Sinsinawa Mound Center will host the Tallgrass Chamber Music Recital Series beginning with violinist Alejandra Switala, who will be accompanied by pianist Daniel Szefer, performing at 2 PM Saturday, October 3 in St. Clara Chapel. She will perform works by Jessie Montgomery, Ysaÿe, and Saint-Saëns alongside two female composers; Lili Boulanger, one of the most gifted French composers of her generation, and Mel Bonis, whose rarely heard Violin Sonata stands with the great sonatas of the Romantic age. Enjoy refreshments during the performance followed by a Q&A with the musicians after the show. Tickets are $30 per person and can be purchased online or by calling 608.806.6087.
Switala combines her American and Mexican roots with an energetic and curious spirit to explore repertoire ranging from the Baroque period to music from living composers. Praised by the Chicago Classical Review for performing with” unabashed emotion,” she is in demand as a soloist, chamber musician, and collaborator. Most recently a top prize winner at the 2023 Sphinx Competition in Detroit, MI, Alejandra is also a laureate of the Cooper International Competition in Cleveland, OH, and the Klein International Competition in San Francisco, CA, where she won the additional Best Performance of Commissioned Work and the Pablo Casals Bach Prize.
Szefer is a first-generation Polish-American. At age 7, he began his first piano lessons and was introduced to the public in Miami, FL, by the Chopin Foundation of the United States when he was 10. He was a top prize winner at the Arthur Fraser International Piano Competition, a finalist and prize-winner at the Prix Orford Musique, and was the winner of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra Concerto Competition. He was a Fellow at the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival and one of two Americans who participated in the 8th International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians in Moscow, Russia.
Other Tallgrass recital series dates are December 5, February 6, and April 3. Each intimate performance showcases a Tallgrass musician alongside an accomplished pianist performing on the 1898 Steinway piano in St. Clara Chapel and presents a selection of classical works.
Sinsinawa Mound, an event center and Motherhouse of the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters in Wisconsin, is about five miles northeast of Dubuque, Iowa, and 10 miles northwest of Galena, Illinois. For more information visit Sinsinawa.org/moundcenter.
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