Russian American Foundation Presents PHILIPPE QUINT & FRIENDS Benefit Concert Tonight

Tonight, May 27 at 7:00pm, the Russian American Foundation (RAF) will present "Philippe Quint & Friends," a benefit concert hosted by the renowned Russian-American violinist at the New York Times Building's Times Center (242 West 41st Street). The evening will feature performances by special guests such as Joshua Bell, John Corigliano, Josh Ralph, Emily Bergl, Michael Bacon, William Wolfram, the Matt Herskowitz Trio, and Quint's own Argentine tango group, the Quint Quintet, featuring featuring JP Jofre, Octavio Brunetti, Oren Fader, and Pedro Giraudo. This concert will mark the opening of the 12th Annual Russian Heritage Month® and all proceeds from the evening will benefit the Russian American Foundation's Jewish Heritage Education Program (a 501(c)3 organization).

Philippe Quint is a multifaceted artist whose wide range of interests has led to several Grammy nominations for his albums, performances with major orchestras throughout the world at venues ranging from the Gewandhaus in Leipzig to Carnegie Hall in New York, a leading role in a major independent film called Downtown Express, and explorations of tango with his band The Quint Quintet. His latest album, Opera Breve, is a unique collection of opera transcriptions for violin and piano. Quint's recording of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the Sofia Philharmonic led by conductor Martin Panteleev, paired with Anton Arensky's String Quartet No. 2, Op. 35 (for violin, viola, and two cellos) written in memory of Tchaikovsky, will be released in spring 2014.

RAF, in partnership with the Brownstone Jewish Education Center, creates educational programs for young, Jewish individuals from Russia and Israel inspiring them to become future leaders in their communities while delving into the depth of Judaism through lectures, peer-to-peer learning and collaborations on joint projects. Last year RAF with the Brownstone successfully brought two groups of over 50 participants from St. Petersburg, Russia to New York for a 7-day program. This year, five groups of close to 130 participants from all over Russia and the former Soviet States will be coming to NYC with the support of RAF. Each participant gets a full scholarship for all expenses, including travel to NYC, travel during their stay, accommodations, and all additional costs of the program.

In collaboration with other major institutions, RAF organizes and sponsors Jewish-themed exhibits to educate Russian and American non-practicing Jews on Jewish heritage. Past projects include "The Memory of Time and Space: Russian Jewish Artists in Diaspora" featuring Jewish artists of Russian-speaking communities presented at the Harriman Institute of Columbia University, "The Time of a Great Dream: American Artists Gift to the Jewish Autonomous Region of the USSR" exhibited at the National Arts Club and "The Jews of Tsarist Russia", a photographic exhibition shown at YIVO (Institute for Jewish Research) and many others.

2014 marks the 35th anniversary of the Russian Jewish immigration. In celebration of this important mark, RAF together with COJECO will produce and co-sponsor exhibits and performances to highlight the community's talents at major New York City venues.

Founded in 1997, the Russian American Foundation (RAF) encourages interest in and understanding of Russian heritage among all communities in the US, as well as promotes reciprocal interest in and understanding of American heritage among global Russian-speaking communities. Over the years, RAF has advocated arts education programs, specifically music, visual art and ballet, in various communities including children with disabilities. RAF has also promoted educational programs for the Chernobyl disaster through art exhibits, documentary films and conversational panels.

June of every year, RAF produces the Russian Heritage Month®, an exciting and important celebration of the New York community of émigrés from the former Soviet Union. The Russian Heritage Month® is the only event of its kind in the U.S. and it annually attracts over 100,000 people to enjoy contemporary and folk music, dance performances, art exhibitions, public festivals, health and sports fairs, business expos, and other thrilling events.

RAF's partnership with Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet Academy dates to 2007, when both organizations joined in a mission to bring the methods, culture, and pedagogy of authentic Russian classical ballet to the American ballet community. RAF awards over 60 dance scholarships annually to talented young dancers in economic need. These scholarships provide an opportunity for deserving up-and-coming dance students to study with professors from the esteemed and unrivaled Bolshoi Ballet Academy. In addition, RAF fully sponsors two dancers to train at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy for two weeks and perform at the Academy's Spring Gala Concert at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, Russia. Graduates from the Bolshoi Academy go on to perform with the Bolshoi Ballet, the American Ballet Theater, the Mariinsky Theatre and many other premier ballet companies of the world.

Highlights of Philippe Quint's 2013/14 season include debut performances with the London Philharmonic, Vancouver Symphony, Kansas Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, and the San Antonio Symphony as well as return engagements with the Rhode Island Philharmonic, Louisiana Philharmonic, Indianapolis Symphony, San Diego Symphony, and performances and a new recording of the Glazunov and Khachaturian Violin Concertos with the Bochumer Symphoniker and Steven Sloane.

Quint's live performances and interviews have been broadcast on television by CBS, CNN, ABC, BBC World News, NBC, Reuters, Bloomberg TV, as well as by radio stations nationwide including NPR, WNYC and WQXR. His recordings have received multiple "Editor's Choice" selections in Gramophone, The Strad, Strings, and the Daily Telegraph. His remarkable degree of lyricism, poetry and impeccable virtuosity has gripped the eyes and ears of audiences in Asia, Australia, Latin America, Africa, Europe and the U.S.

Philippe Quint is the first classical musician to star in the lead role of a major independent picture. Downtown Express, from Michael Hausman (producer of Gangs of New York, Brokeback Mountain and Amadeus) and multi-Emmy winning director David Grubin, is currently premiering through out the world at various national and international film festivals including Woodstock, New York, Houston, Mons (Belgium), Cuba, Vermont, and Florida.

Philippe Quint's formidable discography includes a large variety of rediscovered treasures along with popular works from standard repertoire. In November 2013, he released Opera Breve with pianist Lily Maisky, a unique collection of opera transcriptions for violin and piano featuring both popular and rare songs, on Avanticlassic. In May 2014, Quint records the Khachaturian and Glazunov Violin Concertos with the Bochumer Sinfoniker.

Quint's first album for Avanticlassic, a recording of the Mendelssohn and Bruch Violin Concertos and Beethoven's Romances with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería led by Carlos Miguel Prieto, was released in 2012. Gramophone described Quint's performance as "pure sound and refined expression. An account well worth hearing." His recordings of William Schuman's Violin Concerto (2007) and Korngold's Violin Concerto (2009) were both nominated for Grammy Awards. Other critically acclaimed albums include the world premiere recording of John Corigliano's Red Violin Caprices, Ned Rorem's Concerto, Miklos Rozsa's Complete Works for Violin and Piano with William Wolfram, Bernstein's Serenade, and a unique compilation of works by Paganini arranged by Fritz Kreisler. In addition, Quint is the featured violinist on the soundtracks of David Grubin's documentaries The Buddha, RFK, and The Jewish Americans.

Constantly in demand worldwide, Quint's most recent appearances include performances with the orchestras of Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, New Jersey, Minnesota, Bournemouth, Houston, Weimar Staatskapelle, Royal Liverpool, China National, Orpheus, Berlin Komische Oper, Leipzig's MDR at the Gewandhaus, Nordwestdeutsche and Bochumer Symphonikers, Cape Town Philharmonic, and Plácido Domingo's Youth Orchestra of the Americas. He has performed under the batons of Marin Alsop, Carl St. Clair, Daniel Hege, Andrew Litton, Kurt Masur, Jorge Mester, Marco Parisotto, Martin Panteleev, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Klauspeter Seibel, Christopher Seaman, Kenneth Schermerhorn, Steven Sloane, Michael Stern, Bramwell Tovey, Gregory Vajda, and Martin Yates.

Philippe Quint has given solo recitals and chamber music performances at the Mostly Mozart, Caramoor, Ravinia, Aspen, Lincoln Center, and Chautauqua festivals, Lukas Foss's Hamptons Music Festival, Kravis Center, UC Davis Presents, Rome Chamber Festival, Moritzburg, El Paso, La Jolla SummerFest and at the National Gallery in Washington. In 2009, Quint formed The Quint Quintet, an ensemble dedicated to exploring the music of Astor Piazzolla and Argentine Tango.

Philippe Quint studied at Moscow's Special Music School for the Gifted with the famed Russian violinist Andrei Korsakov, and made his orchestral debut at the age of nine, performing Wieniawski's Concerto No. 2. After emigrating to the United States, he earned both Bachelor's and Master's degrees from Juilliard. His distinguished pedagogues included Dorothy Delay, Cho-Liang Lin, Masao Kawasaki, and Felix Galimir. He also studied and participated in masterclasses with Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman, and Arnold Steinhardt.

Among his many honors, Quint was the winner of the Juilliard Competition and Career Grant Recipient of Salon de Virtuosi, Bagby and Clarisse Kampel Foundations. Philippe Quint plays the magnificent 1708 "Ruby" Antonio Stradivari violin on loan to him through the generous efforts of The Stradivari Society®. He is managed by Arts Management Group and records for Avanticlassic.

Individual tickets are $150 and Young Supporter tickets (for those under 28) are $75. They can be purchased at
www.russianamericanfoundation.org/philippe-quint-and-friends.