RSVP

Bogdan Banu was born in Bucharest in 1984. He began his viola studies at the age of 10 at the George Enescu Music High School, continuing at the Ciprian Porumbescu Music University of Bucharest. He has won several national and international competitions including The First Prize of the “Remember Enescu International Competition.”

From 2005-2009, Bogdan studied at the International Menuhin Academy (IMMA) in Switzerland, with renowned musicians Alberto Lysy and Ettore Causa . During his studies in the IMMA, Bogdan participated in master classes with Nobuko Imai , Tabea Zimmermann , Paul Coletti , Ana Chumachenko , and Gabor Takacs. As a member of Camerata Lysy ensemble he gained solo and chamber music experience. Bogdan has performed in such concert halls as Viktoria Hall in Geneva, Tonhalle in Zurich , Ateneum in Bucharest, Teatro de Collon in Buenos-Aires, and in international festivals such George Enescu International Festival in Bucharest, Yehudi Menuhin International Festival in Gstaad, and Alberto Lysy International Festival in Argentina.

Since 2010, Bogdan Banu has continued his studies at the Basel Musik Academie under professor Silvia Simionescu, developing his experience in the arts of baroque and contemporary music.

Winner of the “Primrose Prize” at the Primrose International Viola Competition (2011, USA), he currently works in the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich.

22-year-old Arab/Israeli virtuoso flutist, MARON ANIS KHOURY has recently been appointed to the second flute position with the Metropolitan Opera orchestra in New York City. Graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Khoury has performed under the direction of Maestro Daniel Barenboim, Otto Werner Mueller, Christoph Eschenbach, recipient of numerous awards, and is a winner of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation Scholarship.

Born in 1986 to a family of musicians, Yoni began his musical education at the age of five. Since the age of 9, he has won numerous prizes and scholarships, including America-Israel Cultural Foundation prestigious scholarships. As a soloist he has appeared with orchestras such as: the Israel Philharmonic, Israel Chamber Orchestra, Israel Camerata, Tel-Aviv Soloists, has collaborated with renowned artists such as Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, Pierre Boulez, Kurt Mazur, and has appeared in numerous live recordings for Israel's main classical music radio station Kol Israel. During 2008, Yoni was the Principal Cellist of the Haifa Symphony Orchestra.  After completing his mandatory 3-year service in the IDF under the title "outstanding musician", Yoni continued studying in the Tel-Aviv University, graduating with Bachelors degree in Music Performance. He received Master of Music Degree from New England Conservatory in May 2011 working with Prof. Lawrence Lesser.  His other major teachers include Neomi Enoch, Schmuel Magen, Hillel Zori, as well as master classes with eminent cellists and artists as Bernard Greenhouse, Janos Starker, Natalia Guttman, Uzi Wiesel, Gary Hoffman, Wolfgang Boetcher, Alban Berg Quartet, and Amadeus Quartet. A diverse musician, Yoni enjoys a career playing various genres of music including Rock, Folk, Jazz and more. He has performed numerous times in well known music scenes today such as "Rockwood Hall of Music", "the Red Fish" (Le Poisson Rouge), and "Songs from a room" ('SOFAR'), New York. This includes a Television performance for NBC network with Andrew Lipke, who was voted Philadelphia's best singer-songwriter for the year of 2012. Yoni is playing on a 1849 "Jacout" Cello, on loan from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation.

Evgenia was born in Kramatorsk, Ukraine in 1987. She started playing the violin at the age 5 and 12 debuted as a soloist with the Donetsk Philharmonic orchestra.
In 2001 she entered Moscow Conservatory’s Central Music College where she started to play the viola under the renowned teacher, Maria Sitkovskaya. During her studies in Moscow Evgenia was awarded a music scholarship from the “New Names” Spivakov Foundation and performed at the Great, Rachmaninoff, and Chamber Halls of Moscow State Conservatory in concerts organized by the Foundation and conservatory. In 2002-2003 she received the special scholarship from the Russian Public Foundation of Performing Arts.
In 2007 Evgenia won a special scholarship to study in London at the Guildhall School of Music with Professors Zemtsov and Glikman. In London she performed as soloist, chamber and orchestral musician at many prestigious venues including the Wigmore Hall, St. Martin in the Fields, LSO. St. Luke’s and Barbican Hall, and has also performed in Greece, Russia, Ukraine, Italy, and Israel. In 2010 Evgenia received her Master of Performance (Guildhall Artist) with Distinction. Winning Martin Music Scholarship Fund (2009-2012) and English-Speaking Union Scholarship (2010) enabled her to continue her studies in UK and attend Master Classes at the renowned International Musicians Seminar Prussia Cove, Cornwall with Hartmut Rhode. She was invited to become a member of the Razumovsky Academy in London and has performed in Razumovsky Young Artists’ concerts at the Wigmore Hall. In September 2011 Evgenia received a prestigious Guildhall Fellowship and joined the class of Professor David Takeno.
Selected by the jury to be a participant of the LSO String Experience Scheme, Evgenia joined renowned London Symphony Orchestra for 2008-2009 seasons, having the opportunity to work with such legendary masters as Sir Colin Davis, Andre Previn, Bernard Haitink, Eliot Gardiner.
Evgenia was selected to join iPalpiti on its residency at the Red Sea International Music Festival in Eilat, Israel in February 2011, and in December 2011 she became a member of renowned Orchesteracademy of Staatskapelle Berlin.

The double prize winner of the 2008 Primrose International Viola Competition, violist Victor de Almeida has been the Principal Violist of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under Maestro Paavo Järvi and the Associate Principal Violist of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. While studying at the Peabody Institute of Music of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, he was serving as the Principal Violist of the Annapolis Symphony and a regular substitute violist with the Baltimore Symphony. With the Cincinnati Symphony, Victor has also performed on two European Tours and for the Bejing Olympics celebration. Recently he was the Guest Principal Violist for the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Principal Violist for the Castleton Opera Festival in Berkley under the baton of Lorin Maazel, and the Guest Principal of the New West Symphony. He has taught Master Classes at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and is currently on the String Faculty at Mount Saint Mary’s College in Los Angeles. In addition to his numerous solo and chamber music performances, Victor is a recording artist for Fox Television Network. 

Mr. Almeida was born into a Brazilian and American musical family in Adelaide, Australia where his parents were the Principal and Assistant Principal cellists of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and began playing violin and piano at the age of three.
For the past year, Mr. Almeida has been collaborating with pianist Mikael Oganes on a number of original virtuosic arrangements for viola and piano. He is also an avid collector of viola music and takes pride in performing those rare selections.

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MY MUSIC MY LOVE

A staged reading of a play by Eduard Schmieder 
A reflection of the Romantic Era in One Act
featuring excerpts from selected compositions in the style of Romance
(arranged by Eduard Schmieder)
Featuring:
Dennis Bade as Johannes Brahms
Eduard Schmieder as Joseph Joachim
Svetlana Smolina as Clara Schumann

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iPalpiti 14^th festival ended on July 24, and we have been receiving a stream of emails, calls, and even in-person encounters with impressions of the festival concerts, and especially on the Disney Hall concert. The leitmotif comment is “this one is the best ever!” - which we hear EVERY year.

Congratulations to all the extraordinary iPalpiti artists & a big thank you to all our supporters and the audiences who attended our shows!

The plans are in the making for another “best ever!”

SAVE THE DATES for the 15^th annual festival: July 15-29, 2012.

Featured Soloist: iPalpiti alumnus Pavel Ŝporcl (Czech Republic)

                                                                      1999: Pavel with iPalpiti at the Ford Theatre

Performance by
Svetlana Smolina, Piano/Russia
with
Maron Anis Khoury, Flute/Israel

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