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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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 | Rachel Barton
A passionate musician, American violinist Rachel Barton has devoted her life to music. A former prodigy with an active performing career since age seven, she has blossomed into an artist highly regarded for her profound and thoughtful interpretations delivered with tremendous enthusiasm and intensity. Encompassing an incredibly diverse repertoire, her undeniable talent and unwavering dedication to music are an inspiration to audiences everywhere.
Ms. Barton has appeared as soloist with many of the world's most prestigious ensembles, including the Chicago, Atlanta, St. Louis, Dallas, Baltimore, Montreal, Vienna, New Zealand, Iceland and Budapest Symphonies, as well as the Buffalo Philharmonic, Louisville Orchestra and Belgian National Orchestra. She has worked closely with such renowned conductors as Zubin Mehta, Erich Leinsdorf, Neeme Järvi, Semyon Bychkov and Placido Domingo. In the summer of 2001, Ms. Barton made her Salzburg Festival debut, marking her first performance in that city since her participation in Mozartwoche 2000 at the invitation of Franz Welser-Möst. Acclaimed collaborations include appearances with the Pacifica String Quartet, as well as additional pairings with Daniel Barenboim, Christoph Eschenbach, Jonathan Gilad and Mark O' Connor. As a recitalist, she has performed the complete Paganini Caprices and the Bach Sonatas and Partitas for live broadcast on WFMT Radio in Chicago. Performances have also been broadcast on National Public Radio's Performance Today.
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 | Martha Katz
Violist Martha Strongin Katz was a founding member of the internationally acclaimed Cleveland Quartet, playing in it from its inception in 1969 until 1980. During those years she performed over 1,000 concerts, including appearances at the White House, the Grammy Awards, on NBC’s “Today” show, and in the major concert halls of Europe, North and South America, Israel, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. Strongin Katz’s solo appearances include a Carnegie Hall performance of Berlioz’s Harold in Italy with conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, the Bartók Concerto with L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, recital and concerto performances at the 1989 International Viola Congress, and countless recital and concerto appearances in cities such as Boston, Buffalo, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, Rochester, San Francisco, and St. Louis. She has served on numerous international juries, including the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Naumberg Viola Competition. Strongin Katz plays a viola made by Lorenzo Storioni of Cremona in 1800.
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 | Carlos Prieto
Mexican born Carlos Prieto began playing the cello at age four, studying with the Hungarian cellist Imre Hartman and later with Pierre Fournier in Geneva and Leonard Rose in New York. He has performed with the Royal Philharmonic in London, the American Symphony Orchestra in New York, the Berlin Symphony, the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, and many others. Since 1980, he has played the world premieres of over 70 compositions, most of which were written for him by key composers from Mexico, Latin America, Spain and other countries. His most recent world premieres have been the Cello Concerto by John Kinsella in Dublin, in 2002; the Concerto da Chiesa for cello and strings by José Luis Turina, in St. Petersburg, Russia, among others. Mr. Prieto has recorded over 70 works for the cello and has written six books. He has won numerous awards such as the Eva Janzer Award from the University of Indiana, the Cultural Leadership Citation from Yale University, the Order of Officer of the Arts and Letters of the French Government, the Achievement Award of the Mexican Cultural Institute of New York, the Golden Master Award of the Forum of Spain and many others. Every two years the National Council for Culture and Arts of Mexico and the Las Rosas Conservatory hold the Carlos Prieto Ibero American Cello Competition, so named to honor his career and his work to promote Ibero-American music.
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 | Jose Serebrier
GRAMMY-winner conductor and composer José Serebrier is one of most recorded classical artists, with over 250 titles. When Serebrier was 21 years old, Leopold Stokowski hailed him as "the greatest master of orchestral balance". After five years as Stokowski's Associate Conductor in New York, Serebrier accepted an invitation from George Szell to become "Composer-in-Residence" of the Cleveland Orchestra. Szell discovered Serebrier when he won the Ford Foundation American Conductors Award (together with James Levine). Serebrier's first recording, the Ives' 4th Symphony, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, won a Grammy nomination. His recording of the Mendelssohn symphonies won the UK Music Retailers Association Award for Best Orchestral Recording, and his series of Shostakovich's Film Suites won the Deutsche Schallplatten Award for Best Orchestral Recording. Soundstage magazine selected Serebrier's recording of Scheherazade with the LPO as the Best Audiophile Recording. He has recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, Philharmonia, Bournemouth Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic, Bamberg Symphony, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Bayerischer Run dfunk Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Barcelona Symphony, Czech State Philharmonic Brno, Sydney and Melbourne Symphonies and many others. "Serebrier Conducts Prokofiev, Beethoven and Tchaikowsky" filmed at the Sydney Opera and released on VHS in America, has been shown over 50 times on U.S. television. As composer, Serebrier has won most important awards, including two Guggenheims (as the youngest in that Foundation's history, at ages 19 and 20), Rockefeller Foundation grants, commissions from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Harvard Musical Association, the B.M.I. Award, Koussevitzky Foundation Award, etc. Born in Uruguay of Russian and Polish parents, Serebrier has composed more than 100 works, published by Peer Music, Universal, Kalmus and Peters Corp. His First Symphony was premiered by Leopold Stokowski (who premiered several of his works) when Serebrier was 17. His music has been recorded by conductors such as John Eliot Gardiner, among others. His new 3rd symphony, "Symphonie Mystique" received a GRAMMY nomination for "Best New Composition of 2004". His "Carmen Symphony" CD won the 2004 Latin GRAMMY for "Best Classical Album of the Year". The French music critic Michel Faure has completed a new book about José Serebrier, published by L'Harmattan in France. His first recording with the New York Philharmonic was released by Warner Classics in January 2005. Serebrier's new recordings of works by Mussorgsky orchestrated by Leopold Stokowski was selected as "Recording of the Month" by Gramophone Magazine for their Awards Issue, October 2005. Serebrier's recent recording with the RSNO, Glazunov's Symphony No. 5 and the Ballet "The Seasons" has been acclaimed by the international press, received two GRAMMY nominations in 2004, and was also nominated for the Latin GRAMMY in 2005, the first time a recording received nominations in both. The Symphony No. 8 and the Suite from the Ballet "Raymonda" was released in September 2005. The next CD in this series, the Symphonies No. 4 and 7 was nominated for the 2007 GRAMMY.
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