Petar Jankovic Ensemble string quartet led by guitar

Transcription

1 Petar Jankovic Ensemble string quartet led by guitar After many years of touring almost exclusively as a solo classical guitarist, Petar Jankovic, international award-winning musician and professor at Indiana University JACOBS School of Music broke new ground by initiating what has been called a truly unique chamber ensemble: The Petar Jankovic Ensemble - traditional string quartet led by guitar! As an innovative, as well as a revolutionary idea, the guitarist s Spanish and Latin American influences meld splendidly with the string quartet s European musical traditions. Critics have hailed the PJE for breaking new ground and pushing the limits of the Chamber Music genre. "PJE is a fantastic new group from Bloomington, Indiana!" -APR's Performance Today "Jankovic has broken new ground and pushed the limits with his ensemble The PJE, which is a string quartet led by classical guitar is a brilliant new group on today s chamber music scene, and they will no doubt be bringing the music to many new fans around the world." - Brad Conroy, music critic at GuitarInternational.com The musicians in this US based international ensemble are highly-skilled professional artists whose brilliance and musical versatility are manifested through expressing the unique character of this new musical format. PJE covers a wide range of repertoire with idiomatic and expressive renditions: from traditional Spanish works by Albeniz and De Falla, to classical music jewels of Boccherini, Debussy and Shostakovich. Passionate Piazzolla tangos and rich Brazilian music forms of Gnattalli, Bellinati, are performed alongside new classical works by contemporary composers such as Phillip Glass, E. Bark, and Roland Dyens. PJE has successfully toured US and Europe, received many great reviews. Selections from PJE's LIVE concert tour were even broadcast three times in a singe year on famous American Public Media s Performance Today show. "...entertaining, interesting and uplifting program! The group play in tight formation with a nice balance between performers and program is very well chosen with no fillers-in!" - world famous London based Classical Guitar Magazine Jankovic's expressive interpretations and technical mastery - found only among the world's top musicians leaves no mystery to the many rave reviews received over the years. Since his first

2 professional performance in 1985, Jankovic has delighted audiences at recitals and enlightened students in his master classes throughout both Europe and the United States. As a performer at major competitions around the globe, Jankovic s universally evocative sound has won high regard with the world s classical music community, and as a result, he has garnered numerous prestigious Jankovic, who is a very active international performer with over 25 concerts each season, is currently a Professor at the world-renowned Indiana University JACOBS School of Music. Violinist Maria Storm made her solo début at the age of fourteen with the Odessa Symphony Orchestra in Ukraine. A year later her recording of sixteenth Paganini Caprice was regularly broadcasted on the Second Channel of Ukrainian Radio. While living in Europe, Maria established herself as an active soloist and chamber musician, performing among others with Torun Chamber Orchestra, A.Rubinstein Symphony Orchestra and appearing at the Festival Weeks in Gmunden, Austria. Her recent engagements include performances on Live from WFMT with CUBE Ensemble and International Chamber Artists, a broadcast from the Piano Forte Salon Series, recital at St. James Chapel, as part of the concert series Second Saturday at Two and solo appearance with Waukegan Symphony Orchestra. She is a concertmaster of Composers Orchestra of Chicago with which she recently played an American premier of Spheres for violin solo and orchestra by Gabriel Prokofiev. Born in Chiba, Japan, violinist Azusa Tashiro began her violin studies at the age of 4. She earned her Bachelor of Music degree from Toho Gakuen school of Music under Kenji Kobayashi. In 2008, Azusa came to United States and attended Chicago College of Performing Arts as a Student of Nathan Cole. She continued her violin studies at DePaul University school of music with Ilya Kaler and completed her Master of Music degree. Azusa is an active violinist in Chicago area. She is a current principal second violinist of the Rockford Symphony Orchestra and has played with various ensembles such as New Millennium Orchestra Chicago, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and Civic Orchestra of Chicago that she was appointed as a concertmaster. Azusa has also appeared as a soloist with the College of DuPage Chamber Orchestra. She has attended many summer festivals that include Spoleto Festival USA and Pacific Music Festival. Throughout her musical experience, she played under world-class conductors such as Bernard Haitink, Fabio Luisi, Alan Gilbert and Riccardo Muti. Violist Amanda Grimm enjoys a versatile career as a freelance artist in the greater Chicago area. A graduate of Oberlin Conservatory and Carnegie Mellon University she has performed as a soloist, recitalist, and concertmaster in both the United States and abroad. Making her concerto debut at age fifteen with the Parma Symphony Orchestra, she has also soloed with the Baldwin Wallace Youth Orchestra, the Blue Lake European Orchestra, the Carnegie Mellon Baroque Ensemble, and the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic as the winner of its concerto competition. Also an active chamber musician, she has been a member of the Cerberus Piano Trio, the Logan Piano Quartet, the Logan Square Chamber Players, and the Silberman award winning Faure Piano Quintet. The former concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Opera Theater Orchestra, Ms. Grimm

3 has performed as a violinist and violist with the Elgin, Northwest Indiana, and Wheeling Symphonies, as well as the Illinois Philharmonic, Chicago Philharmonic, and Chicago Chamber Orchestras. From , she held a position as a violinist with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. In 2012 she was appointed a member of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic viola section as well as selected as a Fellow of the prestigious Tanglewood Music Center where she also served as Principal Viola. She currently serves as Associate Principal Viola of Orchestra Iowa.Ms. Grimm was featured on WQED Pittsburgh as the first violin soloist in a performance of Vivaldi s Concerto for Four Violins, on WBEZ Chicago in a live broadcast from Roosevelt University, and on Iowa Public Radio as a performer in Orchestra Iowa s Chamber Music Series. She was also heard live on WCLV Cleveland as concertmaster of the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra in a performance of Mahler s Fourth Symphony under Sir Simon Rattle. Ms. Grimm can be heard on the soundtrack for the documentary film In My Hands, which was an official entry at the Toronto Film Festival and seen on the PBS special Ethan Bortnick: The Power of Music. An avid proponent of new music, Kyra Saltman is the principal cellist of the Chicago Composers Orchestra and recently joined eighth blackbird and other members of New Music Chicago for a special performance of Terry Riley s In C at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. Additionally, she has collaborated with the Chicago-based series Singers On New Ground (S.O.N.G) and is a frequent performer on many contemporary music programs throughout Chicago. With soprano Samantha Stein, she has presented recitals across the United States exploring contemporary repertoire for soprano and cello. Orchestral highlights include performances with the Aspen Festival Orchestra, Aspen Opera Theater Orchestra, the Illinois Symphony, Green Bay Symphony, Wisconsin Philharmonic, and the New Millennium Orchestra of Chicago. She has also served as principal cellist of the Chicago College of Performing Arts Symphony Orchestra. Kyra holds degrees from the Chicago College of Performing Arts and the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. Her primary instructors include Tanya Carey and Brandon Vamos. She has performed in masterclasses for Richard Aaron, Jeffrey Solow, Andres Diaz, Emilio Colon, Yehuda Hanani, David Ying, and Darrett Adkins. She has studied quartet playing extensively with the Pacifica Quartet. Other mentors include the Borromeo Quartet, Cavani Quartet, Biava Quartet, Cuarteto Latinoamericano, the Kronos Quartet, and Atar Arad. Addition, she has participated in festivals including the Aspen Music Festival and School, the Bowdoin International Music Festival, the Manchester Music Festival, Musicorda, the California Summer Music Festival, the Innsbrook Institute and the Austin Chamber Music Festival.

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5 415 N. 4th Avenue

6 415 N. 4th Avenue