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Music on Mondays Series Features Violin and Cello Duo

MBU’s spring 2025 Music on Mondays concert series featured husband and wife team violinist Soh-Hyun Park Altino and cellist Leonardo Altino. “Virtuosity and Lyricism: A Celebration of Duo Masterpieces” explored music by Ravel, Glière, Kodály, and Halvorsen. The two concerts, one for families with young children and one for the Watertown area community, provided all music lovers with an opportunity to enjoy a masterful performance.

Family Concert 

The 6 pm concert was tailored for a young audience. The performers discussed chamber music, collaborative playing techniques, and the ability to communicate through music. Through the use of stories, characterizations, and pictures, they helped the audience connect to the music. Soh-Hyun remarked that they performed the virtuosic Passacaglia “to show you how much fun it is to play violin and cello.” The program included a variety of pieces that portrayed contrasting stories and feelings.

One young attendee, Richie, shared that his favorite piece was the opening (Duo, Op. 7 by Zoltán Kodály) because of the imagery of war and fighting. Drew, another student, commented that he enjoyed the concert because of the opportunity to watch live performers: “It’s awesome to hear some great, energetic music, as well as see whoever is doing it… on a recording, you don’t have any interaction.” 

Community Concert

In addition to the works performed in the earlier concert, the 7 pm concert included a Sonata for Violin and Cello by Ravel and “Etude” by Glière. Contrasting styles and virtuosic prowess combined to create a thrilling performance.

Music department Chair Dr. Bachorik wrote, the performers’ “interaction with the audience was engaging, and [the] stunning, impassioned playing gripped the audience (all ages!). I was moved as much by the moments of delicacy as by the raw power. [The] recital was a special gift to our music majors and minors that I know will linger with them.”

About the Musicians

Violinist Soh-Hyun Park Altino is highly regarded as a gifted teacher and a versatile performer of solo and chamber music. Lauded for her “poise and precision,” her performance engagements have taken her to Brazil, Colombia, Germany, Korea, Venezuela, and throughout the United States. In her twenty-fourth year of collegiate teaching, she enjoys the all-encompassing process of teaching the violin and mentoring her students. Her recent research of interpreting traditional Korean music on the violin, supported by various grants, has unexpectedly brought her close to her cultural heritage and deepened her appreciation of music as language. She earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music under the tutelage of Donald Weilerstein, and she currently teaches at the Wheaton College Conservatory of Music. Visit sohhyunparkaltino.com for more information.

Born to musician parents in Pernambuco, American-Brazilian cellist Leonardo Altino began his musical studies at the age of five and gave his first performance at age eight. His national breakthrough came at fourteen when Leonardo was the youngest winner at the Jovens Concertistas Brasileiros, a prestigious competition in Rio de Janeiro, which led to performances with every major orchestra and hall in his home country. At nineteen Leonardo was the first prize winner at the International Cello Competition Dr. Luis Segal in Viña Del Mar, Chile, and has since appeared in concerts in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Greece, Italy, South Korea, Taiwan, Uruguay, Venezuela, and the United States. The Strad Magazine has praised his playing for “exceptional musical intelligence and an exceptionally cultivated sound.” A dedicated teacher and mentor, Leonardo has taught at many music festivals both nationally and internationally, and he currently serves on the faculty at the Wheaton College Conservatory of Music where he teaches cello and chamber music. 

Soh-Hyun and Leonardo Altino frequently perform together, have recorded an album, En Voyage, of chamber music for violin and cello, and enjoy traveling with their son David.

To learn more about ����ԭ��’s Music on Mondays Concert Series, go to . In addition to learning about upcoming concerts, you can also find information on advertising your business through concert sponsorship. Click to view more pictures from the concerts.