CLASSICAL BRIDGE, inaugural music festival, academy & conference starting next week in NYC

TICKET INFORMATION:    Visit ClassicalBridge.org  for tickets and information. Individual tickets for all concerts at Symphony Space and Merkin Hall are $30 – $50. Students and Seniors: $20. The following Festival Passes are available to those who wish to attend multiple events: Festival All-In-One Pass $500 pass includes all Concerts, Panel Discussions, Pre-Concert Talks and Academy Master Classes Festival Concert Pass – VIP  $250 pass for VIP seating for all six evening concerts Festival Concert Pass – Regular $150 pass offers a discount for all six evening concerts Bridge & Master Class Pass $300 pass includes access to all Panel Discussions, Pre-Concert Talks, and Academy Master Classes VIP Party Pass $250 VIP Party Pass for Classical Bridge VIP Reception, August 9 at 10PM

ACADEMY REGISTRATION & TUITION INFORMATION:    To apply for enrollment in the Classical Bridge Academy, visit [email protected]. The deadline for enrollment is May 30, 2018. Applicants must provide a biography; works for lessons and master classes; and performance links. The application fee is $130 for individual artists, $250 for ensembles. Tuition, $1100 for individual artists and $1500 for ensembles, includes: Three studio session with desired instructors Access to all Master Classes Introduction to participating panelists Performance at Steinway Hall Access to all concerts and festival events Access to one-on-one career advice from participating artists and panelists Free access to Museum of Modern Art Partial or full scholarships may be available to applicants based on submitted materials.

 

Canadian violinist MARTIN BEAVER was First Violin of the world-renowned Tokyo String Quartet from June 2002 until its final concert in July 2013. As such, he appeared to critical and public acclaim on the major stages of the world including New York’s Carnegie Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Berliner Philharmonie, Tokyo’s Suntory Hall and the Sydney Opera House. As a member of the Tokyo String Quartet, Mr. Beaver was privileged to perform on the 1727 Stradivarius violin from the “Paganini Quartet” set of instruments, on generous loan to the quartet from the Nippon Music Foundation. Recordings of the Tokyo String Quartet during his tenure notably include the complete Beethoven quartets on the Harmonia Mundi label. Mr. Beaver’s concerto and recital appearances span four continents with orchestras such as the San Francisco Symphony, the Toronto Symphony, l’Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège and the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra and under the batons of Kazuyoshi Akiyama, Raymond Leppard, Gilbert Varga and Yannick Nézet-Séguin among others. Chamber music performances include collaborations with such eminent artists as Leon Fleisher, Pinchas Zukerman, Lynn Harrell, Sabine Meyer and Yefim Bronfman. Mr. Beaver is a regular guest at prominent festivals in North America and abroad. Among these are: the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Chamber Music Northwest, La Jolla SummerFest, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the Edinburgh Festival (U.K.) and Pacific Music Festival (Japan). Mr. Beaver’s discography includes concerti, sonatas and chamber music on the Harmonia Mundi, Biddulph, Naim Audio, René Gailly, Musica Viva, SM 5000, Toccata Classics and Naxos labels. His recorded repertoire ranges from Bach, Beethoven and Brahms to the music of living composers Alexina Louie, Gerard Schurmann and Joan Tower. Following his early studies with Claude Letourneau and Carlisle Wilson, Mr. Beaver was a pupil of Victor Danchenko, Josef Gingold and Henryk Szeryng. He is a laureate of the Queen Elisabeth, Montreal and Indianapolis competitions. Subsequently, he has served on the juries of major international competitions including the 2009 Queen Elisabeth and 2010 Montreal competitions, the 2014 and 2017 Osaka International Chamber Music Competitions and the 2015 Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition. Over the course of his career, Mr. Beaver has been the grateful recipient of generous support from the Canada Council for the Arts. This includes Arts Grants for his studies at Indiana University, Career Development Grants and the 1993 Virginia-Parker Prize. In 1998, through the generosity of an anonymous donor, the Canada Council awarded Mr. Beaver the loan of the 1729 “ex-Heath” Guarnerius del Gesù violin for a four-year period. A devoted educator, Mr. Beaver has conducted masterclasses throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. He has held teaching positions at the Royal Conservatory of Music, the University of British Columbia and the Peabody Conservatory. More recently, he served on the faculty of New York University and as Artist in Residence at the Yale School of Music, where he was awarded its highest honor – the Sanford Medal. He joined the faculty of the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles in August 2013 where he is Professor of Violin and Chamber Music. Martin Beaver is proud to be a founding member of the Montrose Trio with pianist Jon Kimura Parker and cellist Clive Greensmith. Mr. Beaver performs on a 1789 Nicolo Bergonzi violin.

ALEXANDER BUZLOV (Cello) won many top prizes at the world’s most important cello competitions such as at the Feuermann Competition (Grand Prix, Audience Prize), ARD Competition Munich (second prize), Concours de Genève (second prize), Belgrade (first prize), Monte Carlo (first prize) and the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (Silver Medal, Rostropovich Prize). Today Alexander Buzlov performs throughout Russia’s most prestigious halls as well as at venues abroad such as the Berlin Philharmony, Carnegie Hall, Herkulessaal Munich, Lincoln Center, Santa Cecilia, La Scala, Théatre des Champs Élysées. He has appeared with many renowned ensembles, among them the Mariinsky Theatre Symphony Orchestra, Orchester des Bayrischen Rundfunks, Orchestra of St. Lukes, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken, The Svetlanov State Academic Symphony Orchestra, the Moscow Soloists chamber ensemble, Munich Chamber Ensemble, “New Russia” Symphony Orchestra, the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia, the Grand Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, the St Petersburg Academic Philharmonic and numerous others. He has worked with conductors including Valery Gergiev, Yuri Bashmet, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Karel Maria Chichon, Paavo Järvi, Yakov Kreizberg, Stanislav Kochanovsky, Thomas Sanderling, Daniel Boico, Leonard Slatkin, Vladimir Spivakov, Yuri Temirkanov and Christoph Poppen. As a soloist he has performed with numerous American symphony orchestras, traveling to almost each and every American state while on tour. Alexander Buzlov performs aside musicians such as Natalia Gutman, Yuri Bashmet, Vadim Repin, Leonidas Kavakos, Martha Argerich, Julian Rachlin, Dmitry Sitkovetskiy. He takes part in international festivals including Verbier Festival (Switzerland), Musical Kremlin, Moscow Autumn, December Evenings of Svyatoslav Richter (Moscow), the White Nights, Arts Square and Musical Olympus (St Petersburg), festivals in Ludwigsburg, Mecklenburg Vorpommenn, Usedom (Germany), Pietrasanta in Concerto, (Italy), and festival in Menton (France), the Oleg Kagan Memorial Festivals in Moscow and Kreuth (Germany), international chamber music festivals in Colmar, Menton and Montpellier (France), Crescendo (Israel). He has recorded for Russian TV and radio as well as for radio stations in Germany, Switzerland, France, Austria and the USA. Alexander Buzlov was born in Moscow in 1983. He studied at the Moscow Conservatoire with Natalia Gutman and at Musikhochschule Köln, Germany with Frans Helmerson. At master-classes, he worked with such renowned cellists such as Mstislav Rostropovich, Daniil Shafran and Bernard Greenhouse. He teaches at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatoire.

ALEXANDER FITERSTEIN (Clarinet) 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.” As soloist he has appeared with the Czech, Israel, Vienna, and St. Paul Chamber Orchestras, Belgrade Philharmonic, Danish National Radio Symphony, Tokyo Philharmonic, China National Symphony Orchestra, KBS Orchestra of South Korea, Jerusalem Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Lincoln Center, Kansas City Symphony, and the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela. He has performed in recital on the Music at the Supreme Court Series, the Celebrity Series in Boston, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Kennedy Center, the Louvre in Paris, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Tel Aviv Museum, and NYC’s 92d Street Y. A dedicated performer of chamber music, Fiterstein frequently collaborates with distinguished artists and ensembles and regularly performs with the prestigious Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Among the highly regarded artists he has performed with are Daniel Barenboim, Yefim Bronfman, Mitsuko Uchida, Richard Goode, Emanuel Ax, Marc-Andre Hamelin, Pinchas Zukerman, and Steven Isserlis. Fiterstein performed with the Dover, Pacifica, Jerusalem, and Shanghai String Quartets as well as with Ensemble Wien-Berlin. He spent five summers at the Marlboro Music Festival and appeared at the Caramoor, Moab, Music@Menlo, Montreal, Toronto, Jerusalem, and Storioni Chamber Music Festivals. He is currently co-artistic director of the Sedona Winter MusicFest in Arizona. Fiterstein is a founder of the Zimro Project, a unique ensemble dedicated to incorporating Jewish art music into chamber music programs. He performed as principal clarinet of the West-East Divan Orchestra at the invitation of Daniel Barenboim and has appeared as guest principal clarinet with the Israel Philharmonic with Zubin Mehta, KBS Orchestra with Yoel Levi, and with the St. Paul and Orpheus Chamber Orchestras. Fiterstein has a prolific recording career and has worked with composers John Corigliano and Osvaldo Golijov and had pieces written for him by Samuel Adler, Mason Bates, Paul Schoenfield, and Chris Brubeck, among others. Fiterstein was born in Belarus and immigrated to Israel at the age of 2 with his family. A Juilliard graduate, he won first prize at the Young Concert Artists International Auditions and received awards from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. He is currently Professor of Clarinet and Chair of Winds at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. Fiterstein is a Buffet Crampon and Vandoren Performing Artist.

DAVID KIM (Violin) was named Concertmaster of The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1999. Born in Carbondale, Illinois in 1963, he started playing the violin at the age of three, began studies with the famed pedagogue Dorothy DeLay at the age of eight, and later received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Juilliard School. Highlights of Mr. Kim’s 2017-18 season include appearing as soloist with The Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton of Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin; Teaching/performance residencies at Bob Jones University, Haverford College, Swarthmore College, Brevard Music Center, and the Aspen Music Festival and School; continued appearances as concertmaster of the All-Star Orchestra on PBS stations across the USA and online at the Kahn Academy; and recitals, speaking engagements, and appearances with orchestras across the United States, including a Brahms Festival (complete Sonatas and Concerto) with the Fairbanks Symphony in Alaska. In September, he appeared with famed modern hymn writers Keith and Kristyn Getty at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville and will again appear with them in December on tour in Cleveland, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and Carnegie Hall. He will also be included on a soon to be released Getty Music CD. Next September, he will return to Nashville to perform at the Getty Music Worship Conference – Sing! 2018. A dedicated teacher, Mr. Kim presents masterclasses at colleges, universities, and conservatories across the country each season. He is the founder and Artistic Director of the annual David Kim Orchestral Institute of Cairn University in Philadelphia, where he is also a Professor of Violin Studies. Additionally, Mr. Kim serves as Distinguished Artist at the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University in Macon, GA. Mr. Kim appears as soloist with The Philadelphia Orchestra each season as well as with numerous orchestras around the world. He also appears internationally at festivals such as Brevard, MasterWorks (USA), and Pacific (Japan). e frequently serves as an adjudicator at international violin competitions such as the Menuhin and Sarasate. Mr. Kim has been awarded Honorary Doctorates from Eastern University in suburban Philadelphia, the University of Rhode Island, and Dickinson Colleg. His instruments are a J.B. Guadagnini from Milan, Italy ca. 1757 on loan from The Philadelphia Orchestra and a Michael Angelo Bergonzi from Cremona ca. 1754. Mr. Kim resides in a Philadelphia suburb with his wife Jane and daughters Natalie and Maggie. He is an avid runner, golfer, and outdoorsman. Mr. Kim endorses and uses Thomastik Dominant Strings as well as the AirTurn Hands Free Page Turning System.

ALISSA MARGULIS (Violin). The Guardian describes Alissa Margulis’ playing as “exceptional”, Ivry Gitlis praises it as “a revelation” and Martha Argerich calls her a “strong musical personality”. Appreciated for her expressive and very emotional performances, Alissa Margulis regularly plays in important concert halls such as the Berlin Philharmony, the Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Tchaikovsky Hall Moscow, Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels, the Cologne Philharmony, the Vienna Musikverein, Sumida Triphony Hall Tokyo, the Sage Gateshead, the Tonhalle Zurich and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Hall. Born in Germany into a family of Russian musicians, Alissa Margulis studied in Cologne with Zakhar Bron, in Brussels with Augustin Dumay and in Vienna with Pavel Vernikov. She won numerous prizes at international violin competiitons and was awarded with the “Pro Europa” prize of the European Arts Foundation which was presented to her by Daniel Barenboim in Berlin. She made her first public appearance at the age of seven with the Budapest Soloists and has performed since then with numerous orchestras such as the English Chamber Orchestra, New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National d’Ile de France, New Russia Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, Orchestra della Svizzera italiana, Bilkent Orchestra Ankara, Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, Belgian National Orchestra, the Philharmonic Orchestras of Kiev, Skopje, Ljubljana, Minsk and Novosibirsk, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, the Royal Northern Sinfonia, the Moscow Soloists, and the Kremerata Baltica, amongst many others. Alissa Margulis worked together with famous conductors: Ivor Bolton, Jacques Mercier, Arnold Katz, Jacek Kaspszyk, Dmitry Liss, Jaap van Zweden, Enrique Mazzola, Daniel Raiskin, Fabrice Bollon, Stefan Vladar, François-Xavier Roth, Lars Vogt, Howard Griffiths, Stanislav Kochanovsky, Hubert Soudant, Yuri Bashmet, Gidon Kremer, Christian Arming, Augustin Dumay, Mikko Franck and Gerd Albrecht to name just a few of them. Besides her solo career Alissa Margulis is an enthusiastic chamber music player and collaborates with artists such as Martha Argerich, Yuri Bashmet, David Geringas, Ivry Gitlis, Gidon Kremer, Bruno Giuranna, Mischa Maisky, Gabriela Montero, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Liana Issakadze, Alexandre Tharaud, Stephen Kovacevich, Alexander Lonquich, Polina Leschenko, Paul Badura-Skoda and Lars Vogt. She further appeared at various Festivals: at the Enescu Festival Bucharest, Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival, the Menuhin Festival Gstaad, in Davos, Tours, Stravanger Festival, at the Mozartwoche Salzburg, “Spannungen”-Festival in Heimbach, “Progetto” Martha Argerich Festival in Lugano, Schleswig-Holstein Festival, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Sotshi Winter Arts Festival and Verbier Festival. Her discography includes more than a dozen CDs at labels such as EMI Classics, Oehms, Novalis, Avanti Classic and CAvi. Notably, two of the six EMI Classics releases of the “Martha Argerich and Friends” series received a GRAMMY nomination; several others won the Diapason d’or. She recorded repertoire by Mozart, Shostakovich, Enescu, Beethoven, Messiaen and others as well as the complete music for violin and piano by Franz Liszt. She recorded Piazzolla’s seasons and took part in an all Klezmer recording alongside musicians such as Myriam Fuks, Roby Lakatos, Evgeny Kissin, Polina Leschenko and Mischa Maisky. Alissa Margulis will be featured in another live recording of chamber music performed at the Progetto Martha Argerich, a 2016 release by Warner Classics. This season she plays concerts in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Greece, Russia Luxembourg, Lebanon, South Africa, Aruba, Malta, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the USA, Italy, France at venues such as the Philharmonie de Paris, the Tchaikovsky Hall Moscow and the Verbier Festival, among many others.

World-renowned concert pianist KLARA MIN (piano) is a Steinway Artist who makes her home in Berlin and New York. Respected also as a thought-leader in the music industry, Ms. Min is the founder and artistic director of New York Concert Artists and Associates (NYCA). NYCA serves as a networking organization for musicians to collaborate and create dynamic partnerships with managers, presenters, and other artists. A native of South Korea, Ms. Min has performed extensively throughout North America and Europe as well as in her home country of South Korea, in some of the world’s most important concert venues including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Munich’s Gasteig, the Berlin Philharmonie, Berlin’s Konzerthhaus, Laeiszhalle, Wigmore Hall, Vienna’s Konzerthaus, and South Korea’s KBS Broadcast Hall. She has performed with prestigious orchestras such as Hamburger Kammerphilharmonie, Munich Kammerphilharmonie, Seoul Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonie Orchester Berlin, Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra, American Chamber Orchestra, St. Petersburg State Symphony, and Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra among others. Gramophone magazine describes Ms. Min’s recent recording of Scriabin work on the Steinway & Sons record label as, “In short, Min’s finest performances on this gorgeously engineered release will make Scriabin fans sit up and take notice.” Klara Min’s first album Ripples on Water features modern Korean piano music; it was released on Naxos and complimented for “mak(ing) every note count” (All Music). Her second release of a selection of Chopin’s Mazurkas was released on Delos. American Record Guide selected the album as one of six critics’ choices in 2013 raving, “her dynamic control is out of this world”. In the 2017-2018 season, Ms. Min will have her debut recital in Paris at Salle Cortot and in Seoul at Lotte Concert Hall as well as her second Scriabin record release with Steinway & Sons label. Klara Min was the recipient of a Samsung scholarship.

JEAN-FRÉDÉRIC NEUBURGER (2018 Featured Composer) has established himself as a gifted musician, both as a composer and a pianist, known for the extreme variety of his repertoire. He is regularly commissioned by festivals and organizations such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Evian Festival, Radio-France, Long-Thibaud International Competition, and Folle Journée de Nantes, and his works have been performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Orchestre de Paris under Christoph von Dohnányi as well as by the Chorus and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Pascal Rophé and by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Alexander Briguer. His chamber music has been played by Henri Demarquette, François Salque, Nicolas Dautricourt, Lise Berthaud, Raphaël Sévère, and Bertrand Chamayou in venues such as the Lucerne Festival, Sage Gateshead, Lincoln Center, and Musikverein Wien. He received the Lili and Nadia Boulanger prize from the Académie des Beaux Arts and the Hervé Dugardin prize from SACEM in 2015. Neuburger received an intense and varied musical education in piano, composition, and organ before entering the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris at the age of 13. After graduating from the CNSM with five Premier Prix he went on to study composition with Michael Jarrell and Pascal Dusapin in Geneva.

ERIC SILBERGER (Violin) is a prize winner of the XIV International Tchaikovsky Competition and the Michael Hill International Violin Competition in 2011. His performances have been described by critics as “spine-tingling…astonishing” (The Guardian), “dazzling virtuoso playing” (The Washington Post), “impeccable level of playing, a wonderful musician” (Heather Kurzbauer, The Strad), and ” ….he has got everything in his favour, technique, composure and personality. We are on the eve of a great soloist” (El Pais, Spain). Eric has performed as soloist, recitalist and chamber musician throughout the United States and around the world, including solo performances with the St. Petersburg Philharmonia, Mariinsky Orchestra, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Chamber Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre, London Philharmonia, Danish National Symphony, Orquesta Sinfónica de México, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, among others. Conductor collaborations include Lorin Maazel, Valery Gergiev, Dimitri Kitajenko, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Donald Runnicles, Robin Ticciati, and others. He has appeared at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Louvre in Paris, the Great Hall of the St. Petersburg Philharmonia, The Moscow International House of Music in Russia, Shanghai Grand Theatre in China, Royal Festival Hall in London, Seoul Arts Center in Korea, the National Arts Centre in Canada, and more. Among numerous television and radio appearances in the United States, Asia, and Europe, he was featured on Radio France, STV in China, KBS in Korea, and WQXR, WFYI, FOX 59, WISH-TV, and NPR, among others. An avid chamber musician, Eric frequently performs chamber music internationally. He also has a special collaboration with bandoneonist and composer JP Jofre and the JP Jofre Hard Tango Chamber Band. Eric received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Columbia University and a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School. Mentors have included Glenn Dicterow, Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Robert Mann, and Dorothy Delay, among others. He was also mentored by Maestro Lorin Maazel. Eric plays on a rare J.B. Guadagnini violin from 1757 on generous loan from the Sau-Wing Lam collection.

A native of Budapest, GÁBOR TAKÁCS-NAGY (Ensemble) began to study the violin at the age of eight. As a student of the Franz Liszt Academy, he won First Prize in 1979 in the Jeno Hubay Violin Competition .and later pursued studies with Nathan Milstein. His chamber-music teachers at that time were Ferenc Rados, András Mihaly, Zoltán Székely, Sándor Végh and György Kurtag. From 1975 to 1992, he was founding member and leader of the acclaimed Takács Quartet performing with the legendary artists, Lord Menuhin, Sir Georg Solti, Isaac Stern, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Paul Tortelier, Gidon Kremer, and Andras Schiff and was regularly invited by Sviatoslav Richter to his festivals. The Takacs Quartet made many recordings for Decca and Hungaroton. In 1996, he founded the Takács Piano Trio and made world-premier recordings of works of Hungarian composers Franz Liszt, Lászlo Lajtha and Sandor Veress. In 1998 he established the Mikrokosmos string quartet with compatriots Zoltan Tuska, Sandor Papp and Miklos Perényi, recording in 2008 the complete cycle of Bartok’s String Quartets for which they were awarded the « Excellencia »prize by Pizzicato Magazine. In 1982, he was awarded the Liszt Prize. Gábor Takács-Nagy is considered one of today’s most authentic exponents of Hungarian music, and in particular, that of Béla Bartok. In 2002, following in a long-line of Hungarian musical tradition, Gábor Takács-Nagy turned to conducting, creating in 2005 his own string ensemble, the Camerata Bellerive, as orchestra-in-residence at the annual Festival de Bellerive in Geneva. In 2006 he became the Music Director of the Weinberger Kammerorchestra and in August 2007, the Music Director of the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra. The VFCO performs every summer in the Verbier Festival and also in numerous European and Asian cities throughout the year. With the VFCO he regularly collaborates with Martha Argerich, Joshua Bell, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Vadim Repin and Emmanuel Ax as well as singers Frederica von Stade, Barbara Bonney and Angelika Kirschlager. A DVD of the performances of Beethoven’s 2nd piano concerto and Shostakovich’s concerto for piano, trumpet and strings with Martha Argerich, David Guerrier and the VFCO was released in June 2011. From 2010 until 2012 he was Music Director of the MAV Symphony Orchestra Budapest and recorded as world premier the epic “Bards of Wales” oratorio by Karl Jenkins. Since September 2011, he is Music Director of Manchester Camerata, one of the UK’s leading chamber orchestras and since September 2012 is Principal Guest Conductor of the Budapest Festival Orchestra. In January 2013, he was appointed Principal Artistic Partner of the Irish Chamber Orchestra. Gábor Takács-Nagy is a dedicated and highly sought-after chamber-music teacher. He is Professor of String Quartet at the Haute Ecole de Musique in Geneva and International Chair in Chamber Music at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. In June 2012 he was awarded honorary membership of the Royal Academy of Music in London. In March 2017 he was awarded the prestigious Béla Bartók-Ditta Pásztory Prize.

Russian born EDUARD ZILBERKANT (Piano) is recognized as one of today’s most gifted artists and has an active career as conductor and pianist. A Yamaha performing artist, Eduard Zilberkant has been received enthusiastically by audiences and press alike throughout Europe, Canada, Asia and the United States, performing in such halls as The Academy of Music and Curtis Hall in Philadelphia; Merkin Hall in New York City; Artur Rubinstein Hall and Warsaw Philharmonic Hall in Poland; Teatro di San Carlo Opera House in Naples, Italy; Teatro Sangiorgi in Catania, Sicily; Volgograd Opera House in Russia; and Alaska Center for the Performing Arts in Anchorage. Eduard Zilberkant has been a guest artist and conductor at some of the most prestigious music festivals which include the International Keyboard Institute and Festival in New York City; the Ravello Festival in Italy; the Gumi International Music Festival in South Korea; the Corfu Festival Ionian Concert Series in Greece; the Monolis Kalomiris International Music Festival in Greece; the Assisi International Festival and Orazio Frugoni Music Institute in Italy; the Baracasa Festival of Radio France in Montpellier, France; the Alaska International Piano-e-Competition, Fairbanks, Alaska; and the Bellingham Music Festival in Washington. Some of the orchestras he has guest conducted include the Czech National Symphony Orchestra in Prague and on tour to Germany; the orchestra of Pomeriggi Musicali di Milano in Italy; the Martinu Chamber Orchestra in the Czech Republic and Germany; the Orchestra of the Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania, Sicily; the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra in New York City; the Teatro di San Carlo Orchestra in Naples, Italy; and the Prague Philharmonic in Prague and Italy. The Badische Zeitung wrote of his performance of the Dvorak’s “New World Symphony”, “[Maestro Zilberkant] made an impression for feeling the nuances of tempo, pauses, and accents… he brought out new colors and romantic feeling with full balance of the sound from the orchestra.”  After his performance of the Mozart’s Symphony No. 41 in Anchorage, Alaska. The Anchorage Daily News wrote: “[Maestro Zilberkant] brought admirable intelligence to his reading of the piece…and sculpting the individual lines into a monumental and heroic structure; his weaving of the finale’s awesome counterpoint show him to be a musician of significance whom we hope to hear again.”  American Record Guide stated, “Zilberkant’s artistic approach emphasizes a strongly colored rhetoric, supported by passionate and sensitive temperament…Zilberkant’s pianistic and musical qualities are found not only in his speed, but also in his ability to distill the slow tempos by drawing them out to the extreme.”  Radio France, Polish Radio and Television and PBS Radio and Television in the United States have also broadcast his performances.  Music critics have asserted that he “possesses a remarkable keyboard mastery; plays in the style of the old romantic masters; he knows how to extract quite a palette of colors from the piano; his playing is subtle and passionate at the same time; he has the equipment that makes for pianist greatness.” Eduard Zilberkant has been hailed as an inspirational teacher around the world. He has given masterclasses at the International Keyboard Institute and Festival in New York City, the Rubinstein Academy in Dusseldorf, Germany; the Puccini Conservatory in Italy; the Gumi International Music Festival in South Korea, and the Ionian Conservatory in Greece. His students have won national and international piano competitions and appear as soloists worldwide. A Fulbright Scholar in Germany, Eduard Zilberkant received a Solisten Diploma from the Freiburg Musik Hochschule. He received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Temple University in Philadelphia.  His teachers have included Jerome Rose, Vitaly Margulis, Theodore Lettvin, Robert Spano and Robert Shaw. Presently, he is Artist in Residence and Professor of Piano at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. For the past fifteen years, he has been Music Director and Conductor of the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra and the Arctic Chamber Orchestra.

PINCHAS ZUKERMAN (Violin) has remained a phenomenon in the world of classical music for over four decades. His musical genius, prodigious technique and unwavering artistic standards are a marvel to audiences and critics. Devoted to the next generation of musicians, his magnetism, passion, and enthusiasm for teaching have resulted in innovative educational programs in London, New York, China, Israel and Ottawa. The name Pinchas Zukerman is equally respected as violinist, violist, conductor, pedagogue and chamber musician. Mr. Zukerman chairs the Pinchas Zukerman Performance Program at the Manhattan School of Music, where he pioneered the use of distance-learning technology in the arts over two decades ago. In Canada, where he served as Music Director of the National Arts Centre Orchestra from 1999-2015, he established the NAC Institute for Orchestra Studies and the Summer Music Institute encompassing the Young Artists, Conductors and Composers Programs.  He currently serves as Conductor Emeritus of the National Arts Centre Orchestra, as well as Artistic Director of its Young Artist Program. Pinchas Zukerman has been awarded the National Medal of Arts and the Isaac Stern Award for Artistic Excellence, and was appointed as the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative’s first instrumentalist mentor in the music discipline.  His extensive discography contains over 100 titles, and has earned him 2 Grammy awards and 21 nominations. His most recent critically acclaimed recording with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra includes works by Elgar and Vaughan Williams.

CLASSICAL BRIDGE is presented by New York Concert Artists & Associates (NYCA) in a mission to create dynamic partnerships among musicians, music lovers and music professionals; and in the hope of broadening the spectrum of audiences, while providing helpful resources, innovative programming ideas and diverse approaches to musical presentation. Nurturing young musicians with lessons and master classes by great masters, providing a platform for each to learn, to collaborate and to exhibit talents through concerts and panel discussions, Classical Bridge believes that we contribute to an ever-evolving music industry and society-at-large in the hopes of a more fully imagined musical life.  In August 2018, Classical Bridge launches its inaugural season in New York City.

Founded in 2008, NEW YORK CONCERT ARTISTS & ASSOCIATES (NYCA) is a modern-day realization of Robert Schumann’s Alliance of David (Davidsbund), an imagined spiritual fraternity of creative minds.  NYCA is led by musicians for musicians and the musical public, in the belief that the ultimate artistic decisions in all situations must be made by the artists themselves, for the sake of the integrity – and therefore life – of classical music in the twenty-first century.  We hold regular meetings, discuss our concerts and projects together, and help one another with whatever resources available. To help musicians articulate their messages more directly to the world, we at New York Concert Artists & Associates make it a priority to create dynamic partnerships among musicians, managers, and presenters, and to promote young artists internationally through our concert series and collaborations with other organizations.  We believe that we contribute to the ever-evolving music industry and to the society-at-large by living and renewing the ideals of artists, as envisioned by artists.