Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra Brings New Winds and Friends May 4th at The Allen Center in Newton

Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra will present New Winds and Friends at the Allen Center in Newton, MA, on Sunday, May 4th, at 3:00 PM. This performance is part of Pro Arte's intimate Salon Series, offering audiences the chance to experience a select group of Pro Arte's exceptional musicians in an up-close and personal setting. The program features musical gems not included in the full orchestral Ensemble Series. For tickets and information visit proarte.org.

Audiences will experience the genius of Wolfgang Mozart's works for chamber ensembles with the two works on this program. His Kegelstatt Trio (K. 498), is a captivating work for clarinet, viola, and piano, where each instrument engages in an intricate musical conversation. The Piano Quintet in E-flat Major, K. 452, is a rich composition scored for piano, oboe, clarinet, horn, and bassoon.

Performers for New Winds and Friends are Kai-Yun Lu, clarinet;  Liana Zaretsky, viola; Jennifer Slowik, oboe;  Stephanie Busby, bassoon; Robert Marlatt, horn; and pianist Miri Yampolsky.

Kai-Yun Lu has been the principal clarinetist of the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra since 1998, proudly holding its prestigious Muriel Bledsoe Chair. She is a newly appointed member of the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra and maintains a prominent presence with esteemed ensembles such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, Boston Pops Esplanade, and the Boston Woodwind Society.

Liana Zaretsky is an active chamber and orchestral musician in the Boston area. She is the former principal second violinist of Portland, ME, Symphony and appears regularly with the Boston Ballet, Boston Symphony, and Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestras. An avid chamber musician, Ms. Zaretsky was one of the original and former members of the Radius Ensemble. She has collaborated with faculty from Longy School of Music, New England Conservatory, as well as with Boston Symphony members to perform frequently.

Jennifer Slowik is principal oboe with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), Odyssey Opera, assistant principal of Vista Philharmonic, and member of Emmanuel Music, where she regularly solos as part of their weekly Bach Cantata Series. Ms. Slowik is featured on numerous recordings on the BMOP/sound label, including the 2020 Grammy Award Winner for Best Opera Recording, The Fantastic Mr. Fox by Tobias Picker, Thomas Oboe Lee's Persephone, for oboe and strings, and Lisa Bielawa’s Synopsis #10 for solo English Horn.

Stephanie Busby is a member of the Boston Ballet Orchestra and performs as an active freelancer throughout New England. Stephanie can be heard with groups including the Portland Symphony Orchestra, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra, Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Symphony New Hampshire, and various others. She is also a member of the Storytime Quintet, which brings high quality music performances and education to young children through live performances and virtual programs.

Robert Marlatt is currently principal horn with the Boston Ballet Orchestra, Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, and the Bach, Beethoven, Brahms Society Orchestra, and a member of the Boston Philharmonic. An advocate of period instrument practice, Robert has performed as principal horn with Boston Baroque, Handel + Haydn, Arcadia Players, and appeared with Mercury Orchestra in Houston.

Miri Yampolsky was born in Moscow and raised in Israel, where she studied with Hannah Shalgi and Michael Boguslavsky at the Tel Aviv Academy. At age 16, she was a soloist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Zubin Mehta. A recipient of the AICF awards and a top prize-winner of the Iturbi International Piano Competition in Spain and the ARD Competition in Munich, Miri has been a Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, and performed at Ravinia, Olympic, Tucson, and the Peninsula Music Festivals in the US, as well as the Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival, the Upper Galilee Music Festival in Israel, Hitzacker, Schwetzingen and Berlin Festwoche in Germany.