Andrés Cárdenes (violin); Roberto Díaz (viola); Efe Baltacigil (cello); Jeremy Denk (piano) January 14, 2009

Program:
Mozart: Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, K. 493; Brahms: Viola Sonata TBD; Dvorak: Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 87

"Gorgeous sound - refined, but with glints of strong personality"
(The Philadelphia Inquirer on Efe Baltacigil)

On Wednesday, January 14 at Perelman Theater, four top musicians join PCMS for a program of Mozart, Brahms, and Dvorak. Each musician brings the strength of a different instrument (violin, viola, cello, piano), creating the harmonious sound so celebrated in chamber music. To begin, renowned concert violinist, concertmaster, conductor, and teacher Andrés Cárdenes brings to his performing the passion and the dedication of a master musician. The Cuban-born Cárdenes has garnered international acclaim for his ferocious technique, remarkable tonal subtlety, and his expressive playing, called "arresting" by The Pittsburgh Press. Since capturing the top American prize in the 1982 Tchaikovsky International Violin Competition in Moscow, Cárdenes has appeared with over eighty orchestras worldwide.

Roberto Díaz, the internationally renowned violist of "great agility and an enlivening passion" (The New York Times), is President and CEO of the Curtis Institute of Music. He follows in the footsteps of renowned soloist/directors such as Rudolf Serkin, Gary Graffman, Efrem Zimbalist and Josef Hofmann. As a professor of viola at Curtis and former principal violist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Díaz has already had a significant impact on American musical life and continues to do so in his dual roles as performer and educator. As a member of the Díaz Trio, with violinist Andrés Cárdenes and cellist Andrés Díaz, he has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Mexico, and Chile. The third musician, Efe Baltacigil, has been noted by The Philadelphia Inquirer as "a highly individualized solo artist." Playing the cello with imagination and an alert sensitivity, Baltacigil has been selected as a member of the European Concert Hall Association's (ECHO) Rising Stars program, performing at the Barbican in London, Vienna Musikverein, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Brussels Palaix des Beaux Arts, Athens Concert Hall, Stockholm Konzerthuset, and Carnegie Hall in New York.

Joining the program is the "equally adept and exhilarated" pianist (The Washington Post) Jeremy Denk, who made his New York recital debut at Alice Tully Hall in 1997 as the recipient of Juilliard's William Petschek Piano Debut Award. Solidly committed to chamber music, Denk has collaborated with many leading string quartets (Borromeo, Brentano, St. Lawrence, Shanghai, Vermeer) and has appeared at numerous festivals, including those of Santa Fe, Seattle, and the Spoleto Festivals in Italy and Charleston. Denk has also spent a number of summers at the Marlboro Music Festival and been part of "Musicians from Marlboro" national tours. He is a member of the faculty of the Bard College Conservatory of Music.

For more information on the musicians, please visit: http://www.aiartists.com/andres/index.html, www.robertodiazviola.com, and www.jeremydenk.net, respectively.

For more information on the composers, please visit:
Mozart: http://www.mfiles.co.uk/composers/Wolfgang-Amadeus-Mozart.htm
Brahms:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Brahms
Dvorak:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton%C3%ADn_Dvo%C5%99%C3%A1k

Buy Tickets!
www.pcmsconcerts.org or 215.569.8080
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Get to Know the Musicians!

Watch: Roberto Díaz plays the second movement of Mozart's Concertante at the 2006 Bowdoin International Music Festival in this clip:


Listen and Connect: Get to know Efe Baltacigil while listening to a clip of Baltacigil playing a Beethoven Sonata. In addition, browse photos and a full biography:
http://www.yca.org/Baltacigil.html

Read from Jeremy Denk's blog:
http://jeremydenk.blogspot.com/