4pm Mark Peskanov and Olga Vinokur: Beethoven and Schubert

Beethoven (1770-1827)

Sonata No. 9 in A Major for violin and piano, Op. 47, “Kreutzer”

Adagio sostenuto — Presto

Andante con variazioni

Finale. Presto

Schubert (1797-1828)

Fantasy for violin and piano in C Major, D. 934

Andante molto

Allegretto

Andantino

Allegro

Allegretto

Presto

with 

Mark Peskanov, violin

Olga Vinokur, piano

American virtuoso violinist and artistic visionary Mark Peskanov was born in Odessa. Peskanov sang before he could walk or talk, and soon became a star violin student at the famed Stolyarsky school. At fifteen, he emigrated to the United States, where he was immediately accepted at the Aspen Music Festival and the Juilliard School. His phenomenal facility and musicianship won him both the Aspen and Juilliard concerto competitions, bringing him to the notice of Isaac Stern and Mstislav Rostropovich and rocketing him into the top echelons of the music world. Upon his debut with the Chicago Symphony, the Chicago Tri- bune called him a “sensational soloist.” The Cleveland Plain Dealer proclaimed, “Violinist Adds Glory to Odessa” and the New York Times declared, “Mark Peskanov is a tremendous young violinist and his Friday evening concert at Carnegie Hall was a triumph…He has it all—technique, temperament, and taste.”

Peskanov is a staunch champion of American composers. He premiered the John Williams Concerto with the St. Louis Symphony, and the Stanley Wolfe Concerto (written for Peskanov) with the New York Philharmonic. He has performed more than fifty concertos with virtually every major U.S. orchestra and in Europe, the Middle East, Australia, South America and Japan. Peskanov’s major accolades include the Avery Fischer Career Grant, the first Frederick R. Mann Award, and Carnegie Hall’s first Isaac Stern Award. Peskanov inaugurated Tokyo’s Suntory Hall with Yo-Yo Ma and Stern, and Weill Recital Hall with Stern, Midori and Gil Shaham. Collaborating with these colleagues prompted Peskanov to turn intensively to the chamber music repertoire’s more intimate, complex, and dialogical possibilities. His de- light in chamber music, his independent artistic vision, and his desire to mentor promising musicians as he had been mentored, led to Peskanov’s present role. Since 2005, he is president and artistic/executive director of Bargemusic, New York City’s floating concert hall, moored at the Fulton Ferry Landing under the Brooklyn Bridge. Peskanov has curated over 3,000 chamber concerts at Bargemusic, encompassing a vast range of genres and styles, presenting over 200 concerts annually to New York audiences. Under his leadership Barge- music continues to evolve as an innovative, influential, and integral component of New York City’s cultural world. Peskanov is known for his openness to an astonishing range of music and artists at all stages of their careers. Muses the New York Times, “One reason that openness seems to come so easily to Mr. Peskanov is that few proposals crossing his desk are likely to outpace his own vision of what Bargemusic can be.”

Olga Vinokur is an acclaimed pianist and a dynamic performer on the classical and contemporary music scene who is gaining recognition for “the strength and consistency of her artistry” as noted by NYTimes.

She has appeared in US and internationally as recitalist, with orchestra and chamber musician in major venues including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall, Town Hall in New York, Shangai Oriental Art Center in Shangai, Rudolfinum’s Dvorak Hall and Municipal House’s Smetana Hall in Prague, King’s Place in London, among many others. Ms. Vinokur was a featured artist in the London Chamber Music Society, EuroArts Festival in Prague, Prague Chamber Music Society, Young Artist Festival in Russia, Woodstock Mozart Festival in USA, Israeli “Music in Galilee” Radio Music Festival, Rolfs Piano Festival in USA, International Piano Festivals in Paris and Canary Islands of Spain among many others.
Ms. Vinokur participated in Tel-Hai International Piano Master-classes in Israel where she was awarded a prize in honor of Ada Caspi.  She is a frequent performer at Bargemusic in New York where she played solo recitals and chamber concerts, which included the world premiers.
Ms. Vinokur is presented in the film documentary “Women of Music”, a classical music series on Bravo TV station in Canada, which features interviews and performances with today’s top classical performers from around the world. She has been heard on WNYC’s “Soundcheck” in New York, BBC in London, the Israeli “Voice of Music” radio station, Czech National Radio, Dutch radio, National radio of France and Switzerland, Russian National Public Radio among others. She has been a recipient of numerous awards and prizes.
Recently she has appeared as a soloist with Lambeth Symphony of London, Prague Philharmonic and Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra of Czech Republic, Salome Chamber Orchestra, La Primavera Chamber Orchestra of Russia and others. Ms Vinokur has toured in China as a soloist with Manhattan Symphonee Orchestra where she performed in major concert halls of 11 different cities. American Record Guide described her solo CD as “comparisons with many of top pianists of the past 75 years. She stands up very well and also manages to say something new along the way…” New York Times has described her playing as “an exquisite performance” and BBC magazine called Olga “superlative.”
An avid chamber musician, she has performed with distinguished St. Petersburg, Martinu, Nightingale, Primo quartets among others. Dedicated to new projects, Olga Vinokur is committed to performing the music of today. Known for adventurous and imaginative programming, she has premiered solo and chamber works collaborating with both established and emerging composers. “She knows just how to handle composers who surf the line between a Romantic sensibility and a modern sound” wrote New York Times. Recently Olga has recorded Taneyev Quintets CD with distinguished Martinu quartet on Supraphone Record, which was highly acclaimed.
A native of Russia, Olga Vinokur began her piano studies at the age of six, and at twelve was awarded First Prize in the National Young Artist Piano Competition in Russia. Since then she has been a recipient of numerous awards and prizes, including First-Prize in the Prokofiev Piano Competition in Russia and major prizes in the Torrefranka International Piano Competition in Italy, the Koussevitzky Piano Competition and Artist International in New York, and the Rubin Academy Competition in Israel among others. She has been an annual scholarship recipient of America-Israel Cultural Foundation.