2005/2006
CHAMELEON SERIES at the Leiser Opera Center
LAST…. but not
LEAST
Michael Klotz, Misha Dacic & Iris van Eck ( scroll down for bios...)
Program
ALEXANDER BORODIN 1838-1887
Sonata for cello and Piano in B minor
Alexander Porfirievitch Borodin was born on November 12 1833 in
St Petersburg, he died there on February 27 1887. He was a very
good cellist himself which reflects also in his string quartet
where the virtuosic possibilities of the instrument shine.
The Sonata was probably composed in 1860 in Heidelberg where he
was involved in some research as a chemist. Only in his spare
time was he a musician and composer.
He was an enthousiastic admirer of Bach. The short theme of the
Fugue of the G minor solo violin sonata was to become the core
of his cello sonata. The third movement was not finished but contained
sufficient material for the completion of the work by Michael
Goldstein.
EDVARD GRIEG 1843-1907
Edvard Grieg was born on June 15, 1843,
in Bergen on the west coast of Norway and died in Bergen on September
4, 1907.
His third Violin Sonata in C minor, opus 45 remains the most popular
out of the three works, and has established itself in the standard
repertoire. The work was also a personal favorite of Grieg's.
Grieg was an accomplished pianist; the sonata premiered with Grieg
himself at the piano with well-known violinist Adolf Brodsky in
Leipzig. Grieg built on Norwegian folk melodies and rhythms in
this three-movement sonata.
Intermission
SERGEI RACHMANINOFF 1873-1943
Transcriptions for solo piano by Arcadi Volodos
Sergei Rachmaninoff was born on April 1, 1873, on a large estate near the ancient city of Novgorod, Russia. His father was an army officer and his mother was a wealthy heiress. His father gambled, drank, and squandered his wife's money. He deserted his family when Sergei was nine years old.
Young Sergei was a problem child, but had an extraordinary talent at the piano and entered the College of Music in St. Petersburg at age nine. Rachmaninoff graduated from the conservatory with high honors.
He made his first visit to the United States in 1909, receiving an enthusiastic welcome. Rachmaninoff died on March 28, 1943, only a few weeks after attaining his American citizenship, and five days before his seventieth birthday. During his career Rachmaninoff wrote 145 compositions, including piano concertos and symphonies.
Music is enough for a lifetime ,
but a lifetime is not enough for Music
—Rachmaninoff
Anton Stepanov Arensky was born in Novgorod in 1861. His father
was a doctor and amateur cellist and his mother an accomplished
pianist who taught him and encouraged him to compose. He continued
his studies in St. Petersburg Conservatory under Rimsky-Korsakov
and graduated with a gold medal in composition and was immediately
appointed harmony professor at the Moscow Conservatory. He proved
to be an important teacher and among his students were the composers
Rachmaninov and Scriabin.
Tschaikovsky's influence on Arensky's music is quite apparent,
however Arensky has a voice of his own and a genuine gift for
melody. His music is romantic by nature, imbedded with a characteristic
Russian melancholic spirit yet his textures are transparent and
his form clear and classical in proportion.
The Elegia, which starts with a beautiful cello melody in muted
character, pays tribute to the great Russian cellist Karl Davidoff
to whom’s memory Arensky dedicated this much loved Piano
Trio.
Violinist/violist Michael Klotz was born in 1978 in Rochester, NY and made his solo debut with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of seventeen. He has also appeared with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Penfield Symphony Orchestra, Mannes Bach Festival Orchestra, and the World Youth Music Festival Orchestra in London, England. An avid performer of the chamber music repertoire, recent appearances on violin and viola include concerts in New York at venues such as Alice Tully Hall, Weill Hall, Merkin Hall, Steinway Hall, Museum of Modern Art and the Kosciuzsko Foundation, which included a live broadcast on WQXR-FM. Additionally, he has been heard in prestigious halls in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Diego, Rochester, and Mexico. Michael Klotz has performed at leading festivals such as the Sarasota Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, and Bowdoin Summer Music Festival, where he is a faculty member since 2005. He prizes his association with the New York String Orchestra Seminar at Carnegie Hall. In December of 2003 he was invited by Maestro Jaime Laredo to perform with distinguished alumni of the Seminar in Carnegie Hall.
Michael Klotz received a Bachelor of Music degree and Performer's Certificate from the Eastman School of Music as a student of Zvi Zeitlin. In 2002, Michael Klotz became one of the few individuals to complete the Master of Music degree in both Violin and Viola Performance from The Juilliard School, where he was a recipient of the Maxwell Gluck Fellowship and the Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship.
Pianist Misha
Dacic was born in 1978 in Ex-Yugoslavia,
into a family with the musical tradition. He first came to the
public attention at age eleven when he performed a Haydn Piano
Concerto with the local orchestra. Shortly afterwards, he entered
the class of Kemal Gekic at the University of Novi Sad. In 1998,
he enrolled at the prestigious school for pianists in Imola, Italy,
at the invitation of Lazar Berman, with whom he studied for five
years.
He made his American debut at the “Discovery Series”
of the Sixth Miami International Piano Festival at the Lincoln
Theater. That same year, Dacic performed at the "Martha Argerich
Project Festival” in Lugano, Switzerland, at the Miami International
Piano Festival in Lecce, Italy, at the University of Miami’s
“Festival Miami”, in Boca Raton Steinway Gallery celebrating
the Vladimir Horowitz centenary etc. In 2004, Dacic was featured
on ArtStreet a special program produced by PBS affiliate WLRN-TV.
In 2004 Dacic performed at the Irvine University (California),
at the “Golandsky Institute Festival” at the Princeton
University (NJ), and during the same season debuted in Jamaica
and Guatemala.
In October 2004, Dacic was featured at the Rising Stars Series
in Ravinia, Chicago and the Gilmore Festival in Kalamazoo. Mr.
Matt Steel, music critic of the Kalamazoo Gazette described Mr.
Dacic as follows, “Keyboard wizard Dacic dazzles in recital.”
Dacic played at the opening concert of the "Discovery Series"
of the Seventh Miami International Piano Festival at the Lincoln
Theater in collaboration with violinist Igor Gruppman and cellist
Mark Kosower, where he won particular praise for his sensitive
partnership in Chausson's Trio.
In 2005 he was re-invited and was featured at the Classical Piano
Series in Cincinnati at Xavier University. He appeared at the
Master Series of The Eight Miami International Piano Festival
at the Amaturo Theater of the Broward Performing Art Center and
was re-invited to perform for the major Guatemalan “Mosaico”
Festival in Guatemala City. He gave his New York debut performing
at the Leschetitzky Piano Series and in Minneapolis the last fall
at the Chopin Society Concert Series.
Misha Dacic is a recipient of support from Patrons of Exceptional
Artists and enjoys a special scholarship at the University of
Miami where he pursues advanced piano studies with Frank Cooper.
Iris van Eck, is principal cellist for the Florida Grand Opera and the Florida Classical Orchestra. She has appeared as soloist with various orchestras in the United States & in Europe, including the Florida classical Orchestra this past March, and is frequently heard on the chamber music circuit in South Florida and abroad. A recent recording of cello works by women composers (Henriette Bosmans, Louise Farrenc and Rebecca Clarke), together with Dutch pianist Arielle Vernède (recorded in Delft, The Netherlands), was just offered a contract with Eroica Classical Records and a recording of Faure’s works for cello and piano together with Kemal Gekic is in the editing stages.
She was born in the Netherlands to a
artist painter (father) and a piano teacher (mother). She studied
at the Royal Conservatory in the Hague with Jean Decroos (principal
cellist in the Concertgebouw orkchestra) & Rene van Ast before
moving to the United States where she studied with madame Raya
Garbousova. She is a winner in the Edith Stein Concours in the
Netherlands (on flute) and the Concerto Competition at Northern
Illinois Universtity (on cello).
Ms van Eck participated in master classes
with Paul and Maude Tortellier and at the Piattigorsky Seminar
in Los Angeles she studied with William Pleeth, Lyn Harrell and
Jeffrey Solow and at the Cleveland Chamber music Seminar with
Joseph Gingold and the Guarneri Quartet.
She is the founder of “Chameleon Chamber Music Series at
the Leiser Opera Center” and plays a beautiful French cello
made by Bernardel Pere in 1831.