Guest Artists
Di Wu, piano
September 22, 2012
Praised by The Wall Street Journal as “a most mature and sensitive pianist,” Chinese-born Di Wu continues to uphold her reputation as an elegant and exciting musician. In wide demand as both a concert soloist and recitalist, her current American itinerary includes debuts and re-engagements on both coasts and in numerous cities in between. Ms. Wu made her professional debut at the age of 14 with the Beijing Philharmonic, and has gone on to appear as soloist with orchestras across the globe, including the National Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Hamburg Philharmoniker, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, and numerous others. She made her Philadelphia Orchestra debut under Charles Dutoit in 2009, and recently returned as soloist to Philadelphia’s Verizon Hall under the baton of Christoph Eschenbach in the famed, but rarely performed, Turangalîla-Symphonie of Messaien. Di Wu is a winner of Astral Artists’ 2007 National Auditions.
As a recitalist, The Washington Post has hailed Ms. Wu’s “fire and authority” and The Philadelphia Inquirer praised her “charisma, steely technique and keen musical intelligence.” Following her San Francisco recital debut, the Bay Area’s Peninsula Review critic declared, “I would gladly crawl over broken glass to hear her again.” In New York, she has made recital debuts in Carnegie and Alice Tully halls, and has also appeared in Chicago, Houston, and Los Angeles, as well as at the Ravinia Festival and the Portland Piano Festival. She also performs frequently in Europe and in major venues throughout Asia. Her most recent appearance in Tokyo, at an arena concert that was recorded and released by Japan’s Epic Records, took place before an audience of over 11,000.
s. Wu is the winner of numerous competition prizes. In 2009 alone, she was awarded a coveted prize at the XIII Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, The Juilliard School’s Petschek Award, and the Vendome Virtuosi prize at Lisbon’s prestigious Vendome Competition. Of her recording of Brahms’ Variations on a Theme of Paganini, Books I and II, Musical America said, “Her account of the Brahms is amazing. She takes all the difficult options (her glissandos are unbelievable!), and she conjures from the piano absolutely gossamer, violinistic textures, joyous humor, and brilliant air-borne tempos.”
Di Wu came to the U.S. in 1999 to study at the Manhattan School of Music with Zenon Fishbein. From the year 2000 through 2005 she studied at the Curtis Institute of Music with Gary Graffman. She also holds a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School under Yoheved Kaplinsky and an Artist Diploma under the guidance of Joseph Kalichstein and Robert McDonald.
Leila Josefowicz, violin
November 17, 2012
Violinist Leila Josefowicz has won the hearts of audiences around the world with her honest, fresh approach to the repertoire and her dynamic virtuosity.
Ms. Josefowicz came to national attention in 1994 when she made her Carnegie Hall debut with Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and has since appeared with many of the world's most prestigious orchestras and eminent conductors. A regular, close collaborator of leading composers of the day such as John Adams and Oliver Knussen, she is a strong advocate of new music - a characteristic which is reflected in her diverse programs and her enthusiasm for premiering new works. During the 08/09 season Ms. Josefowicz premiered concertos written for her by Esa-Pekka Salonen/Los Angeles Philharmonic and Steve Mackey/St. Louis Symphony and played first performances of Thomas Adès’ violin concerto Concentric Paths with the Philadelphia Orchestra and San Francisco and Seattle symphonies. In October 2009 she premieres another concerto written for her by Colin Matthews with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. In recognition of her passionate advocacy and genuine commitment to the music of today, Ms. Josefowicz was awarded a 2008 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship.
Recent appearances in North America include performances with the New York Philharmonic, the Minnesota Orchestra and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Chicago, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Baltimore, Dallas, Houston and Cincinnati symphonies; a performance of John Adams' Violin Concerto in Carnegie Hall with the American Composers Orchestra under the baton of Mr. Adams; and recitals in San Francisco, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall.
Stefani Allison Collins, violin
December 8, 2012
Stefani Allison Collins recently completed her undergraduate studies as a Starling Foundation Scholarship student of Mr. Paul Kantor at the Cleveland Institute of Music. She is now pursuing her Masters in Violin Performance with Ms. Sylvia Rosenberg as a Starr Scholarship and Irene Diamond Fellowship student at The Juilliard School. Stefani has been a fellowship student at the Aspen Music Festival since 2005 and attended the Yellow Barn Festival and The Pearlman Music Program this past summer.
In June, Stefani was privileged to travel to New Zealand where she competed as a semifinalist in the 2011 Michael Hill International Violin Competition. Following 3 semi final rounds in Queenstown, Stefani was thrilled to be one of six competitors selected to advance to the quarterfinal round providing her the unique opportunity to perform both solo repertoire and chamber music in the beautiful Auckland Town Hall.
Since moving to New York City in the fall of 2011, Stefani has been selected to join the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players with scheduled chamber performances in 2011 and 2012 and was recently named Concertmaster of the Symphony in C under the musical direction of Rossen Milanov.
In 2010 Stefani was selected as a semi-finalist at the 2010 Young Concert Artist National Auditions and the 2010 Buenos Aires International Violin Competition, as well as a participant in the 2010 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. Stefani was named the 2009 DeLay Fellow at the Aspen Music Festival, the 2nd place laureate at the Portnoy International Violin Competition, and was a winner of the 2008 concerto competition at the Cleveland Institute of Music. She made her Severance Hall and Aspen Music Festival debuts in 2009, performing Dohnanyi’s Violin Concerto No. 2. In both 2007 and 2009, Stefani was the national winner in the MTNA strings competition and was selected as a Young Artist for the Starling-DeLay Symposium at Juilliard. She also has participated in a live taping of “From the Top” with Christopher O’Reilly.
Other notable accomplishments include performing in Wilmington’s annual series featuring young artists, broadcast on NPR, participation in the All-Girl Vivaldi Orchestra at the Kennedy Center, and soloist with the 2003 Eastern Music Festival. Stefani has performed solo works with the North Carolina, Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Western Piedmont, Firelands, Tulare County, , and Blue Ridge Symphonies and the Neposet Valley Philharmonic Orchestrea. She has toured as a soloist with both the Mid-Atlantic Symphony and the North Carolina Symphony. In December 2005 and 2007, Stefani performed as a member of the NY String Orchestra Seminar, under the direction of Jaime Laredo. Stefani received her high school diploma from the NC School of the Arts, where she studied with Sarah Johnson. She has performed in masterclasses for Jaime Laredo, Joel Smirnoff, Kurt Sassmannshaus, Pamela Frank, Miriam Fried, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Alexander Kerr, Nicholas Kitchen, James Ehnes, Leila Josefowicz, David Kim, Chee-Yun, Rachel Barton Pine, Ivan Chan, the Kalichstein Trio, Stephen Clapp, Elisa Koljonen, Fredell Lack, Laura Kobayashi, and Judith Ingolfsson.
Maria Bachmann, violin
March 2, 2012
A violinist who combines outstanding musicianship with dazzling technical command, a tone of exceptional purity, and a magnetic stage presence, Maria Bachmann has been the subject of critical accolades worldwide from the very beginning of her career. The New York Times has hailed her as “a violinist of soul and patrician refinement,” and The Boston Globe has similarly praised Ms. Bachmann as being “astonishing in every musical and technical regard.” Ms. Bachmann has also had the rare distinction of being profiled by Time magazine, as well as by such journals as Mirabella, Fanfare and CD Review.
Among Ms. Bachmann’s numerous competition victories are First Prizes at the Fritz Kreisler Competition in Vienna, the Concert Artists Guild Competition in New York and the Pro Musicis Foundation Award. These distinctions were followed by acclaimed debuts with the St. Louis Symphony under Leonard Slatkin, the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center with Robert Spano and with Marin Alsop conducting the Pacific Symphony in Los Angeles.
An active guest soloist abroad, Ms. Bachmann has been heard with the Taipei Symphony, Shanghai Symphony, MAV Symphony in Budapest, the Brabants Orchestra of the Netherlands, and with the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra on tour in Japan. She has performed recitals in Tokyo, Kyoto, London, Paris, Shanghai, Taipei, Vienna, Budapest, The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Herbst Theater in San Francisco, Ambassador Auditorium in Los Angeles, New York's Town Hall, Merkin Hall and Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, and in Boston's Jordan Hall. Of Hungarian descent, Ms. Bachmann is noted for her performance of Bela Bartok, and was invited by the Library of Congress to recreate the legendary Szigeti/Bartok recital of 1940 in a nationally broadcast performance there. Highlights of 2010-11 include the release of Maria's 5th recital CD, Glass Heart, with pianist Jon Klibonoff on the Orange Mountain Music label. The CD includes the world premiere recording of Philip Glass's Sonata for violin and piano (2008), written for Bachmann, and music of Bach, Schubert and Ravel. The disc explores connections between the music of Glass and the other composers. Bachmann and Klibonoff premiered the Glass Sonata in 2009, and were awarded the Classical Recording Foundation's 2010 Samuel Sanders Collaborative Artists Award for Glass Heart.
In spring 2011, Bachmann performs the world premiere of a new work by Jay Reise in Philadelphia on a recital at the University of Pennsylvania. The recital also includes the Philadelphia premieres of the Glass Sonata and works by Paul Moravec. Other highlights of the season include a performance at the Met Museum in New York, and performances at the Inaugural Days and Nights Festival in Carmel, CA in the summer of 2011.
In 2010, Bachmann performed the world premiere of Philip Glass's Double Concerto for violin, cello and orchestra with cellist Wendy Sutter and The Orchestra of The Hague in The Netherlands. She gave the world premiere of Paul Moravec's Violin Concerto at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia with Orchestra 2001, and performed John Corigliano's Red Violin Concerto at Chicago's Millenium Park, Bartok's Violin Concerto No. 1 with the Wisconsin Symphony and conductor Alexander Platt, and the Barber Violin Concerto at the Peninsula Festival (WI) with Maestro Victor Yampolsky.
Other highlights of 2009-10 included performances with her trio, Trio Solisti, at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, their debut for the prestigious Houston Friends of Music, and an all Brahms concert at the Caramoor Center for Performing Arts. Maria gave the New York and West Coast Premieres of Glass's Sonata for Violin and Piano, and New York Premiere of Philip Glass's String Sextet at the Baryshnikov Arts Center with the Glass Chamber Players. Her recording of the Glass Sextet with the Glass Chamber Players was released in 2010 on the Orange Mountain Music label.
Recent concerto appearances include Vivaldi Concertos at Carnegie's Zankel Hall in New York, and the world premiere of Jay Reise's Violin Concerto at Philadelphia's Kimmel Center with Orchestra 2001. She has recently performed recitals in Boston's Jordan Hall, Brooklyn’s Museum of Art for the Corigliano Festival celebrating his 70th Birthday, New York's Merkin Hall, and at The Los Angeles Museum of Art.
The Red Violin, Ms. Bachmann’s CD of 2007, includes music of Corigliano, Moravec, Ravel, Copland and Gershwin, and was released on Allegro/Endeavour Classics. It was chosen by BBC Music Magazine as the "North American CD of the Month" in May 2007, and selected as Classical Gold: Top Ten cds of 2007 by NPR's WGBH in Boston.
Ms. Bachmann has been equally successful as a performer of the established repertoire and as champion of contemporary music. Her recordings for the BMG/Conifer label of the Beethoven and Mendelssohn violin concertos with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic conducted by Libor Pesek have been praised for their elegance and musical insight. Ms. Bachmann's CD of Beethoven and Mendelssohn Violin Concertos with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic was reissued on Sony Classics in 2010.
Her CD Fratres features a recital of works by John Corigliano, Arvo Pärt, Paul Moravec, Albert Glinsky and Olivier Messiaen on the BMG/Catalyst label. This issue drew critical plaudits, receiving a “Best Classical Recording of the Year” rating from the New York Daily News. It was subsequently re-issued on the Sony/RCA Red Seal label in 2005. Other discs include Kiss On Wood for BMG/Catalyst, Rhapsody for Violin and Orchestra by Ian Krouse for the Koch label, Beethoven's "Kreutzer" Sonata and George Rochberg's Sonata for the Connoisseur Society, Lou Harrision's Suite for Violin and String Orchestra for Koch, and Lou Harrison's Concerto in Slendro for Argo.
As an eminent proponent of new music, Ms. Bachmann has given the world premiere of many new works including those of George Rochberg, Leon Kirchner, James MacMillan, Sebastian Currier, Daniel Bernard Roumain and 2004 Pulitzer Prize-winner Paul Moravec, who has written a total of fourteen works for Ms. Bachmann ranging from a violin concerto to works for violin and piano, and other chamber forms. Moravec’s 2004 Pulitzer Prize-winning work, Tempest Fantasy, was composed for her chamber group, Trio Solisti, with whom she maintains an active touring schedule.
She has made numerous recordings with Trio Solisti (with cellist Alexis Gerlach and pianist Jon Klibonoff) including their own arrangement of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (paired with Ravel's trio), Brahms Trios, Tempest Fantasy (music of Paul Moravec), and their latest cd, Cafe Music, was released on the Bridge label in May 2009. Trio Solisti celebrates their 10th Anniversary in the 2011-12 season.
Ms. Bachmann is the Artistic Director of Telluride MusicFest in Colorado, an annual festival which presents its' 9th year of programs in 2011. Trio Solisti is the resident ensemble and performs chamber music concerts with guest artists. The festival presents themes such as Vive La France (2011), From Russia With Love (2010),Celebrating Mendelssohn and Glass (2009), Passionate Romantics (2008), Greatest Masterworks (2007), The Gypsy Spirit (2006), and A Brahms Celebration (2005), among others. Philip Glass was the Composer-in-Residence in 2009 and Paul Moravec was the Composer-in-Residence in 2005.
Maria performs every year at various festivals including The Moab Festival in Utah, The Caramoor, Maverick and Skaneateles Festivals in New York state, Bravo! Festival in CO, The Laguna Beach Festival in CA, The Amelia Island Festival in FL, and The Cape Cod Festival in MA.
Maria Bachmann studied at The Curtis Institute of Music with Ivan Galamian and Szymon Goldberg, and was awarded Curtis's Fritz Kreisler Prize for outstanding graduating violinist.She coached chamber music with Joseph Gingold, Felix Galimir, Mischa Schneider, and Karen Tuttle. Ms. Bachmann performs on a 1782 violin by Nicolo Gagliano. www.mariabachmann.com
