Ensemble Vista Lirica
Neil Rynston, clarinet,
Lawrence Zoernig, cello,
Beth Levin, piano
with guest artist Laufey Sigurðardóttir, violin
Sunday September 20, 2009 at 2:30pm
Programme
- Khachaturian - Trio in g-minor for clarinet, violin and piano
- Simic' - The Moments for clarinet, cello and piano
- Zemlinsky - Andante con una fantasia from Trio in d-minor, Op. 3 for clarinet, cello and piano
- Ives - Trio for violin cello and piano
- Brahms - Trio in a-minor, Op. 114 for clarinet, cello and piano
“Vista Lirica” from the Italian; ‘lyric perspective’.
Vista Lirica is a collective of musicians and other artists who recognize the importance of Romanticism in our present time. These 19th century artists saw man's degradation of Nature clearly, and with equal clarity illuminated the world through music, art, poetry and writing. Science, in its current efforts at repairing the Earth, for example, through developing hydrogen fuel and solar power, needs a consciousness of Nature and of aesthetic beauty as its counterpart. The Statement of Purpose, Notes from Isador and the program notes from our concerts which follow on this site bring this introduction and mission statement into sharper focus.
Bios
Neil Rynston, Clarinet
Neil Rynston’s career has been diverse and innovative. He has been concerto soloist and principal clarinetist with several orchestras in New York and Europe, including Musik‑ kollegium Winterthur (formerly, the Stadtorchester Winterthur) in Switzerland where he performed Debussy’s Première Rhapsodie at the Stadthaus Winterthur, and the Vivaldi Tra‑ velling Virtuosi (NYC) with whom he performed Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A, KV 622 and Bärmann’s Adagio for Solo Clarinet and
String Orchestra. He is presently the principal clarinetist and orchestra manager of the New York Sinfonia under the direction of Maestro Tali Makell and the Cosmopolitan Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Bernard Rubenstein. In the 2008‑09 season he will perform Copland’s Clarinet Concerto with Maestro Makell and the New York Sinfonia. He has also collaborated with such luminaries as David del Tredici for whom he contracted the ensemble for and performed in his monodrama Dracula for del Tredici’s 70th birthday gala and Lowell Liebermann for whom he assisted in the revision of his Quintet for clarinet, violin, viola, ’cello and piano.
An experienced chamber musician, Mr. Rynston has been a repeated guest recitalist at the American Landmark Series NY), the Dame Myra Hess Series (Chicago), Trinity Church Summer Series (NY), the Glencairn Series (Philadelphia), the Frye Museum (Seattle); has been featured on KING FM (Seattle).
The performances were expressive, musically alive and technically brilliant. The Fantasy Pieces of Schumann showed off the strong suits of the clarinetist. Rynston's tone always sang, was unerringly in tune and the quality of his tone held even, from the lowest to the highest register. . . The slow movement of the Beethoven [Op. 11 Trio] gave this listener a hint of what paradise must be all about. . . The musically aware audience responded to a simply wonderful performance with enthusiasm. ‑‑ Morton Gold (Journal Tribune, July 31, 2008)
In 2004 he founded the chamber music ensemble Vista Lirica. Vista Lirica had its inaugural concert in New York in 2005. In the 2006‑7 season Vista Lirica will be performing in Sante Fe, Sanford (Maine), and New York. After many years of improvising and studying Jewish music at Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in New York, he composed several virtuoso solo works for clarinet based on Jewish cantorial arias. The Cantorial Arias have been choreographed in collaboration with Cathy Ward (Erick Hawkins Company). Mr. Rynston’s recording of these works has been used for a critically acclaimed production of Shana Mad’l in London’s Kings’ Theatre and for several documentaries.
As principal clarinetist and orchestra manager of Opera Manhattan (1991‑1998), he developed an orchestra comprised of distinguished soloists. This company presented its Lincoln Center début at Alice Tully Hall in 1997.
Opera Manhattan was formed to present productions of various neglected operas in theaters around town. Its other driving goal was to raise money for AIDS research and care. In both areas the company has made notable contributions to the city¼ The orchestra playing was stylistically assured. ‑‑ Anthony Tommasini (New York Times)
In “Pleurez mes yeux,” from Le Cid, clarinetist Neil Rynston eloquently limned Chimène’s pathos with stirring virtuosity. ‑‑ Bruce‑Michael Gelbert (New York Native)
After having received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Oberlin Conservatory, Mr. Rynston continued his professional training with the legendary Robert Marcellus at Northwestern University, chosen as one of three out of almost 1,000 prospectives. He was invited by Gunther Schuller to perform at the Sandpoint Chamber Music Festival in Idaho in 1987. That same year he received a stipend to study at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. He has also studied arts management and German literature at New York University’s Gallatin Division.
In February 2007 he joined the faculty of the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music where he teaches classical clarinet and chamber music.
Laufey Sigurðardóttir, Violinist
Laufey Sigurðardóttir was born and raised in Reykjavik Iceland. She graduated from the Reykjavik Conservatory and took post-gratuate studies in the United States with Professor Neikrug. Later she took lessons with Grumiaux in Belgium and received a state grant from the Italian government to study in Rome. Laufey has appeared as a recitalist and chamber musician in all of the Scandinavian countries, The Netherlands, Spain and Russia and premiered a number of pieces written especially for her. Laufey is a permanent member of the Icelandic Symphony Orcestra and teaches violin at the Reykjavik Conservatory as well as being an artistic director of a Mozart festival in Reykjavik and an annual music festival held in the north of Iceland.
Lawrence Zoernig, Cello
Lawrence Zoernig has been principal ‘cellist of many New York symphony and chamber orchestras including New York Chamber Orchestra, Bachanalia and Opera Manhattan. Mr. Zoernig premièred Lars-Erik Larsson’s Concertino for ‘Cello and String Orchestra at Trinity Church with the New York Scandia Symphony, for which he is also principal ‘cellist.
As a chamber musician, he has performed with Goliard Ensemble and the Cosmopolitan Chamber Players. He has appeared with such noted artists as violinists Nina Beilina, Sidney Harth and Mark Peskanov and clarinetist Charles Neidich; and dance ensembles including the famous Paul Taylor Dance Company and the David Parsons Dance Company. He has appeared as soloist and chamber musician at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center, Steinway Hall in New York and the Phillips Collection and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. In April 2005 he was invited to play for President Jimmy Carter at the Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia. As a concert artist on the international scene, Mr. Zoernig has also been presented at the Teatro Amazones in Manaus, Brazil and the World Expo in Seville, Spain and has also performed extensively on Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth II, Caronia, Vistafjord, Sagafjord and Royal Viking Sun throughout the world.
Meet the Composer Foundation recently provided Mr. Zoernig with a grant for his work as a composer of music for ‘cello. Additionally, he maintains an active teaching schedule and is presently a faculty member of the Sylvan Academy of Music in Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Lawrence Zoernig was born in 1960 in Sioux City, Iowa. He began studying ‘cello at age eight in his home town. He received a Bachelor of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music where he studied with Alan Harris, and a Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School where he studied with Harvey Shapiro. At Juilliard he also worked with Felix Galimir, Joel Krosnick, John Cage, Albert Fuller and Jaap Schröder. He plays a ‘cello made by Tim Hulley completed in 2004.
Beth Levin, Piano
Beth Levin is an acclaimed recitalist, concerto soloist, chamber musician and recording artist. “A pianist of rare qualities and the highest professional caliber” states pianist Paul Badura Skoda of Levin, and throughout her celebrated career she has approached both the Romantic repertoire and contemporary composers with equal facility and grace.
At age 12, Levin made her debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and soon after was selected to study with Rudolf Serkin at the Curtis Institute of Music. “Mr. Serkin was an inspiration the moment he walked into a room,” Levin recalls, “a single word evoking the eloquence of a poem.”
Levin made her New York solo recital debut in 1982 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, In 2007 she performed Johann Sebastian Bach¹s Goldberg Variations at Steinway Hall in New York City, a return for her to a composer “in the first repertoire I had studied as a child.” As a concerto soloist, Levin has appeared with The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Boston Civic Symphony, the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, and numerous other symphony orchestras throughout the Americas, working with noted conductors such as William Smith, Arthur Fiedler, Benjamin Zander, Tonu Kalam, Sidney Rothstein, Milton Katims, Silas Huff and Joseph Silverstein.
Chamber music festival collaborations brought her to the Marlboro Festival, Casals Festival, Harvard, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the Ankara Music Festival and the Blue Hill Festival. As a “Music From Marlboro” artist, she toured the United States and Canada.
A founding member of the Gramercy Trio, the American Arts Trio and Vista Lirica, Levin has also collaborated with the Audubon Quartet, the Vermeer Quartet, The Reykjavik Woodwind Quintet, the Daniel Quartet, the Boston Artists Ensemble and the Saratoga Chamber Players, as well as touring Europe extensively with Trio Borealis. In 2004, Levin traveled with Poetica Musica under the auspices of the U.S.States Department, performing and giving master classes in Croatia, Serbia and Turkey.
Levin's recordings include Bach’s Goldberg Variations, released on Centaur Records in 2008, as well as Schubert's “Wanderer Fantasy” and Scott Wheeler's “Artist Proofs” both of which were released for the Taubman Institute Recordings. For Columbia Masterworks, she recorded the Hummel “Quintet in D Minor.” Her performances have been broadcast on National
Public Radio, WGBH (Boston), WFMT (Chicago) and WNYC, WNYE and WQXR (New
York).
As a soloist, chamber musician and interpreter of contemporary music, Levin performed and recorded works by Alan Campbell, Marc Eychenne, Brian Fennelly, Steven R. Gerber, Alexander Goretzky, Louis Karchin, Michael Rose, Allen Shearer, Scott Wheeler and David Del Tredici.
Beth Levin¹s musical education began with Maryan Filar at the Settlement Music School in Philadelphia, and in addition to Rudolf Serkin, her teachers included Leonard Shure at Boston University and Dorothy Taubman in New York City.
“Ms. Levin kept the ear engaged with boldly inflected readings and an
impressive ability to convey emotion without exhibition. Her technique was
solid, and better still, her organic approach made it feel like an
afterthought.” Jeremy Eichler, The New York Times
“Over the years, Levin has transformed herself. The flame within still burns
with undimmed intensity, but now there is warmth as well as blinding light”
Richard Dyer, The Boston Globe
“A pianist of rare qualities and the highest professional caliber. I was
deeply impressed and moved by her performance at the last Marlboro
Festival.” Paul Badura Skoda
