Clarinetist Charles Neidich's Wa Concert Series Presents 'Beyond Space and Time: The Music of Gabriel Fauré' at Tenri January 26, 2020

The WA Concert Series, led by world-renowned clarinetist Charles Neidich, presents its first program of 2020 on Sunday evening, January 26, 7:30 p.m. at the Tenri Cultural Institute (43a W 13^th Street, New York, NY 10011). On this occasion, Mr. Neidich and pianist Mohamed Shams will perform two sonatas by Gabriel Fauré along with works by Ravel and Berg, in a program entitled “Beyond Space and Time: The Music of Gabriel Fauré.” The full program follows:

Ravel              Sonate Posthume (1897)

Fauré              Sonate No. 1 in A Major, Op. 13 (1875-76)

            —Intermission—

Berg                Piano Sonata Op. 1 (1909)

Fauré              Sonate No. 2 in E Minor, Op. 108 (1916)

Inspired by the Japanese word “wa”—meaning circle, but also harmony and completeness—each concert offers wine and hors d’oeuvres before the performance and during intermission, as well as a wide array of main courses, salads, and desserts afterwards. These programs, conceived by Mr. Neidich and his wife and fellow clarinetist Ayako Oshima, are intended to bring lesser-known composers and works to the attention of the international music community, synthesizing Mr. Neidich’s lifetime of musical knowledge, exploration, and thoughtful reflection.

Continuing this season, Wa presents two further Sunday evening concerts at Tenri on March 8, 2020 at 8:00 pm. and on May 10, 2020 at 7:30 pm. 

Admission at $40—with $25 senior and $20 student tickets available—includes food and drink, and will be available for purchase at www.waconcertseries.com.

The Wa Concert Series, now in its fourth season, has attracted a diverse crowd of music lovers, students, and musicians of all ages. The main draw continues to be the richly variegated programming and superb soloists. Last year, for instance, Wa presented a celebration of Joan Tower and John Harbison; a  program of works by Milton Babbitt and Charles Wuorinen; a collaboration with violinist and historical instrument specialist Cynthia Roberts performing  Mozart, Handel, and Crusell; a benefit with Music for Food for the Xavier Mission; the Parker Quartet with a program entitled, “The Golden Triangle: Prague, Budapest, & Vienna,” with works by Martinu, Kurtág, and Brahms; and the Ensemble Midtvest from Denmark, bringing a varied program of Scandinavia works to New York. 

Clarinetist and conductor Charles Neidich has gained worldwide recognition as one of the most mesmerizing virtuosos on his instrument. With a tone of hypnotic beauty and a dazzling technique, Mr. Neidich has received unanimous accolades from critics and fellow musicians both in the United States and abroad; but it is his musical intelligence in scores as diverse as Mozart and Elliott Carter that have earned for Mr. Neidich a unique place among clarinetists.  In the words of The New Yorker, “He’s an artist of uncommon merit -- a master of his instrument and, beyond that, an interpreter who keeps listeners hanging on each phrase.”

Mr. Neidich’s re-recording of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto, 26 years after his celebrated recording with Orpheus for Deutsche Grammophon, was reviewed by Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim in the New York Times:

 The mellow, woodsy tone of the basset horn stars in this pleasing recording of works for basset horns and/or clarinets (in various configurations) and orchestra by Mozart and his Bohemian contemporary Jiri Druzecky. Charles Neidich’s reading of Mozart’s Concerto for Basset Clarinet in A (KV 622) radiates sunny serenity. But over the course of the following works, including Druzecky’s Concerto for three basset horns and orchestra in F and a reconstruction of Mozart’s Adagio in F for clarinet and three basset horns (KV 580a), the music takes on an inescapably narcotic quality.

                                                                                                               (February 18, 2015)

In recent seasons, Mr. Neidich has added conducting to his musical accomplishments. He has led the Cobb Symphony Orchestra and Georgia Symphony in performances of the Franck Symphony in D Minor and Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto (also playing the solo clarinet part). Mr. Neidich continues to serve as conductor of the Queens College Chamber Orchestra in Queens, New York City, with whom he has performed the works of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven in historically informed interpretations.

In past seasons Mr. Neidich has appeared in recital and as guest soloist all over the world, and has been making his mark as a conductor. In wide demand as a soloist, Mr. Neidich has collaborated with some of the world’s leading orchestras and ensembles, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London, Concertgebouw of Amsterdam, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Halle Staatsorchester of Germany, Orpheus, the St. Louis Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, Pasadena Symphony, San Diego Symphony, New City Chamber Orchestra of San Francisco, Athens Chamber Music Festival, Tafelmusik, the Juilliard, Guarneri, American, and Mendelssohn String Quartets, and the Peabody Trio.

Mr. Neidich commands a repertoire of over 200 solo works, including pieces commissioned or inspired by him, as well as his own transcriptions of vocal and instrumental works. A noted exponent of 20th century music, he has premiered works by Milton Babbitt, Elliott Carter, Edison Denisov, William Schumann, Ralph Shapey, Joan Tower, and other leading contemporary composers. With a growing discography to his credit, Mr. Neidich can be heard on the Chandos, Sony Classical, Sony Vivarte, Deutsche Grammophon, Musicmasters, Pantheon, and Bridge labels. His repertoire ranges from familiar works by Mozart, Beethoven, Weber, and Brahms, to lesser-known compositions by Danzi, Reicha, Rossini, and Hummel, as well as music by Elliott Carter, György Kurtág, and other contemporary masters. 

A native New Yorker of Belorussian and Greek descent, Charles Neidich had his first clarinet lessons with his father and his first piano lessons with his mother. Mr. Neidich’s early musical idols were Fritz Kreisler, pianist Artur Schnabel and other violinists and pianists, rather than clarinetists. However, the clarinet won out over time, and he pursued studies with the famed pedagogue Leon Russianoff. Although Mr. Neidich became quite active in music at an early age, he opted against attending a music conservatory in favor of academic studies at Yale University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, in Anthropology. In 1975 he became the first American to receive a Fulbright grant for study in the former Soviet Union, and he attended the Moscow Conservatory for three years where his teachers were Boris Dikov and Kirill Vinogradov.

In 1985 Mr. Neidich became the first clarinetist to win the Walter W. Naumburg Competition, which brought him to prominence as a soloist. He then taught at the Eastman School of Music and during that tenure joined the New York Woodwind Quintet, an ensemble with which he still performs. His European honors include a top prize at the 1982 Munich International Competition sponsored by the German television network ARD, and the Geneva and Paris International Competitions. Mr. Neidich has achieved recognition as a teacher in addition to his activities as a performer, and currently is a member of the artist faculties of The Juilliard School, the Manhattan School of Music, the Mannes College of Music and Queens College. During the 1994-95 academic year he was a Visiting Professor at the Sibelius Academy in Finland where he taught, performed and conducted. Mr. Neidich is a long-time member of the renowned chamber ensemble Orpheus. 

Hailed as a “deeply impressive pianist of tremendous flair and intellectual strength” and a “spectacular pianist” by Michael Tumelty of the Herald Scotland, pianist Mohamed Shams has performed with the Cairo Symphony Orchestra, Egyptian Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, Repertory Symphony, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Manhattan School of Music Symphony, Royal Conservatory Symphony Orchestra, Royal National Scottish Orchestra, Manchester Symphony Orchestra, Hartt School of Music Symphony Orchestra, and the Transylvania Symphony. Mr. Shams has collaborated with conductors Peter Gulke, Enrique Batiz, Philippe Entremont, and Nader Abbassi, among others. 

An avid chamber musician, Mr. Shams has appeared in concert with the London Chamber Players, Wa Concert Series, and the Emerson Quartet, as well as various other chamber music concerts in Europe and the USA. He is a member of Chamber Music America. Awards and competition prizes include first prize at the Brevard Music Festival competition (2000 and 2002), second prize winner of the Intercollegiate Beethoven Piano Competition in London (2013), and semi-finalist at the Scottish International Piano Competition in Glasgow. At the Royal Conservatory of Music in Scotland, he was awarded the prestigious Bryden Thomson prize, first prize in the Mieczyslaw Munz scholarship competition (2011), the Harold Bauer Award (2011), the Jock Holden Memorial Mozart Prize, the Tony and Tania Webster Prize for Russian Music, the Governor’s Prize, the David Knox Memorial prize for outstanding achievement, and the Silver Medal of the Worshipful Company of Musicians. 

Mr. Shams began his piano studies at the Conservatoire of Music at the Academy of the Arts in Cairo, Egypt, and later attended the Royal Conservatory of Music in Scotland and the Manhattan School of Music, studying under Dr. Marc Silverman, Lawrence Dutton, Sylvia Rosenberg, Aaron Shorr, Steven Osborne, and Marilyn Neeley. He has participated in master classes by internationally lauded pianists including Sergei Dorensky, Nikolai Petrov, Idil Biret, Ramzi Yassa, Gyorgy Sandor and Nikolay Demidenko. Mr. Shams resides on the faculty of the Hartt School of Music and International Music Academy in Pilzen, Czech Republic.

For more information please contact Hemsing Associates at 212-772-1132 or visit www.hemsingpr.com.

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