James Tocco

October 7, 2007

Italian-American virtuoso James Tocco enjoys international renown as a recitalist, orchestral soloist, chamber musician and pedagogue.  Beyond his vast repertoire of virtually the entire standard piano literature, he is widely regarded as among  the foremost interpreters of American masterworks, including Bernstein’s Age of Anxiety, which he recently recorded with Leonard Slatkin and the BBC London Symphony and performed with Marin Alsop and the New World Symphony; and the Corigliano Piano Concerto, of which he is acknowledged the definitive interpreter by the Pulitzer-Prize-winning composer.  He has performed this spectacular work to great acclaim with the Atlanta, San Diego, Kansas City and Phoenix Symphonies and Louisville Orchestra, the latter including an acclaimed recording, a well as with Andrew Litton and the Cincinnati Symphony in 2003-2004.  In 2004-2005 he performed it with Leonard Slatkin and the National Symphony at Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center.   This same season included his London Philharmonia debut, performing Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto.  The pianist’s recent seasons included his Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra debut, performing the MacDowell Concerto and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, both conducted by Leonard Slatkin.  An especially accomplished recitalist, Mr. Tocco has been widely praised for his interpretations of Beethoven, Chopin and Liszt, as well as 20th-century composers, and he among the very few pianists to regularly program the keyboard works of Handel. 

Born of Italian parents in Detroit, Mr. Tocco’s love of music--especially opera--began in early childhood.  At six he started studying piano and at twelve he made his orchestral debut, performing Beethoven’s Second Concerto.  Among the countless awards that followed were a scholarship to the Salzburg Mozarteum and a French government grant to study with Magda Tagliaferro in Paris.  His musical education was completed with Claudio Arrau in New York.  International prominence came with his First Prize victory in the International ARD Competition in Munich, followed by a major triumph as a last-minute replacement for Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli as guest soloist for the Tchaikovsky First Piano Concerto at the Vienna Festival. In the years since then he has performed literally around the world:  throughout North and South America, Europe, the Soviet Untion, Japan, Australia, South Africa and the Middle East.  His orchestral engagements include the Cleveland and Minnesota Orchestras; Berlin, London, Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Munich Philharmonics; London, Houston, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Detroit, Chicago, New World, National, and NHK (Japan) Symphonies.  Conductors with whom he has collaborated include Marin Alsop, David Atherton, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Andrew Litton, Yoav Talmi, Robert Shaw, Yoel Levi, Zdenek Macal, Gerard Schwarz, Raymond Leppard, David Zinman, Lukas Foss, Georges Prêtre, Neeme Järvi, James DePreist, Hugh Wolff, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Leonard Slatkin, John Nelson, Christoph Eschenbach and Christoph von Dohnányi.  Festival invitations include Salzburg, Vienna, Lockenhaus, Holland, Schleswig-Holstein, Dubrovnik, Wolf Trap, the Hollywood Bowl, Blossom, Ravinia, New York’s “Mostly Mozart,” Spoleto (USA) and Santa Fe.

Mr. Tocco’s voluminous discography reflects his varied tastes and astonishing versatility:  the world-premiere recording of Bernstein’s complete solo piano music, an all-Copland disc including the first recording of the solo piano version of the Suite from Rodeo; the complete Chopin Préludes, the complete piano music of Charles Tomlinson Griffes; Erwin Schulhof’s Cinq Etudes de Jazz; Bach-Liszt Organ Transcriptions; and the four piano sonatas of Edward MacDowell.  Recently issued to unanimous acclaim  is Mr. Tocco’s recording of Corigliano’s Etude-Fantasy on Sony Classical.

In addition to his rigorous international performing itinerary, Mr. Tocco is Eminent Scholar/Artist-in-Residence at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, and Professor of Piano at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City.  Mr. Tocco is also the founder and Artistic Director of the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

Bach                            Partita No. 1 in B-flat Major
Busoni                        Fantasia after J.S. Bach
Gunnar Johansen     Piano Sonata No. 2 ("Pearl Harbor")
Chopin                        12 Etudes, Op. 10

The Merling Trio

November 12, 2007

The Merling Trio is recognized as one of today’s premier ensembles. A truly international trio, it brings together musicians from Polish, Japanese, and Dutch backgrounds. The Merling Trio has been hailed as a brilliantly distinguished group endowed with remarkable gifts of communication, magnificent precision, and an impeccable blend of sound. The trio made its New York debut in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in 1993, and was named a finalist for the Naumburg Foundation Chamber Music Award in 1994. They have coached with Bonnie Hampton, Ruth Laredo, Martin Canin, Joyce Robbins, Joel Krosnik, and Anne Epperson.

The Merling Trio has given numerous recitals throughout Canada and the United States. Members of the Trio have performed with orchestras such as the English Chamber Orchestra, the Honolulu Symphony, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia, and the South Carolina Philharmonic, under the baton of such notable conductors as Daniel Barenboim, Simon Rattle, and Christoph Eschenbach. Recent trio performances include concerts for the Chamber Music Society of Charleston (WV), the Texas Friends of Chamber Music Series, the Jewel Box Series at Northeastern Illinois University, and the Columbus (OH) Museum of Art.

Several contemporary composers have written works for the Merling Trio, and in 1993, they commissioned and premiered C. Curtis-Smith’s Second Piano Trio. In February 1998, the trio returned to Carnegie Hall for a sold-out performance of a new work by New York composer Terry Winter-Owens, commissioned by the Merling Trio with a Commissioning Grand from the American Composers Forum. In 2003, the trio premiered Frank Proto’s Quartet for Piano and Strings at St. John’s Smith Square in London, England. Performances by the Merling Trio have been broadcast widely on television and radio, including WNYC, WFMT 98.7 in Chicago, and Peachstate Public Radio. Their first CD, entitled “The Merling Trio performs works of C. Curtis-Smith”, was released in 1995 by Albany Records, in collaboration with conductor Dennis Russell Davies. About the CD, Fanfare wrote, “The composer could not ask for better interpreters.” The trio’s next CD, “Piano Trio Classics,” including works by Haydn, Mozart, Brahms, Schumann, and Liszt, was released by Pamplin Records in 2001.  Centaur Records released the trio’s new recording of works by Piazzolla and Proto in 2006.

In residence at the School of Music at Western Michigan University, members of the trio are also faculty members at the prestigious ENCORE School for Strings, and at the Lancut Festival in Poland. Festival appearances include the Banff Centre for the Arts, the Pensacola Summer Music Festival, the Skaneateles Festival, the Saugatuck Chamber Music Festival, and the Fontana Festival of Art and Music. Recent educational activities include performances and master classes for the California Music Teachers Association, the Music Teachers National Association, the Hawaii International Arts and Humanities Conference, and the American String Teachers Association National Conference.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer said, “The players shaped a grand interpretation, fluent in rhythm and rich in romantic feeling.” The Grand Rapids Press has said, “The trio…delivered a standard of playing that is on par with some of the best known violin-cello-piano teams, captivating the audience through the immediacy and extraordinary sensitivity of its playing.” The London Musical Opinion declared that the Merling Trio “made a powerful impression, with unabashed romanticism and finesse.”

Renata Artman Knific, violin…Bruce Uchimura, cello…Susan Wiersma Uchimura, piano

Mozart                     Piano Trio in B-flat Major, K 502

Astor Piazzolla        Primavera Porteno                                                                         

                                 Verano Porteno                                  

Shostakovich          Piano Trio in E Minor, Op. 67                                                                 

Jon Nakamatsu

April 6, 2008

              One of the most sought-after pianists of his generation,  is a frequent concerto soloist, chamber musician, recording artist and solo recitalist throughout the United States, Europe and Japan. He enjoys a continuously expanding career based on a deeply probing and illuminating musicality as well as a quietly charismatic performing style.

              Initially brought to global attention in June 1997 by being named Gold Medalist of the Tenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, Jon Nakamatsu subsequently appeared as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl and the Boston Pops at Tanglewood, as well as with, among many others, the orchestras of Buffalo, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Dallas, Dayton, Delaware, Detroit, Fort Worth, Honolulu, Memphis, Milwaukee, Naples, New Mexico, New World, Portland, Rochester, San Antonio, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Barbara, Seattle, Syracuse, Toledo and Utah. Abroad, he has been heard as soloist with Italy’s famed Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Berlin’s Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Chamber Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Costa Rica, Orquestra Sinfónica Nacional de Santo Domingo and Japan’s Tokyo and Hiroshima Symphony Orchestras.  In 2005, he toured Spain as soloist with the San Jose Youth Symphony, followed by a 2007 tour with the Peninsula Youth Symphony that included performances in Budapest and Prague. Mr. Nakamatsu has collaborated with many of today's leading conductors, among them Kazuyoshi Akiyama, Peter Bay, William Boughton, George Cleve, James Conlon, Grant Cooper, Leslie B. Dunner, Philippe Entremont, Neal Gittleman, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Marek Janowski, Chosei Komatsu, Michael Lankester, Peter Leonard, Raymond Leppard, Jahja Ling, Keith Lockhart, David Lockington, Christof Perick, Larry Rachleff, Peter Rubardt, Matthew Savery, Alfred Savia, Carl St. Clair, Christopher Seaman, Stanislaw Skrowaczeski, Markand Thakar, Michael Tilson Thomas, Osmo Vänskä, David Wiley, Peter Stafford Wilson and Samuel Wong. His 1998-99 season was highlighted by a White House performance of , hosted by President and Mrs. Clinton.   

              Jon Nakamatsu's extensive recital tours throughout the United States and Europe have featured perfromances in New York City (Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall), Washington, DC (John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts), Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Miami, Houston, San Francisco, Paris, London and Milan. The recipient of the Steven De Groote Memorial Award for his semifinal round chamber music performances at the Cliburn competition, he has subsequently collaborated with various chamber ensembles, among them the Brentano, Ives, Manhattan, Miami, St. Lawrence, Prazak, Tokyo and Ying String Quartets and the Stanford Woodwind Quintet. Mr. Nakamatsu has also made three United States tours as the guest soloist with the Berlin Philharmonic Woodwind Quintet.

              Jon Nakamatsu’s festival appearances include Tanglewood, the famed summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival with Christopher Seaman and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also been a guest artist at France's Evian and Montpellier music festivals and Germany’s Klavier Festival Ruhr, Festival Casals de Puerto Rico, performing with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Carl St. Clair, and at the Colorado Music Festival, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Florida’s Brevard and Sanibel music festivals, Tacoma International Music Festival, Lincoln’s Meadowlark Music Festival, New York’s Skaneateles Festival and California’s Midsummer Mozart Festival.

              Named Debut Artist of the Year (1998) by NPR's "Performance Today," Jon Nakamatsu  has been profiled by "CBS Sunday Morning" and  magazine, and is featured in "Playing with Fire," a documentary on the Tenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, aired nationwide on PBS. Earlier, in 1995, he was named the First Prize winner of Miami’s Fifth United States Chopin Piano Competition. He records exclusively for harmonia mundi usa, which has released six CDs, including an orchestral album containing performances of Rachmaninoff’s  and , with Christopher Seaman and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as albums devoted to the music of Brahms, Chopin, Foss, Liszt and Wölfl. Mr. Nakamatsu’s most recent release is his second orchestral album with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, featuring Gershwin’s and , conducted by Jeff Tyzik. Soon to be released is his first CD with clarinetist Jon Manasse, a recording of the Brahms .

              Jon Nakamatsu has studied privately with Marina Derryberry since the age of six, has worked with Karl Ulrich Schnabel, and studied composition and orchestration with Dr. Leonard Stein of the Schoenberg Institute at the University of Southern California. In addition, he has pursued extensive studies in chamber music and musicology. A former high school German teacher, Mr. Nakamatsu is a graduate of Stanford University with a bachelor’s degree in German  Studies and a master’s degree in Education.

Haydn             Sonata No. 33 in C Minor, Hob. XVI/20

Beethoven      Sonata No. 15 in D Major, Op. 28 (“Pastoral”)

Beethoven      Sonata No. 14 in c-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2 (“Moonlight”)

Schumann     Papillons, Op. 2