Clayton Stephenson Plays “Tea for Two”

Last weekend at the Richmond Symphony we welcomed American pianist Clayton Stephenson. The 25 year old New York native performed Ravel’s glittering and bluesy Piano Concerto in G Major. Two other 20th century masterworks rounded out the program; one depicting the majesty and mystery of the sea (Debussy’s La Mer), and the other rooted firmly in the earth (Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring).

A finalist at the 2022 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, Clayton Stephenson is pursing a Bachelor of Economics at Harvard and a Master’s degree in piano performance at the New England Conservatory of Music, through the Harvard-NEC Dual Degree Program. He studies with Wha Kyung Byun.

One of Stephenson’s two Sunday afternoon encores was Art Tatum’s arrangement of the infectious Vincent Youmans song, Tea for Two. The Tin Pan Alley hit, with lyrics by Irving Caesar, was written in 1925 for the musical No, No, Nanette.

This performance was recorded by Performance Today at the Olivier Music Barn at Tippet Rise Art Center in Fishtail, Montana:

About Timothy Judd

A native of Upstate New York, Timothy Judd has been a member of the Richmond Symphony violin section since 2001. He is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music where he earned the degrees Bachelor of Music and Master of Music, studying with world renowned Ukrainian-American violinist Oleh Krysa.

The son of public school music educators, Timothy Judd began violin lessons at the age of four through Eastman’s Community Education Division. He was a student of Anastasia Jempelis, one of the earliest champions of the Suzuki method in the United States.

A passionate teacher, Mr. Judd has maintained a private violin studio in the Richmond area since 2002 and has been active coaching chamber music and numerous youth orchestra sectionals.

In his free time, Timothy Judd enjoys working out with Richmond’s popular SEAL Team Physical Training program.

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