Elektra Ensemble with Susan Thomas – March 24, 7 PM

 
Elektra Ensemble with harpist Susan Thomas – March 24, 7 PM
Founders Hall at Tunxis Community College
271 Scott Swamp Road, Farmington, CT

Program:

G.F. Handel – Concerto in Bb for Harp, Piano and Basso Continuo

Camille Saint- Saens -Fantaisie for violin and harp, Op. 124

Ernest Chausson – Piano Trio, Op.3

Harpist Susan Knapp Thomas received her Bachelor’s Degree from the Eastman School of Music, and is a well-known Chamber, Orchestral and Solo Concert Artist and teacher throughout Connecticut and Southern New England. Ms.Thomas has been featured in concert at The Sunken Garden Poetry Festival, the Trinity College Summer Concert Series, The Mt. Washington Hotel in New Hampshire, SUNY Cobleskill, and for Hartford’s New World Chamber Ensemble Series. She appeared with world reknowned flutist Brad Garner at the National Flute Convention, and is co-founder of her own flute and harp duos and flute, harp and ‘cello trios, for which she has made several arrangements. In 2005 she premiered a new work written by Connecticut composer Sarah Meneely-Kyder.  Susan performes ragurlary with Hartford Symphony, Waterbury Symphony, and the Rhode Island Philharmonic and has performed  with U.S. Coast Guard Band. Ms. Thomas plays with touring shows for the Bushnell and the Shubert Theaters in Hartford and New Haven. She has performed for artists such as Frank Sinatra Jr, Judy Collins, the group “Yes”, the Beach Boys, Brian Wilson, Peter Cetera as well as Senator Joseph Lieberman. Her recently released CD, Everlasting Sunday, was a finalist by the Greater Hartford Arts Council . She is also recorded on the Opus label. As a soloist, Ms. Thomas has been featured with I Giovanni Solisti, the Farmington Valley and Wallingford Symphonies, and the Connecticut Valley Chamber Orchestra. Ms. Thomas is on the faculty at MusicMakers Academy in Manchester, Trinity College, and Central Connecticut State University. Her students were first and second and third prize winners in the American Harp Society Connecticut Chapter Harp Competition. Ms. Thomas is a regular contributing writer to “The Harp Column” magazine.

Albanian violin prodigy Brunilda Myftaraj has drawn enthusiastic accolades from audiences as well as critical acclaim for her masterful musicianship in her native Albania, as well as Italy, Greece, France, Marocco, Austria, Switzerland, Poland and in the United States. She has been praised recently by the New London Day critic as an “especially fine and beautiful player”. In the United States She has performed as soloist with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra of which she is now a concertmistress, and presented recitals at the Piano and Friends Chamber Music series in Tucson Arizona, Mostly Mozart series in Napa Valley, the Schubert Club and Music in the Park in Minneapolis and more.  She has been featured on radio stations in NY, CT and MA. The first prize winner of the Van Rooy competition, Emerson Quartet competition she was also a semifinalist and participant in prestigious competitions such as the Young Artist Guild in NY, Indianapolis International Violin Competition and the Lipizer Competition in Gorizia, Italy. Ms. Myftaraj graduated with the Highest Honors from the renowned Conservatory of Fine Arts in Tirana, and has studied throughout Europe and the United States.  Her teachers have included, Proletare Skenderi, Piero Faulli of the Quartetto Italiano, Alberto Lissy, Phil Setzer, Eugene Drucker of the Emerson String Quartet, Rafael Druian and Renato Bonacini. Brunilda teaches and is the Executive Director of the Virtuosi Music Academy in Farmington CT.

Cellist, Melissa M Morgan’s playing has been hailed as “deeply resonant” and “vibrant” by the Hartford Courant.  An avid chamber musician, she has performed extensively throughout the United States and Canada, as a member of the Bella Cosi String Quartet, the New World Trio and most recently in the Elektra Ensemble.  Melissa has been heard on radio broadcasts in New Mexico, California and Connecticut.  Dedicated to bringing new music to the concert stage, she has had the privilege of collaborating with Bright Sheng, Ken Steen, The Robb Foundation in New Mexico and many others. Melissa earned a Bachelor of Music from the Eastman School of Music and a Master of Music from the San Francisco Conservatory.  Her studies have taken her to Heidelberg, Germany, Bowdoin, the Yellow Barn and Meadowmount.  Melissa’s primary teachers have been Stephen Doane and Bonnie Hampton, and she has studied chamber music with Issac Stern, Isadore Cohen, Daniel Ashalomov, Paul Katz, the Juilliard String Quartet, the Guarneri String Quartet and the St. Lawrence String Quartet. Melissa taught cello at the University of New Mexico, was principal cellist of the Santa Fe Ballet, and was a member of the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of Albuquerque.  She has also been on the faculty of the San Francisco Community Music Center and the Green Street Center of Performing Arts in Middletown, CT.

Hailed by Gramophone as a “star of the future” and acclaimed by Germany’s Piano Magazine for the “elegance and rapturous beauty” of his music-making, pianist Igor Lovchinsky has performed at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Auditorium, the Bushnell Center, the Eastman Theater and the Ohio Theater. Internationally, he has presented recitals at the National Philharmonic Hall in Warsaw, the American Embassy n Beijing and the Rosza Centre in Calgary.  Recently, his debut album on the Ivory Classics label was selected as one of the top five recordings of 2008 by Time Out International. An avid exponent of new music, Mr. Lovchinsky has championed works by Norman Dello Joio, Rodion Schedrin, Heather Schmidt, Avner Dorman,  Nikolai Kapustin and Earl Wild.As concerto soloist, Mr. Lovchinsky has performed with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra (OH) and the Florida International University Symphony Orchestra. In addition, his performance of Chopin’s First Concerto with the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra was broadcast on WQXR radio in New York and was featured as the soundtrack of the independent film “Romance Larghetto” by director Pablo Goldbarg. Born in Kazan, Russia, Igor began his studies at the Kazan Special Music School for Gifted Children and after coming to the United States garnered first prizes at the Eastman International Piano Competition and the National Chopin Piano Competition of the Kosciuszko Foundation.  Igor holds degrees from the Juilliard School and the New England Conservatory. His teachers have included Nina Polonsky, Steven Glaser, Jerome Lowenthal, Patricia Zander, and Wha-Kyung Byun.

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Welcome to Virtuosi Music Academy.

Our music school is located in Farmington, CT and collaborates with Tunxis Community College. We offer many programs for different age groups (4y/o to Adult) in Piano, Violin, Viola, Cello, Bass, Music Theory, Group lessons for beginners and Chamber Music Coaching. In the effort to gather and help the young talent in and around the state, we have created the” Tuition Free Program”for students junior to senior year in High School. This program is by Audition only and the students that are selected get to study at the academy for one year tuition free. To apply or support this program please contact us by phone or simply sign up on our email list and leave a comment. The Faculty of our Music School consists of exceptional musicians of the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra and other prominent artist from around the state. Virtuosi Music Academy presents a series of Chamber Music Concerts featuring international artists as well as our Faculty members. To learn more about the series, please visit the link http://academy.thevirtuosi.org/music-school-concerts/. To register for lessons at our music school call (860) 944-0423 or e mail at virtuosiacademy@yahoo.om