MEDIA RELEASE June 11, 2004 For immediate release Editorial Contact: Denise Meyer [email protected] (for editorial use only)

Chestnut Hill Concerts Opens 2004 Season In Celebration of Dvorak’s 100th Anniversary

At 8:00 PM Friday, August 6, 2004, Chestnut Hill Concerts, Ronald Thomas, Artistic Director, opens its 2004 season. Each concert this season will feature a chamber work by Antonin Dvorak in honor of the composer on the 100th anniversary of his death. The August 6th program features Mozart’s Trio in E Major, K. 542; Shostakovich’s Sonata for Cello and Piano in D Minor, Op. 40; and Dvorak’s Piano Trio in B-flat Major, Op. 21. The performers will be: Christiaan Bor, violin; Allison Eldredge, cello; and Max Levinson, piano. The concert will be held at the First Congregational Church of Madison (26 Meetinghouse Lane, Madison, CT). Single tickets are $25, $20 and $15, $8 students (Kids Come Free!) Preconcert picnic suppers prepared by Anna’s (New Haven) are available for $17 each. For information, call (203) 245-5736 or www.chestnuthillconcerts.org. This concert is sponsored by Evergreen Woods and with the support of the CT Commission on the Arts.

Christiaan Bor, violin, made his debut with the Concertgebow Orchestra of Amsterdam at age sixteen and has since performed as a soloist with orchestras, in recitals and in chamber music in thirty countries throughout Europe, Russia, the Middle and Far East, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, South America, Canada and the United States. Mr. Bor was born in Amsterdam (1950) and began playing the violin at the age of five as a student of his father, Jan Bor. He studied with Herman Krebbers at the Muzieklyceum in Amsterdam, and continued his musical education with Jascha Heifetz at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Mr. Bor is the founder and music director of the Amsterdam Chamber Music Society and has recorded for Philips, Pelican, CBS, Fidelio and Vanguard Classics.

Heralded as "a musician of remarkable gifts" by the Chicago Tribune, cellist Allison Eldredge has captivated audiences throughout the world with her deeply communicative tone and commanding technique. An Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient, Ms. Eldredge has performed with many of the world's foremost orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Saint Louis Symphony, the Boston Pops, Montreal Symphony, the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony, the Royal Philharmonic, and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. She has toured North America, Europe and Asia as featured soloist with such prominent ensembles as the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, the Haifa Symphony, and leading ensembles of Japan. In June, she made her seventh recital tour of Japan, including an appearance on NHK National television. Sought after as a chamber musician, Ms. Eldredge has shared the stage with numerous acclaimed artists, such as Andre Previn, Joshua Bell, Yo-Yo Ma and Gil Shaham, and has appeared at many of the major chamber music festivals. She is a member of the distinguished Boston Trio. Also active as a recording artist, her most recent recordings include two CD's on the Denon label: Music by Chopin and Fauré, and "If I Loved You," arrangements of Broadway and film music for cello and piano, which were hailed by Fanfare magazine as "passionate, illuminating and always enchanting." Ms. Eldredge's radio and television credits include appearances on New York's WQXR, Boston's WGBH, and ABC's Good Morning America. She also has the distinction of being invited to play at the White House. Born in New York City, Ms. Eldredge is a graduate of The Juilliard School. Now living in the Boston area with her husband, pianist Max Levinson, and their daughter Natalie, Ms. Eldredge serves on the faculty of the New England Conservatory.

Pianist Max Levinson is known as an intelligent and sensitive artist with a fearless technique. He has performed as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, St. Louis Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Oregon Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Colorado Symphony, New World Symphony, Boston Pops, San Antonio Symphony, Louisville Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, and in recital throughout the US, Canada and Europe. Levinson's international career was launched when he won First Prize at the 1997 Dublin International Piano Competition, the first American to achieve this distinction. He then received overwhelming critical acclaim for his two solo recordings on N2K Encoded Music and was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant in March 1999. Max Levinson is a graduate of Harvard and the New England Conservatory, receiving an Artist Diploma and the Gunther Schuller Medal. His teachers include Patricia Zander, Aube Tzerko and Bruce Sutherland. He serves as Co-Artistic Director, with Andrew Kohji Taylor, of the Janus21 Concert Series in Cambridge, and is on the faculty at Boston Conservatory and Brown University. He currently lives in Somerville, Massachusetts with his wife, cellist Allison Eldredge, and their daughter Natalie.

****** for calendar editors: 8:00 PM Friday, August 6, 2004, at the First Congregational Church of Madison (26 Meetinghouse Lane, Madison, CT): Chestnut Hill Concerts, presents Mozart’s Trio in E Major, K. 542; Shostakovich’s Sonata for Cello and Piano in D Minor, Op. 40; and Dvorak’s Piano Trio in B-flat Major, Op. 21. Christiaan Bor, violin; Allison Eldredge, cello; Max Levinson, piano. Tickets $25, 20, 15, $8 students (Kids Come Free!) Preconcert picnic suppers $17 each. To order, call (203) 245-5736. www.chestnuthillconcerts.org.

Press photos are available at: www.chestnuthillconcerts.org/press or by request. ####