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June 2010 e-newsletter
 Summer Preview (Part I): Hit the festivals and hear classical music's rising stars
In this issue
Stefan Jackiw turns 25 in Toronto Symphony debut
Joshua Roman premieres new cello sonata
Inon Barnatan wins kudos in Spoleto
Susanna Phillips wows Fort Worth
Brooklyn Rider makes Spoleto Festival debut
21C Artists To Watch in the news
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Datebook
June 6-13: Charleston, SC
Inon Barnatan
Spoleto Festival USA
Chamber music

June 8,10: Charleston, SC
Brooklyn Rider
Spoleto Festival USA
Music in Time

June 9-11: Germany
Alessio Bax
Schloss Elmau
Bach, Stravinsky, Piazzolla+

June 10: Seattle, WA
Joshua Roman
TownMusic Series
Recital with Helen Huang


June 15: Washington D.C.
Inon Barnatan
Washington Performing Arts Society
Recital with Alisa Weilerstein

June 18: Ecuador
Joshua Roman
Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional del Ecuador
Saint-Sa�ns: Cello Cto.

June 21-July 7: Japan
Alessio Bax
Recitals with Sayako Kusaka

June 25: Japan
Susanna Phillips
Met Opera concert (2011 tour preview)

June 25-July 7: Wales
Pablo Heras-Casado
Welsh National Opera
Rigoletto

June 27: NYC
Joshua Roman
Chelsea Music Festival
Visconti sonata - NY premiere

July 8-16: Fort Worth, TX

Alessio Bax
Mimir Chamber Music Festival

July 10,12: Bellingham, WA
Joshua Roman
Bellingham Music Festival Tchaikovsky+

July 11: Vail, CO
Inon Barnatan
Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival
Philadelphia Orch. debut
Gershwin: Piano Cto. in F

July 11: Highland Park, IL
Joyce Yang
Ravinia Festival
Chicago Symphony Orch.
Bernstein: Age of Anxiety

July 11, 17: London, UK
James Valenti
Royal Opera Covent Garden
La Traviata (Alfredo)

July 12: New York, NY
Susanna Phillips
Central Park Summerstage
Met Opera summer series

July 14: Vail, CO
Stefan Jackiw
Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival
Philadelphia Orch. w/Alsop
Prokofiev: Violin Cto. 2


About 21C Artists To Watch
21C Artists To Watch is an image- and awareness-building program for artists on the brink of major careers in classical music.  Each month, 21C Media Group publishes an e-newsletter profiling several members of this select group and highlighting their recent and upcoming activities.  Read past newsletters here

For inquires regarding any of the 21C Artists To Watch, please contact:

Wende Persons
Program Director
21C Media Group
ph (917) 691-1282
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Stefan Jackiw turns 25 in Toronto Symphony debut
Stefan JackiwOn his 25th birthday last month, violinist Stefan Jackiw made his Toronto Symphony debut. "There were no candles on stage, but plenty of flickering fire in the music," wrote John Terauds in The Toronto Star. "From the moment Jackiw's bow struck the first notes of the  Violin Concerto No. 3, K. 216, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, it was clear why audiences get so excited about this artist. Here was a mop-headed poet of the violin in full rhetorical flight, caressing gorgeously shaped musical phrases from his instrument."  The Globe and Mail concurred: "He played the Mozart like an angel ... You could have heard a pin drop." Jackiw (pronounced jack-eev) was reunited in Toronto with conductor Sir Andrew Davis, who led the young violinist's acclaimed Philadelphia Orchestra debut in March. Jackiw will collaborate with Marin Alsop this summer in his return with the Philadelphians in July. 
  • June 23 - July 4:  Ensemble Ditto tour, Korea & Japan
  • July 14: Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival; Philadelphia Orchestra; Marin Alsop, cond.; Prokofiev: Cto. 2
  • July 18: Bellingham Music Festival (WA); Mendelssohn Cto
  • July 23 - August 13: Seattle Chamber Music Society
  • August 18 & 22: Bridgehampton Music Festival (NY)

For more information, visit StefanJackiw.com or the Opus 3 Artists web site

Joshua Roman premieres new cello sonata
Joshua Roman_newThis month cellist Joshua Roman is getting a jump on the Fourth of July, with both the world premiere in Seattle and the New York City premiere of a piece composed for him by fellow Cleveland Institute of Music graduate Dan Visconti. The five-movement composition, entitled "Americana," is based on lines of texts from patriotic folk songs, combining elements from American hymns, sea shanties, civil rights marches, and even Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix.  "It's refreshing to see somebody who is able to present such a new, yet familiar side of what classical music can be," said Roman. "Visconti captures folk themes in a very traditional manner, without it being too hokey.  It's a great celebration!"     
  • June 10:  TownMusic at Town Hall (Seattle); world premiere of "Americana" cello sonata by Dan Visconti
  • June 18:  Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional del Ecuador; Saint-Sa�ns: Cello Cto.
  • June 27:  Chelsea Music Festival (NYC); New York premiere of "Americana" cello sonata by Dan Visconti
  • July 10:  Bellingham Festival Orchestra (WA); Tchaikovsky: Rococo Vars.
  • July 12:  Bellingham Music Festival (WA); recital with Heidi Grant Murphy and Kevin Murphy
  • August 7 & 8:  Music in The Vineyards (Napa, CA); Messiaen; Dahl  

For more information, visit JoshuaRoman.com or the Opus 3 Artists web site.  
Inon Barnatan wins kudos in Spoleto
BR_Angel Orensanz.jpgFresh from London's Wigmore Hall and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, pianist Inon Barnatan returned to the States this month for his Spoleto Festival debut.  The Charleston City Paper singled him out in its review: "It was a particular joy to hear Inon Barnatan, in his first series appearance at the piano. A real rising star in the piano world, he's an absolutely fabulous chamber musician, with a subtle and supremely expressive touch that takes your breath away. You've really gotta come hear this guy; they'll be showing him off in all four of the remaining series programs." Critic Kyle MacMillan selected Barnatan in the Denver Post as one of his "Ten Noteworthy Performers" to hear this summer when he makes his Philadelphia Orchestra debut at Bravo! Vail Valley and plays a recital in Aspen
  • June 6-13: Spoleto Festival USA 2010; chamber music
  • June 15: Washington Performing Arts Society; recital with Alisa Weilerstein
  • July 11-13: Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival;  Philadelphia Orchestra debut; Gershwin: Cto. in F
  • July 25-27: Music@Menlo; chamber music with Sasha Cooke, Mir� Quartet+
  • August 11: Aspen Music Festival recital; Beethoven, Britten, Ravel, Schubert

For more information, visit InonBarnatan.com or the Opus 3 Artists web site.  
Susanna Phillips wows Fort Worth
Susanna PhillipsEarlier this month Susanna Phillips, recipient of the 2010 Beverly Sills Artist Award, swept the critics and wowed audiences in her Fort Worth Opera Festival debut in Don Giovanni.  "Arriving in a blaze of vocal glory, Susanna Phillips's Donna Anna seems incapable of an unlovely sound or inelegant phrase," wrote Dallas Morning News critic Scott Cantrell. Theater Jones called her "a Donna Anna that would shine on any stage in the world" and Fort Worth Weekly added, "Phillips filled the house with her plush, velvety voice and floated some breathtaking pianissimos along the way."  Simply said, "Susanna Phillips triumphed" (Fort Worth Star-Telegram) and she has more in store in the coming months.
  • June 15-19: OK Mozart Festival
  • June 25: Met Opera concert in Japan (2011 tour preview)
  • June 27-Aug. 15: Marlboro Music Festival (resident artist)
  • July 12: Met Opera Summer Recital Series (Central Park SummerStage)
  • July 20: Met Opera Summer Recital Series (Brooklyn Bridge Park)

For more information, visit SusannaPhillips.com or the IMG Artists web site.  
Brooklyn Rider makes Spoleto Festival debut
BR_BrooklynBridge.jpgA preview feature for Brooklyn Rider's Spoleto Festival debut last week hailed the rock band string quartet as "the musicians of the moment." Charleston's Post & Courier continued, "They have performed in Texas at the trendy film and music festival South by Southwest, played at New York City's laid-back club Joe's Pub, and stopped by NPR to record a Tiny Desk Concert for Bob Boilen's 'All Songs Considered.' Their latest album, Dominant Curve, even received a positive review from Pitchfork, the hard-to-please indie music website."  Also, in late May, the musicians were in Italy for the world premiere of 'Graffiti dell'amante' by Rome Prize awardee Lisa Bielawa, as well as a performance of her 'Chance Encounter' along the banks of the Tiber River.
  • July 8:  Borders - Time Warner Center (NYC); performance & CD signing, 7 PM
  • July 9: WNYC's "Soundcheck"; live performance & interview
  • July 18: Malm� Festival (Sweden)
  • August 24-31: Stillwater Music Festival (MN)
  • Sept. 6: U.S. Open tennis tournament performance (NYC)

For more information, visit BrooklynRider.com, or the Opus 3 Artists Web site.
21C Artists To Watch in the news
NPR.org/music - 6/8/10 (Joyce Yang)
"Joyce Yang - Inside the Psyche of Schumann": For Schumann's bicentennial, Yang explores the warring sides of Schumann's mind in this performance and interview with host Fred Child recorded in American Public Media's Performance Today studio.  Listen here.  

eMusic - 6/3/10 (Brooklyn Rider)
"The Best Albums Of The Year...So Far" - Dominant Curve selected by the eMusic Editorial Staff

Dilettante.com - 6/3/10 (Pablo Heras-Casado)
Interview: Pablo Heras-Casado: 21st Century Renaissance Man
The diary of this dynamic young Spaniard is quickly filling with concert dates on both sides of the Atlantic and the 49th Parallel, and the accolades are piling up. Named by The Sixteen founder Harry Christophers as "one to watch" last July, Heras-Casado was the unanimous winner of the 2007 Lucerne Festival Conductors' Competition, whose jury was led by Pierre Boulez and Peter E�tv�s.

Pitchfork - 6/1/10 (Brooklyn Rider)
CD review: "For this kind of group, an easy way with both old and new, composed and improvised, is essential, and Brooklyn Rider has it. ... Dominant Curve succeeds in its attempt to bridge a classic work of a great composer with the work of that composer's stylistic descendants."- Joe Tangari

New Jersey Star-Ledger - 5/23/10 (Alessio Bax)
"The Best Of... Composers at the Keyboard" with NJ Symphony:  "Bax gave dazzling accounts of the Chopin Variations on 'La ci darem la mano' from Mozart's Don Giovanni, and Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2, dispatching the breakneck runs with a smooth, clean, silvery tone." - Ronni Reich

The Vancouver Sun - 5/30/2010 (James Valenti)
 "James Valenti is a singularly believable Pinkerton, all sex appeal and swagger: an impressive dramatic presence and a fine tenor sound." - David Gordon Duke

Het Gesprek Dutch TV - 5/26/10 (Inon Barnatan)
"When was the last time you killed somebody?" is the host's surprising opening question in this hour-long TV interview about politics, music and more.

The Oklahoman- 5/25/10 (Stefan Jackiw)
"A performance that will be talked about for weeks to come. Jackiw, 25, is a player of real distinction. The rich, warm sound he drew from his 18th-century Vincenzo Ruggieri violin created the perfect contrast to Sibelius' icy orchestral palette." - Rick Rogers

Theater Jones - 5/23/10 (Susanna Phillips)
"Let's start with the best of the best: Susanna Phillips, who sings Donna Anna. Praising her is really just a matter of jumping on an existing bandwagon. ... Her vocal technique is sheer perfection." - Gregory Sullivan Isaacs
 
This Week in the Arts Netcast - 5/19/10 (Susanna Phillips)
Audio interview preview for Susanna Phillips's Donna Anna in Fort Worth Opera Festival's Don Giovanni; Listen here

Denver Post - 5/6/2010 (Inon Barnatan)
10 noteworthy performers this summer: "Inon Barnatan, who received a prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2009, is a significant emerging artist in his own right, displaying seemingly limitless facility, infectious gusto and no shortage of interpretative maturity." - Kyle MacMillan

The Globe and Mail, Toronto - 5/6/10 (Stefan Jackiw)
"He played the Mozart like an angel. The slow movement is in itself music from heaven, but Jackiw joined it on its level, simply, without the least pretension or show. The result was about as pure and as close to perfection as music can get, and very moving indeed." - Ken Winters


Photos:  Lisa-Marie Mazzucco (Jackiw), Jeremy Sawatzky (Roman), Marco Borggreve (Barnatan), Ken Howard (Phillips), Amber Darragh (Brooklyn Rider)