|
Our 2010--2011
Past Seasons: |
Concertante
Concertante is comprised of a core of six virtuoso string players, who as solo performers who have won major national and international music competitions. Concertante has performed a wide array of repertoire ranging from works by established masters to less commonly performed composers. The ensemble has an interest in furthering the cause of new music. Israeli violinist Ittai Shapira studied with Ilona Feher in Israel and went on to study with Dorothy DeLay and Robert Mann at The Juilliard School. Along with his colleague Hagai Shaham, Mr. Shapira is the co-founder of the Ilona Feher Foundation for the nurturing and promotion of young Israeli violinists. A dedicatee of 15 violin concertos, he has solo performances with many of the world's symphony orchestras. Violinist Xiao-Dong Wang at the age of ten entered the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Mr. Wang won the First Prize in the Menuhin International Violin Competition and the First Prize in the Wieniawski-Lipinski International Violin Competition at the ages of thirteen and fifteen. During his 1985 trip to England, he was brought to the attention of Dorothy DeLay of The Juilliard School, who arranged for him to begin a four-year scholarship beginning in 1986. Mr. Wang has soloed with orchestras around the world. Violinist and violist Ara Gregorian in 1992 entered The Juilliard School where he studied with Joseph Fuchs, Robert Mann, and Harvey Shapiro and received his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees. He has been a member of the violin faculty at East Carolina University since 1998. Mr. Gregorian is the founder and Artistic Director of the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival of Eastern North Carolina. Violist Rachel Shapiro received her Bachelor of Music degree from The Juilliard School in 1999, and her Masters of Music in 2000 She continued her post- graduate work in 2002, as the only American student under the tutelage of Tabea Zimmermann in Berlin, Germany, with the support of a Frank Huntington Beebe Grant. Ms. Shapiro is currently in her tenth year as a senior teaching artist for the New York Philharmonic School Partnership Program. In 2007, she was the recipient of the Halee and David Baldwin Teaching Artist Chair, awarded to one senior teaching artist each year to further their artistic development. She is also a Concert Mentor for The Academy, a program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School and the Weill Music Institute. Israeli cellist Zvi Plesser is a founding member of Concertante. He was a member of the Huberman String Quartet. He is a graduate of The Juilliard School as a student of Zara Nelsova. Mr. Plesser has taught at the North Carolina School of the Arts and is currently on the faculty of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. Cellist Alexis Pia Gerlach was born in New York City and studied with Aldo Parisot at Yale University and The Juilliard School. Ms. Gerlach performs as a member of Trio Solisti with violinist Maria Bachmann and pianist Jon Klibonoff. Trio Solisti gave a memorable concert for us in Williamsburg in November 2008. Ms. Gerlach's recordings of the Rachmaninoff and Franck Sonatas with pianist Fabio Bidini are released on the Encore Performance label. |
