|
Visiting Artists
Neal Gittleman - Currently in his thirteenth season as Music Director of the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, NEAL GITTLEMAN enjoys a career and reputation of international dimensions.
In addition to a full season of concerts in Dayton, Neal Gittleman’s current season is highlighted by his return to Japan for a performance of Handel’s Messiah in Osaka and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio in Tokyo. He also leads the Dayton Opera Association’s production of Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia.
A native of Brooklyn, New York, Neal Gittleman graduated from Yale University in 1975. He continued his musical studies with the eminent teachers Nadia Boulanger and Annette Dieudonné in Paris, Hugh Ross at the Manhattan School of Music and Charles Bruck at both the Pierre Monteux Domaine School and the Hartt School of Music, where he was the recipient of the Karl Böhm Fellowship. In 1984, he was the Second Prize Winner of Geneva's Ernest Ansermet International Conducting Competition, and, two years later, he was awarded Third Prize at the Leopold Stokowski Conducting Competition in New York City. In 1989, he was selected for the American Conductors Program at the American Symphony Orchestra League's annual conference in San Francisco.
Neal Gittleman's conducting career began in 1981 as Assistant Conductor of the Hartt Symphony Orchestra and the Hartt Opera Theater. Subsequently, he served as Assistant Conductor of the Oregon Symphony Orchestra (under the Exxon/Arts Endowment Conductors Program) and as Associate Conductor of the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra. He was also the distinguished Resident Conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra for three seasons, preceded by six years of service as its Associate Conductor. For four seasons, starting in 1998, Mr. Gittleman led an annual three-concert series of "Classical Connections" with The Phoenix Symphony, and, for five seasons - from 2000 through 2005, he led the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra’s series of "Discovery Concerts." As guest conductor, he has appeared with numerous orchestras, including l'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Chicago, Indianapolis, Oregon, New Jersey, Phoenix, Saint Louis, San Antonio, San Francisco and Seattle Symphonies, the Minnesota, Philadelphia and National Repertory Orchestras and the Buffalo and Rochester Philharmonic Orchestras as well as the ensembles of Anchorage, Bangor, Baton Rouge, Chattanooga, Cincinnati, El Paso, Eugene, Green Bay, Jacksonville, Knoxville, New Haven, Omaha, San Jose, Springfield and Chicago's Grant Park and Oregon's Britt Music Festivals. He has also conducted Canada's Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra London, México City's Orquesta Filamónica de la Ciudad de México, UNAM Philharmonic and Orquesta Cámara Bellas Artes, Bosnia’s Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra and Germany's Augsburg Philharmonic Orchestra, and led performances of Handel's Messiah in Tokyo and Osaka.
At home in the opera pit as well as on the concert stage, Neal Gittleman has conducted for the Hartt Opera Theater, Syracuse Opera Company, Milwaukee's Skylight Opera Theatre and Dayton’s Human Race Theatre Company. During the 1997-98 season, he made an acclaimed debut with the Dayton Opera, conducting Gounod's Faust, followed, in subsequent seasons, by productions of Bizet’s Carmen, Mozart’s The Magic Flute and Adamo’s Little Women. He has also led performances of the Milwaukee Ballet, Hartford Ballet, Chicago City Ballet, Ballet Arizona and Theatre Ballet of Canada.
As Music Director of the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Neal Gittleman regularly conducts classical, Pops, educational and summer concerts. In addition, he leads the orchestra's nationally known "Classical Connections," a popular and innovative series offering audiences a "behind-the-scenes" look at masterpieces of the symphonic repertoire. His first CD with the DPO - "Tomas Svoboda - Piano Concertos" - with the composer soloist in the First Concerto and Norman Krieger soloist in the Second - was released in the summer of 2001. This was quickly followed by "Gershwin in Prague," with performances of Rhapsody in Blue and Concerto in F with the Prague National Symphony Orchestra, again with Norman Krieger as soloist. Both albums are available on the Artisie 4 Recordings label.
Neal Gittleman and his wife, Lisa Fry, make their home in Dayton.
Peter Askim - Active as a composer, conductor and double bassist, Peter Askim is the Music Director and Composer-in-Residence of the Idyllwild Arts Academy. He has been a member of the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra and served on the faculty of the University of Hawaii-Manoa, where he directed the Contemporary Music Ensemble and taught bass, theory and composition. He has had commissions and performances from such groups as the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the Honolulu Symphony, Orchestra Asia/ Japan, the International Society of Bassists, the Yale Symphony Orchestra, the Idyllwild Arts Orchestra, the Portland Chamber Music Festival, and Serenata Santa Fe, as well as by performers such as flutist/ conductor Ransom Wilson, Metropolitan Opera soprano Lauren Flanigan and Grammy-nominated soprano Judith Kellock. His compositions are published by Liben Music Publishers, Discordia Music and the International Society of Bassists, and his music is recorded on the Gasparo and Albany labels.
As a conductor, Mr. Askim has served as Music Director of the Branford Chamber Orchestra and makes frequent guest conducting appearances, including the Wroclaw (Poland) Chamber Orchestra Sotto Voce and the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra and has premiered numerous works, most recently Swansong by Richard Danielpour. He is a frequent recitalist for the International Society of Bassists, a guest recitalist and teacher at the World Bass Festival in Wroclaw, Poland and the winner of the 2002 International Society of Bassists Composition Competition. He has also received critical praise as a jazz artist in such publications as Jazztimes, the New York Post and New York Newsday.
He studied at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna and holds bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees from Yale University, where he graduated with Distinction in Music. He also holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Composition from the University of Texas at Austin. He studied composition with Dan Welcher, Donald Grantham, Anthony Davis, Jan Radzynski, Syd Hodkinson and David Finko, and double bass with George Rubino, Diana Gannett, Donald Palma, Wolfgang Harrer and Ludwig Streicher.
Joseph Lee - Mr. Lee graduated cum laude from Vanderbilt University in 1998 where he received a BM in bassoon performance and a minor in voice. Mr. Lee is currently the assistant conductor and director of education for the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra. He is also the artistic director and conductor of the Huntsville Youth Orchestra, and the director of music ministries at East End United Methodist Church, Nashville, TN. In recent years, Mr. Lee has served as conductor of the Nashville Double Reed Ensemble, assistant conductor of the Vanderbilt University Orchestra, musical director of the Vanderbilt Opera Theater, and artistic director/conductor of the Shoals Symphony Orchestra.
As an orchestral musician, Mr. Lee’s principal instruments include bassoon, contrabassoon, and violoncello. He is currently the contrabassoonist for the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, he has performed with many orchestras including Nashville and Alabama Symphony Orchestras, as well as the Nashville Chamber Orchestra. He has performed live on NPR, and his performances may be heard in recorded productions for “Focus On The Family,” as well as on soundtracks of various independent films.
Mr. Lee has extensive experience in teaching and conducting students. He has been a guest clinician/conductor for the Alabama Honor Strings Festival and Nashville Metropolitan Summer Strings Camp. He has worked as an orchestra/chamber music teacher and coordinator in the Nashville area, most recently as Director of Instrumental Music at the Harpeth Hall School for Girls. He has been a chamber coach for the Blair School of Music, and continues to guest conduct the Vanderbilt Orchestra frequently. Mr. Lee has also been the music director/conductor for the Tennessee Valley Music Festival for the past three summers. Mr. Lee joined the Sewanee Summer Music Festival as a guest conductor during Summer 2007, and returns this season for his second year.
Mr. Lee has participated in music festivals and master classes both at home and abroad. In master class, he has conducted the Mannes College of Music Orchestra, Philadelphia Singers, Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic (Zlin, Czech Republic), Symphonic Youth Orchestra of Edegam (Belgium), and the Parnu City Orchestra (Estonia) with world renowned instructors including Otto Werner Mueller, Christoph Eschenbach, Neeme Jarvi, Paavo Jarvi, David Hayes, and Duain Wolfe. In July of 2006, Mr. Lee conducted portions of two concerts in conjunction with the David Oistrakh Music Festival (Parnu, Estonia) that were broadcast by Estonian National Radio. Mr. Lee’s conducting teachers/mentors include Maestros Robin Fountain, James Paul, and Taavo Virkhaus.
Andres Diaz - Andres Díaz has earned exceptional reviews for his "strongly personal interpretive vision" (New York Times) and his "bold and imaginative" playing (Boston Globe). Since winning the First Prize in the 1986 Naumburg International Cello Competition, Mr. Díaz has exhilarated both critics and audiences with his intense and charismatic performances. He was a 1998 recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, as well as of a generous grant from the Susan W. Rose Fund for Music. He is currently artist in residence at Brevard Music Center in Brevard, North Carolina.
Mr. Díaz's numerous orchestral appearances have included return engagements with the Atlanta Symphony under the late conductor Robert Shaw; performances with the American Symphony at Carnegie Hall, the symphony orchestras of Milwaukee, Seattle, Rochester under Christopher Seaman, the Boston Pops and Esplanade Orchestras, the Chicago Symphony at the Ravinia Festival with Edo de Waart conducting, and the National Symphony Orchestra. He has toured Russia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, New Zealand and Canada performing in recital and with orchestra.
The young virtuoso is a sought-after recitalist and made his Alice Tully Hall debut in 1987. He received critical praise for his second appearance at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall in 1989 when the New York Times remarked that his musical views "always seemed deeply considered rather than superficial or manufactured." His recital appearances have included the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., Jordan Hall, the Gardner Museum in Boston, the Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, and the highly regarded San Francisco Performances Series.
Mr. Díaz frequently performed with the late pianist Samuel Sanders. The Díaz/Sanders Duo performed at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Hall in New York, the Philadelphia Arts Museum, Atlanta's Spivey Hall and other venues across the U.S. and abroad. Among other renowned pianists with whom Mr. Díaz has collaborated are Judith Gordon, Margo Garrett, Richard Goode, Mischa Dichter, and Anne-Marie McDermott.
During the summer of 2001, Mr. Díaz gave the world premiere of Gunther Schuller's Concerto for Cello and Orchestra at the Brevard Music Center with the Brevard Festival Orchestra. In February 2001, he performed the American premiere of Frank Bridge's Oration for cello and orchestra at Boston University. Mr. Díaz has also premiered Thomas Oboe Lee's Cello Concerto (written expressly for Díaz) with the Boston Civic Symphony, and he gave the Boston and Washington, D.C. premieres of Leon Kirchner's Music for Cello and Orchestra. In that Boston performance, the composer conducted the work. Díaz later performed the piece with the National Symphony Orchestra with James Paul conducting, where it received the First Prize Friedham Award.
Andrés Díaz's debut recording on MusicMasters (of works by Manuel de Falla and Robert Schumann, with the late pianist Samuel Sanders) was acclaimed by the Boston Globe as "strong and subtle; everything Díaz does has personality and, better than that, character." On the Dorian label, the duo has also released Brahms's Sonatas for Piano and Cello; Russian Romantics, a compilation of short Russian works; and most recently American Visions, featuring works of Barber, Bernstein and Foote. Mr. Díaz's orchestral solo release (also on the Dorian label) features the Villas-Lobos Cello Concerto No. 2 with the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra and conductor Enrique Diemecke. This recording won a 1996 Allegro Music Award for Best Orchestral Release. His latest recording, in memory of his collaborator Samuel Sanders, features the works of Martinu, Lutoslawski, and Rachmaninoff, and won the Classical Recording Foundation 2003 Award.
Mr. Díaz's summer festival appearances (including frequent return engagements) include the Santa Fe, La Jolla, Marlboro, Ravinia, Bravo!Colorado, Spoleto, Saratoga and Tanglewood festivals. His appearances at Tanglewood earned him the Pierre Mayer Memorial Award for Outstanding String Player. He has toured nationally with the Santa Fe and Spoleto festivals. Other festival appearances include the Victoria (B.C.), Steamboat (Steamboat Springs, CO), Musicorda (MA), Rockport (MA) and Cape & Islands festivals.
Andrés Díaz is very active with the Díaz String Trio, featuring violinist Andres Cardenes and violist Roberto Díaz. At Carnegie Hall in April 2003, the trio performed the world premiere of a string trio written for them by Guther Schuller. The trio has performed in Pittsburgh, Washington, Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, at the Kuhmo Festival in Finland and the International Festival of St. Cypriene in France. It has toured extensively in South America, Mexico and Canada. The trio was invited by Isaac Stern to play at Carnegie Hall's Centennial Celebration, and from 1994-96 it served as Trio in Residence at the Florida International University. It released its first recording, featuring the music of Paganini, on the Dorian label. A second recording was released in 2003, featuring music by Penderecki, Dohnanyi and Beethoven.
Andrés Díaz was born in Santiago, Chile in 1964, and began studying the cello at the age of five. Three years later he moved to Atlanta, Georgia and studied at the Georgia Academy of Music with Martha Gerchefski. Mr. Díaz graduated from the New England Conservatory where he worked with Laurence Lesser and Colin Carr, and continues to play an active role in chamber music performances with the Conservatory's faculty. He served for five years as Associate Professor of Cello at the Boston University and Co-Director of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Quartet Program. Recently appointed head of the string department at Southern Methodist University, Mr. Díaz now lives in Dallas with his wife, Julie, and sons Peter Manuel and Gabriel Andrés. He plays a 1698 Matteo Goffriller Cello and a bow made by his father, Manuel Díaz.
Steven O. Moeckel - The internationally acclaimed violinist Steven Moeckel has appeared as soloist with orchestras throughout Europe. His extensive command of the solo repertoire includes performances of the Elgar, Tschaikovsky. Mozart, Beethoven, Sibelius and Berg concertos as well as the works of Ysaye. In the United States Mr. Moeckel has performed as soloist with the Tucson Symphony and as guest artist with the Pasaden Symphony. He just recently performed the Berg violin concerto with the Ulm Philharmonic and is scheduled to return in 2008 as soloist. As chamber musician, he has appeared at such notable festivals as the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, performing with Leon Fleisher and Menahem Pressler. Internationally, he has performed as violinist of the Makart Trio Salzburg with Erika Frieser and Dana Micacoi, and as first violinist of the Auraeus Quartet. The only American award winner at the 2005 Sibelius Competition, Steven Moeckel began his musical career at an early age, first as violinist, then performing from the age of eleven as principal soprano soloist for the renowned Vienna Boys Choir for two years. After leaving the choir, he resumed his violin studies with Professor Helmut Zehetmair at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, graduating with honors at the age of nineteen and immediately assuming the position of Co-concertmaster of Germany's Ulm Philharmonic, where he remained for three seasons. Mr. Moeckel came to the United States for further study at Indiana University with the distinguished American violinist Miriam Fried. Since 2002 he has performed as concertmaster of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, and in addition, leads the chamber group, Ensemble Amabile.
|
|
