Trio21
In January, 2010, the renowned concert pianist, Jeffrey Biegel, announced the creation of Trio21, with two world-class musicians - violinist, Judy Kang, and cellist, Robert deMaine. The mission of Trio21 is to establish their reputation as one of the world's leading interpreters of the standard works for piano trio, with an added focus on works of 20th century and contemporary composers of various genres. For their inaugural season 2011-12, Trio21 will perform a new work commissioned exclusively for Trio21 by the celebrated composer, Kenneth Fuchs.
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
JUDY KANG
Canadian violinist Judy Kang, has established herself as one of the most talented and prestigious violinists of this generation. She began her solo career at the tender age of 4 in her native Edmonton, Canada and since toured all across North and South America, Europe, Asia, and the Carribean Islands. She has performed with all the major orchestras and ensembles of Canada and those of the US, Europe, and Asia and has performed in recitals and chamber music to diverse audiences in prestigious venues including Tokyo Suntory Hall, Wigmore Hall, Lincoln Center, Sejong Cultural Center, Seoul Arts Center, Schubert Hall in Vienna, the National Arts Center as well as at the Metropolitan and Guggenheim Museums in New York among others. In a nationally acclaimed televised performance at age 10 with the National Arts Center Orchestra, The Ottawa Citizen enthusiastically stated, "If there was a star tonight, it was Judy Kang. Blessed with a gift for the violin that is exceptional, she moves about the instrument at her disposal with an ease that is awe-inspiring." She made her debut to a sold-out audience in Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall to critical acclaim.
She was accepted with full scholarship to the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music at the age of 11, and at just 17, she graduated with a Bachelor in Music as one of the youngest graduates in its history. Upon graduation, Ms Kang captured the Grand-Prize as well as the "Best Interpretation” prize at the CBC Competition for Young Performers, Canada's most honoured competition. Ms Kang gave a solo performance for former Canadian prime-minister Brian Mulroney when she was nine and performed for all of the major Ambassadors of Canada. She has also had the privilege to perform in front of former US president Bill Clinton and Korean president Noh Moo Hyun.
Ms Kang has collaborated with distinguished artists such as Claude Frank, Miriam Fried, David Geringas, Gary Hoffmann, Lynn Harrell, Cho-Liang Lin, Kyung-Wha Chung, Leon Fleisher, Richard Goode, Bruno Canino, Barry Douglas, Gene Bertoncini, Eugenia Zuckerman, David Soyer, Marcy Rosen, Warren Jones, Isidore Cohen, Peter Wiley, Sigfried Palm, Chee-Yun, Samuel Rhodes, Felix Galimir, Samuel Wong, Bramwell Tovey, Nurhan Arman, Jean-Francois Rivest, Alistair Willis,Yoav Talmi, Nance Geum, Mario Bernardi, and Boris Brott. She has performed at major festivals as Marlboro, Ravinia, Bargemusic, Manchester, Aspen, Evian, Banff, Orford, Ste. Petronille, the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, the Pablo Casals Festival, Lenaudiere International Festival, the 'Focus’ Festival in New York, the Northern Lights Festival in Mexico, and has performed and given master classes at the 'Sean Jackson and Friends Festival’ for the development of classical music in Barbados. She performed in a special concert celebrating the inauguration of the Korean-American Jewish-American Forum (KAJA). As a member of the renowned ensemble Sejong, Ms Kang toured Asia and America and was presented as soloist and concert-master with Sejong in performances across the US, Korea, the UK, France and at the launching of the Great Mountains Festival and School in Korea, where she also coached chamber music each summer.
Ms Kang frequently collaborates with living composers and has worked closely with notable composers, Leon Kirchner, Richard Danielpour, Alexander Goehr, Huang Ruo, Michael Patterson, and Pierre Boulez, with whom, after an intense week of collaboration, lead to a successful culminating concert. Canadian composer, Michael Matthews, has written a violin concerto for her. Ms Kang's apparent expression of music is the result of a strong influence of the diverse and rich culture of her upbringing in Canada. She continues to broaden her creativity through improv and writing, and frequently collaborates with diverse musicians and bands including that of her own 'The Simple Machines' comprised of Wayan Zoey on drums, Alan Denniberg on bass, Russ Kaplan on keys, and Judy on violin and vocals. Most recently, she was invited personally by Lady GaGa to be a part of her world tour for 2010-2011. Her personal website is www.judykang.com.
Contact:
Email: trio21@classicalmatters.com
Website: www.trio-21.com
TRIO21 PHOTO GALLERY -- UNDER CONSTRUCTION
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