Fiterstein & Friends
Clarinet-Viola-Piano Trio
Friday, March 3, 2023 – 7:30 P.M.
@ Memorial Chapel, Albright College
Fiterstein & Friends: Clarinet, Viola, and Piano Trio Concert. This concert is presented in memory of Jake Krumholz, and sponsored in part by a grant from the William Davidson Foundation. Clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein is considered one of today’s most exceptional artists, having appeared as a soloist with top tier orchestras all over the world. Grammy winning violist Kim Kashkashian’s work as performing and recording artist and pedagogue has been recognized worldwide. This program will feature rarely heard works by Mozart and Schumann for this unconventional ensemble, as well as new compositions highlighting the unique timbres of the instruments.
Clarinet-Viola-Piano Trio
A concert in memory of Jake Krumholz
Artists:
Alexander Fiterstein, clarinet
Kim Kashkashian, viola
Shai Wosner, piano
Program:
Schumann: Fantasy Pieces for Clarinet & Piano, Op. 73
Schumann: Romances for Clarinet & Piano, Op. 94
György Kurtág: Hommage to R. Schumann
Schumann: Five Pieces in Folk Style, Op. 102
Mozart: Trio in E-flat Major, K. 498, “Kegelstatt”
This concert is presented in memory of Jake Krumholz, and funded in part by a grant from the William Davidson Foundation. Clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein, Kim Kashkashian, viola and Shai Wosner, piano, all internationally acclaimed artists, perform rarely heard works by Mozart and Schumann, as well as new compositions highlighting the unique timbres of these instruments. This concert celebrates the life of the talented pianist from our community, Caleb Flick, whose tragic death in a car accident occurred as our season was being scheduled.
Clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein is considered one of today’s most exceptional artists. Fiterstein has performed in recital, with distinguished orchestras, and with chamber music ensembles throughout the world. He won first prize at the Carl Nielsen International Clarinet Competition and received the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant Award. The Washington Post has described his playing as “dazzling in its spectrum of colors, agility, and range. Every sound he makes is finely measured without inhibiting expressiveness” and The New York Times described him as “a clarinetist with a warm tone and powerful technique.” Fiterstein was born in Belarus and immigrated to Israel at the age of 2 with his family. He is currently Professor of Clarinet and Chair of Winds at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University.
Hailed as “an artist who combines a probing, restless intellect with enormous beauty of tone,” Kim Kashkashian’s work as performing and recording artist and pedagogue has been recognized worldwide. She won the coveted Grammy Award for her recording of Ligeti and Kurtag solo viola works in 2013 and received the George Peabody Medal and Switzerland’s Golden Bow Award for her contributions to music. In 2016, she was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and in 2020, was named an Honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music. Ms. Kashkashian, who studied with Karen Tuttle and Walter Trampler at Baltimore’s Peabody Conservatory and Felix Galimir at Vermont’s Marlboro Festival has held teaching positions at Indiana University, the Freiburg Hochschule für Musik, and the Hans Eisler Hochschule of Berlin. Currently, Ms. Kashkashian makes her home in Boston where she coaches chamber music and viola at New England Conservatory of Music.
Pianist Shai Wosner has attracted international recognition for his exceptional artistry, musical integrity, and creative insight. His performances of a broad range of repertoire—from Beethoven and Schubert to Ligeti and the music of today—reflect a degree of virtuosity and intellectual curiosity that has made him a favorite among audiences and critics. Wosner is a resident artist with the New York-based Peoples’ Symphony Concerts (2020-23). He has received Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Segal Award, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award. He records principally for Onyx Classics, and his acclaimed recordings range from sonatas by Schubert and Sciarrino to chamber works by Bartók and Kurtág and concertos by Haydn and Ligeti. Born in Israel, Wosner studied piano with Opher Brayer and Emanuel Krasovsky and composition, theory, and improvisation with André Hajdu. He later studied at Juilliard with Emanuel Ax.
This concert is funded in part by a grant from the William Davidson Foundation.
