Part 2 of our conversation with violinist Tessa Lark, she speaks about the similarities between styles of music she loves, including baroque, bluegrass, and contemporary classical. We experience the versatility of the violin and of her playing in particular, hearing some of her bluegrass recordings.

Part 2 of our conversation with violinist Scott St. John focuses on his family, performing music by Bohuslav Martinu, and his role performing as part of the St. Lawrence String Quartet from 2006-2013. Scott also speaks about the influence of his teacher and Guarneri String Quartet founder Arnold Steinhardt.

Part 1 of our conversation with violinist Tessa Lark focuses on her bluegrass roots and her early musical studies,

and how that made her interested in the relationship between folk music and classical. We hear an excerpt from Bartok's Romanian Folk Dances.

In Part 1 of our conversation with violinist Scott St. John, he discusses SCMS Founder Toby Saks and how he got involved in the Festival. He also talks about his recordings of Dvorak and Mozart and his musical relationship with his sister, violinist Lara St. John, and his wife, violist Sharon Wei.

This second half of a 2-part Festival Preview episode features SCMS Artistic Director James Ehnes talking about some of the musicians making their SCMS debut during the Winter Festival and the works that will be heard in Free Pre-Concert Recitals prior to every concert of the Festival.

SCMS Artistic Director and violinist James Ehnes gives a preview of the 2019 Winter Festival of chamber music. This first half of a 2-part Festival Preview contains discussion of the Ehnes String Quartet, how he programs a festival of chamber music with a variety of musicians and repertoire. He talks about why the Festival contains a 20th-Century piece almost every evening, including the rarely-performed "Gemini Variations" by Benjamin Britten.

The final part of our conversation with pianist Jeewon Park talks about playing Chopin on a historic 1880s era Steinway grand piano at the Clark Art Institute in Western Massachusetts. She also talks about her daughter Lilly taking cello lessons and the family dog “Sancho Panza,” who has a special story.

The final part of our conversation with violinist Nurit Bar-Josef talks about learning the demanding and cinematic chamber music of Erich Wolfgang Korngold. She also talks about discovering the joys of playing in an orchestra while performing Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” as a student at the Curtis Institute. That initial experience led Nurit to leadership positions in St. Louis, Boston, and now as concertmaster at the National Symphony Orchestra.

The final part of our conversation with pianist Inon Barnatan includes the excitement and challenges of his new role as artistic director of the La Jolla Music Society in San Diego; he speaks about how ideas from literature, painting, and the collections of great international museums shape the way he thinks about presenting and programming music. Inon also reflects on the music of Thomas Ades from his recording “Darknesse Visible.”

Part 3 of our conversation with pianist Jeewon Park begins with the story of how she met her husband, SCMS Festival Artist Edward Arron. She reflects on their musical chemistry and

their recent recording of all Beethoven's works for cello and piano. We hear the recording of couple playing Beethoven’s 3rd Cello Sonata in A Major.