Honoring Tradition: 60 Years of Marlboro Music

Included in this historic program is Heitor Villa-Lobos’ startlingly beautiful Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 for soprano and eight cellos with Lucy Shelton, joined by eight of today’s leading cellists.  Members of the Orion String Quartet and the former Guarneri Quartet perform.

Performance playlist:

First violinist of the Tokyo String Quartet, Martin Beaver received top prizes at the Queen Elizabeth Competition, International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, and the Montreal International Music Competition. He has been a concerto soloist with the San Francisco Symphony, National Orchestra of Belgium, Mexico City Orchestra, Portuguese Radio Orchestra, and all major orchestras of Canada. Beaver is currently on faculty at New York University.

The longtime second violinist of the Guarneri Quartet, John Dalley was born in Madison, Wisconsin and studied with Efrem Zimbalist. Formerly on the faculty of the Oberlin Conservatory, a participant at the Marlboro Festival, and artist-in-residence at the University of Illinois, Dalley has concertized extensively in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand in recital and as soloist with orchestra. He is on faculty at the University of Maryland.

Cellist Timothy Eddy has performed with the Dallas, Colorado, Jacksonville, North Carolina, and Stamford Symphonies, and has appeared at the Mostly Mozart, Ravinia, Aspen, Santa Fe, Marlboro, Spoleto, and Sarasota festivals. He won the 1975 Gaspar Cassado International Violoncello Competition. A former member of the Galimir Quartet, New York Philomusica, and the Bach Aria Group, he collaborates regularly in recital with pianist Gilbert Kalish. Eddy is currently on faculty at Juilliard and Mannes.

Cellist David Geber has been the recipient of the Naumburg Award and the Coleman Chamber Music Prize. He has appeared as soloist at Tanglewood and Aspen, as well as with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Montreal Symphony. As a founding member of the American String Quartet, he concertized with the ensemble for 28 years, giving up to 100 annual concerts around the world. Geber teaches and performs with the Aspen Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, and Tanglewood Music Center.

Cellist Clive Greensmith joined the Tokyo Quartet in 1999. He held the position of principal cellist of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and has appeared as soloist with the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic, English Chamber Orchestra, Mostly Mozart Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic, and the RAI Orchestra of Rome.He has collaborated with András Schiff, Midori, Claude Frank, and Steven Isserlis, and has won second place in the inaugural “Premio Stradivari” held in Cremona, Italy. Greensmith is currently on faculty at the Manhattan School of Music.

June Han holds a Premier Prix for Harp and Chamber Music from Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Paris, a Master of Music and Artist Diploma degree from Yale, and a Doctorate of Musical Arts from Juilliard. She performs with Ensemble Sospeso, Sequitur Ensemble, and Manhattan Sinfonietta, and has collaborated with Sea Cliff Chamber Players, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Cygnus Ensemble, the Chamber Music Society, Orchestre de Paris, Kirov Opera Orchestra, New York City Opera, and the New York Philharmonic.

Violinist Kikuei Ikeda studied at the Toho Academy of Music with Saburo Sumi, Josef Gingold, and Hideo Saito. He performed as soloist with the Yomiuri Symphony, Tokyo Metropolitan, and Tokyo Symphony Orchestras. At Juilliard, Ikeda studied with Dorothy DeLay and members of the Juilliard String Quartet. Ikeda was a prizewinner in the Mainichi, NHK, and Haken Competitions in Japan, the Washington International Competition for Strings in Washington, D.C., and the Vienna da Motta in Portugal.

Violist Kazuhide Isomura is a graduate of the Toho Academy where he studied with Jeanne Isnard, Kenji Kobayashi, and Hideo Saito. He became assistant concert master of the Nashville Symphony, but his love for chamber music led him to Juilliard, where he studied violin with Ivan Galamian and Paul Makanowitsky, chamber music with Robert Mann and Raphael Hillyer, and viola with Walter Trampler. Isomura is a founding member of the Tokyo String Quartet.

Cellist Michal Korman has appeared as soloist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Israel Camerata Jerusalem, Tivoli Festival Orchestra, and the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional of Peru. She has participated in the Marlboro and Yellow Barn music festivals and has toured with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Korman recently graduated from Juilliard, where she studied with Joel Krosnick and Timothy Eddy.

Cellist Julia Lichten has been a member of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra since 1995 and has toured as a soloist with the orchestra, as well as with Musicians from Marlboro and the American Chamber Players. An active recitalist, she has performed at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton Universities, and toured Europe under State Department sponsorship as an “Artistic Ambassador.” She is a member of the faculties at Manhattan School of Music and SUNY Purchase.

The New York Times called Melissa Meell, “a cellist with a fine singing quality and poetic sensibility that proves memorable.” She has the rare distinction of twice winning the prestigious Naumburg Chamber Music Award. Meell is a member of Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and has collaborated with Musicians from Marlboro, New York Philomusica Chamber Ensemble, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

Bassoonist Frank Morelli studied with Stephen Maxym at the Manhattan and Juilliard Schools of Music. Admired for his “breathtaking virtuosity” by the Miami Herald, Morelli has appeared with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center on numerous occasions, including at the final State Dinner of the Clinton presidency. He is a member of the Festival Chamber Music and Windscape, and serves on the faculties of Juilliard, Yale, Manhattan School of Music, and Stony Brook University.

Flutist Tara Helen O’Connor is a founding member of the Naumburg Award-winning New Millennium Ensemble, a member of Windscape, the chamber ensemble Andalucian Dogs, and is the flute soloist of the Bach Aria Group. She received two Grammy nominations in 2003 for her recording of Osvaldo Golijov’s Yiddishbbuk. O’Connor is on faculty at SUNY Purchase, Bard Conservatory, and Manhattan School of Music.

Violinist Daniel Phillips was a winner of the prestigious Young Concert Artists International Auditions in 1976, and has performed as soloist with many American Symphonies. He is a founding member of the Orion String Quartet, which tours internationally, and has residencies at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and at the Mannes College of Music. He is on faculty at Queens College.

Marcy Rosen made her concerto debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the age of 18 and has appeared with the Dallas Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Caramoor Festival Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and the Tokyo Symphony. In recital she has appeared at Carnegie Hall, 92nd Street Y, Kennedy Center, and the Corcoran Gallery. She is a founding member of the ensemble La Fenice and the Mendelssohn String Quartet. Rosen is a graduate of Curtis and is currently on faculty at Queens College and Mannes.

Winner of two Naumburg Awards, soprano Lucy Shelton has premiered works by Carter, Knussen, Davidovsky, Grisey, Schwantner, and Wuorinen. She has performed with the Emerson, Brentano, and Guarneri String Quartets, Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, Speculum Musicae, Sospeso, New York New Music Ensemble, Boston Musica Viva, eighth blackbird, Schoenberg-Asko, and Ensemble Intercontemporain. Recent performances include Carter’s A Mirror On Which To Dwell with the Met Chamber Orchestra and Pierrot Lunaire with eighth blackbird. She is on faculty at Tanglewood Music Center and Manhattan School of Music.

Violinist Arnold Steinhardt made his solo debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra at age 14. He has appeared as soloist with the New York Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, and the Cleveland Orchestra. He was a founding member of the former Guarneri String Quartet. Steinhardt has received an award for distinguished cultural service from the City of New York presented by Mayor Koch, and was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is on faculty at Colburn, University of Maryland, Bard Conservatory, and Curtis.

Two-time Grammy Award-winning clarinetist Richard Stoltzman gave the first clarinet recitals in the histories of the Hollywood Bowl and Carnegie Hall, and was the first wind player to be awarded the Avery Fisher Prize. He has been a soloist with more than a hundred orchestras and has performed and recorded with such classical, jazz, and pop greats as Emanuel Ax, Yo-Yo Ma, Canadian Brass, Chick Corea, Judy Collins, Keith Jarrett, Wayne Shorter, Mel Tormé, and Jeremy Wall. He is also a Cordon Bleu-trained pastry chef whose specialty is the Linzer Torte.

Violist Steven Tenenbom is a member of the Orion String Quartet. He has worked with Lukas Foss, Chick Corea, the Guarneri and Emerson String Quartets, the Beaux Arts and Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trios, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He has performed as a soloist with the Utah Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, and Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra. He is also a member of TASHI and Opus One. Tenenbom is on faculty at Bard Conservatory, Mannes, and Curtis.

A founding member of the Guarneri String Quartet and the Marlboro Trio, Michael Tree studied violin with Efrem Zimbalist at Curtis. He appeared as a soloist on both the violin and viola with the Philadelphia, Baltimore, Los Angeles, and New Jersey Orchestras. As a chamber musician he has concertized throughout the world and recorded more than 80 chamber music masterpieces. Tree serves on the faculties of Juilliard, Manhattan School of Music, Curtis, and the University of Maryland.

Cellist Peter Wiley attended the Curtis Institute at just 13 years of age, under the tutelage of David Soyer. He was appointed principal cellist of the Cincinnati Symphony at age 20 after one year in the Pittsburgh Symphony. He has been awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant and was nominated with the Beaux Arts Trio for a Grammy Award in 1998. He joined the legendary Guarneri Quartet in 2001, performing until the quartet’s final concert last season. Wiley is on the faculty of the Bard Conservatory and Curtis.