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BERLIN PHILHARMONIC PRINCIPAL VIOLINIST TO PERFORM ON THE ROCK
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irst Principal Violinist of the Berlin Philharmonic Amihai Grosz will perform a recital with pianist Yaron Rosenthal on 19 October at 8.00pm at the Convent Ballroom. The concert was organised by the Gibraltar Philharmonic Society. Grosz was born in 1979 in Jerusalem, Israel, and initially learned to play the violin at five-years-of-age, before switching to the viola at age 11. In Jerusalem, he was taught by David Chen, later by Tabea Zimmermann in Frankfurt and Berlin as well as in Jerusalem by Haim Taub, who had a formative influence on him.
Amember of the ‘Young Musicians Group’ of the Jerusalem Music Center, a program for outstanding young musical talents, Grosz received scholarships through the American-Israeli Cultural Foundation. This gave him the opportunity, at a very young age, to work with renowned artists such as Isaac Stern or the Guarneri Quartet. He won 1st prize in the Braun Roger Siegel Competition of the University of Jerusalem and received the renowned Gottesman Prize for Viola in the Aviv Competition, the most prominent competition in Israel. Amihai Grosz works, in solo and in chamber music projects, with artists such as Yefim Bronfman, Emmanuel Pahud, Mitsuko Uchida, Oleg Maisenberg, Janine Jansen, Julian Rachlin and David Geringas; he performs in concert houses and at festivals all over the world, including at the Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival, Delft Festival, Salon Festival and Verbier Festival, at the BBC Proms, in the Bahnhof Rolandseck, at the Utrecht International
Chamber Music Festival, at Spectrum Concerts Berlin and at the West Cork Chamber Music Festival. After ten years of professional work, 2010 marked the start of something new for Grosz: Beginning in the 2010/11 season, Grosz was the Principal Violist with the Berliner Philharmoniker, an orchestra with which worked on various projects in recent years. Yaron Rosenthal is member of Piano Faculty, the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. He has played as a soloist with leading orchestras such as the Israel Philharmonic, the Jerusalem Symphony, National Orchestra of RAI, Turin, Calgary Philharmonic, Santiago de Chile Philharmonic, the Camerata Virtuosi of New York, and other orchestras. Rosenthal has given recitals and participated in chamber-music concerts in Israel, Europe, North and South America, Australia, and South Africa. The programme will feature compositions for viola and piano by J.S.Bach, E.Bloch, R. Schumann and F. Schubert.
NEW NAMES RELEASED FOR GIBRALTAR LITERARY FESTIVAL
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new set of novalists for the forthcoming edition of the Gibunco Gibraltar International Literary Festival was announced last month by the Gibraltar Government. Giselle Green; Paula Byrne; John Bentley; Horatio Clare; historian Bettany Hughes; artist Barbara Rae have all been added to the prestigious list of authors taking part. Giselle Green was born in Chiswick UK in 1960, but lived in Gibraltar since the age of seven, when her family relocated to the Rock. An award-winning, contemporary women’s fiction author, she enjoys creating emotionally-gripping story-lines about family and relationships. Her latest novel ‘Dear Dad’ has been described as a heart-warming love story that develops when a determined nine10
year-old desperately tries to find his father. Paula Byrne’s most recent book is a biography of Kathleen Kennedy, sister of former United States President John F. Kennedy who was assassinated. Before this, Paula wrote the tie-in book to the period drama film, ‘Belle’. She has also published an innovative biography called ‘The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things’. Paula’s first top ten bestseller was ‘Perdita: The Life of Mary Robinson’, the story of the 18th century actress, poet, and royal mistress (1757-1800). John Bentley’s debut novel ‘The Royal Secret’ is a mystery thriller centred round a modern day woman’s search for a famous and extraordinary Elizabethan, a quest
which unravels not just his secret life and love, but also the influence of Freemasonry and the Templars in modern day political events. Horatio Clare has written two memoirs, the bestselling ‘Running for the Hills’ based on his childhood experiences, and ‘Truant: Notes from the Slippery Slope’, a novella, ‘The Prince’s Pen’, and two works of travel and nature writing. In 2015 he published ‘Orison for A Curlew’, a combination of travel and nature writing, and an acclaimed children’s book, ‘Aubrey and the Terrible Yoot’. The festival will run from 20 to 23 of this month in what is undoubtedly one of the highlights in Gibraltar’s calendar for those who enjoy reading on the Rock. GIBRALTAR MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2016