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Guest Artists

Mariana Karpatova, mezzo-soprano

October 6 and 7, 2007

 

Ms. Karpatova a winner of the prestigious Sullivan Foundation Award and the Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation Competition has appeared on the “Live from Lincoln Center” broadcast in a new production of Hansel & Gretel. She made an impressive debut with the Sarasota Opera as Rosa Mamai in L’arlesiana, where she was praised for “acting and singing with passion and power”.

 

Elsewhere she has appeared with the Baltimore Opera (Larina in Eugene Onegin) Palm Beach Opera and Connecticut Grand Opera (Fragula in Il Tabarro and Zita in Gianni Schicchi). She has appeared with the Metropolitan Opera in their production of Elektra and the Spoleto, U.S.A. Festival in their productions of Gianni Schicchi, Suor Angelica and Jenufa. She appeared with the New Jersey State Opera as Alisa in the 2004 production of Lucia di Lammermoor. Ms. Karpartova was awarded First Prizes in the Connecticut Grand Opera Guild Competition, the Palm Beach Opera Competition and was a finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Ms. Karpatova has appeared with the New Jersey State Opera as Berta in the 2005 production of Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia and as Alisa in the 2003 production of Lucia di Lammermoor.

Singing City

October 6 and 7, 2007

 

Singing City was founded as an integrated choir in 1948 in Philadelphia by Dr. Elaine Brown. The Choir was born out of the Fellowship House movement, which believed that differences between races, religions, and cultures could be bridged by ordinary people coming together in shared activities. In addition to performances in and around Philadelphia, the Choir traveled to the South during the 1950s and '60s struggle for civil rights, performing before integrated audiences.

 

As a result of critical acclaim through performances with The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Choir was invited to perform in Israel with Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic and also in Jordan and Egypt while on tour in the 1970's and 80's. Singing City was the first western choir to perform with the Leningrad Philharmonic in Leningrad in 1990. In May 2000, Singing City was the lead choir at the First International Choral Festival de Cuba. The choir toured Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in the summer of 2004. In 2008, the choir will embark on a 10-day tour of Brazil.

Singing City continues to bring choral music to the underserved, performing not only in concert halls, but also in homeless shelters and nursing homes in and around Philadelphia. Singing City's nationally recognized schools residency program, Singing City in the Schools, has brought music rudiments, choral singing, and composition techniques to children in the Philadelphia public schools and to some private schools in the area. Singing City in the Schools was taken to a new level with the launching of the Singing City Prize for Young Composers last spring. This is a composition competition for area high school and college students. The winners will benefit from a monetary prize, a performance of their work by Singing City, and a year under the tutelage of a professional composer.

Under the banner of Performance, Community and Education, Singing City strives to be an artistic, social and spiritual force, bringing people together through choral music.

Vadim Gluzman, violin

December 15, 2007

 

Israeli violinist Vadim Gluzman, in technique and sensibility, harkens back to the Golden Age of violinists of the 19th and 20th centuries, while possessing the passion and energy of the 21st century. Lauded by both critics and audiences as a performer of great depth, virtuosity and technical brilliance, he has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Russia, Japan, Korea and Australia as a soloist and in a duo setting with his wife, pianist Angela Yoffe.

 

In 1990, 16-year-old Vadim Gluzman was granted five minutes to play for the late Isaac Stern. From that meeting, a friendship was born. In 1994, Mr. Gluzman was named recipient of the prestigious Henryk Szeryng Foundation Career Award. He now plays the extraordinary 1690 ex-Leopold Auer Stradivarius on extended loan to him through the generosity of the Stradivari Society of Chicago. “In Gluzman’s hands, this Strad doesn’t speak: it proclaims, sings, sighs, laughs,” said The Detroit Times about Mr. Gluzman’s sensational début with the Detroit Symphony under Maestro Neeme Järvi.

Stewart Goodyear, piano

March 1, 2008

 

Known for imagination, a graceful, elegant style, and exquisite technique, 26-year-old Stewart Goodyear is an accomplished young artist whose career is on the rise. His Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra subscription debut took place in 2003 under the baton of Paavo Järvi. He first came to the attention of Cincinnati audiences in his Cincinnati Pops debut at Riverbend in 1992 at the age of 14 performing Rhapsody in Blue conducted by Erich Kunzel, and he made his Music Hall Pops debut with Maestro Kunzel in September 1992.

 

A native of Toronto, Canada, Stewart Goodyear holds a master’s degree from The Juilliard School of Music where he studied with Oxana Yablonskaya. He also studied at the Curtis Institute of Music with Leon Fleisher, Gary Graffman and Claude Frank.

Recent highlights of Mr. Goodyear’s recent schedule included debuts with the Atlanta Symphony, Phoenix Symphony and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. In 2003 he debuted with the Chicago Symphony under Daniel Barenboim, Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, and the Pittsburgh Symphony conducted by Pinchas Zukerman.

In recent seasons, Mr. Goodyear debuted with San Francisco Symphony led by Paavo Järvi, toured the United States with the Toronto Symphony led by Jukka-Pekka Saraste and collaborated with the National Arts Center Orchestra of Canada led by Pinchas Zukerman and Lawrence Foster. He also appeared with the Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, as well as the Montreal and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras. Following his New York debut with Emmanuel Krivine and the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra in 1999, he was the guest soloist for the final Japan tour of the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra conducted by Gerard Schwarz. In addition, Mr. Goodyear has appeared at festivals such as Caramoor, Santa Fe and Ravinia.

Lidia Kaminska, accordion

May 3, 2008

 

Accordion virtuoso Lidia Kaminska thrills and delights audiences with her energetic and captivating performances. Throughout the United States and Europe, her chamber music, concerto and solo performances explore the complex and expressive range of the accordion as an instrument of classical music.

 

Ms. Kaminska began playing the accordion at the age of eight. At the age of eleven she was competing in international competitions in Bulgaria and Germany, and by twelve she was giving solo performances in Holland, Austria, and Germany, as well as her native Poland. After receiving her Masters degree from the Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, Poland, she came to the U.S. in the year of 1999 to study at the University of Missouri Kansas City. At the age of 25 she became the first (and only) person in the United States to ever receive a Doctorate in Accordion Performance.

The seven-time winner of national and international competitions and recipient of numerous additional awards and honors, Ms. Kaminska took First Prize in the 2002 Accordion Teachers Guild International Competition, Orlando, Fl, and recently she received Special Prize in New York City’s International Tango Music Competition with the Argentine tango ensemble Tango Lorca. Her repertoire includes a broad range of classical, contemporary, and avant-garde music. She has researched and performed the works of Astor Piazzolla extensively.

Possessing a special interest in new music, Ms. Kaminska premiered new works by Julia Alford Fowler, Paul Rudy, and performed at the World Premiere of the BalletX. She has appeared with the contemporary music ensembles the New Ear and the Musica Nova. She has also collaborated with dancer and choreographer Jorge Laico for the Kansas City Ballet, and with Mathew Neenan for BalletX. She was featured as a soloist with the Kielce Philharmonic Orchestra of Poland, the Strings of Lodz, The Concord Chamber Orchestra, the North Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, and the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra.

Recently Ms. Kaminska conceived her first album, Breaking Boundaries, as a part of her mission to change the perception of the accordion from parlor entertainment to serious classical instrument.