Feb. 19, 2009 – The Forum will bring Concertante from the Festival Casals, held in Puerto Rico, to St. Thomas. The six virtuoso string players are Xiao-Dong Wang, Ittai Shapira, Ara Gregorian, Rachael Shapiro, Zvi Plesse and Alexis Pia Gerlach. They perform a wide repertoire ranging from works by established masters to lesser-known composers. They will appear at 8 p.m., Saturday, March 7, at Prior-Jollek Hall on the Antilles School Campus. As solo performers, they have won major national and international music competitions and have appeared all over the world. The group will play three pieces by Strauss, Korngold and Brahms, respectively.
Tickets cost $40. A limited number are available at $10 for students and teachers. To purchase tickets go to: Dockside Bookshop, Interiors (Fort Mylner) and Home Again (Red Hook) or call the Reichhold Center box office at 693-1559.
For further information, contact Joan Amerling at 690-4350.
Biographies: At the age of ten, violinist Xiao-Dong Wang began winning awards in international competitions. He has soloed with orchestras around the world, including the Royal Philharmonic in London, the London Mozart Players, Adelaide Perth, Queensland Symphony Orchestras and Sydney Opera Orchestra. He has performed on both violin and viola in chamber music concerts at Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Aspen, Ravinia and many other festivals and musical events worldwide.
Israeli violinist Ittai Shapira's recent appearances have included solo performances with the Orchestra of St. Luke's at Carnegie Hall, the BBC Concert Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, Russian Philharmonic, Shanghai Symphony, the Czech National Symphony, the Polish Chamber Orchestra, the Cape Town Philharmonic and Jerusalem Symphony. He has toured with the English Chamber Orchestra. Shapira has recorded for Meridian, Quartz, EMI Classics, and Sony/BMG Sanctuary Classics.
Accomplished as a soloist and chamber musician, violinist and violist Ara Gregorian made his solo debut with the Boston Pops Orchestra in 1997 and his New York recital debut in Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall in 1996. Gregorian has made chamber music appearances in New York at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall and Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall. He has also appeared as recitalist at Detroit's Henry Ford Centennial Library and Harvard University's Payne Hall. He has been a member of the violin faculty at East Carolina University since 1998.
Violist Rachel Shapiro is an accomplished chamber musician and experienced teaching artist. In addition to Concertante, other chamber music performances include appearances with The Daedalus Quartet, The Avalon Quartet and The Jerusalem Trio, with whom she appears regularly in the United States and Israel. For the past five years, she has been a regular performer at The Next Generation Festival, where she often performs with pianist Awadagin Pratt, another artist who has visited St. Thomas with The Forum. She is currently entering her sixth year as a teaching artist for the New York Philharmonic School Partnership Program, and is one of only ten musicians on faculty.
Cellist Alexis Pia Gerlach enjoys an active career as a soloist and chamber musician. Recent solo performances include recitals at the La Jolla Chamber Music Society and the Caramoor Festival, and concerto appearances with the Orchestra of St. Luke's, and the Charleston and Fort Worth Symphony Orchestras. Her recordings of the Rachmaninoff and Frank Sonatas with Fabio Bidini are released on the Encore Performance label. Gerlach has appeared as a guest artist at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Bargemusic and numerous festivals including Marlboro, Caramoor and Aspen.
Israeli cellist Zvi Plesser has an active career as soloist, chamber music player and teacher. As soloist he has performed with leading orchestras, among them the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Israel Chamber Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra and The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. He has worked under conductors Zubin Mehta, Sir Nevile Marriner and Sergiu Comissiona. Plesser was a member of the Humberman String Quartet and is a founding member of Concertante. He has participated in many festivals, including Marlboro Festival, The Cervantino Festival in Mexico, the Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival, Kuhmo Festival in Finland and the Montpellier Festival in France. He is currently on the faculty of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance.