BEST CDs. BEST RECORDINGS:  CLASSICAL MUSIC    From the Desk of Irma Panayotti

CHRISTINA PETROWSKA QUILICO Gems With An Edge (Welspringe) As part of New Music Concerts' Piano Marathon at The Music Gallery this weekend, Christina Petrowska Quilico will offer comments on and performances of the keyboard music of her first husband, the late Michel-Georges Brégent, whose aleatorically influenced Geste, originally recorded on the RCI label, reappears on this Welspringe disc. Its disc-mates include Mario Davidovsky's Synchronisms VI (1970), Pierre Boulez' early Third Sonata (1961) and most particularly a selection of Olivier Messiaen's Vingt regards sur l'enfant Jésus (once picturesquely translated by the late CBC radio broadcaster Bob Kerr as Twenty Peeks At The Baby Jesus), the latter originally released on CBC Records. One of Canada's most loyal interpreters of contemporary keyboard music, Petrowska Quilico's other albums include four CDs recorded with her late husband, the celebrated Canadian Metropolitan Opera baritone Louis Quilico.-Willi Litter

Photo: Christina Petrowska Quilico.

« An extraordinary Talent. » New York Times

Christina Petrowska Quilico is not only one of Canada's foremost pianists, but also a most innovative and adventurous one with an eclectic approach to programming. Her vast and diverse repertoire is reflected in more than sixteen recordings of classical, romantic, new and world music, including a JUNO nominated CD with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. An unusually gifted and well-rounded performer, she has worked with leading composers of the 20th century such Pierre Boulez, John Cage, Louis de Pablo, Lowell Liebermann, György Ligeti, Krzysztof Penderecki and Karlheinz Stockhousen among others. In Canada she has collaborated with Glenn Buhr, Omar Daniel, Chris Paul Harman, Christos Hatzis, Larysa Kuzmenko, Alexina Louie, Heather Schmidt, Claude Vivier and her first husband Michel-Georges Brégent, to name just a few, premiering countless new works, many written especially for her.

Photo: Virtuoso Robert Silverman

Petrowska Quilico recorded four CDs in partnership with her late husband, the legendary Metropolitan Opera baritone Louis Quilico, and toured extensively with him in concert. Her own solo tours have been highlighted by appearances at major New York venues from Carnegie, Alice Tully and Town Halls to the Museum of Modern Art and Merkin Concert Hall. In November 2002, Petrowska Quilico released Gems with an Edge to coincide with a live performance of Pierre Boulez' First Sonata in the presence of the composer on the occasion of presentation of the International Glenn Gould Prize. Click here to view a photo of the artist with Boulez and The Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson, Governor General of Canada. On March 15, 2003, Ms. Quilico presided over "The Christina and Louis Quilico Competition for Voice Majors in the Glenn Gould School of Music." Coloratura soprano Sinead Sugrue was awarded the first prize of $1,000. Soprano Miriam Khalil and Mezzo Soprano Ramona Carmelly received awards of $500 and $250, respectively. The contestants are all voice majors at The Glenn Gould School at The Royal Conservatory of Music where Louis Quilico held his last teaching position. For more information on how you can contribute to The Christina and Louis Quilico Fund at the Ontario Arts Council, which finances the competition.  

Silverman Bio Synopsis: In a world that sees wunderkinds of the piano come and go, Robert Silverman has reached a level of musical and technical authority that can only be accomplished after years of deep commitment to the instrument and its vast literature. Many aspects of Silverman’s playing are frequently noted: a polished technique, an extraordinary range of tonal palette, an uncanny ability to sing his way into the heart of a phrase, and his probing interpretation of the most complex works in the repertoire. The distinguished pianist has performed in concert halls throughout North America, Europe, the Far East and Australia. Under the batons of such renowned conductors as Seiji Ozawa, John Eliot Gardiner, Gerard Schwarz, Neeme Järvi, Sergiu Comissiona, Zdenek Macal, and the late Kiril Kondrashin, he has performed with orchestras on three continents, including the Chicago Symphony, the Sydney Symphony, the BBC (London) Symphony, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestras, and every major orchestra in Canada. Robert Silverman's discography includes 25 CDs and a dozen LPs. His recording of Liszt's piano 

music received a Grand Prix du Disque from the Liszt Society of Budapest, while his widely-acclaimed 10-CD recording of all thirty-two Beethoven sonatas was nominated for a Juno Award. In 1998 Robert Silverman was named the first winner of the Paul de Hueck and Norman Walford Career Achievement Award for Keyboard Artistry, administered by the Ontario Arts Council Foundation, in recognition of "his high level of artistry, his moving interpretations of a wide range of music...and his commitment and contribution to music in Canada." His recent projects include an eight-concert series encompassing all thirty-two Beethoven sonatas. The cycle has been performed in several locations, including Toronto, Seattle, Winnipeg, and Vancouver's Chan Centre for the Performing Arts. He will perform the cycle at the Washington Conservatory in Washington DC during March and April of 2004. Robert Silverman resides in Vancouver where he was a faculty member at the University of British Columbia for thirty years, and served a 5-year term as Director of the School of Music in the 1990s. He resigned his post as of July 2003 in order to devote himself to full-time concertizing and recording.  He is frequently heard on the CBC network, he plays Steinway pianos, and records for EMI, Stereophile, OrpheumMasters, CBC Records and Marquis Classics. He has recently been appointed Artist-in-Residence at The Koffler Centre of the Arts School of Music in Toronto.

Photo: Rebecca Penneys, Piano, Jacques Israelievitch, Violin,  Arie Lipsky, Cello.

NEW ARTS TRIO In Recital At Chautaqua (Fleur de Son Classics) When the Toronto Symphony Orchestra opens its season Wednesday at Roy Thomson Hall, the last player to walk onstage will be Jacques Israelievitch, its concertmaster since 1988 and one of the most versatile violinists in the country, with a discography to his credit of solo and chamber as well as orchestral work. In addition to a solo album, he has recently released his latest chamber disc for Fleur de Son Classics, teaming up with Arie Lipsky, former principal cellist of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, and pianist Rebecca Penneys of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester as the New Arts Trio. In addition to capable readings of Beethoven's Trio In D Major, Op. 70, No.1 (the so-called Ghost Trio) and Brahms' Trio In B Major, Op. 8, No.1, the album, recorded at the Chautauqua Institute in western New York, is particularly notable for its inclusion of three offbeat shorter works: Arvo Pärt's arrangement of Mozart's Adagio, K.280 from the Piano Sonata In F Major, Astor Piazzolla's La Muerte del angel (Death Of The Angel) and Ernest Bloch's Three Nocturnes.-Willi Litter

The NEW ARTS TRIO has firmly established itself as one of America's most distinguished piano trios.  Since its inception in 1974, the Trio has performed in major cities throughout the United States and Canada including Washington, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, Denver, Phoenix, San Francisco, Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal. In New York City the NEW ARTS TRIO has appeared at Alice Tully Hall, the 92nd St. 'Y,' and Carnegie Hall's Weil Recital Hall. The TRIO has also made several tours of eastern and western Europe. The NEW ARTS TRIO has been in residence at the Chautauqua Institution since 1978. During the seven week festival they perform, present master classes, coach chamber music and teach students who come to study with them from all over the world. The TRIO has three CD's on Fleur De Son Classics: the Arensky Trios and Beethoven's Arrangements for Piano Trio (2nd Symphony and the Septet), and New Arts Trio in Recital at Chautauqua (works by Beethoven, Brahms, Bloch, Part and Piazzola). “The Trio played with big tone, supple phrasing, energy, and a romantic ensemble in which individualism and teamwork were balanced.”  The New Yorker

The founder of the NEW ARTS TRIO, Rebecca Penneys (www.rebeccapenneys.com) is Professor of Piano at Eastman School of Music, Chair of the Chautauqua Piano Department, and Visiting Artist, St. Petersburg College. She leads a distinguished career as a recitalist, chamber musician, orchestral soloist and teacher. In recent seasons she has appeared in East Asia, New Zealand, Australia, Europe, Israel, South America and throughout the United States and Canada. Born in Los Angeles, Ms. Penneys has received many prestigious awards including the unprecedented Special Critics' Prize at the Seventh International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, Poland and was twice awarded the Naumburg Award for Chamber music. Her teachers include Aube Tzerko, Leonard Stein, Rosina Lhevinne, Artur Rubinstein, Menahem Pressler, Gyorgy Sebok and Janos Starker. Current CD's are: On the Centaur label, The Voice of the Piano, (works by Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn and Gershwin), and The Complete Chopin Etudes; On Fleur De Son Classics, All Brahms (Op. 10, 116 & Hungarian Dances), and Recital Gems from Chautauqua (works by Bartok, Mozart, Chopin, Debussy, Balcom, Albright and Schumann-Liszt). A renowned pedagogue, she is co-author of a book entitled The Fundamentals of Flow State Learning in Music.  In 1999, JACQUES ISRAELIEVITCH joined the NEW ARTS TRIO. Born in Cannes, France he performed on French National Radio at 11 and graduated from the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 16 with three first prizes. A disciple of Henryk Szeryng and teaching assistant to Josef Gingold, he was just 23 when Georg Solti appointed him assistant concertmaster of the Chicago Symphony. Six seasons later he joined the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra as Concertmaster and held that position for 10 years. In 1988 he was appointed Concertmaster of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He is in great demand as a recitalist and chamber musician and has appeared as soloist with many of the world's leading conductors including the late Georg Solti, Carlo Maria Giulini, Raymond Leppard, Jukka-Pekka Saraste & Leonard Slatkin. He also conducts and teaches regularly in North America, Europe and Japan. In 1995, in recognition of his contribution to the world d of music, he was awarded a knighthood by the French government in the order of Arts et Lettres. His recent CD's include the Juno Award nominated Suite Hebraique as well as the recent Suite Francaise and Suite Enfantine. ARIE LIPSKY was born in Haifa, Israel where he received degrees in Aeronautical Engineering and Music before serving in the Armed Forces. He was as principal cellist of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra for seventeen years and performed the major concerto repertoire in Buffalo and on tours. Mr. Lipsky studied with Leonard Rose, Pablo Casals and Alan Harris; he graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Music with distinction. He was a top prizewinner in the Chicago Cello Society Competition and performed as principal cellist with the Haifa Symphony, the Cleveland Opera, and the Colorado Music Festival.  Mr. Lipsky was Resident Conductor of the Buffalo  Philharmonic for twelve years. Currently, he is Music Director of the Ann Arbor Symphony in Michigan and the Ashland Symphony in Ohio and is a frequent guest conductor with orchestras in Europe, Israel and North America. He participates in many chamber music festivals. In 1996, he joined the NEW ARTS TRIO and is Chair of the Chamber Music Department at Chautauqua. “This is a delightful team, with a collective personality that seems to sum up the joy of making music with each other, which, after all, is the essence of chamber music.