Dvořák, Tchaikovsky and Chopin with Harmony Zhu, Scott Dunn, Nathan Le & the Four Seasons Orchestra

This Concert is Presented by Parnassus Society, a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing classical music, opera and art to Southern California. 

”[Scott Dunn] is a conductor of great promise… All of the elements (of the concerto) came together to give the audience an experience closer to heaven than most of us will get in this lifetime.” - The East Hampton Star

FEATURED ARTISTS:

Harmony Zhu, piano
Nathan Le, cello
The Four Seasons Orchestra
Scott Dunn, conductor

PROGRAM: 
ROMANTIC TITANS
DVOŘÁK Slavonic Dance “Dumka” Op.72, no.2
TCHAIKOVSKY Variations on a Rococo Theme, Op.33
INTERMISSION
CHOPIN Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11
     Allegro Maestoso
     Romanze: Larghetto
     Rondo: Vivace

HARMONY ZHU
A Gilmore Young Artist and Steinway Artist, 20-year-old pianist and composer Harmony Zhu has been hailed as “a deeply musical soul and nimble technician [with] probing sensitivity” (Chicago Tribune), having “airtight technique [and] coruscating brilliance” (Chicago Classical Review), and as “an impressive soloist, a sparkling and happy presence… unflappable” (Times Union). She won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions at age 15, becoming the youngest artist on the YCA roster. Recognized as a Young Steinway Artist since age 10, Harmony has appeared as soloist with esteemed orchestras worldwide, including opening the season for the Philadelphia Orchestra, as well as with the Royal Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, Orquesta Filarmónica de Medellín, Albany Symphony, Orlando Philharmonic, Illinois Philharmonic, Aspen Philharmonic, Peoria Symphony, Amarillo Symphony, Big Spring Symphony, Symphony in C, Colgate Symphony, Southbank Sinfonia, and Hawaii Symphony, among many others, under renowned conductors such as Leonard Slatkin, Marin Alsop, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Most recently, she was invited to give the season-opening concert for the 50th Anniversary season of the Aspen Music Festival, and she has also appeared at other prestigious festivals such as the Verbier Festival and Ravinia Festival. After Harmony’s debut appearance as a soloist at the Ravinia Music Festival celebrating the 100th anniversary of Leonard Bernstein’s birth, she was invited back to Ravinia by Marin Alsop who was in the audience to perform with her and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Pavilion the following year. Making her debut at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at age 14 after many appearances at Carnegie’s Zankel and Weill recital halls, Harmony has been featured on NBC’s The Ellen DeGeneres Show three times, CBS, ABC, CBC, Classic FM, and NPR’s From the Top, showcasing her exceptional talents in piano, composition, and chess. Hailed by David Dubal as “part of the next great Golden Age of the piano”, her musical maturity, charisma, passion, and upbeat personality have captivated audiences wherever she performs.
–

SCOTT DUNN
Noted for his advocacy of American and contemporary music, conductor, arranger and pianist Scott Dunn has a special interest in cross-over and film composers – ranging from George Gershwin and Richard Rodney Bennett to Leonard Rosenman and Danny Elfman. As conductor, Dunn has served as Associate Conductor for the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra since 2012 and previously held positions at Pittsburgh, Glimmerglass and New York City Operas. He also serves as music director for the Parnassus Society and regularly presents opera in concert at the Soka Performing Arts Center with his Parnassus Society Orchestra.

He has appeared with the Atlanta Symphony, BBC Concert Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Russian Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony, Vienna Radio Orchestra (RSO) and countless other distinguished ensembles. Dunn has collaborated with numerous headliners, including Trey Anastasio, Beck, Chris Botti, Bill Charlap, Billy Childs, Elvis Costello, Il Divo, Danny Elfman, David Foster, Sutton Foster, The Indigo Girls, Sean Lennon, Claire Martin, Steve Martin, Leslie Odom Jr. and Rufus Wainwright among others.

Dunn’s interest in music outside the usual classical canon can be traced to his long friendship with the late Sir Richard Rodney Bennett. Through Bennett, Dunn discovered the concert works of song-writer and composer Vernon Duke (a.k.a. Vladimir Dukelsky) whose ‘lost’ piano concerto (written for Rubinstein) Dunn orchestrated and premiered at Carnegie Hall in 1999. In 2007 he recorded the piano concerto with other Duke works with the Russian Philharmonic (Naxos,2007). In 2012 he edited the Vernon Duke Songbook for Hal Leonard and in 2013 he reconstructed Duke’s THE END OF ST. PETERSBURG oratorio for performance in St. Petersburg Russia. Other Duke recordings include violin concerto and complete works for violin with Elmira Darvarova (Urlicht 2015) and a ‘new’ Duke musical MISIA (PS Classics, 2015) arranged and adapted by Dunn with orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick and a brilliant cast headed by Marin Mazzie. More recently Dunn adapted and performed his own arrangements of Julius Eastman’s GAY GUERILLA (2018) for four pianos and Duke Ellington’s NEW WORLD A-COMIN’ for solo piano and chamber jazz ensemble (2019). In 2023, Stunt records released the much anticipated and highly praised recording, I WATCH YOU SLEEP, with Claire Martin and the Royal Philharmonic. It’s a highly personal tribute created by Dunn and Martin for their friend Richard Rodney Bennett and consists of Bennett’s own jazz songs as well as his favorite standards to play and sing – all orchestrated and conducted by Dunn and gorgeously sung by Claire Martin with the Royal Philharmonic.

Dunn’s interest in film music stems from his friend and mentor, Leonard Rosenman, whose brilliant score for REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (1955) Dunn arranged for live orchestra to film for premiere in 2016 with the LA Philharmonic at Disney Hall. He often conducts REBEL and other live orchestra-to-film concerts through out the US and Europe. His work with contemporary film composers, includes Rachel Portman, for whom he conducted the BBC Philharmonic in MIMI AND THE MOUNTAIN DRAGON (Decca, 2019) for world-wide annual Christmas BBC broadcasts; with Lior Rosner for whom he recorded SUGAR PLUM ON THE RUN with the Royal Philharmonic and Jeremy Irons (Sony, 2019) and with Danny Elfman, for whom he worked on DANNY ELFMAN’S MUSIC FROM THE FILMS OF TIM BURTON and has conducted around the world – as well as work on other Elfman concert works including his 2008 ballet RABBIT AND ROGUE for Twyla Tharp and the American Ballet Theatre.

As a pianist, Dunn has recorded and concertized extensively. Early in his career he toured Eastern Europe for the USIA and introduced former states of the Soviet Union to many twentieth century American works including Ives’ CONCORD SONATA. In 2024 Dunn will premiere a new rhapsody for piano and orchestra commissioned from composer Joby Talbot Born and raised in Iowa, Dunn studied piano with the legendary Byron Janis and is a former assistant to Lukas Foss – whose complete solo piano works Dunn recorded (Naxos, 2007). He has had a remarkably extensive education, which, in addition to music degrees, includes an M.D., residency and board certification in eye surgery.

–

NATHAN LE
Cellist Nathan Le is a graduate of the New England Conservatory/Harvard dual-degree program, where he was a student of Laurence Lesser. Prior to his studies in Boston, he studied with Ronald Leonard at the Colburn Music Academy and with Ruslan Biryukov.

A Los Angeles native, Nathan has performed with many orchestras in the Los Angeles area, such as the Torrance Symphony, the Culver City Symphony, the San Fernando Valley Symphony, the New West Symphony, and the Dana Point Symphony, performing cello concerti by Elgar, Haydn, Saint-Saëns, and Tchaikovsky. The Culver City Examiner noted that he “[performed] flawlessly” and praised his “superb mastery of technique…and artistry.”

Nathan’s artistry has also been nationally and internationally acclaimed. In 2015, he was invited by the First Lady of Armenia to perform in a music festival commemorating the centennial of the Armenian genocide. He has garnered top prizes in competitions such as the Janigro International Cello Competition in Zagreb, Croatia, the Tchaikovsky International Competition for Young Musicians in Moscow, Russia, the Stulberg International String Competition in Kalamazoo, MI, and the Schadt String Competition in Allentown, PA. Nathan has appeared on the NPR radio show “From the Top,” was the winner of the 2017 YMF/ASCAP Foundation Leiber and Stoller Scholarship Competition, and is a regular performer on the the L’Ermitage Foundation Concert Series.

Nathan is also a dedicated chamber musician who has performed works by composers as diverse as Felix Mendelssohn and Mieczysław Weinberg, in ensembles ranging from piano trio to string septet. In May of 2022, he had the opportunity to perform Schubert’s Piano Trio in E-flat Major, D 929, in the New England Conservatory Chamber Music Gala Concert, which was held in the historic Jordan Hall. In the chamber music setting, Nathan has worked with esteemed coaches such as Merry Peckham, Vivian Weilerstein, and the members of the Parker Quartet.