Updated: Nov 20, 2022
Latvia Anniversary Celebration
MH Chamber Music Series 2022-23 Season - V
07:00 PM-08:20 PM, Nov. 20, 2022 (Sunday)
Vivace International School of Music | 9889 Bellaire Blvd., #D261, Houston, TX 77036
Admission: $20.00
Please click the link below to purchase tickets:
Aija Nagle Izaks, Latvian Violinist & Special Guest
Louis-Marie Fardet, Cello (Houston Symphony Orchestra)
Brian Suits, Piano (University of Houston)
Program
César Franck Sonata for Cello and Piano. Sonata en La Majeur op. 120 (1886)
I. Allegretto ben moderato
II. Allegro
III. Recitativo - Fantasia. Ben moderato - molto lento
IV. Allegretto poco mosso
Louis-Marie Fardet, Cello
Brian Suits, Piano
Ca. 27
National Anthem of Latvia
Aija Nagle Izaks, Latvian Violinist & Special Guest
Louis-Marie Fardet, Cello
Brian Suits, Piano
Ca. 2
Kod Tevis Nav, by Guntra Kuzmina-Jukna, (2012) Arranged by Brian Suits for Cello and Piano
Louis-Marie Fardet, Cello
Brian Suits, Piano
Ca. 5
Valse Mélancolique by Emīls Dārzinš for Violin & Cello Duet
Aija Nagle Izaks, Violin
Louis-Marie Fardet, Cello
Ca. 5
Cello Concerto by Jānis Ivanovs (1938)
I - Allegro Moderato
II - Adagio
III - Moderato - Allegro Moderato
Louis-Marie Fardet, Cello
Brian Suits, Piano
Ca. 20
Q & A | Photos
Aija Īzāks (maiden’s name Aija Nagle) was born on June 27th 1969 in Republic of Latvia ( town of Kōrsova in Latgola region.) She is a Latvian-American violinist and model. For 18 years, Aija has studied music at some of the finest schools in Europe, such as Latvian Music Academy named after Jāzeps Vītols (in Rīga, Latvia), Saint Petersburg Conservatory named after N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov (in St. Petersburg, Russia) and Music School for the Gifted named after Emīls Dārziņš (in Rīga, Latvia.) She received a Masters Degree in Violin Performance, and was announced “The Best Graduate of the Year” by one of the leading National magazines. Upon completion of her studies she worked as a Violinist at Latvian National Theatre of Opera and Ballet (in Rīga, Latvia.) In 1994 she moved to USA and has worked as a First Violinist at the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra (in Charleston, WV), as a featured Violinist at Stages Repertoire Theatre (in Houston, TX) and as a Concertmaster at Houston Civic Symphony. She has also worked as a Violin professor at the University of Charleston in West Virginia. She performs concerts in America and abroad, both as a Soloist and Orchestra musician, in various Symphonic and Chamber Music group settings. She is an owner and lead musician of “Dreams Come True Music” agency (www.dreamscometruemusic.com), based in Houston, Texas. In her career she has performed for many celebrities and dignitaries from all over the world, such as President of the USA George H.W. Bush, First Lady Barbara Bush, First Lady Laura Bush, Presidents of the Republic of Latvia Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga and Andris Bērziņš, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed Bin Salman Al Saud, Hollywood Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, USA Figure Skater Scott Hamilton, National Football League leaders and many others. Aija has performed together with such celebrity artists as Itzhak Perlman, Yo- Yo Ma, Sr. James Galloway, Lionel Richie, Reba McEntire, Laura Fabian, Marc O’Connor and others. In 2016 she was awarded a Gold Medal by President Obama - for her Community Service of volunteering her music services to the Elderly and Special Needs people. She also teaches Violin, Piano and Music Theory at her private Music Studio in Texas.
Aija’s crowning musical achievement is her 38 track double-disk music album “Teksasys Latgalīši” for which she received an Academy Award “BOŅUKS” in her home country Republic of Latvia in 2018. This album was created in honor of Latvian Centennial. It has a huge variety of music from different cultures, eras, styles and genres.
Cellist Louis-Marie Fardet of tonight’s performance took part in this special project, contributing his talent to this successful outcome.
Aija also works as a Fashion Model, holding Diploma from “Neil Hamil Modeling and Talent Agency” in Houston. In her modeling career she is active both locally and nationwide, traveling across the USA and successfully working for various companies.
Besides being a Musician and a Model, Aija also translates books. She specializes in minority languages such as her native Latvian and Latgalian, but is also fluent in English and Russian, as well as has basic knowledge of French. Two of her latest translation works are books by Latgalian scholar and patriot Juoņs Cybuļskis: “Veritas Nostra Est” and “Andryvs Jūrdžs”. Both are translations from Latgalian to English; first book being unique in aspect that it is printed in “side-by-side & word-by-word” two language format, which helps English speaking people study Latgalian and vice versa.
Born in Rochefort, France, cellist Louis-Marie Fardet moved to Paris to attend the renowned Lycée Racine for pre-professional musicians from 1990-93. He was accepted at the Paris Conservatory in 1992, in the studio of Philippe Muller, graduating in 1996. The following two years he studied with Michel Strauss in the Perfectionnement cello class, then came to Houston and earned his Master’s Degree at Rice University. Returning to France in 2001, he became a tenured member of the prestigious Paris Opera Orchestra in 2002, six months after being appointed on a unanimous committee vote. After a five-year tenure in Opéra de Paris, Fardet moved back to Houston in late 2006, and served as Assistant Principal Cellist for the Houston Grand Opera and Ballet until 2015, when he won the fourth chair cello position with the Houston Symphony. He serves occasionally as acting principal cellist with the Houston Symphony. In recent summers he has performed at the Round Top Music Festival, and he also participated in both the 1998 and 2000 Ravinia Festival Steans Institutes. In 2000 he played in “Jerusalem Chamber Music Encounters” with Isaac Stern, and in 1999 in the Isaac Stern Chamber Music Workshop at Carnegie Hall. In 1999 he also toured France as a soloist with La Camerata Chamber Orchestra. Fardet was a finalist in the 2001 Houston Symphony Ima Hogg Competition, a semi-finalist in the 1998 Maria Canals Sonata Competition (Barcelona, Spain), a 1996 semi-finalist in the Antonio Janigro International Cello Competition (Zagreb, Croatia), and a 1995 at the Maurice Ravel Academy. Fardet is the founder of Francoeur Chamber Music Society in Houston.
An eclectic musician, pianist Brian Suits has made a career primarily as accompanist and chamber musician, and has a broad knowledge of the repertoire both of instrumentalists and singers. He is a skilled improviser as well, and feels at home in a great variety of styles. Suits is also an occasional composer, conductor, and arranger. Among his recordings are a solo piano CD of jazz-flavored original works, and CDs with violinist Kyung Sun Lee and tenor Robert Swensen. His Piano Trio (2019) was written for the Bayou City Trio. Other compositions include concerti, chamber works, and short piano pieces. Arrangements include orchestrations for more than a dozen Korean films, including 2006 Cannes Festival favorite The Host, which was directed by 2020 Academy Award winner Bong Joon-Ho (for Parasite). Suits has conducted the French Chamber Orchestra Albéric Magnard, the Gonzaga Symphony, Nino Rota’s Italian Straw Hat at the University of Houston, and several orchestras in Korea. He taught at the Yale School of Music from 1990-2002, and currently teaches at the University of Houston as Professor of Accompanying and Chamber Music, as well as art song coach and professor of lyric diction. In summers he plays at both the University of Houston’s Texas Music Festival, and the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival in Burlington, Vermont. He has also been involved with the Aspen, Great Mountains, and Banff Music Festivals. His BM is from the University of Texas at Austin, and his MM is from the University of Southern California. His teachers have included Brooks Smith, the last of violinist Jascha Heifetz’s collaborators, David Renner, Jean Barr, and Donald Grantham.
