Great Composers Chamber Music Series
May 3, 2026, 2:00 p.m.
Scott-Skillman Recital Hall, Harris Center, Folsom
Individual tickets will go on sale September 1, 2025
Featuring the Kismarton Trio with violinist Ian Jessee, violist István Polónyi, and cellist Susan Lamb Cook
and special guest clarinetist Sandra Moats McPherson
Program
String Trio in B Flat Major, D471 by Franz Schubert
Divertimento for String Trio in E Flat Major, K. 563 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Allegro – Adagio – Menuetto – Andante – Menuetto – Allegro
String Trio No. 1 in G Major, Op. 6 by Leo Weiner
Allegro con brio – Vivace – Andantino – Allegro con fuoco
Quintet for Clarinet and Strings in A Major, K581 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Allegro – Larghetto – Menuetto – Tema con Variazioni (Allegretto)
Ian Jessee, violinist
Ian Jessee earned his bachelor’s degree in performance from the Ohio State University where he studied with Michael Davis. Other principal teachers include Myron Kartman, Yfrah Neaman, and Charles Castleman and chamber music studies with Kronos Quartet and Cavani Quartet. An avid performer, Mr. Jessee performs regularly with the West Virginia Symphony, the Ohio Valley Symphony, is concertmaster for the River Cities Symphony Orchestra, and serves as assistant concertmaster of the Classical Music Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria. He has also performed with The Charleston Symphony Orchestra (SC), Seneca Chamber Orchestra (WV), The Chicago Chamber Orchestra (IL), Opera Naples (FL), New Hampshire Music Festival, the Bach and Beyond Baroque Music Festival (NY), and has performed with artists Ray Charles, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, The Moody Blues, Barry White, and Josh Groban. In 2018 he performed at the Hungarian National Museum in Budapest with the Kismarton String Trio. In addition to his many playing engagements he has served on the faculty of the international music festivals Akademi Datça and Klasik Keyifler in Turkey, and the Saarburg Festival in Germany.
István Polónyi, violist
István Polónyi was born in Szolnok, Hungary in 1965. He graduated from the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in 1989, where his teachers included Mária Vermes and Mária Zs. Szabó. Between 1986 and 1989 he played violin in the Budapest Strings Chamber Orchestra, while between 1989-92 he was a member of the Regie Cooperativa International Symphony Orchestra in Portugal. He has been teaching violin and viola since 1992, and since 2010 he has been the head of the violin department at the Szent István Király Conservatory of Music. Between 1997 and 2002 he was principal in the Hungarian Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, and he has held the same position in the Weiner-Szász Chamber Symphony since then. István Polónyi frequently appears in productions by the Budapest Festival Orchestra.
Susan Lamb Cook, cellist
Susan Lamb Cook is currently Lecturer in Cello and Chamber Music at the University of California, Davis. She is a member of the Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera and the Sacramento Choral Society and Orchestra and is Artistic Director of the VITA Academy’s Great Composers Chamber Music Series. She is an active performer and educator both nationally and internationally and is sought after as soloist and chamber musician with performances throughout Europe, the Far East, and the United States. She has served on faculty for the Saarburg Festival, Germany, the Vianden Festival, Luxembourg, and on the artistic staff for the Classical Music Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria. As a member of the Kismarton Trio, Susan has performed concerts in the Hungarian National Museum and the Petöfi Museum of Literature, Budapest, and performed the opening concert for the 2024 International Music Festival, Grosslobming, Austria. She has performed as soloist with numerous orchestras and is highly regarded as master clinician. Following her studies at the University of Iowa with Charles Wendt, she moved to Vienna, Austria where she continued her studies and performed with numerous ensembles in Austria, Hungary, and Italy. During the decade she spent in Europe, Susan performed with the Arena di Verona opera orchestra, completing three seasons and joining the orchestra for a tour of Egypt with performances of Aida which used the grand Luxor Temple as backdrop. She completed at degree at the Academy of Music in Vienna, Austria under the guidance of Angelica May, then joined the teaching staff as assistant professor of cello, a position she held for two years before returning to her home of Sacramento.
Sandra Moats McPherson, clarinetist
Sandra Moats McPherson is in wide demand as a clarinetist and educator. She is the professor of clarinet at Sacramento State’s School of Music and Cosumnes River College and performs frequently as principal clarinetist and bass clarinetist in numerous Northern California orchestras, including the Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera, and Choral Society Orchestras. She has performed orchestral and chamber music in Eisenstadt and Vienna, Austria as part of the annual Classical Music Festival, and has been on the coaching and performing staff of the InterHarmony Festival in Arcidosso, Italy. Ms. McPherson acts as chamber music coach for the Sacramento, Cal Cap, and Sacramento Youth Symphony Chamber Music Workshops, and maintains an active private teaching studio. Ms. McPherson received degrees from California State University, Fresno and University of California, Santa Barbara in music education, clarinet performance, and musicology, and has published articles on early-American clarinet literature.