JEFFREY BIEGEL
Piano

ROBERT deMAINE
Cello

KINGA AUGUSTYN
Violin

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DEBUT CONCERT!

On September 18, 2011, on the series at Bargemusic Ltd. in Brooklyn, New York, Trio21 will perform a program that includes the World Premiere of a new trio commissioned for us by the composer, Kenneth Fuchs. The program will be:

Mozart: Trio no. 2 in G Major, K. 496
Kenneth Fuchs: Falling Trio (World Premiere)
Brahms: Trio no. 2 in C Major, Op. 87

JEFFREY BIEGEL

Jeffrey Biegel is one of today's most revered artists having created a multi-faceted career as a pianist, recording artist, composer and arranger. His electrifying technique and mesmerizing touch has received critical acclaim and garners praise worldwide. Known for his standard-setting performances of the standard repertoire, Mr. Biegel's recent recordings for Naxos include Leroy Anderson's 'Concerto in C', conducted by Leonard Slatkin with the BBC Concert Orchestra, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's 'Millennium Fantasy' and 'Peanuts Gallery' with the Florida State University Orchestra, a solo cd of Vivaldi's 'Four Seasons', 'Classical Carols' on the Koch label, as well as the Complete Sonatas by Mozart on the E1 label. In 2010, he performs two world premieres with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Carl St. Clair: Richard Danielpour's 'Mirrors for Piano and Orchestra', and, William Bolcom's 'Prometheus for Piano, Orchestra and Chorus'. Mr. Biegel is currently assembling a global commissioning project for Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's next work for piano and orchestra for the 2011-13 seasons. Mr. Biegel's 'Hanukah Fantasy' for SATB/piano, is now published by the Hal Leonard Corporation, along with Lucas Richman's orchestral arrangement with choir, published by the LeDor Group.

The career of pianist Jeffrey Biegel has been marked by bold, creative achievements and highlighted by a series of firsts: He initiated the first live internet recitals in New York and Amsterdam in 1997 and 1998, and, in 1999, assembled the largest consortium of orchestras (over 25), to celebrate the millennium with a new concerto composed for him by Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, whose 'Millennium Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra' was premiered with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in 2000. He performed the Boston premiere of the restored, original 1924 manuscript of George Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue' with the Boston Pops. He also transcribed Balakirev's 'Islamey Fantasy' for piano and orchestra, premiered with the American Symphony Orchestra in 2001, followed with Charles Strouse composing a new work titled 'Concerto America' for Mr. Biegel, premiered with the Boston Pops in 2002. He further arranged the piano part for Billy Joel's 'Symphonic Fantasies' in 2006, with performances at the Eastern Music Festival, the Boris Brott Festival and with the Indianapolis, Harrisburg, and other US orchestras. His new editions for Schirmer's Performance Editions include Schumann's 'Scenes from Childhood', a new 'Sonatina Album', Tschaikowsky's 'Nutcracker Suite' and Prokofiev's 'Music for Children, Opus 65' with accompanying audio CDs.

Mr. Biegel joined 18 co-commissioning orchestras for Lowell Liebermann's 'Concerto no. 3 for Piano and Orchestra' composed exclusively for him for the 2006-07-08 seasons. The World Premiere took place with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Andreas Delfs, and the European Premiere featured the Schleswig Holstein Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Gerard Oskamp.

Until the age of 3, Mr. Biegel was unable to hear nor speak, until corrected by surgery. The 'reverse Beethoven' phenomenon can explain Mr. Biegel's life in music, having heard only vibrations in his formative years. Born a second-generation American, Mr. Biegel's roots are of Russian and Austrian heritage. A Russian cousin, pianist Herman Kosoff, emigrated to the United States in the early 20th century, and had studied with the great Leopold Godowsky in Austria.

Mr. Biegel, with his son, Craig, composed 'The World In Our Hands', published by the Hal Leonard Corporation. Also published through Hal Leonard are 'Christmas In A Minute', a choral setting of Chopin's 'Minute Waltz', an arrangement of 'The Twelve Days of Christmas', and 'Hey Ho, the Wind and the Rain' from William Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night', and the 'Hanukah Fantasy'. Carl Fischer also publishes 'Ho Ho Hanukah! Ho Ho Christmas!' and 'Different Kind of Hero' in 2008, and, Earthsongs includes Mr. Biegel's 'Elegy of Anne Boleyn' in their catalogue. Mr. Biegel is also an exclusive recording artist for PianoDisc.

Leonard Bernstein said of pianist Jeffrey Biegel: 'He played fantastic Liszt. He is a splendid musician and a brilliant performer.' He won the First Grand Prize in the 1989 Marguerite Long International Piano Competition and First Prize in the 1985 William Kapell/University of Maryland International Piano Competition. He studied at The Juilliard School with Adele Marcus, herself a pupil of Josef Lhevinne and Artur Schnabel.

Mr. Biegel is currently on the piano faculty at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College, a City University of New York (CUNY), and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). he resides outside New York City with his wife, Sharon, his sons, Craig and Evan. His personal web site is www.jeffreybiegel.com.

ROBERT deMAINE

Praised by The New York Times as "an artist who makes one hang on every note," Robert deMaine has distinguished himself as one of the finest and most versatile cellists of his generation, having performed to critical acclaim as soloist, recitalist, orchestral principal, recording artist, and chamber musician throughout the world, from Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York to the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. A first-prize winner in many national and international competitions from the time he was 12 years old, deMaine became, in 1990, the first cellist ever to win San Francisco's prestigious Irving M. Klein International Competition for Strings.  

A fourth-generation string player, Robert deMaine was born in Oklahoma City to a military and musical family of French (Franco-Belgian) and Polish-Jewish extraction. By the age of 12, he had come to the attention of famed cellists Pierre Fournier, Christine Walevska, and Leonard Rose, who all encouraged him to continue his studies in New York and abroad. A Catholic priest, Father Ernest Flusché, provided sponsorship which enabled him to pursue his studies as a teenager with Leonard Rose at Juilliard Pre-College, after which he attended the Meadowmount School, the Eastman School of Music, the Marlboro School and Festival, and Yale University on full-tuition fellowships. DeMaine also studied at the University of Southern California and the Kronberg Academy in Germany.

The recipient of a career grant from the Helen M. Saunders Foundation, deMaine's many distinctions have included First Prizes from the Naftzger String Competition, the Corpus Christi International String Competition, the American String Teachers Association New York Solo Competition, the Piatigorsky Seminar, the Saint Louis Symphony Young Artists Competition, the Julius Bloch Awards, the Keith Awards, and the Premio Sipario di Milano for Excellence in Classical Performance where he was the first cellist to be selected for this Italian arts-and-entertainment honor. He was also a top prize-winnner in the 1990 Chicago Cello Competition. DeMaine was honored in both 2003 and 2004 by the Alliance Française and was the recipient of the Detroit/Motor City Music Award for Best Classical Instrumentalist in both 2004 and 2008.

Robert deMaine has collaborated with many distinguished musicians, including violinists Gil Shaham, Pamela Frank, Joseph Silverstein, and Felix Galimir, pianists Emanuel Ax, Claude Frank, Anton Kuerti, and Yefim Bronfman, and conductors Neeme Järvi, Leonard Slatkin, Arild Remmereit, Dennis Russell Davies, Ludovic Morlot, Peter Oundjian, Thomas Wilkins, Walter Hendl, Mark Wigglesworth, Nicholas McGegan, Jun Märkl, Alexander Schneider, and Yoav Talmi. As a chamber musician, he is a frequent guest artist at music festivals throughout the world, including Aspen, Chautauqua, Mainly Mozart (San Diego), Norfolk, Seattle, Steamboat Springs, Utah, Heidelberg (Germany), Festival Asturias (Guatemala), San Miguel de Allende (Mexico), Buenos Aires (Argentina), and the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont, also performing with Music from Marlboro in New York and Washington, D.C. He has collaborated with the Beaux Arts Trio, Kronos Quartet, Cleveland, Juilliard, Emerson and American String Quartets, and now performs regularly with violinist James Ehnes and pianist Andrew Armstrong. DeMaine is also the cellist of 3 newly formed chamber ensembles: the Ehnes Quartet (with violinists James Ehnes, Amy Schwartz Moretti, and violist Richard O'Neill), Icarus with flutist Richard Sherman and pianist James Wilhelmsen, and Trio21 with violinist Judy Kang and pianist Jeffrey Biegel.

Robert deMaine has recorded for CBC, Elysium, Capstone, and CRI records, and his performances can be heard on NPR's "Performance Today," the CBC, and seen on PBS and RAI, among other media outlets. Mr. deMaine is also a composer, having written much music for his own instrument which he often performs, including a set of Twelve Études-Caprices from 1999. He has collaborated with many of today's young composers and has premiered works written for him, most recently Summer Verses for Violin and Cello by Christopher Theofanidis, which received its first performance in July, 2009 at the Seattle Chamber Music Society's Summer Festival to great critical acclaim.

Since 2006, Robert deMaine has performed on a cello made in 1845 by Jean Baptiste Vuillaume, a gift to him from the Cecilia Benner Trust. From 2002-2010, Robert deMaine has been the Principal Cellist of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, occupying the James C. Gordon endowed chair. His personal website is www.robertdemaine.com

KINGA AUGUSTYN

Described as "a violinist for whom nothing seems too difficult" Polish Kinga Augustyn made her New York debut in Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall in March of 2008, and has also released a CD with Nicolo Paganini 24 Caprices for Violin Solo. Having distinguished herself as both a virtuoso and scholar of the instrument during the early part of her career, she earned her Bachelors and Masters degrees at The Juilliard School, where she studied with Cho Liang Lin, Naoko Tanaka, and Dorothy DeLay. She is currently a doctoral candidate at the SUNY, Stony Brook, where her teachers have included Philippe Graffin, Philip Setzer, and Pamela Frank.

Ms. Augustyn's many orchestral appearances include performances with the Magdeburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra Leopoldinum, Wroclaw Philharmonic Orchestra, American Academy of Conducting Orchestra at the Aspen Music Festival, and Augusta Symphony Orchestra. In addition to a list of distinguished performances throughout Europe, she has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician in the United States at Carnegie Hall (Stern Auditorium and Weill Recital Hall), Alice Tully Hall, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Merkin Hall, Kosciuszko Foundation, Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, Polish and Hungarian Embassies in Washington, DC, Aspen Music Tent, and the Ethical Society in Philadelphia, PA.

Committed to increasing awareness of music by Polish composers, she is known for including an extensive library of their works in many of her programs. An advocate and promoter of contemporary music, Ms. Augustyn has premiered performances of Michael White’s Sonata for Violin and Piano, composed especially for her, and has recorded his Quartet for Piano and Strings. She is a member of the Syzygy New Music Collective.
Being versatile as a musician, Ms. Augustyn also plays a Baroque Violin and has been involved in early music activities at the Juilliard School, where she performed during the 2008 and 2009 Residency of early music specialists William Christie and Les Arts Florissants.

Among her many international awards are First Prize at the Alexander & Buono International String Competition (New York, 2009) Special Award (winner) of the Artist International Presentations (New York, 2007), Second Prize at the Kosciuszko Foundation Wieniawski Violin Competition (New York, 2007), Special Audience Award at the Johannes Brahms International Competition (Poertschach, Austria, 2001), First Prize at the J.S. Bach String Competition (Zielona Gora, Poland, 1999), Special Prize for Virtuosity, and the Fourth Prize at the Kloster Schoental International Young Artist Competition (Kloster Scheontal, Germany, 1999). In 2010 she was also won First prize in the Ackerman Chamber Music Competition (Stony Brook, NY) and was featured as the Artist of the Month of the Alexander & Buono International String Competition.

She has also performed at and attended summer festivals at Aspen (CO), Leipzig (Germany), Hinterzarten (Germany), Kloster Schoental (Germany), and Lancut (Poland), and has been chosen to perform at various masterclasses for Robert McDuffie, Christian Tetzlaff, Pierre Amoyal, Dene Olding, and Wolfgang Marschner.

Her personal website is www.kingaaugustyn.com.

Contact:

Email: trio21@classicalmatters.com

Website: www.trio-21.com

TRIO21 PHOTO GALLERY -- UNDER CONSTRUCTION