THE HUDSON VALLEY CHAMBER MUSIC CIRCLE AT BARD ANNOUNCES THE 2005 CONCERT SEASON

Three June concerts feature violinists Jaime Laredo and Ida Kavafian, violists Michael Tree and Steven Tenenbom, and cellists Sharon Robinson and Peter Wiley as well as the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio and the Orion String Quartet ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—The 2005 Hudson Valley Chamber Music Circle series at Bard College presents three concerts in June by world-renowned musicians. The Saturday evening concerts, presented by The Bard Center, begin at 8:00 p.m. in Olin Hall. On Saturday, June 4, Hudson Valley Chamber Music Circle’s artistic directors, violinist Jaime Laredo and cellist Sharon Robinson, will be joined by violinist Ida Kavafian, violists Michael Tree and Steven Tenenbom, and cellist Peter Wiley. They will perform two string sextets by Brahms, Op. 18 in B Flat and Op. 36 in G. On Saturday, June 18, the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio will perform Mozart’s Trio in B Flat, K. 502; Brahms’s Trio in C Major, Op. 87; and Bard professor Joan Tower’s trio “For Daniel.” The 2005 series concludes on Saturday, June 25, with a performance by the Orion String Quartet. The program includes Haydn’s Quartet in G Major, Op. 77, No. 1; Bartok’s Quartet No. 5; and Schubert’s Quartet in D Minor, “Death and the Maiden.” The Hudson Valley Chamber Music Circle, an association of chamber music lovers that is celebrating its 55th season, was founded by Helen Huntington Hull and two friends from Staatsburg, New York. They enlisted the help of violinist Emil Hauser, then a member of the Bard College faculty and original first violinist of the Budapest Quartet, to invite musicians to perform at the Mills and Vanderbilt Mansions. In 1979, the concert series began its association with Bard College. The HVCMC remains a venue that attracts many of the world’s preeminent chamber music artists. In 2000, Robinson and Laredo assumed artistic directorship of the chamber music series. These performances are made possible, in part, through the generosity of the Homeland Foundation and the Leon Levy Endowment at Bard College. A subscription to the three-concert series is $60 ($50 for senior citizens). Individual tickets are $25; for senior citizens, $18; and students, $5. For further information, call 518-537-6665. # About the Artists: The storybook romance of the coartistic directors of the Hudson Valley Chamber Music Circle—Bolivian-born violinist Jaime Laredo and native Texan cellist Sharon Robinson—has, over the past quarter century, been expressed in every facet of their lives. Joyous and sophisticated music-making, both separately and together, has earned them many devoted fans the world over. Combining international careers and a multifaceted home life in Vermont, theirs is a bond of both close personal affection and strong dedication to music. Along with pianist Joseph Kalichstein, Laredo and Robinson form the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, a group that has shared beloved master works and exciting new repertoire with audiences around the world. Laredo and Robinson received a Grammy nomination for the Two Brahms Sextets CD with Isaac Stern, Cho-Liang Lin, Michael Tree, and Yo-Yo Ma. Internationally acclaimed as a violist as well as violinist, Ida Kavafian is an artist-member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and former violinist of the Beaux Arts Trio. She performs as a soloist; in recital with her sister, Ani; as a guest with such ensembles as the Guarneri String Quartet; and as artistic director of Music for Angel Fire in New Mexico. She is cofounder of the chamber group Tashi and the piano quartet Opus One, whose members include pianist Anne-Marie McDermott, violist Steven Tenenbom, and cellist Peter Wiley. She resides with her husband, violist Steven Tenenbom, in Philadelphia and Connecticut, where they breed and train prize-winning Hungarian vizsla show dogs. Kavafian is on the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music. Violist Steven Tenenbom, a member of the Orion String Quartet, has established a distinguished career as a chamber musician, soloist, recitalist, and teacher. He has worked with composer Lukas Foss and jazz artist Chick Corea, and appeared as guest artist with such eminent ensembles as the Guarneri and Emerson String Quartets, the Beaux Arts and Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trios, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He has performed as soloist with the Utah Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic and Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, and toured with the Brandenburg Ensemble throughout the United States and Japan. A recipient of the prestigious Coleman Chamber Music Award and a former member of the Galimir Quartet, he is currently a member of the renowned group Tashi and the piano quartet Opus One. Tenenbom is on the faculties of New York’s Mannes College of Music and the Curtis Institute of Music. Violist Michael Tree, a member of the Guarneri String Quartet, has appeared as violin and viola soloist with major orchestras, including Philadelphia, Baltimore, Los Angeles, and New Jersey. As a founding member of the Marlboro Trio and Guarneri String Quartet, he has concertized throughout the world and recorded more than 80 chamber music works; prominent among these are ten piano quintets and quartets with Artur Rubinstein. Tree serves on the faculty of the Bard Conservatory of Music, Curtis Institute of Music, The Juilliard School, the Manhattan School of Music, and the University of Maryland. He plays a Domenicus Busan viola from Venice, Italy, 1750. Cellist Peter Wiley, a member of the Guarneri String Quartet, was appointed principal cellist of the Cincinnati Symphony at age 20, after one year in the Pittsburgh Symphony. He has been awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant and was nominated with the Beaux Arts Trio for a Grammy Award in 1998. As a member of the Beaux Arts Trio, Wiley performed over 1,000 concerts, including appearances with many of the world’s greatest orchestras. His association with the Marlboro Music Festival dates from 1971. He has also been a faculty artist at Caramoor’s “Rising Stars” program, and has taught at the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, the Mannes College of Music, and the Manhattan School of Music. Wiley is currently on the faculty at SUNY Purchase and the Curtis Institute of Music. -more- Since making their debut as the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio at the White House for President Carter’s inauguration in January 1977, pianist Joseph Kalichstein, violinist Jaime Laredo, and cellist Sharon Robinson have set the standard for performance of the piano trio literature for 28 consecutive seasons. Highlights of the 2004–05 season include collaborations with the Miami and Guarneri String Quartets, featuring the works of Brahms and Dvorák. Domestic touring includes appearances in New York, Washington, Boston, Cincinnati, and Miami. September 2004 marked the release of their most recent recording on Arabesque Records, a tour-de-force CD of the mammoth trios of Tchaikovsky and Arensky. The Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio was named Musical America’s 2002 Ensemble of the Year. Hailed for its exquisite artistry, technical mastery, and astute approach to concert programming, the Orion String Quartet is one of the most admired chamber ensembles on the international music scene. Highlights of the Quartet’s 17-year history include diverse projects ranging from collaborations with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company to performances of the complete Beethoven quartets in a five-concert series over the span of a single weekend. The members of the quartet—violinists Daniel Phillips and Todd Phillips (brothers who share the first violin chair), violist Steven Tenenbom, and cellist Timothy Eddy—have worked with such legendary figures as Pablo Casals, Rudolf Serkin, Isaac Stern, Pinchas Zukerman, Yo-Yo Ma, Peter Serkin, András Schiff, Wynton Marsalis, and members of Tashi and the Beaux Arts Trio as well as the Budapest, Végh, Galimir, and Guarneri String Quartets. The Orion continues to perform in the world’s leading concert halls and serves as quartet in residence at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and New York’s Mannes College of Music. The Orion String Quartet gained immediate attention in the classical music world when its founding members, each with distinguished solo and chamber music careers, formed the ensemble in 1987. The quartet chose its name from the Orion constellation, as a metaphor for the unique personality each musician brings to the group in its collective pursuit of the highest musical ideals. # # # (5/4/05)

This event was last updated on 07-01-2005

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