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, March 8th @ 12:30pm

Violinist Jesus Reina and pianist Tatiana Goncharova

Monday, March 15th @ 12:30pm

Violinist Natasha Lipkina and pianist Vladimir Valjarevic

Monday, March 22nd @ 12:30pm

Cellist Joris van den Berg and pianist Martijn Willers

Monday, March 29th @ 12:30pm

                                                                 Violinist Kevin Lin

 No food or beverage in the concert hall

This Concert Series is sponsored by www.gostrings.com

News from WMP written on March 1st, 2010

On Wednesday, March 10th @ 7:30pm, the Armenians musicians of the SIMA Trio will perform works by Haydn, Schumann and Babadjanian.

Praised for their “powerful” and “heartfelt” interpretations of classical and ethnic repertoire, the SIMA Trio is quickly becoming one of the leading, young trios of its generation. Connected by their Armenian heritage, the members of this NY based ensemble have studied with such teachers as Dorothy Delay, Peter Oundjian, Joaquin Soriano, Solomon Mikowksy, Timothy Eddy, and Ralph Kirshbaum at Juilliard, Yale, Real Conservatorio Superior de Madrid, Manhattan School of Music, Mannes, and the Royal Northern College of Music respectively. Winners of international competitions, violinist Sami Merdinian, cellist Ani Kalayjian, and pianist Sofya Melikyan, are highly sought after soloists and chamber musicians who have performed at such major venues as Carnegie Hall, Teatro Colon, Palau de la Musica Valenciana, Concertgebauw, Seoul Arts Center, Shanghai Theatre, Salle Cortot, La Jolla Sherwood auditorium, Orange County Performing Arts Center, and Yerevan Philharmonic Hall, among others. 

In its inaugural season, the Trio’s upcoming engagements include a South American tour in Frutillar, Chile, Cordoba & Buenos Aires, Argentina, as well as recitals at the Rutgers Zimmerli Arts Museum in New Brunswick, Bulgari house concert, St. James church in White Plains, and Myra Hess Series in Chicago.

News from WMP written on March 8th, 2010

The duo Lipkina/Valjarevic comes back at WMP with a program featuring De Falla, Enesco and Ravel.

Russian violinist Natasha Lipkina received her education in the Central Special School of Music, the Moscow Conservatory, and Indiana University where she studied with Boris Belenky, Igor Bezrodny, and Miriam Fried. Ms. Lipkina has performed as a recitalist in Russia and in the Republics of the former Soviet Union and has performed with orchestras in Russia, Romania, Germany, Finland, Japan, and the United States. She has won prizes in the Enescu Violin Competition (Romania) and in the Shostakovich Chamber Music Competition (St. Petersburg). She has performed works by Mozart and Schnittke on Moscow Radio. While at Indiana University, Ms. Lipkina began to study viola with Atar Arad and made her viola debut in the Dubinsky Quartet later that year. She has since participated in festivals both as a violinist and violist including the Norfolk, Marlboro, Rauma (Finland), Waterloo (Belgium), and Musique et Amitié (Switzerland) festivals, among others. Ms. Lipkina is also a committed teacher and has been on the faculties of the music department New York University School of Education and the Children's Orchestra Society.

Vladimir Valjarevic, pianist, P.S.C., has attented the Conservatoire Supérieur de Genève (Fulbright Scholarship/Swiss Arts Grant) and has received a M.M. and B.M., Mannes College of Music (Marian Marcus Wahl Performance Award). He is a D.M.A Candidate, Rutgers University (Saldarini Award). Festivals he has performed in include Prussia Cove, Apeldoorn, American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, Kneisel Hall, Round Top, Beethoven Institute, Internantional Keyboard Institute. His principal piano instructors have been Pavlina Dokovska, Pascal Devoyon, Susan Starr, Vladimir Feltsman. Chamber music and solo performances in Europe, America, and Far East. Mr. Valjarevic records on Labor Records. He is on the piano faculty of Mannes College Preparatory and Extension Divisions in New York City.

News from WMP written on March 8th, 2010

For their first performance at WMP, this cello/piano duo will offer a program featuring Mendelssohn, Janáček and Chopin.

Joris van den Berg started playing the cello when he was 6 years old. His first teacher was Like Viersen. From 1998 until 2004 Joris studied with Yke Viersen, member of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam. From 2003 he studied with Quirine Viersen and Godfried Hoogeveen (principal cellist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra) at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam. Since September 2008 he studies with Ralph Kirshbaum at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. He gained orchestral experience in the European Union Youth Orchestra and the Dutch Youth String Orchestra. Joris was first-prizewinner at National Competitions, among others the National Cellocompetition 2006 in Amsterdam, after which he made is debut in the Big Hall of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, with Amsterdam Sinfonietta with David Geringas.  With his pianist Martijn Willers he won Third Prize in the International Johannes Brahms Chamber Music Competition in Pörtschach, Austria in August 2008. Joris had masterclasses with among others Frans Helmerson, Ralph Kirshbaum, Janos Starker, Colin Carr, Walter Despalj, Steven Doane and chamber music with Silke Avenhaus, Nobuko Imai, Anatoly Resnikovsky and István Parkanyi. He participated in the International Holland Music Sessions, London Masterclasses and Bowdoin International Music Festival in the United States. Joris performed solo-concertos with the Residentie Orkest, The Hague; Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Camerata Amsterdam and the Orchestra of the Russian Defence Ministry. He performed at Carnegie Weill Recital Hall, New York, the Big Hall of the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, the Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory and the Gergiev Festival, Rotterdam. Joris plays on a Grancino cello (1703), placed at his disposal by the Dutch National Musical Instrument Foundation.

www.jorisvandenberg.com

Martijn Willers had his first piano lessons at the age of six with Nel Köhler. Later he studied with Noor Relijk. In 1998, he won second prize at the Competition of the Foundation for Young Musical Talent in The Netherlands. He entered the Conservatory of Amsterdam, where he studied with Marcel Baudet (1998-1999) and Mila Baslawskaja 1999-2003). In 2005, he finished his Master studies, after two years of study with David Kuyken. Martijn is now continuing his studies with Mrs. Norma Fischer. As a soloist, he had masterclasses with Jan Wijn (1997), Willem Brons, Vladimir Tropp (1998, 2005) and Mikhail Voskresensky (Holland Music Sessions 2006). In 2006, he won the SNS Reaal Foundation Masterclass Prize in the final of the "Vriendenkrans Competition" in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Martijn has been a passionate chamber music player ever since the first years of his studies. Since 2006, he has a duo with cellist Joris van den Berg, with whom he performs regularly in the main halls of The Netherlands, such as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and Vredenburg in Utrecht. The duo won third prize in the International Johannes Brahms Chamber Music Competition in Pörtschach, Austria in August 2008. In the 2009-2010 season they performed a.o. Rachmaninoff's cello sonata in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. He also is a member of Trio Contrasten Amsterdam with Fleur Bouwer (clarinet) and Maria Milstein (violin). Recently, the trio did a series of 11 concerts in the main halls of The Netherlands under the name The Debut, recorded by the Concert Radio Broadcast in The Netherlands. In several chamber music combinations, he had masterclasses and lessons with a.o. Heinrich Schiff, Ralph Kirshbaum, Colin Carr, Quirine Viersen, Tabea Zimmermann, Thomas Riebl, Hans Deinser, Pascal Devoyon, Philippe Grafin.Martijn is playing on a Steinway grand piano build in 1909, made available by the Dutch Music Instrument Foundation.

www.martijnwillers.com

News from WMP written on March 8th, 2010

Soprano Diana Jacklin and violinist Hartmut Ometzberger will perform a very eclectic program with works by Paganini, Handel, Giordani, Caccini, Rebecca Clarke, Cole Porter, Bernstein and a World Premiere by American composer Jennie Gottschalk.

Diana Jacklin has performed in the United States and throughout Europe to critical acclaim. Her appearances in Spain at the 2002 International Music Festival of Jimena de la Frontera prompted critic José Luis Tobalina from EuropaSur to write, "The powerful and at the same time melodic voice of Diana Jacklin, as well as the expression of her face and the movement of her hands, created an atmosphere to which all of us in the recital hall were transported." Ms. Jacklin created the role of Molly Bloom in the world premiere of James Joyce's Ulysses by Roger Rudenstein. She has performed as a soloist with many orchestras and opera companies, including Maine Grand Opera, New York Opera Forum, Opera in the Ozarks, New Bedford Symphony, Cape Ann Symphony among others, and she performed regularly with The Boston Lyric Opera ensemble from 1999 to 2006. In 2002, she developed a one-woman opera outreach program and has brought “What is Opera?!?!” to many delighted school children. Having moved from mezzo soprano to dramatic soprano Fach, her roles now include Leonore (Beethoven), Elettra (Mozart), Lady Macbeth, Abigaille , Aida (Verdi), Minnie and Turandot (Puccini), Sieglinde, Venus, Kundry and Ortrud (Wagner), among others. Ms. Jacklin earned a degree from Eastman School of Music and has studied with Thomas Paul in Rochester, NY; Blanche Thebom (pupil of Edyth Walker) in San Francisco; Judith Coen in NYC; and Glenys Linos (pupil of Elvira de Hidalgo) in Vienna, Austria.  An active recitalist, Ms. Jacklin has sung in the USA, Holland, Spain, Belgium, Hungary and Austria. Her recital work has been supported by grants from The Saint Botolph Club Foundation and the Massachusetts Cultural Council and endorsed by the Austrian Embassy in the Hague. In 2007, Ms. Jacklin formed a Duo with Violinist Hartmut Ometzberger entitled The Diva and the Fiddler, and together, they have been invited to perform in festivals and concerts in Vienna, Holland, Slovakia, Antwerp, Styriarte, Boston, and NYC. As the combination is very unusual, composers have been impressed by their expression and range of colors which has led them to write pieces for the Duo. In addition to an active performance schedule, Ms. Jacklin has served as a voice professor at Salem State College from 2004-2006, voice faculty at many New England preparatory schools, maintained private voice studios in the Boston, Massachusetts’ area Vienna, Austria, and is the Founding Director of The North Shore Vocal Institute. She is a member of NATS (National Assoc. of Teachers of Singing) and NYSTA (New York Singing Teachers’ Assoc.), served as a board member of the NATS/Boston Chapter from 2004-2006, and served as a judge for NATS and NATSAA competitions. In the summer of 2001, she was an artist-in-residence in Jimena de la Frontera, Spain, and in 2008, she presented a symposium at The American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria. Ms. Jacklin currently makes her home in Vienna, Austria.

Hartmut Ometzberger is a highly respected chamber musician, soloist and teacher. About Hartmut, Emanuel Hurwitz said, “In this age of technical perfection, there are only very few musicians with something to say. He is one of them.  One of the best leaders I have ever seen.” Hartmut focuses on the most natural way to attain the most musical result. The aim is beauty of expression. Hartmut has been invited as a leader and section principal to many orchestras incl., Holland Symfonia, Noord Holland Philharmonisch, Radio Symfonie Orkest, Milton Keynes Philahrmonic, Residentie Orkest. He has led a Munich chamber orchestra under the direction of Sir Colin Davis and has worked with other important conductors, including Valery Gergiev, Adam Fischer, Sian Edwards, among others.  In recent years, Hartmut has concentrated on performing chamber music and teaching. His dedication to serving music includes inspirational playing and inspirational teaching. Hartmut is much in demand in various groups and has performed with, amongst others, Prunella Pacey, Emanuel Hurwitz, Steve Tees, Garfield Jackson, Martin Jones, and members of the Philharmonia London. In 2007, Hartmut formed a Duo with soprano Diana Jacklin. They perform to great critical acclaim and have been invited to perform festivals and concerts in Vienna, Amsterdam, Ljubliana, Antwerp, The Hague, Styriarte, Boston, NYC, London and New York Cultural Forum, etc. As the combination is very unusual, composers have been impressed by their expression and range of color which has led them to write pieces for the Duo. Hartmut’s specific way of teaching has earned him respect with his colleagues. As a result, he has been invited to coach student and pre-professional courses, such as Orchesterakademie Mannheim, and regularly teaches chamber music courses and masterclasses in Germany, Austria and England. As a young teacher, he was on the faculty of the Youth Music Centre in London, the most important school for talented children in London. Because Hartmut is particularly concerned with the most healthy and natural way of playing the violin, he works as a coach for professional violinists with physical concerns. He is publishing a book later this year on violin technique and its application. Hartmut gained his B(mus) at the Royal Academy of Music with Diana Cummings, and then went on to study with Herman Krebbers. The biggest influence on Hartmut as a musician were his years of study and friendship with Emanuel Hurwitz.