festivAL musiciAns ; CHRISTOPHEREN NOMURA, BARITONE, “has a wonderfully expressive face and a first-class baritone voice — warm, robust and clear,” says the The Boston Globe. He has received numerous awards, including a Fulbright, the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, and the Naumburg. Mr. Nomura has emerged at the forefront of a new generation of American singers performing internationally on operatic, concert, and recital stages. These include major Mozart, Puccini, and Rossini operas; repertoire with the Boston Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, and the Boston Pops; and performances under noted conductors such as Bernstein, Ozawa, Hogwood, and Pearlman, among others. A Bach specialist, Mr. Nomura has performed at leading American chamber music festivals. These have led to collaborations with such ensembles as the Borromeo and St. Lawrence String Quartets and pianists Martin Katz, Charles Wadsworth, and Jean-Yves Thibaudet. His recordings can be found on the Sony, Dorian, Teldec, London, Denon, TDK, and Telarc labels. He holds a Masters Degree and Artists Diploma from the New England Conservatory of Music.
teaching assistant in 1998. He maintains a busy performance schedule and serves as Professor of Violin at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Recordings by Axel Strauss are found on the BPOlive, Naxos, Organum, and Oehms Classics labels. He performs on an 1845 violin by J. F. Pressenda of Turin on extended loan through the generous efforts of the Stradivari Society in Chicago.
CAROL WINCENC, FLUTE, is one of the most respected and acclaimed flutists performing today. A First Prize winner of the Naumburg Solo Flute Competition, she appears worldwide with orchestras, in recitals and concertos, and with her trio Les Amies. Equally sought after as a chamber musician, Ms. Wincenc has appeared at major festivals and collaborated with the Guarneri, Emerson, Tokyo, and Cleveland String Quartets. She created and directed a series of International Flute Festivals with performances in St. Paul, New York and San Francisco. Currently Professor of Flute at both the Juilliard School of Music and Stony Brook University, Ms. Wincenc received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Brevard Music Center. A prolific recording artist, she has notable performances on the Music Masters, Naxos, and Telarc labels.
AXEL STRAUSS, VIOLIN, is the first German musician to win the Naumburg Violin Award (1998). In that same year Mr. Strauss made his American debut at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. and his New York City debut at Alice Tully Hall, establishing a reputation for virtuosity and musical sensitivity. The Salt Lake Tribune writes, “Strauss quickly established that he is a virtuoso to be reckoned with....His interpretive prowess was delightful.” Mr. Strauss has appeared in recitals and as soloist nationally and internationally, including Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Budapest, Moscow, Berlin, and Shanghai, among others. He has collaborated with conductors such as Maxim Shostakovitch, Rico Saccani, Joseph Silverstein, and Alasdair Neale. Festival appearances in the US and abroad include performances with chamber music partners Menahem Pressler, Kim Kashkashian, Joel Krosnick, Robert Mann, and Bernhard Greenhouse. Mr. Strauss studied at the Music Academies of Lübeck and Rostock with Petru Munteanu. Prior to moving to the US he won a series of European musical competitions, including top prizes in the Bach, Wieniawski and Kocian competitions. In 1996 he began working with the late Dorothy DeLay at the Juilliard School and became her
PATRICK ZIMMERLI, COMPOSER, has produced an extensive oeuvre of both jazz and classical compositions. Since 2005 Mr. Zimmerli has presented the concert series Emergence, which is dedicated to the creation and performance of new work. Featuring his nine-piece ensemble — in which he plays saxophone — and special guests from the classical, jazz, and electronic music communities, the series has presented more than 40 premieres. His work has been performed at MoMA and the Guggenheim Museum, on NPR’s Fresh Sounds, at the Jazz Composers’ Collective, and at major chamber music festivals throughout the US. From 2002–05 Mr. Zimmerli was Composer-in-Residence with the Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra. Awards include First Prize in the first annual BMI/Thelonious Monk Institute Composers’ Competition. His music has been recorded on the Arabesque, Blue Note, Songlines, Koch, Antilles, Jazz City, and Naive labels, and he has written extensively for radio, TV, and film. Mr. Zimmerli teaches at Columbia University, where he earned degrees leading to a DMA in Music Composition.
16