FSMA 2023
Public Master Clinicians
Andrew Armstrong, Piano
Praised by critics for his passionate expression and dazzling technique, pianist Andrew Armstrong has delighted audiences across Asia, Europe, Latin America, Canada, and the United States, including performances at Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, and Warsaw's National
Philharmonic.
Andrew’s orchestral engagements across the globe have encompassed a vast repertoire of more than 50 concertos with orchestra. He has performed with such conductors as Peter Oundjian, Itzhak Perlman, Günther Herbig, Stefan Sanderling, Jean-Marie Zeitouni, and Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, and has appeared in solo recitals and in chamber music concerts with the Elias, Alexander, American, and Manhattan String Quartets, and as a member of the Caramoor Virtuosi, Boston Chamber Music Society, Seattle Chamber Music Society, and the Jupiter
Symphony Chamber Players.
The 2021-2022 season has taken Andy throughout Europe with performances in Glasgow at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, London at Wigmore Hall, Geneva at the Conservatoire de Musique de Geneve and at the Dresden Music Festival. He crisscrossed Canada with concerts in
Halifax, Nova Scotia at the Scotia Fest, Montreal at the Festival Musique de Chambre and Vancouver at the Vancouver Chamber Music Society. In November this year Andy will perform the complete Beethoven Violin Sonata cycle with James Ehnes in Melbourne, Australia.
In addition to his performance activities, Andrew serves as Artistic Director of two thriving series in South Carolina—the Columbia Museum of Art’s Chamber Music on Main and the USC Beaufort Chamber Music Series. In 2020, Andrew founded New Canaan Chamber Music in New Canaan, CT and serves as Artistic Director of the flourishing new series now entering its third season. In Wisconsin, from 2017 through 2021, Andrew was Director of the Chamber Music Institute at Wisconsin’s Green Lake Festival of Music.
Andrew’s debut solo CD featuring was released to great critical acclaim: “I have heard few pianists play [Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Sonata], recorded or in concert, with such dazzling clarity and confidence” (American Record Guide). He followed that success with a disc on Cordelia Records of works by Chopin, Liszt, Debussy, and the world premiere recording of
Bielawa's Wait for piano & drone. He has released several award-winning recordings with his longtime recital partner James Ehnes -- most recently Beethoven’s Sonatas Nos. 7 & 10, to stellar reviews. In summer of 2022 he will complete recording a new solo album of American Composers for release in 2023.
In addition to his many concerts, his performances are heard regularly on National Public Radio, WQXR, New York City's premier classical music station, and stations across the country.
Andrew Armstrong lives happily in Massachusetts, with his wife Esty, their three children Jack (16), Elise (11, and Gabriel (5), and their two dogs Comet & Dooker.
Described as “a magnetic presence” and “a constantly fascinating sound technician” (New York Classical Review), violinist Alena Baeva is considered one of the most exciting, versatile, and alluring soloists active on the world stage today.
Baeva’s career as an international soloist of the highest renown has grown at an extraordinary pace over recent seasons. Highlights of the 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 seasons include debuts with the Alte Oper Frankfurt, Ensemble Resonanz, Göteborgs Symfoniker, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lyon, and the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, as well as returns to such leading ensembles as the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Gävle Symfoniorkester, Orchestre National de Lille, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Tonkünstler-Orchester.
She now enjoys a particularly strong artistic partnership with Paavo Järvi, with whom recent and future collaborations include performances with the Estonian Festival Orchestra, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich.
Another such regular collaborative partnership is that with Vladimir Jurowski, with whom Baeva has both recorded and performed on numerous occasions, including with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and Moscow’s Russian State Symphony Orchestra ‘Evgeny Svetlanov’. Baeva also enjoys regular work with such world-renowned conductors as Teodor Currentzis, Charles Dutoit, Marek Janowski, and Tomáš Netopil.
Chamber music has always held a special place in Baeva’s musical life. She has the pleasure of collaborating with such esteemed artists as Martha Argerich, Yuri Bashmet, Steven Isserlis, Daishin Kashimoto, Misha Maisky, Lawrence Power, Julian Steckel, and Yeol-Eum Son. Her regular sonata partner is the celebrated Ukrainian pianist Vadym Kholodenko (2013 Van Cliburn Winner), with whom she has established a dedicated musical partnership of more than a decade.
Baeva holds an already vast and rapidly expanding repertoire, including over forty violin concerti, and is a champion of lesser known works – with recent performances promoting such composers as Bacewicz, Karaev, and Karłowicz, alongside the more mainstream violin literature. She enjoys a lasting relationship with the Orchestra of the XVIII Century, performing and recording a variety of repertoire on period instruments. Their 2022 recording release (Wieniawski Violin Concerto No.2) was crowned as ‘Recording of the Month’ by BBC Music Magazine, who declared it to be “essential listening”.
Baeva’s wider discography is extensive, and reflects the impressive breadth of her repertoire – with recordings ranging from Szymanowski (for DUX), to Debussy, Poulenc, and Prokofiev (for SIMC), and more. Her Paris performance of Shostakovich Violin Concerto No.2 features as part of the Mariinsky Theatre/Valery Gergiev box-set DVD collection, released by Arthaus Musik in 2015. In 2018, she made a recording of both the Karłowicz Violin Concerto with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (for NIFC), and of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with London Philharmonic Orchestra/Vladimir Jurowski, to be released on the LPO Live label. 2020 saw the release of her recording of the Schumann Violin Concerto and the original (1844) version of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor – released worldwide on Melodiya Records and receiving wide-spread critical acclaim.
Born in Russia to a musical family, Baeva took her first violin lessons at the age of five under renowned pedagogue Olga Danilova, before going on to study in Moscow with Professor Eduard Grach at the Central School of Music and the State Tchaikovsky Conservatoire. In addition to her formal education, she studied in France with Mstislav Rostropovich, in Switzerland with Seiji Ozawa, in Israel with Shlomo Mintz (at Keshet Eilon Music Center), and in Paris with Boris Garlitsky. Aged 16, Baeva won the Grand Prix at the 12th International Henryk Wieniawski Competition (2001), as well as the Prize for Best Performance of a Contemporary Work. Following this, she went on to take the Grand Prix at the Moscow International Niccolò Paganini Competition (2004), including a Special Prize allowing her to perform on the 1723 Wieniawski Stradivari for one year, and was awarded both the Gold Medal and the Audience Prize at the Sendai International Violin Competition (2007).
Alena Baeva plays on the “ex-William Kroll” Guarneri del Gesù of 1738 – on generous loan from an anonymous patron, with the kind assistance of J&A Beares.
Alena Baeva, violin
Zlatomir Fung,
cello
The first American in four decades and youngest musician ever to win First Prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition Cello Division, Zlatomir Fung is poised to become one of the preeminent cellists of our time. Astounding audiences with his boundless virtuosity and exquisite sensitivity, the 23-year-old has already proven himself to be a star among the next generation of world-class musicians. A recipient of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship 2022 and a 2020 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Fung's impeccable technique demonstrates mastery of the canon and exceptional insight into the depths of contemporary repertoire.
In the 2022-2023 season, Fung performs with orchestras and gives recitals in all corners of the world. Orchestral engagements include the BBC and Rochester Philharmonics, Milwaukee, Reading, Lincoln, Ridgefield and Sante Fe Symphonies, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Sarasota Orchestra, and APEX Ensemble. He gives the world premiere of a new cello concerto by Katherine Balch with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. He plays recitals throughout North America with pianists Benjamin Hochman, Dina Vainshtein, and Janice Carissa, including stops in New York City, Chicago, IL, San Diego and Berkeley, CA, Los Alamos, NM, Rockville, MD, Melbourne, FL, Vancouver and Sechelt, BC, Northampton, MA, Province, RI, Burlington, VT, and Waterford, VA. Tours of Europe and Asia include a recital at Wigmore Hall and two performances at Cello Biënnale Amsterdam.
Recent summer festival appearances include Aspen Music Festival, Bravo! Vail with the New York Philharmonic and Leonard Slatkin, ChamberFest Cleveland, Chamber Music Northwest, La Jolla Chamber Music Society, Rockport Chamber Music Festival, and Verbier. As a soloist, Fung has appeared with the Detroit, Kansas City, Seattle, Utah, Greensboro, Ann Arbor, and Asheville Symphonies, among many others. Past recital highlights include his Carnegie Hall Weill Recital Hall debut with pianist Mishka Rushdie Momen and multiple tours throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. As a chamber musician, he has been presented by the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Philharmonic Society of Orange County, IMS Prussia Cove, Syrinx Concerts in Toronto, The Embassy Series & The Phillips Collection in Washington DC, and Salon de Virtuosi and Bulgarian Concert Evenings in New York City.
A winner of the 2017 Young Concert Artists International Auditions and the 2017 Astral National Auditions, Fung has taken the top prizes at the 2018 Alice & Eleonore Schoenfeld International String Competition, 2016 George Enescu International Cello Competition, 2015 Johansen International Competition for Young String Players, 2014 Stulberg International String Competition, and 2014 Irving Klein International Competition. He was selected as a 2016 U.S. Presidential Scholar for the Arts and was awarded the 2016 Landgrave von Hesse Prize at the Kronberg Academy Cello Masterclasses.
Of Bulgarian-Chinese heritage, Zlatomir Fung began playing cello at age three. Fung studied at The Juilliard School under the tutelage of Richard Aaron and Timothy Eddy. Fung has been featured on NPR’s Performance Today and has appeared on From the Top six times. In addition to music, he enjoys cinema, reading, and blitz chess.
Violinist Amy Schwartz Moretti has a musical career of broad versatility. Before becoming the inaugural Director of Mercer University’s McDuffie Center for Strings, she was concertmaster of the Florida Orchestra and Oregon Symphony. She has premiered concertos for GRAMMY winner Matt Catingub and her Mercer colleague Christopher Schmitz, collaborated with James Ehnes for Prokofiev’s “Sonata for Two Violins” and Bartók’s “44 Duos” -- both contributions to Chandos recordings receiving consecutive Juno Awards for Classical Album of the year 2014 and 2015 -- and she performed the complete cycle of Beethoven String Quartets in Seoul, Korea with the Ehnes Quartet. They have recorded Barber, Sibelius, Shostakovich and Schubert quartets, in 2021, mid and late Beethoven quartets, and most recently in 2022, Dvořák’s “American” String Quintet with violist Paul Neubauer.
Recognized as a deeply expressive artist, Moretti enjoys the opportunity to travel and perform concerts around the world. Her many festival appearances include Bridgehampton, ChamberFest Cleveland, Evian, La Jolla, Meadowmount, Seattle, Music@Menlo and Manchester Music Festival. She has served as guest concertmaster for the symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Houston, Pittsburgh; the New York Pops and Hawaii Pops; and the festival orchestras of Brevard, Colorado and Grand Teton. The Cleveland Institute of Music has honored her with an Alumni Achievement Award, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music their Fanfare Award, and she was named to Musical America’s “Top 30 Professionals" in 2018.
Director of the McDuffie Center since 2007, Amy Schwartz Moretti holds the Caroline Paul King Violin Chair and has developed and curates the Fabian Concert Series. She led the Center’s Young Artists in an ensemble performance at Carnegie Hall, was featured with a McDuffie Center student at the Supreme Court Grand Hall in Washington DC, and celebrates the many awards Center students achieve, including one of her violin students who won the 2022 MTNA National Young Artist String Competition.
Moretti lives in Georgia with her husband and two sons, enjoying swimming and being at the soccer field and tennis courts with her boys.
Amy Schwartz Moretti,
violin
Stephen Wyrczynski,
viola
Stephen Wyrczynski is professor of music in viola at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he has been on faculty since 2010. He has been an artist-faculty member at the Aspen Music Festival and School since 2006.
Wyrczynski was a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra for 18 years, joining in 1992. He earned his bachelor degree from The Juilliard School in 1988. He earned a diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music in 1991. His principal teachers were Kim Kashkashian, Karen Tuttle, and Joseph DePasquale.
As a chamber musician, Wyrczynski has performed with such artists as Joshua Bell, Sarah Chang, Pamela Frank, Edgar Meyer, Vladimir Feltsman, and Dawn Upshaw. He has played in many of North America’s most celebrated venues as well as at the Aspen Music Festival and School, Colorado; Le Domaine Forget, Quebec; New Port Music Festival, Rhode Island; Grand Teton Music Festival, Wyoming; Tanglewood, Lenox, Massachusetts; Kingston Music Festival, Rhode Island; Casals Music Festival, Puerto Rico; and El Paso Pro Musica, Texas; and with the Apollo Chamber Players, Denver, Colorado.
Wyrczynski also performs regularly with his artist faculty colleagues at the Jacobs School of Music and participates in faculty-student collaborations. One such partnership, which he co-founded with colleague Jorja Fleezanis, violin, was an ongoing exploration of music from the Second Viennese School, in which faculty and students together perform music by Schoenberg, Webern, and Berg.
Wyrczynski considers his teaching a direct result of his own relationship to performing, practicing, and listening. He approaches each student as an individual personality and potential artist. Teaching a student about the great privilege it is to serve the composers of our repertoire is one of the best ways for the students to gain ownership of their musical training. He encourages students to ask probing questions and be musically curious beyond their own instrument.
