“one of the great players of violin in the world”- Le monde de la musique
“an ease of technical perfection… immaculate bowing technique”- The Strad, London

One man. One violin. These two concepts are enough to create a Universe. And when the man is Alexandru Tomescu and the violin is a Stradivarius, the new-born Universe is inhabited by fascinating creatures made out of sonorous color and density, all destined to cast a spell upon the public.

Alexandru Tomescu proved himself capable of taming any form of music, especially after the “Paganini – angel or demon?” project, a turning point into his career. Since his return to his native country, after having studied in Switzerland with Tibor Varga and in the U.S. with Eduard Schmieder, Alexandru has undertaken the mission of demonstrating that classical music is a window towards harmony between people, a world open to everyone, and that all deserve the chance to explore it.

With an impressive list of successes behind him, performing concerts in the most important halls of the world, such as Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Théâtre des Champs Elysées (Paris), Carnegie Hall (New York), or Metropolitan Arts Centre (Tokyo), collaborating with illustrious conductors like Valery Gergiev, Kurt Masur, Maxim Vengerov or Christoph Eschenbach, Alexandru continues to perform throughout Europe and as far as New Zealand. Upcoming seasons scheduled numerous international tours in Europe, America and Asia.

Winner of no less than 27 international contests, he is considered a Romanian ambassador of music, being invited regularly by the Romanian Cultural Institute to play in different capitals of the world.  Receiving the Stradivarius Elder-Voicu violin in November 2007, he promised he would familiarize Romanian public with the sound of this splendid instrument. After an almost uninterrupted series of concerts in Romania and abroad, his name and the one of his instrument became perfect synonyms.
In Romania, Alexandru commits himself to organizing national classical music tours. Realizing that the non-conventional seen as a combination between professionalism and innovation is the key to a public at large, he became the main character of several pioneering events in the Romanian classical music world: he played his Stradivarius in a subway station to prove people are receptive to quality music; he played to raise funds for the Romanian Association for the Blind or helping deaf children obtain hearings aids.  Alexandru Tomescu is not just playing before his public, but cultivates an intense dialog: either on stage, explaining what he plays, or in TV and radio interviews. Whether his voice appears on specialized radio posts or at general ones, his thoughts appear in culture newspapers or in glossy magazines, he explains what being an artist in 21st century means, what nurtures his inspiration and why classical music deserves a chance.

In the end – a relevant quote, which although refers to a single concert of Alexandru’s, can be extended to his whole career: „Alexandru Tomescu makes uncommon music out of Paganini’s Caprices, playing up contrasts, letting each phrase live and breathe. I expected an evening of champagne bubbles. Tomescu serves up whiskey.” (David Larsen – Metro Magazine, New Zealand).

www.alexandrutomescu.com

The double prize winner of the 2008 Primrose International Viola Competition, violist Victor de Almeida performs regularly as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Southern California and the world.  He has most recently been the Principal Violist of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Associate Principal Violist of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and the guest Principal Violist for the Los Angeles Opera. While studying at the Peabody Institute of Music of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, he was the Principal Violist of the Annapolis Symphony and a regular substitute violist with the Baltimore Symphony.
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.  He is completing his debut recording of his arrangement of Igor Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring” and “Suite Italienne” for Viola and Piano with pianist Harout Senekerenian with the sponsorship of the Stravinsky Foundation. He is also an avid collector of viola music and takes pride in performing those rare selections.

16^th Annual Festival: July 11-28, 2013

PRESS RELEASE & PROGRAMS   |   Maestro’s Letter to the Audience

Featured Soloist: iPalpiti alumnus Alexandru Tomescu (Romania)

Heralded as “a remarkable talent” (Times Columnist), Daniel Nix is an American-born double bassist currently residing in British Columbia, Canada. While under the mentorship of renowned solo bassist Gary Karr, he completed a Bachelor of Music degree with distinction at the University of Victoria. Daniel has since embarked on a career as soloist and chamber musician performing throughout North America and Europe. He recently toured the Baltic as soloist with the Estonian National Male Choir and the Parnu City Orchestra performing works by Gavin Bryars. Daniel’s debut album as concerto soloist, Silva Caledonia, features Bryars’ Ian in the Broch (composed specifically for Daniel), and Concerto for Double Bass “Farewell to St. Petersburg.” The Strad magazine featured Daniel in the ‘Launch Pad’ series which spotlights up-and-coming artists. In addition to developing his solo career, Daniel is in great demand as a chamber musician. He is a founding member of the Saturna Trio, which performs works for piano trio as part of Daniel’s continuing commitment to expand the presence of the double bass in chamber music. Daniel’s first performance with the acclaimmed iPalpiti Orchestral Ensemble of International Laureates was in 2007 at Carnegie Hall, and since then he has been a member of iPalpiti for its summer festivals in Los Angeles, and took part in the East Coast residency, with concerts at the Kimmel Center and Carnegie Hall, and toured Northern California. Daniel lives in Austin, TX where he is an assistant to Prof. Jeff Bradetich at University of North Texas College of Music. www.DanielNix.com

PETER RAINER is iPalpiti Concertmaster since 1994. In his native Germany, he is a concertmaster and founder of the Kammerakademie Potsdam since 2000, and leads an active career as a chamber musician, soloist, and teacher. He was the founder and leader of the popular Persius Ensemble, focusing mainly on a repertoire written for the classical nonet, and has released three CDs. The latest CD with nonets by Spohr, Clementi and Mozart was chosen by Berlin-Brandenburg Radio (RBB) as one of the best in 2007. In 2008 he founded the Merlino String Quartet, which is touring throughout Germany. Since 2007 he has been on the faculty of the “Universitat der Kunste” in Berlin and of the “Stern Institute” for young talented students and is assistant to Prof. Uwe-Martin Haiberg. Music-loving children know Peter Rainer through the many interactive concerts he developed for them in the past 10 years. His upcoming children project is a new concert-version of “Ferdinand the Bull” commissioned by the Kammerakademie Potsdam. In 2010 he appeared at the “Musikfest Schloss Wonfurt” together with “iPalpiti” alumni Tibi Cziger, Caroline v. Bismarck and Eliah E. Sakakushev. Peter studied violin in the U.S. with Professor Eduard Schmieder at the Meadows School of the Arts, where he received his Artist Certificate in 1994 and his Master of Violin Performance degree in 1995. Upon his return to Germany, he was concertmaster of the Brandenburgische Philharmonie in Potsdam from 1996 to 2000. He has been a faculty member at the University of Potsdam since 1997 and has worked as the assistant to Professor Schmieder at the Holland Music Sessions and at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Peter has been a member and leader of iPalpiti since 1994. In 2005 he received a commendation from the City of Los Angeles for his leadership of iPalpiti and his contributions to culture. During recent seasons Peter led iPalpiti in a special concert at the Nestle Center in Vevey, Switzerland, on its US East coast tour at the Kimmel Center and Carnegie Hall, and to the Bay Area in Northern California.

 Joseph was born in Oakland, California. He began studying the violin when he was five with Dejin Sun, and later with Yayoi Numazawa of the Philadelphia Orchestra.  During the summers, Joseph participated in international music festivals such as Interlochen, Luzerne, Music in the Mountains, Kinhaven, and Recontres Musicales International des Graves where he worked with many fine musicians and teachers.

Joseph graduated from the Pennsylvania State University in 2008 with a BM in Violin Performance, and was honored to receive the Creative Achievement Award given out to one exceptional student.  Joseph was a winner of the Beene, Kroulik, and Brewster competitions in Pennsylvania, and in 2008, received first prize in the PSU Philharmonic Concerto Competition where he performed the Sibelius Violin Concerto.  He returns to Penn State every summer for the Penn’s Woods Music Festival under the direction of Maestro Gerardo Edelstein. Joseph founded “Valens” Piano Quartet which earned 2^st Prize in the MTNA Chamber Music Competition.

Kauffman was accepted into the class of Professor Eduard Schmieder in 2008 where he began his studies in the master’s degree program at Temple University, where he is currently is in DMA program. With Prof. Schmieder’s encouragement, he began playing viola and was invited to join iPalpiti as violist for its Los Angeles festivals and on the east coast. As violinist, he often serves as concertmaster for Temple Orchestra in opera and symphonic performances. In 2010 Joseph was violin soloist with the Wayne Pennsylvania Chamber Orchestra, and his newly formed piano trio premiered a new commissioned work for violin, piano, and horn. He is on the faculty at NBSM  and actively performs in ensembles, including Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra.

Eleventh Annual Leo Frankel Tribute

Nathan Frankel & iPalpiti Artists

Established in November 2003, the Leo Frankel Memorial Award Fund honors Leo, a founding board member of iPalpiti, and a gifted violinist. Leo’s son, Nathan, continues in his father’s steps as a member of the iPalpiti board and, in an annual tribute event, performs with iPalpiti artists. Since its founding,
iPalpiti provided essential support to 232 musicians from 42 countries.

Tickets

General Public: $50/concert, $180/season
iPalpiti Patrons levels and above: FREE
* A wine and dessert reception with artists follows.

Purchase tickets by email: info@ipalpiti.org | Information: 310-205-0511

Alexandru Tomescu, violinist

Hailed in international press as “a violin superstar” (Berliner Morgenpost), “one of the great players of violin in the world” (Le monde de la musique, France), “remarkable…ease of technical perfection” (The Strad, London), “Alexandru Tomescu is a great artist, an ambassador of Romanian culture. Together with his violin he went throughout Europe and America and changed people’s views of Romania” (Kansan Uutiset, Helsinki, Finland).

Tickets

General Public: $50/concert, $180/season
iPalpiti Patrons levels and above: FREE
* A wine and dessert reception with artists follows.

Purchase tickets by email: info@ipalpiti.org | Information: 310-205-0511

The Boreal Trio

Juan-Miguel Hernandez, VIOLA | Uriel Vankestein, CLARINET | Gabriela Martinez, PIANIST

Through this unusual and compelling combination of instruments, three soloists boasting national and international reputations unite to provide audiences with performances of the highest caliber. Mr. Vanchestein, Mr. Hernandez, and Ms. Martinez have respectively won top prizes at the Geneva International Competition, the Brahms International Competition, and the Anton Rubinstein International Piano Competition, and have been lauded by critics as “compelling, elegant, and incisive” (The New York Times)

Tickets

General Public: $50/concert, $180/season
iPalpiti Patrons levels and above: FREE
* A wine and dessert reception with artists follows.

Purchase tickets by email: info@ipalpiti.org | Information: 310-205-0511

Svetlana Smolina, pianist

Svetlana Smolina has performed with orchestras and in recitals worldwide including with the Mariinsky Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall, New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall, and as an iPalpiti artist at Walt Disney Concert Hall. A frequent guest in the world’s leading festivals, she has recorded for Decca/Phillips with Maestro Valery Gergiev and for Deutsche Grammophon.
“…an outstanding Russian pianist with a luxuriant tone…” –Mark Swed, LA Times

Tickets

General Public: $50/concert, $180/season
iPalpiti Patrons levels and above: FREE
* A wine and dessert reception with artists follows.

Purchase tickets by email: info@ipalpiti.org | Information: 310-205-0511