Evermay Concert Series

The 6821 Quintet

Eric Silberger (violin)
Shizuka Inoue (violin)
Andrew Gonzalez (viola)
Clancy Newman (cello)
Ryo Yanagitani (piano)

The 6821 Quintet consists of international artists coming together to fulfill the understanding that music brings disparate cultures together. The group will put on performances during the National Cherry Blossom Festival and will be showcasing their musical artistry at various venues around the DC area.

BIOGRAPHY

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Eric Silberger

Violin

Virtuoso violinist Eric Silberger is a prize winner of the XIV International Tchaikovsky Competition and the Michael Hill International Violin Competition in 2011. His performances have been described by critics as "spine-tingling…astonishing" (The Guardian), "dazzling virtuoso playing" (The Washington Post), "impeccable level of playing, a wonderful musician" (Heather Kurzbauer, The Strad), and " ….he has got everything in his favour, technique, composure and personality" (El Pais, Spain).

Eric has performed as soloist, recitalist and chamber musician throughout the United States and around the world, including solo performances with the St. Petersburg Philharmonia, Mariinsky Orchestra, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Chamber Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre, London Philharmonia, Danish National Symphony, Orquesta Sinfónica de México, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, among others. Conductor collaborations include Lorin Maazel, Valery Gergiev, Dimitri Kitajenko, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Donald Runnicles, Robin Ticciati, and others. 

Recent and upcoming solo highlights include a performance with the San Francisco Symphony conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas, Mariinsky Orchestra conducted by Maestro Valery Gergiev, and a tour in Spain with the Munich Chamber Orchestra among others.

He has appeared at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Louvre in Paris, the Great Hall of the St. Petersburg Philharmonia, The Moscow International House of Music in Russia, Shanghai Grand Theatre in China, Royal Festival Hall in London, Seoul Arts Center in Korea, the National Arts Centre in Canada, and more. Among numerous television and radio appearances in the United States, Asia, and Europe, he was featured on Radio France, STV in China, KBS in Korea, and WQXR, WFYI, FOX 59, WISH-TV, and NPR, among others.

An avid chamber musician, Eric frequently performs chamber music internationally. He also has a special collaboration with bandoneonist and composer JP Jofre.

Eric received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Columbia University and a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School. Coming from a musical family, Eric is a fourth generation violinist. Mentors have included Glenn Dicterow, Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Robert Mann, and Dorothy Delay, among others. He was also mentored by Maestro Lorin Maazel. 

Eric plays on a rare J.B. Guadagnini violin from 1757 on generous loan from the Si-Yo Music Society Foundation and family of Sau-Wing Lam.

Official website: http://www.ericsilberger.com/

BIOGRAPHY

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Shizuka Inoue

Violin

Appointed Visiting Producer

Japanese violinist/violist Shizuka Inoue was the second prize and the audience award winner of the 8th Tokyo Music Competition in 2008. A graduate of the Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo, she had established her career in Tokyo, Japan, as soloist and chamber musician as well as orchestra musician and recording artist. Recently, she has relocated to Philadelphia, expanding her performing arena on the East Coast. Among other influential teachers, she was under the tutelage of Koichiro Harada and studied chamber music with Sadao Harada, both the original members of the Tokyo String Quartet. Working closely with conductor Seiji Ozawa, she has performed frequently with the Saito Kinen Orchestra and Mito Chamber Orchestra; and has also appeared in numerous festivals in Japan and the US including the Aspen Music Festival, the Saito Kinen Festival Matsumoto, and La Folle Journée de Niigata. As a chamber musician, she has collaborated with principal musicians from the Vienna Philharmonic in Volkhard Steude (concertmaster) and Ernst Ottensamer (principal clarinetist). Ms. Inoue is a regular member of the Kioi Hall Chamber Orchestra Tokyo, and has lately been enjoying collaborations with Hidemi Suzuki, period cellist and conductor, performing chamber music with him and joining in his period instrument group Orchestra Libera Classica which specializes in the late 18th- century repertoire.

BIOGRAPHY

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Andrew Gonzalez

Viola

Appointed Visiting Producer

Hailed by the Strad Magazine for his "warm-hearted playing and mellow tone" Andrew Gonzalez has a diverse career around the world as a soloist, chamber musician, teacher, and entrepreneur in music. 

A native of Chesapeake Virginia, Andrew started viola in a public school music program at the age of 10. At 14, he began studying with Amy Davis and Stacey Miggliozi, both members of the Virginia Symphony. He then went to the Juilliard School where he did both his undergrad and graduate degrees, completing his bachelors in 2014 and masters in 2016. There he studied with world renowned violists Michael Tree, Heidi Castleman, Steve Tenenbom, and Hsin-Yun Huang. 

      Right out of school, Andrew began a two year residency as a member of "Ensemble Connect", a chamber music ensemble based at Carnegie Hall that trains its members to become their own leaders and entrepreneurs in music. As part of Connect, Andrew has taught and performed in 2 residencies at Skidmore College, participated in the inaugural Paris and Colorado winter and spring residencies, and has played in multiple chamber music performances at Carnegie Hall. As part of his fellowship with Ensemble Connect, Andrew taught at PS 226 Alfred De B. Mason in Brooklyn. 

Andrew has been a soloist in orchestras across the country, most recently playing Walton Viola Concerto with the Virginia Symphony. Past concerto performances also include playing Stamitz Viola Concerto with the Sphinx Symphony, Telemann viola concerto and Bach Brandenburg 6 with Hampton Roads Chamber Players, as well as Strauss' Don Quixote with the Juilliard orchestra.

Andrew has given numerous recital performances around the country, most recently a recital at Barge Music in New York performing both Brahms viola sonatas. Other recent recitals include, the Clark Arts Center recital series at the Perlman Music Program, the Sunday's at Four series in Smithfield Virginia, a recital at the University of Scranton, and the Beckler Museum recital series in North Carolina. Andrew frequently performs at Barge Music and looks forward to returning there for another recital in September. 

  As a chamber musician, Andrew has collaborated with Itzhak Perlman, Gil Shaham, Martin Beaver, David Kim, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Nobuko Imai, Danny Philips, Natalie Dessay, and many others. Andrew's recent performances include the Brahms songs for Mezzo, Viola, and Piano at the Morgan Library with Ken Noda and Sarah Mesko, Mozart Divertimento and Copland Sextet in Weill Recital Hall, both Mozart Piano Quartets, Schumann piano quartet, and Beethoven G major string trio at Barge Music, as well as a performance of Mendelssohn's string Octet with Itzhak Perlman and alumni of the Perlman Music Program. 

He has participated in music festivals including, the Verbier Academy, Music@Menlo, the Perlman Music Program, the Heifetz Institute, Sarasota Music Festival, Valley of the Moon Music Festival, American Bach Soloists, and many others. Since 2014, Andrew has continuously returned to the Heifetz Institute as an artist in residence and has recently been put on chamber music faculty for their Program for the Exceptionally Gifted.

In 2014, Andrew began playing the baroque viola and studied with Cynthia Roberts at the Juilliard School. Andrew has performed in a baroque and classical ensemble in New York called Quodlibet and have had a chance to work with a lot of musicians who have come through Juilliard 415 and Yale Baroque programs. Andrew recently performed at American Bach Soloists and Valley of the Moon Music Festival where he studied with both Robert Mealy and Elizabeth Blumenstock. Andrew looks forward to returning this summer as an artist at the Valley of the Moon Music Festival. 

Andrew is also passionate about performing music of living composers. His most recent performances include a performance of Steve Reich's "Different Trains" in Weill Hall and a premiere of Caroline Shaw's "Stucco and Brocatelle". He looks forward to giving a premiere of a work by Andy Akiho in June 2018. In 2016, Andrew gave a New York premiere of Joel Friedman's "When the World Disintegrates Before Your Eyes". Andrew regularly plays at the here and now festival at Barge Music, a contemporary music series dedicated to performing works by living composers.

Andrew performs regularly with Sejong Soloists, an ensemble based in New York City and has toured with them all over Europe and Asia. He is also on the sublist for the New York Philharmonic and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and plays when them frequently. Andrew plays on a 1930 Frederick Haenel modeled after a Gasparo da Saló. 

BIOGRAPHY

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Clancy Newman

Cello

Cellist Clancy Newman, first prize winner of the prestigious Naumburg International Competition and recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant, has had the unusual career of a performer/composer. From Albany, NY, he began playing cello at the age of six, and at twelve he received his first significant public recognition when he won a Gold Medal at the Dandenong Youth Festival in Australia, competing against contestants twice his age. In the years that followed, he won numerous other competitions, including the Juilliard School Cello Competition and the Astral Artists National Auditions.

He has performed as soloist throughout the United States, as well as in Europe, Asia, Canada, and Australia. He can often be heard on NPR's "Performance Today" and has been featured on A&E's "Breakfast With the Arts". A sought after chamber musician, he is a member of the Clarosa piano quartet and the Chicago Chamber Musicians, and a former member of Chamber Music Society Two of Lincoln Center and the Weiss-Kaplan-Newman trio. He has also toured as a member of "Musicians from Marlboro".

He developed an interest in composition at an early age, writing his first piece at seven. Since then, he has greatly expanded the cello repertoire, including pieces for solo cello, cello ensemble, cello and piano, and his Four Seasons of Life for cello and string orchestra. His wildly successful "Pop- Unpopped" project, in which he writes solo cello caprices based on pop songs, has been ongoing since 2014 and has led to an exploration of cello techniques heretofore unimagined, gaining over eighty thousand views on youtube. He has also written numerous chamber music works, and has been a featured composer on series by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Chicago Chamber Musicians. His piano trio, Juxt-Opposition, is available on Bridge Records.

Mr. Newman is a graduate of the five-year exchange program between Juilliard and Columbia University, receiving a M.M. from Juilliard and a B.A. in English from Columbia. His teachers have included David Gibson, Joel Krosnick and Harvey Shapiro.

 

BIOGRAPHY

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Ryo Yanagitani, D.M.A.

Piano

Hailed by the Washington Post as "a pianist's pianist," Ryo has established himself as one of Canada's shining artists. His success includes winning the gold medal at the 10th San Antonio International Piano Competition, where he was also given special recognition for a performance of the complete Chopin Ballades. He is the grand prize winner of the Hugo Kauder International Piano competition and a laureate of the Minnesota International Piano-e-Competition, the Dr. Luis Sigall International Piano competition in Vina del Mar (Chile), and the Hilton Head International Piano Competition.

Ryo has made concerto appearances with orchestras around the world, including the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Montreal Metropolitan Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Hartford Symphony Orchestra, the Moroccan Symphony Orchestra, and the Tokyo Kioi Symphonietta. His performances have taken him to such venues as the Kennedy Center, The National Gallery of Art, Library of Congress, Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, and Salle Cortot in Paris among others.

In addition to his solo career, he is much sought after as a chamber musician, performing in a wide range of settings from the duo sonata repertoire to large ensembles. Ryo is frequently invited as guest pianist to chamber music festivals across the US, in the capacity of both lecturer and collaborative pianist. He also presided as one of the core members of the Evermay Chamber Ensemble.

A recipient of many scholarships and awards, Ryo has been endowed twice by the Canadian Arts Council with a grant as an Emerging Artist, and is a recipient of the Arthur Foote Scholarship from the Harvard Musical Association. He was also awarded the Sony Foundation of America Career Grant through the Salon de Virtuosi of New York, and a Washington Award by the S&R Foundation of Washington DC. He has also been an artist-in-residence of the Maxwell Shepherd Fund of Connecticut. Ryo is increasingly recognized not only as a performer but as a pedagogue, and is in demand as adjudicator to competitions and as masterclass clinician in North America and Asia. He has also released two solo CDs consisting of works by Chopin and Debussy, as well as a CD in collaboration with the cellist Dai Miyata in Japan.

Ryo Yanagitani received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Yale School of Music under Boris Berman, a Bachelor Degree in Piano Performance from the University of British Columbia under Doctor Henri-Paul Sicsic, and an Artist Diploma from the Cleveland Institute under Sergei Babayan. He was an instructor for the Chamber Music Program at Yale, and was a visiting Assistant Professor of Piano at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. He currently holds the title of Artistic Director of the Ryuji Ueno Foundation in Washington DC.