This season, we are honored and elated to include a recital with internationally acclaimed violinist Amy Beth Horman and renowned pianist Frank Conlon to benefit Pallas Theatre.

Don't miss two of the District's finest musicians playing a wonderful theatre-inspired program!

Performer Bios: 

Amy Beth Horman: Amy Beth Horman's appearances are always eagerly anticipated. The Washington Post has described her as being both a "winter tonic" and “having the stuff of greatness.” A graduate of the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique in Paris, Ms. Horman won the highly coveted Premier Prix in Solo Violin while there, competing against an international field of candidates. Within two years at the Conservatoire, she had completed the Third Cycle for Solo Violin under the tutelage of Gerard Poulet. A winner of both the high school and college divisions of the National Symphony Orchestra’s Young Soloists Competition, she debuted with that orchestra at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall at the age of sixteen, performing the third movement of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto.

Among many other awards, Ms. Horman received the Deane Sherman Award (2000) as one of Maryland’s most promising young artists and the Amadeus Career Grant (2001) from the Amadeus Orchestra. She has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras including the Fairfax Symphony, the Bay Atlantic Symphony, the Rochester Philharmonic, the Orchestre de Meudon, the JCC Symphony, the Northwest Indiana Symphony, the Amadeus Orchestra, the PanAmerican Symphony and the New Mexico Symphony among others. Other engagements in the Metropolitan Area include those at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater and on its Millennium Stage, Constitution Hall and at the Strathmore Hall for the Performing Arts. She has been featured on French-Swiss television and on American cable televison and radio broadcasts.

Her debut with the Fairfax Symphony was critically acclaimed: The Washington Post critic wrote “Violinist Amy Beth Horman showed she had the virtuosity and stamina necessary to navigate Beethoven’s colossal Violin Concerto...Horman traced soaring lines and rich textures with a golden, full tone that complemented the full-blooded support of the orchestra...” Of her playing of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in recent appearance with the Bay-Atlantic Symphony (New Jersey), Music Director Jed Gaylin wrote: "Amy Beth gave yet another ravishing and electric performance with the BAS… She was truly inspired and inspiring. The audience was swept away." And of her debut with the New Mexico Symphony performing a Mozart Violin Concerto, Music Director Guillermo Figueroa said: "Ms. Horman is an excellent, refined performer. Her violinistic skills are of the highest order, with a fluent, polished technique, and a warm, appealing, burnished tone. …an exciting, outstanding violinist….a surefire hit with any audience."

Ms. Horman frequently offers master classes and coaching sessions in conjunction with her engagements. In addition to her appearances as soloist, Ms. Horman is also a gifted teacher and the founder of the Horman Violin Studio located in Washington, DC. Ms. Horman's students have performed at large venues such as Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center, winning both local and international competitions, receiving widespread acclaim at as young as ten years old. Her violin studio presents exclusive master classes with local virtuoso violinists, holds year round workshops, and gives students access to all rehearsals and performances with orchestra in this area. Early this January, The Horman Violin Studio was selected by the NSO as the only private studio to take part in their "In Your Neighborhood" Series in Washington, DC. Ms.Horman is currently both a part-time adjunct professor of violin at the Catholic University of America and Montgomery College. She currently resides in Washington, D.C. with her fiancé and three children, Lucas, Ava and Freya. 

Frank Conlon: Professor Francis Conlon has appeared at most of the colleges and concert halls in the greater Washington area and has performed in many different cities throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, India and Japan. He has played in New York City at Carnegie Recital Hall, in Boston at the Gardner Museum, in Philadelphia at the Robin Hood Dell, and in Washington at the Kennedy Center, the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, the National Gallery, the Phillips Collection, the Corcoran Gallery, the Pan American Union, and Dumbarton Oaks. He has played concertos with several orchestras, including the Washington Chamber Orchestra, the Montreal Chamber Orchestra, the Washington Sinfonia, Washington Pro Musica, the Alexandria Symphony, the Georgetown Symphony, and the Amadeus Orchestra. Prof. Conlon has won the National Society of Arts and Letters competition and the Jordan Awards Contest here in Washington and the Brewster-Allison Competition in Austin, Texas. He has served as official accompanist for the National Symphony Young Soloist Competition, the National Opera Institute Auditions, and the National Federation of Music Clubs Contest. In addition to his teaching responsibilities, Prof. Conlon accompanies students in departmental recitals and serves as music director for the Department's opera productions. He also teaches at the Levine School of Music and is director of music at the Church of the Annunciation and at the Temple Rodef Shalom in Falls Church. Prof. Conlon has previously taught at The Catholic University School of Music and the Ellington School of the Arts, and he has served as artist-in-residence for the DC Public School System.

Directions to First Congressional United Church of Christ:

945 G St. NW. Washington D.C. 20001

The church is on the lower two floors of a large office building.  Look for a modern glass structure with grey brick and a striking bronze column on the northwest corner of 10th Street and G Street.