Pittsburgh Concert Society 2015–2016 • 73rd Season

The sound of Pittsburgh’s artists

The PCS involvement in the Pittsburgh scene is deep and varied:

Major Artists Auditions, held each spring, are judged by independent adjudicators selected from among deans and faculty of leading schools of music. Candidates audition anonymously and are judged solely on the level of their performance and the quality of their program. Six Major winners are presented in concerts, generally the following September, October, and November. Major Auditions are open to highly qualified classical musicians, over the age of 18, living within a 75-mile radius of Pittsburgh who meet the PCS program requirements. Each winner receives an honorarium of $1,000 from the William and Eleanor Benswanger Memorial Fund of The Pittsburgh Foundation.

Young Artists Auditions are held in January and are also judged by independent, nationally-known adjudicators. Instrumentalists must be under the age of 19, vocalists under 22, and must live within a 75-mile radius of Pittsburgh. Each winner of the Young Artists Auditions receives a $500 scholarship from the Benjamin and Anna Perlow Scholarships Fund of The Pittsburgh Foundation, designated for the furtherance of his/her music studies.

Young Organists Auditions are held in March. Organists must be under the age of 23 and must live within a 75-mile radius of Pittsburgh. The Young Organist winner is presented in a concert, generally soon after the auditions. The winner of the Young Organists Auditions receives a $500 scholarship designated for the furtherance of his/her music studies.

The annual June Alumni Concert features “return performances” by former Pittsburgh Concert Society winners who have achieved distinguished careers in the field of classical music.

Outreach Performances. In addition to its formal concert activity, the Pittsburgh Concert Society reaches out into the community and beyond. Outstanding artists are invited to perform in venues throughout the city, with a special emphasis on reaching young audiences. These performances are arranged by the officers of the PCS, working in close collaboration with organizations such as the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, Allegheny RiverStone Center For the Arts, Chamber Music Pittsburgh, assisted living communities, Pittsburgh and suburban school districts, colleges, and other local arts organizations. Annually, one Young Artist winner is featured as a soloist with the Edgewood Symphony Orchestra and Major winners are featured in the Chamber Music Series of Greater Johnstown.

The PCS Homer Wickline and Conrad Seamen Memorial Fund of The Pittsburgh Foundation awards annual grants designated to provide financial assistance to instrumentalists and vocalists, individuals or groups, in the classical field, who are working to further their careers or their performance opportunities.

CONTACT INFO:412-279-2970pittsburghconcertsociety.orginfo@pittsburghconcertsociety.org

Pittsburgh Concert SocietyWHAT WE’RE ABOUT

Membership ApplicationI wish to be a member of the Pittsburgh Concert Society. I understand that each FRIEND membership includes ONE season ticket valid for all concerts of the Society’s 2015–2016 season and that each PATRON, SPONSOR, or BENEFACTOR membership includes TWO season tickets.

Name PhoneAddress City State Zip

Email

Does your employer match contributions? Yes No

Employer:

Contributing membership levels: Friend (minimum $60.00) Sponsor (minimum $250.00) Patron (minimum $100.00) Benefactor (minimum $500.00) Please make checks payable to the Pittsburgh Concert Society and mail to:Pittsburgh Concert Society • P.O. Box 14843 • Pittsburgh, PA 15234

Or, you may apply for membership on the PCS website: pittsburghconcertsociety.org

The Pittsburgh Concert Society is a non-profit and equal opportunityorganization. Contributions are tax deductible to the extent permissible by law.

Alumni ConcertSUNDAY, JUNE 5, 2016

Alvin Zhu, pianoYoung Artist winner, 2007Pianist and Young Steinway Artist, Alvin Zhu, has excited audiences around the world, presenting concerts throughout the U.S, China, France, Italy, and Australia. A frequent soloist with orchestras, Zhu has given performances of Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Gershwin, Mendelssohn, and Rachmaninoff concertos. His recent collaborations include Mozart’s Concerto in d minor K. 466 with Maestro Grant Cooper and the West Virginia Symphony in April 2015, and Mozart’s Concerto in C major with Maestro Rossen Milanov and the Chautauqua Symphony in July 2015. Prior, his

acclaimed Beethoven’s Fifth Piano Concerto with Maestro Yongyan Hu and the EOS Symphony received a standing ovation from a sold-out performance at the Beijing Concert Hall in 2013. He has been reengaged to perform Rachmaninoff’s Second Concerto with the EOS Symphony in the summer of 2016. His versatility as a performing artist has led him to celebrated performances at the International Women’s Forum, and G20 conference in Pittsburgh.

Other than appearing live, he has recorded for NPR and WQED radio and has an album distributed on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon, and CD-Baby. His merits include Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award on NPR’s “From the Top” and many top prizes in various national competitions around the country. Zhu is an avid composer as well; aside from pieces for piano, recently his Sonata for Violin and Piano, “Poeme” has received acclaim in Juilliard since its premiere at Paul Recital Hall in New York. Having received his Bachelor’s and Master’s through Juilliard’s prestigious 5-year accelerated program with Dr. Yoheved Kaplinsky, Zhu spent one year pursuing the Artist Diploma with Peter Frankl at Yale University School of Music. Zhu was awarded the C.V. Starr Doctoral Fellowship and will attend Juilliard as a Doctor of Music candidate in Fall 2015. Zhu’s former teachers include Yeeha Chiu and Marylene Dosse. Zhu has collaborated with renowned musicians in masterclasses including Lang Lang, Gary Graffman, Leon Fleisher, Murray Perahia, and Emanuel Ax.For more information, visit alvinzhu.com.

Danielle Pastin, sopranoMajor winner, 2009Quoted as having “a lovely demeanor and irresistible creamy timbre” by Opera News, Danielle Pastin is quickly gaining attention from opera houses around the country. She made her main-stage Metropolitan Opera début singing Masha inThe Queen of Spades and has been invited back several times since, in a new production of Massenet’s Manon, in Francesca da Rimini, and, most recently, singing Frasquita in Carmen, a role she also performed in her début with the Dallas Opera. She triumphed in her Santa Fe Opera début, stepping in as Mimì in La bohème under the direction of

Maestro Leo Vordoni on just a few hours’ notice and subsequently received their Judith Raskin Memorial Award for Singers. She has since performed the role to international critical acclaim in venues such as The Royal Albert Hall in London, Manitoba Opera, and Arizona Opera. This season Danielle will be debuting the roles of Liu in Nashville Opera’s Turandot and Hanna in The Merry Widow for Pensacola Opera. Since graduating the Pittsburgh young artist program in 2010, she enjoyed a triumphant return to Pittsburgh Opera as Desdemona in last season’s production of Otello and will be returning this season as Fioridligi in Cosi fan Tutte.

The Pittsburgh Concert Society

(PCS) promotes the finest

Pittsburgh-based classical

musicians, all selected by

adjudicators of national stature,

providing each winner with a

formal recital opportunity as

well as a financial award.

Founded in 1943, the PCS is

a non-profit, equal opportunity

organization. All artists appearing

in the PCS programs must live

within a 75-mile radius of

Pittsburgh. To ensure fairness

and impartiality of the selection

process, the PCS auditions are

adjudicated by invited musicians

from outside the Pittsburgh area.

The PCS is proud of its history

and its contribution to the arts

in the Pittsburgh area. It is an

organization of dedicated officers

and board members, all volunteers

consistently working to maintain

the highest level of musicianship

in their concert presentations.

All events are at 2:00 p.m. at Kresge Recital Hall, Carnegie Mellon University. A “Meet the Artists” reception follows each concert. Tickets can be purchased at the door, by phone at 412-279-2970, or online at pittsburghconcertsociety.org:Adults $15 – Seniors $10 – Students Free

MAJOR WINNERS RECITALSSunday, September 27, 2015Sandro Leal-Santiesteban, violinTrio Rizi: Alyssa Wang, violin, Evan Kahn, cello, Dimitri Papadimitriou, piano

Sunday, October 11, 2015Katerina Istomin, violaKristina Vidic, soprano

Sunday, November 8, 2015Bill Davidson, pianoAlabaster Trio: Raquel Winnica Young, mezzo soprano, Lenny Young, oboe, Jack Kurutz, piano

YOUNG ARTISTS WINNERS RECITALSSunday, March 6 and Sunday, March 20, 2016

ALUMNI CONCERTSunday, June 5, 2016Alvin Zhu, pianoDanielle Pastin, soprano

SEASON AUDITION DATESYoung Artists AuditionsSaturday, January 9, 2016Fred Bronstein, Dean of the Peabody Institute, adjudicator

Major AuditionsFriday, April 15 and Saturday, April 16, 2016 Fred Bronstein, Dean of the Peabody Institute, adjudicator

Schedule of Events2015–2016 Season

2015 Major Auditions Winners Recitals

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

Sandro Leal-Santiesteban, violin

Trio Rizi – Alyssa Wang, violin, Evan Kahn, cello, Dimitri Papadimitriou, piano

Sandro Leal-Santiesteban began his musical journey at a very young age in Havana where he performed with numerous orchestras including the Oakland Youth Symphony Orchestra, the New England Conservatory Youth Philharmonic Orchestra and the Gustav Mahler Youth

Symphony Orchestra. While in the U.S., Sandro was under the tutelage of Marylou Churchill in Boston, Mikhail Kopelman from Eastman School of Music and Cyrus Forough from Carnegie Mellon School of Music where he graduated with Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees.

Memorable performances for Sandro include a concert with the Sinfónica de Matanzas performing Khachaturian’s violin concerto under the baton of his mother Lourdes Santiesteban, the Mendelssohn String Octet alongside Andrés Cárdenes, Behzad Ranjbaran’s Violin Concerto with the Carnegie Mellon University Philharmonic as first prize winner of the Carnegie Mellon University concerto competition, and an American tour with the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra following a semi-finalist award for the 2006 Sphinx Competition. Other notable concerts include playing under the direction of Plácido Domingo, Kent Nagano, Carlos Miguel Prieto and Claudio Abbado.

Sandro is currently a member of the Beo String Quartet. His ongoing projects include recording a debut solo album

featuring Sean Neukom’s Solo Violin Sonatas, the fourthof which is dedicated to him and will be premiered in the fall of 2015.

Trio Rizi – Alyssa Wang/violin, Evan Kahn/cello, and Dimitri Papadimitriou/piano – met while they were students at Carnegie Mellon last year, and quickly realized they were

meant for each other. After their debut recital last March, they quickly went on to win local awards in the Pittsburgh Concert Society Competition and the Silberman Chamber Music Competition.

Alyssa is beginning her senior year at Carnegie Mellon, studying with Andrés Cárdenes and she plans to go on to graduate school. Evan is studying for a Professional Studies Diploma at San Francisco Conservatory under the tutelage of Jennifer Culp; his studies focus on the contemporary cello, and its relationship with different kinds of audiences. Dimitri was recently appointed as faculty in chamber music at Carnegie Mellon University, and coordinates a faculty chamber music series.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2015

Katerina Istomin, viola

Kristina Vidic, soprano

Lauded for her “special artistry” (Concertonet.com), Russian-American violist Katerina Istomin continues to establish herself as an international performer and educator. As principal of the Juilliard Orchestra and the New World Symphony, Ms. Istomin has performed

under conductors such as Michael Tilson-Thomas, Manfred Honeck, and John Adams. As a chamber musician, Ms. Istomin has collaborated with illustrious musicians like Itzhak Perlman, Donald Weilerstein, and Roger Tapping. As a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician, Ms.Istomin has toured throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia. Recognized for her powerful effect on young musicians, she has worked as a fellow with the Music Advancement and Gluck Community Service programs with The Juilliard School and as a teaching artist in Medellin, Colombia, with the New World Symphony. Throughout her experiences as a performer, Ms. Istomin has developed a commitment to bringing music to underserved areas

Major Auditions are open to instrumentalists, vocalists, and chamber music ensembles over the age of 18 who live within a 75-mile radius of Pittsburgh and who meet PCS program requirements. This season’s auditions were held on April 17 and 18, 2015, the adjudicator was Benjamin Juarez, Dean of the Boston University College of Fine Arts.

through music education and community outreach. Ms. Istomin earned her Bachelors of Music degree from the Juilliard School and her Masters of Music degree from the University of Montreal and the Hochschule fur Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna, Austria. In August, 2015, she will have completed a Master of Science in Professional Counseling degree from Carlow University where she received the prized Robert A. Reed Excellence in Counseling Award for her exemplary performance in the classroom and at her clinical internships. She is currently in placement at Allegheny Hospital’s Neuropsychiatric Center.

Kristina Vidic, soprano, was born in Belgrade, Serbia and graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade in 2005. She also studied at the Opera Academy in Copenhagen (IDELLA grant) and at the CUBEC school with Mirella Freni. As a young singer Kristina won

second prize in the Nikola Cvejic International Singing Competition in 1997, was the youngest participant at the Kammeroperschloss Rheinsberg Festival in Germany in 2001 and received her first stage experience as The Second Lady in Mozart’s Magic Flute at the National Theatre of Belgrade in 2002. During the summers of 2013 and 2014, she attended Sherill Milnes’ studio within the VOICExperience Program in Savannah. Kristina has had numerous concerts in Serbia, Greece, Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands.

Since Fall 2014, Kristina has continued her studies of classical singing with prof. Maria Spacagna at Carnegie Mellon University School of Music. This year, she is again a participant in the Savannah Voice Festival, founded and led by Mr. Sherill Milnes.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2015

Bill Davidson, pianoAlabaster Trio – Raquel Winnica Young, mezzo soprano, Lenny Young, oboe, Jack Kurutz, piano

Bill Davidson is often praised for his refined musicianship as both a classical and jazz pianist. He has performed with Grammy-Award winning artists, The New York Voices and Paquito D’Rivera and in venues such as Lincoln Center, the Aronoff Theatre, and the Kennedy Center. In 2014,

he was invited to perform in the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival. He has received many awards for his musicianship, most notably including the Guy D. & Mary Edith Halladay Music Scholarship, 1st prize in the Chopin Piano Competition in St. Joseph, and prize-winner of the Pittsburgh Concert Society Competition. In masterclasses and private lessons, he has studied under renowned pianists, Fred Hersch, Lori Sims, Nikolai Lugansky, and Barry Douglas. Before moving to Pittsburgh, Bill studied at Western Michigan University under Dr. Stephen Zegree, Jeremy Siskind, and Dr. Silvia Roederer. He is now pursuing a master’s degree in performance at Carnegie Mellon University where he studies under Sergey Schepkin.

The members of the Alabaster Trio have been performing together for the past five years. They are three of the founders and producers of the Living Room Chamber Music

Project concert series, and have presented concerts all across the metropolitan Pittsburgh area.

Mezzo-soprano Raquel Winnica Young earned her Degree in Vocal Performance from the Colon Opera House in Buenos Aires and an Artist Diploma from Duquesne University. She has performed locally (Quantum Theatre, Apollo’s Fire, Chatham Baroque, Johnstown Symphony, Pittsburgh Camerata, Alia Musica) as well as in Europe and South America. In January 2014 she joined the voice faculty of Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Lenny Young, oboist and composer, is Principal Oboe of the Altoona Symphony Orchestra and has performed with the Pittsburgh, Wheeling, Johnstown, Westmoreland and McKeesport Symphonies. He holds BFA and MM degrees in oboe from Carnegie Mellon University.

Pianist Jack Kurutz received his undergraduate degree from the University of Miami and his Master of Music from New England Conservatory. In 2005, Mr. Kurutz completed an Artist Diploma from Carnegie Mellon University. Mr. Kurutz won First Prize in the William Garrison Piano Competition; he was also a finalist in the Simone Belsky Competition.

2015 Major Auditions Winners Recitals

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