AmiciMusic returns to White Horse on Saturday, May 31 at 2:00 with another thrilling chamber music concert entitled “MENDELSSOHN MANIA” featuring two amazing Piano Trios composed by Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn within a few years of each other.  Felix Mendelssohn’s two great Piano Trios are a regular part of the current repertoire though they were not often played in the early 20th century as the Nazis rose to power and ultimately banned his works because of his Jewish birth.  Fanny’s Piano Trio and many of her 400 other compositions were largely forgotten and neglected because of her gender despite the tremendous power of her music.  As she once wrote:  “If nobody ever offers an opinion or takes the slightest interest in one’s production, one loses not only all pleasure in them, but all power of judging their value.  It must be a sign of talent that I do not give up, though I can get nobody to take an interest in my efforts.”   We will perform these two powerful Trios, both in D Minor, on the same program to showcase this incredibly creative family and also comment on the anti-semitism and misogyny that are a part of the Mendelssohn legacy.  Violinist Andrea Picard-Boecker and cellist Alicia Ward, two fantastic musicians from Baltimore, will join pianist/Artistic Director Daniel Weiser on this concert.  You will not want to miss it.  For more info, please visit:  https://www.amicimusic.org/concert/mendelssohn-mania/

Originally from Québec, Canada, violinist Andréa Picard Boecker has performed across Europe, Asia and North America as a recitalist, chamber musician and orchestral player. Her engaging and dynamic performance style delight audiences and she is heard regularly in chamber music series and festivals as well as faculty concerts. Andréa Picard Boecker is the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra’s Principal Second Violin, and is an active performer in the Baltimore-Washington area. As a teaching-artist, Andréa Picard Boecker has served on the chamber music faculty of Peabody Institute’s Conservatory and Preparatory Divisions, and also as violin faculty at Towson and Susquehanna Universities. She teaches every summer at the Camp Musical des Laurentides and regularly serves on adjudication panels for young artist competitions. Her extensive teaching experience has led to giving teacher-training sessions and masterclasses in France, Canada, and the U.S., including the national conference of the American String Teacher’s Association. Andréa Picard Boecker co-directed the Young People’s String Program at the Peabody Preparatory for nine years and maintains a vibrant studio of passionate young students at the Peabody Preparatory. She firmly believes in the giving power of music, and is intentional about bringing her performances and those of her students to the broader community by organizing innovative outreach concerts and events.  Ms. Picard Boecker received the “Prix” with Highest Distinction at the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec à Montréal, where she earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in violin performance and chamber music. She holds a master’s degree in performance and pedagogy from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University, where she was awarded the Josef Kaspar Award for Strings. Her primary teachers and influences have included Johanne Arel, Raymond Dessaints, Victor Danchenko and Violaine Melançon.  When she isn’t teaching or performing, Andréa Picard Boecker is wholeheartedly involved in the adventure of family life with her husband and three children.

Cellist Alicia Ward made her orchestral debut as a featured soloist at the age of twelve, and has since performed throughout the United States and abroad as chamber musician, recitalist and soloist. She has most recently performed as recitalist at Strathmore, the Kennedy Center, the Music on the Lake Series of Lake Barcroft, as well as several of the embassies of Washington, DC. Ward was chosen as an Artist in Residence at Strathmore for the 2010-2011 season, at which time her debut CD Tableaux was released. She has been a soloist with the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. John, the American Youth Philharmonic and the Peninsula Youth Orchestra. Ward has been a top prize-winner of several competitions throughout the United States including the grand prize at the Music Teacher National Association Young Artists Competition held in Denver, and second place with her piano trio at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. As an active chamber musician, she has performed at the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, the Menuhin Chamber Music Seminar in San Francisco, the International Music Academy in the Czech Republic, Jordan Hall, Strathmore and the Kennedy Center. In 2005, Ward was one of twelve cellists selected to perform at the International Piatigorsky Seminar for Cellists held at the University of Southern California. She has also been invited to attend the Banff International Cello Master Classes and the Young Artists Program of the National Arts Centre, under the direction of Pinchas Zukerman. Ward began studying cello in San Francisco with Barbara Wampner. She received her Bachelor of Music degree from the Peabody Conervatory as the recipient of the Steven Kates Memorial Scholarship where she studied with David Hardy. Ward received her Master of Music degree from the New England Conservatory as the recipient of the Natica Righter Williams Scholarship, under the tutelage of Laurence Lesser. Her other principal teachers include Sandy Walsh Wilson of the Alexander String Quartet, Tanya Carey, and Hans Jorgen Jensen.

Daniel Weiser, piano, has a Doctorate in Piano/Chamber Music from the Peabody Conservatory, where he studied with Samuel Sanders and Robert MacDonald and won the Richard Franko Goldman prize for outstanding contribution to musical and educational life. He has performed on many great stages, including the Weill Recital Hall of Carnegie Hall, the National Gallery of Art in D.C., and on the Dame Myra Hess Concert Series in Chicago. He has also concertized around the world, including Israel, Thailand, Holland, and France and was the 1996 U.S. Artistic Ambassador Abroad, for which he performed on an eleven-country tour of the Middle East and Asia. He has been on the music faculty of Dartmouth College and the prestigious St. Paul’s School in Concord, NH. Besides founding AmiciMusic, he co-founded and still serves as Artistic Director for Classicopia, a similar type of chamber music organization based in New Hampshire. He was also a founding member of the Adirondack Ensemble, which won a Chamber Music America award for inventive programming and outreach. He has participated in the New Hampshire Music Festival, Musicorda, and the Apple Hill Chamber Music Festival and has been the Music Director of the Da Corneta Opera Ensemble, the Opera North Young Artist program, and Opera New England. A phi beta kappa graduate of Columbia University with a degree in American History, he also spent a year at Harvard Law School and was a classmate of President Obama. A native of Buffalo, NY, he currently lives in Savannah, GA with his wife, Dr. Kisha Weiser and their nineteen-year old twin daughters, Rose and Sophie.