Saturday, February 21 at 8:00 pm in the Florence Gould Theater

Narek Arutunian, clarinet (Second Prize Winner, Instrumental Division)

Luka Okrostsvaridze, piano (Second Prize Winner, Piano Division)

BIOGRAPHIES, PHOTOS AND PROGRAM TO FOLLOW

SUBSCRIBE HERE

Sunday, February 22 at 2:00 pm in the Florence Gould Theater

Yuri Revich, violin (First Prize Winner, Instrumental Division)

Daniil Trifonov, piano (First Prize Winner, Piano Division)

BIOGRAPHIES, PHOTOS AND PROGRAM TO FOLLOW

SUBSCRIBE HERE

“A tone that was warm and shapely yet sufficiently crystalline to allow the textures and individual lines to be savored. It was the kind of virtuosity that does not call attention to itself, but leaves a listener feeling secure that the music is in capable hands….A hotblooded, richly textured reading.”
--The New York Times

The Prazak Quartet — one of today´s leading international chamber music ensembles — was established in 1972 while its members were students at the Prague Conservatory. Since then, the quartet has gained attention for its place in the unique Czech quartet tradition, and its musical virtuosity.

The 1974 Czech Music Year saw the Prazak Quartet receive the first prize at the Prague Conservatory Chamber Music Competition. Within twelve months their international career had been launched with a performance at the 1975 Prague Spring Music Festival. In 1978 the quartet took the first prize at the Evian String Quartet Competition as well as a special prize awarded by Radio France for the best recording during the competition. Further prizes were awarded at various other Czech competitions.

Since inception, the Prazak Quartet has been at home on music stages worldwide. They are regular guests in the major European musical capitals—Prague, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Milan, Madrid, London, Berlin, Munich, etc.—and have been invited to participate at numerous international festivals, where they have collaborated with such artists as Menahem Pressler, Jon Nakamatsu, Cynthia Phelps, Roberto Diaz, Josef Suk, and Sharon Kam.

In North America, the Prazak Quartet has performed in New York (Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, 92nd St. Y), Boston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Houston, Washington, Philadelphia, Miami, St. Louis, New Orleans, Berkeley, Cleveland, Tucson, Denver, Buffalo, Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal.

The Prazak Quartet records exclusively for Praga Digitals/AMC, Paris (worldwide distribution by Harmonia Mundi) which, to date, has released 35 award-winning CDs. In addition to numerous radio recordings in France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic, the Prazak Quartet has also made recordings for Supraphon, Panton, Orfeo, Ottavo, Bonton, and Nuova Era.

Haydn Quartet in D major, Op. 50, No. 6 ("The Frog")

Janacek Quartet No. 1 ("Kreutzer Sonata")

Schubert Quartet in G major, D. 887

The Prazak Quartet website

Since making their debut as the Kalichstein Laredo Robinson Trio at the White House for President Carter's Inauguration in January 1977, pianist Joseph Kalichstein , violinist Jaime Laredo and cellist Sharon Robinson have set the standard for performance of the piano trio literature for more than thirty years. As one of the only chamber ensembles with all its original members, the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio balances the careers of three internationally-acclaimed soloists while making annual appearances at many of the world's major concert halls, commissioning spectacular new works, and maintaining an active recording agenda.

The Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio opened their 2007-08 season with a special Beethoven Trio marathon at the 92nd Street Y. The Trio designed this concert as a thank-you gift to many of their loyal fans, and waived their fee to support the special ticket price - $10 per concert. This one-day event featured the complete cycle of Beethoven piano trios in chronological order in three concerts. Other engagements throughout the season included concerts in Massachusetts, Arizona, North Carolina, Virginia, Washington, D.C. (Kennedy Center), Detroit, Miami, Indianapolis, Albuquerque, and then back to the 92nd Street Y for the New York premiere of Richard Danielpour's piano quartet Books of Hours - a special commission for the Trio's 30th anniversary.

The 2006-07 season saw major commemorations of the Trio's 30th Anniversary at Carnegie Hall, the 92nd Street Y and the Kennedy Center, in addition to other important venues in the United States and Europe. In celebration of their first appearance at the Y 30 years ago, the Trio opened the season for the 92nd Street Y in New York with the complete Brahms piano trios in October/November 2006, followed by the trio-version of Schoenberg's Verklaerte Nacht (arranged by Edward Steuermann) in December. Also in December, the Trio gave the world premiere of composer Richard Danielpour's piano quartet Book of Hours, a work commissioned for their 30th anniversary by 10 presenting organizations nationwide, at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. Other commissioners included the 92nd Street Y in New York, the Kennedy Center, La Jolla Chamber Music Society, Islip Arts Council, Detroit Chamber Music Society, Tucson Friends of Music, University of Iowa, Hudson Valley Chamber Music Circle and El Paso Pro Musica. In April 2007, Carnegie Hall celebrated the Ensemble's 30-year milestone with a program of Mozart, Kirchner and Schubert that included Pinchas Zukerman, viola, and Harold Robinson, bass. In addition, the Trio's 2006-2007 tour brought them to Philadelphia, Boston, La Jolla, Miami, Fort Worth, El Paso, Tucson, Princeton and Calgary. A European tour to Hamburg, Oldenburg and Erlangen (Germany), Lisbon (Portugal) and Copenhagen (Denmark) rounded off this special season.

On the recording front, The Ensemble has entered an exciting new partnership with KOCH International Classics . Their Arensky & Tchaikovsky disc was released in October 2006 to great acclaim. KOCH also re-released many of the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio's hallmark recordings, including chamber works of Maurice Ravel, A Child's Reliquary (piano trio) and In the Arms of the Beloved (double concerto) by Richard Danielpour, the complete sonatas and trios of Shostakovich, trios by Pärt, Zwilich, Kirchner and Silverman written especially for the group, and their beloved collection of the complete Beethoven Trios. Other highlights of their vast discography include a critically acclaimed all-Haydn CD (Dorian), recordings of the complete Mendelssohn and Brahms Trios (Vox Cum Laude), Beethoven's Kakadu Variations and the Archduke Trio (MCA Classics), as well as Beethoven Triple Concerto with the English Chamber Orchestra (Chandos).

In December 2001, Musical America named the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio the Ensemble of the Year for 2002 . More recently, they were awarded the first annual Samuel Sanders Collaborative Artists Award by the Foundation for Recorded Music. And the 2003-04 season was their first as Chamber Ensemble in Residence at the Kennedy Center. The steady stream of honors marks the high esteem the classical music field holds for the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio.

For the past seasons (2004-06), the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio maintained a heavy touring and teaching schedule, with dates in Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco, Detroit, Dallas, Cincinnati, Portland, Florida, North Carolina, Texas, the Tanglewood Music Festival in Massachusetts, as well as two European tours in November 2005 and May 2006, including appearances in Great Britain (Wigmore Hall, London), Lisbon, Amsterdam (the Concertgebouw), Spain and Germany. They've collaborated extensively with the Miami String Quartet and the Guarneri Quartet, allowing opportunities to explore the rich literature for strings and piano.
Jaime Laredo and Sharon Robinson joined the faculty of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in 2005, while Joseph Kalichstein continued as a long-revered teacher at the Juilliard School of Music.

Memorable concerts over the years include the Kalichstein Laredo Robinson Trio's performance on Carnegie Hall's Centennial Series; several tours of Japan, New Zealand and Australia; a Brahms series with the Guarneri Quartet featuring his entire literature for piano and strings; the Beethoven cycle on Lincoln Center's Great Performers Series - the first time the complete Beethoven piano trios were performed at Lincoln Center - and performances with orchestras across America and Europe of new concertos written especially for the Trio by David Ott and Pulitzer Prize winner Ellen Taaffe Zwilich.

In Europe, the Kalichstein Laredo Robinson Trio has performed in Amsterdam, Brussels, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Lisbon, London, Vienna, and Paris, as well as at major international music festivals in Aldeburgh, Edinburgh, Granada, Helsinki, Highlands, South Bank, Stresa and Tivoli. They have toured the British Isles with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in performances of solo, double and triple concertos and have recorded the Beethoven Triple Concerto with the English Chamber Orchestra for Chandos.

The Trio is honored that the Chamber Music Society of Detroit has created The Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson International Trio Award (KLRITA), an initiative with a two-fold purpose: to salute the Trio's contribution to chamber music worldwide and to encourage and enhance the careers of promising young piano trios. The KLRITA, in which 20 presenters nationwide participate, is awarded to a new ensemble every two years. The first ensemble was the exciting young American group, the Claremont Trio, and the second award was presented to the Trio con Brio Copenhagen of Denmark.

BEETHOVEN Allegretto in B-flat major, WoO 39

SHOSTAKOVICH Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67

BEETHOVEN Trio in B-flat major, Op. 97 "Archduke"

Pascal Rogé exemplifies the finest in French pianism. His playing of Poulenc, Satie, Fauré, Saint-Saëns and especially Ravel, is characterized by its elegance, beauty and stylistically perfect phrasing. A native of Paris, Mr. Rogé has performed in almost every major concert hall in the world. In the western hemisphere, orchestral appearances include most notably the symphonies of Atlanta, Chicago, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Montreal, Philadelphia, Saint Louis, Seattle, and Toronto; engagements abroad include the BBC Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Hallé Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus, all the major London orchestras, Netherlands Philharmonic, NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Oslo Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Vienna Symphony, and the Zurich Tonhalle.

One of the world’s most distinguished recording artists, Pascal Rogé became an exclusive Decca recording artist at the age of seventeen. Since then, he has won many prestigious awards, including two Gramophone Awards, a Grand Prix du Disque and an Edison Award for his interpretations of the Ravel and Saint-Saens concerti. Other recordings include the complete piano works of Poulenc and Ravel, four albums of Satie, two of Debussy, and a Bartók cycle with the London Symphony Orchestra. For the Poulenc Edition in 1999, Mr. Rogé recorded both piano concerti, Aubade and the Concerto Champêtre, all under Charles Dutoit.

Several years ago, Mr. Rogé began a new and ambitious recording project for Onyx called the Rogé Edition. The first CD, released in 2005, inaugurated his first complete Debussy cycle, including the complete Préludes. The second disc, pianos trios by Chausson and Ravel with violinist Mie Kobayashi and cellist Yoko Hasegawa, was released in 2006. With the Vienna Radio Symphony under Bertrand de Billy, a CD of the Ravel Concerto in G and the Gershwin Concerto in F was recently released on Oehms Classics to unanimous acclaim.

In great demand as a recitalist, Pascal Rogé appears regularly in the United States, Europe, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, and especially Japan. Recent British engagements include Wigmore Hall, Symphony Hall Birmingham, The Sage Gateshead and the Queen Elizabeth Hall, where he is a frequent guest of the International Piano Series. His numerous festival appearances include Aldeburgh, Chautauqua, City of London, Grand Teton, Newbury Spring, Saratoga, and the Sintra Festival in Portugal.

FAURE         1er Nocturne op 33 N° 1         

CHOPIN       13ème Nocturne op 48 N° 1

POULENC   1er Nocturne in C maj

RAVEL         3 valses from Les Valses Nobles et Sentimentales

CHOPIN       Valse in C# min op 64 N° 2

DEBUSSY    Mazurka in B min  

CHOPIN       Mazurka in B min op 33 N°4     

DEBUSSY    Etude pour les 8 doigts         

CHOPIN        Etude op 25 N°1  

DEBUSSY    Etude pour les arpèges composées  

CHOPIN       Etude op 10 N°12       

DEBUSSY    Ballade                 

DEBUSSY    Les Fées sont d'exquises danseuses (from Préludes, Book II)

CHOPIN       Prelude op 28 N° 15 in Db maj     

DEBUSSY   From Préludes, Book I

        La Fille aux Cheveux de lin

        Le vent dans la plaine         

        Ce qu'à vu le vent d'ouest  

CHOPIN      Prelude op 28 N°6 in B min         

DEBUSSY   La terrasse des audiences au clair de lune (from Préludes, Book II)

      Les Collines d'Anacapri (from Préludes, Book I)

      Canope (from Préludes, Book II)  

CHOPIN       4ème Ballade op 52 in F min

Pascal Rogé's website

Click HERE to watch an extended interview with the Emerson Quartet.

“America's greatest quartet”
-- Time Magazine

"The Emerson has the traditional string-quartet virtues; each player is a strongly characterized individual, but the ensemble is temperamentally as well as sonically in balance. The four minds play upon each other, and upon the work, in perfect harmony; the players are in tune in all senses of the phrase."
- The New Yorker

Renowned for its insightful performances, dynamic artistry and technical mastery, the Emerson String Quartet has amassed an impressive list of achievements over three decades: a brilliant series of recordings exclusively documented by Deutsche Grammophon since 1987, eight Grammy Awards including two for Best Classical Album, an unprecedented honor for a chamber music group, three Gramophone Awards and frequent performances in major concert halls throughout the world. The ensemble is lauded globally as a string quartet that approaches both classical and contemporary repertoire with equal mastery and enthusiasm.

The 2007-2008 season comprises over 80 worldwide engagements, with a particular focus on Europe. In late August and early September, the Quartet will appear at the festivals of Gstaad, Salzburg, Schwarzenberg, Merano, Ascona, Copenhagen, Cologne and Stockholm. The Quartet returns to Europe throughout the season for a three-concert series at London's Wigmore Hall, another three-concert series at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall, a two-concert series at Vienna's Konzerthaus, its first appearance at Cité de la Musique in Paris and a pair of concerts at the Teatro della Pergola in Florence, with additional concerts in Spain, Austria, France, the UK, Germany and Italy. The Quartet's North American tours include stops in San Francisco, Stanford, Portland, Dallas, Philadelphia, Ann Arbor, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, San Diego, Vancouver, Scottsdale, Savannah and Houston. The Emerson continues its residency at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, now in its 28th sold-out season, and appears in New York with pianist Gilbert Kalish for Lincoln Center's Great Performers and with pianist Yefim Bronfman at Carnegie Hall.
The Quartet serves as Quartet-in-Residence at Stony Brook University, where, in addition to chamber music coaching throughout the academic year, they have conducted intensive string quartet workshops in 2004 and 2006 with plans for a third workshop in 2008. The Quartet has overseen three Professional Training Workshops at Carnegie's Weill Music Institute. In March 2004 the Quartet was named the 18th recipient of the 2004 Avery Fisher Prize - another first for a chamber ensemble.

Formed in 1976, the Emerson String Quartet took its name from the American poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. Violinists Eugene Drucker and Philip Setzer alternate in the first chair position and are joined by violist Lawrence Dutton and cellist David Finckel. Since January 2002, the Emerson has performed while standing - the cellist plays on a podium - and incorporates this practice in all appearances. The Quartet is based in New York City.

BEETHOVEN Quartet in F minor, Op. 95 "Serioso"

MOZART Quartet in B-flat, K. 589

WEBERN Bagatelles, Op. 9

RAVEL Quartet

Pianist Nelson Freire first surged to international prominence in 1959, with a season of recitals and concerto appearances in key cities throughout Europe, the United States, Central and South America, Japan, and Israel. Since that time he has steadily built on that initial acclaim to become a highly sought-after soloist of the first rank. In recent seasons he has performed with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, toured Europe with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under the direction of Riccardo Chailly, and presented enthusiastically received recitals and orchestral appearances across North America with performances in Baltimore, Fort Worth, Montreal, New York City, Portland, and Seattle. He appears frequently with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood and tours the U.S. in a duo-recital program with Martha Argerich. Freire marked the 150th anniversary of Chopin's death with a triumphant performance of the composer's Piano Concerto No. 2 in Warsaw.

Freire is the frequent guest of many of the world's greatest orchestras. In Europe he has performed with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Tonhalle Orchestra of Zurich, the Vienna Symphony, the Royal Philharmonic, the London Symphony, the Israel Philharmonic, the Czech Philharmonic, the Orchestre National de France, the Orchestre de Paris, the Radio France Philharmonic, the Monte Carlo Orchestra, and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande; in North America, he has worked with the orchestras of Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Montreal, New York, and Philadelphia. Among the distinguished conductors with whom Freire has collaborated are Pierre Boulez, Charles Dutoit, Valery Gergiev, Fabio Luisi, Eugen Jochum, Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur, Rudolf Kempe, John Nelson, Vaclav Neumann, Seiji Ozawa, André Previn, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, David Zinman, and Hugh Wolff.

Freire has recorded for Sony BMG Masterworks, Teldec, Deutsche Grammophon, and IPAM, among others. His recording of the Chopin Préludes received the Prix Edison. Other recordings have won the Diapason d'Or, the Grand Prix de l'Académie Charles Cros, and the Choc du Monde de la Musique. In 2001, Freire signed an exclusive recording contract with Decca. His 2005 recording of Chopin's Études, Op. 10, Barcarolle, Op. 60, and Sonata No. 2 and his 2006 recording of the Brahms Pianos Concertos, with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and Riccardo Chailly, conductor, both received Grammy nominations in the Best Instrumental Soloist category. The Brahms set was recently honored with a Gramophone Award.

Born in Brazil, Freire began piano studies at the age of three with Nise Obino and Lucia Branco, who had worked with a pupil of Liszt. He made his first public appearance at age five with Mozart's Sonata in A, K. 331.

In 1957, after Freire won the Rio de Janeiro International Piano Competition with his performance of Beethoven's "Emperor" Concerto, the president of Brazil awarded him a scholarship to study with Bruno Seidlhofer in Vienna. Seven years later, he won the Dinu Lipatti Medal in London, as well as first prize at the International Vianna da Motta Competition in Lisbon. Among his other awards are the French Victoires de la Musique's Soloist of the Year 2002 and a special Honorary Award for lifetime achievement in 2005.

PROGRAM to be announced

These virtuostic, ebullient works reflect one of the happiest and most productive periods in Bach's life, when he was the music director in the small town of Coethen, and they remain enduringly popular. Our program will feature Brandenburgs No. 4 (a merry romp) and No. 5 (a festive tour de force), as well as a Vivaldi concerto for two recorders. The Bay Area boasts the country's greatest concentration of early music specialists, and our performers will be an elite musical “A-team,” including members of Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra.

J.S. BACH Brandenburg Concerto No. 4
J.S. BACH Brandenburg Concerto No. 5
VIVALDI Concerto for Two Recorders

Cynthia Freivogel violin

"His playing takes on a truly magical, communing ease and finesse... Nakamatsu's brilliantly engaged performance paints a portrait of a remarkably wide-ranging and stylish artist."

-  Gramophone

One of the most sought-after pianists of his generation, Jon Nakamatsu is a frequent concerto soloist, chamber musician, recording artist and solo recitalist throughout the United States, Europe and Japan. He enjoys a continuously expanding career based on a deeply probing and illuminating musicality as well as a quietly charismatic performing style.

Highlights of Jon Nakamatsu's current season include return engagements with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Annapolis, Bozeman and Greenwich symphony orchestras, Lexington and Reno philharmonics and Santa Fe Pro Musica, as well as performances with the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic and the orchestras of Cape Cod, Fremont, La Crosse, Lincoln and Norwalk. He reunites with his colleagues of the Berlin Philharmonic Woodwind Quintet for performances in Berlin and Detroit, and is presented in recital from coast to coast. With his duo-recital partner, clarinetist Jon Manasse, Mr. Nakamatsu performs at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, and in New York City, Boston, Des Moines and Saratoga, CA.

Initially brought to global attention in June 1997 by being named Gold Medalist of the Tenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, Jon Nakamatsu subsequently appeared as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl and the Boston Pops at Tanglewood, as well as with, among many others, the orchestras of Buffalo, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Dallas, Dayton, Delaware, Detroit, Fort Worth, Honolulu, Memphis, Milwaukee, Naples, New Mexico, New World, Portland, Rochester, San Antonio, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Barbara, Seattle, Syracuse, Toledo and Utah. Abroad, he has been heard as soloist with Italy's famed Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Berlin's Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Chamber Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Costa Rica, Orquestra Sinfónica Nacional de Santo Domingo and Japan's Tokyo and Hiroshima Symphony Orchestras. In 2005, he toured Spain as soloist with the San Jose Youth Symphony, followed by a 2007 tour with the Peninsula Youth Symphony that included performances in Budapest and Prague. Mr. Nakamatsu has collaborated with many of today's leading conductors, among them Kazuyoshi Akiyama, Peter Bay, William Boughton, George Cleve, James Conlon, Grant Cooper, Leslie B. Dunner, Philippe Entremont, Neal Gittleman, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Marek Janowski, Chosei Komatsu, Michael Lankester, Peter Leonard, Raymond Leppard, Jahja Ling, Keith Lockhart, David Lockington, Christof Perick, Larry Rachleff, Peter Rubardt, Matthew Savery, Alfred Savia, Carl St. Clair, Christopher Seaman, Stanislaw Skrowaczeski, Markand Thakar, Michael Tilson Thomas, Osmo Vänskä, David Wiley, Peter Stafford Wilson and Samuel Wong. His 1998-99 season was highlighted by a White House performance of Rhapsody in Blue, hosted by President and Mrs. Clinton.

Jon Nakamatsu's extensive recital tours throughout the United States and Europe have featured perfromances in New York City (Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall), Washington, DC (John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts), Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Miami, Houston, San Francisco, Paris, London and Milan. The recipient of the Steven De Groote Memorial Award for his semifinal round chamber music performances at the Cliburn competition, he has subsequently collaborated with various chamber ensembles, among them the Brentano, Ives, Manhattan, Miami, St. Lawrence, Prazak, Tokyo and Ying String Quartets and the Stanford Woodwind Quintet. Mr. Nakamatsu has also made three United States tours as the guest soloist with the Berlin Philharmonic Woodwind Quintet.

Jon Nakamatsu's festival appearances include Tanglewood, the famed summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival with Christopher Seaman and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also been a guest artist at France's Evian and Montpellier music festivals and Germany's Klavier Festival Ruhr, Festival Casals de Puerto Rico, performing with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Carl St. Clair, and at the Colorado Music Festival, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Florida's Brevard and Sanibel music festivals, Tacoma International Music Festival, Lincoln's Meadowlark Music Festival, New York's Skaneateles Festival and California's Midsummer Mozart Festival.

Named Debut Artist of the Year (1998) by NPR's "Performance Today," Jon Nakamatsu has been profiled by "CBS Sunday Morning" and Reader's Digest magazine, and is featured in "Playing with Fire," a documentary on the Tenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, aired nationwide on PBS. Earlier, in 1995, he was named the First Prize winner of Miami's Fifth United States Chopin Piano Competition. He records exclusively for harmonia mundi usa, which has released six CDs, including an orchestral album containing performances of Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, with Christopher Seaman and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as albums devoted to the music of Brahms, Chopin, Foss, Liszt and Wölfl. Mr. Nakamatsu's most recent release is his second orchestral album with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, featuring Gershwin's Concerto in F and Rhapsody in Blue, conducted by Jeff Tyzik. Soon to be released is his first CD with clarinetist Jon Manasse, a recording of the Brahms Clarinet Sonatas.

Jon Nakamatsu has studied privately with Marina Derryberry since the age of six, has worked with Karl Ulrich Schnabel, and studied composition and orchestration with Dr. Leonard Stein of the Schoenberg Institute at the University of Southern California. In addition, he has pursued extensive studies in chamber music and musicology. A former high school German teacher, Mr. Nakamatsu is a graduate of Stanford University with a bachelor's degree in German Studies and a master's degree in Education.

Jon Nakamatsu and his duo-partner, the renowned clarinetist Jon Manasse, serve as Artistic Directors of the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, an appointment announced during summer 2006.

PROGRAM To be announced

Jon Nakamatsu's website

Lynn Harrell's presence is felt throughout the musical world. A consummate soloist, chamber musician, recitalist, conductor and teacher, his work throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia has placed him in the highest echelon of today's performing artists.

Mr. Harrell is a frequent guest of many leading orchestras including Boston, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Ottawa, Pittsburgh, and the National Symphony. In Europe he partners with the orchestras of London, Munich, Berlin, Tonhalle and Israel. He has also toured extensively to Australia and New Zealand as well as the Far East, including Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan and Hong Kong. In the summer of 1999 Mr. Harrell was featured in a three-week

"Lynn Harrell Cello Festival" with the Hong Kong Philharmonic. He regularly collaborates with such noted conductors as James Levine, Sir Neville Marriner, Kurt Masur, Zubin Mehta, André Previn, Sir Simon Rattle, Leonard Slatkin, Yuri Temirkanov, Michael Tilson Thomas and David Zinman.

In recent seasons Mr. Harrell has particularly enjoyed collaborating with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and pianist, André Previn. In January 2004 the trio appeared with the New York Philharmonic performing the Beethoven Triple Concerto with Maestro Masur conducting.
An important part of Lynn Harrell's life is summer music festivals, which include appearances at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, the Aspen and Grand Tetons festivals, and the Amelia Island Festival.

On April 7, 1994, Lynn Harrell appeared at the Vatican with the Royal Philharmonic in a concert dedicated to the memory of the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. The audience for this historic event, which was the Vatican's first official commemoration of the Holocaust, included Pope John Paul II and the Chief Rabbi of Rome. That year Mr. Harrell also appeared live at the Grammy Awards with Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman, performing an excerpt from their Grammy-nominated recording of the complete Beethoven String Trios (Angel/EMI).

Highlights from an extensive discography of more than 30 recordings include the complete Bach Cello Suites (London/Decca), the world-premiere recording of Victor Herbert's Cello Concerto No. 1 with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields led by Marriner (London/Decca), the Walton Concerto with Rattle and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (EMI), and the Donald Erb Concerto with Slatkin and the Saint Louis Symphony (New World). Together with Itzhak Perlman and Vladimir Ashkenazy, Mr. Harrell was awarded two Grammy Awards - in 1981 for the Tchaikovsky Piano Trio and in 1987 for the complete Beethoven Piano Trios (both Angel/EMI). A recording of the Schubert Trios with Mr. Ashkenazy and Pinchas Zukerman (London/Decca) was released in February 2000. His May 2000 recording with Kennedy, "Duos for Violin & Cello," received unanimous critical acclaim (EMI). Most recently, Mr. Harrell recorded Tchaikovsky's Variations for Cello and Orchestra on a Rococo Theme, Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 2, and Prokofiev's Sinfonia Concertante with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Gerard Schwarz conducting (Classico).

Lynn Harrell's experience as an educator is wide and varied. From 1985-93 he held the International Chair for Cello Studies at the Royal Academy in London. Concurrently, from 1988-92, he was Artistic Director of the orchestra, chamber music and conductor training program at the L.A. Philharmonic Institute. In 1993, he became head of the Royal Academy in London, a post he held through 1995. He has also given master classes at the Verbier and Aspen festivals and in major metropolitan areas throughout the world. Since the start of the 2002-03 academic year, Mr. Harrell has taught cello at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music.

Lynn Harrell was born in New York to musician parents. He began his musical studies in Dallas and proceeded to the Juilliard School and the Curtis Institute of Music. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the first Avery Fisher Award.

Mr. Harrell plays a 1720 Montagnana. He makes his home in Santa Monica, CA.

 

PERSONNEL AND PROGRAM To be announced

Before joining the Takács Quartet, Geraldine Walther was Principal Violist of the San Francisco Symphony for 29 years. Early in her career she served as assistant principal of the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Miami Philharmonic, and the Baltimore Symphony. She studied at the Curtis Institute with Michael Tree of the Guarneri Quartet and at the Manhattan School of Music with Lillian Fuchs, and in 1979 she won first prize at the William Primrose International Competition.  She had been on the music faculty of The San Francisco Conservatory, Notre Dame de Namur University, and Mills College and conducted master classes at numerous universities and festivals.

She has performed as soloist on numerous occasions with the San Francisco Symphony and given the US premieres of Michael Tippett's Triple Concerto in 1981, Tôru Takemitsu's A String Around Autumn in 1990, Peter Lieberson's Viola Concerto in 1999, George Benjamin's Viola, Viola (together with SFS Associate Principal Violist Yun Jie Liu), also in 1999, and the Viola Concerto by Robin Holloway. 

In 1995 Ms. Walther was selected by Sir Georg Solti as a member of his Musicians of the World, which performed in Geneva to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the United Nations in July 1995.   She has also served as principal violist with the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego.  An avid chamber musician, Ms. Walther regularly participates in leading chamber music festivals, including Marlboro, Santa Fe, Tanglewood, Bridgehampton, and, most recently, the Telluride, Seattle, and Ruby Mountain festivals, Music at Kohl Mansion, Green Music Festival in Sonoma, and the inaugural season of Music@Menlo. She has collaborated with such artists as Isaac Stern, Pinchas Zukerman, and Jaime Laredo, and appeared as a guest artist with the Vermeer, Guarneri, Lindsay, Cypress, Tokyo and St. Lawrence quartets.  

Geraldine Walther's recordings include Hindemith's Trauermusik and Der Schwanendreher with the San Francisco Symphony (both on London/Decca), Paul Chihara's Golden Slumbers with the San Francisco Chamber Singers (Albany), and Lou Harrison's Threnody (New Albion). Together with SFS Assistant Concertmaster Mark Volkert and cellist Jan Volkert, she has just released a new disc of Mr. Volkert's transcriptions for string trio entitled Delectable Pieces (Con Brio).

Melissa Kleinbart violin

Suzanne Leon violin

Geraldine Walther viola

Tanya Tomkins cello

Carey Bell clarinet

Eric Zivian piano

BACH Suite No. 4 in E-flat major for Unaccompanied Cello, arranged for Viola

MOZART Piano Quartet in G minor, K. 478

SCHUMANN Fairy Tales for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano, Op. 132

BRAHMS Quintet for Clarinet and Strings in B minor, Op. 115