School of Music presents Brahms' Sextets for Strings
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Two masterful string sextets by Johannes Brahms will be performed at SUNY Fredonia Thursday, Feb. 25, at 8 p.m. in Rosch Recital Hall. The event is free and open to all. The Sextet in B-Flat major, Op. 18, and the Sextet in G major, Op. 36, exemplify some of Brahms' most glorious writing for strings.
"An Evening of Strings by Brahms"-- Johannes Brahms' two masterful string sextets will be performed by SUNY Fredonia string faculty artists Janet Sung (violin), David Rose (viola), and Natasha Farny (cello). They will be joined by special guest artists, violinist David Russell, Distinguished Professor of Music at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte and former faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Music.
David Russell will also give a violin masterclass on Wednesday, Feb. 24 at 10 a.m. in Rosch Recital Hall. This masterclass is free and open to the public.
"I'm thrilled that violinist David Russell is finally able to visit Fredonia,” said Ms. Sung. “He was formerly on the faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Music for 24 years, has given masterclasses all over world and, is now the Anne Reynolds Belk Distinguished Professor of Music at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte. [Brahms' Sextets for Strings] is some of the most beautiful and glorious writing for strings in the chamber music repertoire. David and I have known each other for years but, this will be the first time we will have had the chance to play together so, we're both very excited! Our other guests will be cellist Mira Frisch, David's colleague at the UNC at Charlotte, and a Western New York and Fredonia favorite, violist Valerie Heywood, Principal of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.”
Other guest artists at the recital include cellist Mira Frisch, also of UNC at Charlotte, and Valerie Heywood, Principal Viola of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.
GUEST ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES
DAVID RUSSELL
Violinist David Russell enjoys an international reputation as a violin pedagogue. Currently the Anne Reynolds Belk Distinguished Professor of Music at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Mr. Russell was a member of the violin faculty at the prestigious Cleveland Institute of Music for 24 years. He also served as Assistant Director of String Chamber Music at CIM, and was Visiting Violin Faculty at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music.
Mr. Russell has been a valued faculty member of numerous prestigious summer music programs such as ENCORE School for Strings, Meadowmount School of Music, Keshet Eilon International Violin Mastercourse (Israel), ARIA International Summer Music Academy, CREDO, The Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival and The LMFL International Summer Music Course in Llandovery, Wales. In additions, he has served on the juries of numerous national and international violin competitions including the Midwest Young Artist Competition (USA) and the Sion-Valais International Violin Competition (Switzerland). Mr. Russell gives frequent violin master classes in China, Israel, Spain, Canada, Russia, France, Portugal, the U.K. and the U.S.
As a performer, Mr. Russell has appeared as soloist with the Cleveland Pops Orchestra and orchestras around the United States. He has appeared in Chamber Music recital at The Glenn Gould Studio of the CBC in Toronto, and has been heard on NPR's Performance Today, as well as in many international concert venues.
Mr. Russell's students have also received much acclaim. Among them is the 2008 winner of the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition Junior Division in Cardiff, Wales. Others are members of major American Orchestras (including the Cleveland Orchestra and the Charlotte Symphony) and members of professional chamber music groups. Two are currently under management as touring soloists.
VALERIE HEYWOOD
Valerie Heywood is the Principal Violist of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, a position she won in 1991. She received her early musical training in Detroit, Michigan with Nathan Gordon, Walter Blumenau, and Ralph Schiller, all members of the Detroit Symphony. Ms. Heywood received her Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Michigan as a full scholarship student of Frances Bundra. Upon completing her degree, she accepted a one year position as instructor of viola and chamber music at the University of Toledo (Ohio).
Ms. Heywood then moved to New York to enroll in the Juilliard School of Music as a scholarship student of the noted viola-pedagogue Lillian Fuchs. She completed her Master of Music degree in one year and remained in New York to perform, tour and record with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. She also performed with the Barge Music Ensemble, Con Brio Ensemble, the Virtuosi Ensemble, and the American Symphony. In addition, she was a featured performer for a BBC television broadcast titled "Artists in New York".
Ms. Heywood moved to Buffalo after winning the audition for Associate Principal Viola. She later advanced to the Principal Viola position. She has performed as soloist with the BPO on numerous occasions.
In addition to her performance experience, Ms Heywood was on the faculty of SUNY at Buffalo from 1987-97 and SUNY at Fredonia from 1997-2007. She remains a devoted teacher and has a large studio of private students, many having gone on to music conservatories around the country. In 2007 she started the Vio-Piaguitello Honors Recital, an annual recital featuring some of western New York's outstanding young musicians.
Ms. Heywood's viola was made in Ferrara, Italy in 1911 by Ettore Soffritti.
MIRA FRISCH
Mira Frisch joined the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in the fall of 2007 as Director of String Chamber Music and Assistant Professor of Cello. Dr. Frisch has performed as a chamber musician throughout the United States, Bermuda, Italy, and France. As a member of Duo XXI, with violinist Anna Cromwell, she recently commissioned six new works for violin and cello that were performed throughout the Midwest and Southeast. Duo XXI will release a recording of the pieces with Albany Records in 2010. She can also be heard as a guest artist on the Compact Disc There Lies the Home produced by the vocal ensemble CANTUS. Dr. Frisch has presented at national conferences of the College Music Society, Music Teachers National Association, and Society of Composers Incorporated. She received the Bachelor of Arts degree in Music and Mathematics from Saint Olaf College, the Master of Music degree in Cello Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Cello Performance from the University of Minnesota. She previously taught at Truman State University (Missouri) and at the Festival Musicale della Toscana (Italy).
