Thème varié Elena Urioste & Tom Poster

• Charlotte Sohy (1887 - 1955): Thème varié, Op. 15:
• 1 Sohy: Thème varié, Op. 15 08:31
• Mel Bonis (1858 - 1937): Andante religioso, Op. 78:
• 2 Bonis: Andante religioso, Op. 78 02:47
• Allegretto non troppo, Op. 84:
• 3 Bonis: Allegretto non troppo, Op. 84 02:38
• Guillaume Lekeu (1870 - 1894): Sonate:
• 4 Lekeu: Sonate: I. Très modéré 12:07
• 5 Lekeu: Sonate: II. Très lent 10:57
• 6 Lekeu: Sonate: III. Très animé 10:18
• Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 - 1921): Élégie, Op. 143:
• 7 Saint-Saëns: Élégie, Op. 143 04:54
• Élégie, Op. 160:
• 8 Saint-Saëns: Élégie, Op. 160 04:37
• Mel Bonis: Largo, Op. 83:
• 9 Bonis: Largo, Op. 83 03:09
• Olivier Messiaen (1908 - 1992): Theme and Variations:
• 10 Messiaen: Theme and Variations: I. Thème. Modéré 01:57
• 11 Messiaen: Theme and Variations: II. Première Variation. Modéré 01:35
• 12 Messiaen: Theme and Variations: III. Deuxième Variation. Un peu moins modéré 01:03
• 13 Messiaen: Theme and Variations: IV. Troisième Variation. Modéré, avec éclat 00:50
• 14 Messiaen: Theme and Variations: V. Quatrième Variation. Vif et passionné 01:09
• 15 Messiaen: Theme and Variations: VI. Cinquième Variation. Très modéré 03:44
• Else Barraine (1910 - 1999): Nocturne:
• 16 Barraine: Nocturne 01:47
• Total Runtime 01:12:03

Info for Thème varié

Conceived as a treasure-trove of lesser-known French and Belgian repertoire, the works on this album span a forty-year period, from 1892 to 1932. A number of unifying threads run through the programme, perhaps the most significant of which is the influence of a composer whose music is not heard here at all: César Franck. Franck taught and championed Guillaume Lekeu and Mel Bonis; and Bonis in turn taught Charlotte Sohy, whose principal composition teacher was Vincent d’Indy, one of Franck’s most devoted acolytes.

The artists decided against including Franck’s Violin Sonata in favour of the work by his fellow Belgian Lekeu, much more rarely recorded, and hardly ever heard in the concert hall. A number of shorter works surround this sonata to form a uniquely rewarding programme, starting with Charlotte Sohy’s Thème varié. Three works by Mel Bonis complement the duo’s recording of her Violin Sonata on their previous album (CHAN 20275), whilst the two Élégies by Saint-Saëns have also been unfairly neglected. Fascinatingly, the second Élégie and Messiaen’s Thème et variations are separated by just a dozen years, although they inhabit sound-worlds seemingly decades apart. Elsa Barraine was Messiaen’s contemporary and lifelong friend. Her haunting Nocturne seemed to provide a fitting conclusion to this programme.

Elena Urioste, violin
Tom Poster, piano

Elena Urioste
is a musician, yogi, writer, and entrepreneur (which, incidentally, is a word she spells incorrectly every single time), as well as a lover of nature, food, animals, and connecting with other human beings.

As a violinist, Elena has given acclaimed performances as soloist with major orchestras throughout the United States, including the Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Minnesota Orchestras; the New York, Los Angeles, and Buffalo Philharmonics; the Boston Pops; and the Chicago, Boston, Dallas, San Francisco, San Diego, National, Atlanta, Baltimore, and Detroit Symphony Orchestras, among many others. Abroad, Elena has appeared with the London Philharmonic, Hallé, Philharmonia, CBSO, Orchestra of Opera North, and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestras; the BBC Symphony, Philharmonic, Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and National Orchestra of Wales; as well as the Chineke! Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Lille, Edmonton Symphony, Würzburg Philharmonic, and Hungary’s Orchestra Dohnányi Budafok and MAV Orchestras. She has collaborated with celebrated conductors Sir Mark Elder, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Christoph Eschenbach, Robert Spano, Karina Canellakis, Dalia Stasevska, and Gábor Takács-Nagy. She has performed as a featured soloist in Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, the Concertgebouw, and the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall; and has given recitals at the Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Kennedy Center, Konzerthaus Berlin, Sage Gateshead, Bayerischer Rudfunk Munich, and Mondavi Center. Elena is a former BBC New Generation Artist (2012-14) and has been featured on the covers of Strings, Symphony, and BBC Music magazines.

Upcoming and recent musical highlights include the release of multiple studio albums with pianist Tom Poster, Le Temps retrouvé (2024), From Brighton to Brooklyn (2022), and THE JUKEBOX ALBUM (2021); a televised performance with the BBC NOW at the 2023 BBC Proms; and critically acclaimed debuts with the Dallas and San Diego Symphony Orchestras. 2025 saw the release of a two new studio albums for the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective: Reynaldo Hahn, featuring his piano quintet, piano quartet, and various song arrangements; and Brahms & Contemporaries, Vol. II, featuring piano quartets of Brahms and Héritte-Viardot. Elena also features as soloist on Max Richter's The New Four Seasons: Vivaldi Recomposed, recorded on period instruments; and in Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's Violin Concerto and Romance, released on Chineke! Records in autumn 2022. Her 2025/26 season sees returns to the Baltimore Symphony and Orchestra of Opera North, as well as debuts with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, the Brighton Philharmonic, and at the Concertgebouw Kleine Zaal.

An avid chamber musician, Elena is the founder and Artistic Director of Chamber Music by the Sea, an annual festival on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. She has been a featured artist at the Marlboro, Ravinia, La Jolla, Bridgehampton, Moab, and Sarasota Music Festivals, as well as Open Chamber Music at Prussia Cove, the Cheltenham Music Festival, Switzerland’s Sion-Valais International Music Festival, and the Verbier Festival’s winter residency at Schloss Elmau. Elena has collaborated with luminaries such as Mitsuko Uchida, Hilary Hahn, Steven Isserlis, James Ehnes, Kim Kashkashian, and members of the Guarneri Quartet, and performs extensively in recital with pianist Tom Poster. She is the co-director of the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective, appointed Associate Ensemble at Wigmore Hall in 2020.

Elena is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School. Notable teachers and mentors include Joseph Silverstein, David Cerone, Ida Kavafian, Pamela Frank, Claude Frank, Choong-Jin Chang, Soovin Kim, and Ferenc Rados. The outstanding instruments being used by Elena are an Alessandro Gagliano violin, Naples c. 1706, and a Nicolas Kittel bow, both on generous extended loan from the private collection of Dr. Charles E. King through the Stradivari Society of Chicago.

Elena has been practicing yoga since 2009 and received her RYT-200 hour certification from the Kripalu Center in June 2019. She is the co-founder of Intermission, a program that combines music, movement, and mindfulness, aiming to make music-making a healthier, more holistic practice for students and professionals alike through yoga and meditation.

Miscellaneous accomplishments include first prizes at the Sphinx and Sion International Violin Competitions; an inaugural Sphinx Medal of Excellence presented by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor (they immediately bonded over their matching red formalwear); a 2022 BBC Music Magazine Award for THE JUKEBOX ALBUM; spreads in Latina and La Revista Mujer magazines; a 2020 Royal Philharmonic Society “Inspiration Award” and a 2021 RPS Enterprise Fund Trailblazer Grant for her #UriPosteJukeBox project with Tom Poster; a two-time Sphinx MPower Artist Grant winner; and the 2015 Brooklyn Film Festival’s Audience Choice and Best Original Score awards for But Not For Me, the independent feature film in which Elena acted as the lead female role. Writing is another passion for Elena — you can find many of her musings on her website’s blog.

In addition to her love for hiking in lush forests, swimming in the ocean, and marveling at the stars, Elena’s heart melts around corgis, vibrant vegetarian and southern Italian cooking, and beautifully crafted literature. She enjoys knitting the occasional scarf to keep her fingers busy on airplanes. Finally, Elena believes that we should all strive to spend less time looking at screens, that Oxford commas should be required, and that people should clap whenever they feel moved to do so during concerts.

Tom Poster
is a musician whose skills and passions extend well beyond the conventional role of the concert pianist. He has been described as “a marvel, [who] can play anything in any style” (The Herald), “mercurially brilliant” (The Strad), and as having “a beautiful tone that you can sink into like a pile of cushions” (BBC Music). ​

Tom has performed over forty concertos from Mozart to Ligeti with Aurora Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony, China National Symphony, Hallé, London Philharmonic, Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic and Scottish Chamber Orchestra, collaborating with conductors such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Nicholas Collon, Robin Ticciati and Yan Pascal Tortelier, or sometimes directing from the piano. He has premiered solo, chamber and concertante works by many leading composers, made multiple appearances at the BBC Proms, and his exceptional versatility has put him in great demand at festivals internationally.

Tom is co-founder and artistic director of Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective, appointed Associate Ensemble at Wigmore Hall in 2020. With a flexible line-up featuring many of today’s most inspirational musicians, and an ardent commitment to diversity through its creative programming, Kaleidoscope is particularly renowned for its championing of unjustly neglected gems alongside deservedly celebrated classics. Kaleidoscope broadcasts regularly on BBC Radio 3 and has enjoyed residencies at the Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, Lammermuir and Ischia festivals. Its albums for Chandos Records have been shortlisted for BBC Music Magazine and Gramophone awards, while recent performance highlights have included concerts with Hilary Hahn, a debut at the BBC Proms, and two extensive tours of the USA. In 2024, Kaleidoscope was shortlisted for the Royal Philharmonic Society Ensemble Award.

During the 2020 lockdown, his #UriPosteJukeBox series with Elena Urioste - featuring Tom as pianist, arranger, multi-instrumentalist, writer, backing dancer and snowman - brought a staggeringly eclectic selection of music to audiences across the world through 88 daily online performances, for which the duo won the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Inspiration Award. Their subsequent recording, The Jukebox Album, received glowing reviews and a BBC Music Magazine Award.

Tom has recorded albums for BIS, Champs Hill, Chandos, Decca, NMC, Orchid and Warner Classics, appearing as soloist and in collaboration with Elena Urioste, Alison Balsom, Guy Johnston, the Aronowitz Ensemble, Aurora Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia and London Symphony Orchestra. He regularly features as soloist on film soundtracks, including the Oscar-nominated score for The Theory of Everything. He studied with Joan Havill at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and at King’s College, Cambridge. He won First Prize at the Scottish International Piano Competition 2007 and the keyboard section of the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition in 2000.

Tom’s compositions and arrangements have been commissioned, performed and recorded by Alison Balsom, Matthew Rose, Yo-Yo Ma, Kathryn Stott and Roderick Williams. His chamber opera for puppets, The Depraved Appetite of Tarrare the Freak, received an acclaimed three-week run at Wilton’s Music Hall in 2017. He is a lifelong fan of animals with unusual noses.

Booklet for Thème varié