Program:
Jean Françaix - String Trio in C Major
Paul Schoenfield - Café Music
Gabriel Fauré - Piano Quartet No.1, Op.15
Location:
The Heritage Chamber
Vallejo Navel & Historical Museum
734 Marin Street, Vallejo, CA 94590
Musician Bios:
Acclaimed for her “technical flair and gleaming tone” (The Berkshire Eagle) and for “possessing a big sound and a warm tone” (TwinCities.com), violinist Alicia Choi is an engaging artist known for her passionate playing and imaginative programming. Her current season includes performances as Guest Concertmaster of the Kingston Symphony, concerts at the Chapelle historique du Bon-Pasteur, Festival de Lanaudière, Salle Bourgie Musée des Beaux-arts de Montréal, Les Concerts Sine Nomine as well as concerts across Québec in Marcel-Proust - la musique retrouvée, a new production by Agence Station Bleue. Past performances include concerts in the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Faculty Recitals, New Brunswick Summer Music Festival, and the Thy Chamber Music Festival. Her solos with orchestra include performances with Atlantic Music Festival, Berkshire Symphony, and Queens Symphony Orchestras under conductors Ronald Feldman, Constantine Kitsopoulos, and Julian Kuerti.
Alicia has previously served as an Artistic Director and Faculty of the inaugural Harlaxton Chamber Music Festival in Grantham England, as well as performing and teaching faculty at the University of Florida ChamberFest, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Chamber Music Workshop, and Camp Musical Père Lindsay in Saint-Côme, Québec. From 2013 to 2017, Alicia was an Artist-in-Residence Faculty of the University of Evansville, Associate Concertmaster of the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra, and a member of the Larchmere String Quartet. As a member of the LSQ, Alicia has toured and taught in various North American cities and institutions; performed at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Italy; won the Evansville Mayor’s Arts Ensemble Award; and released the first commercial recording of the Stephan Krehl String Quartet and Clarinet Quintet on Naxos Records.
A graduate of Williams College and The Juilliard School, Alicia holds a Doctor of Music in violin performance from McGill University Schulich School of Music, where she has been an Instructor of Chamber Music since 2017.
Israeli violist Yoni Gertner was born in 1984. He started playing the violin at the age of five and went on to study at the Kfar Saba Conservatory, the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance and at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. His main teachers and mentors are Atar Arad, Hagai Shaham, Michael Gaisler, Paul Welt and Zachary Chanin. Growing up, Gertner was a member of the Jerusalem Music Center’s Young Musicians Program and served in the Israel Defense Force as an outstanding musician. He was a recipient of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation scholarship and the Barbara and David Jacobs fellowship at the Jacobs School of Music, where he also held a position of Associate Instructor. Gertner won prizes in several competitions including ones held at the Jerusalem Academy and at the Jacobs School of Music.
As a chamber musician Gertner collaborated with Joshua Bell, Atar Arad, Hagai Shaham, Rudolph Koelman, Mihaela Martin, Giora Feidman, Kirill Gerstein, the Rubens Quartet, the Apple Hill Quartet and many more. He took part in major music festivals in Europe and in Israel, collaborated with several ensembles specializing in new music and performed as soloist with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra and other ensembles.
A passionate educator, Gertner has led masterclasses in Israel and across the USA and he is on the teaching faculty of Hassadna Conservatory in Jerusalem, the annual chamber music workshop at Brandeis University and at the Apple Hill center for chamber music. Gertner is a member of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and as such he is fortunate to perform regularly across the globe on some of the world’s most prestigious stages alongside some of its leading musicians.
Benicia Chamber Players Director Brady Anderson is a highly acclaimed cellist and pedagogue. At just fifteen years old, he made his solo debut performing Joseph Haydn's Cello Concerto in C Major, marking the beginning of a successful career filled with numerous prizes from competitions such as the Music Teachers National Association and the American String Teachers Association.
In addition to BCP, Brady is also Artistic Director of the Pleasanton Chamber Players and a founding member of the Verve Trio. Brady has had the privilege of collaborating with musicians from around the world, performing in halls in Germany, Austria, Czechia, Hungary, Greece, Canada, and Slovakia, as well as across the US. He has honed his chamber music skills under the tutelage of renowned musicians including Menahem Pressler, Jorja Fleezanis, and members of the Pacifica String Quartet, Juilliard String Quartet, JACK Quartet, and Miró Quartet.
As a dedicated and in-demand teacher, Brady maintains a private cello studio in Dublin, CA with fifty students. In recent years, his students have won over a hundred prizes in various competitions and play in some of California's top youth orchestras.
Brady holds a Master of Music in Cello Performance from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he was awarded the Janos Starker Scholarship. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music from the University of California, Berkeley and studied under Irene Sharp, Jonathan Koh, and Peter Stumpf.
Brady plays a W. H. Hammig cello from Leipzig, 1890.
Known for her verve and sensitivity, Japanese pianist Futaba Niekawa pushes the boundaries of her artistry as a soloist and collaborative pianist across genres and disciplines. She has performed throughout the United States, Canada, England, Spain, Taiwan, and Japan and to date has released five recordings (PARMA Recordings, Petrichor Records) and her live performances have been recorded for radio broadcast.
In demand as a collaborative pianist, Niekawa has performed with Atar Arad, James Campbell, Charles Castleman, and the members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, among others. She has been engaged as a collaborative pianist at the Banff Centre, New England Conservatory, Meadowmount School of Music, and the IU Summer String Academy. Praised as “a beautifully balanced duo” by Gramophone Magazine, Niekawa’s long-term duo partnership with violinist Kerry DuWors, duo526, has led to numerous performances, recordings, and artist residencies at the Banff Centre and Avaloch Farm Music Institute. Niekawa’s passion for multi-disciplinary collaboration and performing music of her generation have developed into artistic partnerships with composers, dancers, poets, and visual artists. In her leisure-time she plays free-improvisation.
Niekawa is currently a Lecturer in Music (Chamber and Collaborative Music) at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. She earned her Doctorate of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music. Her dedication to pedagogy, mentoring, and performance practice is shown through workshops at duo526’s annual Sonata Seminar, and invitations as a guest teacher at universities across North America.