September 28: Pianist Ko-Eun Yi opens Chamber Music Series in Florence

International award winning pianist opens Chamber Music Series

The first concert of the 2014-15 Chamber Music series at the Art Trail Gallery will be Sunday September 28 at 5PM. The opening concert will feature Ko-Eun Yi, pianist and winner of the 2013 Concert Artist Guild Competition. The approximately one hour concert will be followed by a meet the artist reception. Tickets are just $10 and available at the Art Trail Gallery, 185 W. Evans in downtown Florence. The program will include the Bach Prelude and Fugue in G, Carter Catenaires, Ravel  Jeux d’eau, and Chopin 24 Preludes.

Korean pianist Ko-Eun Yi, a winner of the 2013 CAG Victor Elmaleh Competition, has earned praise for playing with “élan and fire and a surplus of bravura technique” (Cincinnati Enquirer). She has garnered numerous top prizes in her young career, with recent successes at the 2010 World Piano Competition in Cincinnati and the 2011 Wideman International Piano Competition in Jackson, Mississippi. The Washington Post applauded her recent debut recital in DC: “a masterful technician ... Her finger-work was immaculate, inner voices were keenly drawn out, and there was no lack of power when needed.” 

At the October 2013 CAG competition, Ko-Eun was also awarded the Victor & Sono Elmaleh Piano Prize, and her 2014-15 itinerary includes her February 2015 New York recital debut at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall on the CAG New York Series.  Other upcoming engagements resulting from her CAG victory include concerto engagements with the Dupage Symphony Orchestra near Chicago and the Roswell Symphony in New Mexico, as well as recitals for the Trust Performing Arts Center in Harrisburg, PA.

Additional recent concerto highlights for Ko-Eun include performances with the Barcelona, Jerusalem, and Boston Symphony Orchestras, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Aspen Concert Orchestra, working with such conductors as Lawrence Foster, Leon Fleisher, and Christopher Wilkins. She toured South America playing Saint-Saëns concerto No. 2 with the New England Youth Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Benjamin Zander

Born in Seoul, Korea, Ko-Eun Yi began her piano studies at the age of three. She earned her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees at The Juilliard School studying with Jerome Lowenthal and completed her Professional Studies degree with André-Michel Schub at Manhattan School of Music. She is now pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Stony Brook University with Christina Dahl.

2014-15 Chamber Music Series Calendar

Announcing the 2014-15 Series of

Chamber Music at the Art Trail Gallery

With Special Thanks to Our Presenting Sponsors!

Sept. 28, 2014 – Ko-Eun Yi, pianist

Sponsored by HILLIARD LYONS

Oct. 26, 2014 –  Laura Ball and Friends UNED!TED Series, “Beatles, Bach and Beer”

Sponsored by Judy & Ken Kammer and Debi & Panos Kalaritis

Nov. 23, 2014 -  Michael Bouvier, Baritone

Sponsored by Julia Krebs & Roger Hux and Mardi North

Feb. 22, 2015 – SC Chamber Music Festival Concert

Sponsored by Aggie & Alex Palkovich and Jane & Townsend Holt

Mar. 22, 2015 – Aurora Musicalis

Sponsored by FLORENCE SYMPHONY GUILD

Apr. 25, 2015 – Atlantean Trio

(Sponsorship Still Available)

$10 Performances (~1 hour) @ 5 PM and Include a “Meet the Artist” Reception

Tickets are Sold at the Door and

Full Season Tickets are Available for $50

Presented Under the Auspices of FDDC

September 28:Chamber Music Series Begins at the Arts Trail Gallery

April 27th: Chamber Music at the Gallery features Aurora Musicalis in its Season Finale

The concluding concert of the 2013-14 Chamber Music series will be on Sunday April 27, 2014 at 5 PM in the Art Trail Gallery. The program will feature a return engagement of the exciting North Carolina group Aurora Musicalis.Tickets will be available at the door for $10.00. A reception to meet the artist will follow the one hour program.

Aurora Musicalis is a diverse chamber music ensemble composed of members of the North Carolina Symphony and other distinguished artists. In keeping with our name which means “Musical Lights” we present a constellation of music for all occasions, including mixed quartets for serious concerts and string quartets for special events. The groups was founded by Principal Clarinetist Jimmy Gilmore and Associate Principal Cellist Elizabeth Beilman. J

Aurora Musicalis has made numerous appearances to critical acclaim including concert series’ across the state of North Carolina. The ensemble was listed in the Top Ten Concerts of 1998 for both the Raleigh News and Observer and The Spectator. Their first compact disc, ECHOES OF AMERICA: CHAMBER MUSIC OF ROBERT WARD, received excellent reviews, including a special notice in the international publication, Fanfare. The disc, whose title piece was commissioned by the Raleigh Chamber Music Guild and dedicated to AURORA MUSICALIS by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ward, is available on the Albany label.

The program will include: Sonata in A Major for Violin and Cello, Op. 5, No. 9 by Francesco Geminiani (based on Corelli), Variations for Clarinet and Cello by Roger Nixon, Trio in Bb Major, D. 581 by Franz Schubert, and Songs of the Civil War Era in a commissioned arrangement for Aurora Musicalis by Jason Pace.

The Civil War song arrangement is being commissioned in honor of the Civil War Sesquicentennial and will include songs by Stephen Foster.

March 23rd: International Concert Competition Winner to appear at Art Trail Gallery

Daria Rabotkina, winner of the 2007 Concert Artists Guild International Competition will appear in concert on March 23, 2014 at 5 PM. The one hour program will include piano works from past to present by Bach, Ravel, Couperin, and Rabotkin. The program will be followed by a meet the artist reception. Tickets are $10 at the door, 185 W Evans St in Downtown Florence.

Daria is lauded as “…a pianist full of fire and warmth” (The Plain-Dealer).   Ms. Rabotkina’s ascending career has already led to solo appearances with the San Francisco and New World Symphonies under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas and with the Kirov Orchestra and Valery Gergiev in a four concert North American tour.  Whether in front of an orchestra, in the recital hall or in a chamber music setting, Ms. Rabotkina impresses audiences and critics alike with her “clearly prodigious musical gifts” (The Washington Post).

She began the 2013-14 season with summer festival recitals featuring the Rockport Chamber Music Festival, and regular season highlights include recitals for the Dame Myra Hess series in Chicago and the Atlantic Music Center in Florida, as well as concerto engagements with the Dupage Symphony Orchestra in Illinois (Tchaikovsky No. 1), the Columbus Symphony in Georgia (Schumann), and the Orquesta Sinfonica de Concepción in Chile (Bernstein, Age of Anxiety).

Ms. Rabotkina’s second solo CD on CAG Records (August 2012), featuring Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations, has been very well received: “Her subtle phrasing and lyrical playing are the highlight of the disc” (Fanfare).  This follows her debut recital disc, spotlighting the Tchaikovsky Grand Sonata and Prokofiev’s Ten Pieces from Romeo and Juliet, which also garnered universal critical praise:  “Her fearless virtuosity makes the most of the exciting passages.” (American Record Guide). 

Concerto highlights include the Montreal Symphony, Moscow State Symphony, Winnipeg Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, Harrisburg Symphony, Midland Symphony, Victoria Symphony, Orchestra London of Canada, Kazan State Symphony and the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, collaborating with conductors such as Vladimir Feltsman, Fabio Mechetti and Giancarlo Guerrero.  Ms. Rabotkina has given recitals at the Kennedy Center (Washington Performing Arts Society), Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall

Daria Rabotkina was born in Kazan, Russia, in to a family of musicians and gave her first solo recital at the age of ten.  Her first musical steps were guided by her parents, Guzel Abdoullina and Sergei Rabotkin, both outstanding pianists, and Nora Kazachkova at the Special Music School in Kazan.  She earned Bachelor’s and Master’s of Music degrees from Mannes College of Music in New York City where she studied with Vladimir Feltsman and was coached by Leon Pommers, Pamela Frank, Todd Phillips, Timothy Eddy and Jacob Lateiner.  She has participated in master classes with Earl Wild, Edward Aldwell, Eteri Andjaparidze, Andras Schiff and Richard Goode.  Ms. Rabotkina recently completed a doctorate degree from the Eastman School of Music under the tutelage of Natalya Antonova.

February 23rd: Chamber Music Charleston at the Art Trail Gallery in downtown Florence

April 27th: Chamber Music at the Gallery to feature Aurora Musicalis

March 23rd: Chamber Music at the Gallery to feature Daria Rabotkina

September 22nd: Chamber Music returns to the Art Trail Gallery