All the programs will be offered in Ford Chapel on the Allegheny College campus in Meadville, Pennsylvania. Admission is free.
Violinist Sergiu Schwartz's international concert appearances have taken him to major music centers on three continents, including twenty European countries, Israel, and over forty U.S. states, as soloist with over two hundred orchestras, in recitals and chamber music concerts. Schwartz's honors include major prizes in international violin competitions in the United States and Europe, as well as awards from the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts. A native of Hong Kong, Alec Chien received his bachelor's, masters and doctoral degrees from NYC's Juilliard School of Music and studied under Adele Marcus. Winner of the grand prize at the 1986 Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition and prizewinner of the Sydney International Piano Competition, he has performed throughout the world. earning rave reviews in Australia, Austria, Greece, China and New Zealand, among others.
Susanne Ortner-Roberts, clarinetist, is widely acclaimed in Germany, Israel and Switzerland, both as a soloist and as a member of the German Klezmer quartet, Sing Your Soul. Tom Roberts is one of the leading exponents of early jazz piano in the world. Tom has performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City, on The Tonight Show, and on A Prairie Home Companion. He arranged and performed music for Scorsese's The Aviator. Tom has recorded over 30 compact discs and has been perfoming throughout the United States.
Pianist David Jalbert is rising steadily as one of the most important Canadian talents. Despite his young age, he has already been a prizewinner in several major competitions, including the Dublin International Piano Competition, the CBC/Radio-Canada Young Performers National Competition and the OSM Competition, which led him to a highly acclaimed performance of the Ravel Concerto for the Left Hand with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. Apart from his career as a soloist, he also pursues an active career as a chamber musician, especially with cellist Denise Djokic, with whom he recently recorded the first disc ever released by Sony Classical Canada, the result of a precious collaboration.
The Alexander String Quartet—made up of noted performers Zakarias Grafilo and Frederick Lifsitz, violins; Paul Yarbrough, viola; and Sandy Wilson, cello—has performed in major music capitals on four continents, securing its standing among the premiere ensembles of its kind. Widely admired for its interpretations of Beethoven and Bartók, the quartet is also an important advocate of new music through over twenty-five commissions and numerous premiere performances.
