"It was
the sizzle of the musical ensemble that seduced listeners"
-Los Angeles
Times
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Erika Nickrenz, piano
Sara Parkins, violin
Sara Sant'Ambrogio, cello
The most sought-after trio in the world, the Grammy®-nominated Eroica
Trio thrills audiences with flawless technical virtuosity, irresistible
enthusiasm and sensual elegance. Whether playing the great standards
of the piano trio repertoire or daring contemporary works, the three
young women who make up this celebrated ensemble electrify the concert
stage with their passionate performances. The New York Times writes,
“They play chamber music for the concert hall. There is an edge
of the seat intensity to every note they produce”. The Trio won
the prestigious Naumburg Award, resulting in a highly successful Lincoln
Center debut and has since toured the United States, Europe, and Asia.
While maintaining their demanding concert schedule, the Eroica Trio
has released eight critically lauded recordings for Angel/EMI Classics
Records, garnering multiple Grammy® nominations.
The unique history of the players of the Eroica Trio goes all of the
way back to their childhoods. Their first connection was made when ‘cellist
Sara Sant’Ambrogio and pianist Erika Nickrenz were just 12 years
old. Sara’s father, John Sant’Ambrogio, then principal ‘cellist
of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, was being recorded by Erika’s
mother, Grammy Award winning record producer Joanna Nickrenz. This working
relationship led to Erika joining Sara at her family’s music camp
in the Berkshire Mountains, Red Fox, where Erika studied piano with
Sara’s grandmother, Isabelle Sant’Ambrogio, a renowned pianist
and pedagogue.
The trio’s musical connection continued when, a few years later,
Sara decided to strike out on her own and attend renowned music camp
Meadowmount. There she met, played and became fast friends with violinist
Sara Parkins. After playing together that summer, Sant’Ambrogio
was invited to finish High School at The Curtis Institute of Music in
Philadelphia and Parkins was accepted to attend Juilliard Pre-College
where she met and started playing with Erika. Later, Parkins decided
to join Sant’Ambrogio at Curtis where they happily renewed their
personal and musical friendship. After a year as roommates and musical
collaborators, Sant’Ambrogio was invited to attend Juilliard where
she resumed playing with Erika.
A few years later, Sara Parkins and Erika Nickrenz reunited at the Tanglewood
Music Festival. That same year the Eroica Trio was formed at the Juilliard
School. This intricate web of early connections helped forge a lifelong
bond between the three women of the Eroica Trio. Their deeply personal,
passionate music-making and uncanny ensemble and chemistry onstage have
thrilled audiences world wide.
The Eroica Trio performs the Beethoven Triple Concerto more frequently
than any other trio in the world, having appeared with renowned symphonies
such as Chicago, St. Louis, San Francisco, Mostly Mozart Orchestra,
Nashville, Indianapolis, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Houston, New Jersey and
Seattle. In addition, The Trio has performed the work abroad with Orquesta
Sinfonica de Euskadi in Spain, Haydn Orchestra in Italy, with the Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra and Budapest Symphony in Germany, and on multiple
tours in the United States with the Cincinnati Symphony as well as with
the Prague Chamber Orchestra, culminating in a Lincoln Center performance.
The Eroica Trio’s recording of the Beethoven Triple with the Prague
Chamber Orchestra was so successful it landed this piece on Billboards
Top 20 for the first time in recording history. The Trio appeared on
the German television program "Klassich!" performing the Beethoven
Triple Concerto with the Munich Symphony, which was aired throughout
Europe. This season, they toured North America with the Vienna Symphony
Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Fabio Luisi, culminating in a performance
on the “Great Performers at Lincoln Center” series in Avery
Fisher Hall in New York City.
Program to be
announced
artist
website
Concert sponsored by Myrna
and Robert Witt
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"Kern's
musicality radiates off the stage and saturates the hall, and it is
joyously, intensely alive. Call it star quality."
-- Washington
Post
" You
can't buy it, you can't teach it. But Kern's got it. And we can be thankful
that there is an Olga Kern to carry the great tradition she represents
into the future."
-- D Magazine
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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.
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 Professor Boris Petrushansky at the acclaimed
Accademia Pianistica Incontri col Maestro in Imola, Italy.
Ms. Kern’s performance career has brought her to the 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 Kirov Orchestra, 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 collaborated
with the most prominent conductors in the world today, including Valery
Gergiev, Leonard Slatkin, Manfred Honeck, Vladimir Spivakov, Yuri Termirkanov,
Pinchas Zukerman, and James Conlon.
In addition to performing, Ms. Kern devotes her time to the support
and education of developing musicians. In 2012, the artist and her brother,
Vladimir Kern co-founded the ?Aspiration? foundation whose objective
is to provide financial and artistic assistance to musicians throughout
the world.
With her vivid stage presence, passionately confident musicianship and
extraordinary technique, the striking young Russian pianist continues
to captivate fans and critics alike. In the 2012-2013 season Olga
will perform with the Symphonies of Nashville, Pittsburgh, Detroit and
San Diego and will present recital programs in St. Louis, Dallas, and
Scottsdale, Arizona and at Lincoln Center in New York City as a part
of the Cherry Orchard Festival. In 2013, in a celebration of Rachmaninoff’s
140th year, Olga Kern will perform all four Piano Concerti and the Rachmaninoff
Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini in collaboration with Leonard Slatkin
and the Orchestre National De Lyon. Ms. Kern has also performed this
special program in South Africa, in Warsaw and in Arizona. Other upcoming
European appearances include performances with the Royal Scottish National
Orchestra, orchestras in Germany and Poland and recitals in Italy.
In the 2011-2012 season Olga performed with the Baltimore, Houston,
Saint Louis, Colorado and Phoenix Symphonies, the Sacramento Philharmonic
and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa. In February of 2012
Olga made an extensive recital tour of North America with violinist
Vladimir Spivakov, their first chamber music collaboration outside of
Europe. Summer 2011 appearances included her debut at Aspen Music Festival,
a return to the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl and recitals
with La Jolla Music Society and Bear Valley Music Festival
Her 2010-2011 season included opening week with the Colorado Symphony
and closing week with the Detroit Symphony, as well as subscription
weeks with Nashville, St. Louis and Pittsburgh Symphonies. She also
presented recitals at Longwood Gardens, Sanibel and Winter Park Music
Festivals, Drake University and at the Royal Conservatory of Music in
Toronto. At Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall she performed Chopin’s
Piano Concerto No.1 for the composer’s 200th Anniversary Celebration.
In April 2011, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and The Van Cliburn Foundation
undertook a special co- presentation of Olga Kern in celebration of
her tremendous success of the last ten years.
Other past seasons in North America have seen Olga perform with the
symphonies of Nashville, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Detroit, New
Jersey, and Vancouver. She has presented recital programs in the most
esteemed concert halls and alongside artists such as soprano Kathleen
Battle at Carnegie Hall and soprano Renee Fleming at Kennedy Center.
Olga has toured North America with National Philharmonic of Russia and
the world renowned Moscow Virtuosi, both led by conductor Vladimir Spivakov.
Ms. Kern has an extensive world wide reputation. 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 Acadamy
of La Scala in Bad Kissingen and Copenhagen and Lyon, and recitals in
Milan, Hamburg and Luxembourg. She
made her London debut with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 2006
followed by her Proms debut in 2008. Ms. Kern has performed recently
with the Orquestra de S?o Paulo the Seoul Philharmonic and in Mexico,
Peru, Columbia, Egypt, Morocco, Turkey, and Israel. In June of 2002,
Olga Kern made an extensive tour of South Africa where she returned
to tour again in February of 2005 with her brother, Vladimir Kern, conducting.
Ms. Kern was the Artistic Director of the Cape Town Festival in South
Africa from 2005 until 2010 and returns there annually.
Ms. Kern’s festival appearances include the Interlochen Festival,
Bravo! Vail Festival, and the Festival Casals in Puerto Rico in 2007.
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.
Ms. Kern’s discography includes Harmonia Mundi 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. Most recently, SONY released a recording of Ms.
Kern performing the Rachmaninoff Sonata for Violoncello and Piano with
cellist Sol Gabetta.
RACHMANINOV Preludes
MUSSORGSKY Pictures
at an Exhibition
artist
website
Concert sponsored by the
Diablo Regional Arts Association |
“Every
once in a while, a performance puts all others in perspective and
reminds one that in great music there is always more to be revealed.
The Vogler Quartet offered such a performance.”
— Washington
Post
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Tim Vogler,
violine
Frank Reinecke, violin
Stefan Fehlandt, viola
Stephan Forck, violoncello
The Vogler Quartet, still featuring
the four original members, has been founded in 1985. In the 28 years
since its foundation, it has secured a place for itself among the top
chamber music ensembles, thanks to its great individual and joint sill,
and has been a guest on nearly all the world‘s major concert platforms.
It was the quartet‘s sensational success at the 1986 string quartet
competition in Evian, France, where they won several prizes, that set
the four musicians on the path to a great international career.
The Vogler Quartet‘s repertoire covers both the classical literature
for string quartet from Haydn to Bartók and the Second Viennese
School, as well as lesser-known and brand-new works, giving them an
unusual range. Modern compositions have been written for them by Ian
Wilson, Gerald Barry, Frank Michael Beyer, Jörg Widmann, Mauricio
Kagel, Erhard Grosskopf and others.
The Quartet‘s versatility and openness is also reflected in their regular
cooperation with other well-known musicians, where their spectrum ranges
from a quintet featuring a piano, clarinet, viola or cello, to works
scored for an octet. One example is the CD they released in 2008 together
with the clarinettist Chen Halevi and the pianist Jascha Nemtsov with
works of the "New Jewish School", another one the glamorous cooperation
with Ute Lemper in 2012.
In the next few years, the Vogler Quartet will be adding to their alrady
extensive discography a complete recording of the Dvorak quartets, the
first double album was released in September 2012 on cpo.
The Vogler Quartet has a number of regular commitments: they have their
own recital series at the Konzerthaus Berlin, they appear at the annual
festival "Music in Drumcliffe" in the Irish town Sligo, and are responsible
for the artistic direction of the "Kammermusiktage
Homburg/Saar". In addition, they help run the children‘s music festival
in Kassel, which has won several prizes, and do a good deal of teaching
work in master classes and workshops for professional quartets both
in Europe and overseas.
From 2007 to 2012 the members of the Vogler Quartet were appointed professors
for chamber music at the Stuttgart Musikhochschule as successors to
the Melos Quartet.
Program to be
announced
artist
website
Concert Sponsored by Denise
and Ed Del Beccaro
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