Robert Sherman, Music Director, FOTA Next Generation Beethoven Festival 2008

NEXT GENERATION BEETHOVEN FESTIVAL BIOGRAPHIES

Robert Sherman Music Director, Next Generation Beethoven Festival

Broadcaster, writer, teacher and radio personality, Robert Sherman is probably best known for his work at WQXR, where he has been Program Director, Executive Producer and (currently) Senior Consultant. For 24 years he presided in the “Listening Room,” and he continues to present such award winning series as “Woody's Children,” “Metropolitan Opera Previews,” and “The McGraw Hill Company's Young Artists Showcase.” On the faculty of both The Juilliard and Manhattan Schools, he has given seminars at Yale, N.Y.U., the Harid Conservatory and the Mannes College of Music. A former music critic for The New York Times, Sherman continues to write weekly columns for the Westchester and Connecticut sections of the paper. He has published two books with Victor Borge and is the co-author of “The Complete Idiot's Guide to Classical Music.” Increasingly active as a concert narrator, Robert Sherman has performed with such ensembles as Canadian Brass, The United States Military Academy ( West Point ) Band and Philharmonia Virtuosi.



Born in Illinois to one of America's oldest and most prominent families, Stephanie Chase is acknowledged as "one of the violin greats of our era" (Newhouse Newspapers). Her many appearances as guest soloist with the world’s leading orchestras - including the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, and London Symphony Orchestra - are acclaimed for their “elegance, dexterity, rhythmic vitality and great imagination” (Boston Globe), and place her among today’s most illustrious and accomplished American musicians.

Ms. Chase, a medalist at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, has had concert performances in twenty-five countries throughout the United States, Canada, South America, Europe and Asia. She was a featured soloist with the Hong Kong Philharmonic on its first trip ever to the People's Republic of China, an historic event that garnered worldwide attention.

Equally expert in period-instrument performance, she has made the world premiere recording of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto (Cala Records) on original instruments. Featuring her own cadenzas, this recording is recognized as “one of the twenty most outstanding performances in the work's recorded history” (Beethoven: Violin Concerto; Cambridge University Press). and honored with the highest possible ratings by BBC Music Magazine and Classic CD, including “Record of the Month.”

The daughter and granddaughter of violinists and music educators, Stephanie Chase's first violin teacher was her mother, Fannie Chase. At age two she was already performing in public, and made her debut with the Chicago Symphony six years later as the youngest winner ever of the orchestra’s Youth Competition. That same year, WGN-TV’s “Artist’s Showcase,” featuring Stephanie Chase in a performance of Mozart’s Concerto in G Major, won a Peabody Award. Subsequently, Ms. Chase studied in New York with Sally Thomas and, within a few years, embarked on extensive national tours as a soloist and recitalist, making her Carnegie Hall debut as soloist with the National Orchestral Association at age eighteen. Shortly thereafter she became a pupil of the legendary Belgian violinist Arthur Grumiaux, which was followed by summer chamber music studies at the famed Marlboro Festival in Vermont with many prominent musicians.

Stephanie Chase plays an impressively diverse solo repertoire that encompasses Bach and Vivaldi to Bernstein and Zwilich and includes over sixty concerti and major works for violin and orchestra. Additionally renowned as a chamber musician, Ms. Chase is a co-founder and Artistic Director of the Music of the Spheres Society, which presents chamber music concerts and lectures that explore the links between music, philosophy and the sciences. Recent recordings by Ms. Chase include an album of music for violin and piano by the Bohemian-American composer Rudolf Friml (Koch International Classics) and works for violin and guitar by Mauro Giuliani. In October 2008 she will record Family Portraits – a collection of violin favorites from the libraries of her violinist parents and grandfathers – also for Koch International Classics, in partnership with famed collaborative pianist Warren Jones.

Ms. Chase is further applauded through her performances in the dual roles of violin soloist and conductor. As a music arranger, her works for string orchestra have been performed in Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall and commercially released on the MSR label. During the 2007-2008 season, she also programmed and led a series of programs for a "Music and Imagination" course at the Philoctetes Center in New York.

Stephanie Chase is lineally descended (tenth generation) from Aquila Chase, a Massachusetts Bay colonist who arrived from England circa 1630. The founder of one of New England's most important family lineages, Aquila's other descendents include jurists, founders of colleges, bishops, senators and the Supreme Court judge, Salmon P. Chase, for whom Chase National (later, Manhattan) Bank is named.

Stephanie Chase is currently a Professor of Violin at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University and is on the faculty of Queens College (CUNY).



Dongsok Shin was born in Boston and played the piano from the age of four. His teachers included his mother, Chonghyo Shin, and Nadia Reisenberg at the Mannes College of Music. Since the early 1980's, he has specialized exclusively on early keyboard instruments. Much in demand as a soloist and continuo player, Mr. Shin, has been a member of the world renowned baroque ensemble, REBEL, since 1997.

He has also appeared with ARTEK, Concert Royal, Early Music New York, Carmel Bach Festival, Mark Morris Dance Group, the New York Philharmonic, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, among others. He has toured throughout North America, Europe, and Mexico, has been heard on numerous radio broadcasts and has recorded for Lyrichord, Newport Classic, Helicon, ATMA Classique, Hänssler Classic, Dorian Recordings and Bridge Records.

In addition to his activities with REBEL, Mr. Shin was a founding member of the Mannes Camerata receiving international critical acclaim as music director for their productions of early baroque operas. He has been guest director as well as a member of NYS Baroque in Ithaca, NY. In his spare time, he tunes and maintains harpsichords in the New York area (he is the harpsichord technician for the Metropolitan Opera), is well known as a recording engineer, producer and editor of numerous early music recordings, and is the proud father of three children with fellow early keyboard player, Gwendolyn Toth.



Pianist Peter Vinograde has developed a reputation as an outstanding interpreter of J.S. Bach and contemporary composers. He annually tours the U.S., Canada, and Asia. His most recent Asian appearances have included three China tours: in solo recital, with the Macao Orchestra, and with flautist Lydia Yang to promote their new CD. As a chamber musician, he has appeared at the Bard, Bargemusic, Caramoor, and Wolftrap Festivals. As a collaborative artist, he has toured throughout Asia with violinist Midori, including her Singapore debut, also performing with her at the Cape Cod and Mostly Mozart Festivals.

Dr. Vinograde's numerous distinctions began with first prize in the 1971 J.S. Bach International Competition, followed by his New York debut at Carnegie Recital Hall and an N.E.A.-sponsored Lincoln Center recital at Alice Tully Hall. He has been featured on NPR’s Performance Today and CBC-TV's the Journal. CDs include releases on Albany, CBC, Linfair (Decca) and Phoenix. Upcoming engagements include Mozart’s Concerto #25 in Santa Fe, a podcast of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue (in an outdoor concert from Zion National Park), and the American Music Festival at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Peter Vinograde teaches at the Manhattan School of Music, where he was a student of Zenon Fishbein, and at Lehman College (CUNY).



Cellist David Calhoun is an active performer in New York 's vibrant music scene. In the 2005-2006 season he performed as chamber artist in the esteemed Bargemusic Series, Maverick Concerts, the Brooklyn Museum chamber series, the Look and Listen Festival, as soloist at Symphony Space, and in his tenth season in year-round residence at the Metropolitan Museum with Orion Music. In 2006 Mr. Calhoun toured Japan for 3 weeks with the Metropolitan Opera, and gave performances as principal cellist with the American Symphony and American Ballet Theatre at Lincoln Center, as well as the Brooklyn Philharmonic at BAM. He was a student of the late Channing Robbins of the Julliard School, and is the grateful owner of a cello made by Giovanni Grancino in Milan in 1696.

Pianist Adam Kent has performed in recital, as soloist with orchestra and in chamber music throughout the United States, Spain, Switzerland and South America . A winner of the American Pianists Association Fellowship and Simon Belsky Music Awards, Mr. Kent also received top prizes in the Thomas Richner, the Juilliard Concerto and the Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Competitions and is a recipient of the Arthur Rubinstein Prize and the Harold Bauer Award. Mr. Kent made his New York recital debut at Weill Hall in 1989 and has been featured on radio stations WQXR, WNYC and WFUV. Mr. Kent has offered several all-Spanish programs in recent seasons at Merkin Concert Hall, the Mannes College of Music, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Spanish Institute, The University of Vermont, the CUNY Graduate Center, the Americas Society and the Bruno Walter Auditorium. His critically acclaimed recording of the complete solo piano music of Ernesto Halffter is available on Bridge Records.

In the fall of 2004, cellist Eric Jacobsen appeared with Renee Fleming at the opening of Zankel Hall, at Carnegie Hall and on the Late Show with David Letterman. Mr. Jacobsen is a regular presenter and performer at Bargemusic, and has recently been appointed curator and artistic director of the 92nd street Y's Makor Center for Classical Café. Mr. Jacobsen has appeared as soloist with the Chamber Soloists of Austin in Texas , the Riverside Orchestra, the New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra, the Greenwich Village Orchestra and Lake George Chamber Orchestra and the Woodstock Festival Orchestra. Mr. Jacobsen has been heard on NPR programs such as “Sound Check” in preparation for a concert at the Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors Festival, and “Performance Today,” where he performed four live chamber music concerts last November. Before his graduation, Mr. Jacobsen performed a tour of the northeast with Dutch violinist Vera Beths.

Mr. Jacobsen is a member of Yo Yo Ma's Silk Road Project. Last year he participated in residencies in Japan 's National Museums in Nara and Fukuoka, and in early 2006 he traveled to Baku, Azerbaijan. During this fall Mr. Jacobsen has participated in residencies at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art in NY. Mr. Jacobsen has also collaborated at The Tenri Cultural Institute and The Angel Orensanz Foundation in performances with musicians from Armenia and Iran; Gevorg Dabaghyan on the Duduk, and Kemancheh Master, Kayhan Kalhor. As an active quartet member, Mr. Jacobsen has recently formed Brooklyn Rider, and Mark O'Connor String Quartet. Mr. Jacobsen organizes the chamber ensemble, The Knights, which performs as a chamber orchestra and smaller ensembles. The Knights recently presented a series of concerts at New York's Bargemusic, in collaboration with flutist Paula Robison. Working with Ms. Robison, Mr. Jacobsen kicked off a Sol Lewitt exhibit at the Gardner Museum in Boston, performing the Mozart D major flute quartet in a room designed around that piece. As a conductor, Mr. Jacobsen most recently led an all Beethoven program at the Tilles Center on Long Island and at the Washington Irving School in Manhattan. In conjunction with a celebration for the City of New York, he will also conduct a free concert in Manhattan in early June.

Mr. Jacobsen has studied at The School for Strings, and The Juilliard School, where he received his Bachelor of Music, under the guidance of David Soyer, and Harvey Shapiro. He has spent summers, in Salzburg , Austria with Julius Berger, Villars, Switzerland with Ardyth Alton and with Harvey Shapiro in Engelberg , Switzerland and Florence, Italy. Mr. Jacobsen plays a Genova cello crafted in 1740.

These are The Knights : A fellowship of young musicians of diverse and accomplished backgrounds who come together for the shared joy of musical exploration. The Knights have brought audiences varied and engaging programs consisting of oddities and favorites from all eras as well as world premieres, collaborations with jazz artists, singer-songwriters and arrangements of folk music from different world traditions in their quest to bring new light to old works and new works to light. The group takes on many forms from a conductor-less chamber orchestra to a full orchestra that includes some of New York 's most sought after wind and percussion players. Members of the group are graduates of Juilliard, Curtis, Manhattan, Mannes and Eastman, and include members of Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble. As independent soloists, members of the group have performed with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, to name a few, and appeared at the world's most prestigious music festivals, including Marlboro, Tanglewood, Verbier, Stillwater, Lucerne, Salzburg and Moritzburg.

In September of 2006, The Knights gave the world-premiere of Mark O'Connor's Harmony for violin and strings with the composer performing the solo in Musicians For Harmony's 5th Anniversary Concert for Peace at Merkin Hall. Other exciting collaborative artists have included flutist Paula Robison in performances of Neapolitan folk and love songs, violinist Mark Peskanov, soprano Susan Narucki, internationally recognized cellist Jan Vogler, Iranian ney (Persian bamboo flute) virtuoso Siamak Jahangiri, jazz violinist and singer Jenny Scheinman, acclaimed (and recognizably red-headed) pianist Steven Beck, and singer-songwriter Christina Courtin (also a valiant Knight violinist).

The Knights (in their one of their guises as champions of music of our time), were the resident chamber orchestra for the 2007 MATA Festival for young composers, held at the Brooklyn Lyceum and premiering new works by Yotam Haber, Christopher Tignor and performing numerous other recent works by composers such as Osvaldo Golijov and Jim Mattheson. This past September, The Knights took audiences on a journey through Lisa Bielawa's Chance Encounter at Seward Park in New York's Lower East Side; a unique site-specific song-cycle for soprano Susan Narucki and The Knights with text based on conversation overheard in transient public spaces.

The Knights have performed at FOTA's annual Beethoven Festival at the Planting Fields Arboretum for the past two years, performing Beethoven's 4th and 7th Symphonies with Eric Jacobsen conducting and, in a special Brooklyn Lyceum evening, paired Beethoven's 7th with Christina Courtin's songs in full orchestral arrangements made by various members of The Knights.

Recent concerts included a performance at Carnegie's Weill Hall, Bargemusic, a tour of Ireland, a Symphony Space concert that continued The Knights relationship with Mark O'Connor; in a concert that featured the fiddler/composer performing his American Seasons alongside members of The Knights soloing on Piazzolla and Vivaldi's Seasons.

The Knights roster for the 2008 FOTA Beethoven Festival is as follows: