AN EVENING WITH ILYA KALER & FRIENDS - FACULTY RECITAL DEPAUL CONCERT HALL 800 WEST BELDEN AVENUE CHICAGO - DEPAUL UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MUSIC

Friday, April 6, 2018 • 8:00 p.m.

An Evening with
Ilya Kaler & Friends
Faculty Recital

 DePaul Concert Hall
 800 West Belden Avenue • Chicago

Friday, April 6, 2018 • 8:00 p.m.
DePaul Concert Hall

   An Evening with Ilya Kaler & Friends
   Ilya Kaler, violin
   Beilin Han, piano
   with guest artists
   Jonathan Cohler, clarinet
   Rasa Vitkauskaite, piano

  Program

  Béla Bartók (1881-1945)
  Contrasts for clarinet, violin and piano (1938)
       Verbunkos (Recruiting Dance). Moderato, ben ritmato
       Pihenö (Relaxation). Lento
       Sebes (Fast Dance). Allegro vivace

  Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
  Suite from L’Histoire du Soldat (The Soldier’s Tale) (1919)
        The Soldier’s March
        The Soldier’s Violin (Scene at the brook)
        A Little Concert
        Tango - Waltz - Ragtime
        The Devil’s Dance

  Paul Schoenfield (b. 1947)
  Trio for clarinet, violin and piano (1986)
        Freylakh
        March
        Nigun
        Kozatzke

An Evening with Ilya Kler & Friends • April 6, 2018

Biographies
Ilya Kaler is one of the most outstanding personalities of the violin today,
whose career ranges from that of a soloist and recording artist to chamber
musician and professor.

Mr. Kaler earned rave reviews for his solo appearances with such distinguished
orchestras throughout the world as the Leningrad, Moscow and Dresden
Philharmonic Orchestras, Montreal Symphony, Danish and Berlin Radio
Orchestras, Moscow and Zurich Chamber Orchestras, as well as many of the
major American orchestras. Kaler collaborated with a number of outstanding
conductors such as Valery Gergiev, Dmitry Kitayenko, Mariss Jansons and
Jerzy Semkow. His solo recitals have taken him throughout the five continents.

Kaler also performed at many concert venues around the world as a member
of The Tempest Trio with cellist Amit Peled and pianist Alon Goldstein. The
trio had recently recorded their debut CD for Naxos record company which
features complete set of piano trios by Antonin Dvorak.

Kaler’s orchestral career includes guest Concertmaster appearances with the
Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Pittsburg Symphony and
Baltimore Symphony, as well as tours with the World Orchestra for Peace
under the direction of Valery Gergiev. He held Concertmaster positions with
the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, NY and the Lake Forest Symphony, IL.

One of the most sought-after teachers in the world, Kaler held Professor of
Violin positions at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY and at the
Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington, IN. Kaler currently serves
as Professor of Violin at the DePaul University School of Music in Chicago.
He frequently serves as a jury member at international violin competitions
throughout the world.

Kaler is a Gold Medal winner at three of the world’s prestigious international
violin competitions: the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (1986), the Sibelius
Competition in Helsinki (1985), and the Paganini Competition in Genoa (1981).

Mr. Kaler records exclusively for Naxos Records. His highly acclaimed
albums include Sonatas by Schumann and Brahms, Concertos by Paganini,
Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Schumann, Dvorak, Glazunov,
Szymanowski, Karlowicz, as well as Taneyev Suite, Bach Sonatas and Partitas
for Violin Solo and Ysaye’s Six Sonatas for Violin Solo.

An Evening with Ilya Kler & Friends • April 6, 2018
                                                                      biographies
Jonathan Cohler is recognized throughout the world as “an absolute master of
the clarinet” (International Clarinet Association’s Clarinet Magazine). Through his
performances around the world and on record, he has thrilled an ever widening
audience with his incredible musicianship and total technical command. His
technical feats have been hailed as “superhuman” and Fanfare Magazine has
placed him in the pantheon of legendary musicians: “one thinks of Dinu Lipatti.”

In recent years, Mr. Cohler has teamed up with multiple award winning
Lithuanian pianist Rasa Vitkauskaite to form today’s leading clarinet-piano
duo, which is featured in three recent recordings: American Tribute, Romanza,
and Rhapsodie Française. Another recent CD, Jonathan Cohler & Claremont
Trio, features the award winning Claremont Trio, and his newest CD Cohler
plays & conducts Weber (released August 2016) features Mr. Cohler with the
world renowned Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra from Budapest, Hungary.

A highly acclaimed recording artist, his recordings have received numerous
accolades and awards including nomination for the INDIE Award, the
Outstanding Recording mark of the American Record Guide, BBC Music
Magazine’s Best CDs of The Year selection, and top ratings from magazines,
radio stations, and record guides worldwide including Penguin Guide, BBC
Music Magazine, MusicWeb International, and Listener Magazine, which wrote,
“Cohler possesses such musical integrity and taste that everything he touches
seems like the last word”. Gramophone lauded Mr. Cohler’s expression of “the
poetry that lesser artists miss.” Fanfare Magazine featured his Weber CD on its
cover praising his “extraordinary musical intelligence and technical wizardry”
and dubbing his playing as “supernatural” while it hailed American Tribute as,
“one of the best clarinet CDs to come along in some time” and they ranked his
recording of the Brahms and Beethoven trios (Jonathan Cohler & Claremont
Trio) the all-time best: “I know of no finer recording of the Beethoven, and this
one stands with the best classic versions of the Brahms.” Rhapsodie Française
was chosen as Best of the Year by the Buffalo/Toronto classical station 94.5
WNED alongside two CDs featuring legendary artists Pierre Fournier, Mstislav
Rostropovitch, Leonid Kogan, and Emil Gilels.

Mr. Cohler’s maintains a busy international schedule that takes him around
the Globe to cities in the United States, Italy, Poland, Spain, Argentina, Brazil,
Hungary, Belgium, Spain, Canada, Europe, Japan, Taiwan, China, Venezuela,
Chile, Peru, Mexico and Cuba. He has performed at many festivals including
those of Tanglewood, Aspen, Domaine Forget (Canada), Campos do Jordao
(Brazil), Xativa (Spain), Arezzo (Italy), Rockport, Newport, Martha’s Vineyard
and the Hamptons. He has been featured on the prestigious Dame Myra Hess
Memorial Concert Series in Chicago, and he has been a frequently invited
performer, adjudicator, and clinician at the International Clarinet Association’s
annual ClarinetFest and many other clarinet festivals around the world.

An Evening with Ilya Kler & Friends • April 6, 2018
                                                                  biographies
In addition to holding several honorary positions, Mr. Cohler has been invited
to teach as guest faculty at conservatories, universities and festivals around
the world such as Eastman School of Music, Cleveland Institute of Music,
Harvard University, Central Conservatory in Beijing, National Conservatory
of Music in Mexico, and University of Chile, to name a few. Mr. Cohler is the
Music Director of the Massachusetts Philharmonic Orchestra, and founder
and director of Chamber Music Boston, the Boston Clarinet Academy, and the
International Woodwind Festival. He is also in demand as a guest conductor
around the world with orchestras such as the Simon Bolivar Orchestra of
Caracas, Venezuela.

Mr. Cohler’s clarinet teachers include legendary Boston Symphony Orchestra
clarinetist Pasquale Cardillo, Harold Wright, Karl Leister, Charles Neidich and
Frank Martin. He graduated with high honors in physics from Harvard University.
He is Professor of Clarinet and Chamber music at the Longy School of Music
of Bard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Jonathan Cohler is a Vandoren,
Rossi, and Royal Musical artist and records exclusively for Ongaku Records.

Hailed for “artistry of poetic and observant sensitivity” (Gramophone),
internationally acclaimed pianist Rasa Vitkauskaite released her debut solo
CD Reflections on Ongaku Records in 2014, featuring works by Beethoven,
Ravel, Guastavino and Liebermann. Fanfare Magazine highlighted the release
on its cover, praising her “scintillating pianism” and dubbing her “a Beethoven
interpreter of penetrating insight.” Last season featured Ms. Vitkauskaite’s
debut recording as soloist with orchestra performing Liszt/Weber Polonaise
brillante recorded at the Hungarian National Radio.

Winner of the Grand Prix at the Mendelssohn Cup Piano Competition in Italy,
Rasa Vitkauskaite has won top prizes at numerous prestigious international
piano competitions including First Prizes at Les Rencontres Internationales
des Jeunes Pianistes (Belgium), the competition in Taurisano (Italy), and the
Rubinstein Piano Competition (Paris). Other awards include the Westmont
Fellowship at the Montecito International Music Festival in Santa Barbara,
California, and a Kathryn Wasserman Davis $10,000 grant supporting a tour
of Israel promoting peace. Ms. Vitkauskaite has also won top prizes at six
national competitions in her native country of Lithuania.

Next season will include the release of her debut concerto CD featuring
Mozart’s Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, K. 466 and Beethoven’s Concerto No.
3 in C Minor, Op. 37 with the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra. Recent recital
tours have taken Ms. Vitkauskaite to China, South Korea, Venezuela, Brazil,
Argentina, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, and across the United
States. Her solo engagements include the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra,

An Evening with Ilya Kler & Friends • April 6, 2018
                                                                     biographies
Kaunas, Latvian and Kaliningrad Philharmonic orchestras, I Solisti di Perugia,
and the Boston Conservatory Orchestra. She has appeared at festivals in
Assisi (Italy), Madrid (Spain), Mexico City, Caracas (Venezuela), Taiyuan (China),
Porto (Portugal), and Moscow (Russia).
An avid chamber musician, Ms. Vitkauskaite performs regularly with world-
renowned clarinetist Jonathan Cohler. MusicWeb International praised her
as “a master” on the duo’s 2014 release of American Tribute (in honor of the
victims of the Boston Marathon bombing on April 15, 2013), and as “a brilliant
and sympathetic partner” on their 2013 release Romanza, featuring works by
Schumann, Prokofiev and Guastavino. American Record Guide singled out
her “subtle musicianship and exceptional skill” on Rhapsodie Française, the
2008 debut duo CD with Mr. Cohler.

In addition to her active performing career, Ms. Vitkauskaite is a dedicated
teacher and adjudicator. She has led masterclasses worldwide including, most
recently, Ohio University, University of Akron, National University of Rosario in
Argentina, Carlos Gomes State Institute in Belém, Brazil, “Ciutat de Xàtiva”
International Music Festival in Spain, Longy School of Music of Bard College
and New England Conservatory Preparatory School. She has many students
both at the Concord Conservatory of Music, where she is on the faculty, and
in her private studio. She is also a member of the piano faculty at Youth &
Muse International Summer Music Festival at the Boston Conservatory. Ms.
Vitkauskaite has adjudicated numerous piano competitions including the
Steinway Society Piano Competition, Westfield State University Young Artist
Piano Competition and Massachusetts Music Teachers Association Bay State
Contest. She also launched a piano program for inner-city children in Boston
after winning a $5000 Fellowes Athenaeum Fund grant.

Ms. Vitkauskaite is the pianist of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, and the
Meiningen Trio.

An Evening with Ilya Kler & Friends • April 6, 2018

Upcoming Events
Saturday, April 7 • 7:00 p.m.
Recital Hall
Janet Sung Studio Recital

Monday, April 8 • 1:00 p.m.
Concert Hall
Kleinman Competition

Monday, April 9 • 8:00 p.m.
Concert Hall
Faculty Artist Series: Ian Ding, Eric Millstein & Cynthia Yeh

Tuesday, April 10 • 8:00 p.m.
Concert Hall
Tuba Studio Recital

Friday, April 13 • 8:00 p.m.
Recital Hall
Electic DePaul

Saturday, April 14 • 8:00 p.m.
Concert Hall
New Music DePaul

Sunday, April 15 • 3:00 p.m.
Concert Hall
Hindustani Concert

Friday, April 20 • 8:00 p.m.
Concert Hall
Ensemble 20+

Saturday, April 21 • 8:00 p.m.
Concert Hall
DePaul Symphony Orchestra

Sunday, April 22 • 4:00 p.m.
Recital Hall
Faculty Artist Series: Stephen Balderston, cello

Thursday, April 26 • 8:00 p.m.
Concert Hall
DePaul Wind Ensemble

An Evening with Ilya Kler & Friends • April 6, 2018
                                                           Upcoming Events
Saturday, April 28 • 8:00 p.m.
Concert Hall
DePaul Concert Orchestra and Symphonic Choir

Sunday, April 29 • 2:00 p.m.
St. Vincent de Paul Parish • 1010 West Webster Avenue • Chicago
DePaul Concert Orchestra and Symphonic Choir

Tuesday, May 1 • 7:00 p.m.
Driehaus Museum • 40 East Erie Street • Chicago
DePaul Chamber Music Showcase

Friday, May 4 • 8:00 p.m.
Concert Hall
New Music DePaul

Saturday, May 5 • 8:00 p.m.
Concert Hall
DePaul Wind Symphony

Sunday, May 6 • 5:00 p.m.
Concert Hall
Faculty Artist Series: Janet Sung and Friends

Monday, May 7 • 7:00 p.m.
Recital Hall
Clarinet Studio Recital

As a courtesy to those around you, please silence all cell phones and other electronic
devices. Flash photography is not permitted. Thank you.

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