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E. Desmond Lee Concert Hall, 560 Music Center - TicketedFeaturing Christopher Stark's "Other Pines"
Illustrious Finnish pianist Juho Pohjonen will be joined by Juilliard faculty member Zlatomir Fung, the youngest cellist to win 1st prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition, in a recital of impressive duos by Prokofiev, Say, and Debussy. St. Louis’ own violin star Erin Schreiber will join the duo for Christopher Stark’s composition Other Pines.
Zlatomir Fung, cello
Juho Pohjonen, piano
Erin Schreiber, violin
Tickets Available 9/3 at 10 A.M.
$25 Adult
$20 Wash U faculty/staff with ID
$5 students and youth
Free Wash U students with ID
Program:
Ballade, Op. 15 by Sergei Prokofiev
Other Pines by Christopher Stark
Intermission
Sonata for cello and piano, L. 135 by Claude Debussy
"Four Cities" Sonata by Fazil Say
Biographies:
The youngest cellist ever to win First Prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition, Zlatomir Fung is poised to become one of the preeminent cellists of our time. Astounding audiences with his boundless virtuosity and exquisite sensitivity, the 24-year-old has already proven himself a star among the next generation of world-class musicians.
As Artist-in-Residence with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in the 2023/24 season, Fung appears at London’s Cadogan Hall and tours the UK with the orchestra. Further afield, highlights in North America and Asia include Fung’s debut with the Cleveland Orchestra, appearances with the Baltimore and Shanghai Symphony Orchestras, and a tour to Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Recent concerto highlights include his debuts with the New York Philharmonic, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lille, and BBC Philharmonic, as well as Detroit, Seattle, Milwaukee, Utah, Rochester, and Kansas City Symphonies.
Fung made his recital debut at Carnegie Hall in 2021 and was described by Bachtrack as "one of those rare musicians with a Midas touch: he quickly envelopes every score he plays in an almost palpable golden aura.” Other recent highlights include returns to the Wigmore Hall and appearances at the Verbier, Dresden, Janacek May, and Tsinandali Festivals, Cello Biennale, La Jolla Chamber Music Society, ChamberFest Cleveland, and the Aspen Music Festival.
Alongside demonstrating a mastery of the canon with his impeccable technique, Fung brings exceptional insight into the depths of contemporary repertoire, championing composers such as Unsuk Chin, Katherine Balch, and Anna Clyne. In 2023, under the baton of Gemma New and with the Dallas Symphony, Fung gave the world premiere of Katherine Balch’s “whisper concerto” with “jaw-dropping brilliance” (Dallas Morning News) as the dedicatee of the work.
A winner of the 2017 Young Concert Artists International Auditions and the 2017 Astral National Auditions, Fung has taken the top prizes at the 2018 Alice & Eleonore Schoenfeld International String Competition, the 2016 George Enescu International Cello Competition, and the 2015 Johansen International Competition for Young String Players, among others. He was selected as a 2016 US Presidential Scholar for the Arts and was awarded the 2016 Landgrave von Hesse Prize at the Kronberg Academy Cello Masterclasses.
Fung was announced as a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship Winner in 2022 and awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2020. He was named to WXQR’s Artist Propulsion Lab in 2023. Fung has been featured on NPR’s Performance Today and has appeared six times on NPR’s From the Top. He plays a 1717 cello by David Tecchler of Rome, kindly loaned to him through the Beare’s International Violin Society by a generous benefactor.
Of Bulgarian and Chinese heritage, Zlatomir Fung was born into a family of mathematicians and began playing cello at age three. Fung studied at The Juilliard School under the tutelage of Richard Aaron and Timothy Eddy, where he was a recipient of the Kovner Fellowship. Outside of music, his interests include chess, cinema, and creative writing.
Juho Pohjonen is regarded as one of today’s most exciting and unique instrumentalists. The Finnish pianist performs widely in Europe, Asia, and North America, collaborating with symphony orchestras and playing in recital and chamber settings. An ardent exponent of Scandinavian music, Pohjonen’s growing discography offers a showcase of music by Finnish compatriots such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Kaija Saariaho, and Jean Sibelius.
This season Pohjonen performs Beethoven’s fifth piano concerto with Finnish Radio Symphony conducted by Giedrė Šlekytė. Elsewhere in Finland he collaborates with Erin Keefe for Mendelssohn’s concerto for violin, piano, and strings with Kymi Sinfonietta, under the direction of Osmo Vänskä, as well as the Macula Musica series in Helsinki. In Europe, his engagements include recitals and chamber music at Festspiele Sudtirol and Surrey Hills International Music Festival. In North America, he continues his long-standing relationship with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, performing at the Lincoln Center and other venues across the United States. He also performs in Minneapolis, San Francisco and Vancouver. Concurrently, he is working on two new albums set for release this season.
Last season Pohjonen made his debut in Taiwan with the National Symphony Orchestra as well as joining the musicians of the orchestra for chamber music. He performed Finnish composer Sauli Zinovjev’s new piano concerto with the Lahti Sinfonia as part of a composer focus and joined the German Radio Philharmonic and Pietari Inkinen for Bartok’s first Piano Concerto. Chamber highlights included a concert at Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, New York with Chamber Music Society and recitals in Helsinki amongst others. An advocate for contemporary repertoire, recent seasons have seen Pohjonen perform Daniel Bjarnason’s Concerto for Piano Processions with the Helsinki Philharmonic and the composer on the podium, having previously performed it with Tapiola Sinfonietta.
Pohjonen’s illustrious curriculum vitae of concerto performances reveals a musician in demand internationally. He has appeared as a soloist with the BBC Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Danish National Symphony, Finnish Radio Symphony, Helsinki Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, and Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Pohjonen has collaborated with today’s foremost conductors, including Marin Alsop, Lionel Bringuier, Marek Janowski, Fabien Gabel, Kirill Karabits, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Markus Stenz, Osmo Vänskä, and Pinchas Zukerman.
On the recital stage, Pohjonen has performed throughout Europe, including in Antwerp, Hamburg, Helsinki, London’s Wigmore Hall, St. Petersburg, and Warsaw. In North America he has appeared at the Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and Kennedy Center, and in Philadelphia, San Francisco, La Jolla, Detroit, and Vancouver. His festival appearances include Lucerne, Savonlinna, Bergen, Mecklenberg-Vorpommern as well as the Mostly Mozart Festival.
Pohjonen’s most recent recording with cellist Inbal Segev features cello sonatas by Chopin and Grieg, and Schumann’s Fantasiestücke, hallmarks of the Romantic repertoire. Plateaux, his debut recording on Dacapo Records, featured works by late Scandinavian composer Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen, including the solo piano suite For Piano, and piano concerto Plateaux pour Piano et Orchestre, with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and conductor Ed Spanjaard. Pohjonen joins violinist Petteri Iivonen and cellist Samuli Peltonen to form the Sibelius Trio, who released a recording on Yarlung Records in honour of Finland’s 1917 centennial of independence. The album, described by Stereophile as “a gorgeous debut”, included works by Sibelius and Saariaho.
Beginning his piano studies in 1989 at the Junior Academy of the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Pohjonen subsequently earned a Master’s Degree from Meri Louhos and Hui-Ying Liu-Tawaststjerna there in 2008. Pohjonen was selected by Sir Andras Schiff as the winner of the 2009 Klavier Festival Ruhr Scholarship and has won prizes at international and Finnish competitions.
Pohjonen launched MyPianist in 2019, an AI-based iOS app that provides interactive piano accompaniment to musicians everywhere. Designed and programmed by Pohjonen himself and infused with his keen musical sensibility, MyPianist acts as a “virtual pianist” for musicians looking to hone their skills or learn new material. MyPianist carefully "listens" to the musician’s playing and recreates the piano part in real-time, matching the timing and nuances of the live performance. More information at https://mypianist.app.
Erin Schreiber joined the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra as Assistant Concertmaster in September 2008, at the age of 20. She has appeared in recital throughout the U.S., as well as in London, Sweden, Italy, and Germany, and has toured with jazz legend Chris Botti all over the U.S. as well as to Shanghai, Mexico City, Canada, and Eastern Europe. She has also performed for Colin Powell and former President Jimmy Carter.
Schreiber made her SLSO solo debut with a performance of Berio’s Corale (on Sequenza VIII) in 2011, and played Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending for the Opening Weekend concerts of the 2014/2015 season, both programs conducted by former Music Director David Robertson.
Schreiber attended the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia from 2005 to 2008, studying with Joseph Silverstein, Pamela Frank, and Jaime Laredo. Past teachers have included Roland Vamos and Almita Vamos, Elisa Barston, and Robert Lipsett.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
560 Trinity Ave, St Louis, MO 63130-4315, United States, 560 Trinity Ave, St Louis, MO 63130-4315, United States,University City, Missouri, Clayton
