M EET THE AR TIS T S
JUSTIN SMITH / USA Double Bassist Justin Smith is an aspiring double bassist from Smithtown, NY with a goal to a professional career as an orchestral musician. He began playing the double bass at age 8, continuing his studies at The Juilliard School pre-college division, and now is a fourth-year student in The Juilliard college division, working with Professor Eugene Levinson. He is recipient of the Ann S. Alderman & Harold Alderman Scholarship, Homer & Constance Mensch, and Jim Wargowsky Scholarships. Since acceptance into the College Division at Juilliard, Justin was offered a mentoring position in the Juilliard Pre-College Orchestra, where he continues to mentor and teach Pre-College students today. Outside of Juilliard, Justin has worked with Nassau Pops, Gilbert & Sullivan Light Opera Company of Long Island, The World Youth Alliance, and also as a session musician. Justin also was granted a full scholarship to both the Miami Music Festival, and Summit Music Festivals. Justin is a laureate of numerous competitions, including the Bottesini International Competition in Italy in 2017. In the same year he became a winner of the Camerata Artists International Competition and gave a solo recital in Merkin Hall, New York. For the past three seasons Justin participated in the Summit Music Festival Chamber Orchestra under direction of the Maestro Schmieder who invited him to the iPalpiti. This is his second season with iPalpiti.
IAN BARBER / USA-FRANCE Pianist “It was my first experience coming to iPalpiti last summer and it was definitely one of my favorite festivals that I’ve participated in. As the pianist of Trio Zadig, I performed of course with the trio and it was quite an honor to play together as soloists in venues such as Greystone mansion and at Walt Disney Hall, but beyond that, I truly enjoyed working and playing with the many other soloists invited to iPalpiti who were all extraordinary musicians and wonderful human beings. I think the energy that Dr Schmieder and Mrs Schmieder bring to the festival is really special and creates this environment that attracts such quality and great performances. I’m very much looking forward to seeing everyone again as soon as possible and getting back to playing music!” Ian Barber started studying piano at age seven in Colorado with Patricia Chen, continuing with Larry Graham and Rodney Mobley in high school. He has also worked with several prestigious teachers including Jullian Martin and Yoheved Kaplinsky from the Juilliard School of Music, Emilio del Rosario from the Music Institute of Chicago and French pianists Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Jean-Claude Pennetier. Winner of several national competitions, he was twice chosen to serve a two-year term on the Young Musicians Foundation Roster. After winning Yamaha Piano Competition in 2004, he was selected to perform with the National Repertory Orchestra in the Breckenridge Music Festival, and the following year, as a winner of the Denver/Steinway Piano Competition, he was the soloist with the Colorado Symphony and reinvited to perform with the National Repertory Orchestra playing Rachmaninoff’s 2nd piano concerto. In 2008 he won Indiana University’s concerto competition and performed Brahms 2nd piano concerto with the University Symphony Orchestra. With French violinist and cellist Boris Borgolotto and Marc Girard Garcia, Ian founded the Zadig Trio. Since its creation in 2014, the Trio has won 11 international prizes in France, the USA, Austria and Italy, and is regularly invited to play in great halls worldwide. The Zadig Trio is currently a resident of the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, under the tutelage of Artemis Quartet. The Trio’s first album, called “Something in Between”, was released in March 2019. It features music by Leonard Bernstein, Benjamin Attahir and Maurice Ravel.
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