William Bennett
One of the foremost musical artists performing today, William Bennett has raised the profile of the flute to that of an instrument capable of a wide range of tonal colours, dynamics, and expression, giving it the depth, dignity, and grandeur of the voice or a string instrument. He studied in London with Geoffrey Gilbert, and in France with Jean-Pierre Rampal and Marcel Moyse. He has been principal flute in many orchestras including the London Symphony, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, and the English Chamber Orchestra. The Master classes of Marcel Moyse in Switzerland in the late 70's provided extra stimulus and inspiration so that, in tandem with William Bennett's burgeoning career developed as an International soloist and recording artist Partnerships with Clifford Benson (piano) and George Malcolm (harpsichord) and solo recordings mth Yehudi Menuhin, the Grumiaux Trio, I Musici, the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, and the English Chamber Orchestra have received international acclaim and enthusiastic reviews in record and CD journals.
Early in his career he made the first English recording of the complete Handel Flute Sonatas, and of contemporary works including the Sonatine of Boulez, Berio's Sequenza, Messaien's Merle Noir, and Richard Rodney Bennett's "Winter Music" (written for him). In addition to recording the standard flute repertoire of Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Mozart, etc., he has made pioneer recordings of many neglected 19th century works, such as music by Ries, Romberg, and Taffanel. He has recorded with artists such as Jimi Hendrix and Wynton Marsalis. He has made over 90 CD's as a soloist. Recently he premiered the Concerto by William Mathias, the Concerto by Diana Burr ell and the Concerto for Flute and Flute Orchestra by Venezuelan composer Raymund Pineda. All of these were specially written for him. This year his Concert engagement take him to U.S.A (February, May, June), Switzerland, Japan, Venezuela.China/Taiwan etc. and he is going to record several contemporary Flute Concertos with English Chamber Orchestra and two CDs with pianist Clifford Benson.
In January 1995 H.M. The Queen presented William Bennett with the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (O.B.E) for his distinguished Services to Music. In 2002 he was awarded the National Flute Association's "Lifetime Achievement Award" and in 2003 he was appointed the British Flute Society's "Flautist Laureate".
Learn more at
www.williambennettflute.com
Denis Bouriakov
Although still in his twenties, Denis Bouriakov has already developed one of the fastest growing careers amongst the musicians of his generation. He has won numerous prizes at some of the world’s most prestigious international competitions (such as Jean-Pierre Rampal, Munich ARD, Kobe and others) and he has recently been appointed the Principal Flute at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He has already done a few recording projects, and his first solo CD album is coming out in the first quarter of 2009, which includes the world’s first recording of the Sibelius Violin Concerto on the flute. He has been very active as a soloist, orchestra player and a teacher and his 2008 engagements included solo recitals and master classes in Greece, Iceland, USA, Japan, Korea, UK and Lithuania.
Born in 1981 in Crimea (now Ukraine) his unique talent was recognized by the time he was ten years old. Within a year, Denis was performing in Russia's premier concert halls and traveled to over 20 countries in Europe, Asia, South America and USA as a concert soloist. After his graduation from the Moscow Central Special Music School in 2000 he went on to study with Professor William Bennett in London at the Royal Academy of Music. Bouriakov has won eight prizes at some of the world’s most prestigious international solo flute competitions, including the Kobe (2001), Carl Nielsen (2002), Leonardo de Lorenzo (2003), Munich (2004), Jean-Pierre Rampal (2005), Aurele Nicolet (2006) and the Pan European, Barnett Foundation, here in Chicago, and Larrieu Competitions (all in 2007).
His 2008 engagements included solo recitals and master classes in Greece, Iceland, USA, Japan, Korea, UK, Lithuania and Russia. A CD duo recording with William Bennett and the English Chamber Orchestra has recently been released and a solo recording will be released later this year. “I think he’s the most amazing young flute player. He has more technique and ability than any flute player I have ever heard, with good musical taste to boot,” said William Bennett.
Learn more at www.bouriakov.com
Marco Granados
A native of Venezuela, Marco Granados maintains an active international career as a soloist, chamber musician, and teacher. His diverse repertoire spans from classical to folk, with an emphasis on Latin-American music as his specialty. He has been a member of many critically acclaimed ensembles, among them the Quintet of the Americas and Triangulo (Latin American Chamber Trio). As a founding member of the Amerigo Ensemble, The Camerata Latinoamericana and the Granados/Abend Duo, Mr. Granados’ collaborations also include those with The Cuarteto Latinoamericano, The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and with such distinguished artists as Paquito D'Rivera, flutist Ransom Wilson, harpist Nancy Allen, oboist Heinz Holliger, flutist William Bennett, as well as with soprano Renee Fleming and baritone Dwayne Croft. Recent performances include recitals at Wigmore Hall in London, tours of the US, Slovenia and South Africa. He has also performed at many summer music festivals including Moab, Chautauqua and the Colorado Music Festival in addition to the Caramoor International Music Festival. Mr. Granados is Music Advisor to Caramoor’s Latin American Music Initiative: Sonidos Latinos.
In his native country, Mr. Granados has performed with many of the leading Symphony Orchestras premiering both the Jacques Ibert and Aram Khachaturian flute concerti with the Maracaibo and Venezuelan Symphony Orchestras, respectively. He also gave the South American premiere of the Concerto for Flute and Orchestra by Mexican composer Samuel Zyman with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Lima in Peru. Past solo engagements have included a special invitation in 1986 by the Mayor of New York City to perform for Placido Domingo at Gracie Mansion. In recital, he made his New York debut at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall in 1991. Since then, he has performed recitals in the United States, Canada, South America and the Caribbean. The first musician to have appeared as soloist for three consecutive seasons with the New York City Symphony at Alice Tully Hall and Merkin Concert Hall in New York City, Mr. Granados has also appeared as soloist with Philharmonia Virtuosi of New York, members of the Cleveland Orchestra, The Juilliard Chamber Orchestra, the Haydn Festival Orchestra of Maine and L’Orchestra in the Berkshires, among others.
On radio broadcasts, Mr. Granados was featured nationwide in 1996 on National Public Radio's Performance Today with Camerata Latinoamericana, and recently presented a program of Venezuelan and Latin-American music on Around New York with host Fred Child of WNYC. Other radio appearances include live performances on WQXR in New York City. As a recording artist, he has appeared on such labels as CRI, Chesky Records, MMC Records, Koch World and XLNT Records. Mr. Granados has toured the United States on several occasions with the Quintet of the Americas, with performances at Carnegie Hall, The Bermuda International Music Festival, Chamber Music Northwest, Alice Tully Hall in New York City, and in many university concert series. As an artist-in-residence at Northwestern University in Chicago, he has given recitals and concerts with Elena Abend as well as with the Quintet of the Americas.
Mr. Granados currently plays with the acclaimed ensemble Un Mundo. Un Mundo is dedicated to bringing the passion and energy of Venezuelan music to the world, instilling in young people the love of music and bridging cultures through classical, folk and jazzy arrangements. Recordings by Mr. Granados include Luna, a romantic serenade of songs from Venezuela and South America for flute and guitar; Tango Dreams, a compilation of works by Astor Piazzolla, and Amanecer, a collection of Venezuelan flute favorites.
A devoted educator, he travels the world teaching children about the wonder of creation, through his composition workshops.
Learn more at
www.sunflute.com
Matthias Ziegler
Matthias Ziegler is one of the world’s most versatile and innovative flutists. He is committed both to the traditional literature for flute as well as to contemporary music and concepts that cross the boundaries between classical music and jazz. Accordingly, his performances take place in a vast range of contexts: he plays principal flute with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, has toured with the percussionist Pierre Favre and performed with the pianist George Gruntz as well as with the American contrabass player Mark Dresser. He is also a member of the ”Collegium Novum Zurich“, where he has worked with Mauricio Kagel, Heinz Holliger and George Crumb. Concert tours have brought him to the US, Japan, Australia, South America and Israel. Many recordings on CD document his inclusive musical interests. Matthias Ziegler currently teaches at the Zurich University of the Arts.
Searching for new sounds, he enormously broadened the expressive potential of the traditional flute and the electroacoustically amplified contrabass flute. Amplifying the flute allows him to increase the volume of the microsound structures of the flute to an audible level. Inspired by the new dimension of sounds of these instruments, composers such as Michael Jarrell from Switzerland, Benjamin Yusupov from Tadjikistan, Mathias Rüegg from the Vienna Art Orchestra and the American Mark Dresser wrote flute concertos for him.
Matthias Ziegler performs on a flute manufactured by Louis Lot (1880), on a quartertone flute Brannen/Kingma system , on a Alto- and Bassflute by Eva Kingma (Holland) as well as on his own invention, the ”Matusiflute”, a uniquely designed instrument with a vibrating membrane. His contrabassflute has been constructed by Kotato Fukushima (Japan).
Learn more at
www.matthias-ziegler.ch |
