Sheridan Solisti performs in Chicago area concerts

Highwood, IL  --Sheridan Solisti Trio announces two upcoming concerts in the Chicago area.

The concerts feature Steinway Artist, Susan Merdinger, Violinist Cyrus Forough and Cellist Nazar Dzhuryn in a program of piano trios by Schubert, Brahms and Stacy Garrop.

The first concert will be part of the Waukegan Chamber Music Society programming at the Christ Episcopal Church in Waukegan on Sunday November 19, 2023 at 7pm  The second concert will be at the Elgin Public Library in the Gail Borden Auditorium on Sunday, December 17, 2023, at 1pm.

The concert programs will include Schubert’s glorious Piano Trio No.1 in B-flat major, Brahms’ monumental Piano Trio No.1, Op. 8 in B major, and Stacy Garrop’s newest work, Repair the World. The trio’s members seek to provide an uplifting and healing program of music, now more important than ever.

Combining the talents of three internationally acclaimed, award-winning soloists,  the   musicians of the Sheridan Solisti Trio hail from distinctly different parts of the world, yet own a single vision for musical artistry. Persian-American Violinist, Cyrus Forough, is noted for the “fiery intensity” and “poetic vision” of his playing, while Ukrainian-American cellist Nazar Dzhuryn’s playing has been described as “captivating and inspiring”. Steinway Artist Susan Merdinger’s performances have been hailed as “atmospheric and ethereal” and “virtuosic and refined”. Together, the trio represents the finest musical legacies of the 20th century, with Cyrus being a protege of David Oistrakh, Nazar a graduate of the Moscow Conservatory under Igor Gavrysh, and Susan a protege of several pianist “legends”, including Claude Frank and Constance Keene.

Each musician arrived in Chicago at different times and for different reasons, yet they eventually found themselves performing and socializing within the same musical circles. The trio actually began as two separate duos, Susan performing separately with both Cyrus and Nazar, many of the great works for violin and piano and cello and piano, as well as larger chamber music works with other distinguished musicians of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra. They have been featured artists on WFMT, the Art Institute of Chicago, Symphony Center, Logan Center for the Arts, Harris Theater for Music and Dance and more. All three musicians discovered the rich artistic and cultural fabric of Chicago is a wonderful incubator for making great music!

More about each Sheridan Solisti:

Noted for the “fiery intensity” and “poetic vision” of his playing, Cyrus Forough is a laureate of the Tchaikovsky International Competition, first prizewinner of the Milwaukee Symphony Violin Competition, and finalist in the Munich International Violin Competition. He and his wife Steinway Artist Carolyn McCracken won the United States Artistic Ambassador Program's National Duo Competition, performing in many prestigious concert venues including the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., the Phillips Collection, and the Kennedy Center. Mr. Forough also holds the World Academy of Arts, Literature, and Media Award in recognition of his contributions to classical music and education.He has performed internationally in concert halls as a soloist with orchestras, as a violin and piano duo and as a chamber musician, and on radio and television, and for international dignitaries. Beginning studies with his mother, Fakhri Forough, a professional violinist, Forough was the youngest ever admitted at age nine to the Royal Conservatory of Brussels in the class of Arthur Grumiaux. He later studied with David Oistrakh at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory of Moscow and Josef Gingold at Indiana University. Forough’s dedication to teaching at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. and skill at communicating his art have earned him a reputation as an inspirational pedagogue. MR. Forough was formerly Professor of Violin at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and at Roosevelt University and has also been a visiting professor at the Eastman School of Music.

Ukrainian-born American cellist Nazar Dzhuryn’s worldwide performances have been hailed by critics and audiences alike as “Captivating and Inspiring”. Mr. Dzhuryn appeared in concert with many classical music legends such as Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, Pinchas Zukerman, Daniel Barenboim, Mstislav Rostropovich, Georg Solti, Boris Pergamenchikov, Hellmunt Rilling, James Galway. Nazar has performed under the batons of some of the world’s most noted conductors including Mstislav Rostropovich, Daniel Barenboim and Helmuth Rilling. Nazar has released two critically acclaimed CD’s- Cello Monologue and Cello Monologue II. Nazar’s solo recitals for Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts and the PianoForte Salon Series have been broadcast live on 98.7 WFMT. He has appeared as a soloist with the Moscow State Symphony “Young Russia,” Moscow Conservatory Symphony, Elgin Symphony Orchestra, in the prestigious Rush Hour Concerts at St. James Cathedral and as a guest artist with Chicago Chamber Musicians. In 2023 Mr. Dzhuryn has been invited to be Guest Assistant Principal Cello of the London Philharmonic. Mr. Dzhuryn completed the Undergraduate Program from Lviv Music School and subsequently earned his Master of Music degree and Postgraduate Assistantship Program at Moscow State Conservatory under Prof. Igor Gavrysh. Upon graduation, Nazar taught at the Moscow Conservatory as an Assistant Professor before moving to Chicago in 1998, where he then served on the faculties at Northeastern University and Elgin Community College for many years. Throughout his career he has been in high demand as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician, recording artist and teacher, with a repertoire that is both diverse and comprehensive.

American Steinway Artist, Susan Merdinger has been internationally acclaimed in prestigious newspapers and journals for her concert performances and CD recordings. Performing her sold-out solo piano recital debut in Carnegie Recital Hall at age twenty-four, Merdinger has continued to grace the stages of some of the world’s best concert halls, including Chicago Symphony Center, Scottish National Orchestre Center, Diligentia Hall and Merkin Concert Hall. She has appeared as piano soloist with orchestras such as the Chicago Philharmonic, State Symphony Orchestra of Mexico Highland Park Strings and Northbrook Symphony, and has been a frequent Visiting Artist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In chamber music concerts Merdinger has collaborated with members of the New York Philharmonic, the New Jersey Symphony, the Chicago Lyric Opera,  Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and the BBC Philharmonic. She has performed on Live from WFMT, The Listening Room on WQXR, and on BBC TV (UK) and BRT-3 (Belgium).  Merdinger is a winner of The Dewar’s Young Artist Award in Music, two Gold Medals in the Global Music Awards, Artists International Young Musicians Competition and Distinguished Alumni Awards, The American Prize, and two First Prizes in the Bradshaw and Buono International Piano Competition. A graduate of Yale University and the Yale School of Music, Ms. Merdinger is the Founder and Artistic Director of Sheridan Music Studio in Fort Sheridan, and two video podcasts, Merdinger’s Musings and Steinway Sundays with Susan and Svetlana. She currently serves as an Artistic Advisor for IN.LIVE, a live-streaming company based out of Silicon Valley.

For more information about the Sheridan Solisti Trio, please visit: www.susanmerdingerpianist.com/sheridan-solisti