Maxim Vengerov

Widely regarded as one of the world's most dynamic artists, Maxim Vengerov has performed sold out concerts with the world's most eminent orchestras in every major city in the world. Steeped in the celebrated Russian tradition of music making, Maestro enjoys international acclaim as a musician of the highest order, tireless in his search for new means of creative expression.

Having reached the pinnacle of the musical world as an instrumentalist, Vengerov followed in the footsteps of his mentor, the late Mstislav Rostropovich and turned his attention to conducting, bringing his sensitivity and keen musicianship to the podium. Maestro took his first conducting classes from Professor Vag Papian, who himself studied with the legendary Ilya Musin in St. Petersburg. At the invitation of Valery Gergiev, Maestro Vengerov has conducted the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, earning accolades both from the critics and the public. Over the past few seasons, he has developed close relationships with Verbier Festival Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic, Sinfonietta Cracovia, et al. Maestro Vengerov's Carnegie Hall debut as a conductor, which took place during the 2007 Verbier Festival Orchestra tour of North America, received critical acclaim. "The musicians responded magnetically to him", wrote Vivien Schweitzer of The New York Times.

There are many exciting projects in store for the next two seasons, including a North American tour (Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, etc), a Russian tour with the Moscow Philharmonic, a series of performances with Kammerorchester Basel and a conducting debut with the Jerusalem Symphony. Maestro Vengerov will return to the Bucharest Philharmonic Orchestra, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Oslo Philharmonic. He will also make his debut with the Moscow Virtuosi in Moscow and St. Petersburg. His programmes will feature works by Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Bruckner, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev and Shostakovich.

Maestro Vengerov has been profiled in a series of documentaries, including Playing by Heart, which was recorded by Channel Four Television and screened at the Cannes Television Festival in 1999, and Living the Dream , which was released worldwide on EMI Classics and received the Gramophone Award for Best Documentary 2008. In September 2008 he was invited by the BBC to conduct the BBC concert orchestra and be a member of the jury in the Maestro Series, a programme designed to give general public an insight into the fascinating profession of a conductor. Maestro regularly serves on juries, most recently at the Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition and the Donatella Flick Conducting Competition.

Beginning his career as a solo violinist at the age of 5, Vengerov has won prestigious international competitions, collaborated with the world's finest conductors and recorded the entire violin repertoire for a number of high-profile labels, including Teldec Classics.

In May 2000 Maxim Vengerov signed an exclusive contract with EMI Classics, receiving many prestigious awards and nominations including Grammy Award and Gramophone Artist of the Year. Maestro Vengerov was an Edison Award winner and Grammy Award winner in 2004 for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (with Orchestra) for the Britten: Violin Concerto/Walton: Viola Concerto Album released on EMI Classics.

He toured the Far East and Europe until the end of 2004 with a new programme of Virtuosi pieces, a programme which was also recorded and released by EMI.

Hungry for experience that lies outside a standard track record of a musical prodigy, Maestro has let himself be inspired by many different styles of music, including baroque, jazz and rock. He has taken the time to learn how to tango and premiered Benjamin Yusupov's Viola Tango Rock Concerto, exploring the physicality of music and making a powerful statement about the diversity of cultural influences in the 21st century.

Along with Rostropovich and Gergiev, Maxim Vengerov counts Daniel Barenboim among his mentors, not only from the purely musical point of view but also in terms of their commitment to philanthropy, education and talent development. Maestro enjoys creative partnerships and friendships with some of the most prominent instrumentalists, such as Ida Haendel, Joshua Bell and Alexander Toradze, to name but a few. At the same time, he makes it a point to feature young promising soloists who benefit greatly from his extensive experience and rare generosity. Educational activities such as music forums, lectures and conferences are an integral part of Maxim Vengerov's work. Maestro holds Honorary Professorships from many top conservatories around the world, including the Royal Academy of Music in London.

In 1997, Vengerov became the first classical musician to be appointed Envoy for Music by UNICEF, which provided him with the unique opportunity to inspire children worldwide through music. As a UNICEF Ambassador, Vengerov performed for underprivileged kids in Uganda, Thailand and the Balkans, and helped raise funds for UNICEF assisted programs. Since 2007 Maestro has been an Ambassador for Zegna & Music project, which was founded by the luxury men's clothing label Ermenegildo Zegna in 1997 as a philanthropic activity to promote classical music.

Maestro is a patron of the MIGDAL Project in Northern Israel designed to give disadvantaged children a chance to learn how to play a musical instrument and to improvise in classical and ethnic styles, harnessing the healing power of music and promoting humanitarian and cultural values. Vengerov also supports the MIAGI Project in South Africa, which connects children of different ethnic backgrounds through music.

Arianna Warsaw-Fan, violin

Violinist Arianna Warsaw-Fan is an active soloist and chamber musician. As the winner of the Juilliard concerto competition, Arianna recently performed Witold Lutoslawski's Partita for Violin and Orchestra with the Juilliard Orchestra in Alice Tully Hall as part of the 2011 Focus! Festival. She has performed in Carnegie Hall, WNYC's Greene Space, Merkin Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and the Guggenheim Museum. She has also made appearances at the Ravinia, Verbier, Rencontres de Musique de Chambre de Bel-Air, Music@Menlo, and Aspen Music Festivals. She has performed with such contemporary music ensembles as ICE (International Contemporary Ensemble) and FIRE (Future in Reverse). Upcoming engagements in Canada include collaborations with the Chamber Players of Canada and a performance of concertos for two violins with violinist Andrew Wan and the McGill Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Boris Brott.

Prizewinner in the Corpus Christi International String Competition and NTDTV's Chinese International Violin Competition, and winner of the American Opera Society String Prize, Arianna has also performed as soloist with various orchestras in the Boston area. She was a National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts youngARTS winner, and garnered New England Conservatory's Zinaida Gilels Violin Prize.

As one of the concertmasters of the Juilliard Symphony and the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra, she has worked with such conductors as John Adams, James Conlon, Tan Dun, Bernard Haitink, James Levine, and Xian Zhang. She has performed with pianists Frank Braley, John O'Conor, and Rohan de Silva. Arianna received her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Juilliard School. Her teachers include Masao Kawasaki, Cho-Liang Lin, Lynn Chang, Magdalena Richter, and Almita Vamos. She has coached with Ronald Copes, Joseph Kalichstein, Menahem Pressler, John O'Conor, Joshua Bell, Zakhar Bron, Renaud Capuçon, Claude Frank, Pamela Frank, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Ida Kavafian, Wu Han, Samuel Rhodes, Maxim Vengerov, and members of the Emerson String Quartet.

Gregor Monlun, violin

Born in Bordeaux (France) Gregor Monlun started to study violin at the age of 6. After being rewarded with a Golden Medal at the School of Violin P. Rode (Bordeaux), class of R. Papavrami, he decided to develop his skills at the Conservatories of Bordeaux and Paris. In 1998 at the age of 14 years only he became the youngest 1st prize winner of the prestigious Concours Radio France in Paris. Impressed by his outstanding performance, famous violinist Sir Yehudi Menuhin invited him to play as soloist with numerous French and foreign orchestras, among them Orchestre de Normandie and Orchestre de Radio France, Barcelona Symphony Orchestra in Spain and Francfort Symphony Orchestra in Germany.

Thereafter, Gregor Monlun pursued his musical training under the guidance of such maestri as M. Rostropovitch, Isaac Stern, V. Tretyakov, G. Rojdestvenski, A. Dumay and G. Poulet. Then he left for well-known Moscow Tchaikovsky State Conservatory where he entered the class of E. Gratch and M. Gotsdiner (both former students of A. Yampolsky and David Oistrakh). He graduated from the Conservatory of Moscow with the 1st prize and the maximum grade in 2007. At the same time he was performing as a soloist and chamber musician with such renowned artists as Ivry Gitlis, Gilles Apap, Sergey Babayan and also Jean-Philippe Collard in prestigious concert halls all over the world (Germany, France, Russia, Great Britain, Spain, Turkey, Italy, Japan, South Africa, China, Brazil, Canada...).

Montreal resident from 2008, Gregor obtained his Master's degree in Interpretation at the University of Montreal in 2009. He was also granted the same year with Paul-Marcel Gélinas and Verna-Marie-Parr-Gélinas Excellence in Violin Scholarship. He is currently completing his Doctorate with professor Vladimir Landsman at the University of Montreal.

Patrice Laré, piano

Born in Paris, Patrice Laré began his piano studies with Professor Igor Lavrov. At the age of 17, he studied at the “Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris” under Pierre Sancan. A year later, he was admitted to the Moscow State Conservatory, where he studied eight years in the class of Professor Youri Slessarev. In 1990, he obtained a “Master of Fine Arts” degree and two years later - an “Artist Diploma”. With the help of his teachers, he has inherited the traditions of the Russian Piano School, represented by H. Neuhaus and S. Feinberg.

In his attempt to further expand his horizons, Patrice settled in Quebec, Canada in 1993. He continued his musical studies at a doctorate level in the Department of Music at the University of Montreal in the class of Dr. Natalie Pepin. In 1994, Patrice Laré won the First University of Montreal Concerto Competition, and in May 1998 he completed his D.M.A. under the direction of Professor Marc Durand.

Although his repertoire extends from Bach to Shostakovich, Patrice Laré prefers the masterpieces of the romantic repertoire including the works of Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Franck, Liszt, Rachmaninov, Schumann, and Tchaikovsky.

Patrice Laré has given numerous concerts in France, Russia, Bulgaria, Canada and the United States. He has performed as a soloist with various orchestras, and in recital, and as well, in a duo with his spouse, the cellist Velitchka Yotcheva. Through their great love for chamber music, Patrice and Velitchka founded the Montreal Chamber Music Society. Recently, he has participated in prestigious festivals such as the Festival de Musique du Mont-Tremblant, the International Festival of Chamber Music of Niagara, the Summer Festival of Maison Trestler, the Weathersfield Music Festival (Vermont). He has also played for the Pro Musica Society in Montreal. These concerts were frequently broadcasted on Radio Canada. In Bulgaria, he has participated in the Musical Weeks of Sofia, the International Summer Festival of Varna, and the International Music Festivals of Plodiv and Stara Zagora. Patrice Laré participated with the Trio Rachmaninoff de Montréal in the 2000 Björklunden Music Series and gave a concert at Lawrence University (Wisconsin). He also performed a concert for the International Festival “Bravissimo” in Guatemala City (Central America).

More recently, Patrice participated again in the Musical Weeks of Sofia, Bulgaria, and in October he toured French Polynesia. He was also invited by the General Delegation of Quebec to perform two concerts in Berlin and Munich.

Patrice Laré also devotes himself to teaching. During his five-year doctorate residency at the University of Montreal, he was appointed a Piano Lecturer. He also conducted Master classes at Lawrence University in Wisconsin, Sofia State Conservatory (Bulgaria), Quebec Conservatory in Rimouski, and Brock University in St. Catharines (Ontario). Patrice was invited as a resident artist at ISMA (International School of Musical Arts) and MIMC (Montreal International Music Camp), where he taught piano and chamber music.

Patrice Laré recently released a recording of Franz Liszt’s Sonata in B minor under the XXI-21 Records label. His discography also includes two CDs with cellist Velitchka Yotcheva - one, containing virtuoso pieces for cello and piano, and another with two great sonatas by Franck and Brahms. Patrice’s first album was released in 2004, containing the trios of Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich with the Trio Rachmaninoff de Montréal, under the ATMAclassique Label.

Serhiy Salov, piano

Serhiy Salov was born in Ukraine but lived outside his home country for half of his life. His professional circuit represents a host of countries, cultures and schools - Ukraine, Germany, London and Montreal being of the most important. Beside the piano lessons Salov received a vast and complete musical and general tuition that comprised composition, improvisation, chamber music, musicological disciplines as well as Latin and several foreign languages.

Serhiy Salov gathered a rich and versatile experience as a recitalist, chamber musician and soloist with an orchestra. It is the latter that became Serhiy's favourite means of expression ever since he gave his first Ukrainian and international débuts as a soloist in the Grieg's A minor and Brahms's B flat Major concertos at the age 11 and 16 respectively. gave his public début at the age 11 as a soloist in Grieg's Piano concerto. Serhiy masters some 30 seminal works of the genre and has worked with some outsanding conductors and major orchestras. the former include Leonard Slatkin, Christopher Warren-Green, Lawrence Foster, Jacques Lacombe and Yannik Nezet-Seguin; the latter are the National Orchestra of Ukraine, Montreal and Quebec Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, l'Orchestre National de la Radio France, the Philharmonia und Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the Hallé, Berliner Symphoniker und Tokyo Symphony.

Serhiy's musical parcours is replete with awards and Prizes. On the academic side there are Master's Degree and the Solo Recital Diploma (Premier Prix) from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, on that of the piano competition circuit he has garnered 3 international First Prizes (Dudley 2000, Épinal 201 and Montréal 20) and 3 international third Prizes (Long-Thibault 2001, Hamamatsu 2003 and Tromso 2009), as well as much deserved Audience Prizes in Montreal and Tromso.

Fascinated by the dimension of a 20th century symphony orchestra, Serhiy Salov BECAME an avid champion of arrangement for the solo piano some of its seminal works. He is one of the very few pianists to arrange, interpret and record his own version for solo piano of Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" to the great acclaim of the public and the professional media. Among his other arranged works are the solo piano version of the complete "Pétrouchka" ballet as well as that of Débussy's "Fêtes" and Poulenc's D minor piano concerto, originally written for two pianos.

Serhiy's first commercial CD, released on the Canadian "Analekta" label and titled "Shostakovich's circle" and showcasing the highly sophisticated albeit rarely performed piano concertos by the master's acolytes Galynin and Ustvolskaya received the "Prix Opus", a recording industry Prize awareded by the province of Québec. Serhiy Salov's new solo CD is due to be released in April and, aptly enough' is named "The Sacred Spring of Slavs", featuring works by Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky and Shamo.

Lara St. John, violon

Canadian-born violinist Lara St. John has been described as “something of a phenomenon” by The Strad and a “high-powered soloist” by The New York Times. The Los Angeles Times has written, “St. John brings to the stage personal charisma, an unflaggingmusical imagination and genuine passion.” Lara has performed with orchestras on fie continents and in recital around the world. She began her own recording label, Ancalagon, in 1999, and has recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, the Knights and her release of the six solo Bach works in 2007 was iTunes’ best selling double album of the year. Her daring and innovative recording of 21st century premiere concertos had Gramophone saying “it’s the sort of work that should get audiences running, not walking, back to concert halls…”The Cleveland Plain Dealer wrote of her recording with the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela: “Lara St. John is as captivating in the seductive scenes of the Piazzolla as she is crisp, caressing and colorful in Vivaldi’s atmospheric paeans to nature” and Audiophile Audition stated “Do we need another Four Seasons? With playing and sound like this, yes we do!” She has been featured in People, US News and World Report, on CNN’s Showbiz Today, and NPR’s All Things Considered, Fox News, CBC, the BBC and a Bravo! Special: Live At the Rehearsal Hall.Lara performs on the 1779 “Salabue” Guadagnini thanks to an anonymous donor and Heinl & Co. of Toronto.

Matt Herskowittz, piano

Pianist, composer, songwriter and arranger, Matt Herskowitz's multi-faceted career has led to a unique and personal voice in music. His vast experience in classical, jazz, pop and world music has culminated in his newest album, Jerusalem Trilogy (Justin Time Records), featuring Matt's original compositions and arrangements in his signature fusion of contemporary jazz and classical styles, combined with a unique blend of Arab and Jewish musical styles and grooves. Introducing a new kind of chamber music for the 21st century, Jerusalem Trilogy navigates these musical worlds on equal terms with one another, creating a new, yet coherent sound, and requiring performers with a comprehensive mastery of different musical styles and genres. Dave Brubeck wrote to Matt about the recording, “Congratulations! You have transformed the concept of “world” music as I conceived of it half a century ago. You have carried it further than I could inagine back then.” In addition to his jazz trio, the album features violinist Lara St. John, cellist Mike Block, saxophonist/flutist Daniel Schnyder, who also produced the recording, and special guest Bassam Saba on Nay and Oud. The piece was commissioned by the Lyric Chamber Music Society of New York, and premiered on their series at Victor Borge Hall in April 2009. The group has since performed Jerusalem Trilogy all over the world, including the El Paso Chamber Music Festival, Le Poisson Rouge in New York City, the Bremen International Musikfest, the Warsaw Singera Festival, and the Montreal International Jazz Festival.

Matt's 2007 solo piano release, Matt Herskowitz Plays George Gershwin, featuring Matt's original solo arrangements of the Concerto in F and Cuban Overture, as well as Gershwin's great solo arrangement of Rhapsody in Blue, was nominated in 2009 for Quebec's prestigious classical music Prix Opus awards. His 2006 solo release, Gabriel's Message, which features his original arrangements and compositions based on popular Christmas themes, was nominated for Québec's Félix award for “Best Jazz Album” in 2007. Matt's 1998 recording of Glazunov's 2nd Piano Concerto with I Musici de Montreal for Chandos Records was hailed as “By far the best performance on disc” by Strad Magazine.

Matt has performed at major festivals around the world, including Canada, the U.S., Germany, France, Belgium and Italy. His trio's debut recording, Forget Me Not, received wide critical acclaim, and was also nominated for Félix award in 2005. Dave Brubeck, upon hearing the album, wrote to Matt and commented: “Hearing such technique almost ruined my day. I said to myself, 'This is the final straw. I'd better retire now'.” Barry Manilow, after hearing this recording, invited Matt and his trio to join him on his 2007 Christmas release for Hallmark, In The Swing Of Christmas, which was nominated for a Grammy award for Best Traditional Pop Album in 2009.

Matt premiered his latest piano concerto, Undertow (2008), in the fall of 2008 with the multi-genre chamber orchestra Absolute Ensemble at the Bremen International Musikfest in Bremen, Germany. The piece was commissioned by Absolute for their show Bach Reinvented, in which five composers were asked to write original pieces based on Bach Inventions. One reviewer wrote of the performance: “Matt Herskowitz proved himself a highly energetic rhythmian, without comparison in his mastery of the piano... he also conjured up absolutely lyrical moments of the compositional structure of his Bach Invention.” He recently performed the piece with Absolute Ensemble at the Köln Philharmonie in Cologne, Germany. The concert was broadcast on WDR German television in 2010. His other works for piano and orchestra include his Chorale and Variations on a Theme of Dave Brubeck, which he premiered with the Ensemble Contemporain de Montreal in 1998 for Radio-Canada broadcast; Serial Blues, which he recorded with Absolute Ensemble for Enja Records in 2000; and Skeleton's Tango, commissioned by Absolute Ensemble and premiered in Bremen, Germany in the fall of 2009.

Matt's performance on the soundtrack of the Grammy-nominated film The Triplets of Belleville has earned him much popular and critical acclaim. He performs Bach's Prelude in C minor in the film, loosely posing as Glenn Gould, and his own Bach à la Jazz, a jazz arrangement of the same Bach prelude, which is also featured on the award-winning hit soundtrack CD of the film. Matt has also worked on live performance projects with renowned film composer Carter Burwell, in collaboration with directors Charlie Kaufman and the Coen brothers.

As songwriter and arranger, Matt has collaborated with many artists and producers, most notably pop diva Lara Fabian. His Piano Nocturne, a nearly 17-minute solo piano piece featured on Lara's album Nue (Universal, 2001), earned him many thousands of fans in Europe and was a milestone in pop recordings. As a result of its success, Matt and Lara began a long and productive collaboration which continues to this day.

A graduate of the Juilliard School in New York and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Matt is originally from Albany, New York, and has made Montreal his adopted home of 12 years.