Soloists

Chopin Piano Soloists

In order of appearance

Jean-Claude Pennetier

A multi-faceted musician -- composer, conductor, teacher, chamber player -- Jean-Claude Pennetier is above all a remarkable soloist and recitalist. Beginning his piano studies at three and a half, he was enrolled at the age of six in the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris. When he was just ten years old, M. Pennetier was recognized for his extraordinary talent, winning first prizes in piano, chamber music and theory from the Conservatoire. He went on to take the First Prize Gabriel Fauré at 18, First Prize in the International Montréal Competition at 23 and First Prize in the International Geneva Competition at 25. In 2002, M. Pennetier had the great honor of being named a Chevalier de la Legion d'honneur. Jean-Claude Pennetier has recently undertaken a major addition to his substantial and highly regarded discography, a traversal of the 32 Beethoven Sonatas (eight each year) for Lyrinx.

 Gil Shohat

Gil Shohat is the Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Israel Chamber Orchestra, and Head of Music for the Israel Festival in Jerusalem. He is the composer of nine large-scale symphonies, ten concertos for various instruments, three operas, various oratorios, cantatas, solo vocal pieces, and dozens of chamber and piano pieces, as well as the performer of more than 80 concerts a year worldwide, both as conductor and pianist.
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Philippe Entremont

The exceptional career of Philippe Entremont began at the age of eighteen when he came to international attention by having a great success in New York’s Carnegie Hall playing Jolivet’s piano concerto and Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1. Since then, he has pursued a top international career as a pianist, and for the last 30 years, on the podium as well. One of the most recorded artists of all time, Philippe Entremont has appeared on many labels, including CBS Sony, Teldec and Harmonia Mundi, and he has garnered all of the leading prizes and awards in the industry. His 2008 releases include Mozart’s Concertone; Concerto for Violin and Piano with the Wiener Kammerorchester; Strauss’ lieder with Sophie Koch (mezzo-soprano); and Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2 with the Orquesta del Festival Musical de Santa Domingo.

Jean-François Latour

Recognized as one of Canada's most talented young pianists, Jean-François Latour has performed throughout Canada at major venues such as the Institut Canadien in Québec City, the National Arts Center in Ottawa, and the Place des Arts in Montréal and in many major cities of Europe and North America, including Paris, Toulouse, Geneva, Hamburg, Brussels, Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Chicago. He was named Young Soloist of the Year 1998 by the French Language Public Radio Network, and as a result, Latour's performances have been broadcast by the Radio Suisse-Romande, Italian National Radio-RAI, Belgian Radio-Television, and the Société Radio-Canada. Latour's honors include several first prizes in the Canadian Music Competition, a top prize in the Stepping Stones Competition, and first prize in the Concours National de Piano de Sucy-en-Brie in France. He served as a member of the jury for the 2004 and 2007 Canadian Music Competition. Latour, who resides in Montreal, teaches piano at the Université de Sherbrooke. He is the recipient of a Career Grant from the Canadian Council for the Arts.
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Rieko Aizawa

In 1988, Japanese pianist Rieko Aizawa was brought to the attention of Alexander Schneider by the recommendation of pianist Mitsuko Uchida. Schneider engaged her as soloist with his Brandenburg Ensemble at the opening concerts of Tokyo's Casals Hall; later that year, Schneider presented 14-year-old Ms. Aizawa in her U.S. debut concerts at the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall, performing Mozart's Concerto No. 12 in A Major, K. 414, with his New York String Orchestra. To complete her triumphant season of U.S. debuts, during January of 1989 Ms. Aizawa stepped in as soloist with the San Francisco Symphony,guestconducted by Schneider.
Ms. Aizawa received her Masters Degree from the Juilliard School, where she worked with Peter Serkin. She is also a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she was awarded the prestigious Rachmaninoff Prize and studied with Seymour Lipkin, Peter Serkin, and Mieczyslaw Horszowski as his last pupil. March 2005 marked the release of Ms. Aizawa's first solo recording on the Japanese label Altus Music - a tour-de-force CD of Shostakovich's and Scriabin's "24 Preludes." She will be recording Faure's and Messiaens' preludes in 2009.

2010 Soloists

Allen Blustine

Allen Blustine is one of New York’s busiest and most versatile clarinetists.  Mr. Blustine has performed with a broad spectrum of musical organizations in New York City, including the Brooklyn Philharmonic and the New York Philharmonic, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.  He is a member of the Columbia University faculty, Director of Speculum Musicae, and a member of the North Country Chamber Players in New Hampshire.

Jennifer Grim

Hailed by the New York Times as “a deft, smooth flute soloist,” Jennifer Grim has performed across the United States as an active solo and chamber musician of both the classic literature and contemporary music.  In addition to the New York Chamber Soloists, Ms. Grim performs with the Zéphyros Quintet and the Proteus Ensemble and has performed with such groups as the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Speculum Musicae, Ensemble Sospeso, Ensemble 21 and the American Festival of Microtonal Music.  As a soloist, she has performed with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Yale, the Stanford Symphony Orchestra, Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra, and the Young People’s Symphony Orchestra.  Ms. Grim has two B.A.s from Stanford University and a M.M., a M.M.A. and a D.M.A. from Yale University, where she studied with Ransom Wilson.  She is currently on the faculty of Franklin and Marshall College, the Pennsylvania Academy of Music in Lancaster, PA, and the Newark School of the Arts in Newark, New Jersey.

Melvin Kaplan

Melvin Kaplan (oboe), founder/artistic director of the New York Chamber Soloists and the Festival Winds, has been for more than 40 years one of America’s most influential forces in chamber music, both as a renowned performer and as a manager, teacher, lecturer and writer.  As a soloist, he has premiered works by Vaughan Williams, Ezra Laderman, Hugh Aitken, Gunther Schuller, Mel Powell, Heitor Villa-Lobos and Jean Francaix.  On the faculty of the Juilliard School for 30 years, Mr. Kaplan was also for many years featured regularly as a lecturer/performer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  He founded and is the Artistic Director of the Vermont Mozart Festival. 

Elizabeth Metcalfe

Elizabeth Metcalfe (piano, harpsichord) made her solo debut with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra at the age of twelve, and subsequently performed with the Orchestra throughout eastern Canada. Mrs. Metcalfe has appeared as piano and harpsichord soloist and as a chamber musician across the United States and Canada, in repertoire ranging from 17th-century harpsichord music to piano works by Bartok and Crumb. With the New York Chamber Soloists she has been a featured artist at the Mostly Mozart Festival, the Caramoor Festival and on tours of France, Spain and South America. A founding member of the Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble, she also performs regularly with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, frequently as piano or harpsichord soloist. She was educated in Canada at the University of Toronto and the Royal Conservatory of Music, and was on the music faculty of the University of Vermont from 1966 to 1999.

Harumi Rhodes

A leading young artist of today, violinist Harumi Rhodes has been performing extensively with some of the most prestigious musicians worldwide. Having just completed her residency at Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society II, she has also joined the Boston, Philadelphia, Minnesota, and Seattle Chamber Music Societies. As an avid supporter of contemporary music, Rhodes had a solo violin piece dedicated to her by composer Benjamin Lees. Rhodes received her Bachelor of Music from The Juilliard School studying with Ronald Copes, Earl Carlyss, and Shirley Givens. She then received her Master of Music from the New England Conservatory studying with Donald Weilerstein and graduated with the highest honor as the recipient of the Gunther Schuller Award.

John Tiranno

American tenor John Tiranno has proven to be a versatile artist throughout the United States and in Canada with repertoire spanning the Baroque, Classical, Verismo, and Contemporary genres. The New York Times has called his singing “ardent and mellifluous” and Seen and Heard International labeled him a “very good” Alfredo in La Traviata. Other credits include the world premiere of Gregory Walker’s The Passion According to St. Toscanini (Boulder Philharmonic), the title role in Gounod’s Faust (Opera in the Heights), Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni (Opera Colorado), as well as appearances with Sarasota Opera, Lake George Opera, Augusta Opera, and the Ash Lawn Opera.
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Steve Wilson

Steve Wilson has earned a prominent position on the bandstand and in the studio with the greatest names in jazz, as well as critical acclaim as a bandleader in his own right. A musician’s musician, Wilson has brought his distinctive sound to more than 100 recordings led by such celebrated and wide-ranging artists as Chick Corea, Dave Holland, and Charlie Byrd among many others. Wilson has seven recordings under his own name, leading and collaborating with such stellar musicians as Lewis Nash, Carl Allen, Steve Nelson, Cyrus Chestnut, Greg Hutchinson, Dennis Irwin, James Genus, Larry Grenadier, Ray Drummond, Ben Riley, and Nicholas Payton. He has been Artist-In-Residence at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Hamilton College, Old Dominion University, and with CITYFOLK in Dayton, Ohio. Wilson was honored with the Marc Crawford Jazz Educator Award from New York University in 2001, and the Virginia Jazz Award 2003 Musician of the Year presented by the Richmond Jazz Society. Wilson is on the faculty at The Manhattan School of Music, SUNY Purchase, and Columbia University.
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