November 1, Anna Polonsky, piano Bella Hristova, violin Eric Ruske, horn Edward Arron, cello

Transcription

1 November 1, 2015 Anna Polonsky, piano Bella Hristova, violin Eric Ruske, horn Edward Arron, cello Piano Trio in One Movement in B-flat Major, D. 28 (1812) Franz Schubert ( ) Three Fantasy Pieces for Horn and Piano, Opus 73 (1849) Zart und mit Ausdruck Lebhaft, leicht Rasch und mit Feuer Robert Schumann ( ) Three Yiddish Dances for Piano, Violin and Cello (2010) Crooked Dance Slow Hora Bulgar David Ludwig (b. 1974) ~ Intermission ~ Intrada for Solo Horn (1958) Otto Ketting ( ) Trio in E-flat Major for Piano, Horn and Violin, Opus 40 (1865) Andante Scherzo: Allegro Adagio mesto Finale: Allegro con brio Johannes Brahms ( )

2 ANNA POLONSKY Anna Polonsky is widely in demand as a soloist and chamber musician. She has appeared with the Moscow Virtuosi, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, the Memphis Symphony, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the St. Luke s Chamber Ensemble, and many others. Ms. Polonsky has collaborated with the Guarneri, Orion, and Shanghai Quartets, and with such musicians as Mitsuko Uchida, David Shifrin, Richard Goode, Ida and Ani Kavafian, Cho-Liang Lin, Arnold Steinhardt, Anton Kuerti, Gary Hoffman, and Fred Sherry. She is regularly invited to perform chamber music at festivals such as Marlboro, Chamber Music Northwest, Seattle, Music@Menlo, Cartagena, Bard, and Caramoor, as well as at Bargemusic in New York City. Ms. Polonsky has given concerts in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Alice Tully Hall, and Carnegie Hall s Stern, Weill, and Zankel Halls, and has toured extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. A frequent guest at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, she was a member of the Chamber Music Society Two during In 2006 she took a part in the European Broadcasting Union's project to record and broadcast all of Mozart's keyboard sonatas, and in the spring of 2007 she performed a solo recital at Carnegie Hall s Stern Auditorium to inaugurate the Emerson Quartet s Perspectives Series. She is a recipient of a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship and the Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award. Anna Polonsky made her solo piano debut at the age of seven at the Special Central Music School in Moscow, Russia. She emigrated to the United States in 1990, and attended high school at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. She received her Bachelor of Music diploma from The Curtis Institute of Music, where she worked with the renowned pianist Peter Serkin, and continued her studies with Jerome Lowenthal, earning her Master's Degree from the Juilliard School. In addition to performing, she serves on the piano faculty of Vassar College. She is a Steinway Artist.

3 BELLA HRISTOVA Acclaimed for her passionate, powerful performances, beautiful sound, and compelling command of her instrument, violinist Bella Hristova is a young musician with a growing international career as a soloist and recording artist. The Strad has praised, Every sound she draws is superb, and The Washington Post noted that she is a player of impressive power and control. Ms. Hristova s season features a mix of concerto, recital and chamber music performances, as well as educational outreach activities. She showcases her wide-ranging repertoire this season, as she performs over ten different concertos, from Barber and Kevin Puts to Sibelius and Mozart, as well as the world premiere of a concerto by David Ludwig. Ms. Hristova has performed extensively as soloist with orchestra including with Pinchas Zukerman and the Orchestra of St. Luke s at Lincoln Center, with the New York String Orchestra under Jaime Laredo at Carnegie Hall, as well as with the Mississippi Symphony, City of London Sinfonia, Orquesta Sinfonica de Venezuela, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Canada s National Arts Centre Orchestra, and Korea s Cheongju Symphony Orchestra. She has performed recitals at the Cerritos Center for the Arts, the Alys Stephens Center for the Performing Arts, Free For All at Town Hall, the Shanghai International Music Festival, and Seoul National University. Her most recent recording, Bella Unaccompanied (A.W. Tonegold Records), features works for solo violin by Corigliano, Kevin Puts, Piazzolla, Milstein and J. S. Bach. A sought-after chamber musician, Ms. Hristova performs frequently with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and at many music festivals including the Young Concert Artists Festivals in Tokyo and Beijing, the Musica Viva Festival in Sydney, Australia, the Grand Teton Festival, the Brevard Music Festival, Music@Menlo, Ravinia s Steans Institute, the Mainly Mozart Festival, Music from Angel Fire, Chamber Music Northwest, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and the Marlboro Music Festival. She has appeared on Garrison Keillor s A Prairie Home Companion on National Public Radio. Bella Hristova is the recipient of numerous prizes and awards, including a 2013 Avery Fisher Career Grant, First Prize in the 2009 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, First Prize in the 2007 Michael Hill International Violin Competition in New Zealand, and Laureate of the 2006 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. She made her New York debut in the Young Concert Artists Series at Merkin Concert Hall and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and at the Isabella Gardner Museum in Boston. She was awarded YCA s Helen Armstrong Violin Fellowship, and for three seasons, she has been honored with the Gordon and Harriet Greenfield Foundation Artist Management Fellowship of YCA. As a result of winning the Michael Hill International Violin Competition, Ms. Hristova made a critically acclaimed concert tour of New Zealand, and a similarly acclaimed CD of solo violin works by the Belgian virtuoso Charles de Bériot (Naxos). Music Web International praised her first recording, this disc is an absolute winner The musical diversity of these pieces is a delight. None of which would count for much if they were not played with the extraordinary virtuosity and musical maturity of Bella Hristova. Hristova combines jaw-dropping technical prowess with real style. Born in Pleven, Bulgaria to Russian and Bulgarian parents, Ms. Hristova began violin studies at the age of six. At twelve, she participated in master classes with Ruggiero Ricci at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. In 2003, she entered the Curtis Institute of Music, where she worked with Ida Kavafian (YCA Alumna) and studied chamber music with Steven Tenenbom. She received her Artist Diploma with Jaime Laredo at Indiana University in Ms. Hristova plays a 1655 Nicolò Amati violin, once owned by the violinist Louis Krasner.

4 ERIC RUSKE Horn soloist Eric Ruske has established himself as an artist of international acclaim. Named Associate Principal Horn of The Cleveland Orchestra at the age of 20, he also toured and recorded extensively during his six-year tenure as hornist of the Empire Brass Quintet. His impressive solo career began when he won the 1986 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, First Prize in the 1987 American Horn Competition, and in 1988, the highest prize in the Concours International d'interpretation Musicale in Reims, France. Of his recording of the complete Mozart Concerti with Sir Charles Mackerras and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the New York Times stated, "Mr. Ruske's approach, firmly positioned with the boundaries of balance, coherence and good taste that govern the Classical Style, enchants by virtue of its confidence, imagination and ebullient virtuosity". Performances as soloist include appearances with the Baltimore Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Shanghai Radio Broadcast Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony, European Camerata, San Diego Symphony, Boston Pops Orchestra, Kansas City Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic and a tour with the Israel Chamber Orchestra throughout Israel. His recitals have been presented in venues such as the Louvre in Paris, the 92nd Street Y in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., Dukes Hall in London, the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and the Mariinsky Concert Hall in St. Petersburg, Russia. An active chamber musician, he has appeared with the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Festival de Musica de Santa Catarina in Brazil, Moab Music Festival, Newport Music Festival, Spoleto Festival, Festival de Musique in St. Barthlélemy, OK Mozart International Festival, Recontres Musicales d Évian, La Musica in Sarasota, Bargemusic in Brooklyn, Music from Angel Fire, Boston Chamber Music Society, and the Festival Pablo Casals both in Puerto Rico and in France. Mr. Ruske is in great demand as a teacher and clinician, and in addition to having given master classes at over one hundred universities and conservatories in the United States, he has taught at the Royal Academy of Music in London, Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, Banff Centre in Canada, Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, Tokyo College of Music, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, the College of Music at Seoul National University and most recently at the Ionian Academy in Corfu, Greece. In 2012, Albany Records released a 7-CD box set of Mr. Ruske's recordings entitled The Horn of Eric Ruske. The set includes: Music by Three, a disc of music for horn, violin and piano; a collection of unaccompanied horn repertoire entitled Just me and my horn; two discs of virtuoso transcriptions for horn and piano, The Classic Horn and Virtuoso Music for Horn and Piano; a disc of the Strauss and Glière horn concerti, The Romantic Horn Concerti; the complete Mozart Horn Concerti and a disc of horn and piano repertoire entitled Night Poems. He has also made the world premiere recording of the Concierto Evocativo for horn and string orchestra by Roberto Sierra. His numerous arrangements and transcriptions, including a complete edition of the Mozart Concerti, are now available from Cimarron Music. A student of Dale Clevenger and Eugene Chausow, he grew up in LaGrange, Illinois and is a graduate of Northwestern University. Joining architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, trumpeter Miles Davis and comedian Richard Pryor, Mr. Ruske was inducted into the Illinois Hall of Fame in He has received grants from the National Philanthropic Institute, the Saunders Foundation, the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, the International Institute of Education, the Mattina R. Proctor Foundation and Boston University. Mr. Ruske currently directs the Horn Seminar at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute and is the Professor of Horn at Boston University.

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