Péter TóthOctober 22, 2011

Peter Toth is considered one of the most promising music talents in Hungary. In 2005 he made his debut in Munich with a solo concert in the series "Piano Concerts in the Royal Residence" with resounding success. The "Suddeutsche Zeitung" wrote of his performance: "It is enormous, what this young Hungarian pianist is capable of...a clever, plausible music with all the potential to grow and to mingle with the very best."

After two years of formal piano studies, Toth won first prize in 1997 in an international piano competition for young pianists in Wittenberg, Germany. He subsequently won the Florestano Rossomandi International Piano Competition in Bovino, Italy, in 1999 and the Franz Liszt International Piano Competition in Weimar, Germany in 2000, after which he made a highly praised debut at Amsterdam's Concertgebouw resulting in frequent re-engagements in the Netherlands.

Toth made his first CD recording in 2005, an all-Liszt program released by Stockfisch Records, and in 2006 his recording of the "Liszt Late Piano Works" won the Grand Prix International Liszt du Disque award of the Budapest Liszt Society. In March 2007, Toth was invited by the American Liszt Society to give a solo recital in San Francisco.

In 2001, he was invited to play at the annual Piano Festival Tiszadob, together with Zoltan Kocsis and Dezso Ranki, and later that year, he won the Franz Liszt International Piano Competition in Budapest. In 2002, he was sponsored by the GlaxoSmithKline organization on a concert tour throughout Hungary.

After his graduation recital in 2008, featuring works by Mozart, Schubert, and the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No.2 in the Liszt University's Large Hall, he was awarded his Master of Music degree. In 2009,Toth received a full scholarship to Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas to work with Dr. Tamas Ungar. While studying there he was able to return frequently to Europe to give concerts and visit his family in Bekescsaba, as well as to perform in California and in Lima, Peru.

In November 2010, Toth won top honors in two categories of the Franz Liszt International Piano and Voice Competition in Los Angeles, as well as the Grand Prize.

Among others he has given concerts in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, in the Tchaikovsky Music Conservatory in Moscow, in France, Austria, Holland, South Korea and Japan, in the Czech Republic, in Belgium, Switzerland, USA (San Francisco) and in Germany.

Peter has performed with the Hungarian Virtuoso Chamber Orchestra, MATAV Symphony Orchestra and with the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra.

 

David FelbergDecember 10, 2011

Violinist David Felberg is Concertmaster of the Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra. The Albuquerque native performs regularly throughout the Southwest as concerto soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. He has appeared as a soloist with the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, Palo Alto Philharmonic, Santa Fe Symphony, Albuquerque Philharmonic, and the Balcones Orchestra. Felberg has performed solo recitals in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Los Alamos, Clovis, Portales, and the Outstanding Artists Recital Series for the Emerald City Opera in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. He made his New York debut in Merkin Hall in the spring of 2005.

Felberg is the Music Director of Church of Beethoven, an innovative Sunday morning series highlighting music and poetry that has been featured on NPR and in the Los Angeles Times. He also acts as Music Director of the Albuquerque Philharmonic, assistant conductor of the University of New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, and founder and conductor of Chatter, a chamber ensemble, dedicated to performing 20th and 21st century chamber orchestra repertoire.

He received a Bachelor of Arts in history from the University of Arizona and a Master of Music in instrumental conducting from the University of New Mexico. He has also taken advanced string quartet studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder and attended the prestigious American Academy of Conducting at the Aspen Music Festival, where he worked with maestros David Zinman and Murray Sidlin, and with renowned conducting pedagogue Jorma Panula.

 

Michael CornerFebruary 18, 2012

Michael Corner is the Principal Clarinetist of Symphony Silicon Valley. He served as the Principal Clarinet of the former San Jose Symphony since 1983 and was regularly featured as soloist in works by Debussy, Weber, Copland, Mozart, and others. He has served as both Principal Clarinet and soloist with San Jose Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonia San Francisco, Midsummer Mozart, Mendocino Music Festival, Colorado Music Festival, and Marin Symphony. He has performed with the Boston Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Ballet, Stockholm Philharmonic, Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, and many others.

As a chamber musician, Mr. Corner appears regularly with the Sierra Chamber Music Society, and has performed in such venues as Kohl Mansion, San Jose Chamber Music Society, Old First Concerts, Legion of Honor, Palo Alto Cultural Center, and many others.

An active theater musician, he serves as Principal Clarinet for Ballet Silicon Valley. He also performs regularly on clarinet, saxophone and flute for American Musical Theatre of San Jose, and for the theaters in San Francisco -- including Principal Clarinet for Baz Luhrmann's recent production of Puccini's La Bohème. An accomplished jazz musician, he has appeared at such Bay Area venues as Yoshi's and Kimball's, and recorded with Radio Big Bands in Frankfurt, Germany and Zurich, Switzerland.

Mr. Corner attended the University of Southern California, graduating Magna Cum Laude, and was an award winner at both the Music Academy of the West and the Berkshire Music Center in Tanglewood. While a student at USC, he won First Prize in the Coleman Chamber Music Competition. He later received a Soloists Diploma from the Basel (Switzerland) Conservatory. His primary teachers are Mitchell Lurie and Hans Rudolf Stadler.

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Palo Alto Philharmonic
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