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 | Sanford Allen - Jury Chair
Violinist Sanford Allen was appointed Director of the Clarion Concerts
in Columbia County's Leaf Peeper Series after the death of its founder Newell Jenkins. Mr. Allen started his study of the violin at the age of seven and entered the Juilliard School of Music at age ten, continuing at the Mannes College of Music under Mme. Vera Fonaroff. In 1962 he became the first black musician ever to become a regular member of the New York Philharmonic. Regarding his recording of Cordero's violin concerto with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Strad magazine said: "Its virtuoso challenges are thrillingly met by Sanford Allen a fabulous player who was, incidentally, the first African-American to gain a regular
place with the New York Philharmonic in 1962. Despite the challenging nature
of the writing, the listener's attention is held effortlessly throughout due
largely to the extraordinary commitment and finesse of Allen's playing.
Indeed the intensity generated by this impassioned performance is nothing
short of overwhelming. Well worth seeking out". His solo appearances with orchestra have included the Quebec, Baltimore, Detroit Symphonies and the New York Philharmonic. He served on the advisory panel of the New York State Arts Council and was also a member of the Executive Board of the Kennedy Center National Black Music Colloquium and Competition. In 1998, Mr. Allen gave a premiere performance of Sir Roland Hanna's Sonata for Violin and Piano
at the Kennedy Center in Washington, joined by the composer.
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 | Ronald Crutcher
Ronald A. Crutcher is Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He began studying the cello at the age of fourteen with Elizabeth Potteiger and won the Cincinnati Symphony Young Artist Competition at age seventeen. Dr. Crutcher studied with Aldo Parisot at Yale University, later serving as one of his assistants and becoming the first cellist to receive the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Yale. Dr. Crutcher studied in West Germany with Siegfried Palm and Enrico Mainardi. Other teachers have included Janos Starker, Margaret Rowell and Gerhard Mantel. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in March, 1985. A former member of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, he has performed numerous recitals in the United States, Europe and South America. He currently tours in this country and in Europe with the Klemperer Piano Trio. Dr. Crutcher also served as Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the Conservatory at The Cleveland Institute. He was the President of Chamber Music America and serves on the boards of the Fulbright Association, Musical Arts Association (Cleveland Orchestra), and the Cavani Quartet.
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 | Anthony Elliott
Maestro Elliott was first encouraged to pursue conducting by the late Karel Ancerl, of the Czech Philharmonic. His conducting studies were under the direction of Vilem Sokol and Derrick Inoyue. He has participated in conducting master classes sponsored by the American Symphony Orchestra League under the direction of Pierre Boulez and Andre Previn. Mr. Elliott was also invited to give a workshop for conductors at the Midwestern Conference of Music Education at the University of Michigan. He also conducted the Plymouth Symphony and the Washington, Texas, North Carolina, Alaska and North Dakota All State Orchestras. His activities as a conductor also include choral works, ballet and collaborations with Pinchas Zukerman, Nathaniel Rosen and Alice Neary. He has worked with the Kent/Blossom Chamber Orchestra and served as Assistant Music Director of the Marrowstone Music Festival and Music Director of the Houston Youth Symphony and Ballet. Mr. Elliott was the Grand Prize winner of the Feuermann International Solo Cello Competition in 1987 and has appeared as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Institute Symphony Orchestra and the CBC Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He is a Professor of Music at the University of Michigan and a member of the performing artist faculty at the Aspen Music Festival.
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 | Kay George Roberts
Active as a guest conductor, Kay George Roberts has conducted the Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Louisiana Philharmonic, Nashville, and National Symphony Orchestras, among others. Dr. Roberts made a highly-acclaimed debut at the Lugano Festival with the Orchestra Svizzera Italiana. An advocate for new and overlooked music, she has been praised by critics for her "precision and passion" and for leading audiences "to make new discoveries." A champion of music education, she is a professor of music at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and director of a new string training program for elementary school students that fosters diversity in classical music. She is the founder and music director of the ensemble-in-residence, String Currents, which promotes American music. Dr. Roberts studied at Tanglewood with Leonard Bernstein, Gustav Meier, Seiji Ozawa and at the Bachakademie Stuttgart with John Eliot Gardiner. A graduate of Fisk University, Ms. Roberts is an accomplished violinist with master degrees in violin performance and orchestral conducting from Yale University. She is the first woman to earn the Doctor of Musical Arts in orchestral conducting from Yale University where she studied with Otto-Werner Mueller.
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 | John Gingrich
After 15 years of experience in all aspects of the performing arts, John Gingrich opened the doors of his own management during the Spring of 1983. Beginning at Penn State, where he served as the first graduate assistant to the Artists Series, he has been a presenter, publicist and advocate in both the "for profit" and "not-for-profit" segments of the performing arts. Following three seasons as Associate Publicist for Hurok and a season as a sales representative for the distinguished firm, he was elected President of the Association of American Dance Companies in 1975. He was Director of Publicity for Shaw Concerts during the 1978-79 season, before joining Sheldon Soffer Management where he served as General Manager until 1983. During the late 1970s he was a board member of Concert Artists Guild and served as its President for two seasons. As a producer he has presented the AIDS Quilt Song Book at Lincoln Center to benefit the AIDS Resource Center, and benefits at The Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall and Queens College for various Korean causes. As a presenter, he co-produced a Miller Theatre/John Gingrich series at Columbia University for five seasons in the 1990s and curated a jazz series at the New-York Historical Society in Spring 2003.
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 | Almita Vamos
Almita Vamos is a graduate of the Juilliard School, where she studied
with Mischa Mischakoff and Louis Persinger. She was a member of the
Lydian Trio and the Antioch Quartet, and has recorded under Coronet
and Rizzoli labels. She has concertized throughout the United
States, Taiwan, Korea, Greece, Australia, and Iceland. Mrs. Vamos's students have won top prizes in many national and international competitions including Gold Prizes in the
Tchaikowsky Youth Competition, Carl Flesch, Menuhin, Bach (Leipzig),
and Silver Prizes in Tchaikowsky, Szigeti, Kreisler, Neilsen, and
Bronze Prizes in Paganini and Montreal Competitions. This year, her
students have won Grand Prize in WAMSO, Blount, and First and Second
Prizes in the Fischoff Competition and three of her former students
have attained positions in the New York Philharmonic. Her students
are members of the Boston, St. Louis, San Fransisco, Los Angeles,
Washington, Minnesota, Chautauqua, Hong Kong, Oslo Philharmonic, and
many other symphony orchestras around the world. Almita Vamos has won the Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching five times, the ASTA Distinguished Teacher of the Year Award
and has been featured on "Sunday Morning" CBS. She was professor at Western
Illinois University, University of Minnesota, Oberlin Conservatory,
and is presently a distinguished professor at Northwestern University.
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