Patrice d'Ollone
Performance Details
Date:Sunday, April 26, 2020 at 7:30pm
Location: Ewell Recital Hall
Admission: $5, free with William & Mary ID - Reception following the concert
Pianist and composer Patrice d’Ollone, grandson of the composer Max d’Ollone, is an enthusiastic performer of French chamber works and art song. A graduate of the Paris Institute of Political Science, d’Ollone completed advanced studies in law and classical literature. Monsieur d’Ollone began his career with Fondation Total where he served as head of press relations. He lectured in musicology at the Sorbonne and served as director of the Béziers and Menton festivals. From 1990 to 2002, he was artistic delegate of the Orchestre National de France during Charles Dutoit’s tenure as music director. He has composed music for several documentary fi lms including Dans le tête des SS (Inside the SS) and Verdun, ils ne passeront pas (Verdun, they will not pass), broadcast on French public television and National Geographic. In June 2018, a suite from his fi lm scores was performed at a Concert for Europe commemorating the end of the Great War at the Clairière de l’Armistice (Glade of the Armistice) in Compiègne. He has performed for Radio France and Musicora, a 3-day expo of classical music and jazz at La Seine Musicale in the western suburbs of Paris. His recordings include the chamber works of Max d’Ollone with the Quatuor Athenaeum-Enesco on the Arion label and the art songs of Max d’Ollone with Elsa Maurus, mezzo-soprano and Didier Henry, baritone on the Maguelone label. The latter was awarded a prize by the Académie du Discque Lyrique in 1999. Patrice d’Ollone is a Knight of the Order
of Arts and Letters.
In 2002, four friends decided to join forces to explore their collective passion for chamber music. Thus, Hampton Roads’ Ambrosia Quartet was formed.
These talented individuals are all members of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, but their backgrounds are as diverse as the music they play. Violinists Simon Lapointe and Mayu Cipriano hail from Québec and Tokyo, respectively; violist Beverly Kane Baker grew up locally in Hampton; and cellist Rebecca Gilmore came to the area from Charlotte, North Carolina. Their resumes collectively represent many years of study at the very best conservatories, including the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University, Indiana and Rice Universities, and the Juilliard School.
In more than a decade of recitals, the Ambrosia Quartet has explored the chamber music of Haydn, Hailstork, and Tchaikovsky (New Beginnings); Glazunov, Shostakovich, and Borodin (A Russian Celebration); and Beethoven, Shostakovich, and Brahms in the prestigious Feldman Chamber Series as well as for series by the Virginia Arts Festival and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra. They are not limited to quartets, frequently performing trios or participating in other ensembles. These friends are bonded together by a mutual love of the very best chamber music of any style, and they strive to reach the most diverse audiences possible. They have been heard in churches and museums just as readily as in fi ne concert halls in the U.S. and internationally.
The quartet has worked closely with Hampton Roads composers, having recorded the string quartets of Adolphus Hailstork for Albany Records and premiered several works by John S. Dixon, including serving as artistic editors of Dixon’s transcription for string quartet of Mozart’s famous variations for piano on Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. They have forged another bond within the community recently, becoming the Quartet-in-Residence for The Academy of Music, a community music school headquartered in Norfolk.
