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David
Colwell, violin
Since
his solo debut with the Edmonton Symphony in 1995
at the age of 14, violinist David Colwell has
performed as a soloist and chamber musician in
Europe, Canada, and the United States, and has
been recorded by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
In 2000, David, together with Martin Riseley,
Aaron Au, Tanya Prochazka and Stéphane
Lemelin performed Brahms's Piano Quintet in F
minor; this performance was included on a CBC
promotional CD. In June of 2003, he was featured
on the CBC music program Our Music.
As a winner of a Johann Strauss Foundation Scholarship
in both 1998 and 1999, David was afforded the
opportunity to study at the Internationale Sommerakademie
Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria with Igor Oistrakh,
Michael Frischenschlager, Jean-Jacques Kantorow
and Igor Ozim. In the summers of 2004 and 2005,
he studied and performed at the Steans Institute
for Young Artists at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago.
In June of 2005, David made his formal Ravinia
Festival debut at the Martin Theater with a performance
of Mozart's Piano Quartet in G minor. Other recent
memorable performances have included chamber music
collaborations with bassist Edgar Meyer, cellists
Timothy Eddy and Ole Akahoshi, and pianist Ralf
Gothóni.
A native of Alberta, Canada, David received his
first violin lessons from Dr. Elfreda Gleam and
William van der Sloot. After further studies with
Ranald Shean and Edmond Agopian, he began his
undergraduate education in 1997 at the University
of Alberta where he studied with Dr. Martin Riseley.
In September of 2001, he entered the studio of
Peter Oundjian and Ani Kavafian at Yale University
School of Music and in 2003 was awarded a Master
of Music degree in Violin Performance. He is currently
working towards his Doctor of Musical Arts degree
from Yale. David is grateful to the Winspear Fund
for its generous support of his studies from 2001-2005.
While studying at Yale, he formed the Branford
Trio together with pianist Ilya Poletaev and cellist
Yves Dharamraj. In 2003, the trio was chosen to
perform in the prestigious Chamber Music at Yale
concert series. In addition to its many performances
on campus, the Branford Trio appeared in Southport,
Connecticut and St. Petersburg, Florida. In December
of 2005, David joined cellist Alexandre Lecarme
and pianist Toma Popovici in the Boston-based
Trio Tancrède. During the 2005-2006 season,
the trio gave regular concerts in Massachusetts
and Maine.
Michael
Slon, conductor
Active
as a conductor of choral, symphonic, and operatic
repertoire, Michael Slon is currently Conductor
of the University Singers, Chamber Singers, and
frequently conducts the Charlottesville and University
Symphony Orchestra at the University of Virginia,
where he also serves as assistant professor of
music. After substituting on one hour's notice
for a January 2005 performance of Shostakovich's
Symphony #1, Mr. Slon has recently led the Symphony
in performances of Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra,
Stravinsky's Pulcinella Suite, Rachmaninoff's
Symphony #2, Mahler's Symphony #4, and with the
University Singers, Vaughan Williams' Dona Nobis
Pacem.
Operatic engagements have included guest conducting
Buffalo's Opera Sacra, and serving as resident
conductor and coach with the Ash Lawn Opera Festival,
where he conducted performances of South Pacific
and The Magic Flute. Prior to UVA, Mr. Slon served
as visiting conducting faculty at the Oberlin
Conservatory, where he conducted the Oberlin College
Choir, Musical Union, Opera Chorus, and Oberlin
Chamber Orchestra. He has also served as assistant
conductor of Cincinnati's May Festival Chorus,
and has prepared and co-prepared choruses for
concerts with the Cleveland Orchestra and Cincinnati
Symphony Orchestra. His ensembles have received
positive notices in The Cleveland Plain Dealer
and Opera News, and have worked with artists including
Moses Hogan, Bobby McFerrin, Meredith Monk, and
Franz Welser-Möst. Mr. Slon holds degrees
from the IU School of Music and Cornell University,
where he was named a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
He is also a pianist and author - his first book,
Songs from the Hill, came out in 1998.
Nancy Garlick, clarinet
D.M.A.
Catholic University, M.M. Manhattan School of
Music, B.S. from the Crane School of Music, Advanced
studies at Tanglewood and Ecoles Americaines des
Beaux Arts in Fontainebleau, France. Soloist with
the Boston Pops, Westchester Pops, Crane Symphony,
Wooster Symphony, Pennsylvania Sinfonia, Charlottesville
and University Symphony and others. Guest appearances
with the Canton and Chester Quartets. New York
debut at Carnegie RecitaCabell Hall, 1981, with
The Wooster Trio. Principal clarinet with the
New Haven Symphony, American Wind Symphony, Waterbury,
Lakeside, and Missouri and Westchester Symphony
Orchestras. Music Director of The Wooster Symphony,
the Youth Orchestra of Charlottesville-Albemarle
and the Mozart Ensemble. Formerly Associate Professor
at the College of Wooster; member of the faculties
at James Madison University and Mary Baldwin College.
She is a founding member of the Albemarle Ensemble
and UVA Chamber Music Series.
Andrew
Armstrong, piano
Praised
by critics for his passionate expression and dazzling
technique, pianist Andrew Armstrong has delighted
audiences around the world. He has performed solo
recitals and appeared with orchestras in Asia,
Europe, Latin America, and the United States,
including performances at Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie
Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Grand Hall of the
Moscow Conservatory, and Warsaw's National Philharmonic.
He has performed with such conductors as Peter
Oundjian, Itzhak Perlman, and Stanislaw Skrowaczewski,
and in chamber music with the Alexander, American,
and Manhattan String Quartets, as a member of
the Caramoor Virtuosi at the Caramoor International
Music Festival, and as a member of the Jupiter
Symphony Chamber Players in New York City.
2007/08 offers an array of engagements with the
Boise Philharmonic, the Tallahassee Symphony and
the symphonies of Charlottesville, Stamford, Harrisburg,
Bellevue and Ridgefield, among others.
During Armstrong's 2006/07 season, he performed
Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with the the Charleston
Symphony, Saint-Saëns' 5th Piano Concerto
with the Monterey Symphony in a return engagement,
Prokofiev No. 3 with the Bridgeport Symphony,
and Mozart's A-major Concerto K. 488 in his debut
with the Columbus Symphony under the baton of
Günther Herbig. He also played two concertos
at the Peninsula Music Festival (the Chopin F
minor Concerto and Prokofiev No. 3 under V. Yampolsky)
and Rachmaninov's massive Concerto No. 3 with
the Brevard Symphony, Florida. Earlier in 2006
he was the featured soloist with Naumburg Concerts
at New York City's Central Park (Mozart's Concerto
K. 491). In 2004 he performed the World Premiere
of Lisa Bielawa's "The Right Weather"
for piano solo and chamber orchestra with the
American Composers Orchestra at the sold-out Carnegie
Zankel Hall.
Having performed over 35 concertos, Mr. Armstrong
has impressed his international audiences with
a large repertoire ranging from Bach to Babbit
and beyond. Before beginning his career as a concert
pianist, Mr. Armstrong received over 25 national
and international First Prizes. In 1996, he was
named Gilmore Young Artist. At the 1993 Van Cliburn
Competition, where he was the youngest pianist
entered, he received the Jury Discretionary Award.
The New York Times wrote, "Armstrong may
have been the most talented player in the competition....He's
a real musician. We'll hear more from him."
As the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported, Van
Cliburn himself, "in a rare showing of enthusiasm
for an individual competitor," called Mr.
Armstrong "Fabulous! Fabulous!"
Mr. Armstrong's debut CD, featuring Rachmaninov's
Second Piano Sonata and Mussorgsky's Pictures
at an Exhibition, was released in 2004 to critical
acclaim. The critic Bradley Bolen opined: "I
have heard few pianists play [Rachmaninov's Second
Piano Sonata], recorded or in concert, with such
dazzling clarity and confidence" (American
Record Guide, Nov/Dec, 2004). Andrew Armstrong
is devoted to outreach programs and playing for
children. In addition to his many concerts, his
performances are heard regularly on National Public
Radio and WQXR, New York City's premier classical
music station.
Uri
Vardi, cello
Uri
Vardi has performed as a recitalist, soloist,
and chamber player across the United States, Europe,
South America, and his native Israel. Born in
Szeged, Hungary, Vardi grew up on kibbutz Kfar
Hahoresh, Israel. He studied at the Rubin Academy
in Tel Aviv, was an artist diploma student at
Indiana University, and earned his master's degree
from Yale University. His teachers have included
Janos Starker, Aldo Parisot, Eva Janzer, and Uzi
Wiesel. Vardi has recorded and toured widely with
the Israel Chamber Orchestra and was a founding
member of the Sol-La-Re String Quartet. He has
served as assistant principal cellist of the Israel
Chamber Orchestra and principal cellist of the
Israel Sinfonietta.
In 1990, following an extensive teaching and performing
career in Israel, Vardi was appointed professor
of cello at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
In addition to his work at Wisconsin, Vardi has
taught and conducted master classes at numerous
music schools, including the Juilliard School,
Eastman School, New England Conservatory, Indiana
University, Yale University, Oberlin College,
Cleveland Institute of Music, University of Iowa,
Ohio State University, Geneva Conservatory (Switzerland),
Paris Conservatory (France), and the Jerusalem
Music Center (Israel). He has also participated
in several summer music festivals across the U.
S. and Israel. Professor Vardi's students have
been successful as soloists, chamber players,
faculty members of major music schools and members
of major orchestras. In his teaching, Vardi puts
great emphasis on the choreography of playing,
the relationship between movement and sound. In
order to further his understanding of this approach,
Vardi has specialized in the Feldenkrais Method,
for which he received the 1999 UW-Madison Arts
Institute Faculty Development Award. He completed
a Feldenkrais Practitioners Training and was certified
by the Feldenkrais Guild of North America and
by the International Feldenkrais Federation as
a Feldenkrais practitioner in 2003.
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