Inspector Pulse Goes to Sleep
Sun, Apr 27, 2025, 2:00 pm
Alice Tully Hall
1 hour, no intermission
Our wacky inspector has trouble going to sleep, so he investigates lullabies to see if they really work. But he also needs to stay awake to investigate, so he needs some wake-up music!
For all who are curious, they can try out instruments at our Instrument Petting Zoo from 1:00–1:50 PM in the lobby. Children will also have the opportunity to talk to the artists by asking questions at the end of the show.
All patrons, including small children sitting in laps, must have a ticket to enter. All performances are appropriate for ages 6+ as long as guests are not disruptive to other patrons' enjoyment of the performance.
Bruce Adolphe
Stephanie Zyzak
Mika Sasaki
Mihai Marica
Resident lecturer and director of family concerts for CMS since 1992, Bruce Adolphe is a composer of international renown, much of whose output addresses science, history, and the struggle for human rights.
Resident lecturer and director of family concerts for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since 1992, Bruce Adolphe is a composer of international renown, much of whose output addresses science, history, and the struggle for human rights. His works are frequently performed by major artists, including Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, Fabio Luisi, Joshua Bell, Daniel Hope, Angel Blue, the Brentano String Quartet, the Washington National Opera, the Metropolitan Opera Guild, the Human Rights Orchestra of Europe, and over 60 orchestras worldwide. Among his most performed works are the violin concerto I Will Not Remain Silent, the violin/piano duo Einstein’s Light, and Tyrannosaurus Sue: A Cretaceous Concerto.
Praised for her sensitive musicianship and heartfelt playing, violinist Stephanie Zyzak is quickly gaining a reputation as one of the most soulful and profound musicians of her generation.
At the age of seven, Stephanie made her first solo appearance with the Starling Chamber Orchestra at the Aspen Music School and became the youngest recipient ever to be awarded the Aspen Music School New Horizon Fellowship. The following year, she performed in Germany as an invited guest of the Internationale Kunst – Akademie Liechtenstein (IKAL). Since making her debut in 2004 with the Louisville Orchestra, Stephanie has performed as a soloist throughout Germany, Russia, Austria, Sweden, Spain, Italy, France, and with orchestras including the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Dayton Philharmonic, Southeast Missouri Symphony, and the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra. Recent and upcoming season highlights include performances at Caramoor, Carnegie Hall, the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert series, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Vancouver Chamber Music Society, and on tour with Mitsuko Uchida and Musicians from Marlboro as part of Carnegie Hall’s Perspective Series.
A deeply passionate chamber musician, Stephanie frequently collaborates and appears in concerts with musicians including Mitsuko Uchida, Jonathan Biss, Kim Kashkashian, Hsin-Yun Huang, Alice Neary, Danny Phillips, Marcy Rosen, and Peter Wiley. She has also performed at Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, Caramoor, the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival, and the Marlboro Music Festival, where she has toured extensively with Musicians From Marlboro.
Born in South Carolina, Stephanie is a graduate of New England Conservatory and has studied with Miriam Fried and Mark Steinberg. She is also a founding member of ensemble132, a roster-based chamber music collective and was a 2020-22 Ensemble Connect fellow at Carnegie Hall.
Stephanie performs on a 1778 Joseph and Antonio Gagliano violin, generously on loan from Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, and a bow by François-Nicolas Voirin.
Pianist Mika Sasaki is an imaginative and versatile soloist, chamber musician, and educator whose performances have taken her around the world. Her debut album, Obsidian: Mika Sasaki plays Clara Schumann, released on Yarlung Records in 2016, was highly acclaimed by the Online Merker as “illuminat[ing] the artistic inspiration and creative exchange between three Romantic souls,” Clara Schumann, Robert Schumann, and Johannes Brahms. Her performances have been broadcasted on WQXR, WFMT, KQAC, and Radio Sweden. She has appeared as concerto soloist with the Sinfonia of Cambridge, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, 92Y Orchestra, and, more recently, with the InterSchool Symphony Orchestra of New York, performing Amy Beach’s Piano Concerto. She is the pianist of Ensemble Mélange and appears regularly with the Chameleon Arts Ensemble of Boston, Manhattan Chamber Players, Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect, and with her duo partners. Her festival appearances include Music@Menlo, Tanglewood, Chigiana, Taos, Yellow Barn, Aspen, Focus!, Icicle Creek, Mannes Beethoven Institute, Caramoor, Shandelee, Weekend of Chamber Music, Central Vermont Chamber Music Festival, and many others. An advocate of both old and new repertoire, she can be heard championing works from the Baroque to the present, and has commissioned chamber music and solo works by Max Grafe, Emily Cooley, Andrew Hsu, and Jonathan Dawe. An alumna of the Peabody Conservatory, Ensemble Connect, and the Juilliard School, Sasaki is now a faculty member at Juilliard. Her teachers have included Benjamin Pasternack, Gilbert Kalish, and Joseph Kalichstein.
Romanian-born cellist Mihai Marica is a first-prize winner of the Dr. Luis Sigall International Competition in Viña del Mar, Chile, as well as the Irving M. Klein International Competition, and is a recipient of Charlotte White’s Salon de Virtuosi Fellowship Grant. He has performed with orchestras such as the Symphony Orchestra of Chile, Xalapa Symphony in Mexico, the Hermitage State Orchestra of St. Petersburg in Russia, the Jardins Musicaux Festival Orchestra in Switzerland, the Louisville Orchestra, and the Santa Cruz Symphony in the US. He has also appeared in recital performances in Austria, Hungary, Germany, Spain, Holland, South Korea, Japan, Chile, the United States, and Canada. A dedicated chamber musician, he has performed at the Chamber Music Northwest, Norfolk, and Aspen music festivals where he has collaborated with such artists as Ani Kavafian, Ida Kavafian, David Shifrin, André Watts, and Edgar Meyer. He is a founding member of the award-winning Amphion String Quartet. A recent collaboration with dancer Lil Buck brought forth new pieces for solo cello written by Yevgeniy Sharlat and Patrick Castillo. He recently joined the acclaimed Apollo Trio. Marica studied with Gabriela Todor in his native Romania and with Aldo Parisot at the Yale School of Music, where he was awarded master's and artist diploma degrees. He is an alum of CMS's Bowers Program.