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Inaugural Robert Jordan Piano Festival opens February 23-25, 2020
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Inaugural Robert Jordan Piano Festival
opens
February 23-25, 2020
3 Day Festival
includes masterclasses, recitals and panel discussion with
pianists Spencer Myer, Yi-heng Yang, and Shai Wosner at the State University of New York at Fredonia's
Rosch Recital Hall
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The late Robert Jordan, a distinguished international pianist and a prestigious emeritus piano faculty member of The Fredonia School of Music, is remembered with a festival named in his honor. Led by Festival Director and pianist Eliran Avni, the inaugural Robert Jordan Piano Festival, a three-day event taking place in the state-of-the-art Juliet J. Rosch Recital Hall on the campus of the State University of New York at Fredonia, presents a variety of events free and open to the public, including performances, a guest artist panel discussion and masterclasses. Guest artists include renowned musicians Spencer Myer, Yi-heng Yang, and Shai Wosner. Inaugural Robert Jordan Piano Festival
February 23-25, 2020
Juliet J. Rosch Recital Hall
School of Music, State University of New York at Fredonia
Sunday, February 23, 2020
4:00 PM Master Class: Spencer Myer
8:00 PM Recital: Spencer Myer, piano
Program:
In the Mists / Leos Janacek
Sonata No. 31 in A-flat Major, Op. 110 / Ludwig van Beethoven Intermission The Four Ballades / Frederic Chopin Monday, February 24, 2020
4:00 PM Master Class: Yi-Heng Yang
Program:
5 1/2 octave Viennese fortepiano after Anton Walter by Christopher Clarke
Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (1710-1784)
Polonaises F. 12 no. 1 in C, no. 8 in e, no. 12 in g Beethoven Sonata in E-flat, op. 7
Intermission CPE Bach Fantasia in F major, from "Kenner und Liebhaber" Wq 59
Haydn Variations in f minor, Hob XVII:6
Mozart Modulating Prelude (F-e) KV deest
Haydn Sonata in C, Hob XVI: 48
Tuesday, February 25, 2020
4:00 PM Master Class: Shai Wosner
8:00 PM Recital: Shai Wosner, piano
Program:
Takemitsu - Rain Tree Sketch II
Beethoven - Sonata in D Major Op. 28 ("Pastoral") Schubert - Sonata in B-flat Major D960 Events are generously supported by The Robert Jordan Piano Scholarship and Distinguished Lectureship Endowment, held at the Fredonia College Foundation.
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Robert Jordan
An American concert pianist and distinguished educator with a career spanning more than four decades, pianist Robert Jordan's artistry has been acknowledged on five continents. He performed with numerous orchestras, including the orchestras of Munich, Prague, Buffalo, Baltimore, and the Symphony of the New World, with whom he made his New York debut at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, in 1971. Jordan was chosen as one of 13 pianists nationally to commission a composition from an American composer and to give the world premiere at the Kennedy Center.In 1990, he performed in Silver Jubilee celebration concerts in Suriname and Curucao, South America, and France.
Born in 1940 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Jordan received his Bachelors degree from the Eastman School of Music, and his Masters degree from the Juilliard School. As a Fulbright Scholar, he spent two years performing and studying in Germany, later maintaining residence in Paris for several years. Robert Jordan served on the Faculty of Fredonia from 1980-2004, impacting thousands of young musicians. He was the recipient of the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1983, and was named a Kasling Lecturer in 1996. |
Spencer Myer
Lauded for "superb playing" and "poised, alert musicianship" by The Boston Globe, and labeled "definitely a man to watch" by London's The Independent, American pianist Spencer Myer is one of the most respected and sought-after artists on today's concert stage.
Spencer Myer's orchestral, recital and chamber music performances have been heard throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Africa and Asia. Amongst the numerous orchestras with which he has been soloist are The Cleveland Orchestra, Boise, Dayton, Louisiana and Rhode Island philharmonic orchestras, Baton Rouge, Chattanooga, Indianapolis, Juneau, Phoenix, Santa Fe, and Tucson symphony orchestras, Mexico's Orquesta Filarmonica de Jalisco, South Africa's Cape Town and Johannesburg philharmonic orchestras and Beijing's China National Symphony Orchestra.
Myer's recital appearances have been presented in New York City's Weill Recital Hall, 92nd Street Y and Steinway Hall, Philadelphia's Kimmel Center and London's Wigmore Hall. An in-demand chamber musician, he has appeared the past five summers at the Lev Aronson Legacy Festival in Dallas with cellists Lynn Harrell, Ralph Kirshbaum, Amit Peled, Tom Landschoot and Brian Thornton, and has enjoyed a recurring partnership with the Miami String Quartet at the Kent/Blossom Music Festival. Other artistic partners include clarinetist David Shifrin, sopranos Nicole Cabell, Martha Guth and Erin Wall, the Jupiter and Pacifica string quartets and the Dorian Wind Quintet.
A Steinway Artist, Myer's recordings may be heard on the Steinway & Sons, harmonia mundi usa, Naxos, and Oberlin Music labels.
Myer's career was launched with three important prizes: First Prize, South Africa's 2004 UNISA International Piano Competition in South Africa, the 2006 Christel DeHaan Classical Fellowship from the American Pianists Association, and the Gold Medal from the 2008 New Orleans International Piano Competition. He is also a laureate of the 2007 William Kapell, 2005 Cleveland and 2005 Busoni international piano competitions. He enjoys an esteemed reputation as a vocal collaborator since winning the 2000 Marilyn Horne Foundation Competition.
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Yi-heng Yang, fortepiano
Acclaimed for "astonishing skill and vividness" (The New York Times) and "absolute mastery" (Boston Musical Intelligencer), American musician Yi-heng Yang has given piano, fortepiano, and harpsichord performances at the Boston Early Music Festival, the Finger Lakes Chamber Music Festival, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Friends of Mozart, MusicIC, the Midtown Series at St. Bart's Church in New York City, Music Matters, Serenata of Santa Fe, Sunday Chatter, Apple Hill Chamber Music Festival, the Cobbe Collection at Hatchlands, the Finchcocks Collection, the Frederick Collection, the Utrecht Early Music Festival Fringe, the Forte/Piano Conference at the Westfield Center, and the Conference of the American Musicological Society, to name a few. A popular collaborator, she has participated in chamber music collaborations with the Sebastians, Gretchen's Muse, and Trio Pasqualati. She has been artistic director of ChamberFest at the Frederick Collection of Historical Pianos, and has served as a faculty member at the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music.
She has recorded the Complete Mendelssohn Violin Sonatas on period instruments with Abigail Karr and 18th-century harpsichord and fortepiano duos with Rebecca Cypess. Among her awards are a Harvey Fellowship from the Mustard Seed Foundation, a Huygens Grant from the Dutch Ministry of Culture, the Helen Fay Prize in Piano at Juilliard, and the Susan W. Rose piano grant. Competition wins include the Juilliard School Concerto Competition, the Haddonfield Concerto Competition, and the Amsterdam Virtuosi Square Piano Competition.
Born in Iowa City, Iowa, Yi-Hen Yang received a bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees from The Juilliard School, and her master's summa cum laude from Amsterdam Conservatory. She studied piano with Yoheved Kaplinsky, Julian Martin, and Robert McDonald. She studied fortepiano with Audrey Axinn and Stanley Hoogland, and harpsichord and clavichord with Menno van Delft.
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Shai Wosner
Pianist Shai Wosner has attracted international recognition for his exceptional artistry, musical integrity, and creative insight. His performances of a broad range of repertoire-from Beethoven and Schubert to Ligeti and the music of today-reflect a degree of virtuosity and intellectual curiosity that has made him a favorite among audiences and critics, who note his "keen musical mind and deep musical soul" (NPR's All Things Considered).
Wosner has appeared with the major orchestras in North America, including Atlanta, Baltimore, Berkeley, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Ottawa, San Francisco, and Toronto, to name a few. Abroad, he has performed with the BBC orchestras, the Aurora Orchestra, Barcelona Symphony, Bournemouth Symphony, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Gothenburg Symphony, LSO St. Luke's, Nieuw Sinfonietta Amsterdam, Orchestre National de Belgique, Staatskapelle Berlin, and the Vienna Philharmonic, among others. He has appeared at summer festivals including the Bowdoin International Music Festival, Chautauqua Music Festival, Bravo! Vail festival, Grand Teton Music Festival, Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego, Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center, and Ravinia Festival. For several consecutive summers, he was involved in the West-Eastern Divan Workshop led by Mr. Barenboim and toured as soloist with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra.
Mr. Wosner records for Onyx Classics, and his recordings have been widely praised for their inventive pairings of classical and modern masters.
Born in Israel, Mr. Wosner is a recipient of Lincoln Center's Martin E. Segal Award, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award. From 2007-2009 he was in residence with the BBC as a New Generation Artist. Wosner enjoyed a broad musical education from a very early age, studying piano with Opher Brayer and Emanuel Krasovsky, as well as composition, theory, and improvisation with Andre Hajdu. He later studied at The Juilliard School with Emanuel Ax.
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Eliran Avni
Praised as possessing both "ironclad technique" and "ample suppleness" by The New York Times, pianist Eliran Avni is an emerging force in the contemporary classical music scene. Having made his debut with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Zubin Mehta at age 17, he has since appeared as a soloist and chamber music collaborator throughout Europe, North and South America, as well as in his native Israel, and has played for live broadcasts for the Israeli and German broadcasting systems.
As a soloist, Eliran is known as a preeminent interpreter of the music of composer Avner Dorman. Solo performance highlights include Dorman's Azerbaijani Dance with the Israel Philharmonic and Zubin Mehta at Carnegie Hall, Rachmaninoff's 3rd Piano Concerto with the Alabama Symphony, and the Grieg Concerto with the Oakland East Bay Symphony.
Having developed a strong affinity for chamber music after studying with world-renowned musicians Yo-Yo Ma and Isaac Stern, Mr. Avni has collaborated with numerous artists such as Yehonatan Berick, Daniel Muller-Schott, Sharon Kam, Terrence Wilson, Jennifer Aylmer, William Sharp, and the Chicago Chamber Music Players, as well as actors Sigourney Weaver and Richard Chamberlain. In 2010, Eliran co-founded SHUFFLE Concert, a mixed chamber ensemble. He served as Artistic Director of the ensemble from 2010-2018, performing throughout the US, Canada, and Israel. Eliran is currently a member of the Ekstasis Duo with cellist Natasha Farny.
Avni has recorded for the Naxos, Tzadik and SHUFFLE Concert labels.
Avni began his musical training at the Tel Aviv Academy with Marina Bondarenko, and received both his BM and MM degrees from The Juilliard School studying with Dr. Yoheved Kaplinsky, and completed his DMA degree there as a student of both Dr. Kaplinsky and Jerome Lowenthal. Among his awards are first prize in both the Clairmont and Rachmaninoff Competitions. In addition to being Festival Director of the Robert Jordan Piano Festival, Avni is a piano faculty member at SUNY Freodnia, and Director of The Claudette Sorel Piano Competition.
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Press Contact, please contact:
Laura Grant: TEL: 917.359.7319; E-mail: Laura@grant-communications.com
Grant Communications I Massachusetts - New York
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