THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY College of Music presents
Faculty Recital
Benjamin Sung, Violin David Kalhous, Piano
Wednesday, March 11, 2026 7:30 p.m. | Longmire Recital Hall
PROGRAM Sonata for violin and keyboard in E Major, BWV 1016 Adagio Allegro Adagio ma non tanto Allegro Elegie for violin and piano (1939)
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
Vítězslava Kaprálová (1915–1940)
Tre pezzi per violino e pianoforte, Op. 14e 1. Öd und traurig 2. Vivo 3. Aus der Ferne. Sehr leise, äusserst langsam
György Kurtág (b. 1926)
Fantaisie in C Major for piano and violin, D 934 Andante molto Allegretto Andantino Allegro vivace - Presto
Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
To Ensure An Enjoyable Concert Experience For All… Please refrain from talking, entering, or exiting during performances. Food and drink are prohibited in all concert halls. Recording or broadcasting of the concert by any means, including the use of digital cameras, cell phones, or other devices is expressly forbidden. Please deactivate all portable electronic devices including watches, cell phones, pagers, hand-held gaming devices or other electronic equipment that may distract the audience or performers. Recording Notice: This performance may be recorded. Please note that members of the audience may at times be included in this process. By attending this performance you consent to have your image or likeness appear in any live or recorded video or other transmission or reproduction made in conjunction to the performance. Florida State University provides accommodations for persons with disabilities. Please notify the College of Music at (850) 644-3424 at least five working days prior to a musical event to request accommodation for disability or alternative program format.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS Professor of Violin at Florida State University, violinist Benjamin Sung is also a Faculty Artist and Violin Coordinator of the Brevard Music Center where he acts as Concertmaster of the Brevard Opera Orchestra. Recent concert highlights include the 2022 Brevard Music Festival; the 24 Caprices by Paganini during the COVID-shortened 2019-20 season; a complete Beethoven sonata cycle with pianist David Kalhous; and a TED talk for TEDx Fargo. In 2022, after sharing 10 years of concerts of the violin-piano repertoire, Sung and Kalhous are embarking on a new chapter of their partnership, called extension, an effort to present the greatest music of the existing repertoire along with newly commissioned works from today’s most exciting composers, both in live performance and recorded and streaming media. Sung has performed as soloist with numerous orchestras, including the Camerata Romeu of Havana, Cuba, the Virtuosi of Festival Internacionale de Musica in Recife, Brazil, and the National Repertory Orchestra. He is equally in demand as a chamber musician, having shared the stage with great performers including pianist Monique Duphil, and cellists Antonio Meneses and Marcio Carneiro. He is a past winner of the Starling Award of the Eastman School of Music and the Violin Fellowship of the Montgomery Symphony, and an Aaron Copland Fund Recording Grant. An enthusiastic advocate of contemporary music, Sung has recorded the music of composers Steve Rouse and Marc Satterwhite for Centaur Records, has performed and taught for Studio 2021 at Seoul National University, and has worked with many of the greatest composers of this generation, including John Adams, Pierre Boulez, George Crumb, and Helmut Lachenmann. He recently released an album of new American works entitled FluxFlummoxed on Albany Records, a recording hailed by Fanfare Magazine as “a brilliant performance of four superb works” with “impeccable intonation and tone production.” Sung has an upcoming new solo album featuring works by Sciarrino, Berio, Maderna, and Schnittke. Sung holds a Bachelor’s degree from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Oleh Krysa, and Master’s and Doctoral degrees from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, from the studio of Nelli Shkolnikova. Sung also studied at the Professional Training Program at Carnegie Hall, the Lucerne Festival Academy, the New York String Seminar, and the Chamber Music Residency at The Banff Centre. Pianist David Kalhous has gained recognition in Europe, the United States, and Asia for his elegant musicianship, brilliant pianism, and engaging programming. With a wide-ranging repertoire spanning over three centuries, his performances have been praised by The New York Times for their “virtuosity and focus,” while the New York Classical Review described his playing as “fascinating to the ears, mind and heart.” He has appeared as a soloist with the Prague Symphony Orchestra FOK, Prague Philharmonia, Israel Symphony Orchestra, and the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra, among others, working with such conductors as Stefan Asbury, Libor Pešek, Eli Jaffe, Leoš Svárovský, Stanislav Vavřínek, and Marián Valčuha. As a recitalist and chamber musician, he has performed at the Rudolfinum in Prague; Symphony Space, Bargemusic, and Spectrum in New York City; the PianoForte Foundation and Ganz Hall in Chicago; the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Washington, D.C.; and the Seoul Arts Center. His festival appearances include the Gilmore Keyboard Festival, International Royal Cracow Piano Festival, Beethoven Festival in North Bohemia, and Festival Český Krumlov. He has also presented recitals at the Czech Philharmonic Chamber Music Society, Israel Contemporary Players series in Tel Aviv, and at
institutions such as Yale University, Northwestern University, and the Eastman School of Music. An active chamber musician, Kalhous performs regularly with violinist Benjamin Sung, with whom he performed the complete Beethoven sonatas across the U.S., and has toured the United States and Canada with the acclaimed Czech violin virtuoso Ivan Ženatý. A dedicated champion of new music, Kalhous gave the Prague premieres of the first book of György Ligeti’s Études and Morton Feldman’s For Bunita Marcus. He has collaborated with composers such as Georg Friedrich Haas and David Lang, and his “Piano Music from Prague” project features commissions from eight leading Czech composers. Recently, he premiered works by Pedram Diba and other young Iranian composers as part of the Sounds of Freedom project. His discography includes a solo album for Arco Diva and 12 sonatas recorded for Czech Radio’s complete Scarlatti cycle. David Kalhous is a Professor of Piano at Florida State University and serves as the Artistic Director of the Prague Piano Festival. He began his professional studies at the Prague Conservatory with Jaroslav Čermák and attended the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna, the Academy of Arts in Prague, the Rubin Academy of Music at Tel-Aviv University, and Yale University. He has studied with Paul Badura-Skoda, Emil Leichner, Victor Derevianko, David Northington, and Peter Frankl. He also worked with Jerome Lowenthal at the Music Academy of the West and with Paul Lewis as a Gilmore Fellow. He holds a Doctor of Music degree from Northwestern University, where he worked with Ursula Oppens.