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 Concertante
Friday, May 2, 2008 at 7:00 p.m. (Program)
Join Nuvi Mehta for "What's the Score?"
at 6:25 p.m.
First
United Methodist Church (Map)
1338 East Santa Clara
Street
Ventura, California
Concertante brings a sheen, warmth, and polish that are the hallmark of superb
chamber ensembles. A core of six virtuoso string players, who have won international
competitions, Concertante has graced the premier stages of the world, from
New York's Carnegie Hall to London's Royal Festival Hall to Shanghai's Grand
Theatre.
Violinist Xiao-Dong Wang entered the Shanghai Conservatory of Music at the
age of ten. Mr. Wang won the First Prize in the Menuhin International Violin
Competition and the First Prize in the Wieniawski-Lipinski International Violin
Competition at the ages of thirteen and fifteen. He was brought to the attention
of Dorothy DeLay of The Juilliard School who arranged for him to begin a four-year
scholarship beginning in 1986. Mr. Wang has soloed with orchestras around the
world, including the Royal Philharmonic in London, the London Mozart Players,
Adelaide, Perth, Queensland Symphony Orchestras, Sydney Opera Orchestra. He
has recorded the Bartok Concerto No.2 and Szymanowski Concerto No.1 for Polygram
records. He has also appeared performing on both violin and viola in chamber
music concerts at Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Aspen, Ravinia and in many
other festival and musical events worldwide.
Israeli violinist Ittai Shapira's recent appearances have included solo
performances with the Orchestra of St. Luke's at Carnegie Hall, the BBC Concert
Orchestra, London Philharmonia, Detroit Symphony, Russian Philharmonic, Shanghai
Symphony, the Czech National Symphony, the Polish Chamber Orchestra, the Cape
Town Philharmonic, and Jerusalem Symphony, as well as touring with the English
Chamber Orchestra and Yuri Bashmet. He has premiered works by Berio, Bunch, Rechtman,
Heath and Shulamit Ran. Festival appearances include Aspen, Ravinia, and Schleswig-Holstein.
Along with his colleague Hagai Shaham, Mr. Shapira is the co-founder of the Ilona
Feher Foundation for the nurturing and promotion of young Israeli violinists.
After studying with Ms. Feher in Israel, he studied with Dorothy DeLay and Robert
Mann at The Juilliard School. Mr. Shapira has recorded for Meridian, Quartz,
EMI Classics, and Sony/BMG Sanctuary Classics. Special upcoming projects include
a concerto for violin, narrator and orchestra by Glen Roven with Brooke Shields
(to be released by Sony/BMG), a double concerto with percussionist Evelyn Glennie
and his own Violin Concerto. Ittai Shapira plays a 1745 Guadagnini Violin.
Violinist and Violist Ara
Gregorian is equally accomplished as a soloist, recitalist,
and chamber musician. He has appeared in New York's Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher
Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Merkin Hall, and has performed as soloist with the
Boston Pops and Shanghai Symphony Orchestras as well as with numerous orchestras
throughout the United States. Mr. Gregorian is the founder and Artistic Director
of the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival of Eastern North Carolina and has
appeared at the Santa Fe, El Paso, Skaneateles, Cactus Pear, Wintergreen, and
Garth Newel festivals. He made his recital debut in 1996 at Carnegie Hall's Weill
Recital Hall and has also performed as a recitalist at Detroit's Henry Ford Centennial
Library and Harvard University's Payne Hall. Mr. Gregorian studied with Joseph
Fuchs, Harvey Shapiro, and Robert Mann at The Juilliard School where he received
his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees. He has been a member of the violin
and viola faculty at East Carolina University since 1998, and currently resides
in Greenville, NC, and New York City.
Violist Rachel Shapiro is an accomplished chamber musician and experienced Teaching
Artist. Her latest project is as co-founder of MishMash Music Company, a new
kind of chamber music series that seeks to reinvigorate the concert going experience
by way of non-traditional, audience interactive programs. As a chamber musician,
she has appeared with The Daedalus Quartet, The Avalon Quartet and The Jerusalem
Trio, with whom she has appeared over the past few years as a piano quartet,
both in the United States and in Israel. For the past five years, she has been
a regular performer at The Next Generation Festival. Other festival appearances
include The K'far Blum Chamber Music Festival, The Ravinia Institute for Young
Artists, Aspen, Mozarteum Summer Academy, and IMS Prussia Cove. In addition to
her performing, for over ten years Ms. Shapiro has been devoted to teaching classical
music in a variety of educational situations. She is currently a senior Teaching
Artist for the New York Philharmonic School Partnership Program, and also works
as an educational consultant for Helen Armstrong Chamber Concerts. Ms. Shapiro
received both her Bachelor and Masters degrees from The Juilliard School. Post-graduation,
she continued her studies with Tabea Zimmermann in Berlin, Germany with the support
of a Frank Huntington Beebe Grant. Please check out www.rsviola.com for more
information.
Cellist Alexis Pia Gerlach enjoys an active career as a soloist and chamber musician.
Recent solo performances include recitals at the La Jolla Chamber Music Society
and the Caramoor Festival, and concerto appearances with the Orchestra of St.
Luke's and the Charleston and Fort Worth Symphony Orchestras. Her recordings
of the Rachmaninoff and Franck Sonatas with pianist Fabio Bidini are released
on the Encore Performance label. Ms. Gerlach has appeared as a guest artist at
the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Bargemusic, and numerous festivals
including Marlboro, Caramoor and Aspen. Ms. Gerlach performs as a member of Trio
Solisti with violinist Maria Bachmann and pianist Jon Klibonoff, with performances
last year including appearances on the Great Performers Series at Lincoln Center,
the Washington Performing Arts Society at The Kennedy Center and at Weill Hall.
Their recordings of Brahms Trios and the Pulitzer Prize winning "Tempest Fantasy" by Paul Moravec have been met by critical acclaim. Born in New York City, Ms. Gerlach studied with Aldo Parisot at Yale University and The Juilliard School.
Israeli cellist Zvi Plesser enjoys an active career as soloist, chamber music
player and teacher. As soloist he has performed with leading orchestras, among
them the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Israel Chamber Orchestra, the National
Symphony Orchestra and The Academy of St Martin in the Fields, under conductors
Zubin Mehta, Sir Nevile Marriner and Sergiu Comissiona. He was a member of the
Huberman String Quartet and is a founding member of Concertante. He has participated
in many festivals, including the Marlboro Festival, the Cervantino Festival in
Mexico, the Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival, Kuhmo Festival in
Finland and the Montpellier Festival in France. Mr. Plesser is a graduate of
The Juilliard School as a student of Zara Nelsova. His principal teachers have
included Zvi Harel in Israel and David Soyer in the United States. Mr. Plesser
has taught at the North Carolina School of the Arts and is currently on the faculty
of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance.
| Richard Strauss |
Prelude to Capriccio |
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| Antonin Dvorak |
Sextet in A major, Op. 48 |
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| Johannes Brahms |
Sextet, Op. 18 |
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