The Menil Collection The Menil Collection

DACAMERA’s popular free Beethoven for All series returns!

Twenty sonatas spanning Beethoven’s lifetime - some of the most thrillingly inventive piano music ever composed, performed by leading Houston pianists at the Menil Collection beginning on December 4 and culminating in an afternoon marathon at Rothko Chapel on Beethoven’s birthday, Saturday, December 16.

The free series continues on December 5 with pianists Rodolfo Morales and Yvonne Chen. Highlights include the popular “Pastoral” sonata, No. 15 in D Major, Op. 28.

Rodolfo Morales
Sonata No. 2 in A Major, Op. 2, No. 2 Sonata No. 4 in E-flat Major, Op. 7

Yvonne Chen
Sonata No. 13 in E-flat Major, Op. 27, No. 1, “Quasi una fantasia” Sonata No. 15 in D Major, Op. 28, “Pastoral”

Rodolfo Morales is a committed music educator, coach, and performer, presently serving as the Instrumental Music Department Chair at the Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston, TX, where he is also the Director of Classical Piano. He was Piano Chair for the AFA Summer Festival from 2004-2022; faculty at the Point-Counterpoint Chamber Music camp at Lake Dunmore, Vermont from 2018-2022; for the summer of 2023 he spearheaded the first ever Houston ISD Piano Summer Intensive, an effort designed to increase access to high- quality piano training to under-served student communities. Mr. Morales attended The Juilliard School where he received his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music in Piano Performance.

Originally from the Washington, DC area, pianist Yvonne Chen performs as a solo recitalist and a chamber musician, engaging with Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra (Los Angeles, CA), Monarch Chamber Players, Music at the Meeting House, Alden Theater (McLean, VA), MUSIQA, WindSync, Music in Context, and Houston Chamber Choir in recent seasons. She received degrees in piano performance from the Juilliard School and graduated with a doctoral degree from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music in December 2019. An alumna of the DACAMERA Young Artist Program, Yvonne continues to perform with musicians throughout Houston, engage with the larger music community as managing director of WindSync and board member of Kinetic Ensemble, and bring her insight and experiences to the next generation of music learners as Secretary of the Houston Music Teachers Association and Piano Faculty at St. John’s School.

This program takes place in the main building, located at 1533 Sul Ross Street. Additional information regarding accessibility and parking can be found here.

As always, Menil programs are free and open to all.