MidAmerica Productions

September 2004

MidAmerica Productions Presents Clavier Trio in Weill Recital Hall on November 1, 2004

MidAmerica Productions Announces October Two Concerts in Weill Recital Hall: Marimbist Mika Yoshida and Armstrong Chamber Concerts

For Immediate Release
September 28, 2004

MIDAMERICA PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS CLAVIER TRIO; LOWELL LIEBERMAN WORK HIGHLIGHTS MIDAMERICA'S 600TH CONCERT IN NEW YORK

The CLAVIER TRIO takes the stage of Weill Recital Hall on November 1st, in what will be the 600th concert in New York produced by MidAmerica Productions. MidAmerica Productions General Director and Artistic Director, Peter Tiboris states "It is an honor to bring this supremely talented group to Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. This concert continues MidAmerica Productions's commitment to producing great musical events in the greatest concert hall in the world."

The CLAVIER TRIO was born after a spontaneous chamber music session at the Music in the Mountains Festival 1997 in Colorado. Today, the members of the Trio include violinist Arkady Fomin, cellist Peter Steffens, and pianist David Korevaar. The Trio served as the Trio in Residency at Fort Lewis College, Colorado, and presently is resident ensemble at University of Texas at Dallas, where it performs regularly. During the summer months, CLAVIER TRIO performs and teaches at the Music in the Mountains Festival in Durango. Born in Colorado and based in Dallas, the CLAVIER TRIO today performs nationally and will make its first international appearance in December 2004 in Riga, Latvia.

Arkady Fomin, violinist, was born in Riga, Latvia, where he received his musical training at the Latvian State Conservatory with legendary pedagogue, Voldemar Sturestep. Mr. Fomin has collaborated in performances with Pinchas Zukerman, Yefim Bronfman, Emanuel Borok, Schlomo Mintz, Atar Arad, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, and late Stephen DeGroote and has performed as violinist/conductor in Russia, Europe, Japan, and throughout the United States. A violinist with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Fomin also serves as Artistic Director of the New Conservatory of Dallas and Conservatory Music in the Mountains in Durango, Colorado and is guest Professor and Artist in Residency at Colorado State University. He has been a long-time member of the Faculty and Artist in Residency at the University of Texas at Dallas, where he was recipient of the Cowlishaw Artist-in-Residence Award for artistic achievement and contributions to the City of Dallas. Mr. Fomin performs on an 1860 JB Vuillaume violin.

Peter Steffens, cellist, soloed with the Madison and Milwaukee Symphonies, graduated from the University of Wisconsin/Madison, and took master classes with Zara Nelsova, Ronald Leonard, David Finckel, Laurence Lesser, Raya Garbousova, Lazlo Varga and took summer studies under Gabor Rejto. From 1988-90, he was principal cellist of New World Symphony in Miami where he performed chamber music with pianist Jeffrey Kahane, conductor Leon Kirchner, concertmaster Reuben Gonzalez, and conductor Michael Tilson Thomas. From 1990-95, he was principal cellist and soloist with Charleston, South Carolina Symphony Orchestra, served as adjunct faculty at the College of Charleston, was a member of the Quartet in Residence, and performed 20th century chamber music for the Piccolo Spoleto Festival. He has participated extensively at the Garth Newel Chamber Music Festival during summers in the Allegheny Mountains of Virginia. Mr. Steffens is a member of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and performs on a 1925 cello by Ferdinando Garimberti.

David Korevaar, pianist, began music training at age six in San Diego with Sherman Storr, and at 13 with Earl Wild. By 20, he'd earned a Bachelor's and Master's degrees from Juilliard, where he continued with Earl Wild and studied composition with David Diamond, earning his Doctorate under Abbey Simon and receiving the Richard French award honoring his dissertation on Ravel's Miroirs. Dr. Korevaar is also a member of the Prometheus Piano Quartet and founding member of Hexagon. He has performed with Takacs, Manhattan, Lark, Colorado, Chester, and Shanghai Quartets and presented recitals in New York, across United States, as well as Australia, Japan, Korea, and Europe. He has commissioned and premiered works of George Rochberg, Aaron Copland, Ned Rorem, Stephen Jaffe, Scott Eyerly, Libby Larson, and Lowell Liebermann. His recordings include Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, Dohnanyi, and Liszt. Dr. Korevaar is on the faculty at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

General admission tickets to Weill Recital Hall concerts are $35. Tickets may be obtained by calling CarnegieCharge at (212) 247-7800, by going online at www.carnegiehall.org, or by visiting the Carnegie Hall Box Office at 57th Street and 7th Avenue. $15 tickets for students and seniors (with proper ID) are available at the Carnegie Box Office. Weill Recital Hall is located at 154 West 57th Street. For more information, call MidAmerica Productions at (212) 239-4699.

For Immediate Release
September 13, 2004

MIDAMERICA PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS MARIMBIST MIKA YOSHIDA IN A PERFORMANCE OF CONTEMPORARY PERCUSSION MUSIC FEATURING TWO WORLD AND TWO NEW YORK PREMIERES

Mika Yoshida and some of the greatest percussionists of our time perform a program of outstanding contemporary music. This concert features two world premieres: Russell Hartenberger's Sky Ghost, based on some of the musical material from Toru Takemitsu's Small Sky, features talking drum styles and bell patterns of West African drumming ensembles; and William Duckworth's Writing on Water, commissioned by and dedicated to Ms. Yoshida , for solo marimba with accompanying marimba voices recorded by the performer.

Also featured in this concert are the New York Premieres of John Wyre's Dream Dance and Breeze for marimba and temple bells - a work composed while Wyre listened to the wind in the Ontario woodland on the morning of September 11th, 2001, just prior to receiving a call to turn on his television.

Ms. Yoshida is a native of Amakusa, Kumamoto prefecture, Japan. She studied with Professor Russell Hartenberger at the University of Toronto Faculty of Music and graduated with an Advanced Certificate in Performance. In 1999, Ms. Yoshida received the award for young promising musicians from the Board of Cultural Study in Kumamoto.

Ms. Yoshida has performed recitals around the globe in cities such as Atlanta, Toronto, Budapest, Kyoto, Fukuoka, and Frensburg (Germany). In June 2001, she gave her Tokyo debut recital at Ooji Hall. In December 2001, she made her Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall debut. Also engaged with orchestral music, Ms. Yoshida premiered John Wyre's Moonlight for marimba and orchestra with the Kyushu Symphony. In 1998, her first CD, Mitsue, was released. Other recordings include a set of works by Steve Reich including Tokyo/Vermont Counterpoint, arranged by Ms. Yoshida.

Bill Douglas is a bassoonist-pianist-composer who has toured and recorded for thirty years with clarinetist Richard Stoltzman. In 1994, SOCAN, the Canadian equivalent of ASCAP and BMI, presented him with their classical composer of the year award. His compositions have been performed by major orchestras and chamber groups around the world.

Multi-Percussionist Joseph Gramley is a soloist and chamber musician who has presented performances at concert halls throughout the world. He is percussionist for Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Project, and in this capacity has toured throughout the world premiering numerous compositions. Mr. Gramley was featured playing solo marimba on the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards where he co-wrote and performed the introduction to Jennifer Lopez' #1 hit "If You Had My Love". Other distinguished collaborators include Keiko Abe, Aretha Franklin, Bright Sheng, Glen Velez and David Robertson.

Russell Hartenberger is Professor of Percussion at the University of Toronto. He is a member of Nexus and has been a member of Steve Reich and Musicians since 1971. He has performed with the Paul Winter Consort, Ensemble Modern of Germany, John Wyre's World Drums, Woodstock Beat, and New Music Concerts of Toronto. He also has worked and/or recorded with such diverse musicians as Gil Evans, Jimmy Garrison, John Cage, John Adams, Steve Gadd, Peter Erskine, Glen Velez, Iannis Xenakis, Pablo Casals, Canadian Brass, Kronos String Quartet, Peter Serkin, Trichy Sankaran, Richard Stoltzman and Yo-Yo Ma. His awards include the Toronto Arts Award in 1989, Banff Centre for the Arts National Award in 1997. Along with the other members of Nexus, he was inducted into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame in 1999.

Canadian violist Max Mandel has always been involved in chamber music groups of great variety. A member of the Metro Quartet for six years, Mr. Mandel's current group affiliations include the Flux Quartet, the Caramoor Virtuosi, Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble, the Kirby String Quartet, the Metropolitan Museum Artists, Toronto Camerata and Aradia Baroque Ensemble. This season's highlights include a guest appearance at the Smithsonian Institution using instruments from their famous collection of Stradivari. Mandel plays on a 1973 Giovanni Battista Morassi generously loaned to him by Lesley Robertson of the St. Lawrence Quartet.

John Wyre is artistic director of World Drums. He has organized and directed international drum festivals since 1984, including "Supercussion" for the 1984 Toronto International Festival, and World Drum Festivals for Expo 86 in Vancouver, the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics, the Commonwealth Summit Conference in Vancouver in 1987, Expo 88 in Brisbane, Expo 98 in Lisbon, and Expo 2000 In Hannover, Germany. He was artistic director of the Musa�c Ensemble for Festival Canada in Ottawa in July 1998. Mr. Wyre is one of the founding members of NEXUS. After 31 years, he resigned from the ensemble in October 2002 after thirty-one years to devote more time to composing. His book, Touched by Sound, A Drummer's Journey, is published by Buka Music in St. John's, Newfoundland, where John now resides.

General admission tickets to Weill Recital Hall concerts are $35. Tickets may be obtained by calling CarnegieCharge at (212) 247-7800, by going online at www.carnegiehall.org, or by visiting the Carnegie Hall Box Office at 57th Street and 7th Avenue. $15 tickets for students and seniors (with proper ID) are available at the Carnegie Box Office. Weill Recital Hall is located at 154 West 57th Street. For more information, call MidAmerica Productions at (212) 239-4699.

For Immediate Release
September 13, 2004

MIDAMERICA PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS ARMSTRONG CHAMBER CONCERTS IN A PERFORMANCE OF CHAMBER WORKS FOR VIOLIN, FRENCH HORN AND PIANO

Armstrong Chamber Concerts (ACC), a not-for-profit organization, founded in 1982 by Artistic Director, violinist Helen Armstrong, presents chamber music of the highest quality, featuring world-renowned artists. The mission of the organization is to broaden the public's interest in and knowledge of chamber music through performance and education. ACC presents a concert series from October through May in Greenwich and New Milford, Connecticut as well as New York City, and performs for corporations and major clubs. ACC conducts its Students' Music Enrichment Programs in public and private schools throughout the states of Connecticut and New York. These programs are designed to enhance the schools' present music curriculum or to initiate a new one and to create a deeper appreciation for music. The trademark of ACC is its superior artists and unique, imaginative programs with a diversity of instruments and musical styles.

Helen Armstrong, Founder and Artistic Director of Armstrong Chamber Concerts, Inc., is an international recitalist, soloist and chamber musician. A graduate of The Juilliard School, where she studied with Ivan Galamian and Dorothy DeLay, Ms. Armstrong made her Lincoln Center debut in 1976 and was praised by a New York critic as a "total virtuoso, a true aristocrat of the violin." She has performed with such orchestras as the Boston Pops, the Indianapolis Symphony, the New Polish Philharmonic and with the Martha Graham Dance Company. She has been featured soloist with Skitch Henderson and toured North America, Europe, and Asia as a recitalist. Meyer Kupferman and Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Wernick have written works specifically for her. She was a prizewinner in the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition in Switzerland and has received awards from the Society of American Musicians and Outstanding Artists of Illinois. Ms. Armstrong is listed in "Who's Who in the East", "Who's Who in American Women", "Outstanding Young Women of America" and "Who's Who in Entertainment". Helen Armstrong continues an active concert career both here and abroad. She has recorded on the Musical Heritage, Elysium and CRS labels. Her newest CRS CD, Illusions, has just been released. Her violin is a G.B. Guadagnini dated 1760.

Joseph Anderer is principal horn and a founding member of St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble and the Orchestra of St. Luke's. He has also been a member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra's horn section since 1984, serving as acting principal horn for seasons 1984-5 and 2003-2004. Before joining the Met Orchestra, he was a frequent performer with the New York Philharmonic for fourteen seasons, and participated in many concerts, recordings and tours in the US, Europe, Asia, Australia and South America. He was also a member of the Boehm Quintette for many years, and premiered many works composed for that ensemble. As soloist, he has appeared with the Orchestra of St. Luke's in Carnegie Hall including performing as soloist in the American premiere of Benjamin Britten's "Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal," as well as at many festivals. He holds degrees from The Juilliard School, where he was a student of Ranier DeIntinis. Mr. Anderer is active in the recording studio, performing chamber music, operas, symphonic works, solo works, TV commercials and films. He has also appeared on albums by Dawn Upshaw, Billy Joel, Mandy Patinkin, Grover Washington, Jr., Marcus Roberts and Tony Bennett & K.D. Lang.

Pianist Rohan De Silva's partnerships with violin virtuosos Itzhak Perlman, Cho-Liang Lin, Midori, Joshua Bell, Vadim Repin, Gil Shaham, and Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg among others, have led to highly acclaimed performances worldwide. These venues include Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center, Library of Congress, Philadelphia Academy of Music, Ambassador Theater in Los Angeles, as well as concert halls all over Europe, Japan and Israel. His festival appearances here and abroad include the Aspen, Interlochen, Manchester, and Ravinia festivals, and festivals in Japan and New Zealand. He performs frequently with Itzhak Perlman nationally and internationally, including PBS' Live from Lincoln. He is currently a faculty member at the Perlman Music Program on Long Island, The Juilliard School and the Ishikawa Music Academy in Japan. Mr. De Silva, a native of Sri Lanka, studied at the Royal Academy of Music and The Juilliard School, working closely with violin pedagogue Dorothy DeLay. He has been awarded numerous prizes and scholarships including a special prize as Best Accompanist at the 1990 Ninth International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Radio and television credits include The Tonight Show, CNN's Showbiz Today, NHK Television in Japan, NPR, WQXR and WNYC in New York, and Berlin Radio. He has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, CBS/SONY Classical, Collins Classics in London, and RCA Victor.

General admission tickets to Weill Recital Hall concerts are $35. Tickets may be obtained by calling CarnegieCharge at (212) 247-7800, by going online at www.carnegiehall.org, or by visiting the Carnegie Hall Box Office at 57th Street and 7th Avenue. $15 tickets for students and seniors (with proper ID) are available at the Carnegie Box Office. Weill Recital Hall is located at 154 West 57th Street. For more information, call MidAmerica Productions at (212) 239-4699.

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