On Saturday, October 19, at 7 pm, Kent Chamber Music will open its 2013 – 2014 season at its new location, Hotchkiss Recital Hall, Gibson Center for the Arts at Washington College in Chestertown. To begin its season, KCM welcomes American Double, featuring Philip Ficsor, violinist, and Constantine Finehouse, pianist. Mr. Finehouse has amazed the Kent Chamber Music audience for two years with the brilliance of his performance. This year he will be performing with Philip Ficsor, whose playing is described as “luminous” by the Santa Barbara Independent.
Both performers have won numerous awards for their musicianship. They have recently released a highly acclaimed recording of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer William Bolcom’s complete works for violin and piano. The Bolcom Project included a double-CD and a national tour. The recording was praised as “indispensable to any serious collector with an interest in later 20th century duo repertoire for violin and piano.”
Philip Ficsor, an enthusiastic advocate for contemporary American composers, recently released his third recording, “Summer Day”, featuring the complete works for violin and piano of Emma Lou Diemer, with the composer at the keyboard. He received his DMA from Boston University, an MM from Yale University and his BA in Violin Performance from The University of Michigan. His recording of William Bolcom’s complete works for violin and piano with Mr. Finehouse was “strongly recommended” by Fanfare Magazine and The Strad called his playing of Bolcom’s Suite for Solo Violin “beautifully managed and well-prepared”. He is an Associate Professor of Violin at Westmont College.
Constantine Finehouse has performed extensively in the U.S. and abroad since receiving his Masters in Piano Performance from Yale University as a student of Boris Berman. Mr. Finehouse has played with numeous orchestras in the Boston area and has given a number of solo and chamber music performances in the city’s best halls. He is currently recording the complete solo piano works by William Bolcom for Naxos Records. He completed his undergraduate work at The Juilliard School under the guidance of Herbert Stessin and Jerome Lowenthal.
American Double was founded in 2002 by Fiscor and Finehouse with a vision of enriching their performances with works by composers of American heritage. The duo has performed at Yale University’s New Music New Haven as well as at New York’s Steinway Hall in addition to concerts across the US and in Europe. They seek to imbue their performances of the classics with a freshness that comes from a combination of passion and musicological insight garnered through years of academic training.
For Saturday’s performance, their selections include Sonata for violin and piano No. 7 in C Minor, Op. 30/2 by Beethoven, Sonata for violin and piano No. 1 in G Major, Op. 78 by Johann Brahms, and Graceful Ghost Rag-concert variation by William Bolcom.
We hope you will join us for this wonderful evening of music in our new location at Hotchkiss Recital Hall, made possible in part by the generous financial support of the Hedgelawn Foundation and Kent County Arts Council.
Tickets are $15 at the door. Visit our website at www.kentchambermusic.com or call 410-810-1834 for more information about the program and performers.
Write a Letter to the Editor on this Article
We encourage readers to offer their point of view on this article by submitting the following form. Editing is sometimes necessary and is done at the discretion of the editorial staff.