Chamber group Frequency—violinists Michael Jinsoo Lim and Jennifer Caine Provine, violist Melia Watras, and cellist Sarah Rommel—performs works by Sergei Prokofiev, Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint Georges, Benjamin Britten, Felix Mendelssohn, Kaija Saariaho, and the world premiere of a new work by Melia Watras in this exploration of the musical form of theme and variations.
Program
Tema con variazioni from Sonata for Solo Violin in D major, Opus 115: Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)
Sonata for Two Violins in A major: Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint Georges (1745-1799)
I. Quarter note = 120
II. Aria con variazioni
Aure (2011) for violin and cello: Kaija Saariaho (1952-2023)
Tema con variazioni for String Quartet in E major, Op. 81, No. 1: Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Mnemosyne’s breath for string quartet (2023): Melia Watras (b. 1969)
Chacony from String Quartet No. 2 in C major, Op. 36 (1945): Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)
Frequency
A “dream” ensemble, according to King FM-Seattle’s Second Inversion, Frequency presents innovative, invigorating and intriguing chamber music concerts. Composed of violinists Michael Jinsoo Lim and Jennifer Caine Provine (who share the front violin desk of the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra as Concertmaster and Associate Concertmaster) and violist Melia Watras and cellist Sarah Rommel (who are on the faculty of the University of Washington School of Music), Frequency is a modular chamber music group, breaking into different parts to present solos, duos and trios, while also expanding with renowned guest artists to perform in a variety of formations. Frequency members have performed as soloists and chamber musicians worldwide, in leading concert halls such as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Weill Recital Hall, La Seine Musicale, and Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
Michael Jinsoo Lim
Violinist Michael Jinsoo Lim has been praised by Gramophone for playing with “delicious abandon,” and hailed by the Los Angeles Times as a “conspicuously accomplished champion of contemporary music.” Concertmaster and solo violinist for the internationally acclaimed Pacific Northwest Ballet, Lim’s solo appearances with the company include performances in Paris, New York City, Los Angeles and Seattle, in concertos by Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Bach, Max Richter and others. Lim is the founder of the Seattle-based ensemble Frequency and was co-founder of the award-winning Corigliano Quartet, with whom he appeared on over a dozen albums, including the groups’s Naxos label CD which was honored as one of The New Yorker’s Ten Best Classical Recordings of the Year. His discography can be found on Naxos, Planet M, Sono Luminus, DreamWorks, Albany, Bridge, CRI, Bayer Records, RIAX and New Focus. Lim has served on the faculty of the Banff Centre, taught at Indiana University as a guest professor, and currently serves on the faculty of Cornish College of the Arts.
Jennifer Caine Provine
Jennifer Caine Provine, violinist, is Associate Concertmaster of the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra and violinist of the Volta Piano Trio, with whom she has performed extensively throughout the Northwest and abroad, been heard on national radio stations, and recorded three discs on the Con Brio label to critical acclaim. She also performs with Seattle-based chamber ensembles Frequency and Kokopelli, and has appeared on several chamber music series and at national and international summer music festivals. She was Assistant Director and Resident Violinist at the Icicle Creek Center for the Arts in Leavenworth, WA from 2007-2010. A recipient of several awards and grants, Jennifer has also written freelance reviews for Strings magazine’s In Print column. Jennifer holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and a master’s degree from the Royal College of Music in London.
Melia Watras has been hailed by Gramophone as “an artist of commanding and poetic personality” and by The Strad as “staggeringly virtuosic.” As a violist/composer/collaborative artist, she has sustained a distinguished career as a creator and facilitator of new music and art.
In the 2025-26 season, highlights include performances of world premieres: works written for Watras by composers Mary Kouyoumdjian and Ha-Yang Kim, as well as her new solo viola piece to be performed by Anthony Devroye in Paris. A new album of her compositions is slated to be recorded for Planet M Records.
Watras’s much-lauded work as a recording artist spans nearly three decades. Her latest album, of her composition The almond tree duos, was recognized by Bandcamp Daily as being among the best contemporary Classical music of the month. Berlin-based music magazine 15 Questions called the duos “pure, poignant, powerful in their immediacy.” The WholeNote notes that her recording Play/Write “unfolds an exquisite world in which beauty and dreams flirt with sorrow.” String Masks, a collection of her own compositions including the titular work which utilizes Harry Partch instruments, was praised for “not only the virtuoso’s sensitive playing, but also her innovative and daring spirit,” by the Journal of the American Viola Society. Textura hailed her compositional debut album, Firefly Songs, for “distilling rich life experiences into strikingly original musical form.” Schumann Resonances was described by the American Record Guide as “a rare balance of emotional strength and technical delicacy,” with The Strad writing of 26 “a beautiful celebration of 21st century viola music.” Ispirare made numerous Best of 2015 lists, including the Chicago Reader’s (“Watras knocked the wind out of me with the dramatically dark beauty of this recording”). A Seattle Times Critics’ Pick for Short Stories, the newspaper marveled at her “velocity that seems beyond the reach of human fingers.” Strings praised her “stunning virtuosic talent” in her debut solo CD, Viola Solo, and declared her second release, Prestidigitation, “astounding and both challenging and addictive to listen to.”
Watras’s compositions have been performed in the US cities of New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, Bloomington (IN), and countries including Denmark, Spain, Switzerland, and Wales. She has been commissioned by the American Viola Society, the Avalon String Quartet, violinists Tekla Cunningham, Mark Fewer, Rachel Lee Priday and Michael Jinsoo Lim, violists Anthony Devroye and Rose Wollman, cellist Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir, pianist Cristina Valdés, accordionist Jeanne Velonis, with works performed by violist Atar Arad, singer Galia Arad, pianist Winston Choi, Harry Partch Instrumentarium Director Charles Corey, violinists Manuel Guillén and Yura Lee, vocalist Carrie Henneman Shaw, percussionist Bonnie Whiting and the ensemble Frequency. Her music has been heard on National Public Radio’s Performance Today and can be found on the albums The almond tree duos; Kinetic; Partita Party; Play/Write; String Masks; 3 Songs for Bellows, Buttons and Keys; Firefly Songs; Schumann Resonances and 26. Watras’s adaptation of John Corigliano’s Fancy on a Bach Air for viola, which she recorded for her Viola Solo album, is published by G. Schirmer, Inc.
For twenty years, Watras concertized worldwide and recorded extensively as violist of the renowned Corigliano Quartet, which she co-founded. The quartet appears on 13 albums, including their recording on the Naxos label, which was honored as one of the Ten Best Classical Recordings of the Year by The New Yorker.
Melia Watras studied with Distinguished Professor Atar Arad at Indiana University, earning Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees and the prestigious Performer’s Certificate. While at Indiana, Watras began her teaching career as Arad’s Associate Instructor, later becoming a member of the faculty as a Visiting Lecturer. She went on to study chamber music at the Juilliard School while serving as a teaching assistant to the Juilliard String Quartet.
Watras is currently Professor of Viola at the University of Washington, where she holds the Ruth Sutton Waters Endowed Professorship. In 2024, the American Viola Society presented Watras with the Maurice W. Riley Award, for her distinguished contributions to the viola as a performer, composer, teacher and leader. She has penned articles for the Journal of the American Viola Society, The Strad (online), Strings and the Juilliard Journal.