Daniel kurganov, violin

Soviet-born American violinist Daniel Kurganov has been described as a musician of “smoldering intensity” and “ingratiatingly idiomatic violinistic personality” (Fanfare Magazine). Synthesizing values of different artistic traditions, Daniel has emerged as a unique musical voice. He has already garnered praise from such musical giants as Sergej Krylov, Ivry Gitlis and Rudolf Koelman, as well as from publications in the United States, Europe and Japan. 2018 saw his debut album release with pianist Constantine Finehouse on the Spice Classics label. The album, featuring works of Brahms, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky and others, was met with positive reviews. Recent seasons have included concerts at BargeMusic (NYC), The Roerich Museum (NYC), Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), Harvard Musical Association, and a tour of Japan. In Sion, Switzerland, he was invited to perform on a violin rescued from Auschwitz for the Violins of Hope project. A passionate teacher, Daniel founded the Boston Violin Intensive and runs a violin masterclass YouTube channel with more than 35,000 subscribers and 10-plus million viewers. Slated for a November 2021 release under Orchid Classics, Daniel’s album Rhythm and the Borrowed Past with pianist Constantine Finehouse features world premiere recordings of the music of Lera Auerbach and Richard Beaudoin, as well as works by Olivier Messiaen and John Cage. In 2022, the duo will release the complete Brahms Violin Sonatas, pairing a 17th-century Guarneri violin with an original 19th-century Streicher piano. Born in Minsk, Daniel grew up near Chicago and began his musical studies on the piano at age seven, switching to the violin at age 16. He completed his studies at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) under Rudolf Koelman, protégé of Jascha Heifetz. Daniel is also an alumnus of the Keshet Eilon International Mastercourse.

www.kurganov.org

CONSTANTINE FINEHOUSE, piano

Pianist Constantine Finehouse has performed extensively in the US and abroad, including in Salzburg, Trieste, London, St. Petersburg and Odessa. His recent album with cellist Sebastian Baverstäm features music by Brahms and Boston composer Tony Schemmer. His 2009 solo release, “Backwards Glance,” interweaves works by Brahms and Richard Beaudoin. The Bolcom Project, made in collaboration with his American Double partner, violinist Philip Ficsor, included an Albany Records two-CD album and a national tour with concerts in Boston, New York, Denver, Santa Barbara, Spokane and at Yale University. Fanfare praised the recording as “indispensable to any serious collector with an interest in later 20th-century duo repertoire for violin and piano.” The American and European premieres of William Bolcom’s Horn Trio, in collaboration with Ficsor and Steven Gross, took place in the summer and fall of 2018. The work, commissioned by the group, was recently recorded at the Martinu ̊ Hall in Prague for an upcoming release on Naxos. Additionally, Finehouse recorded Bolcom’s piano solo works for Naxos in 2017, and an album with violinist Daniel Kurganov for Spice Classics in 2018. During the recent seasons Finehouse has performed at the Mozarteum (Salzburg), Miaskovsky Hall (Moscow Conservatory), Merkin Hall (NYC), Weill Recital Hall (Carnegie Hall) and Jordan Hall (Boston), as well as at Harvard, Yale and Emory universities, and St. Vincent’s and Elmira colleges, among others. With degrees from The Juilliard School and Yale, Finehouse teaches at New England Conservatory and serves as Visiting Artist/Faculty at Westmont College, CA.

STEPHANIE ANN BOYD, COMPOSER

Michigan-born, Manhattan-based American composer Stephanie Ann Boyd (b. 1990) writes melodic music about women’s memoirs and the natural world for symphonic and chamber ensembles. Her work has been performed in nearly all 50 states and has been commissioned by musicians and organizations in 37 countries. Boyd’s five ballets include works choreographed by New York City Ballet principal dancers Lauren Lovette, Ashley Bouder, NYCB soloist Peter Walker, and XAOC Contemporary Ballet’s Eryn Renee Young.  Eero, a ballet commissioned by Access Contemporary Music and Open House New York, was written for the grand opening of the TWA Hotel at JFK Airport. Her music has been praised as “attractive lyricism” (Gramophone), “[with] ethereal dissonances” (Boston Globe), “[music that] didn’t let itself be eclipsed” (Texas Classical Review), “arrestingly poetic” (BMOP), and “wide ranging, imaginative” (Portland Press Herald).

Boyd’s music has been commissioned and performed by concertmasters of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Singapore Symphony, the New York City Ballet Orchestra, the Des Moines Symphony, the Faroe Islands Symphony, the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra, the Fort Smith Symphony, the Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra, and principal players in the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.  Her music has been commissioned and/or played by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the New England Conservatory Philharmonic, the Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra, the New York Jazzharmonic, the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, the Roosevelt University Orchestra, the Eureka Ensemble, the JVL Festival Orchestra, the Texas State University Symphony, the Cremona International Academy Orchestra, the UW La Crosse Symphony, the Detroit Civic Orchestra, and the El Paso Youth Symphony. Her work has been presented by the Thalia and her Sisters concert series, the Moirae Ensemble, and Sandcastle New Music in New York City; Æpex Contemporary Music in Michigan; Juventas New Music, Collage New Music, and the New Gallery Concert Series in Boston; Cincinnati Soundbox, and others. Stephanie has worked with conductors such as Andrew Litton, Lina Gonzales, Earl Lee, Nathan Aspinall, Cliff Colnot, Gill Rose, Julian Benichou, Kristo Kondakci, and Kevin Fitzgerald.

The 2020/2021 season includes commissions from the Wyoming Symphony, Astral Artists with cellist Tommy Mesa, violinist Megan Healy, pianists Lara Downes, Lise de la Salle, Marta Aznavoorian, Lucille Chung, Susie Maddocks, Adrienne Park, Diane Kaztenburg Braun and Music Street, Sarah Bob and the New Gallery Concert Series, Holly Roadfeldt, Marianne Parker, Eunbi Kim, the Kurganov-Finehouse Duo, and others. This season also includes performances by the Lincoln Trio, Juventas New Music, Jennifer Reason, Lisa Pegher, Shouthouse, Ayanna Witter-Johnson, including concerts at the Kaufman Center, the Boston New Music Festival, the Festival of New American Music, Pianoforte in Chicago, live on Chicago’s WFMT radio station, and elsewhere.

Stephanie holds degrees from Roosevelt University and New England Conservatory, and she was one of the last violin students of renowned pedagogue John Kendall.

http://stephanieannboyd.com