UCLA Strings

Cello Masterclass by Ralph Kirshbaum,

USC’s Thorton School of Music Piatigorsky Chair

April 16 (Friday)
3:30-5:30 PM, room TBA

The distinguished career of Texas-born Ralph Kirshbaum encompasses the worlds of solo performance, chamber music and recording and clearly places him in “…the highest echelon of today’s cellists.” (Los Angeles Times). He enjoys the affection and respect not only of audiences world-wide but also of his many eminent colleagues.

Over the years, Ralph Kirshbaum has appeared with most of the world’s great orchestras and conductors. These have included Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Mehta), Cleveland Orchestra (Dohnanyi), San Francisco Symphony (Blomstedt), Boston Symphony (Levine), Pittsburgh Symphony (Lutoslawski), London Symphony (Sir Colin Davis), Philharmonia (Slatkin), BBC Symphony (Andrew Davis), the Orchestre de Paris (Bychkov) and, most recently, the Israel Philharmonic (Masur), together with major orchestras in Holland, Germany, Spain, Scandinavia and the Far East in repertoire ranging from Haydn and Dvorak to Prokofiev and Lutoslawski.

Mr. Kirshbaum’s last two seasons have included performances with James Levine and the Boston Symphony, appearances at Lincoln Center’s Chamber Music Society in New York, and recitals with pianist Peter Jablonski. American orchestral engagements included the Dallas Symphony with Tortelier (Elgar), the Montreal Symphony with Janowski (Schumann), the Oregon Symphony with Gregory Vajda (Haydn), the San Antonio Symphony with Douglas Boyd (Dvo?ák), and the Yale Philharmonia with Shinik Hahm (Elgar). Known for his affinity for English composers, Kirshbaum gave a memorable televised performance of the Elgar Concerto with Sir Charles Groves at the Jubilee Proms. Richard Dyer of the Boston Globe heralded Kirshbaum’s Elgar: “His playing of this noble music of regret and farewell is subtle, intense, piercingly sad and absolutely spellbinding.”

Mr. Kirshbaum’s fiftieth birthday celebrations included a gala concert at London’s Wigmore Hall followed by a solo recital in which he performed three Bach Suites for Unaccompanied Cello. Later in the month celebrations continued with a chamber music concert with Pinchas Zukerman, György Pauk and Peter Frankl in the Barbican Centre and culminated in performances of the Dvorak Concerto and Brahms Double Concerto with Pinchas Zukerman and the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Christoph Eschenbach.

In 1988, he founded and became Artistic Director of the RNCM Manchester International Cello Festival. This unique festival gathered together his many friends amongst the world’s great cellists in a celebration of the cello, its music and musicians. The ninth and final festival took place from May 2nd – 6th, 2007. Entitled “From Britten to Britain” this festival featured 36 cellists from 20 different countries. The festival was recently awarded the 2007 Music Award for Concert Series and Festivals at the Gala of the Royal Philharmonic Society, England’s most prestigious award for live classical music. Kirshbaum also serves as honorary president of the London Cello Society.

Each year Ralph Kirshbaum appears at several of the most prominent international festivals which have included Edinburgh, Bath, Verbier, Lucerne, Aspen, La Jolla, Santa Fe, Music@Menlo, Ravinia and New York’s Mostly Mozart.

Ralph Kirshbaum continues to delight in the pleasures of chamber music and ensures space in a busy solo schedule to continue his associations with long-time colleagues and friends. He enjoyed a thirty-year collaboration with pianist Peter Frankl and violinist Gyorgy Pauk, tours annually with violinist Robert McDuffie and violist Lawrence Dutton, and has collaborated frequently with Pinchas Zukerman and Peter Jablonski. Other recent collaborations have included Lang Lang and Joshua Bell, Leif Ove Andsnes, Vadim Repin, Joseph Swensen, Wu Han and Yefim Bronfman. In the fall he will perform with The Emerson String Quartet at the Wigmore Hall in London.

Bach also forms an important part of Ralph Kirshbaum’s activities. 1993 opened with an enthusiastically received Bach cycle at the Wigmore Hall. Sydney followed in July with further cycles in Manchester and New York. He has performed the cycle in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Cambridge as well as in Lyon and San Francisco. He has made a critically acclaimed recording of the solo Bach Suites for EMI/Virgin Classics.

Kirshbaum’s many recordings have also included the 1983 Gramophone Magazine “Record of the Year” world premiere recording of Tippett’s Triple Concerto for Philips, the Elgar and Walton Concertos for Chandos, the Ravel, Shostakovich and Brahms Trios for EMI and the Barber Concerto and Sonata for EMI/Virgin Classics. Also noteworthy is his recording of the Brahms Double and Beethoven Triple Concertos for BMG Classics with Pinchas Zukerman, John Browning and the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Christoph Eschenbach. Of his recording of the Walton Concerto, the composer wrote: “It is most heartening to hear a performance in which everything is just right – it is excellent and moving.” His most recent release in November 2006 is his recording of the Shostakovich and Prokofiev Sonatas with the pianist Peter Jablonski, with whom he collaborated in a recent New York recital at the Frick Museum.

Ralph Kirshbaum was recently appointed to the Piatigorsky Chair at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music. He will take up this appointment beginning fall 2008. Mr. Kirshbaum is the International Chair of Cello at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, and gives annual master classes at The International Musician’s Seminar in Prussia Cove, the London Masterclasses and throughout the world. He has served on the US President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities for the past five years.

The rare Montagnana Cello that Ralph Kirshbaum plays once belonged to the 19th century virtuoso, Piatti.

http://www.kirshdem.com/artist.php?id=ralphkirshbaum

Violin Masterclass by Martin Chalifour

Concertmaster of LA Phil

April 20 (Tuesday)
2-3:30PM, Room TBA

MARTIN CHALIFOUR began his tenure as Principal Concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1995. The recipient of various grants and awards in his native Canada, he graduated with honors from the Montreal Conservatory at the age of 18 and then moved to Philadelphia to pursue studies at the Curtis Institute of Music.

In 1986 Chalifour received a Certificate of Honor at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow; he was a laureate of the Montreal International Competition the following year. Since then he has concertized extensively, playing hundreds of concerto performances from a repertoire of more than 50 works. He has appeared as soloist with conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Charles Dutoit, Christoph Eschenbach, Sir Neville Marriner, and Esa-Pekka Salonen. Outside the U.S., he has appeared as a guest soloist with the Auckland Philharmonia, the Montreal Symphony, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the National Orchestra of Taiwan, and the Malaysian Philharmonic, among others.

Chalifour began his orchestral career in 1984 with the late Robert Shaw and the Atlanta Symphony, playing as Associate Concertmaster for six years. Subsequently he occupied the same position for five years in the Cleveland Orchestra, where he also served as Acting Concertmaster under Christoph von Dohnányi. While in Cleveland, Chalifour taught at the Cleveland Institute of Music and was a founding member of two chamber ensembles, Myriad and the Cleveland Orchestra Piano Trio.

Chalifour is a frequent guest at several summer music festivals. Maintaining close ties with his native Quebec, he has returned there often to teach and perform as soloist with various Canadian orchestras. Chalifour and two of his Philharmonic colleagues, Joanne Pearce Martin and Peter Stumpf, met in 1981 while all three were studying at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia; they have joined forces to form the Los Angeles Philharmonic Piano Trio.

Martin Chalifour is a professor at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music.

from http://www.laphil.com/philpedia/artist-detail.cfm?id=64

Baroque Masterclass

Anner Bylsma, Balázs Máté, Stanley Ritchie, Ilia Korol

Program

This innovative workshop is designed to enhance understanding and skill in Baroque technique and style among a broad cross section of string players. The workshop will be held on the UCLA campus and is open to both professionals and advanced students, including those who may have little or no background in early music. Coaching and lectures will address fundamental issues as well as artistic nuances of Baroque performance. Small master classes (seven participants per class) will be offered for combined violin/viola and cello, respectively. Participants will receive daily individual coaching from world class Baroque instructors on pre-selected repertoire within the master classes. Friday and Saturday evenings, participants will come together for ensemble coaching. A subset of participants will be selected by instructors to perform in a one hour Sunday evening performance at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (“Sundays Live”).

Attendees may enroll as either master class participants (violin, viola and cello) or as auditors. Active participants will be selected from the pool of applicants based on their performance level (Application). Applications must be received by March 5, 2010, as space is limited. Period instruments are not required.

Schedule

Thursday evening, April 29
Opening concert, lecture and reception

Friday, April 30 & Saturday, May 1
Morning & afternoon master classes and lectures
Evening ensemble rehearsal for Sunday performance

Sunday, May 2
Morning master class and lectures
6:00 p.m. performance at Sundays Live: concert and streaming web broadcast; reception.

http://www.musicaangelica.org/news/17/152/Master-Class/

Violin Masterclass by Jacques Israelievitch,

soloist & former concertmaster of Toronto Symphony

May 19 (Wednesday)
3:30-5:30 PM, room TBA

Internationally renowned violinist Jacques Israelievitch is one of the most distinguished performing artists in North America and abroad.  After making his debut on French National Radio at the age of eleven, Mr. Israelievitch went on to graduate from the Paris Conservatory at sixteen and was subsequently prizewinner at the International Paganini Competition.  His teachers include Henryk Szeryng, Janos Starker, William Primrose, and Josef Gingold.

As a soloist, Mr. Israelievitch has collaborated with Solti, Giulini, Slatkin, Davis, and Frühbeck de Burgos, appearing with many of the world’s major orchestras.  As a distinguished chamber musician, he has performed with Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, and Yo-Yo Ma, and is violinist for the twice Naumburg Award recipient New Arts Trio.

Mr. Israelievitch served as Concertmaster of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra for a record-setting twenty years, and was formerly Assistant Concertmaster of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for six years and Concertmaster of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra for ten years.   He is currently chair of strings at the Chautauqua Institution and a full-time faculty member at York University in Toronto.  In growing demand as a conductor, he has been Music Director of the Koffler Chamber Orchestra since 2005.

Mr. Israelievitch’s discography features more than 100 albums including the Juno Award nominated Suite Hebraique and the first-ever complete recording of Kreutzer’s 42 Studies for solo violin.  He has premiered and recorded several concertos such as R. Murray Schafer’s The Darkly Splendid Earth: The Lonely Traveler.

In 2004, the French government named Mr. Israelievitch Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters.  He is also the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award for his distinguished contribution to the performing arts in Canada.

from http://www.israelievitch.com/jacques.html

A fascinating story about European emigre composers and their lives in Los Angeles

Lecture by DR. KARIN WAGNER

Date: Friday, February 19,2010
Time: 3:30-4:30 PM
Place: Popper theater, Schoenberg Music Building

Karin Wagner, Mag. art., Dr. Phil, studied piano at the Bruckner Conservatory in Linz and at the University for Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, and received her diploma with honor and distinction from the Ministry of Sciences.   For several years she has been a teacher in the Upper Austrian System of Music education, including the creation and heading of projects for the state-wide Upper-Austrian Association Zeit.Tasten (Pupils play music of the 20th and 21st centuries). Since 2001, Karin Wagner has taught piano as well as didactic courses related to piano at the Vienna Music University.  In addition, she has been an Assistant Professor in the field of higher education and music pedagogy for teachers, working in conjunction with various institutions. Dr. Wagner has also participated in and been featured in chamber music concerts.

Dr. Wagner’s dissertation was in the field of Musicology at the University for Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, at the Institute for Music History, with a minor in Contemporary History.   Dr. Wagner wrote the first German language biography of the exile composer Eric Zeisl , “Fremd bin ich ausgezogen,” (Czernin, Vienna, 2005), and she was the editor of the Zeisl correspondence “…es gruesst Dich Erichisrael” (Czernin, Vienna, 2008).  Other publications in the field of music in exile include “Musik im Exil,” (u.a.Böhlau). Dr. Wagner has curated several exhibitions, for institutions including The Jewish Museum of Vienna, the Upper Austrian State Exhibition (St. Wolfgang) and the Linz Cultural Capital City 09.  She has taken part in numerous international conferences and symposia and lectures, as well as served as moderator at concerts. Dr. Karin Wagner lives in Linz, Austria.

The lecture will conclude with the performance of the Zeisl Quartet by Boryana Popova, Margaret Wu, Danny Sheu, and Bryan West.

The Alexander & Buono International String Competition has been designed as an entrée into the world of string instrument performance for those seriously interested in pursuing a professional career. Read the rest of this entry »

Date: Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Time: 1:00-3:00 PM
Place: SMB room 1439

Principal 2nd violinist of the Berlin Philharmonic, Christophe Horak began playing the violin at the age of four. Later he studied with Yfrah Neaman at London’s Guildhall School of Music, in whose symphony orchestra he played first violin for five years. In 1995 he became deputy Konzertmeister of the Academy of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. A scholarship with the Orchestra Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker followed from 2000-02, during which time he was prepared for his professional orchestral activity by Toru Yasunaga and Axel Gerhardt. His chamber-music involvement includes the »Swiss of the Berlin Philharmonic«.