For Rudi [Rudolf Serkin]
(FIMPC 2025 – IX)
Saturday, July 19, 2025
9th concert
Pau Casals Auditorium
El Vendrell
Concert Review
The concert was structured in three parts, always in chamber music format. Each group was led by a renowned performer: Jonathan Brown, viola; Erica Wise, cello; and Alexander Lonquich, piano; the rest of the performers in the groups were soloists from the Pau Casals Festival.
The result was: sublime, excellent y magnificent
Casals Quartet
Jonathan Brown, viola
Vera Martínez Mehner, violin
Abel Tomàs, violin
Arnau Tomàs, cello
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791)
Divertimento en F major KV 138
Allegro
Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828)
Quartet in E-flat major, No 10 D 87
Allegro
Shared on YouTube. January 22, 2013
by Juan March Foundation
First group, string quartet format:
Jonathan Brown (1974), viola
He began his musical studies at the age of four. He studied with Heidi Castleman, Martha Strongin Katz and Victoria Chiang, among others. He graduated from the Juilliard School in New York, studying with Karen Tuttle. He later continued his studies at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg with Thomas Riebl and Veronika Hagen. He was a member of the Casals Quartet from 2002 to 2024. He is a Professor of Viola and Chamber Music at the ESMUC (Catalonia Higher School of Music) in Barcelona. He has also been an assistant professor of viola at the Reina Sofía School of Music (Madrid), and since July 2024 he has been a professor at the Colburn School
Jonathan Brown
viola
Corlburn Chamber Music Society
The concert starts at minute 22
Shared on YouTube. January 19, 2025
by Corlbum School
Jakob Kammerlander (2000), violin
He graduated from the Lübeck University of Music with Professor Heime Müller and holds a Master's degree from the Hanover University of Music, Theatre and Media with Professor Elisabeth Kufferath. He has participated in masterclasses with Heime Müller and Ingolf Turbau. In 2019, he received the "Jugend musiziert award". In 2021, he was admitted to the German National Foundation, and in 2024, he was awarded a scholarship to Musetica (in the quartet).
Sebastian Gwilt, violin (He also plays the piano).
He studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, Cologne.
Miquel Garcia (1997), cello
He studied at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague and at the National Conservatory of Music and Dance in Paris, with Michel Strauss (1951) y Raphaël Pidoux (1967). He also studied at the Hochschule für Musik Basel with Rafael Rosenfeld (1973), Anton Kernjiak (chamber music), Petr Skalka (historical practice). He has a great interest in historical performance practice, and as such, he was a member of the Basel Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Giovanni Antonini (1965) and Heinz Holliger (1939). He is part of the "Matilde Salvador Segarra" duo with Élise Hiron (piano and violin), a duo formed under the direction of Rafael Resenfeld (1973).
His cello is a Jean-Baptiste Vuillame, donated by an anonymous patron.
Programa;
Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809).
Quartet in D major, Op. 76, no. 5
[*]Matilde Salvador Segarra (1918 – 2007) as a composer and painter. She was the first woman to premiere an opera at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, "Vinetea", January 17, 1974. In 1943, she had premiered an "opera buffa", "La filla del rei barbut" (The Bearded King's Daughter), at the Teatro Principal in Castellón. The opera was performed with puppets. She also composed "La marxa de la ciutat" (The City March).
Erica Wise
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750)
Sonata No. 2 in D minor, BWV1008
I - Prelude
Shared on YouTube on setember 7, 2023
by Erica Wise Tema
Second group, trio format.
Erica Wise, cello
When he was twenty-six, she left music to study for a doctorate in medicine at St. Louis University in Washington. Four years later, she returns to music, because music is her great passion.
She studied music at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University and earned her master from the New England Conservatory. She received the Harriet Hale Woolley scholarship, awarded by the United States Foundation in Paris. Erica Wise won the Nakamichi cello competition.
She loves chamber music and contemporary music. She was a founding member of FUNKTION, a chamber music group specializing in contemporary music.
She has performed under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas (1944 - 2026) and Seiji Ozawa (1935 - 2024), among others.
She is artistic advisor for "De Camera" and co-director of Musethica España. She was a professor at the ESMUC (Higher School of Music of Catalonia) and at the Liceu Conservatory, in Barcelona. She also regularly collaborates with the Pau Casals International Music Festival in El Vendrell.
Pau Fernández Benlloch (1998), piano
He has been a piano teacher at the Zakhar Bron Music School in Zurich since 2022. He teaches piano in German, English, and Spanish. He studied in Valencia and Madrid with Ignacio Millán (1980), Rafael Salinas, Nino Kereselidze (1959) and Denis Lossev (1974). He continued his studies at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, where he graduated with honors. Subsequently, he studied at the University of Music and Dance in Cologne with Claudio Martínez Menher (1970) and Nina Tichman (1949). He completed his training at the University of Basel and at the Schola Cantorum Basilensis, again with Claudio Martínez Menher and also with Anton Kernjak and Edoardo Torbianelli.
Leonard Fu (1997), violin
Excellent understanding of sound and structure
Harald Eggebrecht
(German music critic)
Fu received the Juilliard Artist Diploma in 2023. She began studying piano at age five and violin at age seven. He began his studies in Germany with Lara Lev and Tanja Becker-Bender (1978). He graduated and obtained his master's degree from the New England Conservatory with Donald Weilerstein (1940). And later he studied at Juilliard with Weilerstein and Catherine Cho. Subsequently, he studied at the Kronberg Academy, with the support of the Gingko Foundation, his teacher was Antje Weithass (1966).
He was Weillerstein's assistant professor at the New England National Conservatory, and also Cho's at Juilliard.He is an accomplished chamber music performer, but also he is a composer. In 2013 he won first prize at the Jugend Musiziert competition in Erlangen, Germany, in the solo violin and piano trio categories. In 2014, he won the grand prize and two special prizes at TONALi14 (Hamburg). He plays a Lorenzo Storioni violin, Cremona 1781, provided by the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben.
Program
Fèlix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847).
Trio for piano, violin and cello No. 2, Op. 66
Alexander Lonquich
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827)
Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58
Allegro moderato
Andante con moto
Rondó: Vivace
Shared on YouTube - November 23, 2021
by Intermezzo
Concert recorded in Florence, during the COVID lockdown
Third group: quintet format
Alexander Lonquich (1960), piano
Arousing a wave of enthusiasm, Lonquich spreads joy by making music and encourages maximum concentration.
Die Welt, 2016
He is a soloist, a chamber musician and a conductor. He has participated in many renowned festivals, such as Salzburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Kissinger Sommer, Lucerne or Edinburgh, among others. He has performed and conducted the Salzburg Camerata, the Orchestra of the Champs-Élysées, the Frankfurt Symphony Orchestra, the Santa Cecilia Academy in Rome, among others. As a soloist, he has performed with the Vienna Philharmonic, the Luxembourg Philharmonic, the Philharmonic Orchestra of La Scala in Milan, among others. As a chamber musician, he frequently collaborates with musicians such as Nicolas Altstaedt (1982), Christian Tetzlaff (1966) or Carolin Widman (1976), with whom he has recorded several CDs. His recordings won numerous awards, such as the Golden Diapason and the Edison Award. He has recorded music by Mozart, Schumann, Fauré, Ravel, but also by Gideon Lewensohn (1954).
Çieğdem Tunçelli (1999), violin
He began his studies at the age of five with Tina Strinning (1960) at the Lausanne Conservatory, Lausanne is his hometwon. In 2012, he entered the pre-university section and studied with François Sochard (1979). He began his career in 2015 at the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne, graduating with honors. He was subsequently admitted to the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music. He studied masterclasses with Shmuel Ashkenazy (1941), Vadim Gluzman (1973), Ysaÿe Quartet (1984) and the Aviv String Quartet (1997). He has performed at the Verbier Festival and is also a member of the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra conducted by Gábor Takács-Nagy (1956). He has won several awards, such as the Swiss Youth Music Competition. Take part in social activities related to music through Musethica, an organisation whose aim is to bring music to disadvantaged people and communities.
Andreas Siles-Mellinger (1998), violin
He began his musical studies at the age of eight. His first studies were at the Laredo Institute. At the age of thirteen he moved to Austria to continue his studies in Vienna and Salzburg. He completed his postgraduate studies at Mozarteum University. He has performed with the "Orchestra of the Encounter" created by Gustavo Dudamel. On May 26, 2025 he participated in the opening of the Austrian Pavilion at the Osaka World Expo in Japan, where he acted as concertmaster of the Mozarteum Orchestra with a violin that had been owned by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791). This violin was a "Petro Antonio dalla Costa" from Treviso, from 1764. The composition performed by Andreas Siles-Mellinguer was the Serenade in C major, K. 648 "Ganz kleine Nachtmusik", a piece discovered in 2024.
Kwan Hon Gordon Lau (1999), viola
He graduated from the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst under Tabea Zimmermann (1966), with whom he had already completed his studies. He received masterclasses from Nobuko Imai (1943), Nils Mönkemeyer (1978), and Lars Anders Tomter (1959), among others. He also studied with Johanna Staemmler (1987). He has participated in festivals such as the Seiji Ozawa Academy in Switzerland, the Zermatt Festival, and the Menuhin Festival in Gstaad, among others. He was a "Villa Música" scholarship holder in Rhineland-Palatinate in 2019–2020.
He won the "Star" award from "Villa Música" in 2023. He has also been a member of the Hong Kong Children's Choir. In 2020, he participated alongside his brother in ARTE TV's "Hope@Home" program to great success.
Mar Gimferrer (2002), Cello
She began playing the cello at the age of seven at the IEA Oriol Martorell (Barcelona), where she graduated with honors. Between 2019 and 2022, she studied with Beatriz Blanco (b. 1987) at the Vorarlberger Landeskonservatorium in Austria.She also studied with Thomas Grossenbacher in Zurich. She has taken masterclasses with Guillaume Sutre (1969) and Troels Svane (1967), among others. She won third prize at the International Popper Competition in Hungary and first prize at the Solistenwettbewerb in Austria, as well as at the Pejetër Gaci Competition and the BBVA Young Talent Competition.
She has played with musicians such as Julia Fischer (1983), Mils Mönkemeyer (1978), Maria Włoszczowska (1991), Nora Chastain (1961) or Jonathan Brown (1974).
Program
Antonin Dvořák (1841 – 1904).
Piano Quintet in A major, Op. 81
The title of the concert
For Rudi [Rudolf Serkin]
Serkin was a complete musician who excelled in solo music, chamber music and concertos.
Jacob Stockinger (aka: The Ear)
Jacob Stockinger holds a doctorate in modern French literature and cultural history from Lawrence University and the University of Wisconsin–Madison. For nearly thirty years, he worked as a reporter, arts writer, and editor for the newspapers *The Capital Times* and the *Wisconsin State Journal*. A journalism instructor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, he has published a music blog titled "The Well-Tempered Ear" since 2009.
Serkin and Casals
United Nations Concert 1971
Pau Casals (1876 - 1973), director
Rudolf Serkin (1903 - 1991), piano
Mieczyslaw Horszowski (1892 - 1993), piano
Eugène Istomin /1925 - 2003), piano
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750)
Triple Concerto BWV 1064
Shared on YouTube - March 27, 2016
by hellene
In 1951, Rudolf Serkin participated in the Casals Festival.
Live recordings provide a record of his encounters and collaborations at the 1951 Perpignan Festival. For instance, Volume II features Serkin, Isaac Stern, violin; Erika Morini (1904-1995), violin; John Wummer (1899 - 1977), flute; and Casals (cello)—who also conducted the festival orchestra. Additionally, they recorded Beethoven's complete works for piano and cello together between 1951 and 1953.
In addition, on the Marlboro Festival website we can read that Casals participated in the Marlboro Festival for the first time in 1960, primarily due to his relationship with Alexander "Sasha" Schneider (1908 - 1993). Casals stayed at the festival for two weeks. Furthermore, it has been noted that, in Serkin's view, Casals possessed a unique musical quality—something that would prove beneficial to the exceptional young musicians participating in the festival. Incidentally, Casals’s arrival at the festival had another important consequence: the event became international and attracted visitors from other countries. Casals was 84 years old when he participated for the first time, and he continued to do so for a total of 12 editions; for him, the Marlboro Festival was a temple of music.
Rudolf Serkin (1903 - 1991)
Marlboro Festival Orchestra
Alexander Schneider (1908 - 1993)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791)
Piano Concerto No. 12, K. 414
I - Allegro
II - Andante
III Allegretto
Recorded in 1956
Shared on YouTube - May 9, 2013
by incontrariu motu
The Marlboro Festival was founded in 1951 by Rudolf Serkin (1903–1991), Adolf Busch (1891 - 1952), Hermann Busch (1897 - 1975), Marcel Moyse (1889 - 1984), Blanche Moyse, born Honegger (1909 - 2011) and Louis Moyse (1912 - 2007). Serkin served as its artistic director until his death in 1991.
Serkin believed in offering young musicians a two-month residency to perform chamber music, as this would provide them with not only musical training but also life lessons. The Marlboro Festival reflects his ideas.
He knew that chamber music provided all the essentials for successful personal as well as musical relationships — one has to learn the score, not only one’s own part; one has to learn to listen and to compromise; and one has to make multiple voices into one.
Marlboro Festival Website
The Marlboro Festival has exerted a major influence on chamber music in the United States since its inception, something that can be seen in the festival's archives.
Another indicator is the large number of chamber groups that emerged as a result of the festival—such as the Guarneri String Quartet (1964–2009), comprising Arnold Steinhardt (b. 1937, violin), John Dalley (b. 1935, violin), Michael Tree (1934–2018, viola), and David Soyer (1923–2010, cello); replaced in 2001 by his student Peter Wiley (1955). Notably, Soyer participated in the group's 2009 farewell concert at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, to perform Schubert's Quintet.
This is also evident from the large number of participants who have been members of prominent chamber groups, such as the Beaux Arts Trio—Menahem Pressler (1923–2023), piano; Daniel Guilet (1899–1990) and Bernard Greenhouse (1916–2011), cello—which was active between 1955 and 2008; or the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio (Joseph Kalichstein (1946 - 2022), piano; Jaime Laredo (1941), violin; and Sharon Robinson (1949), cello).
Rudolf Serkin (1903 - 1991), piano
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827)
Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 2
I - Allegro
II - Adagio
III - Menuetto. Allegretto
IV - prestissimo
Shared on YouTube - July 26, 2022
by Lucy McDonald
Rudolf Serkin
Serkin has been described as a stern, sober man with a profound sense of responsibility—a man who believed that the performer had to place himself at the service of the composer, to serve the composer honestly.
In the 1970s, he decided to limit his repertoire, focusing on what is commonly defined as the "Germanic" or "Austro-Germanic" canon, because he believed it best suited his temperament. In his youth, he had a broad repertoire—a fact easily confirmed by looking at his recordings, which range from Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) to Max Reger (1873–1916) or Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953).
The term "canon" refers to a body of works considered legitimized—on critical or ideological grounds—within a specific cultural context, particularly that of Western culture. William Weber (he holds a PhD in History from the University of Chicago, is a professor emeritus at California State University, Long Beach, and is a member of the Council on Social Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles, among other prominent positions), identifies three types of canons: the scholarly canon (derived from early music treatises and still influential today regarding harmony and counterpoint); the pedagogical canon (established around the 16th century for music education, it reinforces traditional training norms despite the ongoing renewal of the repertoire); and the repertoire canon (linked to the value ascribed to music from critical or ideological perspectives). Each canon reflects the worldview of those who establish it.
Serkin's biography, published online by
The Kennedy Center,
states that he was born in Eger, Bohemia—a place known today as Cheb in the Czech Republic. His parents, Mordko and Augusta, were Jewish and had fled pogroms. Serkin had six siblings.
He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963 during the term (1963–1968) of Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973), and in 1981 he received one of the Kennedy Center Honors. Three films have featured performances by Serkin on their soundtracks. A special television program was also dedicated to him in honor of his 75th birthday.
He recorded a total of 176 albums; in addition, 255 compilations of his performances have been released. María Dolores García Martínez
Serkin was a child prodigy who could read scores and play the piano at the age of four. When Alfred Gruenfeld (1852–1924) heard him play, he recommended that Serkin's parents take him to Vienna to study with Richard Robert (1861 - 1924). He also studied composition with Joseph Marx (1882 - 1964) and Arnold Schoenberg (1874 - 1951).
He made his debut at the age of twelve as a guest artist with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. At seventeen, he began his career as a soloist and performing with chamber orchestras.
He made his United States debut in 1935 at the Coolidge Festival in Washington, D.C., performing with Adolf Busch (1891–1952), who would eventually become his father-in-law. In 1936, he performed as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic under the direction of Arturo Toscanini (1867 - 1957), achieving great success. The following year, he made his debut at Carnegie Hall in New York.
In 1939, he was granted American citizenship. He settled in Philadelphia and became the head of the piano department at the Curtis Institute of Music. In 1968, he went on to become the director of that institute.
His relationship with the New York Philharmonic was so significant that he was named an honorary member of the New York Symphony Society. (The New York Symphony is the oldest symphony orchestra in the United States; its original name was the Philharmonic Society of New York, and it was founded in 1842. In 1928, it merged with the New York Symphony.)
He married Irene Busch, and they had seven children. Peter Serkin (1947 - 2020) followed in his footsteps as a pianist and achieved great recognition in that capacity.
Rudolf Serkin passed away in 1991.
Rudolf Serkin (1903 - 1991), piano
Peter Serkin (1947 - 2020), piano
Marlboro Festival Orchestra
Alexander Schneider (1908 - 1993)
1963 recording
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791)
Concerto No. 10, K. 365, for two pianos
I - Allegro
II - Andante
III - Rondo: Allegro
Shared on YouTube - September 7, 2014
by musicisgoodforyou
Awards
He also won a
Serkin ganó un Grammy award
in 1984 for Best Chamber Music Performance for the Cello Sonata in E minor, Op. 38, and the Sonata in F major, Op. 99, by Johannes Brahms.
That same year, he was nominated for the award for Best Classical Music Performer for his album featuring Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37. In total, he received eleven Grammy Award nominations.
Serkin in Film and Music
Discography
His first album was recorded in 1932, together with Adolf Busch: Sonata in G major, Op. 78, by Johannes Brahms.
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