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 | Richard Aaron
Richard Aaron has traveled extensively, giving master classes in Madrid, Spain; Manheim, Germany; Seoul, Korea; Matsumoto, Japan; and Paris, France. He has presented master classes in the U.S. at many leading schools, including Rice, Eastman, Michigan and Oberlin. During summers, he has taught at the Aspen Music Festival, Indiana University String Academy, Calgary Music Bridge, Aria, Innsbruck, the Chautauqua Festival and Idyllwild. Mr. Aaron’s students have won numerous national and international competitions and have performed as soloists with prestigious orchestras, including the Cleveland, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Seattle Symphonies. Award-winning quartets, including the Biava, Fry Street and American, include his students. He is a member of the Elysian Trio, in residence at Baldwin-Wallace College. Mr. Aaron served on the faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Music and ENCORE School for Strings faculties for fourteen years prior to his appointment at the University of Michigan.
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 | Sanford Allen
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 Pine
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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 | Jesus Castro-Balbi
Cellist Jesús Castro-Balbi performs internationally to critical acclaim as a soloist and chamber musician. He has performed with orchestras of Dallas, Fort Worth, Cannes (France), Aarhus (Denmark), Xalapa, Aguascalientes (Mexico), the National Symphony in Lima (Peru), the Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra, and others. HIs performances were broadcast on BBC World, Japanese public television NHK, Korean national television KBS, European television TV5-Arte, and in the U.S. on WNYC, WGBH, on WQXR’s Young Artists Showcase, and on National Public Radio’s Performance Today. Dr. Castro-Balbi received the First Prize at the First “Carlos Prieto” Latin American Cello Competition in Mexico; the Aldo Parisot Prize at Yale; and the Schwartz Foundation - Salon de Virtuosi Award. He served as a juror to multiple “Carlos Prieto” International Cello Competitions, and has presented master-classes and lectures at the Boston Conservatory, The Juilliard School, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the Yale School of Music, as well as in Korea, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela. Dr. Castro-Balbi is the cellist of the Castro-Balbi/Lin Duo, in addition to being the founder and director of the TCU Cello Ensemble, TCU Cellofest, and of the Faculty & Friends Chamber Music Series. He has presented the world premieres of various works, including the first recordings of the Suite for Two Cellos by Samuel Zyman with cellist Carlos Prieto. Dr. Castro-Balbi is a graduate of the Conservatoire National Supérieur in Lyon (France), Indiana University at Bloomington, Yale, and of The Juilliard School. Together with his wife, pianist Gloria Lin and son Joaquín he resides in Fort Worth, where he is the cello professor at Texas Christian University.
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 | Ani Kavafian
Violinist Ani Kavafian is enjoying a prolific career as a soloist and chamber musician. She has performed with virtually all of America’s leading orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia and Cleveland Orchestras, Detroit and San Francisco Symphonies, among others. She has premiered and recorded a number of new works written for her, including Henri Lazarof’s Divertimento for Violin and String Orchestra with the Seattle Symphony and Michelle Ekizian’s Red Harvest with the Brooklyn Philharmonic. Ms. Kavafian has appeared around the country with her sister, violinist and violist Ida Kavafian. She is an Artist-Member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in New York. She is in great demand at renowned summer music festivals such as Ravinia, Chamber Music Northwest, and others. She is a member of the Trio da Salo with violist Barbara Wesphal and cellist Gustav Rivinius. Along with cellist Carter Brey, she is the artistic director of the chamber music series “Mostly Music.” Ms. Kavafian has appeared at the White House on three separate occasions and has been featured on network and PBS television music specials. Her recordings can be heard on the Nonesuch, RCA, Columbia, Arabesque, and Delos. Ms Kavafian began the study of violin with Ara Zerounian and continued at the Juilliard School with Ivan Galamian, eventually receiving a Master’s degree with highest honors. She is on the faculties of both Yale and Stony Brook Universities and performs on the 1736 Muir McKenzie Stradivarius violin.
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 | Nokuthula Ngwenyama
Nokuthula Ngwenyama’s appearances as a soloist and chamber musician garner great attention, as she “provides solidly shaped music of bold, mesmerizing character (The Gramophone).” Ms. Ngwenyama came to international attention when she won the Primrose Competition and Young Concert Artists International Auditions - both at age 17. In 1997 she was recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant. Ms. Ngwenyama has appeared with the Atlanta, Baltimore, National and Indianapolis Symphonies. She has performed at Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, the Louvre, the Ford Center in Toronto, the Maison de Radio France, and the White House. She frequently collaborates with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and has worked with the Borromeo, Chilingirian, Miami, Orion and St. Lawrence Quartets. Her recordings on EDI have been met with critical acclaim. “Thula” was featured on the Emmy-nominated Musical Encounter Series with host and cellist Lynn Harrell and was a guest on CBS Sunday Morning hosted by Eugenia Zukerman. A dedicated advocate for the arts, she has testified before Congress on behalf of the National Endowment for the Arts. Ms. Ngwenyama was named ‘Zimbo’ of the month for August 2004 by the UK based monthly periodical Go Zimbabwe. Born in California of Zimbabwean-Japanese parentage, Ms. Ngwenyama graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music in 1996. She attended the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Paris as a Fulbright scholar, and received a Master of Theological Studies degree from Harvard University. She is currently Visiting Faculty at the University of Notre Dame, lecturing on Music, World Religions and Music of Africa and the Diaspora.
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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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