MP2
The Miller-Porfiris Duo has been delighting audiences since 2005.
Recent seasons have seen tours around the United States, Europe, Taiwan and Israel; appearances on the Chamber Music of Little Rock, Chamber Music Pittsburgh, Tel Aviv Museum, and Sheldon Friends of Music series.
The duo has been in residency and given seminars and masterclasses at festivals and institutions such as New York University, The Hartt School at the University of Hartford, Duke University, Kutztown University, Foulger Festival, St. George International Festival in Greece, ARIA International Arts Academy at Mt. Holyoke College, Three Bridges International Chamber Music Festival at the University of Minnesota Duluth, the Festival Eterna Primavera in Cuernavaca Mexico, Conciertos de la Villa Santo Domingo, the Harpa International Music Academy, and the Iceland Academy for the Arts.
Committed to expanding the repertoire for violin and viola, in 2010 they commissioned and recorded 3 new works for violin and viola by Belize-born British composer Errollyn Wallen, Argentinean composer Mario Diaz Gavier, and American composer Libby Larsen for their debut CD “Five Postcards.” Subsequent albums have garnered critical praise from Fanfare, Gramophone, American Record Guide, The Whole Note, and Audible Audiophile Magazines. American Record Guide declared their fourth CD “in the top ten of all albums I’ve ever reviewed.” During the pandemic 2020-21 season, MP2 commissioned and premiered over 10 new pieces by women and underrepresented composers for duo or trio (violin, viola and piano), producing and recording all of them for streaming platforms, and watched by thousands. Their “MP2 on the Silver Screen” series has reintroduced modern audiences to the compelling interplay of silent film and live music.
In 2025 MP2 was featured in the Grand Teton Music Festival's "On the Road" series with five newly commissioned duos by Errollyn Wallen, Hildigunnur Rúnarsdóttir, Anne Guzzo, Ken Steen and Stephen Gryc, a program that will be repeated in Scotland and Iceland.
Miller-Porfiris Duo (MP2) hefur glatt áheyrendur síðan árið 2005. Tvíeykið hefur verið staðarlistamenn og haldið námskeið og meistaranámskeið á hátíðum og við stofnanir víðs vegar um Bandaríkin, Evrópu, Mið-Austurlönd og Asíu. Á síðustu tónleikavertíðum hefur tvíeykið farið í tónleikaferðir um Bandaríkin, Ísland, Taívan og Ísrael, og hlotið jákvæða dóma á meðal annars Spitalfields-hátíðinni í London, Chamber Music of Little Rock, Chamber Music Pittsburgh, Tel Aviv Museum og Kammermúsikklúbbi Íslands. Raðtónleikar þeirra „MP2 on the Silver Screen“ hafa vakið athygli fyrir að kynna nútímaáheyrendum á ný hinn heillandi samruna þöglu kvikmyndanna og lifandi tónlistar.
Árið 2025 verður MP2 hluti af „On the Road“ tónleikaröð Grand Teton Music Festival, þar sem frumflutt verða fimm ný tónverk fyrir tvíeyki eftir Errollyn Wallen, Hildigunni Rúnarsdóttur, Anne Guzzo, Ken Steen og Stephen Gryc. Þessi dagskrá verður einnig flutt í Skotlandi og á Íslandi. Á heimsfaraldurstímanum 2020–2021 bauð MP2 upp á tónlist í streymi og fékk töluverða áheyrn úti um heim. Á þessu tímabili pantaði, frumflutti og streymdi tvíeykið yfir tíu nýjum verkum eftir konur og tónskáld úr jaðarhópum.
Önnur hljóðritun þeirra, Eight Pieces, var lýst sem „frábærri nýrri útgáfu“ með „undursamlegum samhljómi“ og „líflegum og einbeittum flutningi“ af Gramophone og Audible Audiophile tímaritunum. Fanfare Magazine skrifaði um þriðju plötu þeirra, Divertimenti: „flutningur þeirra er eins og elding, fullur af lit, eldi og ástríðu.“ Fjórða platan, Threaded Sky, var sögð af American Record Guide: „í topp tíu allra platna sem ég hef nokkru sinni skrifað um.“
ANTON MILLER
Violin
Since giving his Carnegie Hall concerto debut, American violinist ANTON MILLER has appeared throughout the United States and abroad as a soloist, chamber musician, recitalist, and pedagogue.
Mr. Miller has performed over fifty violin concertos with a number of orchestras on four continents. His world premiere performance of Xiogang Ye’s “Last Paradise” for violin and orchestra in Beijing, China with the Central Philharmonic Orchestra was recorded for broadcast throughout Asia and released on CD. Mr. Miller has also been concertmaster for a number of orchestras including almost thirty years with Lincoln Symphony Orchestra and the New Jersey Festival Orchestra. He was also concertmaster for an Argentinian tour of the American Ballet Theatre.
He has made a number of recital and chamber music tours to Europe with performances in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Greece and England. Mr. Miller’s dedication to expanding the violin repertoire can be seen in his frequent commissions and premieres of the music of living composers. Recently recorded and released CDs include four albums with violist Rita Porfiris (Miller-Porfiris Duo) one of which features new music for violin and viola by composers of the Americas. Another newly released CD features Kurt Weill's Violin Concerto. Anton's complete discography can be found on Dorian, Jericho, Full House, Hugo, Naxos, Klavier and MP2 Records.
Anton Miller completed his Master of Music degree at The Juilliard School studying with renowned violin pedagogue Dorothy DeLay and chamber music with Felix Galimir and members of the Juilliard Quartet. He received his Bachelor of Music Degree from Indiana University as a student of Franco Gulli and was awarded the prestigious Performer’s Certificate.
He is currently Professor of Violin at The Hartt School. He previously has been on the faculty of New York University, the Oberlin Conservatory, Lawrence University, and Swarthmore College. Mr. Miller was a founder and Artistic Director of the Three Bridges International Chamber Music Festival in Minnesota, as well as a co-Artistic Director of Point CounterPoint in Vermont. As a chamber musician he can be heard in concert with the Miller-Porfiris Duo and QuartetES. The 2024-25 Season saw Anton as Acting Principal Second Violin with the Iceland Symphony.
Frá því að bandaríski fiðluleikarinn Anton Miller hélt útskriftartónleika sína í Carnegie Hall hefur hann komið fram sem einleikari, kammertónlistarmaður og kennari um alla Norður- og Suður-Ameríku, Asíu og Evrópu.
Anton hefur einnig verið konsertmeistari í fjölda hljómsveita, meðal annars í 35 ár með Lincoln's Symphony. Hann er meðlimur í Miller-Porfiris Duo og strengjakvartettinum Quartet ES. Útgáfa hans á fiðlukonserti Kurt Weills kom út hjá Naxos og hlaut frábæra dóma.
Anton er prófessor í fiðluleik og deildarforseti strengjadeildar við The Hartt School, University of Hartford. Hann hefur áður kennt við New York University, Oberlin Conservatory, Lawrence University og Swarthmore College.
Hann lauk meistaragráðu í tónlist frá The Juilliard School undir handleiðslu hinnar virtu fiðlukennsluhetju Dorothy DeLay og bakkalárgráðu frá Indiana University þar sem hann nam hjá Franco Gulli.
Á tónleikaárinu 2024–2025 gegnir hann stöðu leiðara annarrar fiðludeildar í Sinfóníuhljómsveit Íslands.
Rita Porfiris
Viola
Violist RITA PORFIRIS has performed in major concert halls and music festivals worldwide as a chamber musician, orchestral musician, and as a soloist.
Currently the Co-Principal Viola of the Iceland Symphony, she was formerly the Professor of Viola and Director of Chamber Music at The Hartt School as well as Co-Director of Music at the Point CounterPoint Chamber Festival in Vermont. Rita has also been on the faculties of New York University, the University of Houston Moores’ School of Music, Florida International University, and the Harlem School for the Arts in New York. She has given master classes, lectures and clinics across the U.S., United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Argentina, Brazil, Iceland, and the Dominican Republic.
Ms. Porfiris is a member of QuartetES and the Miller-Porfiris Duo. As a founding member of the Plymouth Quartet, she was in-residence at the Ojai Festival, Mainly Mozart, Point Counterpoint, and the Internationale Quartettakademie Prag-Wien-Budapest. She was the recipient of Austria’s prestigious Prix Mercure, a prize winner in the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition and the Primrose International Viola Competition, and a laureate of the Paolo Borciani International Quartet Competition.
In her 30 year-long career as an orchestral musician, 15 years of which were spent with the Houston Symphony, she worked under some of the most recognized conductors of the 20-21 Centuries, including Leonard Bernstein, Sergiu Celibidache, Kurt Masur, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Christoph Eschenbach. Equally at home in a.wide variety of genres, Rita has shared the stage with Burt Bacharach, Ray Charles, Bernadette Peters, Lyle Lovett, Rod Stewart, and Tony Bennett, to name a few.
Highlights of recent seasons include sold-out Bartok Concerto appearances at the historic Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Germany, and a performance of the rarely played Romantic Rhapsody for Violin, Viola and Orchestra by Arthur Benjamin as part of the Miller-Porfiris Duo. In May 2016, the Baltimore Sun declared "Rita Porfiris proved an ideal soloist, as much for her richness of tone and impeccable articulation as for the warmth and subtlety of her phrasing."
Rita’s transcriptions for the viola of both classical music staples and pop favorites have been enjoyed worldwide by audiences and performers. Gramophone Magazine called her transcription of Gliere’s Eight Pieces Op. 39, recorded on the Miller-Porfiris Duo’s second CD “Eight Pieces,” "satisfying" and "sung with beautiful warmth."
Ms. Porfiris received both her BM and MM in Viola Performance from The Juilliard School, studying with William Lincer. Other teachers and mentors included Paul Doktor, Norbert Brainin, and Harvey Shapiro.
Rita Porfiris víóluleikari hefur komið fram á alþjóðavettvangi í kammertónlist, hljómsveitum og sem einleikari. Hún hefur hlotið Prix Mercure frá Austurríki og verðlaun í Fischoff Chamber og Primrose International Viola Competition. Hún er nú upfærslumaður víóludeildar Sinfóníuhljómsveitar Íslands og hefur verið meðlimur Houston-sinfóníunnar auk þess að og hafa leikið með Chicago-sinfóníunni, Indianapolis-sinfóníuhljómsveitinni og fyrrverandi Radio Sinfonie Orchestra Berlín. Áður en Rita flutti til Íslands var hún prófessor í víóluleik og formaður kammertónlistardeildar við The Hartt School. Hún er meðlimur QuartetES og Miller-Porfiris Duo.