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Moscow, June 24 - July 1, 2018

St. Petersburg, July 1 - 8, 2018

Paris, July 8 - 15, 2018

YOUNG MUSICIANS, PARENTS, FAMILIES ARE WELCOME! Come join us and make this tour an unforgettable experience, combining artistic performances, educational master classes and sightseeing excursions with the pleasure of a family vacation. MOSCOW Concert & Master Classes at the Central House of Artists. Visiting Kremlin, Red Square, St. Basil's Cathedral, Bolshoi Theatre, Tretyakov Gallery. Moscow River Boat Tour…

ST. PETERSBURG Concert & Master Classes at the Palace of Grand Duke Vladimir. Visiting Hermitage, Mariinsky Theatre, Russian Museum, Imperial Estate of Peterhof. Neva River Boat Tour…

PARIS Concert & Master Classes at Le Centre de Russie pour la science et la culture a Paris. Visiting Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Notre Dame, Sacré-Cœur, Royal Palace of Versailles. Seine River Boat Tour…

ACCOMODATIONS 4-Star Hotel in the historical center of Moscow, St. Petersburg and Paris for 7 nights, double/triple occupancy, including breakfast. Welcome dinner in every city. SCHOLARSHIPS Up to $1,500 ($500 for each week) will be awarded to the select Winners of the Concert Festival Competitions. AWARDS Commemorative Medals, Trophies and Certificates will be awarded at the Concerts. “2018 International Soloist of the Year” award to the select soloist. “2018 International Ensemble of the Year” award to the select ensemble. DISCOUNTS 10% applies to the Families of 3 or more. Additional 10% discount applies to the Families participating in three-week program.

Paris St. Petersburg Moscow

Concert Festival International Summer Tour 2018

Concert Festival Orchestra Conductor Vladimir Polezhayev

Soloists

Grand Prix Winners of Concerto Competition 2018

Jeff Bao Jeslyn Guo Elizabeth Jones Elizabeth G Lee Emma Sophie Luo Isabel Mavrides

Riri Mazushima Michelle Skylar Michelle Stern

Iris Wu Camellia Ye

Jason Yu

Lutheran Church Of Our Saviour

132 Jefferson Avenue, Mineola NY

Sunday, May 6, 2018 at 2 p.m.

Free Admission

Maxim Vengerov and Sayaka Shoji have recorded the composition with Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic, as did Igor Oistrakh, Andrei Korsakov, Louis Francini, Tobias Felsmann, Rachel Barton, Chloe Hanslip, Frank Huang, Lara St. John, Mayuko Kamio, Alexander Gilman, Rachel Kolly D’Alba, Arabella Steinbacher, Nadja Salerno Sonnenberg and Dana Zemtsov. Performed several times by John Williams/Keith Lockhart and the Boston “Pops”, with Tamara Smirnova, Zubin Mehta and Glenn Dicterow with the New York Philharmonic featured the work on the PBS telecast “Live From Lincoln Center.” The Gorky-born (1977) trumpet virtuoso Sergei Nakariakov “Carmen” Fantasie CD was a sensation. Rodney Mack recorded the Trumpet “Carmen” with Lawrence Foster conducting the Orquestra Sinfonica de Barcelona I National de Catalunya. On February 4, 1998 Paul Merkelo gave the first concert performance with the New World Symphony Orchestra conducted by Michael Tillson Thomas at Lincoln Center. “Carmen” Fantasie for viola, strings and percussion is arranged by Michael Kugel. Marina Piccinini premiered the flue edition, DaXun Zhang the edition for double bass and Matt Haimovitz recently performed the work for cello. There are also editions for concert band, marimba, recently recorded by Fumito Nunoya, tuba, violin/cello and guitar. Franz Waxman is best known for the 150+ film scores he composed in Hollywood beginning at Universal Pictures in 1935 with The Bride of Frankenstein. During his Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer period (1936 - 1942), he wrote the music for The Philadelphia Story and seven Spencer Tracy films including Captains Courageous and Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. Of the four scores for Alfred Hitchcock films, Rebecca is unforgettable. While at Warner Brothers (1943 - 1948), he composed the music for a variety of films; Objective, Burma!, The Two Mrs. Carrolls and Mr. Skeffington. Moving to Paramount Pictures, he won his first Academy Award in 1950 with Sunset Boulevard and his second the next year with A Place in the Sun. Other memorable scores from the 1950ís include Prince Valiant, Crime in the Streets, Peyton Place, Sayonara and The Nun’s Story. In the 1960ís he is best known for the music to Adventures of a Young Man and Taras Bulba. Waxman’s versatility as a composer led him to a variety of concert works as varied as his film scores: “Athaneal The Trumpeter” Overture (1946), “The Charm Bracelet” For Chamber Orchestra (1949), “Passacaglia” For Orchestra (1953), “Sinfonietta” For String Orchestra & Timpani (1956), “The Spirit of St. Louis” Symphonic Suite (1958), “The Black-Foxe” March For Concert Band (1958), “Joshua,” an Oratorio (1959), “Goyana”: Four Sketches For Piano Solo Percussion & String Orchestra (1960), “Ruth”: A Narrative Poem With Music (1960), “The Ride of the Cossacks” For Orchestra (1962), “Hemingway”: A Symphonic Suite (1963) and “The Song of Terezin” A Dramatic Song Cycle (1965). Waxman was exceptionally skilled in orchestration, and his ability to exploit every coloristic resource adds an extra measure of zest to this artful mingling of showpiece and synthesis - that, a fidelity to the essence of “Carmen” that could be expected only in such a sincere homage from one composer to another.

For Further Information please contact: Fidelio Music Publishing Company,1255 Fairfield Beach Road, Fairfield, CT 06824

Telephone: (203) 259 0401 - FAX: (203) 259 0405 E-mail: tnv@tnv.net; Internet web site catalogue: franzwaxman.com

Public Performances: ASCAP

Concert Festival Orchestra

Violin I Anton Polezhayev Charles Piemonte Maxim Levin Yelena Savranskaya Emily Vold Steven Cordella Violin II Michael Gutenberg Sabina Torosjan Margaret Silvera Hyunju Ji Viola Tonya Bibashka Sarah Ludwiczak Cello Jeong Yoon Park Natalia Galebsky Yana Levin Double Bass James Myer Flute Denis Savelyev Dmitriy Goldgisser Oboe Elisabeth Brunbauer Justine Popik Clarinet Alexander Negruta Elizabeth Spataro Bassoon Peter Landy Marissa Olegario Horn Jeanine Nagao Dean Miller Trumpet Sam Wells Timpani Steve DeBellis

Program

Riri Mazushima piano _________________ D. Kabalevsky - Concerto #3, Op.50, Mov.I Riri Mizushima was born in 2007 in Sapporo, Japan. She started to play the piano at the age of 4, and until 2016 she spent 5 years with the teacher in Japan. Her family moved to New Jersey in 2016, and she met her current teacher, Rimma Altshul. This is the first concerto for Riri to play, and she is very excited!

Jason Yu piano ______________ L.van Beethoven - Concerto #3, Op.37 C minor, Mov.I Jason Yu started playing the piano when he was 7 years old. Currently learning piano with Veselin Ninov. In 2015, Jason’s received a perfect score at Level VI NYSSMA and represented Steinway and Sons in the Steinway Performers Showcase. He performed at the 2016 Brooklyn Music Teachers Guild Matinee Recitals at Steinway Recital Hall and at the 4th and 5th LISMA Soloist Competitions. In 2017, Jason received a Gold Medal in the Final Round of the Forte International Music Competition at Carnegie Hall. Most recently, Jason won 1st Prize at the 2018 Manolov International Competition in New York and is a finalist of the 2018 Steinway and Sons Piano Competition.

Emma Sophie Luo violin __________________ O. Rieding - Concerto B minor, Mov.III Emma Sophie Luo, 7 years old. She started violin at age 4. She was discovered by two great violinists who found her playing music with profound emotions and passions. “She not only plays with feelings, but she feels the music.” Both are now her teachers, Keita Fukushima, who perfected his playing at Juilliard for eight years, and Yang Xu, who is the first violinist at Met Opera. Emma Sophie was the First Prize Winner at International Music Competition Grand Prize Virtuoso 2017, and performed at the Vienna Golden Hall. She was also invited as a special guest by American Fine Arts Music Festival and performed in Moscow. She was the Grand Prix Winner at Concert Festival 2018, and First Prize at Golden International Music Competition, which brought her to Carnegie Hall. She also plays the flute and piano. An avid tennis player, she is the Red Belt in Taekwondo.

Elizabeth G. Lee violin ____________ D. Kabalevsky - Concerto C major, Op.48, Mov.I Elizabeth G. Lee, was born in NYC, started her violin studies at the age of four. She entered her first competition in 2015 and got her first performance at Carnegie Hall at the tender age of 6. She was always among the youngest winner in all of her competitions.She currently studies with Mr Khullip Jeung, and has taken masterclass with Dr. Ann Setzer. She attended 2016 4 strings music festival and is in her 3rd year playing with NY Laureate Orchestra with conductor Kim, Kyung Soo. She has received 2015, 2016, 2017 Presidents Volunteer Service Award (Gold). For Elizabeth’s young age, she’s played a lot of venues that include, Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, Lincoln Centre, Flushing Town Hall, and at her church where she regularly plays hymns for offering time. Besides music, she is a very energetic, bold, athletic, and confident young lady. She plays Softball, Basketball, Tennis, and Swimming. And loves to play with her 2 younger brothers.

Program notes Carmen Fantasie

Based on Themes from the opera by Georges Bizet by Franz Waxman

Georges Bizet (1838 - 1875) died only three months after the premiere of “Carmen” convinced that it was a failure. Not so many years later it was the most-often performed opera in the international repertoire, and for the better part of a century this music has been popular far beyond the lyric theatre.

In our own time the Bizet masterpiece has been tranmogrified as a musical (Carmen Jones) as a ballet (by the Soviet avante-garde composer Rodion Shchedrin) not to mention Tin Pan Alley songwriters, jazz instrumentalists, bathroom baritones and even rock groups.

Pablo Martin Meliton Sarasate y Navascuez (1844 - 1908) seems to have been the first to discern a specifically violinistic character in “Carmen.” He wove a virtuosic if somewhat patchy fantasy for violin and piano (Op. 25) out of themes from the opera, and later expanded his potpourri into a concert piece for violin and orchestra - though more than one reference book quite incorrectly ascribes this orchestral version to the Silesian-born American composer and conductor Franz Waxman (1906 - 1967)

Waxman did, in fact, compose the very different “Carmen” Fantasie. This work is not at all related to the Sarasate hodgepodge. Waxman hardly could have brought himself to rearranging what was already a hybrid composition at least once removed from the original. Instead, properly he bypassed Sarasate and went back to Bizet.

Franz Waxman “created” his “Carmen” and “Tristan & Isolde” Fantasies for the film Humoresque (Warner Brothers, 1947) for John Garfield to “play” on screen to Isaac Stern’s recording on the soundtrack. Jascha Heifetz saw the Joan Crawford - Oscar Levant melodrama with a screenplay by Clifford Odets based on the famous Fannie Hurst story about the budding career of a young New York violinist (Garfield) and his patron (Crawford). The Jerry Wald production was directed by Jean Negulesco.

Heifetz asked Waxman to expand the work for him to play on the popular radio program, The Bell Telephone Hour. The composer revised the score between August 13 and October 18, 1946. The premiere performance of September 9, 1946 was a great success and Heifetz toured the world playing “Carmen” Fantasie. He recorded it with Donald Voorhees on November 11, 1946 and the recording has never been out-of-print.

The Russian violinist David Oistrakh gave the Heifetz recording to his student Leonid Kogan. Unable to obtain a score for the work in the Soviet Union, Kogan made up his own score by listening to the Heifetz recording and copying the notes down one-by-one! Waxman was the first American to conduct the major orchestras of the USSR (in Moscow, Leningrad and Kiev) and during his April 1962 visit he promised to send the orchestral parts to Kogan for a recording with Kirill Kondrashin. Shortly after its release Kondrashin defected to the West and most of his Russian recordings were destroyed. Kogan taught Viktoria Mullova the work before she fled (with the music on microfilm) from the USSR in 1982. Another Kogan pupil Andrei Korsakov (1946 - 1991) recorded “Carmen” in 1990.

Elizabeth Jones cello _____________________________ D. Popper - Tarantella Op.33 Elizabeth Jones, 13, is an 8th grader at Rippowam Cisqua School in Bedford, NY. She began studying piano at age five and cello at age seven. She studies cello with David Krieger at the Westchester Conservatory of Music. As a winner of American Fine Arts Festival Competition and Concert Festival International Competition in piano and cello categories, Elizabeth has performed at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and at Lincoln Center’s Bruno Walter Auditorium. As a Concert Festival International Competition winner, she also appeared in a piano master class and a concert in Paris, France. Last summer, Elizabeth was invited to participate in the Burgos International Music Festival in Spain, as a cellist. Also an aspiring singer and a ukulele player, in addition to her musical pursuits, Elizabeth loves science and writing poetry.

Isabel Mavrides violin ______________________ F. Kreisler - Preludium and Allegro Isabel (Coco) Mavrides, 12, from New York City, studies violin at Lucy Moses School and the studio of Olga Popova. She performs with the ISO Concert Orchestra, plays at the Horace Mann Strings Orchestra and is part of the New York Virtuosos Ensemble. Isabel has competed and won several awards in re-known Concerto Competitions; including American Protege (2015, 2016, 2017), Fine Arts Festival (2015, 2016 and 2017) and the Concert Festival (2013, 2014 and 2015). Isabel has performed solo concerts at Carnegie Hall, Symphony Space and the Kaufman Center. Isabel is part of the Concerts in Motion program and has performed in Nursing Homes and Hospitals around New York City. She attends the 7th Grade at Horace Mann School in NYC.

10 minutes intermission

Jeslyn Guo violin ______________________________ P.de Sarasate - Zigeunerweisen Jeslyn Guo, 13, has been studying violin with Ragga Petursdottir for 8 years. She was concertmaster of Norwalk Youth Symphony’s Prelude Orchestra, Philharmonic Strings Orchestra, and Concert Orchestra before playing first violin in its highest level Principal Orchestra, with which she performed Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra in Carnegie Hall in the summer of 2017. She attended the Kinhaven summer music camp for 2 years and the Philadelphia International Music Festival, where she was coached by maestro Kensho Watanabe in his show-case masterclass. This is her concerto debut as a Grand Prix Winner of the 2018 Concert Festival Concerto Competition.

Michelle Skylar voice _ W.A. Mozart - Deh vieni non tahdar (“The Marriage of Figaro”) W.A. Mozart - Vedrai, carino (“Don Giovanni”) Michelle Skylar, born in 2005, is a soprano vocalist who has lived in Russia, United States, and currently resides in England. Michelle achieved Grade 5 certification in piano and voice with distinction at the age of 9, with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, and went on to play lead roles in Shakespeare Festivals in London and to sing with numerous advanced choirs. In 2017 and 2018, Michelle was awarded 1st Prize in AFAF Golden Voices Competition, 2nd Place in American Protégé Music Talent Competition, 1st Prize in Golden Classical Vocal Competition, Grand Prix in Concert Festival International Competition, and 1st Place in Grand Prize Virtuoso Competition. Michelle has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Baruch Performing Arts Center, and Musikverein in Vienna. Michelle has also performed in concerts with orchestras in Moscow and St. Petersburg at the invite of the Spivakov Foundation. Michelle sings in English, Russian, French, Italian, and German. Michelle is an ardent activist for children’s rights and is a Girl Up® Club leader and annual participant in Social Good Summit®.

Iris Wu violin _____________________________ H. Vieuxtemps - Concerto #4, Mov.I Iris Wu, 13 years old, began learning violin at the age of five. She passed the NYSSMA level 6 at the age of 8. She went to Suzuki violin program and had enjoyed playing violin in group class for 4 years in which she learned, and explored a lot. Her teacher is Khullip Jeong.She always enjoys performing for friends and family with heart and which is the best motivation to her to keep learning, especially when pieces are technically getting more difficult. Iris is in Mannes School of Music Prep Program and participated in Symphony Orchestra. She was a previous First place winner of American Protege Competition, NY International Music Competition, Crescendo Competition, and Prima Volta Competition. She has performed at varies venues including Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Kaufman Music Center’s Merkin Concert Hall, Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center. She also won the Queens College CPSM concerto competition in 2012 and 2013.

Camellia Ye cello _________________________ P.I. Tchaikovsky - Pezzo Capriccioso Camellia Ye has been playing the cello for over 10 years. Her teacher is Jeongyoon Park. She has won previous conceptions, including the Concert Festival where she played at the Symphony Space and the Soloist Competition at Tilles Center. She is an All State cellist and played with the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra and the Children’s Orchestra Society. Currently in 11th grade at The Wheatley School, Camellia is also a national-level swimmer and a published writer.

Jeff Bao violin ___________________________ H. Wieniawski - Concerto #2, Mov.III Jeff Bao, aged 15, a 10th grader at the Jericho High School in New York. He has been playing both piano and violin for 7 years. Jeff won Concert Festival International Competitions 2014 and 2015 Grand Prix and performed at the Carnegie Hall. Jeff participated in Concert Festival Summer Tour “St. Petersburg, Russia 2014”. Jeff also participated in Sino Vision "Teen Talented Competition 2015" in piano and violin. He won 3rd place and has performed live in 2015 show. Jeff also won the 1st Prize 'Vienna Grand Prize Virtuoso’ and has been invited to perform at the Metallener Saal, Musikverein in Vienna in August 2015. He also attends Mannes Prep for two years. In the summer of 2015 Jeff attended Adamant Music School in Vermont. He is one of the 28 advanced students chosen to participate and studied with David Gortler and Franklin Larey at the camp.

Michelle Stern violin ___________________ F. Waxman / G. Bizet - Carmen Fantasie Michelle Stern, a 14 year-old native of Douglaston, NY, began her violin studies at the age of 3 with her mother, Anna Heifetz, a distinguished violinist and teacher, and currently studies violin with Professor Ann Setzer at the Juilliard School. Michelle was awarded 1st prize in the Gershwin International Music Competition 2017, 1st prize at the New York Music Competition and American Protégé Competition. In addition, she was awarded both 1st prize and the Grand Prize at the Concert Festival International Competitions. Michelle appeared as a soloist with the Connecticut Virtuosi Orchestra, North Shore Symphony, Island Chamber Symphony, Concert Festival Orchestra and the Manhattan Symphony at Lincoln Center. She performed at the renowned Meadowmount Festival, and gave solo recitals at Lincoln Center. Michelle was a guest artist on the PBS’ Artscene. Michelle is a two-time recipient of the prestigious Irwin Altman Award of “Excellence in Education” from District 26, Queens, and had received an honorary Citation from the City Council of New York for academic achievement and community service.

Awards Ceremony