2021 FESTIVAL MUSICIANS
Co-founder and co-director of the Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival and Charlottesville native Raphael Bell enjoys a varied career as a principal cellist, chamber musician, teacher, and festival director. He is currently principal cello of the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra in Belgium and co-Artistic Director of La Loingtaine in Montigny-sur-Loing, France. As a chamber musician he has performed at Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Salle Gaveau, Berlin Philharmonie, Köln Philharmonie, Luzerner Theater, Tokyo Suntory Hall, and Kyoto Concert Hall, and at festivals including Seattle Chamber Music, Ferrara Musica, Wiener Festwochen, Elba Festival, Ravinia, Verbier and Resonance Festival Belgium.
Bell was part of the IMS Prussia Cove tour that won the Chamber Music Award from the Royal Philharmonic Society in London, and has collaborated with musicians such as Steven Isserlis, James Ehnes, Martha Argerich, Pekka Kuusisto, Maxim Vengerov, Ivry Gitlis, and with quartets including Brooklyn Rider, Dante and Orpheus, as well as Oxalys and Japan's Nagaokakyo Ensemble. He gave the world premiere of Olli Mustonen's Triptych for three cellos with Steven Isserlis and Steven Doane. Solo performances include concertos with the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Luft Ensemble, and the Royal Flemish Philharmonic under Edo de Waart, and the Brahms Double Concerto with Philippe Herreweghe. This autumn he will perform Giovanni Sollima’s Violoncelles Vibrez! and the Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto with the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, including a performance at the Amsterdam Cello Biennale. As a member of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra for many years, he played in the Lucerne Festival Orchestra’s celebrated Mahler Symphony Cycle with Claudio Abbado. He has also worked with the Munich Philharmonic, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, English Baroque Soloists, Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, and Scottish Chamber Orchestra, among others. Raphael studied at The Juilliard School with Harvey Shapiro, and later with Mario Brunello, Steven Isserlis and Ferenc Rados. |
Violinist Timothy Summers has been a member of the first violin section of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra since 2009, and has performed on violin, viola, and occasionally mandolin with the orchestra at venues across the world. For twenty-one years, he has served as co-director of the Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival, which he co-founded in 2000. He is also second violinist of the Orpheus String Quartet. Summers has performed as a chamber musician at festivals across the United States and Europe. For several years he was a participant in the Emmanuel Music cycle of Bach Cantatas in Boston, led by the late Craig Smith and John Harbison.
Summers has performed extensively as an improviser with electronics. Funded by a grant from the Fulbright Commission, he spent the 2005-2006 year as artist-in-residence at the Danish Institute of Electroacoustic Music in Århus. He has worked for several years on improvisation and computer programming projects with improvisation artist Steven Nachmanovitch. Recently Summers has been developing music learning tools and music reference tools for digital devices. The latest projects are a binary computational engine for musical harmony, Partito, and a metronome for harmonic progressions, HarmoGnome. He currently teaches violin on the faculty of the Universität der Künste (UdK) Berlin, and has taught violin, orchestral playing, improvisation, and chamber music in Spain, Germany, England, Finland, and Colombia. Summers holds an A.B. from Harvard University in English and American Literature and an M.M. in violin Performance from the Juilliard School. He was a student of Ronald Copes and Robert Mann at the Juilliard School, Mark Rush at the University of Virginia, James Buswell at New England Conservatory, and Robert Levin at Harvard University. |
Praised by critics for his passionate expression and dazzling technique, pianist Andrew Armstrong has delighted audiences across the globe, performing in Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, the Rudolfinum of Prague, Warsaw’s National Philharmonic, and more. He has appeared in solo recitals and performed a repertoire of more than 50 concertos under the baton of such conductors as Peter Oundjian, Itzhak Perlman, Günther Herbig, Stefan Sanderling, Jean-Marie Zeitouni, and Stanislaw Skrowaczewski.
Andrew has collaborated with the Elias, Alexander, American, and Manhattan String Quartets, and been a member of the Caramoor Virtuosi, Seattle Chamber Music Society, and Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players. Plans for the 2021-2022 season include concerts in London, Glasgow, Geneva, Dresden, and across the US, Canada, and Australia. Andrew serves as Artistic Director of two thriving series in South Carolina, the Columbia Museum of Art’s Chamber Music on Main and the USC Beaufort Chamber Music Series. In 2020, Andrew founded New Canaan Chamber Music, CT and serves as its Artistic Director. Andrew’s debut solo CD featuring Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition and other works was released to critical acclaim: “I have heard few pianists play [Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Sonata], recorded or in concert, with such dazzling clarity and confidence” (American Record Guide). He followed that success with a disc on Cordelia Records of works by Chopin, Liszt, Debussy, and the world premiere recording of Lisa Bielawa’s Wait for piano & drone. Andrew has had several award-winning recordings with his longtime recital partner violinist James Ehnes, and last season their recording of the complete cycle of 10 Beethoven Violin Sonatas garnered stellar reviews. Andrew is dedicated to outreach programs and playing for children. He lives in Massachusetts with his wife Esty, their three children, and two dogs. |
Cellist Edward Arron has garnered recognition worldwide for his elegant musicianship, impassioned performances, and creative programming. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, he began playing the cello at age seven and made his New York recital debut in 2000 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Since that time, he has performed at Carnegie’s Weill and Zankel Halls, Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully and Avery Fisher Halls, New York’s Town Hall, and the 92nd Street Y, and has appeared in recital, as a soloist with major orchestras, and as a chamber musician throughout North America, Europe and Asia.
Mr. Arron tours and records as a member of the renowned Ehnes Quartet, and he has also participated in Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project and Isaac Stern’s Jerusalem Chamber Music Encounters. Festival appearances include Ravinia, Salzburg, Mostly Mozart, Bravo! Vail, Tanglewood, Spoleto USA, Santa Fe, Seattle Chamber Music, Kuhmo, PyeongChang, Telluride Musicfest, and Seoul Spring. He has been a resident performer and curator of chamber music concerts at the Caramoor International Music Festival for over a quarter of a century. In 2013, he completed a ten-year residency as the artistic director of the Metropolitan Museum Artists in Concert. The 2021-22 season marks Mr. Arron’s 13th season as the artistic director and host of the acclaimed Musical Masterworks concert series in Old Lyme, Connecticut. He is also the co-artistic director with his wife, pianist Jeewon Park, of the Performing Artists in Residence series at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Their recording of Beethoven’s Complete Works for Cello and Piano was released on the Aeolian Classics Record Label in January. A graduate of the Juilliard School, where he was a student of Harvey Shapiro, Edward Arron has served on the faculty of the University of Massachusetts Amherst since 2016. |
Associate Professor of Viola at the University of Virginia, Ayn Balija leads a musically rich life through performance and instruction. Maintaining a studio and coaching chamber music, she serves as the principal violist of the Charlottesville Symphony at the University of the Virginia and violist of the Rivanna String Quartet.
As a professional violist, Balija performs solo, chamber, and orchestral works around the country. She has performed as soloist with the Charlottesville Symphony and with the faculty orchestra of the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts. While a member of the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus, she performed classical and commissioned works, recording two CDs under the Summit label. She regularly performs with the Richmond Symphony, Williamsburg Symphony, and Roanoke Symphony and was invited to tour with the Pittsburgh Symphony on an east coast tour that included a performance at Carnegie Hall. As an advocate and performer of new music, she was part of a consortium for Fernghetti by Libby Larsen, commissioned and premiered Jorge Variego’s Enviaolo for viola and piano, and has performed and recorded numerous orchestral premieres. Balija created Violapalooza, an annual day-long event featuring guest artists such as Kim Kashkashian, George Taylor, and Paul Neubauer. In addition to giving masterclasses and recitals, Balija has presented at the American String Teachers Association, the American Viola Society’s Viola Festival, and the International Viola Society’s 44th Congress in Wellington, New Zealand, and has published on the American Viola Society’s “Teacher’s Toolbox” page. Summers have found Balija performing and teaching at Tennessee Governors School for the Arts, Yachats Summer Music Festival (OR), North Carolina Chamber Music Festival, Charlottesville Opera, Staunton Music Festival, Beyond the Notes (VA), and the Belvoir Camp for Girls (MA). She also served as the interim viola instructor at James Madison University. Balija holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, a Master of Music from The Cleveland Institute of Music and a Doctor of Musical Arts from James Madison University. Her principal mentors have been Peter Slowik, Jeffrey Irvine, and Karen Tuttle. When not studying music she can be found in her kitchen or garden. |
Rachel Calloway brings versatility and compelling insight to stages worldwide. Her work has been praised by the New York Times for its “penetrating clarity” and “considerable depth of expression.” She has appeared in concert with the Orlando Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Series, New York Philharmonic, Berkeley Symphony, Ojai Festival, San Francisco Girls’ Chorus, BAM Next Wave Festival, Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, Cal Performances, and Lincoln Center Festival. Ms. Calloway made her European operatic debut as Mrs. Grose in The Turn of the Screw at Opéra de Reims, Athénée Théâtre Louis-Jovet (Paris) and Opéra de Lille. She has performed with Lorin Maazel at the Castleton Festival in Virginia, Opera Philadelphia, Tulsa Opera, Central City Opera, Gotham Chamber Opera, The PROTOTYPE Festival, and the Glimmerglass Festival.
This season’s highlights include Janáček’s The Diary of One Who Disappeared at Binghamton University, The Castleton Festival, and the University of South Carolina, the music of John Zorn at the Elbphilharmonie (Hamburg), a world premiere by Robert Xavier Rodriguez with the Amernet Quartet, Messiah with the Aiken Symphony, new works with the vocal ensemble Ekmeles in Chicago, Duo Cortona in residence at the Vermont College of Fine Arts, and concerts of Jewish art music with Shir Ami in Charleston and Columbia, SC. Ms. Calloway serves on the faculty of the University of South Carolina as Instructor of Voice and Director of Spark: Music Leadership at Carolina. She joined the faculty of the Cortona Sessions for New Music (Italy) in 2014 and Summer Performing Arts with Juilliard (Switzerland) in 2016. Ms. Calloway holds degrees from The Juilliard School (BM) and Manhattan School of Music (MM) and can be heard on Albany Records, Tzadik Records, BCMF Records, and Toccata Classics. |
For more than two decades, violist Nicholas Cords has been on the front line of a growing constellation of projects as performer, educator, and cultural advocate. Formerly Programming Chair and Co-Artistic Director of the internationally renowned musical collective Silkroad, Nicholas continues to serve as violist, a role he has enjoyed since the group’s inception. Founded by Yo-Yo Ma in 2000, Silkroad operates in the belief that listening across cultures leads to a more hopeful world. Recent highlights for Silkroad include the Grammy Award winning album 'Sing Me Home', Morgan Neville’s Oscar-nominated documentary about Silkroad, 'The Music of Strangers', and music created for Ken Burns’ series ‘The Vietnam War.’
Another key aspect of Nicholas’ busy musical life is as founding member of Brooklyn Rider, an intrepid group which NPR credits with “recreating the 300-year-old form of the string quartet as a vital and creative 21st-century ensemble.” Brooklyn Rider’s singular mission and gripping performance style have resulted in an indelible contribution to the world of the string quartet that has brought in legions of fans across the spectrum. Recent collaborators include Irish fiddler Martin Hayes, Swedish mezzo soprano Anne Sofie von Otter, jazz saxophonist Joshua Redman, Persian kemancheh virtuoso Kayhan Kalhor, banjo legend Béla Fleck, and Mexican jazz singer Magos Herrera. Brooklyn Rider’s most recent recording and commissioning project, ‘Healing Modes’ – released during the pandemic – was a 2021 Grammy nominee. A committed teacher, Nicholas joined the viola and chamber music faculty at New England Conservatory in the fall of 2018 after teaching at Stony Brook University for the previous seven years. His newest solo album, Touch Harmonious, was released last fall. |
Praised for the “rapturous poetry” in his playing (American Record Guide) and as an “excellent” and “evocative” violinist (New York Times), Nicholas DiEugenio leads a versatile performing life as a chamber musician, leader, and soloist in music ranging from early baroque to current commissions. He performs in venues such as Glinka Hall in St. Petersburg, Trinity Wall St., Freiburg’s Ensemblehaus, and Weill Recital Hall. Together with pianist and duo partner Mimi Solomon, Nicholas created the project “Unraveling Beethoven,” a cycle of all ten violin sonatas combined with response works from composers Tonia Ko, Jesse Jones, Robert Honstein, D.K. Garner, and Allen Anderson. The award-winning album "Unraveling Beethoven" was released in 2018 by New Focus Recordings. Other featured recordings include the complete Violin Sonatas of Robert Schumann (Musica Omnia) as well as a tribute to Pulitzer prizewinner Steven Stucky (New Focus). Nicholas is a core member of The Sebastians as well as Associate Professor of Music at UNC Chapel Hill.
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James Ehnes has established himself as one of the most sought-after violinists on the international stage. Gifted with a rare combination of stunning virtuosity, serene lyricism and an unfaltering musicality, Ehnes is a favorite guest at the world’s most celebrated concert halls. His many appearances as soloist with orchestra include recent performances with the MET Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, San Francisco Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, London Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, and Munich Philharmonic. In 2017, Ehnes premiered the Aaron-Jay Kernis Violin Concerto with the Toronto, Seattle and Dallas Symphony Orchestras.
Alongside his concerto work, Ehnes maintains a busy recital schedule and collaborates as a chamber musician with artists such as Andsnes, Capucon, Lortie, Lugansky, Yo-Yo Ma, Tamestit, Vogler and Yuja Wang. In 2010, he formally established the Ehnes Quartet, and in 2012 he became Artistic Director of the Seattle Chamber Music Society. His extensive discography of more than 50 releases has won many awards including 2 GRAMMY awards, a Gramophone award, and 11 Junos. Recent releases include the complete Beethoven Sonatas with pianist Andrew Armstrong, the 6 Solo Sonatas by Ysaÿe, and concerti by Kernis, Howard, Strauss, and Beethoven. Ehnes began violin studies at the age of five and became a protégé of the noted Canadian violinist Francis Chaplin. He continued his studies with Sally Thomas at The Juilliard School, winning the Peter Mennin Prize for Outstanding Achievement and Leadership in Music upon graduation. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a member of both the Order of Manitoba and the Order of Canada. James Ehnes plays the “Marsick” Stradivarius of 1715. |
Described as an “intrepid percussionist” by Fanfare Magazine, I-Jen Fang has a career as a solo performer, chamber musician, orchestral player, and teacher. She joined the music faculty at the University of Virginia in 2005 and is Principal Timpanist and Percussionist of the Charlottesville Symphony.
I-Jen has performed as a marimba soloist in Taiwan, the United States, Austria, France, Hungary, Romania, and South Africa. As a chamber musician, I-Jen has performed with EcoSono Ensemble, Cantata Profana, Attacca Percussion Group, and DaCapo Chamber Players. She has appeared with Heritage Theater Festival, Staunton Music Festival, Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival, Wintergreen Festival, Percussive Arts Society International Convention and Regional PAS Day of Percussion. Born in Taipei, Taiwan, I-Jen began learning piano at age six and percussion at age nine. She came to the United States at age fifteen to pursue her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Percussion Performance at Carnegie Mellon University. She received her Master of Music degree from Northwestern University and her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of North Texas, where she served as a teaching fellow. I-Jen is an Innovative Percussion artist. |
At the age of 20, Korean-American violinist Soovin Kim won the Paganini International Violin Competition, which launched his international performance career. He has toured Europe with pianist Mitsuko Uchida, and has given concerto, chamber music, and recital performances in Carnegie Hall, the Concertgebouw, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Lincoln Center, Royce Hall, Herbst Theatre, and Strathmore Hall. Kim is recognized for his commitment, both to fresh interpretations of the standard repertoire, and to commissioning new works. Concert activities include regular performances of the complete Bach sonatas and Paganini caprices for solo violin, sonatas for violin and piano ranging from Beethoven to Ives, Mozart and Haydn concertos and symphonies, and world-premiere works almost every season.
For 20 years, Kim performed as violinist in the Johannes String Quartet and now plays each season in the Chien-Kim-Watkins Piano Trio. He is the founder and artistic director (together with his wife, pianist Gloria Chien) of the Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival in Burlington, Vermont; for the Festival’s contributions to the community, the University of Vermont awarded Kim an honorary doctorate. Chien and Kim are also in their first year as artistic directors of Chamber Music Northwest in Portland, Oregon. Among his many commercial recordings is his acclaimed disc of Paganini’s Twenty-Four Caprices (“thrillingly triumphant” – Classic FM magazine). Kim enjoys teaching and has held posts at Yale, the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and currently, the New England Conservatory in Boston. |
Violinist Tessa Lark has been consistently praised for her astounding range of sounds, technical agility, and musical elegance. A 2020 Grammy nominee in the Best Classical Instrumental Solo category, Silver Medalist in the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, recipient of a 2018 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship and a 2016 Avery Fisher Career Grant, and winner of the 2012 Naumburg International Violin Competition, she is also an acclaimed fiddler in the tradition of her native Kentucky.
Since her concerto debut with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra at age 16, Lark has performed with numerous prominent orchestras, recital venues, and festivals including Carnegie Hall, Marlboro Music, and Lincoln Center. Three recordings featuring her were released in 2019: her solo debut album Fantasy, comprising her own Appalachian Fantasy and a variety of classic works in fantasia form; the Grammy-nominated SKY, whose title selection is a bluegrass-inspired violin concerto written for her by Michael Torke; and Invention, the debut album of her violin-bass duo, Tessa Lark & Michael Thurber. Planned for release in the 2021-22 season is The Stradgrass Sessions, an album featuring Lark in solo works by Corigliano and Ysaÿe and in duo collaborations with bassist Edgar Meyer, pianist Jon Batiste, fiddler Michael Cleveland, and mandolinist Sierra Hull. Tessa Lark is a graduate of New England Conservatory and holds an artist diploma from The Juilliard School. |
Violinist Amy Schwartz Moretti is a versatile chamber musician, concertmaster, soloist, and educator. Despite the more limited activities and concerts during this time of Covid-19, she has continued to find musical outlets, highlighted by virtual concerts, a recording project with the Ehnes Quartet, and live, socially distanced performances on the Fabian Concert Series, which she curates.
Moretti enjoys the opportunity to travel to perform and has played concerts around the world, including venues in Korea and England, Hawaii to New York and as close as South Carolina and Alabama. Her many festival appearances include Bridgehampton, ChamberFest Cleveland, La Jolla, Meadowmount, Seattle Chamber Music Society, and Manchester Music Festival. She is former concertmaster of the Oregon Symphony and Florida Orchestra. She has served as guest concertmaster for the symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Houston, and Pittsburgh; the New York Pops and Hawaii Pops; and the festival orchestras of Brevard, Colorado and Grand Teton. Moretti was awarded The Cleveland Institute of Music’s Alumni Achievement Award, was the 2014 San Francisco Conservatory of Music Fanfare Honoree, and was selected as one of 2018 Musical America’s “Top 30 Professionals of the Year.” Since 2007, Moretti has been Director of the McDuffie Center for Strings and has developed the Fabian Concert Series; she also holds the Caroline Paul King Chair, teaching in the Mercer University Townsend School of Music. She lives in Georgia with her husband and two sons, enjoying tennis, biking, and swimming. |
Benjamin Rous was named Music Director of the Charlottesville Symphony in the fall of 2017, and simultaneously joined the UVA music faculty. In 2018 he concluded an eight-year tenure as Resident Conductor of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, where he conducted a broad range of Classics, Pops, and ballet performances. Notable guest appearances include debuts with the National Symphony, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Long Beach Symphony, and the Charleston Symphony. In the summers he serves as faculty conductor of Greenwood Music Camp in western Massachusetts.
An accomplished instrumentalist, Rous has concertized extensively on violin, viola, and keyboard instruments. He has served as guest principal 2nd violin with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, was a regular member of the Boston-area Arcturus Chamber Ensemble for a decade, and has led the Virginia Symphony Orchestra from the harpsichord. Rous studied music at Harvard with an emphasis on composition. His works have been performed by diverse ensembles including the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, the Greenwood Orchestra and the Fromm Players. During his college years, he studied performance practice with Robert Levin and performed on baroque violin with the Harvard Baroque Chamber Orchestra. He earned the Doctor of Musical Arts in orchestral conducting with Kenneth Kiesler at the University of Michigan, and received further guidance in festivals and masterclasses from David Zinman, Kurt Masur, Gustav Meier, Marin Alsop and Lorin Maazel. |
Pianist Mimi Solomon enjoys a multi-faceted career as a chamber musician, soloist, and teacher. She has performed throughout the United States, China, Japan and Europe, has appeared as soloist with orchestras including Shanghai Symphony, Philharmonia Virtuosi, and Yale Symphony Orchestra, and has been featured on radio and television broadcasts, including France 3 and National Public Radio. She is an avid chamber musician, appearing regularly at music festivals on both sides of the Atlantic such as Santander, IMS Prussia Cove, Lockenhaus, Rencontres de Bel-Air, Ravinia, Taos, Norfolk, Yellow Barn, Charlottesville, La Loingtaine, and Aspen.
A dedicated teacher, Mimi is co-artistic director of Mallarmé Youth Chamber Orchestra (MYCO), and spends part of every year coaching and performing chamber music at Kinhaven Festival in Vermont. She has taught at Cornell University, East Carolina University, and Ithaca College, and is currently on the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Mimi graduated cum laude in East Asian Studies from Yale, earned a Master of Music from Juilliard, and studied the fortepiano in Paris. Her main teachers were Peter Frankl and Robert McDonald. She has played regularly for Ferenc Rados and studied the fortepiano with Patrick Cohen. Her studies were generously supported by a Beebe Grant and two Woolley Scholarships from the Fondation des États-Unis. She currently lives in Chapel Hill with her husband, violinist Nicholas DiEugenio. |
Applauded by The Strad for his “brilliant and compelling programming,” and by the Oregon Arts Watch for his "mind-boggling" performance of original compositions, Sam Suggs was the first double bassist in a generation to win the Concert Artists Guild solo competition. He received first prize at the International Society of Bassists 2015 Solo Competition as well as awards at the Bradetich Foundation 2017 International Solo Double Bass Competition.
As a collaborative bassist, Sam has performed at the Mostly Mozart Festival, Yellow Barn, Chamber Music Northwest, Phoenix Chamber Music Society, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and with PUBLIQuartet, the Dover, Escher, Rolston, and Argus Quartets. A native of Buffalo, Sam holds a doctorate from the Yale School of Music and spends his time between the Northeast and the Shenandoah Valley giving recitals and master classes, and performing with various chamber, crossover, and contemporary ensembles, while teaching full-time as Assistant Professor of Bass at James Madison University. He serves on the faculties of the Heifetz Institute and the Sewanee Summer Music Festival and has also taught at the Juilliard Summer Strings Program in Shanghai and Peabody Bass Works. |
Born in the Czech Republic in 1986, pianist Lukáš Vondráček gave his first concert at the age of 4 and first international tour at the age of 10. He made his debut with the Czech Philharmonic at 15, and his New York debut at Carnegie Hall’s Isaac Stern Auditorium at 16. Vondráček studied at the Academy of Music in Katowice and the Vienna Conservatoire. He moved to the United States in 2009 and obtained an Artist Diploma from the New England Conservatory under the tutelage of Hung-Kuan Chen.
Since then Vondráček has achieved worldwide recognition, winning the Grand Prix at the 2016 Concours Reine Elisabeth in Brussels, among other honors. He has performed with renowned orchestras, including the BBC Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Helsinki Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Belgique, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, and St.Petersburg Philharmonic, under the batons of such conductors as Paavo Järvi, Gianandrea Noseda, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Marin Alsop, Christoph Eschenbach, Manfred Honeck, and Vladimir Ashkenazy. Performances this past summer included Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 (“Emperor”) with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Ravinia. He will take his residency with the Janáček Philharmonic into the next season and continue his recording cycle of all the Rachmaninov Piano concertos with the Prague Symphony Orchestra. |
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LIVE CONCERT ATTENDEES: Masks are required at all concerts and proof of vaccination is required for entry at The Paramount. We recommend using your cell phone to take a photo of your vaccine card in case you forget the physical card. Click above for more information.