Wednesday, March 13, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.
Creativity and Innovation District LLC Building, 185 Kent St.

On the program:
Sonata for Viola and Piano by Arnold Bax
Romance by Ralph Vaughan Williams
Morpheus by Rebecca Clarke
Duet for Two Violas by W.F. Bach with Molly Wilkens-Reed, viola
Phantasy by York Bowen

Gavon Peck began his studies on the viola with Rosemary Kimura Hatch, a former member of the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra and Houston Symphony. He went on to receive a Bachelor of Music degree from Utah State University, studying with Bradley Ottesen and the Fry Street Quartet, where he was awarded Undergraduate Researcher of the Year and an Undergraduate Research and Creative Opportunities Grant. He has participated at the Madeline Island, Taconic Chamber Intensive, and Bowdoin International Music Festivals, among others. Most recently he was a fellowship recipient at the 2018 Aspen Music Festival.

Peck received his Master of Music degree from the Peabody Conservatory, where he is currently pursuing a Graduate Performance Diploma with his mentor Victoria Chiang. At Peabody, he has served as principal viola of the Peabody Studio, Chamber, and Symphony Orchestras under the batons of Marin Alsop, Joseph Young, David Zinman, and Michael Hersch. Gavon is also a member of the outreach ensemble Peabody String Sinfonia, and he is the Graduate Assistant to Michael Kannen, head of Chamber Music, and Dr. Elizabeth Tolbert, head of Ethnomusicology. He plays on a 2015 Daniel Salini viola with a 2017 bow by Michael Yeats.

Pianist Richard Masters is a soloist, opera coach, chamber musician, orchestral pianist, and an associate professor of piano and collaborative piano on the music faculty in the School of Performing Arts.

Masters’ significant collaborations include concerts with baritone Donnie Ray Albert, flutist Valerie Coleman, mezzo-soprano Marta Senn, the late mezzo-soprano Barbara Conrad, and many others. He has appeared with former Boston Symphony principal trombonist Norman Bolter, former Juilliard String Quartet violinist Earl Carlyss, saxophonist Harvey Pittel, and under the baton of the late Lorin Maazel. Masters has performed solo, chamber, and vocal recitals throughout the United States and in Europe.

As a solo pianist, Masters plays a wide variety of standard and non-traditional repertoire, including contemporary pieces written for or commissioned by him. A strong proponent of contemporary American composers, he has performed world premieres of pieces by Kenneth Frazelle, Charles Nichols, Kent Holliday, and many others. He is an enthusiastic performer of British music from the early 20th century, focusing in particular on the solo piano music of John Ireland. The critic John France wrote on MusicWeb International “Richard Masters approaches [John Ireland's Piano Sonata] with great style and understanding: all the facets of Ireland’s art are present here: ‘…the lyrical, the dramatic, the extrovert and the melancholy — the intense self-questioning and the open, almost naïve, avowals.’”

In addition to his performances as a pianist, Masters is active in the world of opera and musical theatre as a coach and conductor. Masters is a Yamaha Artist. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder, a master’s degree from The Juilliard School, and a doctorate from the Eastman School of Music.