Prepare for a thrilling concert of exquisite chamber music from a trio of outstanding musicians from New York!
Date/Time: Jun 22 2017, 10:30 am to 11:30 am
West Vancouver, Silk Purse Arts Centre | Event calendarCost: $15.00
Find tickets: here
Grammy-nominated violinist & former concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra Elmira Darvarova is joined by New York Philharmonic horn player Howard Wall & New York based award-winning Canadian pianist Wayne Weng.
Our popular Classical Concert Series continues year-round, and features fine performances by renowned performers every Thursday morning at 10:30.
Elmira Darvarova:
Grammy®-nominated recording artist and concert violinist ELMIRA DARVAROVA, former Concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra (and the first and only woman-concertmaster in the MET’s history), has been a concert violinist since the age of four. Under the guidance of her father she started playing the violin at the age of three, gave her first recital at age four, and made her debut as a soloist with an orchestra at the age of eight. A prizewinner of several international competitions, she studied with Yfrah Neaman at the Guildhall School in London (on a British Council scholarship), at Indiana University in Bloomington with Josef Gingold (as one of his assistants), and, privately, with Henryk Szeryng. Performing with legendary cellist Janos Starker was a pivotal moment in her career, as Starker propelled and facilitated her escape from her then communist country, as well as her relocation to the United States.
Elmira Darvarova has led, as concertmaster, major American orchestras, such as the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic, the Columbus Symphony, and the Grant Park Symphony in Chicago. She caused a sensation, becoming the first ever (and only) woman-concertmaster in the history of the Metropolitan Opera in New York. With the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra she has toured Europe, Japan and the United States, and was heard on the MET's live weekly international radio broadcasts, television broadcasts, CDs and laser discs on the Sony, Deutsche Grammophon and EMI labels. At the MET she performed with some of the greatest conductors of our time, including the legendary Carlos Kleiber. She has also performed with the MET Chamber Ensemble at Carnegie Hall under James Levine.
Appearing in performances on five continents, she is well-versed in all kinds of genres, having performed opera at the MET, having shared the stage for symphonic and chamber concerts with giants of the music world such as James Levine, Janos Starker, Gary Karr, Samuel Ramey, Myron Bloom, Philip Myers, Anthony McGill and Pascal Rogé, as well as with tango and jazz legends such as Octavio Brunetti, Fernando Otero and David Amram, and in collaboration with Indian classical musicians - the superstars of the Sarod - Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and his sons Amaan & Ayaan Ali Bangash. She has been concerto soloist with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Moscow State Symphony, Staatskapelle Weimar, Rochester Philharmonic, Columbus Symphony, Grant Park Symphony (Chicago), and numerous other orchestras on three continents.
She has performed on the world’s most prestigious stages, such as Carnegie Hall, Avery Fischer/David Geffen Hall, Alice Tully Hall and Symphony Space, New York City; Symphony Hall in Chicago, Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto; Suntory Hall, Bunka Kaikan and NHK Hall in Tokyo; Musikverein in Vienna, Cadogan Hall in London, Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford, Koncerthuset in Stockholm, Victoria Hall in Geneva, Smetana Hall in Prague, Megaron in Athens, Palau de la Musica Catalana in Barcelona, Alte Oper in Frankfurt, Kölner Philharmonie, Mumbai's National Center for Performing Arts, Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Hall, Saint Petersburg Philharmonia, among many others.
Elmira Darvarova is the founder and leader of the New York Piano Quartet, performs with the Delphinium Trio, with the tango ensemble "Quinteto del fuego", the newly-founded Amram Ensemble, and in a duo with world-renowned pianist/ composer, Grammy®-winner Fernando Otero. She is also President & Artistic Director of the New York Chamber Music Festival. She gives masterclasses and performs at music festivals worldwide, and she is jury president of international competitions in Verona and Plovdiv. She has premiered and recorded music by Franco Alfano, Joseph Marx, Erich Korngold, Vernon Duke, Amanda Maier, Georgy Catoire, René de Castera, Pierre de Bréville, Emile Goué, Nikolai Kapustin, David Amram, Phillip Ramey, Jacobo Cervetto, Francois Barthélemon, David Baker and Paul Chihara, among numerous others. She has recorded live for Radio Innsbruck in Austria, as well as for Radio Suisse Romande in Switzerland. Her recital at Bela Bartok’s Memorial House in Budapest was broadcast live throughout Europe. A documentary film about her life and career was shown on European TV. She has recorded numerous CDs for several labels. Two CDs with world premiere recordings of music by Franco Alfano were recently released to critical acclaim by Naxos. The French label Azur Classical has also released two CDs, with chamber music by René de Castéra (named a RECORD OF THE YEAR in 2015) and by Emile Goué (a war prisoner at a Nazi camp). With the New York Piano Quartet, she recorded two CDs for the Urlicht AudioVisual label, with works by Mahler, Korngold and Joseph Marx, as well as several newly commissioned piano quartets. Other new and upcoming releases include 2 CDs with legendary double bassist Gary Karr, of 18th Century baroque music by Handel, Barthelémon and Cervetto; an all-Poulenc CD with world-renowned French pianist Pascal Rogé; the Brahms Horn Trio with New York Philharmonic principal horn Philip Myers, and Amanda Maier's rare violin sonata with renowned pianist Bryan Wagorn; a second Piazzolla Tangos CD with the late great tango pianist Octavio Brunetti ("Desde Estudios A Tangos", nominated for LATIN GRAMMY in 2015); a CD, inspired by and dedicated to Eugene Ysaÿe; an album with the "lost" violin works of Vernon Duke, featuring the world-premiere recording of Vernon Duke's violin concerto, written for Heifetz 75 years ago (with conductor/pianist Scott Dunn and the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra), a solo violin CD under the title "Violin Declamations from the Twilight of the Socialist Workers' Paradise" for the Urlicht AudioVisual label, a CD of masterpieces by Beethoven, Franck and Clara Schumann for the Affetto label, and an upcoming Brahms Sonatas recording project, as well as a CD with music for horn, violin and piano by Phillip Ramey. She is also featured on three world music albums with masterpieces by the legendary Sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan, based on traditional Indian Ragas - "Soul Strings", "Amalgam" (both released on Affetto/Naxos and recently also released in the Indian subcontinent by the label Times Music), and the upcoming "Peace Worshipers" - to be released by in Spring of 2017 by Affetto/Naxos, recorded in collaboration with the iconic Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and his two sons - the eminent sarod masters Amaan & Ayaan Ali Bangash.
Elmira Darvarova's CDs have won critical acclaim in such esteemed publications as The STRAD Magazine, Gramophone Magazine, Fanfare, American Records Guide, BBC Music Magazine. More than one of her CDs have been hailed by the prestigious British publication Music-Web International as "Recording of the Month", and in 2015 Music-Web International selected the disc with world-premiere chamber music by René de Castéra (released by Azur Classical) as a RECORD OF THE YEAR 2015. Elmira Darvarova has been praised by Gramophone Magazine for her "ultra-impassioned performances", and in The STRAD for her “intoxicating tonal beauty and beguilingly sensuous phrasing" and "silky-smooth voluptuous tone”. In May of 2015 Gramophone Magazine published on its first page an interview with Elmira Darvarova about her world-premiere recording of Vernon Duke's violin concerto (written for Heifetz in 1940), which she recorded with the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and Maestro Scott Dunn.
Howard Wall:
Howard Wall, The Ruth F. and Alan J. Broder Chair, a native of Pittsburgh, joined the horn section of the New York Philharmonic in 1994, after having been a member of The Philadelphia Orchestra for almost 20 years and a former member of the Phoenix and Denver Symphony Orchestras. He also performs and records with the All-Star Orchestra. Mr. Wall has appeared as soloist with the New York Philharmonic in Schumann’s Konzertstück for Four Horns in New York (1995, 2001, and 2007) as well as on Philharmonic tours in Europe (1996) and South America (2001). An avid chamber musician, he appears regularly at the New York Chamber Music Festival and performs with the Delphinium Trio, the Amram Ensemble, and in a duo with his wife, violinist Elmira Darvarova, a former concertmaster of The Metropolitan Opera. He can be heard on the CD Take 9, featuring the New York Philharmonic horn section and the American Horn Quartet, as well as on Principal Horn Philip Myers’s New York Legends CD. Howard Wall recorded Poulenc’s Elégie for Horn and Piano with world-renowned French pianist Pascal Rogé. Mr. Wall has also recorded David Amram’s Blues and Variations for Monk for Solo Horn, and gave its European Premiere in Paris. Howard Wall began playing the horn at age ten and earned his bachelor’s degree in music performance at Carnegie Mellon University. He made his Carnegie Hall debut at age 19 performing Schumann’s Konzertstück for Four Horns; he most recently performed the same work again at Carnegie Hall in 2012.
Wayne Weng:
Pianist Wayne Weng’s playing has been described as “bold, vibrant, and immensely musical,” and as having “delicacy amounting to almost reverence […] through gossamer touch” (Wiltshire Gazette & Herald). His “ability to modulate the piano’s sound […] coupled with his great ear easily gave him an edge” (Sioux City Journal) to capture the first prize at the 2013 Iowa Piano Competition.
He has also won prizes at the Washington International Competition for Piano, Tunbridge Wells International Young Artists Competition, Haverhill Sinfonia Soloists Competition, Pacific Piano Competition, CBC Debut Concert Artists Auditions, and Kingsville International Young Performers Competition. And he has been a recipient of the Solti Foundation Grant and the British Columbia Arts Council Senior Scholarship.
As a soloist as well as a chamber musician, Mr. Weng has performed in Canada, the United States, England, Italy, France, Holland, Belgium, Austria, Serbia, Egypt, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. These venues include the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., Chicago Cultural Center, Bargemusic in New York, Bösendorfer Hall at the Mozarthaus in Vienna, Teatro Pavone in Perugia, the Fitzwilliam Museum at the Cambridge University, the National Music Museum in South Dakota, the 92nd St. Y in New York, Steinway Hall in New York, Brooklyn Public Library, the 100 Club in London, the Palace of Fontainebleau, the Brahms Museum in Mürzzuschlag, the Polish Consulate in New York, the Bulgarian Consulate in New York, Cairo Opera House, the Chan Centre in Vancouver, the Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver, the Vancouver Playhouse, and the British Columbia Governor House, among others.
He has performed concerti with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Sioux City Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra, West Coast Symphony, Philharmonic Orchestra of the University of Alicante, Victoria Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Seattle, and the Avanti Orchestra. His performance has been broadcast on radio stations such as the WFMT Chicago, WQXR New York, CBC Radio and Seattle King FM.
He has participated at summer festivals such as the International Holland Music Sessions, International Keyboard Institute and Festival, TCU/Cliburn Piano Institute, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Habitat4Music, and Ecole d’Art Americaines in Fontainebleau, where he was awarded the Piano Prix.
In addition to performing, he regularly judges competitions across North America; he has been an adjudicator at the Festival on the Lake and the North Shore Music Festival in Vancouver, the International Chopin Youth Competition in Houston, and Connecticut State Music Teachers Association Competition.
Mr. Weng is currently pursuing the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the City University of New York’s Graduate Center, where he is a fellowship recipient and studies with Ursula Oppens. He has previously studied with Donna Fishwick, Sasha Starcevich, Natalya Antonova, Pavlina Dokovska, Joan Havill and Peter Frankl. He holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music (Bachelor of Music and Performer’s Certificate), Mannes College of Music (Master of Music), Guildhall School of Music and Drama (Master with distinction), and Yale University (Artist Diploma).
More info