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Contact: Jennifer Wada Communications 718-855-7101 [email protected]

YOUNG CONCERT ARTISTS 50 TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON CONTINUES INTO SPRING 2011

• February 19 : ALL-DAY, FREE MUSICAL MARATHON FEATURES 100 YCA ALUMNI FROM 50 YEARS IN 12 HOURS AT SYMPHONY SPACE, INCLUDING , SASHA COOKE, BORROMEO , URSULA OPPENS, IDA AND ANI KAVAFIAN, CHEE-YUN, ANTHONY NEWMAN, AND HOSTS/PERFORMERS JEREMY DENK, CHRISTOPHER O’RILEY, EUGENIA ZUKERMAN AND MORE…

SERIES IN AND , DC, PRESENT DEBUTS OF RECENT YCA WINNERS: FLUTIST ALEKSANDR HASKIN, , MEZZO-SOPRANO JENNIFER JOHNSON

• WORLD PREMIERE OF NEW WORK BY YCA COMPOSER-IN-RESIDENCE CHRIS ROGERSON

• February 23 : LIVE CONCERT AT WNYC/WQXR’s THE GREENE SPACE WITH YCA ARTISTS & ALUMNI

• March 29 : 50 TH ANNIVERSARY GALA CONCERT WITH PINCHAS ZUKERMAN (YCA 1966) CONDUCTING AND PERFORMING WITH THE ORCHESTRA OF ST. LUKE’S AND 16 YCA SOLOISTS

Heading into the second half of its 50 th anniversary season, Young Concert Artists, the trailblazing medium for the discovery and development of today’s great musicians, continues to present new artists of exceptional talent and promise in debut recitals, and celebrate its half- century milestone with three special events – a 12-hour Musical Marathon at New York’s Symphony Space featuring 100 YCA artists, musicians from every decade in the organization’s history; an all-French YCA artists evening at Florence Gould Hall; and a Gala Concert with orchestra at Jazz at .

In 1961, a young pianist named Susan Popkin (now Wadsworth), concerned that her musician friends did not have the performance opportunities that their young careers needed, set up a stage in a Greenwich Village loft with a concert loaned by Steinway & Sons, and created the first Young Concert Artists Series – a backbone of the organization ever since. In its five decades of existence, the organization, which Wadsworth leads to this day, has become

YOUNG CONCERT ARTISTS, INC. Susan Wadsworth, Director [email protected] Telephone: (212) 307-6655 Website: www.yca.org Young Concert Artists 50 th Anniversary Season – Spring 2011 – page 2 of 8 recognized as an international role model, drawing aspiring musicians from all over the world to audition for the benefits of membership on the YCA roster.

Benefits of YCA membership include appearances in Young Concert Artists Festivals in , China, and Tokyo, Japan; individual career guidance including engagements throughout the ; the opportunity to work creatively with YCA composers; experience in educational outreach, as well as orchestra debuts in New York and debut recitals in New York and Washington, DC.

Young Concert Artists’ 50-year legacy can be traced not only through its roster of distinguished performers, but also through the leadership of its alumni in the field of music as directors and creators of major arts institutions, concert series and festivals, as sought-after teachers and as champions of contemporary music.

“It is because of Young Concert Artists that I am able to make music today.” -Emanuel Ax, Pianist (YCA 1973)

“Young Concert Artists gave me the chance to bloom. I don’t think I would have gotten that chance anywhere else.” -Dawn Upshaw, Soprano (YCA 1984)

UPCOMING: YCA 50 th ANNIVERSARY - SPRING 2011

Young Concert Artists Series

The YCA milestone season continues with ongoing Young Concert Artists Series at Merkin Concert Hall in New York and at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater in Washington, DC:

Monday, January 24, 2011 – Washington, DC, Recital Debut Monday, January 31, 2011 – New York Recital Debut Aleksandr Haskin, Flute – This 2009 winner of the YCA International Auditions is a native of Belarus. He is also the winner of other top prizes and competitions including the Penderecki Flute Competition in 2008 and the International Contemporary Competition in 2005 in Krakow, Poland. He is joined on the program by pianist Steven Beck for a program of works by J.S. Bach, Bartok, Ian Clarke, Doppler, Dutilleux, Kornakov, and Taktakishvili in Washington; in New York, the program also features as guest artists the violinist Anne Akiko Meyers (YCA 1986) the cellist Robert Martin (1962) – who also founded the Bard Conservatory of Music - and a performance of Claude Bolling’s Suite No. 1 for flute and jazz trio.

Monday, February 14, 2011 – Washington, DC, Recital Debut Tuesday, March 8, 2011 – New York Recital Debut Charlie Albright, Piano – This 2009 winner of the YCA International Auditions is also the winner of the 2010 Gilmore Young Artist Award, a Vendome Virtuoso Prize and the Elizabeth Leonskaya Special Award at the 2009 Vendome Prize International Piano Competition in Lisbon, Portugal. The 21-year-old native of Washington State also debuts this season with the San Francisco Symphony and the Seattle Symphony. His debut program includes works by Mozart, Janacek, and Chopin, as well as the world premiere of a new work by Chris Rogerson , YCA’s 21-year-old composer-in-residence, and the Mozart Sonata for Two , with guest artist Anne-Marie McDermott (YCA 1983). Young Concert Artists 50 th Anniversary Season – Spring 2011 – page 3 of 8

Monday, April 11, 2011 – Washington, DC, Recital Debut Monday, May 2, 2001 – New York Recital Debut Jennifer Johnson, Mezzo-Soprano – This 2009 winner of the YCA International Auditions is also a member of the Lindemann Young Artists Development Program of the Metropolitan . This season at the Met she sings the roles of Ludmilla in The Bartered Bride and Wellgunde in Wagner’s Das Rheingold ; returns to the Chicago Opera Theater singing Schumann's Frauenliebe und Leben and tours with Musicians from Marlboro. She is joined on her recital debut program by pianist Christopher Cano in works by Porpora, Mahler, and Argento, and performs Ravel’s Cinque Melodies Populaires Grecques with Dutch harpist Gwyneth Wentink (YCA l999) as her guest.

Young Concert Artists “Encores” In collaboration with The Morgan Library & Museum, YCA presents noon-time, hour-long recitals by recent YCA winners.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011 Hahn-Bin, Violin (YCA 2009), with John Blacklow, Piano Works by Lutoslawski, Cage, Chopin, Saint-Saëns, De Falla, Ravel, Debussy, Sarasate

Wednesday, February 9, 2011 Narek Hakhnazaryan, Cello (YCA 2008), with Noreen Polera, Piano Works by Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, Achron, Paganini

Young Concert Artists 50 th Anniversary Special Events

Saturday, February 19, 2011, at Symphony Space – Free to the public Young Concert Artists Musical Marathon Fifty years in 12 hours: 100 YCA artists – musicians from every year in the organization’s history – will participate in a 12-hour musical extravaganza, free to the public , at Symphony Space, in the spirit of their own “Wall to Wall” events. Each of four three-hour segments will be hosted by an illustrious YCA alumnus/alumna – Eugenia Zukerman (1970), Jeremy Denk (1997), Mary Beth Peil (l964) and Christopher O’Riley (1981) – and all of the musicians will cycle into the program, performing solo and in chamber combinations, repertoire ranging all over the musical map.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011 Live from The Greene Space at WQXR Robert Sherman hosts a concert featuring YCA artists and alumni in The Greene Space, the WQXR/WNYC venue in lower . The concert will be broadcast later on WQXR’s The McGraw-Hill Companies Young Artists Showcase .

Tuesday, March 29, 2011, at the Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center Young Concert Artists 50 th Anniversary Gala Concert Pinchas Zukerman (YCA 1966) leads and performs with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and 16 YCA artists and alumni ranging from harpsichordist Anthony Newman (1968) to violinists Chee-Yun ( l989) and Tim Fain (1999) to Ran Dank, piano and Bella Hristova, violin (both 2009) in a concert featuring multiple concertos by Bach, Mozart and Maurer.

Young Concert Artists 50 th Anniversary Season – Spring 2011 – page 4 of 8

Wednesday, April 20, 2011, at Florence Gould Hall, French Institute/ Alliance Française French Stars of YCA Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Piano The Modigliani String Quartet YCA and the French Institute /Alliance Française co-present pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (l986), and the Modigliani String Quartet (2006) in a program of music by Haydn, Debussy, and Franck.

YOUNG CONCERT ARTISTS, INC.

Over fifty seasons, Young Concert Artists has brought forth a diverse array of renowned artists who are deeply involved in our musical life. Among YCA's 228 "alumni" are soprano Dawn Upshaw; Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Emanuel Ax, Olli Mustonen, Jeremy Denk, Murray Perahia, Christopher O'Riley, Anne-Marie McDermott, Richard Goode, and Jean-Efflam Bavouzet; cellists Carter Brey, Robert Martin and Fred Sherry; flutists Marya Martin, Paula Robison, and Eugenia Zukerman; clarinetists Paul Green, Todd Palmer; violinists Ani Kavafian, Ida Kavafian, Chee-Yun and Pinchas Zukerman; and the Tokyo, Borromeo, and St. Lawrence String Quartets.

Young Concert Artists, Inc. was founded in 1961 by Susan Popkin (now Wadsworth) to discover and launch the careers of extraordinary musicians, and since 1994 it has also filled that role for outstanding young composers. YCA performers are chosen by the annual Young Concert Artists International Auditions. The musicians compete against a standard of excellence - not each other. There is no limit to the number of First Prize winners each year, and the jury has the right to select none if none qualify.

Winners become members of the YCA management roster, winning New York, Washington and Boston debut concerts, career guidance, and concert and educational outreach engagements.

Young Concert Artists, Inc. is a non-profit organization whose mission is supported by individual patrons, foundations, The National Endowment for the Arts, The New York State Council on the Arts, and The Department of Cultural Affairs.

Recap: YCA 50 th ANNIVERSARY FALL 2010

The 2010-2011 YCA Series opened in November with the debut of violinist Caroline Goulding and then presented the pianist Gleb Ivanov in a Michaels Award concert at .

On November 6, the winners of the 2010 YCA International Auditions were announced:

15-year-old American pianist George Li 18-year-old Russian clarinetist Narek Arutyunian 20-year-old American violinist Benjamin Beilman

These artists will be presented in their New York and Washington, DC, debut recitals next season. www.yca.org Young Concert Artists 50 th Anniversary Season – Spring 2011 – page 5 of 8

YOUNG CONCERT ARTISTS 50 TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON – PROGRAMS SPRING 2011

Wednesday, January 19, 2011, at Noon YCA “Encores” Series at The Morgan Library & Museum HAHN-BIN, Violin (2008-2009 YCA Winner) John Blacklow, Piano LUTOSLAWSKI Subito CAGE Nocturne CHOPIN/arr. MILSTEIN Nocturne in C-sharp minor, Op. Posth. SAINT-SAËNS Danse Macabre , Op. 40 DE FALLA Asturiana DE FALLA Polo RAVEL Sonata for Violin in G minor DEBUSSY La Plus Que Lente SARASATE Fantasy

Monday, January 24, 2011, at 7:30 PM Young Concert Artists Series at the Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts ALEKSANDR HASKIN, Flute (2009 YCA Winner) – Washington, DC, Debut Steven Beck, Piano and Harpsichord IAN CLARKE The Great Train Race for solo flute J.S. BACH Sonata in E Major, BWV 1035 MOZART Rondo in D, KV 184 Anh. DOPPLER Fantasie Pastorale Hongroise , Op. 26 DUTILLEUX Sonatine for flute and piano TAKTAKISHVILI Sonata for flute and piano, II. Aria BARTOK Suite Paysanne Hongroise KORNAKOV Sonata for flute and piano IAN CLARKE Zoom Tube for solo flute

Monday, January 31, 2011, at 7:30 PM Young Concert Artists Series at Merkin Concert Hall ALEKSANDR HASKIN, Flute (2009 YCA Winner) – New York Debut Steven Beck, Piano and Harpsichord Guest Artists: Anne Akiko Meyers, Violin (1986) Robert Martin, Cello (l962) Gregg August, Bass Chris Brown, Drums

IAN CLARKE The Great Train Race for solo flute J.S. BACH Trio Sonata in C, BWV 1037 MOZART Andante in C, K.315 for flute and piano DOPPLER Fantasie Pastorale Hongroise , Op. 26 DUTILLEUX Sonatine for flute and piano KORNAKOV Sonata for flute and piano BOLLING Suite No.1 for flute and jazz trio IAN CLARKE Zoom Tube for solo flute

Young Concert Artists 50 th Anniversary Season – Spring 2011 – page 6 of 8

Wednesday, February 9, 2011, at Noon YCA “Encores” Series at The Morgan Library & Museum NAREK HAKHNAZARYAN, Cello (2008 YCA Winner) Noreen Polera, Piano BEETHOVEN Theme and Seven Variations on “Bei Mannern” from Mozart’s , WoO 46 RACHMANINOFF Sonata in G minor for Cello and Piano, Op. 19 ACHRON Hebrew Melody PAGANINI Variations on One String on a Theme by Rossini

Monday, February 14, 2011, at 7:30 PM Young Concert Artists Series at the Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts CHARLIE ALBRIGHT, Piano (2009 YCA Winner) – Washington, DC, Debut Guest: Anne-Marie McDermott, Piano (1983)

JANACEK Sonata I.X.1905 MOZART Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major, K. 448 CHRIS ROGERSON New Work (YCA Composer-in-Residence; World Premiere Performances ) CHOPIN Etudes, Op. 25

Saturday, February 19, 2011, 11:00 AM to 11:00 PM Symphony Space – Free to the public 50 YEARS OF YOUNG CONCERT ARTISTS – A MUSICAL MARATHON More than 100 YCA artists and alumni in 12 hours, hosted by Eugenia Zukerman (11 AM to 2 PM), Mary Beth Peil (2 PM to 5 PM), Jeremy Denk (5 PM to 8 PM), and Christopher O’Riley (8 PM to 11 PM): Performers: Singers: Courtenay Budd, Jeanine De Bique, soprano; Sasha Cooke, mezzo-soprano; Randall Scarlata, William Sharp Flute: Marya Martin, Paula Robison, Mimi Stillman, Susan Rotholz, Gary Schocker, Eugenia Zukerman Clarinet: Alexander Fiterstein, Jose Franch-Ballester, Paul Green, Daniel McKelway, Todd Palmer Oboe: Matthew Dine Trumpet: Stephen Burns Violin: Ju-Young Baek, Dmitri Berlinsky, Lynn Chang, Chee-Yun, Eugene Drucker, Christiane Edinger, Karen Gomyo, Hahn-Bin, Juliette Kang, Ani Kavafian, Ida Kavafian, Benny Kim, Sung-Ju Lee, Ulrike Anima Mathé, Yoko Matsuda, Stefan Milenkovich, Daniel Phillips, Rolf Schulte, Yayoi Toda, Elina Vähälä, Donald Weilerstein, Hiroko Yajima : Toby Appel, Kenji Bunch, Nokuthula Ngwenyama, Heiichiro Ohyama, Barry Shiffman, Cello: Efe Baltacigil, Carter Brey, Narek Hakhnazaryan, Robert Martin, Marcy Rosen, Jeffrey Solow Double Bass: DaXun Zhang Marimba: Pius Cheung, Makoto Nakura, Naoko Takada Harpsichord: Anthony Newman Piano: Emanuel Ax, Benjamin C.S. Boyle, Hung-Kuan Chen, Yunjie Chen, Ran Dank, Lise de la Salle, Anthony de Mare, Jeremy Denk, Sergei Edelmann, Mona Golabek, Eduardus Halim, Chu-Fang Huang, Gleb Ivanov, Paavali Jumppanen, Joseph Kalichstein, Adam Neiman, Christopher O’Riley, Ursula Oppens, Vassily Primakov, Graham Scott, Paul Shaw, Wonny Song, Jeffrey Swann, Vassilis Varvaresos, Ilana Vered Harp: Catrin Finch, Karen Lindquist Guitar: Robert Belinic Ensembles: The Claremont Trio, Borromeo String Quartet, Jupiter String Quartet Music: Works by J.S. Bach, Bartók, Benjamin Boyle, Kenji Bunch, Chopin, Copland, Debussy, Paul Fowler, Godefroid, Grainger, Granados, Jolivet, Kodaly, Mendelssohn, Messager, Mozart, Penderecki, Piazzolla, Rachmaninoff, Shulamit Ran, Respighi, Rozsa, Schocker, Schoenfield, Schubert, Schumann, Smetana, Tchaikovsky Young Concert Artists 50 th Anniversary Season – Spring 2011 – page 7 of 8

Wednesday, February 23, 2011 The Jerome L. Greene Space LIVE FROM THE GREENE SPACE Robert Sherman, Host Live Concert featuring YCA artists and alumni, to be broadcast later on WQXR’s The McGraw-Hill Companies Young Artist Showcase

Tuesday, March 8, 2011, at 7:30 PM Young Concert Artists Series at Merkin Concert Hall CHARLIE ALBRIGHT, Piano (2009 YCA Winner) – New York Debut Guest: Anne-Marie McDermott, Piano (1983) JANACEK Sonata I.X.1905 MOZART Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major, K. 448 CHRIS ROGERSON New Work (YCA Composer-in-Residence; World Premiere Performances ) CHOPIN Etudes, Opus 25

Tuesday, March 29, 2011, at 7:00 PM Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center YOUNG CONCERT ARTISTS GALA CONCERT – CELEBRATING YCA’S 50 TH ANNIVERSARY Pinchas Zukerman, Conductor and Violin Orchestra of St. Luke’s Jennifer Johnson, Mezzo-Soprano Jose Franch-Ballester, Clarinet Marya Martin, Flute Chee-Yun, Violin Tim Fain, Violin Karen Gomyo, Violin Caroline Goulding, Violin Bella Hristova, Violin Daniel Phillips, Violin Ran Dank, Piano Chu-Fang Huang, Piano Anne-Marie McDermott, Piano Adam Neiman, Piano Vassily Primakov, Piano Vassilis Varvaresos, Piano Anthony Newman, Harpsichord J.S. BACH Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, BWV 1050, I. Allegro MOZART “Parto, Parto” and “Deh, per questo istante solo” from La Clemenza di Tito J.S. BACH Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, BWV 1043 MOZART Concerto for Two Pianos in E-flat Major, K. 365 MAURER Concertante for Four Violins in A minor, Op. 55

Young Concert Artists 50 th Anniversary Season – Spring 2011 – page 8 of 8

Monday, April 11, 2011, at 7:30 PM Young Concert Artists Series at the Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts JENNIFER JOHNSON, Mezzo-Soprano (2009 YCA Auditions Winner) – Washington, DC, Debut Christopher Cano, Piano PORPORA “Alto Giove” from Polifemo MAHLER Songs of a Wayfarer RAVEL Cinq Mélodies Populaires Grecques for voice and harp ARGENTO From the Diary of Virginia Woolf

Wednesday, April 20, 2011, at 7:30 PM Florence Gould Hall Co-presented with the French Institute/Alliance Française FRENCH STARS OF YCA Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Piano (1986) The Modigliani String Quartet (2006) HAYDN String Quartet in B Major, Op. 76, No. 4 “Sunrise” DEBUSSY Hommage à Haydn DEBUSSY Images , Book I FRANCK Piano Quintet in F minor, M. 7

Monday, May 2, 2011, at 7:30 PM Young Concert Artists Series at Merkin Concert Hall JENNIFER JOHNSON, Mezzo-Soprano (2009 YCA Winner) – New York Recital Debut Christopher Cano, Piano Guest: Gwyneth Wentink, Harp (l999) PORPORA “Alto Giove” from Polifemo MAHLER Songs of a Wayfarer RAVEL Cinq Mélodies Populaires Grecques for voice and harp ARGENTO From the Diary of Virginia Woolf

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January 10, 2011