Richmond County Orchestra: Concert Notes

“…One of the most talented young pianists I have heard…”
Stephen Hough
“…An excellent pianist with a good sound, technique, and range of styles...”
Garrick Ohlsson
“Apart from his dazzling technique, he performs with a profound sense of poetry and a distinctive style.”
Seymour Bernstein

Acclaimed for his profound sense of poetry and distinctive style, Sandro Russo has been in great demand as a soloist in many venues around the world. He invariably receives accolades for his sparkling virtuosity, and his playing has often been referred to as a throwback to the grand tradition of elegant pianism and beautiful sound.

Born in San Giovanni Gemini - Italy, Sandro Russo displayed exceptional musical talent from an early age. In 1995, he graduated summa cum laude from the V. Bellini Conservatory, and earned the Pianoforte Performing Diploma from the Royal College of Music in London with honors. In addition, he won top prize awards in numerous national and international competitions, including Senigallia, and the Ibla Grand Prize. As a result, Sandro Russo was invited to perform in some of the country’s most prestigious concert halls.

Soon after he came to the United States in April 2000, he won the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra Competition, and performed Liszt’s A major Concerto with Maestro David Gilbert at the John Harms Center for the Arts in Englewood, New Jersey. After auditioning for conductor John Yaffé, Mr. Russo was invited to make his New York City debut performing Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto. Subsequently he was presented at Carnegie Recital Hall as a winner of the 25th Frinna Awerbuch Competition.

Early in 2002, Mr. Russo gave an acclaimed Chopin recital at the prestigious Politeama Theatre in Palermo, Italy, and later appeared at the Nuove Carriere Music Festival, an international showcase for the world’s most promising young musicians. In February 2003, Mr. Russo won second prize at the Jacksonville Symphony Competition performing with the JSO conducted by Fabio Mechetti, and in 2004 he was awarded top honors at the 10th Missouri Southern International Piano Competition.

Mr. Russo’s extensive repertoire comprises well-known masterpieces of all periods as well as more obscure and challenging works of the piano literature by such composers as Medtner, Sorabji, Blumenfeld, and others. Live performances of these works featured on various internet forums have been among the most viewed classical music videos on the web. He has also been given the honor of premiering compositions by Lowell Liebermann, Paul Moravec, and Marc-André Hamelin.

Highlights of recent seasons include solo recitals for the Rachmaninoff Society in London, where his rendition of the Corelli Variations Op. 42 was praised for “a complete understanding of the work combined with a flawless technique.” He also gave a dazzling performance of Piano Transcriptions at the “Homage to Cziffra” Festival in NYC hosted by David Dubal. His appearance with the Slovak Philharmonic under the baton of Tomas Hanus in the Finals of the 5th Hummel International Piano Competition in Bratislava received high critical acclaim. In December 2005 he made his debut at the Salle Cortot in Paris during the Animato Festival “Revélations 2005” series, and subsequently appeared in such venues as Teatro Ghione in Rome, the new concert hall of the San Francisco Conservatory (American Liszt Society Festival), and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

In June 2007, he was heard in recital at Zankel Hall (Carnegie Hall) for a concert in honor of the Italian Ambassador of the UN and the “One Bright World” Foundation. That same month La Scuola d’Italia presented him in a solo recital at Carnegie Recital Hall. In recent months, he was once again invited to perform at the “Noontime Series” in San Francisco, and on November 15, 2007, the American Liszt Society – New York Chapter – invited him to perform their annual solo recital at the Yamaha Piano Salon.

Both audiences and critics have raved about the transcendental virtuosity and exquisite lyricism of these performances: “The Grieg Ballade and Rachmaninoff Etude-tableaux were utterly ravishing and at times shockingly intense. But his transcendental account of Taneyev’s Prelude and Fugue simply left nothing to be said. It was unreal; you just had to be there.” (The Rachmaninoff Society Newsletter)

In July 2008 he gave three performances of the Rachmaninoff 3rd Piano Concerto with the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana conducted by Tomasz Bugaj during their summer tour in Palermo. Later in July, he appeared as the featured solo artist at the opening gala of The Music Festival of the Hamptons (Long Island), with the Brussels Chamber Orchestra under the baton of music director Michael Guttman. His solo recital at the same festival received a standing ovation, and was said to have been among the most memorable performances in its history. Upcoming engagements include recitals for “Concerts Grand” in San Francisco, and the “Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts” in Chicago.

Paolo Biancalana

Born in 1962, Paolo Biancalana studied piano and composition at the Istituto "L.Boccherini" in Lucca. He followed postgraduates studies in choir direction with R.Gabbiani and R.Clemencic, and in orchestral conducting with P.Bellugi and F.Gallini.
Appointed artistic director of the choir "P.A.Guglielmi" of Massa in 1988, he has toured extensively in Europe and revised and given the first performances in the contemporary era of pieces for choir and orchestra and operas by Eighteenth century composers, including P.A.Guglielmi. In 2000 he made the first recording of Guglielmi’s sacred works for choir and orchestra, produced by the Bongiovanni label.
In 2004, 80th of Giacomo Puccini’s death, he has conducted the Puccini’s Messa di Gloria in Torre del Lago invited by the Puccini Festival and Museum..
He has conducted several European and Italian orchestras in symphony and operatic works, including the Debrecen Academy Orchestra, the Ceboksary’s Theatre Orchestra (Russia), the Tchaikovsky Orchestra of Izhevsk (Russia), the Moldavian Radio-Television Orchestra of Kisinev (Moldova), the State Philharmonic Orchestra of Plovdiv (Bulgaria) the State Philharmonic Orchestra of Shoumen (Bulgaria), the State Philharmonic Orchestra of Pazardijk (Bulgaria), the State Chamber Orchestra of Moldova, the State Philharmonic Orchestra of Botosani (Romania), the State Philharmonic Orchestra of Satu Mare (Romania), the State Philharmonic Orchestra of Bacau (Romania), the Tirana Academy Chamber Orchestra, the “Camerata Romanica” of Cluj, the State Chamber Orchestra of Kazakistan, the Symphonic Orchestra “Città di Grosseto”, the Sanremo Symphonic Orchestra, the Symphonic Orchestra “Guido d’Arezzo”, the Guidantus Ensemble of Parma, the String Orchestra G.Cantelli of Milan, the Chamber Orchestra G. Strehler of Milan, the Chamber Orchestra C.A.Mussinelli of La Spezia, the GAMS Ensemble of Florence, the Chamber Orchestra P.A.Guglielmi (Massa), the “Orchestra Classica di Alessandria” the Chamber Orchestra “I solisti di Fiesole” of Florence and the Orchestra of the Associazione Musicale Massese.
He has recorded in Bucarest for TVR (Romanian National Television) and with the “Jeunesses Musicales” of the Romania Orchestra

Maestro, Pianist Giacomo Franci is the Artistic Director and the Conductor of The New York Chamber

Players, an organization he founded in 2004. He is also Associate Conductor of the Richmond County Orchestra. Giacomo Franci is world renowned as the leading interpreter of the music of Aaron Copland. He has earned this highly coveted position since his world premiere recording "The Complete Edited Piano Works by A. Copland," a triple CD released on Fone' Classics. Franci performed at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center for the centennial of Copland's birthday in February, 2000 receiving rave reviews for his performance.

In 1998 Franci debuted at Carnegie Recital Hall and the Italian Music Magazine "Musica" reviewer compared him to Glenn Gould and Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli. Mr. Franci hails from Tuscany, Italy and now resides in New York City with his wife jazz singer Dori Levine. Together they have created Tribeca Music Studio, a teaching studio for aspiring pianists and singers.

Franci started his Concert Career in Italy with appearances in Teatro Comunale "Guglielmi", Teatro San Filippo di Torino, Circolo della Musica di Bologna, and Teatro Comunale di Ferrara. When Franci is not performing live as a featured pianist/soloist he devotes his time conducting his new orchestra. He is very excited about the recent attention they are receiving. The Chamber Orchestra had their debut at CAMI Concert Hall in New York City on May 2004 performing the Bach Piano Concerto in D minor and they have been in growing demand ever since.

Franci who is constantly looking to interpret new works, studied with Gaetano Gaeta and Giampiero Semeraro to get his Bachelor's Degree in Piano from the Boccherini Music Institute in Lucca. He was awarded his Master's Scholarship from the Scuola di Alto Perfezionamento Musicale in Saluzzo studying with Jean Fassinat and Aldo Ciccolini. He also studied conducting with Piero Bellugi and Gustav Kuhn at Teatro Comunale di Pisa.

Over the last few seasons Franci has been a featured soloist for engagements throughout the USA, Italy, England, Finland and Turkey. He is a returning soloist with the ISO Symphony, Turkey State Symphony, Richmond County Orchestra, New York Chamber Players, Orchestra da Camera Fiorentina, Bacau Philharmonic Orchestra, Ensemble Orchestral de Bordeaux . He has appeared on Radio and Television shows such as New York One, ABC, WPIX, Manhattan Cable, Hofstra University Radio, Blusat Radio 2000 (an hour long interview to an audience of over 2 million people) and Antenna 3. Future plans include his recording of "The Complete Edited Piano Works by I. Stravinsky" - World Premiere. The double CD is scheduled for a 2009 release.

Phyllis Forman (vocals) - Phyllis sings with the band Queen Tipsy. She is the lead vocalist, lyricist, and musical arranger for the band in addition to being promoter and booking agent. Queen Tipsy plays regularly in the NYC area, playing original music and also their own arrangements of blues, jazz, and rock standards. She was voted Staten Island's favorite "Diva" in this year's reader's poll by the Staten Island Advance. Her group Queen Tipsy won a performance grant from COASHI in 2006. She is also a visual artist and was the recipient of a COASHI premier grant for visual art in 1994.

Richard Peterson (bass/vocals) - Richard (Rick) has been playing music in the Staten Island, New York City, music scene since his teenage years. He has played rhythm guitar with various disco bands in the 70's. Rock bands in the 80's, and switched to bass in the 90's to play blues, rock, and jazz. He plays bass and sings with the band Queen Tipsy.

Nathaniel S. Seeley (drummer/ percussionist) -

Nathaniel (Nat) Seeley has studied music since he was a child and played trumpet from childhood through high school, where he began his study of drumming. He has studied with various teachers/performers including: Titos Sampa, Freddie Waits, Charles Persip, Jospeh Piazza, Pablo Landrum, the Colon Bros., Sam Ulano and John Amira.
Nat has performed with various bands an performers in the U.S. and overseas; most recently these include Karlus Trapp, Stapleton Latin Jazz Band, the Waldorf Astoria House Trio, Lonesome Debonaires, and now Queen Tipsy.

Jon Specter (guitar/vocals) - Jon has played with some of the great legends of blues music, performing with the likes of Otis Rush, Big Mamma Thorton, Lightning Hopkins, J.B. Hutton, Dr. John, Champion Jack Dupree, Johnny Johnson, The Neville Brothers, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Pinetop Perkins as well as Sam & Dave, Ronnie Baker Brooks, Jaco Pastorious, Pappa Chubby, Buddy Miles and The Chambers Brothers, to name a few.
Jon joined The Dave Keyes Band in the early 1990's, after several years of playing and touring with Eddie Kirkland. They were recognized as the “Best Unsigned Band in the United States” at the International Blues Challenge of 2000. In 1999, David Johanson asked Jon to play in his band. He now plays with Queen Tipsy in and around New York City. Jon is also a composer and arranger for the bands original music. Jon received a COASHI Original Works grant for music composition in 2007.

Milos Raickovich, composer and conductor, was born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, in 1956. He has lived and worked in Belgrade, Paris, Los Angeles, Honolulu, Hiroshima and New York, where he now resides. While in Belgrade, Milos Raickovich was the founder of the Ensemble for Other New Music (1977), as well as one of the founders of the Belgrade Youth Philharmonic, later known as the Borislav Pascan Youth Philharmonic (1977). He has also worked as an assistant conductor at the Belgrade Opera House.

Raickovich’s music has been performed in numerous venues in Europe and the USA, including the Warsaw Autumn Festival, Zagreb Music Biennale, Europhonia Radio Festival, La MaMa Etc. and Miller Theater in New York, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Among the performers of Raickovich’s music are the Moscow Symphony Orchestra (M. Raickovich, conductor), Honolulu Symphony Orchestra (Donald Johanos, conductor), Beach Cities Symphony in Los Angeles (Barry Brisk, conductor), Belgrade Radio Symphony Orchestra (David Porcelijn, Milen Nachev, and Milos Raickovich, conductors), Ensemble Divertimento (Milan), Margaret Leng Tan, Dorothy Lawson, Reiko Watanabe, Gloria Cheng, Beth Levin, Christopher Oldfather, Tatjana Rankovich, and Nada Kolundzija, among others.

Milos Raickovich studied composition with Vasilije Mokranjac, Olivier Messiaen and David Del Tredici; and conducting with Borislav Pascan, Pierre Dervaux, Barry Brisk and Herbert Blomstedt. He holds a Ph.D. in composition from The City University of New York, and has taught at several universities in the U.S. and Japan. His choral work Parastos is published by Boosey & Hawkes. Milos Raickovich has also written music for film, including the score for Evans Chan’s The Map of Sex and Love, which was nominated for the best original film score at the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival in 2001.

Milos Raickovich’s orchestral music is released on Mode Records, on the CD New Classicism, featuring pianist Margaret Leng Tan and the Moscow Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer. The Los Angeles Times critic Mark Swed describes Raickovich’s music as “a unique postmodern response to both minimalism and multiculturalism.”
Milos Raickovich’s latest CD, B-A-G-D-A-D (Albany Records), features a collection of antiwar pieces. Music critic Steve Smith describes the CD in Time Out New York, “Some of the works are wistful and poignant, while others are jarring and volatile; all are inventive, provocative and timely.”

The composer explains:

B-A-G-D-A-D, Music on a six-note theme, was first written as a piano piece in September of 2002. That was during the worldwide struggle to stop the war before it started. This work is a musical dedication to the ancient city, Baghdad. The name of this capital (spelled the European way, without letter H) is used as a musical theme made of six notes: B-flat, A, G, D, A, D. In 2004, I wrote three new versions: a string quartet, a string orchestra, and an orchestral version of B-A-G-D-A-D. In the orchestral version, prominent solos are assigned to the harp, flute and oboe—our contemporary instruments with origins in Mesopotamian civilization.

B-A-G-D-A-D for orchestra has received its world premiere in February of this year, with the Belgrade Radio Symphony, conducted by Milen Nachev. Tonight’s performance is the U.S. premiere.

CD Review:
Milos Raickovich, “B-A-G-D-A-D” performed by soloists including the composer on piano, the Arco String Quartet and the Soboryane Russian Chamber Choir under Alexander Zemzerov (Albany Records).
In its decidedly unassuming and unremarked way, this disc may be a major milestone of classical music in our era. Here is the first truly haunting music to come from resistance to the Iraq War. Composer Milos Raickovich is a 51-year-old Yugoslavian, by birth, who now lives in New York but was one of the founders of the Borislav Pascan Youth Philharmonic in his native country. Anyone who expects the tempestuous self-righteousness and sturm und drang of political protest in this music will find it only in the composer’s Jan. 18, 2003, tape of an anti-war rally and march in Washington. His “B-A-G-DA- D: Music on a Six-Note Theme” is heard here in versions for harp, string quartet and piano and is music of mournful impact every time. His first anti-war music heard here, “Alarm” was written after the 1999 bombing of his country by the United States and NATO and he heard the scream of “a woman during the street protests in New York City. Her sliding falsetto scream sounded like the sirens in Belgrade.” Seldom does politically inspired music have the power and beauty of this.
4 stars (out of 4), Jeff Simon, The Buffalo News, January 28, 2008

Flutist Rebecca Metheny Mason is excited to make her New York City solo debut with the Richmond County Orchestra after spending the previous five years in California. A graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, she earned a Master’s degree studying under the tutelage of Timothy Day, winning various awards and accolades. While she lived in San Diego, Rebecca was an active teacher and performer where she gave annual solo recitals and played with the La Jolla Symphony and the Grossmont Symphony Orchestra. In 2004, she was the winner of the San Diego Flute Guild Young Artist Gold Competition and was selected the following year to compete nationally as a semi-finalist in Albuquerque, NM for the Frank Bowen Flute Competition. Most recently, Ms. Metheny Mason was a top prizewinner of the Young Artist Competition at the Mid-Atlantic Flute Fair.
Born into a military family, Rebecca has lived throughout the United States and spent three years in the Netherlands where she played with the local Dutch Harmonium Band. She was also a member of an international flute choir, and was selected to play in two different international honor bands, continuing to perform with various honor bands when she moved back to the U.S. Ms. Metheny Mason attended college as a full scholarship recipient of the Artist Scholar Award at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and studied with David LaVorgna. While at UMBC, she was presented with the Alumni Outstanding Student in Music Scholarship, Music Department Outstanding Student Award, and the Aber D. Ungar Foundation Award Scholarship for Flute. She was also selected to perform as soloist with the wind band and various other ensembles. During her senior year, Rebecca spent a semester abroad in London where she studied extensively with Susan Milan.
Ms. Metheny Mason has performed in numerous master classes under such renowned artists as Renee Siebert, Thomas Robertello, Michael Parloff, Jeffrey Khaner, and the late Julius Baker. In 2004, she attended the Las Vegas Music Festival as principal flutist, and this past March, she was one of the featured performers at the New York Flute Fair in a master class given by Carol Wincenc. Currently, Rebecca is principal flutist of the New York Chamber Players and continues to teach and free-lance in the New York City area. She enjoys playing at her church and lives in Manhattan with her husband, Steve, and her cat, Parker.

Michael Rose is an Oberlin graduate and is on faculty at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, teaching piano, theory and composition and running the school's New Music Collective concert series. He was a Fulbright grantee to India this past year, and is a member of the South Oxford Six, a group of composers presenting concerts in New York and holding "Summer in Sombor" composition workshops in Serbia. "Dance, Sungo, Dance" is dedicated to his friend and teacher, John Eaton.

Frederick Zlotkin, winner of the International Music Competition at Geneva, is clearly recognized as one of today's outstanding musical artists. Among the highlights of his wide musical career are solo engagements with l'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Minnesota Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra and the St. Louis Symphony, chamber music appearances as member of the Lyric Piano Quartet, guest artist with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Aspen Music Festival, Chicago's Ravinia Festival and the Minnesota Sommerfest, and his post, for over 30 years, as Solo Cellist for the New York City Ballet at Lincoln Center. In the metropolitan area he has also served as Principal Cellist for numerous orchestras and performs regularly as a substitute with the New York Philharmonic. Zlotkin has recorded for hundreds of motion pictures and with numerous contemporary artists such as Frank Sinatra, Madonna, Aretha Franklin and many others.

Zlotkin, who earned his doctor's degree from The Juilliard School, studied with Gregor Piatigorsky, Leonard Rose, and Channing Robbins. He is the only present‑day cellist who performs Bach's Six Suites for Solo Cello with full ornamentation, and his recording of that work has been hailed as "one of the most gratifying Bach performances on records." A member on the faculties of Manhattan School of Music, Queens College, Hoff-Barthelson Music School and the Brooklyn College of Music, he has also served as Adjunct Professor at SUNY-Purchase and as Music Director of the Montauk Chamber Music Society.

Zlotkin's musical lineage reaches at least as far back as his great uncle, cellist-conductor Modest Altschuler. His father, Felix Slatkin, was a violinist and conductor and founded the Hollywood String Quartet, of which Zlotkin’s mother, Eleanor Aller, was the cellist. His brother, Leonard Slatkin, is Music Director of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. and will become Music Director of the Detroit Symphony in 2008.

Zlotkin has performed at Ground Zero for the past 3 years during its annual reading of the names of the deceased. In 2002 he did a special recording of Korngold’s Cello Concerto with his brother and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. For the 2006-7 season Zlotkin took a leave of absence from his post as Solo Cellist with the New York City Ballet Orchestra and was a regular substitute with the New York Philharmonic for their entire season, including tours to Asia, Europe, and Vail, Colorado.

Violinist CHARLES REX was born into a musical family in Winter Park, Florida, where his father was a composer and instructor at Rollins College and his mother taught piano. He started his violin studies at age four under Alphonse Carlo, professor of violin at Rollins. Following his debut with the Florida Symphony at age thirteen, Mr. Rex won the Hinda Honigmann Scholarship Award to the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina and toured as soloist with the BMC Orchestra throughout North and South Carolina.

Mr. Rex was awarded a full scholarship to Florida State University, where he studied with Richard Burgin, former Concertmaster and Associate Conductor of the Boston Symphony. Other teachers included Jascha Brodsky and Berl Senofsky. During this time, he won the string division of the MTNA National Young Artists Competition and soloed with the Cincinnati Symphony under Max Rudolf.
Immediately after graduating cum laude from FSU with Bachelor and Master of Music degrees, Mr. Rex joined the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy where he played for eight years before accepting the position of Associate Concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta. He relinquished the position in 1999 due to an increasing demand of his time for solo appearances and recordings. Mr. Rex has also served as guest concertmaster of the London Symphony under Sir Colin Davis and also acted as concertmaster of the Dallas, Reading and Delaware Symphonies. He is also the concertmster of the Oregon Festival of American Music.

In 1982, Florida State University honored him as a Distinguished Alumnus, and the FSU School of Music presented him with the Ernst von Dohnanyi Faculty Citation for Excellence in Performance. In 1988, he toured Egypt and Jordan as soloist with the Princeton Chamber Orchestra and was the first American to appear as soloist in the new Cairo Opera House. The Borough of Staten Island of New York City also made March 13 of that year "Charles Rex Day" on the occasion of a special recital he performed there on behalf of the New York Philharmonic. At Lincoln Center, Mr. Rex has been soloist with the New York Philharmonic in performances of Vivaldi's "Four Seasons," the Hindemith Concerto and the Nielsen Concerto to great critical acclaim, and he also gave the New York premiere of the Harbison Violin Concerto and the world premiere of Gunther Schuller's "Concerto Quaternio." He performed the Bach Double Concerto on a Philharmonic tour of Japan, India, Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan. He has also given other significant world premieres including American composer David Ott’s Violin Concerto commissioned by the Reading Symphony and Stephen Paulus’s Concerto for Violin and Cello, a New York Philharmonic commission in conjunction with the Atlanta Symphony performed with his brother, Christopher Rex, principal cellist of the Atlanta Symphony

The Rex brothers are featured as soloists in an Elysium label release of Saint-Saens "The Muse and the Poet" for violin, cello and orchestra, accompanied by the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic of the Czech Republic under Peter Tiboris. Other recordings by Charles Rex include the Copland Piano Quartet for EMI and the world premiere recording for Opus One label of the "Rhapsody for Violin and Orchestra" written by the American composer, Mary Jeanne van Appledorn, and accompanied by the Polish National Radio Orchestra under Joel Suben.

Other solo appearances have included performances with the Atlanta Symphony, the Charlotte Symphony, the Tucson Symphony, the Milwaukee Symphony, the Denver Chamber Orchestra, the Charleston and Florida Symphonies, the Manhattan Philharmonic, the Queens Philharmonic, and the Transylvania, Reading, and Northwest Indiana Symphonies.
Mr. Rex plays on a violin made by J. B. Guadagnini in 1740 known as the “Ex-Hill” and formally owned by theremin virtuosa Clara Rockmore.