Eyal Kless to join Seth Carlin and members of St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in concert Nov. 8

Israeli violinist Eyal Kless will join pianist Seth Carlin, professor of music in Arts & Sciences, and two musicians from the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra — violist Shannon Farrell Williams and cellist Bjorn Ranheim — for a free performance at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 8.

Eyal Kless

Sponsored by the Symphony Orchestra’s Community Partnership Program and the Department of Music in Arts & Sciences, the concert will take place in Washington University’s E. Desmond Lee Concert Hall, located in the 560 Music Center, 560 Trinity Ave., at the intersection with Delmar Boulevard.

For more information, call (314) 935-5566 or e-mail kschultz@artsci.wustl.edu.

The performance will mark the centennial or bicentennial of the births of three composers: Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849), Samuel Barber (1910-1981) and Robert Schumann (1810-1856). The program will open with Chopin’s Piano Trio in G Minor, Opus 8, followed by Barber’s Sonata for Violoncello and Piano, Opus 6. After intermission, the program will conclude with Schumann’s Piano Quartet in E-flat major, Opus 47.

Born in Israel, Kless earned his bachelor of arts degree with honors at the Rubin Academy at Tel Aviv University, where he studied with his father, the violinist Yair Kless. He then earned a master’s degree at the Academie fur Kunst und Musik in Vienna, under Reiner Kuchl, Michael Frischenschlager and Igor Ozim, during which time he won numerous national and international awards.

A dynamic and versatile musician, Kless has performed throughout the world and currently teaches at the Buchmann-Mehta Academy of Music in Tel Aviv. Previous teaching posts include the Royal Academy for Music in Dublin and the Royal Northern College of Music and the Chethams School of Music, both in Manchester. His first book, Zen and the Art of Violin Practicing, has been praised by students and professors alike. His first novel, Rocca’s Violin, was published in 2007.

Carlin, who directs the music department’s piano program, has performed as soloist with orchestras around the world and with conductors such as Roger Norrington, Nicholas McGegan and Leonard Slatkin. In the past several years, he has performed Beethoven’s “Triple” Concerto with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and appeared as soloist with the San Francisco Philharmonia Baroque, the period-instrument orchestra.

He has played on French, Swedish, Chinese and German national television and radio and in recent years has given concerts in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and England. In 1992-93, he performed the cycle of Schubert’s complete keyboard sonatas on fortepiano in both St. Louis and New York.

Ranheim joined the Symphony Orchestra in 2005 and also holds the principal chair of the Colorado Music Festival in Boulder. He previously served as associate principal cello of the Fort Worth Symphony and has performed and toured with the orchestras of Atlanta, Cleveland, Detroit and Baltimore.

In addition, Ranheim has served as principal and assistant principal cello with the New World Symphony, the National Repertory Orchestra, the Aspen Festival Orchestra and Quebec City’s critically acclaimed Le Violons du Roy. A committed advocate of contemporary music, Ranheim also has performed world-premiere works by Stephen Paulus, Paul Schoenfield and Steven Heitzig.

A native of Wisconsin, Williams began playing the violin at the age of five. Later she began playing viola in the Dubinsky Quartet, which was awarded several prizes during its existence, including the Junior Division of the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition and the Coleman Competition in California.

Williams won first place in Indiana University’s annual viola competition in 2000, shortly after switching her major from violin to viola performance. She earned her bachelor of music degree from Indiana in 2001 and her master’s degree at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston in 2003. Williams performed with the viola section of the Louisville Symphony Orchestra during the 2004-05 season and began with St. Louis Symphony Orchstra in September 2005. Since 2008, she has been the principal viola for the Colorado Music Festival.