WMP CONCERT HALL

If you want to watch the five minute of the Bach Project DVD's presentation, please follow this link:

http://www.mlfilms.com/files/mlfmusic/b&fopeningbb.mov

Amazing performance of the Chaconne by famous violinist Joshua Bell:

http://www.mlfilms.com/

You can purchase the DVD Bach & Friends on : www.gostrings.com

Every Monday at 12:30pm, we will offer a 45 minute long chamber music concert to the public, and it is  free admission with a suggested donation of $10.00. The idea of this concert series is to offer high quality music to our neighbors while they take their lunch break.  Our mission is to give something back to the community while promoting talented musicians. The musicians play on an Antonio Stradivari violin.

Monday, February 8th @ 12:30pm

Violinist Akiko Kobayashi and pianist Juliana Han

Monday, February 22nd @ 12:30pm

Violinist Emily Smith and pianist Marnie Hauschildt

No food or beverage in the concert hall

News from WMP written on January 26th, 2010

Talented violinist Akiko Kobayashi and pianist Juliana Han will perform works by Bach and Prokofiev.

New York-born violinist Akiko Kobayashi is an enthusiastic solo and chamber music player and conveys her love for music with her technical facility and warmth of sound. Miss Kobayashi has appeared as a soloist with orchestras such as the Yonkers Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Suginami Kokaido Chamber Orchestra, and Berkshires International Festival Orchestra. She has performed extensively in major cities including New York, Chicago, Tokyo, Leipzig, Germany and Sicily. She recently won First Prize in the Richmond County Orchestra Musicians Competition and American Protégé International Strings and Piano Competition, and also received a Distinguished Musician Diploma from the IBLA Grand Prize Competition. Her other awards include Yonkers Philharmonic Concerto Competition Second Prize Winner, Bay Concerto Competition finalist, National Federation of Music Clubs semi-finalist, ECSO Instrumental Music Competition finalist, California International Young Artists Competition semi-finalist, and Chaminade Music Club Scholarship Winner. Akiko Kobayashi has appeared at several international festivals such as the Bowdoin International Music Festival in Maine, the Interharmony International Music Festival in the Berkshires and the Sulzbach-Rosenberg International Festival in Bavaria, where she performed as both soloist and chamber musician. She has participated in such master classes as the Stradivarius Society’s master class hosted by Bein & Fushi playing the Schumann Fantasy and performed in a master class at Ibla, Sicily where she also performed solo recitals. She enjoys exploring challenges beyond the range of music, as when she with a double degree in biology and music from Yale University. Currently a Master of Music candidate at the Manhattan School of Music studying with Isaac Malkin, she has also studied with noted musicians Sidney Harth, Victor Aitay, Zvi Zeitlin, Felix Galimir and Rachel Barton.

Frequently described as an especially intelligent and sensitive pianist, Juliana Han has gained recognition at national and international levels, winning honors in the Young Keyboard Artists Association and Oberlin international piano competitions. Ms. Han has had numerous concerto performances with orchestras such as the Blue Ash Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra. An avid chamber musician and active collaborative artist, she has performed across the country and has been coached by the likes of Robert Levin, Robert Merfeld, Nicholas Mann, Stephen Prutsman, and members of the American, St. Lawrence, and Ying string quartets. Ms. Han has performed at music festivals including the Aspen Festival, Brevard Music Center, and the Oberlin Piano Festival. She is currently a master’s candidate in piano performance at the Manhattan School of Music and studies with Arkady Aronov. Her teachers have included Benita Tse and Victor Rosenbaum. In addition to her musical accomplishments, Ms. Han holds degrees in biochemistry and law, both from Harvard University.

News from WMP written on January 26th, 2010

MSM Duo Regi and Kyoung Im have been playing together for three years. They have performed in many places in US and Italy. At this occasion they will perform works by Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms.

Violinist Regi Αlexandros Papa, a native of Athens, began studying the violin at the age of five. He comes from a musical family both parents are violinists. He has been described as "an exciting young violinst with brilliant technique and an excellent sense of style" (The Strad Magazine)
Papa attended the Doukas School in Athens. He moved to New York to study at the Preparatory Division at Manhattan School of Music, while continuing his formal education at the Professional Children's School in New York City. He graduated from the Manhattan School of Music college division with the Bachelor’s degree in violin performance, where he studied with Isaac Malkin. Papa has participated in master classes of Lydia Mortkovitch, Zakhar Bron, Heasook Rhee, Sergei Kravchenko, Peter Sheppard, Boris Belkin, Emmanuel Borok, Griegori Zhislin, Robert Mann, Lambert Orkis and Mikhail Kopelman. He is currently attending the Juilliard School for the Master’s degree in violin performance, where he studies with Kyung Wha Chung. Papa has given concerts throughout Athens, in collaboration with the Friends of Music at Athens Concert Hall and has also performed in the Pallas Hall, the Parnassos Hall and the Athenaum Hall. He has appeared as a soloist throughout Greece, performing with orchestras such as the Soloists of Patras Orchestra under Saulious Sondeckis, the Volos Symphony Orchestra under Simeon Kogan and the National Orchestra of Contemporary Music under Andreas Pilarinos. He has also appeared as a soloist with the Feminarte Orchestra in Tirana, Albania(2001), with the National Radio Orchestra under Nikos Tsouchlos in Athens Concert Hall(2006), with the Kamerata Orchestra under A.Symeonidis in the Zappeio Megaro (2007) and the New York Symphonic Arts Ensemble in New York  (2008). In the USA, he has given many recitals throughout New York City and New Jersey. Papa performed the Wieniawski Violin Concerto No.1 in f sharp minor with the Manhattan School of Music Philarmonia, as the winner of the concerto competition, during the 2004 Preparatory Division graduation ceremony in John C. Borden Auditorium.  He has been prize winner in numerous competitions, including first prize in the Ministry of Education's Panhellenic Contest, the 2002 Eurovision Contest in Greece and in the Wieniawski Competition organized by the Kosciuszko Foundation in New York City, second prize in the Young Soloists Competition in Volos 2000 and third prize in the International "Jeunesses Musicales" Violin Competition in Bucharest, Romania. In addition, he was a prize winner in The Artur Balsam Competition for Duos and also in the Hudson Valley Competition for Strings. Papa made his Carnegie Hall debut at the "Isaac Stern Auditorium" with the New York Senior Concert Orchestra under David Gilbert in 2006, performing the Sibelius Violin Concerto, as the winner of the Waldo Mayo Competition.

A native of Seoul, South Korea, pianist Kyoung Im Kim is a vocal and instrumental collaborative pianist. She graduated from Kyung-Won University in Korea in 2004. Under the guidance of Heasook Rhee, she completed her master’s degree in May 2006 and Professional Studies in May 2007 in accompanying with a merit scholarship at Manhattan School of Music. She has performed solo and collaborative concerts in Seoul. Her collaborative work at Manhattann School of Music includes recitals, chamber music concerts, and master classes in Korea, U.S. and Europe. She was a staff accompanist in Amati music festival, Icicle chamber music festival and Academia Latinoamericana de violin. She also has participated in master classes in accompanying with Robert Mcdonald , Lambert Orkis, Martin Kats, and accompanied a master class taught by violinist Glen Dicterow and singer Thomas Hampson.
Ms. Kim is a staff accompanist for MSM pre-College and College Division, working in the studios of violinists Pinchas Zukerman, Glen Dicterow, Kyung-Wha Chung, Isaac Malkin and Patinka Kopec, clarinetist Charles Neidich, voice department chair Maitland Peters, tenor Neil Rosenshine and mezzo-soprano Joan Caplan.. Now, she is pursuing her D.M.A degree with Heasook Rhee in accompanying. 

News from WMP written on January 26th, 2010

These two talented musicians will perform works by Schumann, Britten, Tchaikovsky and Chopin. Admission: $20, $10 (student with valid I.D)

Since her concerto debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at age 17, cellist Julia Bruskin has established herself as one of the premiere cellists of her generation.  She performed Samuel Barber’s Cello Concerto with conductor Jahja Ling at Avery Fisher Hall and has also been soloist with the Utah Symphony, Virginia Symphony, Pacific Symphony, and Dayton Philharmonic among others.  Ms. Bruskin won 1st prize in the Schadt String Competition and placed third in the International Johannes Brahms Competition in Austria.  This season her touring schedule includes performances at New York’s Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, and in Boston, Seattle, Phoenix, Anchorage, and San Juan, Puerto Rico.  A founding member of the critically acclaimed Claremont Trio, Ms. Bruskin won 1st prize in the 2001 Young Concert Artists International Auditions and was awarded the first ever Kalichestein-Laredo-Robinson International Trio Award. The trio has recorded the complete trios of Mendelssohn and Shostakovich and just released a CD of American trios including works by Leon Kirchner, Ellen Zwilich, Mason Bates and Paul Schoenfield.  Ms. Bruskin plays frequent solo recitals including performances this year in New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Texas.  In addition to her ongoing collaboration with pianist Aaron Wunsch, Ms. Bruskin has performed with Joseph Kalichstein, Miriam Fried, Gilbert Kalish, Ida Kavafian, Sharon Robinson, and Toby Appel.  A frequent guest at summer music festivals, she has performed at La Jolla Summerfest, Mostly Mozart, Caramoor, Saratoga, Bard, and Norfolk, and toured with the Musicians from Ravinia.  Sought after as a teacher, Ms. Bruskin has given master classes at the Eastman School of Music, the Peabody Conservatory, the Conservatory at SUNY Purchase, the Boston Conservatory, Gettysburg College’s Sunderman Conservatory and Middlebury College.  Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Ms Bruskin began cello lessons at age four. Her teachers have included Timothy Eddy, Joel Krosnick, Andres Diaz, Norman Fischer, and Nancy Hair. She graduated from Columbia University in 2002 with a Bachelor of Arts in Eastern European History and was elected to their chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. When she received her Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School, she became one of the few students to complete the five-year BA/MM exchange program between Juilliard and Columbia University.  

Praised for his bold interpretive skills and communicative sensitivity, pianist Aaron Wunsch appears regularly on concert stages throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia. He has performed in Avery Fisher and Alice Tully Halls at Lincoln Center, Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood, Royal Albert Hall in London, at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, and as soloist with the Yale and Colonial symphonies, among others. A ten-city solo recital tour of China garnered critical acclaim and enthusiastic audience responses. Lauded for his “masterful” chamber music performances (Hartford Courant), he has appeared at the Norfolk, Bowdoin, Sarasota, Great Lakes, and Yellow Barn chamber music festivals, collaborating in performance with great artists including cellist Lynn Harrell, clarinetist Charles Neidich, violinist Rolf Schulte, and the New York Woodwind Quintet. Also a vigorous proponent of contemporary music, he has worked closely with many renowned composers, including Charles Wuorinen, Fred Lerdahl, and Kaija Saariaho, and has performed new works by Saariaho and John Adams during Tanglewood’s Festival of Contemporary Music. These performances and others, including many world premieres, can be heard on major radio stations, including WGBH in Boston and WQXR in New York. In January, 2004, he performed Charles Ives’ monumental Concord Sonata during the Lincoln Center Focus! Festival and was subsequently invited to perform it at the Salle Cortot in Paris, France. While in London he performed and recorded for commercial CD six exciting new works by young composers inspired by Anton Webern’s Concerto for Nine Instruments, op. 24.Mr. Wunsch began his studies at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, which awarded him the school’s First Prize for five consecutive years.  Afterwards he studied with many renowned pianists, including Peter Frankl, Andras Schiff, Claude Frank, Emmanuel Ax, Steven Kovacevich, Seymour Lipkin, Jerome Lowenthal, and Joseph Kalichstein.  Mr. Wunsch received his Bachelor’s degree cum laude from Yale University, which granted him the Henry Hart Rice Prize for the best essay in International Studies, entitled “The Impact of Ideologies upon the Formation of Music.” He then received a Fulbright Grant for further studies at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, where he studied piano under renowned pedagogue Karlheinz Kämmerling. Afterward he completed his Master’s and Doctoral degrees at The Juilliard School under pianist Robert McDonald. Upon graduation Juilliard presented him with the Richard F. French Prize, the school’s highest honor for doctoral students. Already an accomplished teacher, Mr. Wunsch is a faculty member at both the Juilliard School (Keyboard Studies and Music History) and at William Paterson University (Piano). He is also a regular guest artist and faculty member at the Jakarta International Summer Music Festival in Jakarta, Indonesia. In the summer of 2004 he gave six weeks of master classes at conservatories and universities throughout China, including those in Beijing, Guangzhou, Nanning, and Guilin. He frequently lectures about American music, most recently at the Schola Cantorum in Paris, and is Artistic Director of the Music Mondays concert series in New York City. 

News from WMP written on January 11th, 2010

On Sunday, February 21st at 2:00pm, for the last concert, they will perform the Variations in E flat Major on Bei Mannern, welche Liebe fühlen from Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, WoO 46, the Cello Sonata No. 5 in D major, Op. 102, No. 2 and the Clarinet Trio in E flat major, Op. 38 with special guest clarinetist Charles Neidich.

A lecture with violin-maker Emmanuel Gradoux-Matt will precede the concert @ 1pm.

Admission: $20, $15 (senior citizens), $10 (students).

Ruth Sommers, cellist, is a graduate of Juilliard, where she studied with Leonard Rose and Harvey Shapiro. She began her career under the auspices of Young Concert Artists and was a Concert Artists Guild Award and WQXR winner.  A frequent performer of chamber music and recitals in the United States and Europe, she has participated in the Caramoor and Wolftrap Festivals and was soloist with the Master Virtuosi Orchestra in Avery Fisher Hall.  In 1988, she founded the Dobbs Ferry Chamber Music Festival of which she was the director.  She founded Festival Chamber Music in 1992 and has been the director ever since.

Mikhail  Hallak studied at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, where he received the Premier Prix de Piano, and Premier Prix de Musique de Chambre.  Mr. Hallak is both a Fulbright and a Rotary scholar.  Before his work as collaborative pianist, Mr. Hallak maintained an extensive schedule as a solo recitalist and orchestral soloist as well as chamber musician Europe. He was also extensively featured on a recent film dedicated to Soprano Natalie Dessay. The film “Une rencontre avec Natalie Dessay” was recently broadcasted twice on European TV. He also assisted Maestro Evelino Pido at Paris Opera for “Lucia di Lammermoor” featuring Natalie Dessay in Andrei Serban’s acclaimed production. He has taught at the Juilliard School and Yale University.
 

Charles Neidich (clarinet) is a graduate of Yale University.  He is a winner of The Walter W. Naumburg Competition. His European honors include a top prize at the 1982 Munich International Competition and the Geneva and Paris International Competitions. Mr. Neidich is currently a member of the artist faculties of The Juilliard School, the Manhattan School of Music, and the State University of New York at Stony Brook.  He has participated in festivals and performed as soloist with major orchestras throughout the world.