Beach & Corigliano: Violin Sonatas Usha Kapoor & Edward Leung

• Amy Beach (1867 - 1944): Sonata for Violin and Piano, Op. 34:
• 1 Beach: Sonata for Violin and Piano, Op. 34: I. Allegro moderato 09:44
• 2 Beach: Sonata for Violin and Piano, Op. 34: II. Scherzo 04:57
• 3 Beach: Sonata for Violin and Piano, Op. 34: III. Largo con dolore 08:13
• 4 Beach: Sonata for Violin and Piano, Op. 34: IV. Allegro con fuoco 08:16
• Romance for Violin and Piano, Op. 23:
• 5 Beach: Romance for Violin and Piano, Op. 23 05:44
• John Corigliano (b. 1938 ): Sonata for Violin and Piano:
• 6 Corigliano: Sonata for Violin and Piano: I. Allegro 02:55
• 7 Corigliano: Sonata for Violin and Piano: II. Andantino 06:58
• 8 Corigliano: Sonata for Violin and Piano: III. Lento 05:23
• 9 Corigliano: Sonata for Violin and Piano: IV. Allegro 08:37
• Total Runtime 01:00:47

Info for Beach & Corigliano: Violin Sonatas

Violinist Usha Kapoor made her solo debut with the Phoenix Symphony in 2011 and has since enjoyed a varied career as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician throughout Europe, North America and the United Kingdom. She is a frequent guest with the Boulez Ensemble in Berlin, at the Krzyżowa Music Festival in Poland, and at the International Musicians Seminar Open Chamber Music in England. She has performed in concert halls such as the Pierre Boulez Saal, Royce Hall and Wigmore Hall.

An advocate for international exchange through music and culture, Usha has been awarded a Fulbright Grant in the Arts and a Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst Grant in the Field of Music. Her media appearances include radio features on ClassicFM, Arizona’s 89.5 KBAQ and NPR’s StoryCorps Archive, as well as multiple television appearances on PBS on their Arts District and Now Hear This series.

Usha and pianist Edward Leung met at the Krzyżowa Music Festival in Poland in 2017 where they formed the Kapoor-Leung Duo. Together they are winners of a Tunnel Trust award and the First Prize at the inaugural Birmingham International Piano Chamber Music Competition. They present innovative programming in the duo repertoire, especially through their championing of American music.

In her debut album, acclaimed violinist Usha Kapoor explores some of the most demanding repertoire written for the violin by American composers between the late 1800s and the mid 1900s. Featured on this album are two rarely recorded, monumental works: Amy Beach’s impassioned Sonata for Violin and Piano in A minor, composed in 1896, and John Corigliano’s theatrical Sonata for Violin and Piano, written in 1963. Completing the program is Amy Beach’s lyrical Romance for Violin and Piano, Op. 23, written in 1893.

Usha Kapoor, violin
Edward Leung, piano

Usha Kapoor
made her solo debut with the Phoenix Symphony in 2011, and has since performed extensively as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician throughout Europe, North America and the United Kingdom. Kapoor is the recent winner of a Tunnell Trust Award and First Prize at the inaugural Birmingham International Piano Chamber Music Competition alongside frequent recital partner Edward Leung.

In the 2023-2024 season, Kapoor returns for concerto engagements with the Collegium Musicum Aschaffenburg and Thomas Jung as well as the Junges Sinfonie-Orchester Wetzlar, in addition to making her debut with the Neusser Kammerorchester and Joachim Neugart. She will also return for multiple concerts throughout the season at the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin; for performances with the Boulez Ensemble, and to present multiple world premiere compositions by the American composer, Stephen Mulligan. She will also return for the third time to the Krzyzowa Music Festival in Poland and release her debut CD featuring works by 19th and 20th-century American composers on the Resonus Classics label.

Highlights of recent seasons include concerto appearances with the Collegium Musicum Aschaffenburg, Philharmonie Südwestfalen, Studio-Orchester Duisburg, Culver City Chamber Orchestra, Culver City Symphony Orchestra, and the San Bernardino Symphony Orchestra, among others, with conductors Arlette Cardenes, Frank Fetta, Thomas Guggeis, Thomas Jung, Karen Kagarlitsky and Lukas Rommelspacher. Recent recital appearances include debuts at the Wigmore Hall, Tonali Saal, Winchester Chamber Music Festival, Marden House Sunday Series, Wye Valley Music, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire ChamberFest, Avon Valley Concerts, the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Ulverston International Music Festival, and at Sophie’s Barn in Banbury, England. In 2022, she and Leung completed an extensive tour throughout Scotland performing Brahms’s complete works for violin and piano sponsored by the Tunnell Trust for Young Musicians. As a chamber musician, Kapoor has made multiple appearances with the Boulez Ensemble in Berlin, as well as performed at the Miesbach Kammermusik Festival, Rolandseck-ARP Museum Festival, Krzyżowa-Music Festival, International Musicians Seminar Prussia Cove Open Chamber Music, and on the Colburn Chamber Music Society with musicians Martin Beaver, Adrian Brendal, Paul Coker, Paul Coletti, Friedemann Eichhorn, Clive Greensmith, Konstantin Heidrich, Matthias Kirschnereit, Nils Mönkemeyer, Eckart Runge, Daniel Stabrawa, Jennifer Stumm and Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Tabea Zimmermann.

Kapoor was a recipient of the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) Grant in the Field of Music from 2018-2022 and was further supported by the Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now Deutschland e.V. Previously, she was the recipient of a U.S. Fulbright Grant in the Arts and a Career Grant from the Rachel Barton Pine Foundation. In addition, Kapoor has won top prizes in the International Schmidbauer Young Artist Competition, the Edith Knox Peninsula Symphony Competition, the Parness Concerto Competition, and the Phoenix Symphony Concerto Competition. Kapoor has been featured on the United Kingdom’s radio station ClassicFM, Arizona’s 89.5 KBAQ, National Public Radio (NPR)'s StoryCorps Archive, and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)’s “Arts District” and “Now Hear This” segments.

Kapoor was raised in Phoenix, Arizona where she studied with Dr. Katie McLin and Phoenix Symphony concertmaster Steven Moeckel. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree and an Artist Diploma from the Colburn Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Robert Lipsett. She received a Master of Music degree and completed the prestigious solo diploma “Konzertexamen” with Mihaela Martin at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln in Germany. She is grateful for additional support and guidance from Tasmin Little, Alexander Rumpf, Sybille Tschopp, and Daniel Tong.

Kapoor plays on a B.S. Fendt violin, made in London in 1840. In addition to playing the violin, Usha loves hiking and spending time in nature.

Booklet for Beach & Corigliano: Violin Sonatas