David Shifrin, clarinet
Yevgeny Yontov, piano
Oct. 21st, 2017 at 2pm
Trinity Church, Southport, CT
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One of only two wind players to have been awarded the Avery Fisher Prize since the award's inception in 1974, Mr. Shifrin is in constant demand as an orchestral soloist, recitalist and chamber music collaborator.
Mr. Shifrin has appeared with the Philadelphia and Minnesota Orchestras and the Dallas, Seattle, Houston, Milwaukee, Detroit and Denver symphonies among many others in the US, and internationally with orchestras in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. In addition, he has served as principal clarinetist with the Cleveland Orchestra, American Symphony Orchestra (under Stokowski), the Honolulu and Dallas symphonies and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and New York Chamber Symphony. Mr. Shifrin has also received critical acclaim as a recitalist, appearing at such venues as Alice Tully Hall, Weill Recital Hall and Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall and the 92nd Street Y in New York City as well as the the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. A sought after a chamber musician, he collaborates frequently with such distinguished ensembles and artists as the Guarneri, Tokyo, and Emerson String Quartets, Wynton Marsalis, and pianists Emanuel Ax and André Watts.
An artist member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since 1989, David Shifrin served as its artistic director from 1992 to 2004. He has toured extensively throughout the US with CMSLC and appeared in several national television broadcasts on Live From Lincoln Center. He has also been the artistic director of Chamber Music Northwest in Portland, Oregon since 1981.
David Shifrin joined the faculty at the Yale School of Music in 1987 and was appointed Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Society of Yale and Yale's annual concert series at Carnegie Hall in September 2008. He has also served on the faculties of The Juilliard School, University of Southern California, University of Michigan, Cleveland Institute of Music and the University of Hawaii. In 2007 he was awarded an honorary professorship at China's Central Conservatory in Beijing.
Mr. Shifrin's recordings on Delos, DGG, Angel/EMI, Arabesque, BMG, SONY, and CRI have consistently garnered praise and awards. He has received three Grammy nominations - for a collaborative recording with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center of the collected chamber music of Claude Debussy (Delos), the Copland Clarinet Concerto (Angel/EMI) and Ravel's Introduction and Allegro with Nancy Allen, Ransom Wilson, and the Tokyo String Quartet (Angel/EMI).
His recording of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto with the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, performed in its original version on a specially built basset clarinet, was named Record of the Year by Stereo Review.
His latest recording, Shifrin Plays Schifrin (Aleph Records), is a collection of clarinet works by composer/conductor Lalo Schifrin. Both the recording of the Copland Clarinet Concerto and a 2008 recording of Leonard Bernstein's Clarinet Sonata with pianist Anne-Marie McDermott have been released on iTunes via Angel/EMI and Deutsche Grammophon.
Mr. Shifrin continues to broaden the repertoire for clarinet and orchestra by commissioning and championing the works of 20th and 21st century American composers including, among others, John Adams, Joan Tower, Stephen Albert, Bruce Adolphe, Ezra Laderman, Lalo Schifrin, David Schiff, John Corigliano, Bright Sheng and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich.
In addition to the Avery Fisher Prize, David Shifrin is the recipient of a Solo Recitalists' Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and the 1998 Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Music Academy of the West. At the outset of his career, he won the top prize at both the Munich and the Geneva International Competitions. Mr. Shifrin resides in Connecticut with his wife and is the father of four children - Henry, Olivia, Sam and William.
Yevgeny Yontov, piano
Finalist in the 2017 Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition, Yevgeny Yontov has established himself as one of the most promising Israeli pianists of his generation.
In addition to being a finalist, Yevgeny received the Prize for Best Performance of Chamber Music, and the Prize for the Best Israeli Pianist. Other international top prizes include the gold medal at the Wideman International Piano Competition in Louisiana, 1st prize at the Tel-Hai International Concerto Competition in Israel, and additional prizes in competitions such as the Boesendorfer International Piano Competition in Arizona, the Olga Kern International Piano Competition in New Mexico, and the International Piano Competition in Pinerolo, Italy.
A founding member of icarus Quartet, a 2piano/2percussion chamber group, and Artistic Director of The Second Movement chamber concert series in New Haven, Connecticut, Yevgeny holds chamber music close to heart. He has played as a chamber musician in Israel, Europe, the US, Canada, and South America, in venues that include Carnegie Hall in New York and the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington D.C. Chamber colleagues include distinguished artists, such as David Shifrin, Roberto Diaz, Paul Neubauer, and members of established string quartets like the Orion, Dover, Aviv, and Miro Quartets. Yevgeny has also performed in numerous chamber festivals, most notably twice as a Protege Artist in “Chamber Music Northwest” in Portland, Oregon.
As a solo artist, Yevgeny has performed on stages in Israel, the US, Korea, and many European countries. Orchestral engagements include numerous orchestras in the US, including orchestras in Florida, Connecticut, Louisiana and Arkansas, and all major Israeli orchestras, including the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Israel Symphony Orchestra, and the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. He also performed on Israeli national TV, and recorded for Israeli, US, Portuguese and Spanish radios. Yevgeny’s debut CD, “Schubert: Piano Variations,” was released on Naxos Records in 2017, and includes seldom performed piano variations and fragments by Schubert, as well as his relatively newly discovered Grazer Fantasie.
Yevgeny began his musical studies at the age of six with Adela Umansky, and later received his B.Mus degree summa cum laude from the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music at Tel-Aviv University, where he studied with Prof. Arie Vardi. He then moved to the US to study with Prof. Boris Berman at the Yale School of Music, where he received his M.M. degree and is currently pursuing his D.M.A.
Bio extracted from the website: www.davidshifrin.com
Mr. Shifrin has appeared with the Philadelphia and Minnesota Orchestras and the Dallas, Seattle, Houston, Milwaukee, Detroit and Denver symphonies among many others in the US, and internationally with orchestras in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. In addition, he has served as principal clarinetist with the Cleveland Orchestra, American Symphony Orchestra (under Stokowski), the Honolulu and Dallas symphonies and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and New York Chamber Symphony. Mr. Shifrin has also received critical acclaim as a recitalist, appearing at such venues as Alice Tully Hall, Weill Recital Hall and Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall and the 92nd Street Y in New York City as well as the the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. A sought after a chamber musician, he collaborates frequently with such distinguished ensembles and artists as the Guarneri, Tokyo, and Emerson String Quartets, Wynton Marsalis, and pianists Emanuel Ax and André Watts.
An artist member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since 1989, David Shifrin served as its artistic director from 1992 to 2004. He has toured extensively throughout the US with CMSLC and appeared in several national television broadcasts on Live From Lincoln Center. He has also been the artistic director of Chamber Music Northwest in Portland, Oregon since 1981.
David Shifrin joined the faculty at the Yale School of Music in 1987 and was appointed Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Society of Yale and Yale's annual concert series at Carnegie Hall in September 2008. He has also served on the faculties of The Juilliard School, University of Southern California, University of Michigan, Cleveland Institute of Music and the University of Hawaii. In 2007 he was awarded an honorary professorship at China's Central Conservatory in Beijing.
Mr. Shifrin's recordings on Delos, DGG, Angel/EMI, Arabesque, BMG, SONY, and CRI have consistently garnered praise and awards. He has received three Grammy nominations - for a collaborative recording with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center of the collected chamber music of Claude Debussy (Delos), the Copland Clarinet Concerto (Angel/EMI) and Ravel's Introduction and Allegro with Nancy Allen, Ransom Wilson, and the Tokyo String Quartet (Angel/EMI).
His recording of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto with the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, performed in its original version on a specially built basset clarinet, was named Record of the Year by Stereo Review.
His latest recording, Shifrin Plays Schifrin (Aleph Records), is a collection of clarinet works by composer/conductor Lalo Schifrin. Both the recording of the Copland Clarinet Concerto and a 2008 recording of Leonard Bernstein's Clarinet Sonata with pianist Anne-Marie McDermott have been released on iTunes via Angel/EMI and Deutsche Grammophon.
Mr. Shifrin continues to broaden the repertoire for clarinet and orchestra by commissioning and championing the works of 20th and 21st century American composers including, among others, John Adams, Joan Tower, Stephen Albert, Bruce Adolphe, Ezra Laderman, Lalo Schifrin, David Schiff, John Corigliano, Bright Sheng and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich.
In addition to the Avery Fisher Prize, David Shifrin is the recipient of a Solo Recitalists' Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and the 1998 Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Music Academy of the West. At the outset of his career, he won the top prize at both the Munich and the Geneva International Competitions. Mr. Shifrin resides in Connecticut with his wife and is the father of four children - Henry, Olivia, Sam and William.
Yevgeny Yontov, piano
Finalist in the 2017 Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition, Yevgeny Yontov has established himself as one of the most promising Israeli pianists of his generation.
In addition to being a finalist, Yevgeny received the Prize for Best Performance of Chamber Music, and the Prize for the Best Israeli Pianist. Other international top prizes include the gold medal at the Wideman International Piano Competition in Louisiana, 1st prize at the Tel-Hai International Concerto Competition in Israel, and additional prizes in competitions such as the Boesendorfer International Piano Competition in Arizona, the Olga Kern International Piano Competition in New Mexico, and the International Piano Competition in Pinerolo, Italy.
A founding member of icarus Quartet, a 2piano/2percussion chamber group, and Artistic Director of The Second Movement chamber concert series in New Haven, Connecticut, Yevgeny holds chamber music close to heart. He has played as a chamber musician in Israel, Europe, the US, Canada, and South America, in venues that include Carnegie Hall in New York and the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington D.C. Chamber colleagues include distinguished artists, such as David Shifrin, Roberto Diaz, Paul Neubauer, and members of established string quartets like the Orion, Dover, Aviv, and Miro Quartets. Yevgeny has also performed in numerous chamber festivals, most notably twice as a Protege Artist in “Chamber Music Northwest” in Portland, Oregon.
As a solo artist, Yevgeny has performed on stages in Israel, the US, Korea, and many European countries. Orchestral engagements include numerous orchestras in the US, including orchestras in Florida, Connecticut, Louisiana and Arkansas, and all major Israeli orchestras, including the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Israel Symphony Orchestra, and the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. He also performed on Israeli national TV, and recorded for Israeli, US, Portuguese and Spanish radios. Yevgeny’s debut CD, “Schubert: Piano Variations,” was released on Naxos Records in 2017, and includes seldom performed piano variations and fragments by Schubert, as well as his relatively newly discovered Grazer Fantasie.
Yevgeny began his musical studies at the age of six with Adela Umansky, and later received his B.Mus degree summa cum laude from the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music at Tel-Aviv University, where he studied with Prof. Arie Vardi. He then moved to the US to study with Prof. Boris Berman at the Yale School of Music, where he received his M.M. degree and is currently pursuing his D.M.A.
Bio extracted from the website: www.davidshifrin.com