Sunday, October 6, 2024, at 4 PM
Violinist Itamar Zorman & Pianist Alon Goldstein
Peace United Church, 900 High St., Santa Cruz, CA 95060
PROGRAM:
Dvorak: Sonatine
Avner Dorman: “Nigunim” sonata no. 3
Intermission
Ravel: Sonata
Bernstein: selections from west side story
Alon Goldstein
Alon Goldstein is one of the most original and sensitive artists of his generation, admired for his musical intelligence and dynamic personality. His artistic vision and innovative programming have made him a favorite with audiences and critics alike throughout the United States, Europe, and Israel. He made his orchestral debut at the age of 18 with the Israel Philharmonic under the baton of Zubin Mehta and returned a few seasons ago with Maestro Herbert Blomstedt in Beethoven Concerto No. 1. In recent seasons, Mr. Goldstein has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic; Philadelphia Orchestra; the San Francisco, Baltimore, St. Louis, Houston, Vancouver, Kansas City, Indianapolis, and North Carolina symphonies; and orchestras on tour in Paris, Mexico, Russia, Romania, and Bulgaria.
This season Mr. Goldstein performs in such cities as Philadelphia, Washington DC, Vienna, Berlin, and Milano. His concerts include return engagements with the Israel Chamber Orchestra, Jerusalem Camerata, Jerusalem Symphony, and the Bach Festival Orchestra. He will make his debut with the Holland Symphony and the Wilmington Symphony.
Recent concerto highlights include an appearance with the Indianapolis Symphony as part of a Prokofiev Concerto cycle, a Mozart Double Concerto in a return to the Gilmore Festival, Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 1 with the Kansas City Symphony, and performances of Beethoven and Mozart concerti on fortepiano with Mercury Houston. Recital and chamber music performances, including concerts with the Goldstein-Peled-Fiterstein Trio, include series in New York, Burlington, Yellow Springs, Jasper, and Clarksville, among others.
He recently returned to Vienna for the Lieven Piano Foundation and is in demand for in-person and virtual masterclasses and residencies worldwide. His 2020 online recitals and series of online chats entitled “Alon Not Alone” drew audiences from around the globe.
Memorable experiences from recent seasons include an appearance as soloist with the Chicago Symphony at Ravinia in the Mozart Double Concerto, K. 365 with Katherine Jacobson Fleisher and in the Triple Concerto, K. 242 with Leon Fleisher and Ms. Jacobson Fleisher; the premiere of Lost Souls with the Kansas City Symphony and Michael Stern, a work written for him by the noted Israeli composer Avner Dorman; his successful debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Vladimir Jurowski playing Mendelssohn Concerto No. 1; and his Carnegie Hall debut in the Mozart Triple Concerto with Joseph Kalichstein and Shai Wosner.
Mr. Goldstein has appeared at the Gilmore, Santa Fe, Tanglewood, Ravinia, Marlboro, Seattle, and Steamboat festivals in the United States, as well as Prussia Cove, the Verbier Festival, and Klavier Festival in Rühr. He has also performed at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and at Millennium Park in Chicago with the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra. A passionate advocate for music education, his recent teaching engagements have included posts at the Steans Institute of the Ravinia Festival, the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, and at the “Tel Hai” international piano masterclasses in Israel, in addition to extended educational residencies across the country.
Mr. Goldstein also maintains an active recording presence on the Naxos label, including his series of Mozart piano concerti (arranged by Ignaz Lachner) with the Fine Arts Quartet (Nos. 19 & 25 in December 2023; 2021 release nominated for a 2022 Grammy Award), Dvorak piano trios with the Tempest Trio, and an album of Scarlatti piano sonatas (June 2020). The Phillips Collection in Washington, DC chose a live recording of one of Mr. Goldstein’s recitals there for its first CD release.
He serves as the Artistic Director of the Lieven Piano Foundation summer school in Vienna, as well as the Artistic Director of the Mt. Angel Abbey Bach Festival in Oregon, and Co-Director of The Distinguished Artists Concert & Lecture Series in Santa Cruz, CA. He is also the founder of the Emerald Coast Music Alliance, whose annual festival in Florida is devoted to sharing the beauty of classical music to under-served communities free of charge.
Mr. Goldstein graduated from the Peabody Conservatory where he studied with Leon Fleisher and served as his assistant – a position assigned only to his most exceptional students. In 2019, Mr. Goldstein was elected to the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars, an honor bestowed upon graduates of the institution who have achieved excellence in their field. He is one of only two Peabody graduates to have been selected. A dedicated and creative teacher, Mr. Goldstein holds the Strandberg Endowed Chair, Distinguished Visiting Piano Professor at the UMKC Conservatory.
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Please visit Alon Goldstein online at alongoldstein.com and on Instagram (@alongoldsteinpiano) and Facebook (@alongoldsteinofficial) for additional information about touring, recordings, and special projects. His most recent recordings appear on the Naxos and Centaur labels.
Itamar Zorman
Awarded the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award for 2014, violinist Itamar Zorman is the winner of the 2013 Avery Fisher Career Grant, and the 2011 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Russia.
Mr. Zorman has performed as a soloist with such orchestras as the Mariinsky Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, New World Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, KBS Symphony Seoul, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, German Radio Philharmonic, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Kremerata Baltica and American Symphony, conductors Zubin Mehta, Michael Tilson-Thomas, David Robertson, James DePreist, Karina Canellakis, and Nathalie Stutzmann, at Avery Fisher Hall, Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, Tonhalle Zurich, Tokyo’s Suntory Hall and Amsterdam Concertgebouw.
As a recitalist he performed at Carnegie Hall’s Distinctive Debut series, Wigmore Hall, People’s Symphony Concerts, the Louvre Museum, Suntory Hall and Frankfurt Radio.
Mr. Zorman was invited to the Verbier, Marlboro, Rheingau, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Bowdoin and Radio France Festivals. He is a member of the Israeli Chamber project, and a member of the Lysander Piano Trio, which won the 2012 Concert Artists Guild Competition.
He has released solo CD’s with First Hand Records, BIS Records, and Hänssler Profil.
Mr. Zorman studied at the Jerusalem Academy, The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music and the Kronberg Academy, working with Sylvia Rosenberg, Christian Tetzlaff and Mauricio Fuks. He is currently a Visiting Guest Artist at the Eastman School of Music. Mr. Zorman plays a 1734 Guarneri Del Gesù violin from the collection of Yehuda Zisapel.