Roche Guest Artists Series presents Schleuning-Pegis Duo

The second installment in the 2022-2023 Roche Guest Artists Series—the Schleuning-Pegis Duo for Violin & Cello—takes place on Monday, Oct. 24, at 8 p.m. in Walker Recital Hall at Mercyhurst University. The program is free and open to the public, made possible by the generosity of the Terry and Margaret M. Roche Family.

The performance is also available via livestream on the D'Angelo Department of Music YouTube. 

Maria Schleuning, violinist, has been a member of the Voices of Change Modern Music Ensemble since 1996 and artistic director since 2009. An advocate of new music, she has worked with many leading composers, including Witold Lutoslawski, George Crumb, Aaron Jay Kernis, John Corigliano, Sam Adler, Sebastian Currier, Bright Sheng, Augusta Read Thomas, and Pierre Jalbert.

She has premiered many new works; among them, the world premiere of “Dream Catcher” (2009), a solo violin work written especially for her as a gift by Augusta Read Thomas, and “Partners” (2018), a double concerto by David Amram, written for her and cellist Jolyon Pegis.

An active chamber musician, Schleuning has performed in venues such as New York’s Alice Tully Hall, Weill Hall, Merkin Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and the Museum of Modern Art. She has recorded with Continuum modern music ensemble in New York City as well as in Dallas with Grammy-nominated Voices of Change and the Walden Piano Quartet. In addition, she has served as Principal Second Violin of the New York Women’s Ensemble, and currently is Principal Second Violin of Classical Tahoe.

She studied with Josef Gingold at Indiana University, where she was awarded a Performer’s Certificate; with Yfrah Neaman at the Guildhall School in London as a recipient of a grant by the Myra Hess Foundation; and with Joel Smirnoff at the Juilliard School, where she received her master’s degree.

Cellist Jolyon Pegis is from Rochester, New York. He attended Indiana University and the University of Hartford and his principal teachers include Alan Harris, Gary Hoffman, and David Wells. Pegis is a winner of the Artists International Awards in New York. He subsequently made his New York debut at Carnegie Recital Hall in 1990 and has since appeared as a recitalist and chamber musician across the country. 

As a champion of new music, he has worked with composers such as Gunther Schuller, Lukas Foss, Eric Heckard, and Don Freund. A dedicated teacher, he has served on the faculty of the D’Angelo School of Music at Mercyhurst University, the Hartt School of Music, and Southern Methodist University.

Recent performances include the world premiere of the “David Amram Double Concerto” at the University of Michigan with subsequent performances with the Las Cruces Symphony and the Laredo Philharmonic as well as a performance of “Don Quixote” with the Chautauqua Symphony. Jolyon served as the San Antonio Symphony Principal Cellist from 1995-2000.  He is currently an Associate Principal Cellist with the Dallas Symphony as well as Principal Cello of the Chautauqua Symphony and a member of the contemporary ensemble Voices of Change.