The CCHK is thrilled to welcome Sezi Seskir (fortepiano) and Keiran Campbell (cello) on Friday, January 27 for the first salon of our Spring 2023 series, The Salon Project, co-sponsored with the Society for the Humanities. The salon takes place at 5PM at the historic A. D. White House.
Titled "Beethoven's Berlin Cello Sonatas," the program will showcase the two cello sonatas written by Beethoven during his stay in Berlin in 1796, both premiered with cellist Jean-Louis Duport. The sonatas are similarly structured, starting with a slow introduction followed by two movements. This was not only Beethoven’s first attempt toward making the roles of the two instruments more equal but also a celebration of the capabilities of the five-octave piano for which he composed these works.
Seating is limited and is first-come, first-served. Join us!
Performer bios
Dr. Sezi Seskir has performed many solo and chamber music recitals in Europe, the USA, and Turkey, as well as with various orchestras as a soloist.
Her experience performing on a variety of historical keyboards, including 5-octave instruments from the second half of the 18th century, as well as 6 and 6.5-octave instruments from the first half of the 19th century, enriched and deepened her understanding of the genres and repertoire of these periods. She has given several guest lecture-recitals and workshops at schools such as UC Berkeley, Stanford University, Princeton University, the Royal Conservatory of the Hague, Trinity College of London and Penn State University. She presented her work on Schumann at the American Musicological Society's (AMS) 2012 meeting, at the Schumann-Haus in Zwickau, Germany, and the Basel Musikhochschule in Switzerland. These last two presentations resulted in two articles, both of which appeared by Studio Punkt Verlag, in Germany and in Basel, Switzerland, respectively. Seskir recently edited Robert Schumann's piano works Arabeske Op. 18 and Blumenstück Op.19 for the Schumann Complete Edition and Bärenreiter publishing houses. Her CD of three Beethoven violin sonatas with Lucy Russell recorded on period instruments appeared in 2020 by the Acis label, which was received enthusiastically by reviewers. She is a co-founder of the Chamber Music Collective, an intensive chamber music program that takes place at the UC Berkeley and Bucknell University campuses.
Sezi Seskir received her first degree in piano in her native, Ankara, Turkey. She went on with her studies in Lübeck Musikhochschule and then completed a D.M.A. degree with Malcolm Bilson in Cornell University. She is currently an Associate Professor of Music at Bucknell University.
Keiran Campbell was drawn to the cello after he stumbled across one in his grandmother’s basement and was baffled by its size. Once he turned 8, he began taking lessons––on a much smaller cello––in his native Greensboro, North Carolina. After studying extensively with Leonid Zilper, former solo cellist of the Bolshoi Ballet, he received his Bachelors and Masters at the Juilliard School, working with Darrett Adkins, Timothy Eddy, and Phoebe Carrai. Keiran also spent several springs in Cornwall, England, studying with Steven Isserlis and Ralph Kirshbaum at Prussia Cove.
Keiran has performed with ensembles including The English Concert, NYBI, Philharmonia Baroque, The Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, Four Nations Ensemble, and Les Violons du Roy. He recently performed with Le Concert Des Nations under Jordi Savall, touring Europe performing Beethoven Symphonies before recording them on Savall’s new Beethoven CD. During his summers, Keiran has performed with Teatro Nuovo, Lakes Area Music Festival, and The Carmel Bach Festival. He is also on faculty at the recently formed Chamber Music Collective, an intensive chamber music summer program which focuses primarily on post-1750 performance practice. Recent performance highlights include concerto appearances with Tafelmusik and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, a concert of Monteverdi Madrigals with Jordi Savall and Le Concert des Nations in Carnegie Hall, a solo recital with fortepianist Sezi Seskir at the Berkeley Early Music festival, and performances of Handel’s Saul and Solomon with English Concert at the BBC Proms and Edinburgh Festival. Upcoming performances include concerto appearances with Tafelmusik, recitals across the east coast with Sezi Seskir, and a recording of Handel’s Messiah with The English Concert.
Keiran is also fascinated by instrument making, which he studies with the maker of his cello, Timothy Johnson.
