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Gut Instinct
The Gut Instinct Chamber Music Project is a concert series in UNC Chapel Hill’s Person Recital Hall which brings UNC’s historical instrument collection together with artists committed to presenting inspired, visceral, historically informed performances of the 19th-century chamber music repertoire. This season’s programming features music of female composers and their artistic circles. The name “Gut Instinct” is a play on words. In 19th-century Europe, the violin, viola, and cello were strung with (sheep) gut. All of the artists collaborating with the Pleyel and Graf pianos at UNC-Chapel Hill (built in 19th-century Paris and Vienna, respectively) use these gut string materials.
The turn of phrase “gut instinct” also refers to the visceral, accessible nature of the musical performances that the artists will be presenting. We want to make “Historically Informed Performance” accessible, relatable, and culturally relevant! We also want to feature these special pianos that are rarely heard by the public, along with great music by female composers which has remained lesser known to the greater public for far too long!
August 30: Amanda Maier & Robert Schumann
Friday, August 30, 2024, 7:30 pm, Person Recital Hall at UNC Chapel Hill
Nicholas DiEugenio, violin
Raman Ramakrishnan, cello
Mimi Solomon, fortepiano (featuring UNC's 1830 Graf by Rodney Regier)
November 15: Pauline Viardot & Gabriel Faure
Friday, November 15, 2024, 7:30 pm, Person Recital Hall at UNC Chapel Hill
Nicholas DiEugenio, violin
Mimi Solomon, fortepiano (featuring UNC's 1843 Pleyel)
February 28 & March 1: Franz and Fanny
February 28 at 5:30pm + March 1 at 7:30pm, Person Recital Hall at UNC Chapel Hill
Nicholas DiEugenio and Kako Boga, violin
Jessica Troy, viola
Keiran Campbell and James Wilson, cello
Mimi Solomon, fortepiano (featuring UNC's 1830 Graf instrument by R.J. Regier)
MYCO
Mimi is co-Artistic Director of MYCO, a pre-college program focused on chamber music and chamber orchestra performance under the mentorship of distinguished professionals. Music-making with MYCO cultivates creativity, empathy, collaboration, discipline, artistry, and most vitally, a love of music — skills and attributes that will serve our young musicians throughout their lives.
Recalibrating Romantics
UNC Chapel Hill owns two marvelous fortepianos; One of them is an original 1843 Pleyel, the other a Graf copy made by Rodney Regier in the 1990’s. In June 2021, Nicholas and Mimi Solomon made three live recordings using these instruments along with period violin bows (Ralph Ashmead & J.J Martin workshop). These three recordings are the first installment in a larger project dedicated to the music of composers of underrepresented groups in classical music. Additionally, by exploring the music of Clara Schumann, Pauline Viardot, and Teresa Carreño with these beautiful instruments, Nicholas and Mimi are discovering new forms of expressivity through sound color, timing, and “expressive asynchrony” which are much less possible using modern instruments.
