Alton C. Bynum Series

The Adams School of Music and the Arts is delighted to present the Alton C. Bynum Recital Series.

The series was inaugurated in the 2014-15 season in celebration of the 125th anniversary of Gordon College and is named in honor of Dr. Alton C. Bynum, who served on the faculty and as chair of the Department of Music from 1964 to 1999. All recitals take place at 8 p.m. in the Phillips Recital Hall.

Arabella String Quartet
Friday, February 28, 2025
8 p.m., Philips Recital Hall

The Adams School of Music and the Arts is delighted to present the Alton C. Bynum Recital Series. This concert features the acclaimed Arabella String Quartet, which includes Adam’s School Dean, Dr. Sarita Kwok. The members of the Arabella quartet hail from around the globe and first met at Yale University. A veritable United Nations of chamber music, they represent Denmark, Australia, Italy and France and carry on the pedigree of great European traditions and masters—the Paris Conservatoire, the University for Music and the Performing Arts Vienna, and the Menuhin Academy—as well as the influence of celebrated American ensembles, such as the Guarneri, Tokyo, and Juilliard quartets.

In recent seasons the quartet has performed for Charleston Music Fest, SC; the Chelsea Music Festival, NYC; the Hammond Performing Arts Series Temple Emanuel Chamber Series, Bynum Recital Series, Mistral Music in MA; Cosmos Club and Kenwood Chamber Society Series, Washington DC. The Arabella Quartet's recording "In the Moment” (Naxos Records) was named Album of the Week by Classic FM who declared it, "an album well worth dipping into, exceptionally well played.” The world's leading string periodical, The Strad Magazine, described In the Moment “as a fine disc, the Arabella digging deep to produce performances of great intensity and poise.” The quartet's recording of the Six Concertante Quartets by Joseph Bologne, Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges (Naxos records) was the result of a close collaboration with Artaria editions. It was praised by BBC Music Magazine: "There’s certainly no lack of prowess in these delightful performances ... This is wonderful advocacy of enchanting music". Classical Music Daily enthused that "The Arabella Quartet dispatches these graceful cameos with aplomb, and the playing is immensely cohesive and consistently alive."

Alina Polyakov & Mia Chung
Friday, April 4, 2025
8 p.m., Philips Recital Hall

The Adams School of Music and the Arts is delighted to present the Alton C. Bynum Recital Series. This concert features acclaimed pianist, Mia Chung and Gordon’s own Dr. Alina Polyakov. Pianist Mia Chung was the first-prize winner of the 1993 Concert Artists Guild Competition and a recipient of the 1997 Avery Fisher Career Grant. She has appeared with the Alabama, Baltimore, Harrisburg, National, and New Haven symphonies; the Boston Pops; and the Seoul Philharmonic, among others. An active recitalist, she has performed in major concert halls including the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Boston’s Symphony Hall and Jordan Hall, Seoul’s Sejong Art Center, and Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center.