Concert Artists Guild Welcomes Lysander Piano Trio to Carnegie Hall Tonight

Concert Artists Guild presents the dynamic Lysander Piano Trio, winner of the 2012 CAG Victor Elmaleh Competition, on its Concerts in New York series this evening, April 3rd at 7:30 p.m. at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. The concert features works by Schubert, Shostakovich, and Brahms, as well as the world premiere of Jakub Ciupi?ski's The Black Mirror (commissioned by CAG) and the Piano Trio by Grammy-nominated American composer John Musto. The complete program follows:

Shostakovich: Piano Trio No. 1 in C minor, Op. 8
Schubert: Adagio in E flat major, D. 897 "Notturno"
John Musto: Piano Trio (1998)
~ Intermission ~
Jakub Ciupi?ski: The Black Mirror (world premiere and CAG Commission)
Brahms: Piano Trio in C major

Tickets are $20, $10 for students and are available by calling 212-247-7800 or by visiting www.carnegiehall.org.

The Lysander Piano Trio (consisting of violinist Itamar Zorman, cellist Michael Katz and pianist Liza Stepanova) is a winner of the 2012 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh International Competition where it was further distinguished as the Chamber Music America Showcase Performance recipient. Jennifer Bilfield, President and CEO of Washington Performing Arts Society and a member of the jury for the Final Round of the CAG Competition, describes the ensemble as bringing an "informed, energized musical personality to its performances." These qualities have made the Trio an immediate standout at other competitions, and its prior awards include top honors at the 2010 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, the 2011 Coleman Chamber Ensemble Competition (Grand Prize) and the 2011 J. C. Arriaga Chamber Music Competition (First Prize).

The 2013-14 season has been an auspicious one for the Lysander Trio, featuring two other prominent concerts in New York City in addition to its appearance at Carnegie Hall: Schneider Concerts Chamber Music Series at the New School and at Merkin Concert Hall (Tuesday Matinee Concerts series). Other season highlights in North America include: Purdue University's Convocations Series; UCLA's Clark Memorial Library, Rockford Coronado Concerts near Chicago, Smith College (MA), Sheldon Friends of Chamber Music (Lincoln, NE) and the Rhinebeck Chamber Music Society in upstate New York.

Only two months after its founding in 2009, while the players were graduate students at The Juilliard School, the Trio was selected to represent Juilliard in a special concert in Mexico City on the occasion of President Joseph Polisi's visit to Mexico. In that relatively short time, the ensemble has already been heard in performances at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall and David Rubenstein Atrium, Merkin Concert Hall, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and the Terrace Theater at Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Other recent performances include concerts at the Harvard Club, Jewish Theological Seminary and the Bruno Walter Auditorium of the New York Public Library, Connecticut's Treetops Chamber Music Society and Elmira College in upstate New York.

The Lysander Piano Trio has performed in master classes for Alfred Brendel and for Ida and Ani Kavafian at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and has studied with Ronald Copes of the Juilliard String Quartet, Joseph Kalichstein of the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, and Seymour Lipkin. The Lysander Trio takes its name from the character in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Jakub Ciupi?ski (b.1981) is a Polish composer living in New York City. Although his music is often associated with electronics and interactive performances, he has written numerous pieces for traditional acoustic forces, varying in scope from solo miniatures to an hour-long Oratorio for Symphony Orchestra and Double Choir. At the age of 18, he signed a contract with Sony Music Poland and since then has been recording electronica-infused world music under the stage name Jakub ?ak.

Jakub Ciupi?ski's concert music has been commissioned by various institutions and ensembles including Metropolis Ensemble, The New Juilliard Ensemble, The New York City Ballet's Choreographic Institute, as well as violinists Anne Akiko-Meyers and Philippe Quint. His works have been performed around the world, including such prestigious venues as the Tonhalle in Zurich and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York.

Ciupi?ski is a co-founder of Blind Ear Music, a New York based group of composers and instrumentalists performing improvised, real-time compositions, using wirelessly connected laptops as musical score displays. He has also designed his own instrument for performing electronic music using hand gestures. He has collaborated with a variety of artists, musicians, choreographers, and film directors, including Oscar-winning director Andrzej Wajda and Jessica Lang on her works i.n.k., Within the Space I Hold for JLD, Eighty One for Ballet San Jose, and Droplet for The New York Choreographic Institute. He has also scored the music for United Nations documentary "Opening Doors."

He studied with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Christopher Rouse at The Juilliard School, Zbigniew Bujarski and Krzysztof Penderecki at the Cracow Academy of Music, and with Edwin Roxbrough and Joe Cutler at the Birmingham Conservatoire. Ciupi?ski teaches studio composition at Purchase, State University of New York.

CAG provides support to a roster of talented artists during the critical and formative time between completion of formal studies and the achievement of an established career. Artists are selected through a rigorous multi-round annual competition open to traditional and non-traditional instrumentalists, ensembles and singers. CAG offers comprehensive management services including concert bookings and tour management, commissioning and recording opportunities and marketing and publicity support. Competition winners are also presented on the Concerts in New York at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. The New Music/New Places initiative presents CAG artists in non-traditional venues such as bars, clubs and galleries, introducing diverseaudiences to concert music. The CAG Records label enables roster musicians to get their music onto disc and into the marketplace. The CAG Commissioning Program ensures that classical music continues to be a living art form by fostering collaborations between performers and composers.