Valerie Tryon
February 10, 2013
2:00pm
Program: Schubert,  Chopin, Friedmann, Kriesler-Rachmaninov
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Valerie Tyron’s career as a concert pianist began while she was still a child. Before she was twelve she had broadcast for the BBC and was appearing regularly before the public on the concert platform. She was one of the youngest students ever to be
admitted to the Royal Academy of Music where she received the highest award in piano playing and a bursary which took her to Paris for study with Jacques Février.

Her place among Britain’s acknowledged artists was assured when a Cheltenham Festival recital brought her the enthusiastic acclaim of the country’s foremost critics. Since then she has played in most of the major concert halls and appeared with many of the leading orchestras and conductors in Britain. Her career has latterly taken her to North America where she has appeared in such cities as Toronto, Montreal, Boston, Washington, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. She now lives in Canada where she is the Artist-in-Residence at McMaster University, but spends a part of each year in her native Britain.

Her repertoire is enormous and ranges from Bach to contemporary composers; it includes more than sixty concertos and a vast amount of chamber music. Among British composers, both Alun Hoddinott and John McCabe have dedicated works to her. She is well known for her sensitive interpretations of the romantics — Chopin, Liszt, and Rachmaninov in particular. When the BBC launched its Radio Enterprises record label, some years ago, Valerie Tryon’s performance of Rachmaninov’s Etudes Tableaux, op. 39, was the first classical disc to be released. More recently she has recorded the complete Ballades and Scherzos of Chopin for the CBC’s “Musica Viva” label, which Harold Schonberg of the New York Times described as “the best Chopin recording of the past decade.” Notwithstanding her involvement in the music of the nineteenth century, she retains a deep love of Scarlatti, whose keyboard sonatas she has delighted in playing in public since her childhood and early youth, and to which she remains deeply committed. Likewise, her ongoing series of the complete piano music of Claude Debussy, represents a special passion: she has twice performed this important repertoire in a demanding cycle of five successive recitals.

One of Ms. Tryon’s chief enthusiasms is chamber music. Two of her best-known duo partners in England were Alfredo Campoli (violin) and George Isaac (cello), with both of whom she made a number of significant recordings. Her performance with Isaac of Rachmaninov’s Cello Sonata is now considered to be a collector’s item.

Since moving to Canada, Ms. Tryon has performed frequently with cellist Coenraad Bloemendal. Both were members of the Rembrandt Trio with violinist Gerard Kantarjian.

Valerie Tryon has been awarded several distinctions for her services to music. She was an early recipient of the Harriet Cohen Medal. More recently the Liszt Memorial Plaque was bestowed on her by the Hungarian Minister of Culture in recognition of her lifelong promotion of Franz Liszt’s music.

Gluck-Friedman: Ballet des ombres heureuses
Le rappel des oiseaux
Les fifres
Schubert: Sonata in A op. 12
Impromptu in G flat op.90
Chopin: Ballade in G minor
Ballade in F
Ballade in A flat

Elizabeth and Marcel Bergmann
Bergmann Duo
March 24, 2012
2:00pm
Program: Grand Duo in C major
Fantasia in f minor
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The Bergmann Piano Duo’s dynamic and energetic performances of uniquely eclectic programmes have inspired audiences for more than two decades.

Their recitals and concerts with orchestra have taken them to many parts of the world, including the United States, Italy, Germany, Holland, Greece and Canada. They garnered many awards such as first prize at the International Chamber Music Competition in Caltanissetta, Italy and at The 4th Murray Dranoff International Two Piano Competition and have appeared at international festivals. The duo’s CD productions include recordings for the Arktos, Koch International, Brilliant Classics and Naxos labels. Their extensive repertoire ranges from the baroque to the contemporary and incorporates numerous own arrangements and compositions. In addition to their performing careers they enjoy teaching and working in other capacities of the music industry. Marcel is currently Professor of Music at Mohawk College in Hamilton, Ontario and Elizabeth is Director of Concerts and Summer Programmes at Langley Community Music School. They have been on faculty at Mount Royal University and the University of Calgary, have been involved in various musical projects at The Banff Centre for the Arts and have served as Artistic Directors of The Murray Dranoff International Two Piano Competition and Foundation in Miami. For a decade they were members of the Calgary- based Land’s End Chamber Ensemble, winners of the 2005 and 2006 Western Canadian Music Award for Outstanding Classical Recording.

Franz Josef String Quartet
Saturday April 13, 2013
7:30pm
Program: TBA, includes Haydn quartets.
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The Franz Joseph String Quartet brings together four enthusiastic and leading early-music string players from Montreal, who quench their thirst for the quartet repertoire of the Enlightenment using period instruments. Having for many years performed individually and together in Quebec’s major chamber and ancient music ensembles (Orford String Quartet, La Nouvele Sinfonie, Orchestre Baroque de Montréal, Ensemble Arion, Franz Joseph Trio, Studio de Musique Ancienne de Montréal, Les Idées heureuses, Les Boréades, The Theatre of Early Music, etc.), Olivier Brault and Jacques-André Houle on violin, Ellie Nimeroski on viola, and Marcel Saint-Cyr on cello team up to share in the unique experience of delving into the genius of the earliest architects of the string quartet, while still nourishing an interest for parallel repertoires. In 2002, the Quartet undertook in Montreal the performance of the complete Haydn string quartets. The Quartet performs works of Arvo Pärt on an ATMA CD released in March 2004, nominated for two 2004 ADISQ awards and an Opus award. In addition, the Quartet performed at the Automne Musical du Château de Versailles 2005, under the auspices of the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles (CMBV) in France, in a concert featuring works by the French composer of German origin, Henri-Joseph Rigel. An ATMA CD of this composer’s Opus 10 quartets was released in August 2005, winning the Opus award in the category “Record of the Year – ­­Classical, Romantic, Post-Romantic, and Impressionist Music.” In 2006, the Quartet was acclaimed in performances at the Montreal Baroque Festival, the CAMMAC Summer Festival, and the Lamèque International Baroque Music Festival. In September 2007, the Franz Joseph Quartet performed once again at Versailles for the 20th anniversary of the CMBV. Since 2008, the Quartet produces its own concert series in Montreal.

Eric Himy
October 14, 2012
2:00pm
Program: Gershwin in Paris
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Gershwin/ Himy: An American in Paris (1928)
Debussy: La plus que lente, valse pour piano (1910) Golliwog’s cakewalk
Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue (1924) (restored version from original manuscript)
Debussy: La fille aux cheveux de lin (1924) L’Isle Joyeuse
Chopin: Fantasy Impromptu Opus 66 in c-sharp minor
“Romance” Larghetto from Piano Concert no.1 in e minor (arr Himv)
Mazurka Opus 50 no.2
Polonaise Op.53 in A flat Major “Heroïque”
Liszt: Liebestraume
Hungarian Rhapsody no.2

The New York Times has described pianist Eric Himy’s playing “flawlessly poised, elegant and brilliant.” His compelling artistry has intriguede audiences around the world. His technique has been compared recently by the 2007 Revue Musicale de Suisse Romande to that of the legendary pianist  Vladimir Horowitz and called him ” a sensual gourmand of sound.” He has played to critical acclaim in the United States, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Malta, Monaco, Morocco, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, and Slovenia. Mr. Himy has been heard most notably at Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Carnegie Recital Hall, The Frick Collection, The Phillips Collection, Salle Cortot and Salle Gaveau in Paris and on NPR “Performance Today.”

Himy studied biochemistry and music at the University of Maryland, and received a Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School in New York, having studied with Thomas Schumacher, Adele Marcus and Josef Villa.  For the ‘06-07, ’07-08 seasons he performed more than 70 concerts worldwide including Morocco where he performed two concerts and was seen on National TV. Mr. Himy was invited by the Bernstein family to celebrate the 90^th anniversary tribute to Leonard Bernstein in a Gala concert at the 2008 Lukas Foss Music Festival in the Hamptons.

In 2010, Mr Himy celebrated Chopin’s 200^th Anniversary by performing more than 40 concerts worldwide including several performances of the Chopin Piano Concerto no. 1, one notably at the 2010 Marienbad Chopin Festival in the Czech Republic, and made his debut at the Bayreuth Steingraeber Festival in Germany. Last year, Mr. Himy recorded an all-Chopin  CD and a “Gershwin in Paris” DVD.  In 2011, Mr Himy celebrated Liszt’s 200th Anniversary and performance highlights were at the prestigious Teatru Manoel in Malta and at the Salle Molière in Lyons, France and Carnegie Hall, NY. He has recorded 14 CDs.

Special Thanks to our sponsor, Staybridge Suites

Shoshana Telner
November 18, 2012
2:00pm
Program: The Complete Bach Keyboard Partitas
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Canadian pianist Shoshana Telner has performed across Canada and abroad. She made her solo orchestral début with the National Arts Centre Orchestra at the age of 16, and has since performed as soloist with several orchestras including the Québec Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Classical Orchestra, and the National Academy Orchestra. As a chamber musician she has collaborated with artists including violist Steven Dann, cellists Shauna Rolston, Denis Brott, and Andrés Díaz, violinist Menachem Breuer, clarinetist Simon Aldrich, and soprano Ingrid Attrot. Her solo and chamber music performances have been heard often on CBC radio. In 2010, Shoshana became a member of the Philadelphia based Shir Ami Ensemble

Shoshana has participated in numerous festivals including the Montreal Chamber Music Festival, the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, the Brott Music Festival, and the Focus! Festival and Piano Century at the Juilliard School. She has been awarded several honors in national and international competitions including the Honens International Piano Competition, the Canadian Concerto Competition, the International Stepping Stone Competition and the Hilton Head International Piano Competition.

One of Hamilton’s “most fascinating people and inspired individuals” (Hamilton Magazine), Shoshana has a passion for promoting new music. Her playing is “full of fire and warmth” (The New York Times) and she has been described as an “authentic musician, with a sparkling technique” (Le Droit) and as a “sophisticated and polished musician and pianist” (Julian Martin, the Juilliard School). Shoshana has recorded solo works of Canadian composer Colin Mack on the CanSona label released in 2009.