The Avery Fisher Artist Program presented its annual Career Grants this year to the Dover Quartet; pianist Haochen Zhang, a native of Shanghai now living in Philadelphia; and American violinists Chad Hoopes and Stephen Waarts. Avery Fisher Artist Program Chairman Joseph W. Polisi and members of the Fisher family announced the awards in New York’s Jerome L. Greene Performance Space at classical music station WQXR on March 15. The three soloists performed at the awards ceremony, and the Dover Quartet, a Philadelphia-based ensemble then in the midst of a European tour and performing in Salzburg, was honored in absentia. Avery Fisher Career Grants are designed to give professional assistance and recognition to talented instrumentalists and chamber ensembles. Each recipient receives an award of $25,000, to be used for specific needs in furthering a career. Additionally, their Career Grant performances are professionally recorded for the recipients’ unrestricted use, posted on the program’s website, broadcast and webstreamed by WQXR, and used by WNET Thirteen’s NYC Arts. Videos of the soloists performing at the awards ceremony are online: Stephen Waarts, violin, Szymanowski: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7Tgaxpg5WU and Ravel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3LYWMvQCoc; Haochen Zhang, piano, Janáček: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hxdvvoz9g6w; and Chad Hoopes, violin, Prokofiev: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-iY5KXVaHM.
Posted April 10, 2017
