"Endowed with irreproachable technique and armed with four sumptuous Stradivariuses, the musicians of the Tokyo Quartet seize upon the attentive listener with the sheer force and integrity of their gimmick-free musical vision."

-Globe and Mail

Jean-Michel Fonteneau

The Tokyo String Quartet has captivated audiences and critics alike since it was founded almost 40 years ago. Regarded as one of the supreme chamber ensembles of the world, the Tokyo Quartet--Martin Beaver and Kikuei Ikeda (violins), Kazuhide Isomura (viola) and Clive Greensmith (cello)--has collaborated with a remarkable array of artists and composers, built a comprehensive catalogue of critically acclaimed recordings and established a distinguished teaching record. Performing over a hundred concerts worldwide each season, the Tokyo String Quartet has a devoted international following that includes the major capitals of the world and extends to all four corners, from Australia to Estonia to Scandinavia and the Far East.

Officially formed in 1969 at the Juilliard School of Music, the quartet traces its origins to the Toho School of Music in Tokyo, where the founding members were profoundly influenced by Professor Hideo Saito. Soon after its formation, the quartet won First Prize at the Coleman Competition, the Munich Competition and the Young Concert Artists International Auditions. An exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon firmly established it as one of the world's leading quartets, and it has since released more than 40 landmark recordings. The ensemble now records on the Harmonia Mundi label.

The members of the Tokyo String Quartet have served on the faculty of the Yale School of Music as quartet-in-residence since 1976. Deeply committed to coaching young string quartets, they devote much of the summer to teaching and performing at the prestigious Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. They also conduct master classes in North America, Europe and the Far East throughout the year.

The ensemble performs on the "Paganini Quartet", a group of renowned Stradivarius instruments named for legendary virtuoso Niccolò Paganini, who acquired and played them during the 19th century. The instruments have been on loan to the ensemble from the Nippon Music Foundation since 1995, when they were purchased from the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

The program will include the Schubert masterpiece Quintet in C Major for Cello and String Quartet .  This beloved work is generally acknowledged as a pinnacle, not only of chamber music, but of Western art. The added cellist will be Jean-Michel Fonteneau.

Jean-Michel Fonteneau , currently Chair of String and Piano Chamber Music at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, is a founding member of the Ravel String Quartet, an ensemble which won two prizes at the Evian String Quartet Competition, and the first French Grammy Award "Les Victoires de la Musique Classique".  The quartet toured extensively around the world and established the first string quartet residency program in France.

Mr. Fonteneau performs frequently with such renowned artists as Leon Fleisher, Menahem Pressler, Gilbert Kalish, Claude Frank, Peter Frankl, Kim Kashkashian, members of the Amadeus, Juilliard, Pro Arte, and Fine Arts Quartets. A passionate and devoted teacher, he served on the faculty of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Lyon, France until 1999, when he moved to the United States to join the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. His students have won national and international competitions, appeared on "From the Top", and one was honored as a Presidential Scholar. Fonteneau appears regularly at such summer festivals as the Yellow Barn Music Festival, Domaine Forget, Oberlin at Casalmaggiore, MYA, and ARIA. Mr. Fonteneau's recordings can be found with Musidisc-France and Albany Records.

HAYDN  Quartet in G Major, Op. 77, No. 1

BARTOK  Quartet No. 3, Sz. 85

SCHUBERT  Cello Quintet in C Major, Op. 163, D. 956

the Tokyo Quartet website

LATEST NEWS: The Tokyo Quartet has announced that two of its long-standing members, violinist Kikuei Ikeda and violist Kazuhide Isomura (the one remaining founding member) will retire from the ensemble in June 2013.

Therefore, don't miss this performance!

CLICK HERE TO READ A REVIEW OF DANIIL TRIFONOV IN THE NEW YORK TIMES ON JULY 30, 2011

In 2008 we presented a young (then 17 years old) Russian artist, sponsored by the Guzik Foundation, named Daniil Trifonov, and we are thrilled to announce that on June 30, 2011 Mr. Trifonov won the Gold Medal at the prestigious Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow! If ever there was a triumphant return, it will be his recital at Herbst in February, performing this time as an authentic star rather than a talented discovery.

Of course, Trifonov has been taking the musical world by storm recently: in 2010 he won the Bronze Medal at the Chopin Competition in Warsaw, and in May 2011 he won the Gold Medal at the Artur Rubinstein Competition in Tel Aviv. 

Here is the Tchaikovsky web page with the official announcement:

http://www.tchaikovsky-competition.com/en/press/news/2011/2011_07_01

Critics concur that his is an unusual style for competition winner.  Trifonov is a poetic artist, drawing on a palette of vivid colors, whose interest is in getting to the heart of the music rather than putting on a show.

Here is Trifonov's bio, drawn from his own website:

Daniil Trifonov won the Gold Medal in the 13th Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition, which took place in 2011 in Tel Aviv. In addition, at that competition he also won the prize for the best chamber music performace, the Pnina Salzman Prize for the best performance of a Chopin piece and the Audience Favorite prize.

As Bronze Medal prize winner in the 16th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw (2010), he was also awarded the special prize of the Polish Radio for the best performance of mazurkas.

Born 5 March 1991 in Nizhny Novgorod. A graduate of the Gnesin School of Music in Moscow, where he studied with Tatiana Zelikman. Since 2009 has been studying with Sergei Babayan at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

He is the laureate of numerous music contests, including first prize in the San Marino International Piano Competition(2008), fifth prize in the International Scriabin Competition in Moscow (2008).

LISZT/SCHUBERT Frühlingsglaube (from 12 Lieder von Franz Schubert, S. 558)

LISZT/SCHUBERT Die Stadt, S. 560, No. 1 (arranged from Franz Schubert's Schwanengesang, D. 957, No. 11)

SCHUBERT Sonata in B-flat Major, D. 960

DEBUSSY Images, Book 1 (selections)

CHOPIN Études, Op. 10

Mr. Trifonov's website

Stephen Hough is widely regarded as one of the most important pianists of his generation; in recognition of his achievements, he was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship in 2001.

Mr. Hough appears with most of the major European and American orchestras and plays recitals regularly in the major halls and concert series around the world. He is also a guest at festivals such as Salzburg, Mostly Mozart, Aspen, Ravinia, Tanglewood, Edinburgh and the BBC Proms. Recent engagements have included performances with the New York, Los Angeles and London Philharmonics, Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras, London Symphony, the Russian National Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic in a performance with Sir Simon Rattle, televised worldwide.

Many of his catalogue of over 40 CDs have garnered international prizes, including the Diapason d'or, several Grammy nominations, and eight Gramophone Magazine Awards.

Stephen Hough is also an avid writer and composer. In addition to CD liner notes and articles for music publications, he has written for The Guardian and The Times. His cello concerto was premiered by Steven Isserlis, his choral works have been performed at Westminster Abbey, and his chamber music has been performed by members of the Berlin Philharmonic at the Berlin Philharmonie.

BEETHOVEN Sonata in C sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2 "Moonlight"
HOUGH Sonata for Piano "broken branches"
SCRIABIN Sonata No. 4
SCRIABIN Sonata No. 5
LISZT Sonata in B minor

Stephen Hough 's website

James Ehnes

“This violinist eschews showmanship, except when it's called for, preferring to seek out gradations of color and nuance. His intonation is impeccable, his technique up to any challenge."

- Cleveland Plain Dealer

"One could only wonder if there's a finer violinist alive than James Ehnes. Here were luminous tone and impeccable technique"
- Dallas Morning News

Orion Weiss

“Every so often, a talent comes along that is so natural, genuine and exciting you can hardly believe your ears. Such was the case when Orion Weiss took the piano bench"

- The Cincinnati Enquirer

Hailed as "the Jascha Heifetz of our day" (Globe and Mail), Grammy Award-winng violinist James Ehnes is widely considered one of the most dynamic and exciting performers in classical music. He has performed in over 30 countries on five continents, appearing regularly with many of the world's most well-known orchestras and conductors.

PERFORMANCES

The 2010-2011 season features a challenging balance of concerto concerts, chamber music, and recitals in Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Europe, the UK, South America, and across Canada and the US. The season sees James’s much-anticipated return “down under” for which he also reprises his role as conductor in programs with the Melbourne and Adelaide symphony orchestras, and the Auckland Philharmonia, as well as an additional dates playing Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with the Sydney Symphony and Vladimir Ashkenazy. In the UK James will be heard with the BBC Philharmonic in Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 1 and Viola Concerto (being recorded for future release on Chandos), as well as with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and the London, Bournemouth, and City of Birmingham symphonies. He returns to Kuala Lumpur with the Malaysian Philharmonic, to Vienna with the Wiener Symphoniker, to Sweden with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, and to Denmark for the Tivoli Festival. His North American dates include concerts in Portland, Indianapolis, Binghamton, Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa, Québec City, Kitchener-Waterloo, Winnipeg, St John’s, Calgary, and a tour of Florida with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. James appears in recital at London’s Wigmore Hall, in both Cali and Bogota, Colombia, in Tilburg, the Netherlands, in Oberlin, OH, and at the Norfolk and Norwich Festival.

His upcoming 2011-2012 season features performances in the United States, Canada, England, Scotland, Germany, Austria, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, The Netherlands, Denmark, and Norway.

RECORDINGS

James will add to his extensive discography of over 25 recordings with the release of two new recordings: a disc of Bartok’s twoViolin Concertos and the Viola Concerto with the BBC Philharmonic and Gianandrea Noseda (Chandos) and Tchaikovsky’sViolin Concerto with the Sydney Symphony and Vladimir Ashkenazy (Onyx). His most recent release, featuring the MendelssohnViolin Concerto and Octet (ONYX), has been earning raves worldwide: “dazzling“(Classic FM), “a pure delight” (BBC Music Magazine), “outstanding and unreservedly recommended” (Daily Telegraph), “It just doesn’t get any better than this” (MusicWeb International).

His recordings have been honoured with many international awards and prizes, including a GRAMMY, a GRAMOPHONE, and 6 JUNO Awards. He recently released a new recording of the repertoire that launched his recording career, Paganini’s 24 Caprices (Onyx), released in October 2009, about which The Times writes “[Ehnes’s] artistry suggests that in Paganini's age he would have enjoyed similar stature to the great man.” James’s first recorded the Paganini Caprices in 1995 for Telarc. His JUNO Award-winning release of HOMAGE (Onyx), a CD/DVD set featuring performances on 12 of the greatest violins and violas ever made, all belonging to the extraordinary Fulton Collection continues to garner exceptional reviews.

Other recent releases include Elgar's Violin Concerto with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Sir Andrew Davis on the Onyx label and a disc of works by Paul Schoenfield with pianist Andrew Russo (Black Box). James's CD featuring the violin concertos of Korngold, Walton and Barber with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Bramwell Tovey conducting (CBC) was widely considered a highlight of 2006 and won the 2008 GRAMMY and JUNO Awards.

In January 2006, he celebrated the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth with the release of a recording of Mozart's complete oeuvre for solo violin and orchestra. The five Violin Concertos and three single movement works- Adagio K 261, Rondo K 269, and Rondo K 373 - features an ensemble of extraordinary musicians which Ehnes gathered from around the world and directed himself (CBC Records) and has widely received top praise making it "a clear first choice in the field" (Classic FM).

James Ehnes has recorded repertoire ranging from Bach violin sonatas to John Adams's Road Movies. His CBC recordings with l'Orchestre symphonique de Montréal of Max Bruch's Concertos nos. 1 and 3 (with Charles Dutoit) and Concerto no. 2 with the Scottish Fantasy (with Mario Bernardi) won back-to-back Juno awards in 2001 and 2002 for Best Classical Recording. In January 2002, he was named Young Artist of the Year at the Cannes Classical Awards for his Six Sonatas & Partitas for Solo Violin by Bach (Analekta), which was also awarded a JUNO award in 2001.

BACKGROUND

James Ehnes was born in 1976 in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada. He began violin studies at the age of four, at age nine he became a protégé of the noted Canadian violinist Francis Chaplin. He studied with Sally Thomas at the Meadowmount School of Music and from 1993 to 1997 at The Juilliard School, winning the Peter Mennin Prize for Outstanding Achievement and Leadership in Music upon his graduation. Mr. Ehnes first gained national recognition in 1987 as winner of the Grand Prize in Strings at the Canadian Music Competition. The following year he won the First Prize in Strings at the Canadian Music Festival, the youngest musician ever to do so. At age 13, he made his orchestral solo debut with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. He has won numerous awards and prizes, including the first-ever Ivan Galamian Memorial Award, the Canada Council for the Arts' prestigious Virginia Parker Prize, and a 2005 Avery Fisher Career Grant. In October 2005, James was honoured by Brandon University with a Doctor of Music degree (honoris causa) and in July 2007 he became the youngest person ever elected as a Fellow to the Royal Society of Canada. On July 1st of this year the Governor General of Canada appointed James a Member of the Order of Canada.

James Ehnes plays the "Marsick" Stradivarius of 1715. He currently lives in Bradenton, Florida with his wife Kate.

MOZART Violin Sonata No. 32 in B-flat Major, K. 454

FAURE Violin Sonata No. 1 in A Major

BARTOK Sonata for Solo Violin

SAINT-SAENS Violin Sonata No. 1 in D minor

James Ehnes' website

In 2010, Olga Kern's debut debut recital in Herbst Theatre sparked a roaring ovation, and we anticipate that her return engagement will be just as electric!

Now recognized as one of her generation's great pianists, Olga Kern's career began one decade ago with her award winning gold-medal performance at the Eleventh Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2001. Her second catapulting triumph came in New York City on May 4, 2004, with a highly acclaimed New York City recital debut at Carnegie's Zankel Hall. In an unprecedented turn of events, Olga gave a second recital eight days later in Isaac Stern Auditorium at the invitation of Carnegie Hall. 

With her vivid stage presence, passionately confident musicianship and extraordinary technique, the striking young Russian pianist continues to captivate fans and critics alike.  This season, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Van Cliburn Foundation will honor Ms. Kern's Cliburn victory 10 years ago with a co-presentation of her talents in March and April of 2011.

Also this season, Olga will perform with the symphonies of Detroit, Anchorage, Nashville, Dallas, Virginia, St. Louis, Rochester, Pittsburgh, Madison, Johnson City, Syracuse and Colorado.  She has also been invited to perform at Longwood Gardens, the Sanibel Music Festival, the Winter Park Bach Festival, the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, and Drake University.  In January 2012 Olga will perform during a special North American recital tour with violinist Vladimir Spivakov, their first chamber music collaboration outside of Europe.  In the 2009-2010 season, Olga performed all of the Rachmaninoff concerti in residence with the Colorado Symphony, made her debut with the New Jersey Symphony, and performed in several special event concerts with famed soprano Kathleen Battle.  Summer 2009 brought Olga Kern her fourth re-engagement at the Ravinia Festival for Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Chicago Symphony under the baton of James Conlon.  She performed additionally at the Brevard Music Festival, International Keyboard Institute, and gave a recital and master classes in New York City.

In the 2008-2009 Season, Olga made her debut with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Leonard Slatkin presenting recitals in Washington, DC; La Jolla, CA and Fort Worth, TX, among other cities.  After a critically acclaimed 35 city tour of the U.S. in spring 2007 with the National Philharmonic of Russia and Vladimir Spivakov, Ms. Kern opened the 2007-2008 season as guest soloist with the Colorado Symphony, performed with the Nashville Symphony and made her debut with the Vancouver Symphony. In May of 2008, Olga Kern toured North America with Maestro Vladimir Spivakov and the world renowned Moscow Virtuosi, presenting concerts in Boston; Chicago; New York; Philadelphia; Seattle; Washington, DC; and Toronto. 

Olga Kern made her London debut with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in November 2006 playing Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 1 with Leonard Slatkin conducting. She returned to London in August of 2008 for her Proms Debut playing Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Leonard Slatkin conducting. Recent European appearances have included a tour of Austria and Switzerland with the Warsaw Philharmonic and Maestro Antoni Wit, a tour of Germany with the Czech Philharmonic and Maestro Zdenek Maçal, performances with the orchestras of Copenhagen and Lyon, and recitals in Milan, Hamburg and Luxemburg.  Ms. Kern made her South American debut with the Orquestra de São Paulo in March 2008. She recently made her Canadian debut with the National Arts Centre Orchestra and conductor Pinchas Zukerman in summer 2007, and she made her debut with the Taipei Symphony in June of 2006. She made her debut with the Seoul Philharmonic in October of 2008.

Miss Kern's festival appearances include the Inaugural Concert of the Southeastern Piano Festival in Columbia, South Carolina. She is welcomed back frequently to the Interlochen Festival, Bravo! Vail Festival, and the Ravinia Festival with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and James Conlon, after having made her debut there in 2002 with Christoph Eschenbach. She made her Hollywood Bowl debut in 2005 and returned to the Festival Casals in Puerto Rico in 2007, where she performed to a sold out venue. She has been a recent guest artist at several international music festivals, including the Klavier Ruhr and Kissinger Sommer festivals in Germany, the Radio-France Montpellier and Casadesus festivals in France, the Ohrid Festival in Macedonia, and the Busoni Festival in Italy.

In June of 2002 Olga Kern made an extensive tour of South Africa where she returned to tour again in February of 2005, performing all four Rachmaninoff piano concertos and Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini, with her brother, Vladimir Kern, conducting, three times over a span of six days, an unprecedented feat, undertaken especially for the South African audience.  She is now Artistic Director of the Cape Town Festival in South Africa and returns there annually.

Ms. Kern has performed in many of the world's most important venues, including the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, Symphony Hall in Osaka, Salzburger Festspielhaus, La Scala in Milan, Tonhalle in Zurich, and the Châtelet in Paris; she has appeared as soloist with the Bolshoi Theater, the Moscow Philharmonic, St. Petersburg Symphony, Russian National, China Symphony, Belgrade Philharmonic, La Scala Philharmonic, Torino Symphony, and Cape Town Symphony Orchestras. She has also performed with the Kirov Orchestra under the direction of Valery Gergiev at the Kennedy Center.

Ms. Kern was born into a family of musicians with direct links to Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff and began studying piano at the age of five.  Winner of the first Rachmaninoff International Piano Competition when she was seventeen, she is a laureate of eleven international competitions and has toured throughout her native Russia, Europe, and the United States, as well as in Japan, South Africa, and South Korea.  The recipient of an honorary scholarship from the President of Russia in 1996, she is a member of Russia's International Academy of Arts. She began her formal training with acclaimed teacher Evgeny Timakin at the Moscow Central School and continued with Professor Sergei Dorensky at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, where she was also a postgraduate student.  She also studied with Boris Petrushansky at the acclaimed Accademia Pianistica Incontri col Maestro in Imola, Italy.  

Ms. Kern records exclusively for Harmonia Mundi. Her discography includes recordings of Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and Christopher Seaman (2003), a Rachmaninoff recording of Corelli Variations and other transcriptions (2004), a recital disk with works by Rachmaninoff and Balakirev (2005), Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Warsaw Philharmonic and Antoni Wit (2006), Brahms Variations (2007) and a 2010 release of Chopin Piano Sonatas No. 2 and 3 (2010). She was also featured in the award-winning documentary about the 2001 Cliburn Competition, Playing on the Edge. 

BEETHOVEN Variations on a Theme by Salieri, WoO 73

SCHUMANN Carnaval

RACHMANINOFF Etudes Tableaux (selections)

SCRIABIN Etudes (selections)

LISZT Hungarian Rhapsodies No. 2 and No. 10

Olga Kern's website

RICHARD STOLTZMAN

Two-time Grammy Award winning clarinetist Richard Stoltzman's virtuosity, technique, imagination, and communicative power have revolutionized the world of clarinet playing, opening up possibilities for the instrument that no one could have predicted. He was responsible for bringing the clarinet to the forefront as a solo instrument, and is still the world's foremost clarinetist.

Stoltzman gave the first clarinet recitals in the histories of both the Hollywood Bowl and Carnegie Hall, and, in 1986, became the first wind player to be awarded the Avery Fisher Prize. As one of today's most sought-after artists, Stoltzman has been a soloist with more than a hundred orchestras as well as a recitalist and chamber music performer, innovative jazz artist, and prolific recording artist. A two-time Grammy Award winner, he has amazed critics and audiences alike in repertory spanning many musical genres.

Stoltzman's talents as a jazz performer as well as a classical artist have been heard far beyond his annual tours. He has performed and recorded with such classical, jazz, and pop greats as Emmanual Az, Yo-Yo Ma, Gary Burton, the Canadian Brass, Chick Corea, Judy Collins, Eddie Gomez, Keith Jarrett, the King's Singers, George Shearing, Wayne Shorter, Mel Tormé, and Spyro Gyra founder Jeremy Wall. Stoltzman frequently performs with his son Peter John Stoltzman, a talented classical and jazz pianist and composer.

Stoltzman graduated from Ohio State University with a double major in music and mathematics. He earned his Master of Music degree at Yale University while studying with Keith Wilson, and later studied with Kalmen Opperman at Columbia University. He makes his home in Massachusetts and is a passionate Boston Red Sox fan. He is also a Cordon Bleu-trained pastry chef whose specialty is the Linzer Torte.

Richard Stoltzman 's website

ELIOT FISK

Eliot Fisk , known for his adventurous repertoire and his willingness to take his music into such unusual venues as logging camps and prisons, belongs, as his mentor Andres Segovia wrote, "at the top line of our artistic world."

He has transformed the repertoire of the classical guitar through his ground-breaking transcriptions (of works by Bach, Scarlatti, Haydn, Mozart, Paganini, Albeniz etc.) through countless works dedicated to him, and through his daring creative collaborations with other musicians in classical, flamenco, jazz and world music styles.

Many of Fisk's recordings have been best sellers on the Billboard charts; his two most recent CDs, released at the end of 2010 by Wildner Records to international acclaim, are "The Red Guitar" and "Ein Kleines Requiem", which features the world premiere recording of a new work by Kurt Schwertsik "written for and with Eliot Fisk".

In 2006, by order of King Juan Carlos of Spain, Eliot was awarded the prestigious "Cruz de Isabel la Catolica" for his service to the cause of Spanish music. Earlier recipients have included Andres Segovia and Yehudi Menuhin.

Eliot Fisk is Founder and Director of the annual Boston Guitar Fest , which has been praised by U.S. Senators John Kerry, Scott Brown and the late Edward Kennedy, as well as Congressman Barney Frank and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. Boston Guitar Fest VI will run June 15 to 19, 2011 (Please see www.bostonguitarfest.org ).

Eliot Fisk was the last direct pupil of Andres Segovia and also studied interpretation with legendary harpsichordist Ralph Kirkpatrick at Yale. He is Professor at the Universitaet Mozarteum in Salzburg and at the New England Conservatory where in 2010 he was deemed "teacher of the year."

Eliot Fisk lives in Boston and whenever possible in Granada, Spain, with his wife, acclaimed guitarist Zaira Meneses, and their ten year old daughter Raquel.

Eliot Fisk 's website

BARTOK Roumanian Folk Dance

BERIO Selected Duetti (arr. of Violin Duetti)

REICH New York Counterpoint for Clarinet and Tape

BACH Suite for Guitar

BEASER Mountain Songs

ROSSINI Aria, Theme and Variations

Few musical works are as beloved as the six "Brandenburg" Concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach. These six works display a lighter side of Bach's imperishable genius. Yet they came into being as an unexpected gift. That's what happened in 1721 when Bach presented the Margrave of Brandenburg with a bound manuscript containing six lively concertos for chamber orchestra, works based on an Italian Concerto Grosso style. The Margrave never thanked Bach for his work--or paid him. There's no way he could have known that this gift--later named the Brandenburg Concertos--would become a benchmark of Baroque music and still have the power to move people almost three centuries later.

The Concertos are a highlight of one of the happiest and most productive periods in Bach's life. At the time he wrote them, Bach was the Kapellmeister--the music director--in the small town of Coethen, where he was composing music for the court. Since the Margrave of Brandenburg seems to have ignored Bach's gift of concertos, it's likely that Bach himself presided over the first performances at home in Coethen. They didn't have a name then; that didn't come until 150 years later, when Bach's biographer Philipp Spitta called them "Brandenburg" Concertos for the very first time, and the name stuck.

Each of the six concertos requires a different combination of instruments as well as some highly skilled soloists. The Margrave had his own small court orchestra in Berlin, but it was a group of mostly mediocre players. All the evidence suggests that these virtuosic Brandenburg concertos perfectly matched the talents of the musicians on hand in Coethen. So how did a provincial town get so many excellent musicians? Just before Johann Sebastian arrived in Coethen in 1717, a new king inherited the throne in Prussia. Friedrich Wilhelm I became known as the "Soldier King" because he was interested in the military strength of his kingdom, not in refined artistic pursuits. One of his first royal acts was to disband the prestigious Berlin court orchestra. That threw many musicians out of work, and as luck would have it, seven of the best ones were snatched up to work in Coethen by its music-loving Prince Leopold. That's why Bach found such a rich music scene when he started to work there. It gave him the luxury of writing for virtuosos and they let him push the boundraries of his creativity. Concerto No. 2, for example, has the trumpeter play high flourishes. No. 4 allows the solo violin to soar.

Even though he didn't call them the "Brandenburgs," Bach still thought of them as a set. What he did was compile them from short instrumental sinfonias and concerto movements he had already written. Then he re-worked the old music, often re-writing and elaborating where he saw fit.

*

The program will be performed by the exciting string ensemble Archetti, whose members also play in such ensembles as American Bach Soloists and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra.

ARCHETTI

Carla Moore violin

Lisa Grodin violin

David Wilson violin and viola

Alicia Yang violin
Anthony Martin viola

Alisa Rata Stutzbach viola

Amy Brodo cello

Shirley Hunt cello and viola da gamba

Farley Pearce cello and viola da gamba
John Dornenburg violone in G and D
Davitt Moroney harpsichord

GABRIELI Two Canzoni and One Sonata
HANDEL Concerto Grosso in A Major, Op. 6/11
J.S. BACH Concerto for Two Violins in D minor

J.S. BACH Brandenburg Concerto No. 6

J.S. BACH Brandenburg Concerto No. 3

"For all his youth, Khachatryan certainly has deep experience. His sound is both sturdy and beautiful, and he paces and phrases everything with intelligent eloquence, always allowing the music to breathe.  Most impressive, though, is the emotional and spiritual depth he shows. ”

— The Sunday Times

see a video of his playing here

Sergey Khachatryan was born in 1985 in Yerevan, Armenia. In December 2000 he won First Prize in the VIII International Jean Sibelius competition in Helsinki, becoming the youngest ever winner in the history of the competition. In 2005 he claimed the First Prize at the Queen Elizabeth Competition in Brussels.

Sergey has performed with all the major UK orchestras, including the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic and regularly with the Philharmonia Orchestra. In July 2005 Sergey made his debut at the BBC Proms with the BBC Philharmonic performing the first Shostakovich violin concerto. His international profile initially developed through collaborations with orchestras such as the Philharmonic Orchestra, NHK Symphony in Tokyo, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestre national de France and Kurt Masur and Frankfurt Radiosinfonieorchester with Daniel Harding.

In August 2005 he made his debut at the Ravinia and Blossom festivals, and in March 2006 with the Baltimore Symphony orchestra before undertaking a major US concert tour with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, including venues in Boston, Washington, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New Jersey. In summer 2006 Sergey made his New York debut performing the Beethoven concerto at the Mostly Mozart festival.

Highlights of Sergey's 2006-07 season included the Beethoven concerto with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Christoph von Dohnanyi, the first Shostakovich concerto with the RSO Berlin and Marek Janowski, the Sibelius concerto with the Munich Philharmonic and James Conlon, Prokofiev's second concerto with the Oslo Philharmonic, the Beethoven concerto with the BBC Philharmonic and Gianandrea Nosseda at the Vienna Konzerthaus and a third visit to the Cleveland Orchestra.

During the 2006-07 season, Sergey also made debuts with the New York Philharmonic and Kurt Masur, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Bernard Hatink, the Los Angeles Philharmonis with Stephane Deneve, the San Francisco Symphony with Michael Tilson Thomas, the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra with Valery Gergiev and the Berlin Philharmonic with Dmitri Kitajenko.

Performances during the 2007-08 season included the London Philharmonic Orchestra with Jukka-Pekka Saraste, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic and Jaap van Zweden, the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra with Peter Oundjian and a debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Charles Dutoit at the Saratoga Festival.

2008-09 season engagements included the Brahms concerto with the Deutsche Sinfonieorchester Berlin and Ingo Metzmacher, a tour with the Gothenburg Symphony with Gustavo Dudamel, the Santa Cecelia Orchestra in Rome with Masur and the Philharmonia Orchestra in London with Sir Charles Mackerras. Other highlights included performances with the Swedish Radio Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra and Kurt Masur, the Russian National Orchestra and Mikhail Pletnev, the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra as well as performances with the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra with Valery Gergiev in St Petersburg, Yerevan, Moscow and at the festivals in Mikkeli and Baden-Baden.

The 2009-10 season saw his debut with the Spanish National Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Dresden Staatskapelle, Orchestre de Paris, Vienna Symphony Orchestra and Bamberger Symphoniker.

With sister Lusine Khachatryan he has performed recitals at Wigmore Hall, Alte Oper in Frankfurt, the National Auditorium in Madrid and at Carnegie Hall, as well as the Theatre des Champs Elysees Paris, the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

Following the success of his Sibelius & Khachaturian concerto recording released in October 2003, Sergey's relationship with Naive Classique continues with a double Shostakovich concerto disc with the Orchestre national de France conducted by Kurt Masur, a recording of the Shostakovich and Franck sonatas for violin and piano with sister Lusine in February 2008 and more recently the full set of the Sonatas & Partitas by Bach in 2010.

Sergey plays the 1740 "Ysaye" Guarneri 'del Gesu' violin on kind loan from the Nippon Music Foundation.

BEETHOVEN Violin Sonata in A major (“Kreutzer”)
BACH Sonata No. 1 in G minor for solo violin
BACH Partita No. 2 in D minor for solo violin

Sergey Khachatryan 's website

Geraldine Walther

Before joining the Takacs 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).

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Melissa Kleinbart violin

Geraldine Walther viola

Tanya Tomkins cello

Eric Zivian piano

BEETHOVEN Trio in D Major, Op. 70 ("Ghost")

SHOSTAKOVICH Viola Sonata, Op. 147

BRAHMS Piano Quartet in C Minor, Op. 60