About the Show
Classical Sundays
Classical Sundays is a National Sawdust curated series that handpicks the most innovative performers in the classical and new music scene. With renowned artists that perform composed works both storied and vitally new, Classical Sundays keeps tradition alive while incubating the voices of now and the future.
This edition of Classical Sundays features the unique trio of percussionist Ian Rosenbaum, violinist Emily Daggett Smith and cellist/composer Andrea Casarrubios. Music is by three of today’s most exciting living composers: Osvaldo Golijov, Andy Akiho, and Casarrubios herself, who gives the world premiere of Liberty Rose Weeping.
These carefully selected works offer their own perspectives on freedom: from technology, from war, or even from oneself.
About the Artists
Emily Daggett Smith
Praised as playing “gorgeously” and with “gracefulness and easy rapport” (The Boston Globe) and giving performances of “irrepressible élan” (The Seattle Times), violinist Emily Daggett Smith has performed across the United States, Europe, South America and Asia. As an active and passionate chamber musician Ms. Smith performs regularly at numerous festivals and series around the country and has shared the stage with many renowned musicians including members of the Cleveland, Emerson and Juilliard String Quartets. As a soloist, Emily made her New York debut playing the Beethoven Violin Concerto with the Juilliard Orchestra in Alice Tully Hall, and since then has performed concerti with many orchestras including Iris Orchestra, the Festival Mosaic Orchestra and the New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra.
In addition to performing the masterpieces of the 17th through the 20th century, Emily is also a strong advocate of new music. She has premiered dozens of new works, including the world premiere of Dan Visconti’s Silvertone which was commissioned for her debut recital in Chicago at the Music in the Loft series. Emily is also dedicated to education and has served on the Violin Faculty of the undergraduate department of Stony Brook University, as well as giving masterclasses and educational outreach performances wherever her violin takes her. She holds Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School and as a recipient of the prestigious Staller Scholar Award, is the final stages of the Doctor of Music and Arts degree in Stony Brook University. She plays on a Johannes Cuypers violin, generously donated by Dr. Marylou Witz.
Andrea Casarrubios
Praised by the New York Times for having “traversed the palette of emotions” with “gorgeous tone and an edge of-seat intensity” and described by Diario de Menorca as an artist with “elegance, displayed virtuosity, and great expressive power”, Spanish cellist Andrea Casarrubios has played extensively as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Europe, Asia, Africa and America. She has collaborated in festivals such as the Piatigorsky International Cello Festival, Ravinia RSMI, Pablo Casals Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, and the Verbier Festival.
First prize winner of numerous competitions and awards, Ms. Casarrubios is also a pianist, an active new music performer and a composer herself. As the cellist of Trio Appassionata, she recorded an album of four American piano trios in 2014 released on Odradek Records. Ms. Casarrubios began to play the piano at the age of two, and at the age of five she started to take cello lessons and became a student of Maria de Macedo in Madrid and Lluis Claret in Barcelona. She completed her undergraduate studies at the Peabody Conservatory and her Masters at USC under the tutelage of Ralph Kirshbaum. Ms. Casarrubios currently lives in New York City where she works with Ensemble Connect at Carnegie Hall and pursues a Doctorate Degree at CUNY while teaching both cello and piano privately. A passionate mentor, Ms. Casarrubios has also taught masterclasses on tour, and at The Juilliard School, City College Academy for the Arts, and Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs. Andrea’s latest engagements include a tour of South Africa with the Brandenburg String Trio, a tour of China and Brazil with Trio Appassionata, and solo and chamber music concerts in Spain, Germany, New York, Vermont, Illinois, Maryland, and California.
Ian David Rosenbaum
Praised for his “excellent” and “precisely attuned” performances by the New York Times, percussionist Ian David Rosenbaum has developed a musical breadth far beyond his years. He made his Kennedy Center debut in 2009 and later that year garnered a special prize created for him at the Salzburg International Marimba Competition.
Mr. Rosenbaum joined the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s CMS Two program in 2012 as only the second percussionist they have selected in their history. He has appeared at the Bay Chamber, Bridgehampton, Chamber Music Northwest, Music@Menlo, Norfolk, and Yellow Barn festivals.
Highlights of the 2017-2018 season include The Industry’s world premiere production of Galileo, with music by Andy Akiho and a libretto by Yuval Sharon, a ten-city tour of the West Coast with Sandbox Percussion, and the world premiere of there is no one, not even the wind by John Luther Adams with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. In early 2017, Mr. Rosenbaum released his first full-length solo album, Memory Palace, on VIA Records. It features five commissions from the last several years and includes collaborations with Brooklyn Rider and Gina Izzo.
Mr. Rosenbaum is a member of Sandbox Percussion, HOWL, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Foundry, and Novus NY. He has recorded for the Bridge, Innova, Naxos, and Starkland labels and is on the faculty of the Dwight School in Manhattan. Mr. Rosenbaum endorses Pearl/Adams instruments, Vic Firth mallets, and Remo drumheads.