Music on Norway Pond opens its season with the Juniper Trio: violinist Geneva Lewis (right), violist Emma Wernig (center), and cellist Jay Campbell (left). A former BBC New Generation Artist, Lewis has received an Avery Fisher Career Grant and a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award, and made her BBC Proms debut in 2023. Wernig, a prizewinning soloist and principal violist of the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, is known for her expressive, inventive approach to the viola. Campbell’s playing has been called “electrifying” by The New York Times; he has worked closely with composers including John Zorn and John Luther Adams. Together, these three acclaimed chamber musicians promise a memorable start to the season.
About Geneva Lewis
American/New Zealand violinist Geneva Lewis is praised for the “remarkable mastery of her instrument” (CVNC) and performances that speak to the heart. A BBC New Generation Artist from 2022 to 2024, she has received a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award and an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and won the 2020 Concert Artists Guild Competition.
Geneva made her BBC Proms debut in 2023 with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. She has also performed with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, and Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, among others. A dedicated chamber musician, she has collaborated with Jonathan Biss, Miriam Fried, Gidon Kremer, András Schiff, and Mitsuko Uchida, and appeared at Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, and the Marlboro Music Festival.
Committed to music education, Geneva has developed interactive programs for young audiences and presented school masterclasses. She studied at the New England Conservatory with Miriam Fried and at the Kronberg Academy with Mihaela Martin. She performs on a composite violin by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, c. 1776, on loan from a charitable trust.
(Geneva Lewis Photos by Matthew Holler)
About Emma Wernig
German-Austrian violist Emma Wernig is known for her expressive playing and inventive approach to the viola repertoire. She won the 2017 Cecil Aronowitz International Viola Competition, received the Barbirolli Prize at the 2019 Tertis International Viola Competition, and was awarded the Wilo Foundation Prize in 2021.
As a soloist, Emma has performed with Kremerata Baltica, the Meininger Hofkapelle, and the Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen. Her 2021 debut album, recorded with pianist Albert Cano-Smit, features rarely heard Austrian works for viola. She also arranges music for her instrument, including Schumann’s Cello Concerto. A member of the Doric String Quartet, she has collaborated with Gidon Kremer, Janine Jansen, Steven Isserlis, and Christian Tetzlaff, and performed at festivals including Verbier and Aldeburgh.
Emma has served as principal violist of the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra and as guest principal with the London Symphony Orchestra and BBC Symphony Orchestra. She studied at the Colburn Conservatory, Yale School of Music, and Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin. She lives in London and plays a 2019 viola by Jason Viseltear.
About Jay Campbell
Jay Campbell is a cellist actively exploring a wide range of creative music. He has been recognized for approaching both old and new music with the same curiosity and commitment, and his performances have been called “electrifying” by the New York Times and “gentle, poignant, and deeply moving” by the Washington Post.
The only musician ever to receive two Avery Fisher Career Grants — in 2016 as a soloist, and again in 2019 as a member of the JACK Quartet — Jay made his concerto debut with the New York Philharmonic in 2013 and in 2016, he worked with Alan Gilbert as the artistic director for Ligeti Forward, part of the New York Philharmonic Biennale at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 2017, he was Artist-in-Residence at the Lucerne Festival along with frequent collaborator violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja, where he gave the premiere of Luca Francesconi’s cello concerto Das Ding Singt. In 2018 he appeared at the Berlin Philharmonie with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. He has recorded the concertos of George Perle and Marc-Andre Dalbavie with the Seattle Symphony, and in 2023/2024 will premiere a new concerto, Reverdecer, by Andreia Pinto-Correia with the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Portugal, and in Brazil with the Orquestra Sinfonica do Estado de Sao Paulo. In 2022 he returned to the Los Angeles Philharmonic as curator and cellist for his second Green Umbrella concert, premiering two concertos by Wadada Leo Smith and inti figgis-vizueta.
Jay’s primary artistic interest is the collaboration with living creative musicians and has worked in this capacity with Catherine Lamb, John Luther Adams, Marcos Balter, Tyshawn Sorey, and many others. His close association with John Zorn resulted in two discs of new works for cello, Hen to Pan (2015) and Azoth (2020). Deeply committed as a chamber musician, he is the cellist of the JACK Quartet as well as the Junction Trio with violinist Stefan Jackiw and pianist Conrad Tao, and multidisciplinary collective AMOC.