Pianist Michael Stephen Brown To Perform at Festival Del Sole in August

The internationally lauded American pianist Michael Stephen Brown will join distinguished violinist Pinchas Zukerman and cellist Amanda Forsyth in a concert on Friday evening, August 2, 2024, 7:30 p.m. PDT, at Weill Hall at Green Space Music Center (1801 E Cotati Ave, Rohnert Park, CA 94928). The full program follows:

Mendelssohn Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 49 (1839)

Molto allegro ed agitato

Andante con moto tranquillo

Scherzo

Finale

Dvořák Piano Trio No. 4 in E minor, Op. 90, B. 166 ("Dumky") (1891)

Lento maestoso - Allego quasi doppio mobimento

Poco adagio - Vivace non troppo - Vivace

Andante - Vivace non troppo - Allegretto

Andante moderato - Allegretto scherzando - Quasi tempo di marcia

Allegro

Lento maestoso

Inaugurated in 2023 in Cortana, Tuscany, the Festival Del Sole was first introduced to California in 2006. The 2024 festival will be brought to the wine country of Northern California in partnership with the Green Music Center at Sonoma State University.

General admission from $45 to $70 is available online on Festival Del Sole's website. For more information, please visit pianist Michael Stephen Brown's website. Program details follow:

A frequent performer of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Mr. Brown, whose artistry is shaped by his creative voice as a pianist and composer, was featured by the Society this season with a solo recital at Alice Tully Hall. The excitement of the evening was reflected in George Grella's March 20, 2024 article for the New York Classical Review:

Precise articulation in fluid phrasing, a sense of forward motion, and just the right amount of time lingering on the most colorful sonorities, all served the intellect and charm in the music... He finished the first half with a fantastic performance of Miroirs. Playing fleetly but with every note presented precisely, his pedaling and balance between percussive and legato articulations were perfect; one was enveloped in the sheer sound and mysteries of this wonderful piece. "Une barque sur l'océan" was deeply evocative, and "Alborada del gracioso" brought many to their feet in a premature ovation. Brown recaptured the atmosphere of the performance with a mesmerizing "La vallée des cloches.

As a guest soloist, Mr. Brown has performed with the Seattle Symphony, the National Philharmonic, and the Grand Rapids, North Carolina, Wichita, New Haven, and Albany Symphonies. He has appeared in recital at Carnegie Hall, the Mostly Mozart Festival, and Lincoln Center. He regularly collaborates with his longtime duo partner, cellist Nicholas Canellakis, and has been featured at numerous festivals including Tanglewood, Marlboro, Music@Menlo, Gilmore, Ravinia, Saratoga, Bridgehampton, Caramoor, Music in the Vineyards, Bard, Sedona, Moab, and Tippet Rise.

Mr. Brown performed at the 2023 Bard Festival and was singled out by Times critic David Allen: "Young artists excelled in all these concerts, not least the pianist Michael Stephen Brown, whose poised refinement made an early student piece by Smyth, her Sarabande in D minor, sound like a mature masterpiece." - The New York Times, August 8, 2023

Mr. Brown recently toured his own Concerto for Piano and Strings (2020) throughout the United States and Poland with several orchestras. He has received commissions from the Gilmore Piano Festival; the NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra; the New Haven and Maryland Symphony Orchestras; Concert Artists Guild; Chamber Music Sedona; Music in the Vineyards; Shriver Hall; Osmo Vänskä, pianists Jerome Lowenthal, Ursula Oppens, Orion Weiss, Adam Golka, and Roman Rabinovich.

A prolific recording artist, his latest album Noctuelles, featuring Ravel's Miroirs and newly discovered movements by Medtner was called "a glowing presentation" by BBC Music Magazine. He can be heard as soloist with the Seattle Symphony and Ludovic Morlot in the music of Messiaen, and as soloist with the Brandenburg State Symphony in music by Samuel Adler. Other albums include Beethoven's Eroica Variations; all-George Perle; and collaborative albums each with pianist Jerome Lowenthal, cellist Nicholas Canellakis, and violinist Elena Urioste. He is now embarking on a multi-year project to record the complete piano music by Felix Mendelssohn including world premiere recordings of music by one of Mendelssohn's muses, Delphine von Schauroth.

Recipient of many awards, Mr. Brown was the winner of the 2018 Emerging Artist Award from Lincoln Center and a 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant. Other awards include the First Prize winner of the Concert Artists Guild Competition, the Bowers Residency from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (formerly CMS Two), and the Juilliard Petschek Award. Mr. Brown is a Steinway Artist.

Mr. Brown earned dual bachelor's and master's degrees in piano and composition from The Juilliard School, where he studied with pianists Jerome Lowenthal and Robert McDonald and composers Samuel Adler and Robert Beaser. Additional mentors have included András Schiff and Richard Goode as well as his early teachers, Herbert Rothgarber and Adam Kent. A native New Yorker, he lives there with his two 19th-century Steinway D's, Octavia and Daria.

With a celebrated career encompassing five decades, Pinchas Zukerman reigns as one of today's most sought-after and versatile musicians - violin and viola soloist, conductor, and chamber musician. He is renowned as a virtuoso, admired for the expressive lyricism of his playing, singular beauty of tone, and impeccable musicianship, which can be heard throughout his discography of over 100 albums for which he gained two Grammy awards and 21 nominations.

This season's highlights include performances with Dallas Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Deutche Radio Philharmonie, Mannheimer Philharmoniker, Adelaide Symphony, Orchestre National de Lyon, and the Valencia, Sinfonia Varsovia, and Castille y Leon orchestras of Spain. Chamber music concerts take place in Japan, Italy, France, Germany, and the United States. He and cellist Amanda Forsyth collaborate with friends and colleagues the Jerusalem String Quartet in sextet programs offered in both Israel and the US.

With the Zukerman Trio, he visited the Ravinia, Aspen, and Amelia Island Chamber Music Festivals, as well as Parlance Chamber Concerts in New Jersey, and Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. With Amanda Forsyth, he appeared with the English Chamber Orchestra, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Reading and New Bedford Symphonies.

A devoted teacher and champion of young musicians, he has served as chair of the Pinchas Zukerman Performance Program at the Manhattan School of Music for over 25 years, and has taught at prominent institutions throughout the United Kingdom, Israel, China, and Canada, among others. This season, he continues his role as the Dallas Symphony Orchestra's Artistic & Principal Education Partner, collaborating with DSO in partnership with Southern Methodist University's Meadows School of the Arts, to provide intensive coaching and tutoring sessions for its' music students.

As a mentor, he has inspired generations of young musicians who have achieved prominence in performing, teaching, and leading roles with music festivals around the globe. Mr. Zukerman has received honorary doctorates from Brown University, Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, and the University of Calgary, as well as the National Medal of Arts from President Ronald Reagan. He is a recipient of the Isaac Stern Award for Artistic Excellence in Classical Music.

Canadian Juno award-winning cellist Amanda Forsyth is considered among her peers and critics alike to be one of the most dynamic cellists on the concert stage today. Describing a recent performance, California's Ventura County Star raves: "In Forsyth's hands, it was sheer magic." She has achieved an international reputation as a premiere soloist and chamber musician and previously enthralled audiences as the principal cellist of both The Calgary Philharmonic and Canada's National Arts Centre Orchestras. Her intense richness of tone, exceptional musicality and passion are reminiscent of cellists of a former age. She captivates audiences with every phrase.

Ms. Forsyth has been soloist on international tours with: The Royal Philharmonic; English Chamber Orchestra; Seoul Philharmonic and Israel Philharmonic Orchestras. Among others, she has appeared abroad with: Orchestra Radio de France; Lisbon's Gulbenkian Orchestra; Calgary Philharmonic; Toronto Symphony; National Arts Centre Orchestra; Vancouver Symphony; Luxembourg Philharmonic; Gyeonggi Philharmonic; Teatro San Carlo and Seoul Philharmonic. With multiple tours in Australia, she has performed with the Sydney, Perth and Adelaide Symphonies. In the U.S., she has performed with: The Chicago Symphony; Washington National Symphony; San Diego Symphony; Colorado Symphony; San Antonio Symphony; Madison Symphony; Oregon Symphony; New West Symphony; Grand Rapids Symphony and Dallas Symphony. She has appeared on tour and in St Petersburg numerous times with the Marinsky Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev. Her Los Angeles Philharmonic debut was conducted by Zubin Mehta and Ms. Forsyth made her Carnegie Hall debut with The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

As a founding member of the Zukerman Chamber Players, Amanda Forsyth has performed in: Germany; Israel; Finland; Holland; Switzerland; New Zealand; and Turkey and cities such as: London; Vienna; Paris; Budapest; Belgrade; Sofia; Bucharest; Dubrovnik; Warsaw Moscow and Barcelona. As Cellist of the Zukerman Trio, she has played on six continents and participated in prestigious Music Festivals such as: Edinburgh Festival; Miyazaki Festival; Verbier Festival; BBC Proms; Tanglewood; Ravinia; Spring Festival of St. Petersburg; White Nights Festival; La Jolla SummerFest and Aspen. Her current season includes engagements with: Chamber Music Sedona; The 92nd Street Y in New York; Detroit Chamber Music Society; Music Institute of Chicago; Savannah Music Festival; Verbier Festival and Tsinandalli Festival.

Ms. Forsyth is a recording artist on the Sony Classics, Naxos, Altara, Fanfare, ProArte, and CBC labels. Her recording of Schubert's "Trout" Quintet with the Zukerman Chamber Players and Yefim Bronfman was released by Sony in 2008. Her most recent disc features the Brahms Double Concerto with Pinchas Zukerman and the National Arts Centre Orchestra released by Analekta Records.

Born in South Africa, Ms. Forsyth immigrated to Canada as a child and began playing cello at age three. She became a protege of William Pleeth in London and later completed her studies at The Juilliard School with Harvey Shapiro. Her instrument is a rare 1699 cello by Carlo Giuseppe Testore.

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