Håkan Rosengren
Internationally acclaimed clarinetist Håkan Rosengren, the Fayetteville Chamber Music Festival's artistic director, has performed as soloist, and in recital and chamber music throughout Europe, the U.S., and in Brazil, Israel, China, and South Korea, and has collaborated with conductors Esa-Pekka Salonen, Neeme Järvi, Christopher Hogwood, Grant Llewellyn, Sakari Oramo, Osmo Vänskä, and Eiji Oue, among others, performing as guest soloist with orchestras including Lausanne Chamber, Lithuanian National, Prague Philharmonic, Lisbon Metropolitan, Poznan Philharmonic, Los Angeles Mozart, Asheville Symphony, Israeli Chamber, and with every major orchestra in Scandinavia. Music festivals around the world where Rosengren has performed include Santa Fe, La Jolla, Ojai, Moritzburg (Dresden), Taegu (S. Korea), Haifa (Israel), and Warsaw Autumn. Since 1997 he has been a member of the artist-faculty at Festival Hill in Round Top, and has given masterclasses throughout Europe and the U.S. In 2003 he was a member of the Munich ARD International Clarinet Competition Jury. Rosengren has recorded solo and chamber music for CD Accord, Caprice, Musica Sveciae, Nytorp, and SMS Classical. His Sony Classical recording of Nielsen's Clarinet Concerto with Esa-Pekka Salonen was hailed by Fanfare Magazine as "most sensitive, wide-ranging account of concerto ever recorded." Rosengren's repertoire includes all the traditional and contemporary works for clarinet; he has performed Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time more than 50 times in Europe and the U.S., recording the work both for Caprice and for CD Accord, the latter nominated for the Polish Grammy. A number of composers have dedicated works to him, and in 2010 Rosengren premiered Frank Ticheli's clarinet concerto, written for him. Rosengren earned degrees from the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, Royal Flemish Conservatory in Belgium, and University of California. He received grants from the Fulbright Commission and the Scandinavia America Foundation, and won First Prizes in UNESCO's International Performer Competition, Los Angeles Arts Council Competition, and Concert Artists Guild International New York Competition; he was selected for a Solo Recitalists Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and for the Nordic Soloist Biennial. www.hakanrosengren.com
Tanja Becker-Bender
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung characterized violinist Tanja Becker-Bender as having "completely mature virtuosity and phenomenal intensity of expression and balance." Becker-Bender, born in Stuttgart into a family of scientists and musicians of Bohemian origin, succeeded early in music: with top prizes at competitions in Geneva (CIEM), Brussels (CIM Chimay), Tokyo (Bunkamura Orchard Hall Award), Houston, and Genoa (Premio Paganini), with performances as a soloist under Kurt Masur, Fabio Luisi, Hubert Soudant, Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi, Carlos Miguel Prieto, and others, with the Tokyo Philharmonic, Jerusalem Symphony, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, Houston Symphony, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Radio Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart, Konzerthaus Orchestra Berlin, and the Vienna, Zurich, and Prague Chamber orchestras. An avid chamber musician, she has played in festivals together with Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet, and Arnold Steinhardt, and given recitals in New York, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Paris, London, Rome, and Vienna. She studied with world's leading quartet musicians: Wilhelm Melcher (Melos Quartet), David Takeno (Guildhall School, London), Günter Pichler (Alban Berg Quartet), and Robert Mann (Juilliard Quartet). Becker-Bender's interest in new music has led to collaborations with composers such as Cristóbal Halffter and Peteris Vasks, and first performances of works by Rolf Hempel, Alexander Goehr, and Benedict Mason. After a CD release of music by Dvorák, Beethoven, and Albinoni, her recording of Paganini's 24 Capricci for Hyperion Records (London 2009) received international accolades as "Editor's Choice" of both the Gramophone and Classic FM. In 2006 she was appointed one of the youngest-ever professors in Germany, at the University of Music Saarland in Saarbrücken. Becker-Bender is Professor of Violin at the University for Music and Theater in Hamburg. She plays a violin by Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù (Cremona, 1728), owned by Blue de Brasil of the Fazenda Ipiranga, on loan through the Instrument Fund of the German Music Foundation. www.tanja-becker-bender.de
Amy Schwartz Moretti
Recognized for musical elegance and grace, performances by violinist Amy Schwartz Moretti have been described as "breathtakingly rich in tone and color" (St. Petersburg Times). Her solo and chamber music appearances include New York Carnegie Hall and Weill Recital Hall, Seattle Benaroya Hall, Cleveland Severance Hall, Phillips Collection in Washington D.C., Atlanta Spivey Hall, and Edinburgh Castle. In 2007, Moretti was named Director of the newly established Robert McDuffie Center for Strings; she also holds the Caroline Paul King Violin Chair at the Mercer University Townsend School of Music and was formerly Concertmaster of the Oregon Symphony and The Florida Orchestra. She has been guest Concertmaster of the New York Pops Orchestra and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, served CityMusic Cleveland as Concertmaster, and is a member of the Georgian Chamber Players. Throughout her career, Moretti has been an advocate for chamber music developing the Bay Area Music Summer Chamber Workshop in Florida and Portland Summer Ensembles in Oregon. She is currently Education Coordinator of the Rome Chamber Music Festival in Italy and also coordinates the Robert McDuffie and Friends Labor Day Festival for Strings in Georgia. Moretti has performed at the Aspen, Brevard, Chamber Music Northwest, Seattle, Amelia Island, and Madison Music festivals and was Concertmaster at the Grand Teton Music Festival. She has collaborated with James Ehnes, Lynn Harrell, Anne-Marie McDermott, Robert McDuffie, Elmar Oliveira, David Shifrin, Michael Tree, Peter Wiley, and the Díaz String Trio. Praised as a "brilliant soloist" (American Record Guide) and for "a performance that glowed with inner warmth...." (The Oregonian), many of her performances have been streamed online and broadcast on FM Radio; in 2011 her solo CD Kaleidoscope was released. Her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees are from the Cleveland Institute of Music where she studied with Donald Weilerstein. She lives with her husband and two young sons in Macon, Georgia.
Juan Miguel Hernandez
Juan Miguel Hernandez is widely regarded as one of the finest viola talents of his generation. In September 2009 he received Grand Prize at the International Johannes Brahms Competition in Austria, adding to top prizes at the National Canadian Music Competition and National Sphinx Competition (JPMorgan Chase) in 2006. As featured soloist, he has appeared with the Atlanta, Seattle, and Colorado symphonies, and the Rochester Philharmonic. Recent tours include Mexico, Canada, the Middle East, and throughout the U.S. and Europe, and collaborations with Itzhak Perlman, Lynn Harrell, Robert Spano, Robert Chen, Ronald Leonard, Paul Katz, and Yehonatan Berick. Festival appearances include the Salzburg Festival, Banff, Colorado Springs, Sarasota, Domaine Forget (Quebec), Perlman Music Program, and iPalpiti Festival of International Laureates. Juan Miguel is a founding member of the Harlem Quartet whose mission is to advance diversity in classical music, engaging young and new audiences through the discovery of varied repertoire, highlighting minority composers. The Quartet's music videos with an eclectic mix of musical styles have become a viral sensation. The Quartet has performed at Carnegie Hall (already 4 times); in December 2008 the Quartet performed at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. on the Library's Stradivarius instruments with cellist Carter Brey. Juan Miguel has appeared on radio and TV throughout Canada and the U.S. His discography includes a solo and a quartet CD on the White Pine Music label; forthcoming recordings include Naxos CD with the Harlem Quartet. Born in Montreal, Juan Miguel began violin at seven and viola at 12. He earned his Bachelors from the Colburn Conservatory with Paul Coletti and has performed in masterclasses with Pinchas Zukerman, Roberto Diaz, Paul Neubauer, Steven Dann, James Dunham, Barbara Westphal, and Robert Vernon; currently he works privately with Dimitri Murrath, Garth Knox, and Kim Kashkashian. Juan Miguel plays a 2008 Miralles instrument on loan from the Maestro Foundation, sponsored by Ron and Pat Lebel. www.jmhernandez.com
Andrzej Bauer
First place winner of the prestigious Munich ARD International Cello Competition, Andrzej Bauer also holds the 1989 Prague Spring Competition prize and the European Forder Prize. Bauer performs as soloist and recitalist, at international festivals, and on radio throughout Europe, the U.S., and Japan. He has appeared as soloist with all the Polish orchestras including Sinfonia Varsovia and the National Philharmonic in Warsaw, and with major European orchestras such as the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, RAI Orchestra in Naples, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Radio Orchestra in Stuttgart, and the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra. In recent years, Bauer has given recitals in Paris, Amsterdam, Hamburg, and has performed at the Tivoli Festival in Copenhagen, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Carintischer Sommer, Warsaw Autumn, Casals Festival in Puerto Rico, Kissinger Sommer, and Klavierfestival Ruhr, among others. He has recorded for the BBC, Radio France, Radio Prague, Polish Radio, Sender Freies Berlin, and Norddeutscher Rundfunk. Bauer's first recording for Koch/Schwan, with works by Schubert, Brahms, and Schumann, was awarded the German Critics Prize (Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik). Subsequent CD releases include works by Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Stravinsky as well as Lutosławski's famed Cello Concerto. His double album with the Cello Suites by J. S. Bach was released in 2000 on the CD Accord label to critical acclaim, awarded a Polish "Grammy." Bauer's vast repertoire includes many newly composed pieces, some of them especially for him. He presents recitals, "Cellotronicum," of first performances of solo cello works with electronic media (that he inspired), the first at the 2002 Warsaw Autumn. Bauer studied at the Academy of Music in Łódź Poland, and performed in numerous masterclasses, and in London with William Pleeth for two years with support of a scholarship from Lutosławski. He is Professor of Cello at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw and the Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music. He is a founder and artistic patron of the Warsaw Cellonet Group. www.andrzejbauer.com
DaXun Zhang
"If the bass is finally to produce a headliner, the instrument can have no better champion," wrote The Washington Post of double bassist DaXun Zhang. A number of "firsts" support such: in 2001 the youngest winner of the International Society of Bassists Solo Competition; in 2003 the first double bass First Prize winner in WAMSO competition; and the first double bass winner of Young Concert Artists International Auditions. Zhang has also won the Orchestra New England Soloist Prize and Grand Prize in American String Teachers Association National Solo Competition; in April 2007 he was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant. As concerto soloist, Zhang has appeared with Edmonton Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Minnesota Symphony Orchestra, Grand Rapids Symphony, Cedar Rapids Symphony, and Orchestra of St. Luke's. He has given recitals at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, University of Georgia, Missouri State University, Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, Foundation for Chinese Performing Arts at Jordan Hall in Boston, Buffalo Chamber Music Society, Maple Ridge Music Society, Loyola University New Orleans, and at the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C. Zhang has also performed at La Jolla Music Society's Summerfest, Linton Chamber Music Series in Cincinnati, Strings in the Mountains Music Festival, Music@Menlo Festival, Vancouver Chamber Music Festival, and Lincoln Center's Chamber Music Society Two. He has performed extensively with the Silk Road Project, including in Japan with its Artistic Director, Yo-Yo Ma, for NHK Television. Zhang comes from a family of bassists in Harbin, China. He has been playing the instrument since age nine, and from age 11 studied at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. He continued his studies in the U.S. at Interlochen Arts Academy and earned his Bachelors at Indiana University studying with Lawrence Hurst. He served on the faculty of Northwestern University and is Assistant Professor of Double Bass at the University of Texas at Austin. www.daxunzhang.com
Péter Nagy
First Prize in the 1979 Hungarian Radio Competition launched virtuosic pianist Péter Nagy into a remarkable international career at a young age. Nagy had been admitted at only age eight to the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, and at age 11 won second prize in the International Competition in Usti nad Labem (Czechoslovakia). His international performance career began at age 17 and, in 1980, he was acclaimed at the Bordeaux Festival of Young Soloists and on the Bratislava International Rostrum for Young Interpreters. Nagy concerts include tours throughout Europe, performing solo concertos and recitals in Finland, Yugoslavia, Germany, Greece, Russia, throughout former Soviet Union, and France where he has performed at the Louvre in Paris, among other places. His worldwide concert tours include recitals in Australia at the Sydney Opera House and throughout the Far East including Japan, where he has also appeared as soloist with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and Yomiuri Symphony Orchestra, among others. As a chamber musician he has performed at major music festivals in Europe, the U.S., and Japan, including in Aix-en-Provence, Athens, Båstad, Davos, Kilkenny, Edinburgh, Turku, Kuhmo, Moritzburg (Dresden), Stresa, Stockholm, Helsinki, Ojai, and the Marlboro Music Festival. Nagy regularly collaborates in chamber music including with violinists Tanja Becker-Bender and Leonidas Kavakos, violist Kim Kashkashian, and clarinetist Håkan Rosengren. Quite active as a teacher, he is Head of the Piano Department at the Liszt Academy in Budapest and Professor of Piano at the Hochschule für Musik in Stuttgart. Nagy has recorded for Hungaroton, Delos, Naxos, BIS, and ECM labels. In 2001 he was awarded the prestigious Liszt Award.
Michelle Schumann
A native Canadian, Michelle Schumann is a highly sought-after solo pianist and collaborative artist both in her hometown of Austin, and throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe. The Austin AmericanStatesman described her performance as "masterly [and] alive to the rhythmic variety and dissonance of the music, while also drawing out every exotic and melodic color of the score"; concerts combining classic and contemporary repertoire are "smart, irresistible, and utterly captivating." Her performance of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with the Austin Symphony was named 2008 #1 Classical Arts Event by the Austin Chronicle; she was the Austin Critics' Table 2009 "Best Instrumentalist" and the 2006, 2007, and 2008 "Best Chamber Music Performance." In 2006 Schumann was the top prizewinner in the Janice K. Hodges Competition for Contemporary Piano Music. Schumann is Artistic Director of the Austin Chamber Music Center and has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Ottawa Chamberfest, Ethos Contemporary Music Festival, San Angelo Piano Festival, Round Top International Festival Institute, Long Beach Opera Festival, Bang on a Can Summer Festival at the Massachusetts Museum of Modern Art, Banff Festival of Music and Sound, Victoria Bach Festival, Snake River Chamber Music Festival, and Tanglewood. She has collaborated with the Jupiter, Cavani, Carpe Diem, and Chiara String Quartets and with the Meridian Arts Ensemble, American Repertory Ensemble, American Ballet Theater, New York City Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Austin Symphony Orchestra, and Long Beach Opera. Her performances have been heard on CBC Radio, KMFA, and NPR's KUT. Schumann is Associate Professor of Piano and Artistic Director of the Hillman Visiting Artists Series at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. She received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from The University of Texas at Austin, Young Artist Diploma from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and Performance Diploma from the Vienna Conservatory. www.michelleschumann.com
