STAMFORD, CT - The TREETOPS CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY continues its fall concert season in Stamford presenting the Lysander Piano Trio and the Harmonium Saxophone Quartet, joint 1st prize winners at the 2011 Arriaga Competition. This is a great opportunity to hear violinist Itamar Zorman, who after winning at the Arriaga Competition in Stamford, went on to winning the top prize at the prestigious Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, Russia. The first half of the concert at Treetops CMS will feature the Harmonium Quartet performing Piazzolla’s Four For Tango, Noda’s Les Oiseaux, Donatoni’s Rasch, Albright’s Selections from Fantasy Etudes and a world première by Butera; while the second half of the program will feature the Lysander Trio performing Dvorak’s Piano Trio in F Minor, Op. 65.
The Arriaga Competition, which Treetops CMS founded in 2008 to foster the next generation of chamber musicians, has consistently produced some of the most exciting programs of the season at Treetops, in part for the tremendous energy of these ensembles, in part for the refreshing new repertoire. The Arriaga Winners are outstanding ensembles at the start of professional careers, with members not exceeding 30 years of age.
Treetops CMS presents an art exhibit at each one of its concerts. On October 23, an art exhibit by Marina Shrady will be on display at Treetops. A free reception will follow the concert, allowing concertgoers to enjoy the artwork and to meet the artists.
LYSANDER PIANO TRIO
Bronze Medal winner and highest ranked piano trio in the 2010 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, the Lysander Piano Trio was formed by graduate students at The Juilliard School in New York in the fall of 2009. Only two months after its inception, the ensemble was selected to represent Juilliard in a special concert in Mexico City on occasion of President Polisi's visit to Mexico.
Lysander Trio gave its Alice Tully Hall full recital debut in April 2010. The ensemble was invited to participate in a master class with Ida Kavafian at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and was recently selected as a finalist for the Coleman Chamber Music Competition to take place in Pasadena, CA in April 2011. At Juilliard, Lysander Trio is studying with Seymour Lipkin as well as Ronald Copes of the Juilliard String Quartet and has received additional instruction from Joseph Kalichstein of the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio and Sylvia Rosenberg. The trio is named after a character from Shakespeare's Midsummernights Dream, whose famous line: "the course of true love never did run smooth," can serve as a useful reminder for a chamber group that aspires to longevity. The group members are violinist Itamar Zorman, cellist Michael Katz and pianist Liza Stepanova.
HARMONIUM SAXOPHONE QUARTET
Formed in 2010 in Bowling Green, OH, the Harmonium Quartet is comprised of unique saxophonists coming from differing backgrounds. William Conn, born in New Jersey, received his bachelors of music performance from Northwestern University where he studied with Dr. Frederick L. Hemke. William is an active teacher and soloist throughout North America and has performed in master classes with Claude Delangle and Cliff Leaman. Po-Fang Chang, a Taiwanese saxophonist, is an active soloist throughout both Asia and North America. At the age of 16, Po-Fang received the 2nd Prize of the Hsing Tien Kong Music Competition at Taipei, Taiwan in 2001. Collin Stegeman, born in Northern Kentucky, is a newcomer to the group and is currently studying music history as a graduate student, as well as studying saxophone. While a member of the Orpheus Saxophone Quartet at Morehead State University, he enjoyed success in competitions, making the finals of the Coleman Chamber Music Competition. Sheldon Johnson, born and raised in Southwest Virginia, is an active soloist and teacher in both North America and Europe and holds a bachelors of music performance from Northwestern University. In December 2010, Sheldon won the Bowling Green State University Concerto Competition and had the opportunity to perform with the BGSU Philharmonia. In 2010, William, Po-Fang, and Sheldon won the BGSU Chamber Competition. Dr. John Sampen is the coach of the Harmonium Quartet.
ARTIST MARINA SHRADY
Marina Shrady earned her BFA at the School of Visual Arts and was awarded a merit scholarship from the National Arts Club in Manhattan where she studied art with visionaries such as Will Barnett. She is the granddaughter of sculptor Henry M. Shrady and daughter of artist/sculptor Frederick Shrady. As a child, she spent many hours with her father as he worked in his studio and herself developed as an artist from those influences growing up, which may account for some of the sculptural qualities of her work.
Marina Shrady has shown at the Fernando Luis Alvarez gallery, the Bendheim gallery School of Visual Arts Gallery in Manhattan, the Duluth Art Institute, the Elaine Benson Gallery in Bridgehampton, NY, the Clarke Galleries in Palm Beach and Stowe, Vermont and the Clarke Fine Arts Gallery in Manhattan, as well as other private galleries in the metropolitan New York area. Tommy Mottola and Michael Bolton are two of many clients who have commissioned work from Ms. Shrady. Her clients include corporate executives, celebrities and private collectors in the New York region.
Marina Shrady continues to create inspired contemporary artwork at her mid-century studio and retreat along the Mianus River in Fairfield County, CT and counts among her influences artists Helen Frankenthaler and William de Kooning: “My work is a compilation of various influences as well as my own view of nature as it exists realistically and abstractly through an artist’s lens; the use of color has always played a critical part in my interpretation of subjects as it conveys the mood and feel of the overall painting.”
