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2008 Musicians
Finisterra
Trio |
Kevin Krentz | Kwan
Bin Park |
Tanya
Stambuk | Biava
Quartet |
Austin Hartman | Mary
Persin | Hyunsu Ko | Jason
Calloway |
This
is the Finisterra Trio’s sixth year
performing at The Methow Valley Music Festival. Individually,
the three come from an impressive musical background bringing
a rich variety of musical experiences to their work as a trio.
Members of the trio have garnered recognition as performers
and have been heard in such prestigious halls such as New
York’s Lincoln Center, Chicago’s Orchestra Hall,
Seattle's Benaroya Hall and have been winners in competitions
both nationally and internationally. Finisterra won the Silver
Medal at the Zinetti International Chamber Music Competition
in Italy out of groups from 20 different countries. Since
then, the trio won the Greenlake National Chamber Music Competition
where they also won the Audience Prize. They have been invited
to perform in Europe and the Americas, including an invitation
from the famed Florestan Trio, who recently brought Finisterra
for performances and dialogue in London, England. Most recently,
the Finisterra trio has been invited as Artists-in-Residence
at a beautiful new concert hall called The Seasons in Yakima,
Washington. Currently, Finisterra is recording the three piano
trios of contemporary American composer Daron Aric Hagen.
Ned Rorem, famed American composer, called Finisterra's first
recording, of Hagen's third trio, The Wayfaring Stranger,
"exquisite." Visit their website at www.finisterra.org
for more information.
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Kevin
Krentz, cello, is a native of Atlanta, Georgia. Although
he began his musical life as a cellist at 12, he soon dropped
the cello to sing for the rest of his youth. Starting at age
20, he made quick progress. In 2000 Kevin was a winner at
the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, with his
clarinet, piano, and cello trio, In Flight 3. In addition
to his chamber music credits with Finisterra, Kevin has also
won several concerto competitions and the Ladies Musical Club
of Seattle Award/Tour Competition. He has been featured on
NPR as well as KING FM's Live! By George program and has performed
throughout the U.S. to critical acclaim. Kevin is a dedicated
and well-known teacher in Seattle and has presented at the
American String Teachers Association National Convention.
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Kwan
Bin Park, violin, was born in South Korea and by
age eleven attended the Juilliard pre-college program. Since
then, his teachers have included Gabriel Banat, Denes Zsigmondy,
Joseph Fuchs, Stephen Clapp, Ron Patterson and Ruggiero Ricci.
He received a Bachelor and Master of Music Degrees from the
Juilliard School. He has performed as soloist with the Princeton
Youth Orchestra and the Philadelphia College Symphony. A recipient
of the William Randolph Hearst Award and the Dorothy Delay
Violin Awards he has attended the Meadowmount Institute, the
Kneisal Hall Chamber Music School, and has performed in the
Torre Mountgri Chamber Music Festival, the Mostly Nordic Chamber
Music Series and the Seattle Chamber Music Festival. He was
a founding member of the Corelliard Chamber Orchestra and
has performed as soloist and chamber musician throughout Spain,
Germany, Canada, South Korea and the United States.
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On the
occasion of her debut at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall,
Tanya Stambuk, pianist, was hailed as "a
player with a powerful technique, ideas of her own, and considerable
promise" by the New York Times. Since then, her concert
career has taken her across the United States and throughout
Western and Eastern Europe. She has performed with the Orchestre
de Toulouse in France, the Virginia Symphony, Chicago Civic
Orchestra in Orchestra Hall, the Bergen Philharmonic, the
Lake Charles Symphony and Rapides Symphony Orchestra in Louisiana,
Oregon's Rogue Valley Symphony, Washington’s Olympia
Symphony, and the Seattle Symphony. Tanya Stambuk has performed
at the 92nd Street Y and Merkin Hall in New York City, the
Music Academy in Philadelphia, the Phillips Collection in
Washington D.C., the Dame Myra Hess Series in Chicago, the
Piano Series at the San Diego Art Museum, and at Brigham Young
University, Texas A&M University, and the University of
Hawaii. She has recorded the piano works of Norman Dello Joio
on the Centaur label. She is currently on the piano faculty
at the University of Puget Sound.
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The Biava
Quartet is recognized as one of today's most exciting
young American quartets. Winner of the Naumburg Chamber
Music Award and top prizes at the Premio Borciani and London
International Competitions, the Quartet has established an
enthusiastic following in the United States and abroad, impressing
audiences with its sensitive artistry and communicative power.
The Quartet takes its name from Maestro Luis Biava, who has
been a mentor and inspiration to the Quartet since its inception.
The Biava
Quartet has performed to acclaim in major concert halls throughout
North America, Europe and Asia, including Alice Tully Hall,
Carnegie Hall, the Library of Congress, London's Wigmore Hall
and the Baroque Art Hall in Seoul. Other highlights from recent
seasons include appearances at the Mostly Mozart and Aspen
Music Festivals, Chautauqua Institution, and Pacific Music
Festival in Japan. Visit their website at www.biavaquartet.com
for more information.
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Having
an enthusiasm for teaching and performance, violinist Austin
Hartman of Columbia, Pennsylvania, enjoys an active
career that has featured him in concerts and masterclasses
around the world. As a founding member of the Biava Quartet,
Mr. Hartman has most recently been awarded an Artist Diploma
from Yale University School of Music where he served as a
teaching assistant for the Tokyo Quartet. Hartman has also
earned recognition as a solo violinist and recitalist. In
1999, Mr. Hartman was awarded first place, the Gold Medal
Prize at the Julius and Esther Stulberg International String
Competition in Michigan. As the winner of the Albert Greenfield
and the Mann Music Center Concerto Competitions, Austin Hartman
was featured as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra performing
under the baton of Maestro Luis Biava (for whom the quartet
is named). Mr. Hartman has also made solo appearances with
the Kennett Symphony, the Landsdowne Symphony, the Temple
University Orchestra, as well as the Lancaster Symphony and
The Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra as winner of the
annual concerto competition.
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Mary
Persin, founding member and violist of the Biava
Quartet, has distinguished herself with performances throughout
the United States and abroad. A native of Greensburg, Pennsylvania,
Ms. Persin is a recent Artist Diploma recipient and graduate
of Yale University where she also served as a teaching assistant
to the Tokyo Quartet. Ms. Persin has received numerous awards
and was featured in a live radio broadcast on the Performance
Pittsburgh Series as winner of the Pittsburgh Concert Society
Major Auditions. She was the winner of the Duquesne University,
Westmoreland Symphony and Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Concerto
Competitions, as well as the PADESTA Solo Competition and
Duquesne Young Artist Competition. Ms. Persin made her solo
debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in Heinz Hall
in 1997. In addition, she has also made solo appearances with
the Pittsburgh and Westmoreland Youth Symphonies and was most
recently invited to solo with the Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra,
performing the Mozart "Sinfonia Concertante" in
collaboration with Austin Hartman.
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Violinist
Hyunsu Ko began her violin studies at the
age of four in South Korea, her native country. Before transferring
to the Cleveland Institute of Music to study with Donald Weilerstein
in 1999, Ms. Ko studied at the Seoul National University where
she was a student of Min Kim, Dean of the College of Music
and Director of the Korea Chamber Ensemble. While residing
in Korea, Ms. Ko won numerous musical awards including: the
grand prize at the Jeju-Korea Broadcasting System Music Competition,
first prize at the Chosun Newspaper Music Competition, second
prize at the Ewha Kyounghyang Music Competition, and the gold
medal prize at the Hankook Newspaper Music Competition. She
also won the grand prize at the Ahn Ik-Tae Music Competition
(named in honor of the composer of the Korean National Anthem),
resulting in her debut performance with the Seoul City Philharmonic
Orchestra at the Sejong Music Hall. In January 2006, Ms. Ko
performed at the Seoul Arts Center as a soloist with the Korean
Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Ko participated in the Bartok Symphonic
Series and performed the Bartok Violin Concerto No. 2.
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Cellist
Jason Calloway has performed to acclaim throughout
North America, the Caribbean, Europe, and the Middle East
as soloist and chamber musician. He has appeared at festivals
including Lucerne, Spoleto USA, Darmstadt, Klangspuren (Austria),
Acanthes (France), Perpignan, Valencia, Citta’ della
Pieve (Italy), Jerash (Jordan), Casals (Puerto Rico), Sarasota,
Blossom, Music Academy of the West, the New York String Seminar,
and Encore. Mr. Calloway has collaborated in chamber music
with members of the Curtis, Juilliard, Miami, and Amernet
String Quartets and appears across the U.S. as a member of
‘In Freundschaft,' a duo with trombonist, Steve Parker,
and with Animato!, a duo with pianist Christopher Weldon.
He gave his Carnegie Hall recital debut under the auspices
of Artists International and has also been heard in New York
at Alice Tully Hall, Steinway Hall, the Museum of Modern Art,
the Kosciuszko Foundation, the 92nd Street Y, and the Polish
Consulate; in Los Angeles at Disney Hall, the Bing Theatre,
the Skirball Center and Pepperdine University; in San Francisco
at Hoover Auditorium; in Philadelphia at the Academy of Music
and the Ethical Society; and live on WQXR (NYC), KMZT (Los
Angeles), WFLN (Philadelphia), and on RAI television (Italy).
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