Legendary musicians
Thursday 2008 May 15th, 7 PM
Small Guild Hall
David Geringas (cello, Lithuania/Germany)
Ian Fountain (piano)
Program: Mendelssohn, Vasks, R.Strauss
  
David Geringas is one of the most versatile musicians of our time. The cellist and conductor works with an unusually broad repertoire from early baroque to contemporary music. The native Lithuanian was the first to perform many compositions by Russian and Lithuanian avantgarde composers in the West. For his international engagement for Lithuanian music and composers he received the highest accolades from his native country.
From 1963 to 1973, Geringas studied with Mstislav Rostopovich at Moscow's tradition-steeped music conservatory. In 1970 he won the 1. prize and the gold medal at the Tchaikovsky Competition. At the Lithuanian Music Academy David Geringas studied conducting with Prof. Juozas Domarkas.
David Geringas played all over the world with the most important orchestras and the greatest conductors of our time. His extensive discography includes many award-winning recordings such as the 12 cello concertos by Luigi Boccherini (Grand Prix du Disque), the chamber music by Henri Dutilleux (Diapason d'Or) or the cello concertos by Hans Pfitzner (Jahrespreis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik).
Important contemporary composers such as Sofia Gubaidulina, Peteris Vasks and Erkki-Sven Tüür have dedicated new compositions to Geringas. In July 2006, Anatolijus Senderovas' composition "David's Song for Cello and String Quartet" was premièred in Kronberg – a dedication to Geringas's 60th birthday.
As a conductor, David Geringas performs all over the world. Since 2005 he serves as "Chief Guest Conductor" of the Kyushu Symphony Orchestra Japan. In 2007 David Geringas made his debut with the Tokio Philharmonic Orchestra and the China Philharmonic Orchestra.
During his successful China tour in september 2007 the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing conferred a high distinction on David Geringas as a honorary professor.
Federal President Horst Köhler awarded him with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in October 2006 honoring him for his outstanding achievements as a musician and as an ambassador for Germany's culture on the international music scene.
To say that David Geringas plays in tune, in time and makes a beautiful sound is almost an insult. To this master cellist such matters are not absolutes but infinitely variable shades, not limitations but opportunities...His tone is always golden, but encompasses an extraordinary range of hues. Throughout the recital he weighted his intonation towards the flat or sharp side so that the energy within the note always had direction.
Evening Standard
In 1989 Ian Fountain became the youngest winner of the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Masters Competition in Tel Aviv at the age of 19. He began playing the piano at the age of five and he was a chorister at New College, Oxford. He continued his studies at Winchester College and at the Royal Northern College of Music, working with Robert Bottone and Sulamita Aronovsky. Since 2001 Ian Fountain has been a piano professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
Ian has performed extensively throughout Europe, the USA, the Middle East and the UK, with orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Hallé, English Chamber Orchestra and London Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also worked with the Israel Philharmonic, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony, Utah Symphony and Singapore Symphony Orchestra.
Engagements in the recent past and in the near future include a complete Beethoven concerto cycle with Sinfonia ViVa, performances at the Prague Spring and Autumn Festival and the Chopin Festival in Marienbad, Czech Republic. In March 2005 he performed the Beethoven Triple Concerto in Warsaw in the Beethoven Festival and in July 2005 he appeared with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam. The season highlight of his recital tours with cellist David Geringas is a complete cycle of Beethoven works for cello and piano at the Philharmonie in Berlin.
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