Paganini Competition Begins in Moscow, Biava Tapped as Juilliard Resident Quartet
The fifth PAGANINI MOSCOW INTERNATIONAL VIOLIN COMPETITION gets under way this month, with $25,000 and a statuette of Paganini reserved for first place, $12,000 for second, and $8,000 for third. Since its inception in 2003, the competition has awarded the grand prize to three Russians, a South Korean, and last year's winner, Kyoko Yonemoto, of Japan.
Russia's ATRIUM QUARTET beat out 13 other ensembles to take first place at the 5th BORDEAUX INTERNATIONAL STRING QUARTET COMPETITION. The St. Petersburg-based quartet earned €20,000 and a trophy for the win. At the competition, to be held every three years, nine other countries were represented, with Spain's QUIROGA QUARTET placing second and French quartets BENAÃ and VOCE coming in third and fourth, respectively.
BEN MORRISON, a 21-year-old violinist from the New Zealand School of Music at Victoria University, won the ROTORUA CONCERTO COMPETITION, taking home $8,000.
Musical Chairs
THE JUILLIARD SCHOOL has added to its faculty cellist RICHARD AARON and violinists DAVID CHAN, KYUNG-WHA CHUNG, and SYLVIA ROSENBERG. Aaron, a member of the ELYSIAN TRIO, has taught and given master classes around the world. Chan, concertmaster of the METROPOLITAN OPERA ORCHESTRA, has worked as a soloist with most ensembles of note. Chung, a soloist and chamber musician, has been a recording artist since 1988. Rosenberg, who has been teaching at the MANHATTAN SCHOOL OF MUSIC since 1989, has performed with many orchestras and at festivals, and has shared her knowledge with several affluent programs.
Conductor JAMES CONLON and the BIAVA QUARTET return to their alma mater. At the JUILLIARD SCHOOL, Conlon conducts, lectures, moderates, coaches, and leads discussions and performances related to composers from the World War II-era and today as part of a two-year artist's residency.
The Biava Quartet—violinists AUSTIN HARTMAN and HYUNSU KO, violist MARY PERSIN, and cellist JASON CALLOWAY—was chosen as Juilliard's graduate resident string quartet for the 2007-08 performance season.
OBERLIN COMMUNITY MUSIC SCHOOL OF THE OBERLIN CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC has selected violist and educator LOUISE ZEITLIN to be its new director. Zeitlin, who has been a faculty member since 1993, is a founding member and past president of the Ohio Viola Society, and she is the secretary of the American Viola Society. She serves as principal violist for the Baldwin-Wallace College Bach Festival, and has held numerous positions elsewhere.
Husband and wife team JESÚ and DARA MORALES left Utah to take their skills to Philadelphia. Dara assumes the role of principal second violin at the PHILADELPHIA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, and Jesús takes the principal cello position at PHILADELPHIA'S VIRTUOSI CHAMBER ORCHESTRA. The couple had been in Utah since 2004; Dara was principal second violin of the UTAH SYMPHONY, and Jesús was substituting in the symphony's cello section and had been touring as a recitalist and chamber musician.
The MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY has chosen STUART CHAFETZ to be its resident conductor, placing the timpanist just behind music director Andreas Delfs in the ensemble's hierarchy. Chafetz is Hawaii's MAUI POPS ORCHESTRA's music director and principal timpanist of the HONOLULU SYMPHONY. He has guest conducted at the BUFFALO PHILHARMONIC, CHICAGO SYMPHONY, and the LOUISVILLE ORCHESTRA.
RYAN MCADAMS was named music director of the NEW YORK YOUTH SYMPHONY while he was completing a Fulbright fellowship as conducting apprentice at the ROYAL STOCKHOLM PHILHARMONIC under alan GILBERT. McAdams recently graduated from JUILLIARD SCHOOL'S conducting program.
Cellist Becomes EMT
After 31 years with the NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC, cellist NANCY DONARUMA has traded in her post in the America's oldest orchestra for a seat in a Poughkeepsie, New York, ambulance as an emergency medical technician. The 59-year-old mother of two grown children has performed under the baton of conductors LEONARD BERNSTEIN, ZUBIN MEHTA, and LORIN MAAZEL, among others, but has decided to fulfill her calling in the medical field. Though she's leaving a world-class orchestra, Donaruma will still work as a soloist and chamber musician when not rushing to aid those in need. The Oklahoma native is the first woman to retire from the 165-year-old orchestra.
Ich bin ein Berliner
Want to visit Germany from North America without crossing an ocean? Visit CARNEGIE HALL'S first-ever international festival in November for Berlin in Lights. Highlights of the hall's 17-day celebration of Berlin include performances by the BERLINER PHILHARMONIKER, PHILHARMONIA QUARTETT BERLIN, BERLINER BAROCK SOLISTEN, and the 12 CELLISTS OF THE BERLINER PHILHARMONIKER. Along with hosts of film showings, art exhibits, and other musical ventures, will be discussions on German and US relations.
Investing in Summer
You can spend a lifetime practicing to be associated with the NEW YORK PHIL, or you can throw millions at the organization. Philanthropists DIDI and OSCAR SCHAFER received recognition as presenters after donating $5 million to the Phil's Concerts in the Parks series for the duration of five summers.
Gift of the Madejski
JOHN MADEJSKI had a hankering for a Stradivari, so the millionaire and owner of a football team (the Reading Football Club) invited 29-year-old Welsh violinist SIÂN PHILIPPS to his home to try out two instruments, one worth £400,000 and the other £500,000. With help from the Marquis of Zetland and violin expert Charles Beare, the group chose a 1699 Stradivari (the cheaper of the two), which Philipps unveiled during the 25th annual Henley Festival in the United Kingdom. "I think she is over the moon because it really is a fabulous instrument," Madejski told a British newspaper.
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