MIDORI, IMAI, LEDERLIN, BISS Katonah, NY - March 30, 2011 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Cohn Dutcher Associates CARAMOOR CENTER FOR MUSIC AND THE ARTS PRESENTS MIDORI, IMAI, LEDERLIN, BISS 2010-11 Great Artists in the Music Room SUNDAY, APRIL 3, AT 4:00 PM IN THE ROSEN HOUSE MUSIC ROOM WHO: Midori, violin | Nobuko Imai, viola | Antoine Lederlin, cello | Jonathan Biss, piano WHEN: Sunday, April 3, 2011 | 4:00 p.m. WHERE: Rosen House Music Room | Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts PROGRAM: HAYDN: Piano Trio in A Major, Hob. XV: 9 SCHUBERT: Piano Trio in B-flat Major, D. 898 DVOŘÁK: Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 87 TICKETS: Individual tickets are $40. Subscription series prices for the spring Great Artists in the Music Room series are available for $136 (4 concerts) or $105 (3 concerts). To purchase, call the Caramoor Box Office at 914.232.1252, or visit www.caramoor.org KATONAH, NY — On Sunday, April 3, 2011 at 4:00 pm, the 2010-11 Great Artists in the Music Room series continues in the Rosen House Music Room at Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts with violinistMidori, violist Nobuko Imai, cellist Antoine Lederlin, and pianist Jonathan Biss. A chamber music dream team, Midori and Jonathan Biss return to Caramoor with their internationally-renowned colleagues to explore eternal works of Haydn, Schubert, and DvoÅ™ák. These masterpieces of the genre serve as perfect vehicles for the display of the brilliance, emotional depth and sensitivity of these artists. Great Artists in the Music Room The artists appearing in this spring’s four-concert series put the ‘great’ in Great Artists in the Music Room. After leaving indelible impressions with their prior appearances at Caramoor, these artists return to the jewel-like setting of the Music Room—the veritable heart of Caramoor—to share the artistry, mastery, and passion for which they are renowned around the world. About Midori, Imai, Lederlin & Biss Midori, violin Born in Osaka, Japan, in 1971, Midori Goto began studying the violin with her mother, Setsu Goto, at a very early age. In 1982, when Zubin Mehta first heard her play, he was so impressed that he invited her to be a surprise guest soloist for the New York Philharmonic's traditional New Year's Eve concert, on which occasion she received a standing ovation and the impetus to begin a major career. Midori made her first recording at the age of 14 for Philips - she played music of Bach and Vivaldi with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Pinchas Zukerman. Midori’s development from the technical virtuosity and poise of her early teenage prodigy years to a deeply expressive and powerful artist has set her apart as a master musician. She now records exclusively for Sony Masterworks, which issued two Midori releases in 2008 - an album joining sonatas of J.S.Bach and Bartók, and a 2-CD compilation of catalogue material, The Essential Midori. Other recordings include a Grammy-nominated recording of the Paganini Caprices for Solo Violin; the Bruch G minor and Mendelssohn E minor concertos with the Berlin Philharmonic under the direction of Mariss Jansons; and the Dvorák Violin Concerto with Zubin Mehta and the New York Philharmonic. In the 2010-11 season, Midori will appear at such festivals as Ravinia, Schleswig-Holstein, Caramoor and Edinburgh, and will also perform with the BBC Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, and many other eminent orchestras. Midori continues to devote a substantial amount of time to several community-directed initiatives; in 2007 she was designated an official U.N. Messenger of Peace by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who cited her community engagement work as a model of exemplary commitment to worldwide goals shared by the U.N. In 1992, she founded ‘Midori & Friends’ in response to serious cutbacks in music education in NYC schools, and the program has benefitted over 160,000 children since. Midori then founded a similar organization in Japan, “Music Sharing”, to contribute to a well-rounded education for children in Japan and other Asian countries. In 2003, she created “Partners in Performance”, which aims to broaden the audience for chamber music by bringing high profile chamber music performances to small community-based organizations in the U.S. Nobuko Imai, viola Nobuko Imai is considered one of the leading contemporary viola players. After completing her studies at the Toho School of Music in Japan, Yale University and the Juilliard School in the USA, she won top awards at the international competitions in Munich and Geneva. She combines her international solo career - which has brought her together with orchestras of worldwide renown - with numerous performances as a chamber musician. Her chamber music partners include Gidon Kremer, Yo Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Andreas Schiff, Isaac Stern and Pinchas Zukerman. Nobuko Imai was formerly a member of the famous Vermeer Quartet and is today a member of the Michelangelo Quartet. She has more than ten years' teaching experience at the Academy of Music in Detmold. She currently teaches at the Conservatory in Amsterdam and is Artistic Adviser at Casals Hall in Tokyo, where she has spent many years in charge of the festival "Viola Space". Antoine Lederlin, cello Born in 1975, French cellist Antoine Lederlin studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris, where he completed the cycle de perfectionnement in 1995 as a pupil of Ronald Pidoux. He has also received coaching from Janos Starker, Anner Bylsma, Henri Dutilleux and Isaac Stern. At 20 he became the solo cellist in the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and principal cellist in the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monaco and Lorin Maazel’s Orchestra Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini. He is currently principal cellist in Sinifonieorchester Basel. He has appeared as orchestral soloist and chamber musician, performing at the major French festivals and also at the Ravinia Festival in the USA and has recorded the Schoeck concerto with the Orchestre d’Auvergne and Armin Jordan. In 2006 Antoine joined the Belcea Quartet. Jonathan Biss, piano American pianist Jonathan Biss has proved himself an accomplished and exceptional musician with a flourishing international reputation, through his orchestral, recital, and chamber music performances in North America and Europe and through his EMI Classics recordings. Noted for his prodigious technique, intriguing programs, artistic maturity and versatility, Biss performs a diverse repertoire ranging from Mozart and Beethoven, through the Romantics to Janácek and Schoenberg as well as works by contemporary composers, including commissions from Leon Kirchner and Lewis Spratlan. Hailed as a major new performing artist since he made his New York Philharmonic debut, Biss has appeared with the foremost orchestras of the United States and Europe. He is a frequent performer at leading international music festivals and gives recitals in major music capitals both here and abroad. An enthusiastic chamber musician, Mr. Biss has been a member of Chamber Music Society Two at Lincoln Center, a frequent participant at the Marlboro Music Festival, has toured with "Musicians from Marlboro" on several occasions, and often collaborates with such chamber ensembles as the Borromeo and Mendelssohn quartets. In April 2006, EMI Classics signed Biss to a two-year exclusive contract. His first CD under this contract—an all-Schumann recital—was released to widespread praise and reached No. 5 on the classical charts. Biss was an artist-in-residence on NPR's "Performance Today”, was the first American chosen to participate in the BBC's New Generation Artist program, and has been recognized with numerous awards, including the 2003 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award and the 2005 Leonard Bernstein Award. About Caramoor Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts – a performing arts center located on a unique 90-acre setting of Italianate architecture and gardens in Westchester County, NY – enriches the lives of its audiences through innovative and diverse musical performances of the highest quality. Its mission also includes mentoring young professional musicians and providing educational programs for young children centered around music. The historic Rosen House and its Music Room are the ‘heart of Caramoor’; upon its completion in 1939, Caramoor founders Walter and Lucie Rosen began to present private concerts in the Music Room, and today it is used for all ‘Caramoor Indoors’ concerts and mentorship programs. For more information, visit www.caramoor.org or call (914) 232-5035. Tickets: Individual tickets: $40.00. To purchase, call the Caramoor Box Office at 914.232.1252, or visit www.caramoor.org. One of four Great Artists in the Music Room programs featured during the 2011 spring season, Caramoor also offers the following Subscription Series pricing packages: Quartet (4 concerts) $136.00 (SAVE 15%) Trio (3 concerts) $105.00 (SAVE 12.5%) For Press Tickets: Contact Whitney Holden, Cohn Dutcher Associates | 917.339.7188 | wholden@cohndutcher.com PROGRAM GREAT ARTISTS IN THE MUSIC ROOM MIDORI, IMAI, LEDERLIN, BISS SUNDAY, APRIL 3, 2011, 4:00 P.M. ROSEN HOUSE MUSIC ROOM Midori, violin Nobuko Imai, viola Antoine Lederlin, cello Jonathan Biss, piano HAYDN Piano Trio in A Major, Hob. XV: 9 SCHUBERT Piano Trio in B-flat Major, D. 898 DVORAK Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 87 This performance is made possible, in part, by ArtsWestchester with funds from Westchester County Government This performance is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency CARAMOOR CENTER FOR MUSIC AND THE ARTS IS LOCATED AT 149 GIRDLE RIDGE ROAD, KATONAH, NEW YORK.