**This event has been canceled.** We look forward to welcoming Miolina back to Scandinavia House at a future date.

Described as displaying “brilliance of sound, technical mastery, and stunning expressivity” (I Care If You Listen), the violin duo Miolina makes their Scandinavia House debut with a program of premieres. Musicians Mioi Takeda and Lynn Bechtold will perform new works written for Miolina by Swedish composer and sound artist Ann Rosén, Finnish composer Tomi Räisänen, and Lynn Bechtold, as well as other featured works by Norwegian composer Ketil Hvoslef and Swedish composers Cecilia Franke, Mauro Godoy Villalobos, and Katarina Leyman, in their first performances in the U.S. 

Following the performance, composers Ann Rosén and Tomi Räisänen will join Miolina for a Q&A about their works, with a post-concert reception closing out the evening.

Lynn Bechtold
A native of Pittsburgh, violinist/composer Lynn Bechtold has appeared in recital throughout the U.S., Argentina, Canada, France, Holland, Japan, and Switzerland. An advocate of contemporary music, she has worked with composers such as Carter Burwell, Gloria Coates, George Crumb, Beatriz Ferreyra, John Harbison, and Morton Subotnick, and has premiered works on the NWEAMO Festival, Princeton Composers’ Series, and the TriBeCa New Music Festival. In 2001, she gave the premiere of “Violynn,” a work for violin and electronics written for her by Alvin Lucier. Called “up-and-coming” by TimeOut and noted in All About Jazz for her “virtuosity and technical expertise,” she performs with Miolina, Zentripetal, Quartet Metadata, CompCord Ensemble, North/South Consonance, SEM Ensemble, Tenth Intervention, and the disco band Escort, and has been a member of groups that have included Bleecker StQ and the East Village Opera Company (rock/opera band). San Diego Story recently called her “unapologetically dominating.”

 Ms. Bechtold has performed around the world, and has been heard on CBC Radio, CBS-TV, NBC-TV, NHK-TV, and WNYC, and on shows such as 30 Rock, The CBS Morning Show, Good Day NY, and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Other programs have been with Absolute Ensemble, Catalyst Dance, DJ Spooky, the NY Symphonic Ensemble, Parsons Dance, Paul Taylor Dance Company, 10 Hairy Legs, the Vermont Symphony, VisionIntoArt, VOX Opera Readings, and Pablo Ziegler. In addition, she’s performed with entertainers such as Boyz II Men, Willie Colon, Sheryl Crow, Dead Can Dance, Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society Band, Roberta Flack, Left Banke, Smokey Robinson, J-Pop band SMAP, Donna Summer, and Stevie Wonder. As part of a project by artist Derrick Adams, she was part of Performa ’13, the performance art biennial. An active performer, she has performed at diverse venues such as the Blue Note, Carnegie Hall, Citi Field, the Frick Museum, the Harvard Club, Joe’s Pub, Lincoln Center, Madison Square Garden, Merkin Hall, National Sawdust, nublu, (le) Poisson Rouge, Radio City Music Hall, Rockwood Music Hall, St John the Divine, and the Whitney Museum.

Ms. Bechtold received her M.M.from Mannes-The New School for Music, where she was a student of noted violinist Felix Galimir. Prior to that, she received a double-degree in Violin and English from the New England Conservatory and Tufts University in Boston. In addition, she likes to compose electroacoustic works, and to write articles about food/music/life. Her compositions have been performed on the Circuit Bridges Festival, Composers Concordance Festival, C-Y Series, Electro-Music Festival, Music With a View Festival, NWEAMO Festival, JUMP series, Sonic Circuits, and Sound Traffic series, as well as at venues such as the Austrian Cultural Forum, Bohemian National Hall, and St. John’s University, in NYC. She is co-director of the Ladies First Series, and a board member of New York Women Composers. She is on the faculties of The Dwight School, Greenwich House Music School, and The Town School in NYC, and is a coach for the Norwalk Youth Symphony in CT.

Mioi Takeda
Since she settled in NYC, Japanese violinist Mioi Takeda earned her reputation as a local soloist, chamber musician, orchestral player, and as a seasoned new music specialist. As Miolina’s artistic director, her mission is to encourage composers to write music for violin duo employing the natural beauty and sound of the instruments, without limitations. She also hopes to expand the violin-duo repertory for future generations. Mioi wants to help rediscover neglected violin-duo compositions by old masters, and to share the joy of current violin-duo music with her audiences. In addition, Ms. Takeda has performed with new music groups, including North/South Consonance as concertmaster, SEM Ensemble, and Composers Concordance, giving countless premieres. She has also performed with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, American Symphony Orchestra, Washington Square Festival, Scandia Symphony, Stamford Symphony, Strathmere Orchestra, The Japan Philharmonic, and The New Japan Philharmonic. Ms. Takeda’s performances can be heard on North/South and Naxos Recordings.

Mioi was a scholarship student of Dorothy DeLay and Masao Kawasaki at The Juilliard School, and she earned a Doctorate of Musical Arts from The City University of New York under the guidance of Itzhak Perlman. She also enjoys doing yoga and watching The Big Bang Theory when she is not playing the violin. Mioi is on the board of New York Women Composers.