Clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein to lead a ESO Masterclass March 4
Winner of a 2009 Avery Fisher Career Grant Award, clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein will present a free masterclass from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, March 4, at the Gail Borden Public Library, 270 N. Grove Ave. in downtown Elgin. It is free and open to the public.
The event, sponsored by S.E. Ainsworth & Family, and a project of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra and the Gail Borden Public Library, is free and open to the public.
Musicians participating in the class are Alex Abreu, a senior at Highland Park High School, performing "Premiere Rhapsodie" by Claude Debussy; Marina Adamany, a Carthage College junior from Naperville, performing Introduction and Variations on a "Swedish Air," Op. 12 by Bernhard Henrik Crusell; Kevin Meaux, a junior at Lincoln-Way East High School in Frankfort, Ill., performing "Hommage a A. Khatschaturian" by Bela Kovacs; and Sage Overstreet, an eighth-grader at St. Charles' Wredling Middle School, who will perform Clarinet Concerto in A Major, 1. Allegro by W.A. Mozart.
The masterclass is part of educational programming offered by the ESO during Classics Series concert weeks. At 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, March 1, at Greenfields of Geneva and 1 p.m. at the Gail Borden Public library, Jim Kendros, a music lecturer and composer, will discuss the ESO's upcoming concerts at free Listeners Club events.
The concerts March 3-5 will be led by Resident Conductor Stephen Squires with Alexander Fiterstein performing Aaron Copland's jazz-infused Clarinet Concerto, and also feature Copland's "Billy the Kid Suite" and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No 4. Visit www.elginsymphony.org or call (847) 888-4000 for tickets.
The Elgin Symphony Orchestra offers several free masterclasses and Listeners Clubs a year. Its mission is to serve and engage a broad audience through the performance of powerful symphonic music and dynamic educational programs while developing strong community relationships. For more information about its educational programs, visit ElginSymphony.org.
• Alex Abreu studies with Barbara Drapcho, a clarinet faculty member at the Music Institute of Chicago. He is the principal clarinet of the Symphony Orchestra at Midwest Young Artists Conservatory, where he also plays with his wind trio and works as the music librarian. Alex was principal clarinet of both the 2015-16 season ILMEA District 7 Orchestra and All-State Honors Orchestra. At Highland Park High School, he plays principal clarinet in Wind Symphony, cello in Chamber Orchestra, saxophone in Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Combo, and is a teacher's assistant for AP Music Theory. He also enjoys teaching young clarinetists.
• Marina Adamany is majoring in music and sociology with a Women's and Gender Studies minor at Carthage College in Kenosa, Wisconsin. She studies clarinet with Jennifer Woodrum and is involved in the Carthage Wind Orchestra, Carthage Philharmonic and Pit Orchestra for the upcoming musical. She graduated of Naperville Central High School in 2014 where she participated in Wind Ensemble and Wind Orchestra.
• Kevin Meaux has been playing clarinet for 7 years. He plays clarinet and bass clarinet with the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra and is looking forward to the CYSO's Tour of Central Europe coming up this June. He is a member of the Honors Wind Ensemble at his high school and has participated in Marching Band. He has qualified for the Illinois Music Educators District 1 Festival every year in high school and this year performed at the ILMEA All-State conference in the Honors Band. He studies with Patrick Rehker and is currently preparing for college auditions, hoping to pursue a career in clarinet performance. This is his first masterclass and he's looking forward to receiving some expert advice on how to improve.
• Sage Overstreet is in eighth grade at Wredling Middle School in St. Charles. This is her first year with Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Chamber Institute. She currently studies clarinet and saxophone under Mark Rasmussen of Sounds Like Music in Geneva, and piano under Peggy Hatch of St. Charles; she also played cello for four years. At Wredling, Sage participates in Honors Band and Jazz Ensemble under the direction of Michael Bazan, as well as Treble Choir, theater and track. In summer of 2016, Sage attended Interlochen Fine Arts Camp, where she was principal clarinet for the Intermediate Wind Symphony and Symphony Orchestra. During her time at Interlochen she had private lessons with Scott Anderson, assistant professor of clarinet at St. Olaf College, and principal clarinet for Hawaii Symphony. She will be returning to Interlochen this summer.
Clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein is recognized for playing that combines flawless technique and consummate musicianship with graceful phrasing and a warm soulful tone. Considered one of today's most exceptional clarinet players, he has performed in recital and with prestigious orchestras and chamber music ensembles throughout the world.
Winner of a 2009 Avery Fisher Career Grant Award, Fiterstein has been praised by The New York Times for possessing a "beautiful liquid clarity," and The Washington Post wrote, "Fiterstein treats his instrument as his own personal voice, dazzling in its spectrum of colors, agility and range. Every sound he makes is finely measure without inhibiting expressiveness."
As a soloist, Fiterstein has appeared with the Orchestra of St. Luke's at Lincoln Center, Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, China National Symphony Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Israel Chamber Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, KBS Symphony Orchestra in Seoul, Korea, Polish Chamber Philharmonic, Tokyo Philharmonic and the Vienna Chamber Orchestra. He has performed in recital at the National Gallery of Art, the Kennedy Center, the 92nd Street Y, Carnegie's Weill Hall, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, the Louvre in Paris, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, and the Tel-Aviv Museum.
A dedicated performer of chamber music, Fiterstein frequently collaborates with distinguished musicians and ensembles, and performs at esteemed chamber music festivals and societies. Among the highly regarded artists he has performed with are Daniel Barenboim, Mitsuko Uchida, Richard Goode, Emanuel Ax, Pinchas Zukerman, Steven Isserlis and Elena Bashkirova; and he has joined the American, Borromeo, Daedalus, Fine Arts, Jerusalem, Mendelssohn, Muir and Vogler string quartets and appeared with the Ensemble Wien-Berlin. Fiterstein was a member of the prestigious Chamber Music Society II of Lincoln Center from 2004 to 2006, and continues to perform with the CMS each season. He also participated in the Marlboro Music Festival for four summers and toured with Musicians from Marlboro. Fiterstein has performed chamber music at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the 92nd Street Y, the Kennedy Center and the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and at the Louvre in Paris; and he has appeared at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival in Germany, the Storioni Festival in Holland, and the Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival. This season he will rejoin the Daedalus Quartet for performances in Washington, D.C.; return to the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, and perform with the Boston Chamber Music Society. He will also perform with the Goldstein-Peled-Fiterstein Trio in St. Paul and Baltimore.
Alexander Fiterstein has worked with composers John Corigliano and Osvaldo Golijov and has had pieces written for him by Samuel Adler and Mason Bates, among others. He performed the U.S. premieres of Henrik Strindberg's Clarinet Concerto "Minne," Harrison Birtwistle's "Pulse Shadows" and Paul Schoenfield's clarinet trio.
Fiterstein was born in Belarus. At the age of 2, he immigrated with his family to Israel where he later studied at the Israel Arts and Science Academy. After attending the Interlochen Arts Academy, he graduated from the Juilliard School, and his teachers include Charles Neidich and Eli Heifetz. He is the first prize winner of the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, the Carl Nielsen International Clarinet Competition, and the "Aviv" competitions in Israel; and he is the recipient of numerous awards from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation and the Bunkamura Orchard Hall Award (Tokyo). He is the clarinet professor at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.