"Bach Sonatas" album release concert @ (le) poisson rouge

Lara St. John
Canadian-born violinist Lara St. John has been described as “something of a phenomenon” by The Strad and a “high-powered soloist” by the New Times.

She has performed as soloist with numerous orchestras including Cleveland, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Royal Philharmonic, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, the NDR, and the Bournemouth Symphony, among many others. In Asia, solo appearances have included the Hong Kong Symphony, Tokyo Symphony, China Phil, and in Oceania the Queensland Orchestra and the ACO2, as well as the orchestras of Adelaide and Auckland.

The Los Angeles Times has written, “St. John brings to the stage personal charisma, an unflagging musical imagination and genuine passion.” Recitals in major concert halls have included New York, Boston, San Francisco, Ravinia, Washington DC, Prague, Berlin, Toronto,Montreal, and in the Forbidden City. Lara owns and runs her own record label, Ancalagon. Her Bach Sonatas and Partitas was the best-selling double album on iTunes in 2007. In 2008 her world premiere recording of the Hindson violin concerto had Gramophone saying: “It’s the sort of work that should get audiences running, not walking, back to concert halls on new-music nights”. In 2009, American Record Guide said of her Vivaldi/Piazzolla disc with the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela: “I can imagine no suaver, more atmospheric performance”, and her Mozart Sinfonia Concertante album with her brother, Scott, won the Juno award in 2011 for Best Classical Album (Soloist with Large Ensemble).

Lara began playing the violin when she was two years old. She made her first appearance as soloist with orchestra at age four, and her European debut with the Gulbenkian Orchestra when she was 10. She toured Spain, France, Portugal and Hungary at ages 12 and 13 and entered the Curtis Institute at 13. Her teachers have included Felix Galimir and Joey Corpus. She performs on the 1779 “Salabue” Guadagnini thanks to an anonymous donor and Heinl & Co. of Toronto.

Photo by: Twain Newhart
Marie-Pierre Langlamet: “Bach Sonatas” album release concert
Marie-Pierre Langlamet has been principal harpist on the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra since 1994, when she was appointed under Claudio Abbado.

Ms. Langlamet was born in Grenoble, France. She received her first harp instruction at the Nice Conservatory at the age of 8, from Elisabeth Fontan Binoche and has been winning international acclaim since she was 15, when she won the highest prize at the Maria Korchinska competition in the United Kingdom. On year later, she won first prize at the Cite des Arts Competition in Paris, and was only 17 years old when she was appointed principal harpist of the Nice Opera Orchestra, a position she held until she left to continue her studies at the Curtist Institute of Music in Philadelphia. The following year she was a prize-winner at the Concours International d’Execution Musicale in Geneva.

At 20, she was appointed assistant principal harpist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra working under James Levine. During her five years there, she continued to win major awards. She was a first prize winner in New York’s Concert Artists Guild Competition, and in 1992 won first prize at the International Harp competition in Israel, which was widely regarded as the most important for the instrument.

She has received numerous awards including the prestigious Cino del Duca prize from l’Academie des Beaux ARts in 2003. In 2009, she was decorated Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture and was awarded Le grand Prix de la village de Nice in 2011.

Marie-Pierre has performed as soloist with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, and l’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande among many others, and with some of the world’s leading conductors including Claudio Abbado, Sir Simon Rattle, Trevor Pinnock, and Marek Janowski.

She teaches at the Karajan Academy and Universität der Künste Berlin and lives in Berlin with her family.

For more information please visit:
http://lepoissonrouge.com/events/view/2726