American pianist VICTOR ROSENBAUM has performed widely as soloist and chamber music performer in the United States, Europe, Asia, Israel, and Russia in such prestigious halls as Tully Hall in New York and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia and in such cities as New York, Chicago, Tokyo, St. Petersburg, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Vienna. He has collaborated with such artists as Leonard Rose, Arnold Steinhardt, Robert Mann, Joseph Silverstein, Malcolm Lowe, and the Brentano and Cleveland String Quartets, among others. Festival appearances have included Tanglewood, the Rockport Chamber Music Festival, Kfar Blum and Tel Hai (in Israel), Yellow Barn, Kneisel Hall (Blue Hill), Musicorda, Masters de Pontlevoy (France), the Heifetz Institute, the International Keyboard Institute and Festival in New York, the International Musik Seminar in Vienna, and the Bowdoin International Music Festival.
A faculty member at New England Conservatory since 1967, he is past Chair of both the Piano and Chamber Music departments. Rosenbaum also teaches at the Mannes College of Music in New York and has given master classes at London’s Royal Academy of Music, Royal College of Music and the Guildhall School, the conservatories of St. Petersburg and Moscow, and such other institutions as the Menuhin School, the Toho School in Tokyo, Beijing Central Conservatory and the Jerusalem Music Center. He was Visiting Professor of Piano at the Eastman School, a guest teacher at Juilliard, and gives lectures, workshops, and master classes for teachers’ groups and schools both in the U. S. and abroad. During his tenure as Director and President of the Longy School of Music from 1985 to 2001, the school established an internationally known degree-granting Conservatory division and greatly expanded its community and performance programs.
A student of Elizabeth Brock and Martin Marks in his hometown of Indianapolis, Rosenbaum later studied with Rosina Lhevinne at the Aspen Festival and with Leonard Shure while earning degrees at Brandeis and Princeton Universities, where he studied theory and composition. His highly praised recording of Schubert is on Bridge Records and a recording of the last three Beethoven sonatas on the same label was named by American Record Guide critic Alan Becker as one of the top ten classical recordings of 2005. Three discs on the Fleur de Son label feature music of Schubert and a Mozart.
Born into a family of well-known musicians in Shanghai, WEIGANG LI began studying the violin with his parents when he was 5 and went on to attend the Shanghai Conservatory at age 14. Three years later, in 1981, he was selected to go to study for one year at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music through the first cultural exchange program between the sister cities of Shanghai and San Francisco. in 1985, upon graduating from the Shanghai Conservatory, Weigang Li left China again to continue his studies at Northern Illinois University and later studied and taught at the Juilliard School as teaching assistant to the Juilliard Quartet. His teachers have included Shmuel Ashkenasi, Isadore Tinkleman, and Tan Shu-Chen.
Mr. Li was featured in the 1980 Oscar winning documentary film From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China. He made his solo debut at 17 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and has appeared as soloist with Shanghai Symphony, China Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony and Asian Youth Orchestra.
Weigang Li is a founding member and first violinist of the world-renowned Shanghai Quartet since 1983. Now in its 33rd season, the Shanghai Quartet has performed well over 2500 concerts in 35 countries; recorded 35 CD albums, including the complete Beethoven string quartets on Camerata label.
Weigang Li is on the faculty at Bard College Conservatory of Music in New York and Montclair State University in New Jersey. He also holds the title of guest concert-master of Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and guest professor at Shanghai Conservatory of Music and Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing.
Mr. Li plays on a rare1600 Giovanni Paolo Maggini violin (ex-Burmester), which is on a generous loan from Mr. Rin Kei Mei.
MICHAEL KATZ hailed by the press for his “bold, rich sound” (Strad Magazine) and “nuanced musicianship,” (New York Times) Israeli Cellist Michael Katz has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician in venues such as Weill Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Van Wezel Performing Arts Center, Tokyo’s Oji Hall, Eindhoven’s Philips Hall, Malaga’s Teatro Cervantes, and Jerusalem’s Henry Crown Auditorium. He has performed at music festivals such as Ravinia, Music@Menlo, Yellow Barn, Sarasota, Gretna, Malaga Clasica, Perlman Music Program, Orford, and Kfar Bloom, and has collaborated with conductors such as James DePriest, David Stern, Dongmin Kim, and Menachem Nebenhaus. His musicianship has been recognized with many awards, among them all three awards at the 2011 Aviv Competition, first prizes at the 2010 Juilliard School’s Concerto Competition, and the 2005 Turjeman Competition, as well as scholarships from the America Israel Cultural Foundation and the Ronen Foundation High in demand as a chamber musician, Mr. Katz has collaborated and performed with artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Midori, Laurence Lesser, Donald Weilerstein, David Finckel, Anthony Marwood, Peter Frankl, Charles Neidich, Roger Tapping, Lucy Chapman, Violaine Melancon, and Paul Biss. As the cellist of the Lysander Piano Trio, he was a winner of the 2012 Concert Artists Guild Competition, and was awarded first prizes at the 2011 Coleman Competition and 2011 J.C. Arriaga Competition. Their first album “After a Dream” was released in 2014 on CAG Records.
Deeply committed to community outreach and education, Mr. Katz is currently a Fellow in Ensemble ACJW, a program of Carnegie Hall and the Juilliard School which trains the next generation of performers to be artists and teachers that hold a deep commitment to the communities in which they live and work. He was previously selected to be part of a special string quartet led by Midori to play outreach concerts in Myanmar and Japan as part of the 2013-2014 International Community Engagement Program. As of 2015 Mr. Katz is on the faculty of Nyack College as an adjunct professor and has previously taught at the Csehy Summer School of Music and the Chamber Music Institute in Stamford, CT.
Mr. Katz has a great passion for expanding the cello repertoire with both lesser known and contemporary works. He has premiered works by Yehudi Wyner, Malcolm Payton, Vivian Fung, Reinaldo Moya, Sergio Natra, Ofer Ben-Amots, Mohammed Fairouz, Jakub Ciupinski, Eric Moe, Huang Ruo, Stefan Weisman, and others.
Born in Tel-Aviv Israel, Mr. Katz began his cello studies at age 7. Among his teachers in Israel were Zvi Plesser, Hillel Zori and the late Mikhail Khomitzer. Mr. Katz received his Bachelor of Music degree from the New England Conservatory where he studied with Laurence Lesser, his Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School where he studied with Joel Krosnick, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from SUNY Stony Brook as a student of Colin Carr.
Orchestra Performance
Violist VIVEK KAMATH joined the New York Philharmonic in January 1998. Mr. Kamath earned his bachelor’s degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music, studying with Donald Weilerstein. He has appeared as soloist with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and the Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra. An avid chamber musician, he has performed at the Marlboro, Ravinia, Sarasota, Blossom, and Bowdoin festivals. In 1997 Mr. Kamath was a prize-winner in the Washington International String Competition and in the Irving Klein International String Competition. In his spare time he enjoys playing tennis, studying wildlife, and dining out.
Since arriving in the United States in 1987, Chinese-born QIANG TU has established himself as a multifaceted artist much in demand. He won the San Angelo, Texas, Symphony Young Artist Competition in 1987, and the Grand Prize in the Downey Symphony Young Artist Competition of Los Angeles the following year. In 1994, he served as Principal Cellist of the Princeton Chamber Symphony. Mr. Tu joined the New York Philharmonic in November 1995. After making his solo debut at age 13 in Beijing, Mr. Tu began a two- year engagement as soloist with one of China’s major symphony orchestras. At age 17, he was awarded England’s Menuhin Prize as a member of the China Youth String Quartet, and was later selected by the Chinese government to study in the Sydney Conservatory. In that capacity, he toured the country giving chamber-music and solo recitals, including a concert broadcast live from the Sydney Opera House. The culmination of his Australian tenure came when he won Sydney’s Parlings Award for Music. Returning to Beijing, he was appointed, at age 20, Associate Professor of Cello at the Central Conservatory. Concrrently, he became Principal Cellist of the China Youth Symphony and concertized with the orchestra in Switzerland, West Germany, France, Belgium, Italy, and Great Britain. His solo album, Meditation, was distributed by the China Record Company.
In the United States, Mr. Tu has appeared in Chicago, St. Louis, New York, and other major cities. Early on, he gave a solo recital to benefit the Princeton Chamber Symphony and also performed the Dvořák Cello Concerto with the Greater Princeton Symphony. Additional performances included the Elgar and Walton cello concertos with the Princeton Chamber Symphony. He also performed in recital with pianist Helen Huang to benefit the New Jersey Chinese community.
Mr. Tu’s appearances also include six recitals in Taiwan, including one at the National Concert Hall in Taipei, in addition to recitals in Japan, Hawaii, and at Weill Recital Hall in New York. His extensive chamber music appearances have included performances with the group, Elysium, at Weill Recital Hall; in Hawaii; and at the Hellenic-American Cultural Association of Colorado. He has performed at chamber music festivals in Maine, played cello works and chamber music in Korea, and has appeared with Lukas Foss in chamber works at Weill Recital Hall and at the Stephanie H. Weill Center for the Performing Arts in Wisconsin. Mr. Tu has performed on a live broadcast on WNYC, and appears frequently with the New York Philharmonic Ensembles chamber music series at Merkin Concert Hall.
Mr. Tu earned his bachelor of arts from China’s Central Conservatory. In 1990, he received his master’s degree from Rutgers University, where he studied with Bernard Greenhouse. He is an alumnus of the Music Academy of the West, now a partner in the New York Philharmonic Global Academy. Other past teachers include Zara Nelsova, Geoffrey Rutkowski, Lois Simpson, Paul Tortelier, and Zeguang Tu.
New York Big Apple Music Festival 