Guest Artists from This Season
September 25 & 26, 2010: Sharan Leventhal, violin Leventhal’s playing was quite sublime, the phrasing exquisite, the tone absolutely steady, the expression rapt.” - Boston Herald
Since winning the Kranischsteiner Musikpreis at the 1984 International Contemporary Music Festival in Darmstadt, Germany, violinist Sharan Leventhal has built an international reputation as a champion of contemporary music. Her more than 100 premieres include works written by Gunther Schuller, Virgil Thomson, Scott Wheeler, Simon Bainbridge, Taina León, and Pauline Oliveros. Ms. Leventhal has appeared as soloist with the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra; the Toledo, Milwaukee, Gulf Coast, Topeka, Dayton and Albany symphonies; and the Wisconsin and Cleveland chamber orchestras, among others. She is a member of the Gramercy Trio, the Kepler Quartet and the Boston Artists Ensemble, and appears regularly with the Milwaukee-based contemporary ensemble Present Music.
Sharan Leventhal has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Fromm Foundation, the Australia Council for the Arts, the Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation and the Aaron Copland Fund for Music Recording. She can be heard on the New World, Newport Classic, Naxos, Parma, Northeastern Recordings and Catalyst/BMG labels.
Ms. Leventhal teaches at The Boston Conservatory and Brandeis University. She has served on the faculties of Michigan State University, the Berklee College of Music, and the Interlochen Arts Camp, presents seminars and master classes throughout the United States and Europe and has been a regular guest at the Bruckner-Konservatorium in Linz, Austria. She is the founder and director of Play On, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting active participation in music making.
October 23 & 24, 2010 Claudi Arimany, flute “Claudi Arimany possesses an exceedingly beautiful sound and a resplendent artistic personality. He played . . .with authentic passion and grandeur. - Boston Globe
Claudi Arimany was born in Granollers near Barcelona (Spain). He has performed with world renowned performers like Jean-Pierre Rampal, Victoria de los Angeles, and Josef Suk, and has appeared as soloist with the English Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonia Virtuosi of New York, Israel Sinfonietta, Zagreb Soloists, Munich Bach Orchestra, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Stuttgart Kammerorchester, Amadeus Chamber Orchestra, Prague Chamber Orchestra, Berliner Kammerorchester and the Czech Philharmonic.
Mr. Arimany has given concerts throughout Europe, Russia, the United States, Canada, Middle East and Japan, performing in the some of the most important concert halls in the world. He is a jury member for the “J.P.Rampal International Flute Competition” held in Paris, in addition to many other international competitions. He has made prize-winning recordings for Sony Classical, Novalis, and Delos International. Considered by Jean-Pierre Rampal to be one of the finest flutists of his generation, Claudi Arimany today performs on the same emblematic William S. Haynes gold flute that belonged to Jean-Pierre Rampal.
November 20 & 21, 2010 Sharon Roffman, violin“She played with poise, confidence, and passion – as if this were the concert of a lifetime.” – Bergen Record
Sharon Roffman, prize winner in the 2003 Naumburg Foundation International Competition, made her solo debut playing the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the New Jersey Symphony in 1996. Today she is equally sought after as soloist, chamber musician and music educator, both in the United States and abroad. In March 2004, she made her Carnegie Hall debut as a soloist in Vivaldi’s Concerto for Four Violins with Itzhak Perlman playing and conducting; the same piece was featured in a “Live from Lincoln Center” broadcast in 2003. As a chamber musician, Ms. Roffman has collaborated with members of the Guarneri, Brentano, Shanghai, Avalon, and Miami Quartets, the Opus One Piano Quartet, and flutist Paula Robison, among others. Ms. Roffman has been a frequent guest of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in both the Meet the Music and Inside Chamber Music series.
Ms. Roffman has diverse musical interests. Since 1981 she has made regular appearances on Sesame Street, both as singer and violinist, as well as being featured on The Today Show (NBC), and WQXR-FM’s The Listening Room and Young Artist Showcase. Ms. Roffman received the Composer’s Apprentice Award from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in 1992, and subsequently studied composition with Bruce Adolphe from 1992-94. Her sextet for strings and winds, Derevo, was premiered at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center by the Chelsea Chamber Ensemble in 1994. In 2005, Ms. Roffman composed, performed and recorded a piece for solo violin to accompany a television/radio commercial for the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Foundation. She created and performed a seminar at New York’s Italian Wine Merchants that juxtaposed fine violins and fine wines in an effort to educate non-musicians’ ears to the subtleties of sound and color.
Ms. Roffman received a Graduate Diploma from the Juilliard School in 2003, where she was a student of Itzhak Perlman and Donald Weilerstein. The Cleveland Institute of Music awarded her both a Masters Degree and Bachelor of Music. She has participated in the Marlboro Music Festival, Taos School of Music, the Aspen Festival and School, the Verbier Festival, and the Perlman Music Program.
In addition to her accomplishments as a performer, Ms. Roffman was appointed concert artist and professor of violin at Kean University in 2002, and is a member of the faculty of the Thurnauer School of Music in Tenafly, New Jersey. She recently founded, and is the director of, ClassNotes, a non-profit chamber music society emphasizing outreach and performances in public schools.
February 13, 2010Members of the Boston Classical Orchestra
Faneuil Hall is an ideal setting for early Romantic repertoire: the intimacy and elegance of the space recalls late eighteenth-century European chamber music settings. – Boston Musical Intelligencer
Steven Lipsitt, clarinet*; Ronald Haroutunian,bassoon; Frederick Aldrich, horn; SandraStecher Kott & Roksana Sudol, violins*;Kenneth Stalberg, viola*; Mark Simcox, ’cello*;Joseph Holt, bass(* Shown.)Steven Lipsitt (clarinet) is now in his twelfth season as music director of the Boston Classical Orchestra, began his musical training as a clarinetist. He played in youth orchestras at New England Conservatory and Boston University (where he and Ronald Haroutunian were in a woodwind quintet together), and won the first annual Tanglewood Award from the Brookline Chamber Music Society, a prize that included tuition in the Tanglewood Institute Young Artists Orchestra, where he played under conductors Lawrence Leighton Smith, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Seiji Ozawa, and studied with the late Pasquale Cardillo of the Boston Symphony. While earning undergraduate and graduate degrees at Yale in music and conducting, he continued clarinet studies with Keith Wilson (teacher of Richard Stoltzman), and played in orchestras and chamber groups. After a hiatus of many years, he picked up his clarinet again on his visits to Boston Public School classrooms, and couldn’t resist the opportunity to make chamber music with his BCO colleagues.
Ronald Haroutunian (bassoon) is principal bassoon and a founding member of the Boston Classical Orchestra. He attended the New England Conservatory of Music and Boston University, studying with both Matthew Ruggiero and Sherman Walt. He is also principal bassoon of the Rhode Island Philharmonic, the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestras, and appears often with the Boston Symphony, with whom he was second bassoon for the BSO’s 1999-2000 season. He has been a soloist with the Boston Pops, Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, and Hartford Symphony. He teaches bassoon at Tufts University and Boston University.
Frederick Aldrich (horn) is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Boston Symphony hornist Richard Mackey. He has performed with virtually every orchestra in Boston, including the Boston Symphony, the Boston Pops, the Boston Ballet, and Boston Lyric Opera and is a member of the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra. Presently he serves on the faculties of Amherst, Smith and Mount Holyoke Colleges.
Sandra Stecher Kott (violin) was named concertmaster of the BCO in 1997. She is an active orchestral and chamber musician performing with the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, the Cantata Singers and the Arriaga String Quartet. She is also concertmaster of the Boston Lyric Opera Company and previously served as concertmaster with the Opera Company of Boston under the late Sarah Caldwell. Ms. Kott holds masters degrees in violin and music theory from the New England Conservatory of Music and is an Assistant Professor at the Berklee College of Music and a member of the string faculty at the Rivers Music School in Weston.
Roksana Sudol (violin) principal second violin of the BCO, has been a member of this orchestra for more than 20 years. She is a native of Poland who moved to Guadalajara (Mexico) with her family as a teenager where she became well known as violin soloist and chamber musician. In 1986 she won the Dean Scholarship Award for study at Boston University earning both Bachelor and Master Degrees in violin performance under the guidance of Professor Roman Totenberg. As a former member of Concertos Guadalajara String Quartet, Poznan Trio and Trio Dorado, Ms. Sudol participated in various music festivals and performed numerous Chamber music recitals in New York and Canada. In Boston she also performs with New England String Ensemble and Cantata Singers. Roksana Sudol is an accomplished violin teacher who has her own private studio in Andover. She currently is adjunct professor at Phillips Academy in Andover where she lives with her husband and two daughters.
Kenneth Stalberg (viola) received a B.M. at Oberlin Conservatory of Music, studying violin with Steven Staryk and Andor Toth, and an M.M. at Boston University, where he studied violin and viola with Joseph Silverstein. Mr. Stalberg was a fellowship student at the Berkshire Music Festival at Tanglewood, winning the Joseph Silverstein prize in 1974. From 1977 to 1982 he was the violist with the New College String Quartet and principal viola with the Florida West Coast Symphony, both in Sarasota, Florida. Currently, Mr. Stalberg is principal viola of the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, the Boston Lyric Opera Orchestra, the Boston Landmarks Orchestra, and the Boston Classical Orchestra. His arrangements have been performed by chamber music groups throughout the United States, and he maintains a large private teaching studio.
Mark Simcox (cello) is a founding member of the Boston Classical Orchestra and has played every season except 2002-2003 when he filled in as principal cellist of the Honolulu Symphony. As solo cellist of Alea III, a new music group, he has made nine tours of Greece performing at contemporary music festivals in ancient Greek theaters. He performs as assistant principal cellist of the Boston Lyric Opera, and has played with the Boston Pops, the Boston Ballet and the Boston Symphony. He lives in the North End where he can walk to Faneuil Hall from his apartment.
Joseph Holt (bass) – bio to come.
March 26 & 27, 2011 Kenneth Radnofsky, saxophone “Radnofsky’s pitch is true and tone quality warm even in the high register, and his virtuoso technical skills are of the highest rank.” – American Record Guide
Kenneth Radnofsky has appeared as soloist with leading orchestras and ensembles throughout the world, including the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and New York Philharmonic under the direction of Maestro Kurt Masur, Dresden Staatskapelle, Boston Pops, Taipei and Taiwan Symphonies, New World Symphony, BBC Concert Orchestra, Oregon Symphony, and the Marlboro Festival. He has performed on numerous occasions for the Boston Symphony.
Current solo releases include Debussy’s Rhapsody with the NY Philharmonic, Donald Martino’s Saxophone Concerto, Michael Colgrass’ Dream Dancer, and Elliott Schwartz ‘ Mehitabel’s Serenade.
During the last few years, Mr. Radnofsky has commissioned and premiered solo works by many contemporary composers, among them Gunther Schuller, David Amram, Milton Babbit and John Harbison. His 2010 schedule includes birthday tributes to Gunther Schuller (85) and David Amram (80) at Jordan Hall and Tanglewood, as well as performances with the Jerusalem and El Paso Symphonies, in works written expressly for him. His 2009 Jordan Hall recital featured the first performance of Aaron Copland’s original orchestration of the Incidental Music to Quiet City. 2008 included performances at Harvard, with the Portland String Quartet, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and a performance at Tanglewood as soloist with John Williams in Franz Waxman’s Suite for Saxophone, A Place in the Sun. Committed to educational outreach, Mr. Radnofsky has given literally thousands of workshops worldwide.
Kenneth Radnofsky’s principal teachers were Joseph Allard, Jeffrey Lerner, David Salge, Steven Hoyle, Terry Anderson and Duncan Hale. He currently teaches at the Boston Conservatory and New England Conservatories, The Longy School, and Boston University . He is a Buffet Artist and performs on 400 Series Buffet gold plated alto and tenor saxophones.
April 16 & 17, 2011 Dominique Labelle, soprano“She’s one of those rare and cherishable artists for whom there’s no gulf between passionate emotional conviction and technical control.” - Boston Phoenix
Born in Montreal, Dominique Labelle first came to international prominence as Donna Anna in Peter Sellar’s stunning PepsiCo Summerfare Festival production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, set in Spanish Harlem, which she performed in New York, Paris and Vienna. Since then she has been acclaimed in a repertoire that ranges from Bach to 2006 Pulitzer Prize winner Yehudi Wyner. She has worked with conductors from Boulez to Zinman, and orchestras from Atlanta to San Francisco. She is a regular guest soloist in Europe.
Whether in opera, in concert, in recital, or in oratorio, the luminous beauty of her charismatic stage presence is unmistakable. The San Francisco Chronicle called Handel’s Belshazzar “a stunner even among the lofty company of Handel’s other oratorios”, and in a performance by Nicholas McGegan and the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra gave top vocal honors to Labelle who sang Nitocris “with a glorious combination of dramatic fervor, tonal luxuriance and pinpoint accuracy.”
The Boston Globe and the Boston Herald have agreed, “none can top her performing Bach”. Of his St. Matthew Passion the Herald reviewer noted “Labelle singing ‘Aus Liebe’ in the second half of this extremely long program, made everyone forget how long they were sitting”. Following a performance of Bach’s Cantata No. 202, a Boston Globe critic wrote, “Really, everybody needs more Dominique in their lives. There’s operatic glamour in the voice and technique and control to burn.”
Further highlighting her wide-ranging repertoire are acclaimed performances of Mahler, “irreproachable accuracy, grace, and ease mark her interpretation”, of Verdi’s Requiem “Astonishing distinction… Her tiny stature producing the ‘sound’ of a great Verdi soprano” and of Wyner’s songs “mesmerizing beauty of tone, mastery of line, and intensity of focus making a deliciously evocative experience.”
Her many recordings, with repertoire from the 17th to the 21st centuries, appear on VirginVeritas, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, RCA Victor Red Seal, Koss, Denon, New World, and Muisica Omnia labels. Her recording of Handel’s Arminio won the 2002 Handel Prize. Increasingly many of these may be found on iTunes and other download services.
Ms. Labelle lives in central Massachusetts with her husband and two children, loves her garden with its fish pond, is an avid knitter who spins her own wool, and enjoys baking, with a special interest in lemon pie.
Dominique Labelle is related to Dame Emma Albani DBE, a leading soprano of the 19th and early 20th century who was the first Canadian singer to become an international star. She is a National Winner of the Metropolitan Opera competition, and the recipient of a George London Foundation Award and Boston University’s Distinguished Alumni Award.
