as Galatea Chamber Music. Through Galatea he is mentoring musicians, creating and engaging in community enrichment programs, and bringing chamber music concerts to the Hampton Roads area each season.

Spence also performs as concertmaster of The New Carolina Sinfonia, participates in the Next Generation Series of the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival, and curates Galatea's summer chamber music week during which the students selected for this program receive multiple opportunities to play side-by-side with world-renowned artists. He continues to play and perform in various chamber music festivals across the country.

Spence is passionate about performing chamber music, health and nutrition, connecting with nature, swimming in the ocean, and spending time with his family.
Violinist Ava Figliuzzi is a Minnesota native based in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, where she enjoys regular performances with Galatea Chamber Music and the Virginia and Williamsburg Symphony Orchestras. She was previously a member of the Palm Beach Symphony for their 2022-23 season.

In recent summers, Figliuzzi has received fellowships from Eastern Music Festival, Texas Music Festival, the Monteux School, Round Top Festival Institute, and Garth Newel Music Center. She spent formative summers assisting and eventually coordinating Lakes Area Music Festival’s community engagement program — striving to make professional, live classical music accessible to audiences in her northern Minnesota hometown.

Figliuzzi completed her master’s degree with Carol Cole at the Lynn Conservatory in Boca Raton, Florida, and her undergraduate work with Bayla Keyes at Boston University, serving in concertmaster and principal positions at both. She has had the opportunity to perform in several masterclasses with renowned artists such as Ida Kavafian, Elmar Oliveira, Kathleen Winkler, Judith Ingolfsson, Peter Wiley, Joshua Bell, and the Muir, Calidore, and Daedalus String Quartets.
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During her graduate studies, Figliuzzi served as a violist in Lynn Conservatory’s Philharmonia and chamber ensembles and worked as a journalist for Palm Beach Arts Paper. She was recognized with the conservatory’s 2023 M. Elizabeth “Maddy” Cumpton Endowed Memorial Award.


​Thank you for being here! Without an audience, we cannot be performers. If you’d like to make a donation, you can do so at the door or online here: