Pine Plains, N.Y. — On Sunday, October 6, violinist Melissa White will appear at the Stissing Center for Arts and Culture to perform a program of Arvo Pärt, Johannes Brahms, Amy Beach, Jhula Jhule, and George Gershwin. Accompanying Ms. White will be pianist Pallavi Mahidhara, with whom she regularly collaborates.
Melissa White participated in the first Sphinx Competition in 1997 and was one of its earliest first-prize winners. She is a founding member of the Grammy-winning Harlem Quartet and has performed with such ensembles as the Cleveland Orchestra; the Boston Pops; the Louisville Orchestra; and the Atlanta, Baltimore, Colorado, Detroit, and Pittsburgh symphony orchestras. Her international engagements as a soloist have included appearances with Poland’s Filharmonia Dolnoslaska, the Colombian Youth Orchestra, and the Czech National Philharmonic. As a recitalist, she has performed in Baku, Azerbaijian, and Jelenia Gora, Poland. She is the 2023–2024 Joyce C. Willis Artist in Residence with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, where she performs with the orchestra and in solo recital.
The press has taken kind notice of both White and Mahidhara. Urban Milwaukee wrote, “If violinist Melissa White and pianist Pallavi Mahidhara are the future of classical music, then the future is bright!”
The Cincinnati Business Courier wrote:
… White’s performance of the Violin Concerto No. 3, ‘Strasbourg,’ … left the deepest impression. The gifted violinist … projected a big, gleaming tone on her American-made violin (commissioned as part of a Sphinx artist grant by violin maker Ryan Soltis). Her playing was elegant and thoughtful, and she navigated technical difficulties with an easy virtuosity. Most memorable was her phrasing in the slow movement. She took her time in the cadenza, as if to revel in her violin’s magnificent sound.
As a member of the Harlem Quartet, White has collaborated with such jazz luminaries as Chick Corea and Gary Burton, with whom their recording “Mozart Goes Dancing” won three Grammy Awards in 2013, including the Grammy for Best Instrumental Composition.
Born and raised in Lansing, Mich., White graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music and the New England Conservatory and now teaches at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. She is also professor of music at the University at Buffalo.
Indian-American pianist Pallavi Mahidhara made her orchestral debut at age 10, performing at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago. She is the Second Prize winner and Young Audience Award winner of the 69th Geneva International Piano Competition and winner of the VI International Prokofiev Competition in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Other awards include the Olivier Berggruen Prize at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival, the Steinway Förderpreis in Germany, the Astral Artists National Auditions in the U.S., and the “Sobresaliente” Award from Queen Sofía of Spain.
Hear violinist Melissa White and pianist Pallavi Mahidhara perform a program of Pärt, Brahms, Beach, Jhule, and Gershwin on Sunday, October 6, 3 p.m., at the Stissing Center for Arts and Culture, 2950 Church St, Pine Plains, N.Y., 12567. More information and tickets are available here.
