Casual Concert:
Simply Mozart
October 18th, 2026 @ 7 PM
Avoca Coffee Roasters (Foch St. Store), Fort Worth
Avoca Coffee Roasters (Foch St. Store), Fort Worth
Step into the brilliant, playful, and endlessly inventive world of Mozart. From graceful melodies and sparkling conversations between instruments to moments of breathtaking lyricism and virtuosic brilliance, this program celebrates the extraordinary range of Mozart’s chamber music.
Featuring Gabe Fridkis on flute, Liz Lee on violin, Ola Holowka on viola, Jenny Kwak on cello, and Stas Chernyshev on clarinet, the program brings together some of Mozart’s most captivating chamber works, including selections from his Divertimento for String Trio, Flute Quartet No. 1, and the Mozart/André Clarinet Quartet, along with other musical gems.
Throughout the program, Mozart’s distinctive musical voice comes into focus through intimate ensembles, lively instrumental exchanges, and beautifully crafted melodies. Together, these works offer a portrait of Mozart at his most inventive, elegant, and expressive.
This Casual Concert on October 18th at 7 PM will be held at Avoca Coffee Roasters (Foch St.). Doors open at 6:30 PM, with hand-crafted coffee and snacks available for purchase. Sip on perfection while enjoying high-level classical music in a laid-back environment! Tickets are $25 for adults and $5 for students.
Step into the brilliant, playful, and endlessly inventive world of Mozart. From graceful melodies and sparkling conversations between instruments to moments of breathtaking lyricism and virtuosic brilliance, this program celebrates the extraordinary range of Mozart’s chamber music.
Featuring Gabe Fridkis on flute, Liz Lee on violin, Ola Holowka on viola, Jenny Kwak on cello, and Stas Chernyshev on clarinet, the program brings together some of Mozart’s most captivating chamber works, including selections from his Divertimento for String Trio, Flute Quartet No. 1, and the Mozart/André Clarinet Quartet, along with other musical gems.
Throughout the program, Mozart’s distinctive musical voice comes into focus through intimate ensembles, lively instrumental exchanges, and beautifully crafted melodies. Together, these works offer a portrait of Mozart at his most inventive, elegant, and expressive.
This Casual Concert on October 18th at 7 PM will be held at Avoca Coffee Roasters (Foch St.). Doors open at 6:30 PM, with hand-crafted coffee and snacks available for purchase. Sip on perfection while enjoying high-level classical music in a laid-back environment! Tickets are $25 for adults and $5 for students.
Musicians
Flutist Gabe Fridkis is quickly establishing himself as a distinguished orchestral musician and sought after soloist. Gabe began his musical studies at seven years of age at the Westminster Conservatory of Music in Princeton, NJ. At 11, Gabe debuted with his brother, Jake Fridkis at the National Flute Convention in San Diego, premiering a duet by world-renowned flutist and composer Gary Schocker. At 12, Gabe toured Europe as the soloist with a chamber orchestra, performing in Prague, Florence and across Eastern Europe, as well as beginning studies in the private studio of Mr. Schocker as his youngest full-time student.
After taking a three year hiatus from music to study law and business at American University in Washington D.C. Gabe resumed his musical studies with Dr. Tara Helen O’Connor at the Conservatory of Music at SUNY Purchase winning a position in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago before completing his Bachelor of Music degree. He moved to Chicago to join the orchestra while concurrently pursuing a Masters degree at DePaul University in the studio of Mark Sparks. During his first year in Chicago in addition to his studies Gabe appeared as a soloist with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and won the Principal Flute chair in the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra. Gabe received his Master of Music degree in the spring of 2018, while simultaneously completing his first season with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra and second season with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. During these two years Gabe also performed with the Nashville Symphony and the San Antonio Symphony. In 2018 Gabe auditioned for and was appointed Assistant Principal Flute of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, a position he currently holds.
During his years in school Gabe attended many music festivals including a summer in the National Repertory Orchestra, two summers with the Aspen Music Festival, one at the Brevard Music Center where he was the winner of the Jean and Beattie Wood Concerto Competition, as well as taking part in the Breckenridge, Eastern, and Banff music festivals. Gabe has had the opportunity to work with conductors including Riccardo Muti, Christoph Eschenbach, Osmo Vanska, Ken-David Masur and Robert Spano, and soloists such as Yo Yo Ma, Andre Watts and Augustin Hadelich. Gabe also studied with Stefan Hoskuldsson, Demarre McGill, Ransom Wilson, Marianne Gedigian, and Nadine Asin.
In addition to his orchestral and solo work, Gabe also performs with his brother and duo partner, Jake Fridkis and has been an adjunct faculty member at the University of North Texas.
Gabe is a Wm. S. Haynes Flutes performing artist plays a 14K Gold Haynes flute with silver mechanism.
After taking a three year hiatus from music to study law and business at American University in Washington D.C. Gabe resumed his musical studies with Dr. Tara Helen O’Connor at the Conservatory of Music at SUNY Purchase winning a position in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago before completing his Bachelor of Music degree. He moved to Chicago to join the orchestra while concurrently pursuing a Masters degree at DePaul University in the studio of Mark Sparks. During his first year in Chicago in addition to his studies Gabe appeared as a soloist with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and won the Principal Flute chair in the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra. Gabe received his Master of Music degree in the spring of 2018, while simultaneously completing his first season with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra and second season with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. During these two years Gabe also performed with the Nashville Symphony and the San Antonio Symphony. In 2018 Gabe auditioned for and was appointed Assistant Principal Flute of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, a position he currently holds.
During his years in school Gabe attended many music festivals including a summer in the National Repertory Orchestra, two summers with the Aspen Music Festival, one at the Brevard Music Center where he was the winner of the Jean and Beattie Wood Concerto Competition, as well as taking part in the Breckenridge, Eastern, and Banff music festivals. Gabe has had the opportunity to work with conductors including Riccardo Muti, Christoph Eschenbach, Osmo Vanska, Ken-David Masur and Robert Spano, and soloists such as Yo Yo Ma, Andre Watts and Augustin Hadelich. Gabe also studied with Stefan Hoskuldsson, Demarre McGill, Ransom Wilson, Marianne Gedigian, and Nadine Asin.
In addition to his orchestral and solo work, Gabe also performs with his brother and duo partner, Jake Fridkis and has been an adjunct faculty member at the University of North Texas.
Gabe is a Wm. S. Haynes Flutes performing artist plays a 14K Gold Haynes flute with silver mechanism.
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Korean violinist, Haerim Elizabeth Lee, captivates audiences by "leaving them breathless with impeccable phrasing and relevant musicality." (El Norte, Mexico). Elizabeth has developed a playing style indicative of the very essence of her personality: passionate, deliberate, and often witty. In 2015, Ms. Lee performed as concertmaster alongside Yo-Yo Ma at the Kennedy Center Honors concert in Washington, D.C., to recognize Maestro Seiji Ozawa, an event attended by former President Barack Obama. Following her solo debut with orchestra at nine years old, she has been a guest soloist with the Winston-Salem Symphony, Symphony of the Mountains, New Amsterdam Symphony, Chelsea Symphony, Orquesta Sinfonica de la Unal, Seoul Virtuosi, Daejeon Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra Olimpia and Filharmonie Bohuslava Martinu. As a performing artist and scholar, Ms. Lee has established herself as a visionary and was the first recipient of the Tarisio Young Artist Grant, serving as the Artistic Director of MoKo Musik to promote and commission Korean music. She is also the Co-Artistic Director of the Innsbrook Music Festival in Missouri and is a co-founder of Texas Chamber Music Institute.
Performing within the intimate setting of chamber music is one of Ms. Lee's most cherished experiences. As part of Evita String Quartet, she received a Bronze Medal Award from the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, and she has also collaborated with world-renowned artists such as Robert McDuffie, Stephan Picard, Barry Shiffman, David Halen, Christopher Rex, and Todd Palmer. Elizabeth has participated in numerous music venues and festivals, including the John F. Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Rackham Auditorium, Prussia Cove International Music Seminar, Banff Centre, Aspen Music Festival, Tanglewood Music Center, Music Academy of the West, Heifetz International Music Festival, Spoleto Music Festival USA, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, and Sarasota Music Festival. Ms. Lee possesses a progressive philosophy when it comes to exploring and premiering works by living composers. She has worked with Thomas Adès and has performed the Canadian premiere of Bright Sheng's piano quintet at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Ms. Lee recorded the premiere recording of pieces by Ellen Taaffe Zwilich and Michael Daugherty and has also performed the North American premiere of Unsuk Chin's Double Bind. Her deep-rooted love for collaboration has resulted in innovative collaborations with complementary, yet unconventional, art forms, including exhibits with the Boston Architecture School, the New York Fashion Show, and performances with choreographers and dancers. Ms. Lee immigrated from Deajeon, South Korea, at the age of eight to pursue a music scholarship at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. She went on to obtain her Bachelor of Arts from the New England Conservatory and, subsequently, her Master of Music from Rice University's Shepherd School of Music. While pursuing her Doctorate of Musical Arts at the University of Michigan, Elizabeth also studied at the Paris Conservatoire with support from the ERASMUS program. Elizabeth's debut album, My Time is Now (INNOVA), is the first-ever recording to feature George Gershwin's recently restored Steinway piano from his New York apartment, and has received critical acclaim. "No one can do justice to this music without swagger and swing, and (Ms. Lee) has plenty of it. After three hearings, this album continues to enchant me; it's a keeper. (Performing Arts Monterey Bay). As a passionate educator, Ms. Lee mentors the faculty at an El Sistema-inspired program in New York, the Harmony Program and is currently the Director of Chamber Music and an Assistant Violin Professor at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. |
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Aleksandra (Ola) Holowka was born in Krakow, Poland. She began studying violin with her mother at age seven and switched to viola when she was 16. In 1990 Aleksandra entered the Chopin Performing Arts High School in Krakow. After graduating she came to the United States to study with Eric Shumsky and Igor Fedotov at Western Michigan University. She earned her master's degree at Rice University under the tutelage of James Dunham. Since coming to the United States Aleksandra has been a member of several regional orchestras and has served as principal violist of Battle Creek Symphony and Austin Lyric Opera. She enjoys hiking in the mountains, camping, swimming and biking. She lives with her husband Don, an orchestra teacher in Fort Worth Independent School District.
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Jenny Kwak joined the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra in January 2022 as a member of the cello section. She has previously held positions with the New Haven Symphony and the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra.
She has won first prizes in competitions and performed as a soloist with ensembles such as the Music in the Mountains Chamber Orchestra and the TCU Symphony Orchestra. She has attended summer festivals such as the Pacific Music Festival and the Music Academy of the West, where she was selected as a Zarin Mehta fellow, allowing her to collaborate with the New York Philharmonic. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Texas Christian University and Master of Music and Master of Musical Arts degrees from the Yale School of Music. Her primary teachers include Jesus Castro-Balbi, Colin Carr, and Aldo Parisot. |
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An "eloquent" clarinetist with "incredible artistry” Russian-born Stas Chernyshev has established a versatile career as an orchestral musician, soloist, chamber musician, and educator (Dallas Morning News, Theater Jones). Principal clarinetist of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Chernyshev has performed at such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall in New York, Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., as well as in Switzerland, Spain, Germany, Russia, South Korea and Japan. A devoted chamber musician, Mr. Chernyshev has collaborated with Grammy-winning ensembles Eighth Blackbird and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, commissioned new works for his instrument. He has been featured on WQXR -New York’s classical music station and WHYY’s television program - On Stage at Curtis. He is the founder and artistic director of Fort Worth Performances for Autism, and a co-founder of Opus Nova Chamber Music Series. Mr. Chernyshev holds a Bachelor’s degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, and a Master’s degree from St. Petersburg Conservatory.
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Location
Avoca Coffee Roasters (Foch St Store)
835 Foch St, Fort Worth, TX 76107
835 Foch St, Fort Worth, TX 76107