July 25, 2024
Hungarian National Museum, Budapest
featuring the Kismarton Trio – Ian Jessee, violin, István Polónyi, viola, Susan Lamb Cook, cello
performing Kodály’s Intermezzo for String Trio
Intermezzo for String Trio by Zoltan Kodály (1882 – 1967)
Susan Lamb Cook is currently Lecturer in Cello and Chamber Music at the University of California, Davis, and is a member of the Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera and the Sacramento Choral Society and Orchestra. 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. Susan has performed as soloist with numerous orchestras and has performed and given master classes at San Francisco State University, Scripps College, Harvey Mudd College, Marshall University, West Virginia, James Madison University, Virginia, and Austin College, Texas. Ms. Lamb Cook studied with Angelica May at the Academy of Music in Vienna, Austria, and Charles Wendt at the University of Iowa.
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 ChamberOrchestra (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 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.