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Celebrating its 33rd season in 2011-2012, the Muir Quartet continues its role as one of America’s leading string quartets. Their performances live alongside the Muir’s commitment to pass on the great European tradition learned by their mentors, the Budapest and Guarneri string quartets. In Residence at Boston University, the Muir has given masterclasses at Curtis, Eastman, Oberlin, and Rice, and is the resident chamber ensemble at at the Deer Valley Festival, where they run the Emerging Quartets and Composers residency with eminent composer Joan Tower. They also perform benefit work for Classics for Kids Foundation, which offers matching grants in support of strings programs nationwide.
“the sound, the depth and interpretive polish to rival the best in the world” – The New York Times
ARTISTS' BIOs
Matching “elegance and refinement with a fire in the belly” (Boston Globe), performances by internationally-acclaimed violinist William Fedkenheuer are “passionately intelligent and intelligently passionate” (Boston Globe). Winner of the Lincoln Center Martin E. Segal Award, the Canadian native has distinguished himself as a versatile artist with performances as soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician.
William’s touring in the United States has included performances at Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall Presents, San Francisco Performances, and the National Gallery. Abroad, he has performed at the American Academy in Rome, Fountainbleu, Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds, the Taipei National University of the Arts, and in Austria at the famed Esterhazy Castle for the Haydn Festival in Eisenstadt.
He began his studies at age four at the Conservatory of Music at Mount Royal College in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. His performing career was launched at age seven as the youngest member of the world-renowned Calgary Fiddlers, performing for audiences of thousands around the globe, and earning national acclaim as the Fiddling Champion of Canada in his early teens. Making his solo violin debut with the Calgary Philharmonic in 1994, William went on to receive a Bachelor of Music from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music under the tutelage of Kathleen Winkler and continued his graduate studies with Miriam Fried at Indiana University.
Previously a member of the Borromeo String Quartet and on the faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, William currently teaches in the faculty of the Caine School of the Arts at Utah State University as first violinist of the Fry Street Quartet. An active hiker and fly-fisherman, William resides in Logan, Utah with his wife, violinist Yi Ching Fedkenheuer, and their dog Archibald. William performs on a bow by H.R. Pfretzschner, and a Nicolò Gagliano violin nicknamed “Gunther.”
Alexander Fiterstein is one of the leading clarinetists of his generation. He was just named a 2009 winner of the Avery Fisher Career Grant. His other honors include a first prize at both the Carl Nielsen International Clarinet Competition in Denmark and the Young Concert Artists International Auditions (YCA). Fiterstein has performed as soloist with orchestras such as Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Danish National Radio Orchestra, Polish Chamber Philharmonic, Israel Chamber Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony, Tokyo Philharmonic, China National Symphony, KBS Symphony of South Korea, and the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela.
In recital, Mr. Fiterstein has appeared on the “Music at the Supreme Court” Series, at the National Gallery of Art, the Library of Congress, Kennedy Center, 92nd Street Y, Carnegie’s Weill Hall, the Gardner Museum in Boston, the Vancouver Recital Society, the Louvre in Paris, Suntory Hall in Tokyo and the Tel-Aviv Museum.
A member of Chamber Music Society II of Lincoln Center from 2004-2006, Mr. Fiterstein has also participated in the Marlboro Music Festival and toured with Musicians from Marlboro. Additional appearances include the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival in Germany, and the Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival. He has performed chamber music with Daniel Barenboim; Mitsuko Uchida; Emanuel Ax; and the American, Borromeo, Daedalus, Fine Arts, Jerusalem, Mendelssohn and Muir string quartets. He has also appeared with Ensemble Wien-Berlin.
Mr. Fiterstein has worked with composers such as Corigliano and Golijov, and has had pieces written for him by Samuel Adler and Mason Bates. He performed the American premiere of Henrik Strindberg’s clarinet concerto Minne, and recently premiered a new clarinet trio by Paul Schoenfield, which he also recorded for the Naxos label. He appeared as principal clarinetist of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim and as guest principal with both the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Zubin Mehta, and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.
A graduate of the Interlochen Arts Academy and The Juilliard School, Mr. Fiterstein has studied with Charles Neidich and Eli Heifetz. He received awards from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation from 1991-2000. He was a first prize-winner of the Aviv Competitions in Israel, and a recipient of the Bunkamura Orchard Hall Award in Tokyo. He has been on the Concert Artist Faculty of Kean University, N.J., since 2005 and has given master classes at the Peabody Conservatory, Boston University and Tel-Aviv University.
Michele Levin, pianist and composer, has been acclaimed by audiences and critics alike as a multi-faceted musician of extraordinary sensitivity, virtuosity and dedication to the art of making music. Ms. Levin is a graduate of Philadelphia’s famed Curtis Institute of Music as a double major in piano and
composition. She began her studies there at the age of eleven, and is the first woman ever to receive their Master’s Degree in Composition. The Johann Sebastian Bach International Piano Competition in
Washington, D. C. awarded her First Prize in competition with pianists from 14 countries. Ms Levin has performed as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Boston “Pops”, the Florida Philharmonic, the Miami Chamber Symphony, the Sinfonia Virtuosi, the New World Symphony, the Albany Symphony and the Virginia Symphony. She has also given solo and chamber music recitals in major cities throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, Central and South America. Ms. Levin is very much in demand as a chamber musician. She has toured throughout the world with violinists Peter Zazofsky, Joseph Silverstein, Ruggiero Ricci, Nina Beilina, Daniel Phillips, Mark Kaplan, Donald Weilerstein, Sydney Harth, Ik-Hwan Bae, Ida Levin, Maria Bachman, Arve Tellefson, Andrew Dawes, Lin Chang and Yehonaton Berick; with violists Rivka Golani, Paul Neubauer, Atar Arad, Kirsten Johnson, Rainer Moog and Jessie Levine; and with cellists Yehuda Hanani, Simca Heled, Ronald Thomas and Wolfgang Boettcher. She has also performed with clarinetists Alexander Fiterstein, Mitchell Lurie, Eli Eban and Charles Neidich; with harpist Heidi Lehwalder; and with flutists Thomas Wolf, Carol Wincenc and Eugenia Zuckerman. Ms. Levin tours regularly with the Muir String Quartet, and plays as guest artist with the Miami String Quartet. In 2007, the Muir Quartet gave the World Premier of Levin’s String Quartet No. 1, which was dedicated to them. Her vast repertoire also extends into the realm of vocal literature, having given recitals with Metropolitan Opera vocalists Gwendolyn Bradley, Marvis Martin, Martina Arroyo, D’Anna Fortunato, Carol Farley, Lucy Shelton and William Sharp. Ms. Levin records for Koch International, Eco-Classics, Altarus and the Canadian Broadcasting Companies. NPR regularly broadcasts her performances nationwide.
Kathleen Reynolds joined the College of Music at the University of North Texas as Professor of Bassoon and Woodwind Chamber Music Coordinator in the fall of 1995. She is principal bassoonist of the Dallas Opera Orchestra and performs regularly with the Dallas Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony, and Chamber Music International. EcoClassics recorded her solo bassoon CD, Gems for Bassoon, with pianist Michele Levin and clarinetist Mitchell Lurie. She has performed at the Peter Britt Music Festival in Jacksonville, Oregon, the Fredericksburg Festival, the New Hampshire Music Festival, and with members of the Muir String Quartet at the Montana Chamber Music Festival. Prior to her appointment at UNT, Ms. Reynolds was a member of the Rochester Philharmonic for twenty-two years, and was on the faculty at SUNY Geneseo, Nazareth College, Roberts Wesleyan College and the Hochstein School of Music. Her solo performances include appearances with the Rochester Philharmonic, the Friends of Music Orchestra in Geneseo, NY, the New Hampshire Music Festival, the University of North Texas Wind Symphony, and the University of North Texas Symphony Orchestra. She is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of the Eastman School of Music, and has studied with K. David Van Hoesen, Norman Herzberg, and Bernard Garfield.
Cellist Michael Reynolds has taught at Boston University’s College of Fine Arts since
1983. His students continue to develop successful careers in music, including members of the Boston Symphony and other orchestras, teachers at universities and other
institutions nationally, four Boston Symphony Competition and numerous other
competition winners. Mr. Reynolds has been the cellist of the world-renowned Muir String Quartet since its inception in 1979. In that capacity, he tours the musical centers
of North America and Europe. Accolades he has won while with the Muir Quartet include first prize at the Evian Competition (1980), the 1981 Naumburg Award, two Grand Prix du Disques (1985, 1987), the Gramophone Award (1987), a Grammy
nomination (1993) and a Grammy (1995), and an internationally acclaimed PBS
broadcast, "In Performance at The White House" for President and Mrs. Ronald
Reagan. As a member of the Muir Quartet, Mr. Reynolds has performed nearly 2,000
concerts throughout North America, Europe and the Far East, and he has performed with
such diverse artists as Leon Fleisher, Menachem Pressler, Gil Shaham, Phyllis Curtin
and Benny Goodman. A native of Montana, he received his professional training at the
Curtis Institute of Music, where he was a student of David Soyer and Martita Casals, continuing with Karen Tuttle and George Neikrug and studies at Yale University. Mr.
Reynolds has appeared with orchestras and in recital throughout the U.S, and his
recording of the complete Bach Suites for Solo Cello has received much critical
acclaim. He is co-founder and Artistic Director of Classics for Kids Foundation, which
offers matching grants for excellent student instruments and mentoring to strings
programs around America, and he directs the Muir Quartet’s Emerging Quartets and
Composers program in Park City, Utah, in partnership with the Utah Symphony/Opera’s
Deer Valley Festival. He also is Artistic Director of Rockport Fall Foliage and the Fredericksburg Festival of the Arts.. Mr. Reynolds has also served on the faculties of
New England Conservatory, Rutgers University, the University of Utah, and UC Santa
Cruz. He received an honorary doctorate from Rhode Island College in 1995. In his
spare time he is an avid flyfisherman and outdoorsman. He plays a cello by David Tecchler from 1712.
Peter Zazofsky, violinist, has performed throughout the US, Canada, and twenty-one countries in South America and Europe, including the symphonies of Boston, Baltimore, Brussels, Buenos Aires, Montreal, San Francisco, Toronto, Vienna, Berlin Philharmonic, Amsterdam Concertg-ebouw Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra. He was raised in Boston where he studied with Joseph Silverstein. Following studies at the Julliard School with Dorothy Delay and Ivan Galamian, he attended the Curtis Institute, and spent five summers at the Marlboro Music Festival. After graduating from the Curtis Institute in 1976, he toured several seasons with Music from Marlboro, and won the Grand Prize of the 1979 Montreal International Competition and the Second Prize of the 1980 Queen Elizabeth Competition in Brussels. His most recent honor was the 1985 Avery Fisher Career Grant. In addition to concerts worldwide with the Muir Quartet, which he joined in 1987, his solo performances include engagements in Paris, Brussels, Dusseldorf, Vienna and Israel. Mr. Zazofsky plays on a Carlo Bergonzi violin, 1744.
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