Classics on the Sound: Concert Series

Artistic Director, Laura Falzon presents Classics on the Sound, a three part concert series featuring some of NYC's best classical musicians.

Friday, February 14th

"If music be the food of love, play on!” A unique chamber ensemble of mandolin with harp and flute brings to Wainwright a program of Baroque and Classical music. To mark the 250th Birthday celebrations of Beethoven, the program will  feature some of the works that Beethoven wrote for Mandolin.

Featuriing: Joyce BALINT, Mandolin | Laura FALZON, Flute | Susan JOLLES, Harp  7:00pm wine and cheese, 7:30pm Concert

ABOUT THE ARTISITS: 

Laura FALZON, Flute 

Hailed for her "versatile technique" (Musical Times), Laura Falzon’s performances have been described as “excellent,” “remarkably brilliant,” “powerful”, “impressive”, “ethereal” and “exuberant”. With solo, concerto and chamber performances across Europe, Asia and the US, she has performed in prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Symphony Space and Kennedy Center in DC, and appeared as soloist with orchestras and ensembles including London’s Spectrum ensemble, St. Martin in the Fields Sinfonia, Rasumovsky Quartet, Mimesis ensemble, Random Access Music, the National Orchestra of Malta, Stockholm’s Curious Chamber Players, Bleecker STQ, and Elekoto ensemble. “Fearless in tackling and promoting” new works (PAN, British Flute Society), Falzon has worked with numerous composers and premiered many works including pieces by Mohammed Fairouz, Dai Fujikura, Shirish Korde, Charles Camilleri, Halim El-Dabh, Theodore Wiprud, Victoria Bond, Alice Shields, and many others. Awards and grants received include ones from The British Arts Council, Rockefeller Foundation, New York Women Composers, Rotary Foundation, Hope Scot Trust, Scottish Arts Council, West Midlands Arts, and Sparkplug Foundation. She has recorded with several artists. Amongst her CD recordings are, Camilleri: Music for Clarinet, Flute & Piano with works written for her by composer Charles Camileri, the CD A Turk in America with music for flute and strings with her ensemble ISSA Sonus, and New York Tapestries a recording of music written for her and her ensemble 2Flutes by members of New York Women Composers Inc. A founding member and artistic director of ISSA Sonus, Id-Dinja and 2Flutes ensembles and a graduate of Columbia University, Dr. Falzon teaches at Columbia University’s Teachers College and New York University. www.laurafalzon.com 

Susan JOLLES, Harp  

Harpist SUSAN JOLLES has enjoyed a long and varied career as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral player, teacher and arranger. A founding member of the Naumburg Award winning Jubal Trio, she also appears with daughter, Renee, violinist, as the Jolles Duo. Jolles is a member of the American Composers Orchestra, Musica Viva, Queens Symphony Orchestra and The Little Orchestra Society, and is associate harpist with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. She also appears regularly with the Encores Orchestra. Past affiliations include the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, The Group for Contemporary Music, The New York Chamber Symphony, and The Juilliard Ensemble. She also appears regularly with the Encores Orchestra.

Jolles received a Fromm Fellowship in contemporary music performance in 1963 and has since been associated with contemporary music. She has premiered and recorded the works of such composers as Luciano Berio, Hans Werner Henze, George Crumb, Charles Wuorinen and Philip Glass, and has an extensive discography that encompasses a full range of musical genres including classical, klezmer, jazz, cabaret and Broadway. Additionally, she has recorded with such diverse artists as Giora Feidman, Kenny Garrett, James Galway, Laurel Zucker and Barbara Cook.

Ms. Jolles is on the faculties of the Manhattan School of Music and the Mannes College of Music where she teaches harp as well as orchestral repertory and chamber music.

For more info: http://www.metorchestramusicians.org/susan-jolles/

Andrey TCHEKMAZOV, Cello Cellist ANDREY TCHEKMAZOV, was the Grand Prize winner of the Vittorio Gui International Chamber Music Competition and the Premio Trio di Trieste, and has performed extensively throughout North and South America, Europe, Russia and Asia. His appearances include the Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory, Osaka Symphony Hall in Japan, Brazil’s Sala San Palo, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall and Weill Recital Hall. His many performances as concerto soloist with orchestras include appearances with the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra and the San Paulo Symphony Orchestra in Brazil. Among his other prizes and awards are the Koussivitzky Competition, Stadt, and the Russian National Competition in Moscow. As a frequent performer with the Jupiter Chamber Players and Lyric Chamber Music Society in New York, and at the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., Tchekmazov has “impressed his audiences with his big, warm tone and…Russian brand of virtuosity” (Strad). He has premiered works and worked closely with composers including Alfred Schnittke, Lukas Foss, George Warren, Ira Cremer and Ralf Ytrehus and has recently recorded the Cello Sonata by David Winkler and “Byzantine Chants, The Sacred Concerto for Solo Cello,” by Margarita Zelenaia, both written and dedicated to him.   Born in Moscow, Mr. Tchekmazov studied at the Gnessin Specialized Music School in Moscow, the Moscow State Conservatory with Mstislav Rostropovich’s protégé Nataliya Shakhovskaya, and the Juilliard School as a student of Harvey Shapiro. Mr. Tchekmazov’s recordings include a recent release on NAXOS with the Russian National Phiharmonic as well as a recording for the Delos label. www.andreytchekmazov.com

Joyce BALINT, Mandolin & Violin

Mandolinist and violinist JOYCE BALINT, teaches both instruments at the Mozartina and has been the mandolin soloist with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra since l974.  One of the country’s foremost classical mandolinists, she has performed many solo recitals and orchestral performances, including with the Paris Opera, Dallas Opera, and the Boston Symphony. As a violinist, she has been an active free-lance performer in the New York metropolitan area, including the MET Opera, the Caramoor Festival Orchestra, the Westchester Symphony, and several opera companies. She currently performs with the Amore Opera in New York City. She also performed duo recitals with her late husband Sandor Balint, as the Balint Duo.  “Joyce Balint Shines in a String Recital” was the headline in the New York Times of her Carnegie Recital Hall debut where it said her playing of the mandolin “came close to the ideal” and she played with a “musicianly verve” on the violin.  In another performance, the New York Times said of her playing of the Hummel Mandolin Sonata that she “made the most of its sunny, tuneful character.”  Ms. Balint will be performing the mandolin in the 2018-19 Met Opera season in Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Verdi’s Otello.  Ms. Balint lives in Bronxville and is the current president of the Westchester County Federation of Women’s Clubs.