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The Embassy Concert Series
2014- 2015 Season
(21st YEAR)
Jerome Barry, Director/Founder
Advance Notice Brochure
As of November 15, 2014
Uniting People Through Musical Diplomacy
IN COOPERATION WITH THE
EMBASSY OF ISRAEL☼
VENUE TO BE ANNOUNCED
THE ARIEL QUARTET
3rd ANNUAL DANIEL PEARL
MEMORIAL CONCERT
Reception at 6:30pm
Thursday, November 20, 2014- 7:30pm
Formed in Israel, the Quartet moved to the United States in
2004 to continue its professional studies. The resident
ensemble in the New England Conservatory’s prestigious
Professional String Quartet Training Program through their
graduation in 2010, the Ariel has won a number of
international
prizes,
including the Grand Prize
at the 2006 Fischoff
National Chamber Music
Competition. After they
won the Székely Prize for
their
performance of
Bartók, as well as the
overall Third Prize at the
Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2007, the
American Record Guide described the Ariel Quartet as “a
consummate ensemble gifted with utter musicality and
remarkable interpretive power” and called their
performance of Beethoven’s Op. 132 “the pinnacle of the
competition.” Program: H aydn: Q uartet in B-flat
Major, Op. 76, N o. 4; Beethoven: Q uartet in F
minor, O p. 95, “Serioso” /Ravel: Q uartet in F Major.
Reception/wine- $75
EMBASSY OF ARMENIA☼
2225 R STREET, NW
KARINÉ POGHOYAN, PIANO
Friday, December 5, 2014- 7:30pm
Kariné Poghosyan has performed in recitals at
Carnegie’s Well Recital Hall, Merkin Concert Hall,
Steinway Hall, the Trinity Church Concerts at One
series, the Beverly Hills Sundays at Two series, the
Valley Committee for the LA Philharmonic, the Bach’s
Lunch Recital Series in California, the Young Artists
International Peninsula Festival
in California, and the
International Keyboard
Institute and Festival in New
York. In the fall of 2007, she
organized and performed a
three-recital concert series at
the Yamaha Piano Salon titled
Twentieth Century Piano Sonata.
Recently, she helped organize
the “Requiem and
th
Resurrection” concert in commemoration of the 95
Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide at the Saint
Vartan Armenian Cathedral in New York, where her
performance of the Piano Sonata by Khachaturian
received a standing ovation and was described as
“jaw-dropping. The Armenian Mirror Spectator
wrote, "The three-movement Khachaturian Sonata—
a rarely performed composition—is a real tour-deforce for the virtuoso pianist. Technically pristine, Ms.
Poghosyan brought out the driven qualities of the
outer movements, and the heart-rending beauty of
the middle section.” Program: Komitas,
Khachaturian, Beethoven and more.
$80/Armenian buffet, ample parking on street.
EMBASSY OF LUXEMBOURG☼
2200 MASSACHUSETTS
AVENUE, NW
“COMMEMORATION OF THE
70TH ANNIVERSARY TO THE
“REMEMBERING THE BATTLE
OF THE BULGE”
AN EVENING OF SONG AND
CABARET
KAREN KOHLER, CABARET
ARTIST
JOSHUA GLASSMAN, TENOR
GEORGE PEACHEY, PIANO
ROBIN PHILIPS, MC
Friday, December 12, 2014, 7:30pm
Saturday, December 13, 2014, 7:30pm
Limited Seating
As singer and actress, Karen Kohler’s art is
internationally recognized as bridging distinctly
different sensibilities and songbooks. She has been
honored with all three major New York cabaret
awards - Nightlife,
MAC and twice the
Backstage Bistro. In
2003, she formed
the
Kabarett
Kollektif,
an
ensemble of artists
dedicated
to
advancing the European cabaret tradition. In 2007,
she conceived and produced Kabarett Fête, a widely
praised and award-winning festival that immersed
audiences in a breathtaking habitat of international
styles. That same year she astounded audiences at
Carnegie Hall with her centennial tribute to American
jazz legend Connee Boswell.
In 2008, Karen debuted her one-woman OffBroadway show, Little Death: Songs of Coming and
Going, crossbreeding a decadent range of theatrical
and musical influences - everything from jazz, Delta
blues, classical, rock-folk and cabaret. The project
earned her several more awards (including the 2009
Backstage Bistro for “Best Theme Show”), and
prompted Stephen Holden of The New York Times
to write: “...as cosmopolitan a work of musical
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theater as I can remember....Ms. Kohler’s exquisite
taste in songs and her band’s ability to play them in
any style leaves you open-mouthed with admiration.
Described as possessing “poetic warmth” by the
Baltimore Sun, tenor Joshua Glassman has
appeared both on stage and on the podium. As a
singer, his multifaceted performances include opera,
art song, choral music, musical theatre, and cabaret.
As a conductor and educator, Joshua’s main mission is
to bring a love of vocal music to new audiences and
tomorrow’s performers. Pianist George Peachey
has enjoyed a varied career as a vocal and
instrumental collaborative artist, and as soloist both
in recital and with orchestra. Critics have called him
“an exemplary accompanist” who plays with
“sensitive expertise.”
Buffet/wine/$150/valet parking
2015
EMBASSY OF FRANCE☼
4101 RESERVOIR ROAD, NW
HERMÈS QUARTET
Thursday, February 26, 2015- 7:30 pm
The Paris-based Hermès Quartet has
already been heard in prestigious
European venues. They have been
presented in Italy at the Chamber Music
Association of Trieste, Accademia
Filarmonica di Bologna, the Viareggio
Festival, and Paganini Festival de la Spezia;
in France at the Festival de l’Orangerie de
Sceaux, Quatuors à St. Roch Festival,
Yverdon-les-Bains Castle, Festival Quatuor
à L’Ouest, Château de Lourmarin, Festival Musique dans le
Grésivaudan, Festival de l’Épau in Sarthe, Les Musicades in
Lyon, and Festival de Radio France et Montpellier; at the
Lockenhaus Festival in Austria; and in Germany at Festspiele
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and the Crescendo festival at
Universität der Künste Berlin. In the U.S., they have given
recitals at the Lied Center of Kansas, the University of
Georgia, and the Friends of Chamber Music in Texas.
Program: Haydn, Schumann, Jánaček- $75 (parking
available indoors for $8 or on street)
EMBASSY OF AUSTRIA
3524 INTERNATIONAL CT., NW
TILL FELLNER, PIANO
(Returning by popular demand!)
Friday, March 6, 2015, 7:30 pm
Till Fellner’s international career and the list
of his collaborators reads like a “ W ho’s
W ho” of classical music; he has appeared as
guest soloist with many of the world’s
foremost orchestras and has worked with
such conductors as Claudio Abbado, Vladimir
Ashkenazy, Herbert Blomstedt, Christoph von
Dohnányi, Bernard Haitink, Nikolaus
Harnoncourt, Manfred Honeck, Sir Charles
Mackerras, Kurt Masur, Kent Nagano,
Leonard Slatkin, and Lothar Zagrosek, among
many others. Till Fellner first came to world
attention in 1993 by winning First Prize at the
important Clara Haskil International Piano
Competition at Vevey, Switzerland. He was a
student of Helene Sedo-Stadler before going
on to study privately with Alfred Brendel,
Meira Farkas, Oleg Maisenberg, and ClausChristian Schuster. Program: Bach,
Mozart, H aydn and Schumann - $70/ horsd’œuvres, wine, cheese, sweets receptionStreet parking on at UDC garage.
EMBASSY OF AUSTRIA
Friday, March 13, 2015, 7:30 pm
(Returning by popular demand!)
The Minetti Quartett has collected more
important prizes than any ensemble since 2003
when it received the Haydn Award at the
International Joseph Haydn Competition in
Vienna, followed by the International Rimbotti
Competition for String Quartet in Florence, the
Franz Schubert Competition
in Graz, the national
“Gradus ad
Parnassum” Prize. Soon after the formation of
the ensemble it received strong support from
the Herbert von
Karajan scholarship,
the Musica
Juventutis Vienna,
Live Music Now,
Jeunesse Musicales
Austria, Start Scholarship of the Austrian Ministry for
Education, Arts and Culture. Program: Mozart,
Shostkovich, Mendelssohn- $70/ hors-
d’œuvres, wine, cheese, sweets
reception- Ample Street parking on at DC
garage.
RESIDENCE OF THE RUSSIAN
AMBASSADOR
1125 16th STREET, NW☼-
NEWLY ADDED!
NIKOLAY KHOZYAINOV,
PIANO
Tuesday, March 31 2015, 7:30 pm
Born in Blagoveshchensk, a city in Russian Far
East in 1992, Nikolay Khozyainov began to play
the piano at the age of five. Prizewinner in
several International Piano Competions during
his youth – 1st
Prize and Special
Prize for the best
performance of
Mendelssohn
RondoCapriccioso
at
the International Piano Competition “Virtuosi
per musica di pianoforte”(Czech Republic,
2003), 1st Prize at the IX International Carl
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Filtsch Piano Competition (Romania, 2004), 2nd
prize at the VI Moscow International Frederic
Chopin Piano Competition for young pianists, plus
special prize “for the best performance of miniatures”
(2008) – in 2010, aged only 18, Nikolay was the
youngest finalist of the XVI International Fryderyk
Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, Poland. His
mature and sensitive artistry has impressed public,
music
lovers
and
observers.
In 2012 he won the 1st prize at the Dublin
International Piano Competition and was awarded the
2nd prize and People’s choice prize at the 10th
Sydney International Piano Competition. Voted by
members of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra”, “for
the best performance of a work by Liszt”, “ for the
best performance of a work by Schubert”, “for the
best performance of a virtuoso study”, “for the
youngest finalist”.
Nikolay has performed in
renowned concert halls of Russia, Poland, Romania,
Hungary, Czech Republic, Malaysia, South Africa,
Australia, Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, USA,
Japan
and
others.
Among his next engagements concerts in Japan,
Ireland, Russia, Poland, Austria, USA and England,
including the debut at the Carnegie Hall in New York,
at Miami Festival and at Wigmore Hall in London.
Program: H aydn,
Chopin,
T chaikovsky,
Rachmaninov. Russian buffet/wine/vodka/free
valet parking- $175
EMBASSY OF THE CZECH
REPUBLIC
3900 SPRING OF FREEDOM, NW
MARTIN KASIK, PIANO
Wednesday, April 15, 2015, 7:30 pm
Martin Kasík (b. 1976) ranks among the foremost Czech
pianists of the present time. He
has devoted himself to piano
playing since four years of age. He
studied
with
Monika
Tugendliebová at the Janáček
conservatory in Ostrava, and
subsequently with Ivan Klánský at the Academy of Music and
Performing Arts in Prague. The winner of several domestic
and international contests, and the recipient of a number of
prestigious awards, he has to his credit laureateships from
the 1998 Prague Spring International Music Competition, the
1999 Young Concert Artists Competition, the 2000 Davidoff
Prix, the 2002 Harmonie Magazine Award, and other
distinctions.
Program: Beethoven “Moonlight,”
Sonata “Les Adieux,” Ravel,
Prokofiev- $85.
Buffet/W ine- Ample on street parking.
EMBASSY OF SLOVENIA☼-NEWLY
ADDED
2410 CALIFORNIA, NW
MENDELSSOHN PIANO TRIO
Wednesday, April 22, 2015, 7:30 pm
Limited Seating
Mendelssohn Piano T rio, our resident ensemble, will
perform Piano Trio in B Major
Op. 8 by Brahms and Piano Trio
in D Minor Op. 63 by Schumann.
W ritten within a decade from
each other, these two celebrated
masterpieces are finest examples
of German Romanticism with its
dramatic scope of expression
ranging from
poignant
melancholy
to
soaring
passion. Buffet/wine- $95
EMBASSY OF SINGAPORE
3501 INTERNATIONAL PLACE, NW
ARTISTS TO BE ANNOUNCED
Thursday, May 7, 2015, 7:30 pm
Limited Seating
Music, including Reception- $95
EMBASSY OF AUSTRIA
JULIAN SCHWARZ, CELLO
MARIKA BOURNAKI, PIANO
Friday, May 22, 2015, 7:30 pm
Born in 1991 to a musical family, cellist Julian Schwarz
is already being recognized as one of the finest cellists
now before the public. In August 2013 he won the
first prize in the inaugural Schoenfeld International
String Competition in Hong Kong. Mr. Schwarz
made his orchestral debut at the age of 11 playing the
Saint-Saëns Concerto No. 1 with the Seattle
Symphony and his father, Gerard Schwarz, on the
podium. Upcoming performance highlights include
concerto appearances with the Modesto, Queensland,
Toledo, Amarillo, Hartford, and
Charlotte Symphonies, the
Louisville Orchestra, the
Northwest Sinfonietta, and the
Symphony Silicon Valley. In Fall
2013 he was a featured soloist
with the All Star Orchestra for
national public television,
performing the Samuel Jones
Cello Concerto. After
broadcast, the performance was released as a DVD
on the Naxos label. Program: Schumann,
W ebern, Poulenc Bach, Boccherini, Bloch,
Kreisler $70/ hors-d’œuvres, wine, cheese,
sweets reception
RESIDENCE OF THE PORTUGUESE
AMBASSADOR ☼
2125 KALORAMA ROAD, NW
EVENING OF FADO
Friday, June 5, 2015. 7:30 pm
In popular belief, fado is a form of music characterized by
mournful tunes and lyrics, often about the sea or the life
of the poor, and infused with a
characteristic
sentiment
of
resignation, fatefulness and
melancholia (loosely captured by
the word saudade, or "longing").
However, although the origins
are difficult to trace, today fado
is regarded, by many, as simply a
form of song which can be about
anything, but must follow a certain structure. The music
is usually linked to the Portuguese word saudade which
symbolizes the feeling of loss (a permanent, irreparable
loss and its consequent lifelong damage). Buffet/wineample parking on street- $150
RESIDENCE OF THE ICELANDIC
AMBASSADOR ☼
2443 KALORAMA ROAD, NW
SAEUNN THORNSTEINSDOTTIR,
CELLO,
ALEXANDRA JOAN, PIANO
Friday, June 12, 2015. 7:30 pm
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“Charismatic” (New York Times) cellist, Sæunn
Thorsteinsdóttir recently made her debut with the Los
Angeles Philharmonic for which the LA Times praised her
for her “ emotional intensity” . Following the release of her
recording of Britten’s Suites for Solo Cello, last season she
performed in some of the world s greatest halls including
Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall and Disney Hall. A versatile
cellist, Saeunn’s 2013-2014 season
includes debuts as soloist with the
Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the
Quad City Symphony in Iowa; an
inaugural season as cellist of the
Manhattan Piano Trio including a debut
performance at the Chautauqua Music
Festival; a performance at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art as cellist in the group Decoda;
a performer in composer David Lang’s collected stories
project at Carnegie Hall; and being named the 2013-2014 in-Residence at Sonoma State University’s Green Music
Center in California.
$100/Buffet/wine- Program: Brahms, Schubert,
Webern and Jón Nordal.
ORDER FORM INCLUDED. BECOME A
“FRIEND.” SUBSCRIPTIONS NOT
AVAILABLE ONLINE. PLEASE CONSIDER
A TAX-EXEMPT CONTRIBUTION TO THE
EMBASSY SERIES.
WWW.EMBASSYSERIES.ORG
[email protected].
THE EMBASSY SERIES
P.O. BOX 9871
WASHINGTON, DC 20016
N B: Doors open ½ hour before concert.
Program begins promptly on time.
ALL SALES ARE FINAL.
CALL: (202) 625-2361
☼buffet reception
PROGRAM AND VENUES SUBJECT TO
CHANGE.
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