SEATTLE VIOLIN VIRTUOSI and FINISTERRA PIANO TRIO

Sunday, February 20 at 5:00 p.m.
Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall

A warm, emotional, humorous, and dramatic afternoon featuring the fabulous Seattle Violin Virtuosi and the internationally-acclaimed Finisterra Piano Trio. The Seattle Violin Virtuosi, directed by Michael Miropolsky, will be joined for this event by RCMFS Artistic Director and Pianist Natalya Ageyeva.

Click here to download the flyer.

Seattle Violin Virtuosi

The Seattle Violin Virtuosi is a unique ensemble of violinists and a piano who are dedicated to presenting the highest artistic quality performances.

Its repertoire consists of more than 100 famous and lesser known miniatures – the greatest musical masterpieces – arrangements from the violin, piano, symphonic, opera and ballet repertoire scored for two, three and four different voices.

The Seattle Violin Virtuosi present a wide diversity of styles from early Baroque through Classical and Romantic music to Modern masterpieces including Folk and Jazz styles, in a blend of formal and intimate presentations.

Finisterra Piano Trio

“Chamber music at the highest level,” says Richard Lester, cellist of the famed Florestan Trio. Members, Simon James, violin; Kevin Krentz, cello; Tanya Stambuk, piano; use their combined talents to bring inspired performances to the “ends of the earth.” The Seattle-based trio has emerged as one of the most recognized chamber ensembles in the Northwest, with a rapidly growing audience across the U.S. The group has been featured on national broadcasts by NPR and Seattle’s classical station, KING FM. Sean MacLean of WGBH Boston said, “Their Brahms (B Major) was perhaps the finest performance I have heard, live or recorded, of that work.”

In 2003, the three award-winning musicians began working as a self-promoted group with the name, “Finisterra” and quickly gained an enthusiastic and growing following. Individually, the three come from an impressive musical background bringing a rich variety of musical experiences to their work as a trio. Members of the trio have garnered recognition as performers and have been heard in such prestigious halls such as New York’s Lincoln Center, Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, Seattle’s Benaroya Hall and have been winners in competitions both nationally and internationally.

Their work as a group brought them much acknowledgment when they won the Silver Medal at the Zinetti International Chamber Music Competition in Italy out of groups from 20 different countries. Since then, the Finisterra Trio has garnered much praise, including winning in the Greenlake National Chamber Music Competition where they also won the Audience Prize. They have been invited to perform in Europe and the Americas, including an invitation from the Florestan Trio, who recently invited Finisterra to London for performances and dialogue.

Most recently, the Finisterra trio has been invited as Artists-in-Residence at The Seasons concert series in Yakima, Washington. The Trio is expanding its audience by highlighting a variety of musics “from the ends of the earth” while often incorporating various media, including story-telling, in a fresh and innovative fashion. In an innovative new concert series, called “Nachtmusik,” Finisterra is broadening the spectrum of the chamber music concert by combining the setting of a chamber music nightclub with the joys of wine tasting in one of Washington’s great winery districts, all in a traditional concert hall.

Comfortable in a variety of styles and genres, Finisterra was heard nationally in a live concert recording of a recent collaboration with the famed Bill Mays jazz trio. Renowned jazz critic, Doug Ramsey said, “Following two days of rehearsals laced with hard work and laughter, violinist Kwan Bin Park and cellist Kevin Krentz put aside the typical classical player’s apprehension about whether they could swing. They could. They did–mightily–with pianist (Bill) Mays, bassist Martin Wind and drummer Matt Wilson.”

Currently, Finisterra is recording the three piano trios of contemporary American composer Daron Aric Hagen. Ned Rorem, famed American composer, called Finisterra’s first recording, of Hagen’s third trio The Wayfaring Stranger, “exquisite.”

Simon plays a J.B.Vuillaume made in Paris in 1860 and Kevin plays modern cellos by Robert Young. Tanya Stambuk is a Steinway Artist.