Elmira Darvarova, Howard Wall, Thomas Weaver
Biography Elmira Darvarova, Howard Wall, Thomas Weaver
Elmira Darvarova
Grammy®-nominated recording artist, a concert violinist since the age of 4, and an award-winning performer (GOLD MEDAL at the Global Music Awards in 2017 and 2018), Elmira Darvarova caused a sensation, becoming the first ever (and so far only) female concertmaster in the history of the Metropolitan Opera in New York. With the MET Orchestra she toured Europe, Japan and the United States, and was heard on the MET's live weekly international radio broadcasts, television broadcasts, CDs and laser discs on the Sony, Deutsche Grammophon and EMI labels. As concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera she has performed with the greatest conductors of our time, including the legendary Carlos Kleiber.
She studied with Yfrah Neaman at the Guildhall School in London (as a British Council scholar), with Josef Gingold at Indiana Universtiy in Bloomington (as one of his assistants), and, privately, with Henryk Szeryng.
An award-winning artist (Gold Medal at the 2017 & 2018 Global Music Awards, Gold Quill Award by Classic FM Radio, and the Boris Christoff Medal), Elmira Darvarova can be heard on numerous CDs, recorded for several labels (recent releases include the world premiere recording of Vernon Duke's violin concerto with the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, and a CD with world-premiere recordings of chamber music by René de Castéra, named by the prestigious British publication MusicWeb International a RECORD OF THE YEAR 2015. Several of her albums have been selected as Record of the Month by MusicWeb-International. Her CDs have won critical acclaim in such esteemed publications as The Strad, Gramophone, Fanfare, American Records Guide, BBC Music Magazine.
She has appeared in recitals and as soloist on five continents, and has performed concertos with the Moscow State Symphony, the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony, the Rochester Philharmonic, the Grant Park Symphony, the Columbus Symphony and with numerous orchestras on three continents. She has performed on the world’s most prestigious stages, such as Carnegie Hall, Avery Fischer/ David Geffen Hall, Alice Tully Hall and Symphony Space in New York; Symphony Hall in Chicago, Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto; Suntory Hall, Bunka Kaikan and NHK Hall in Tokyo; Musikverein in Vienna, Cadogan Hall in London, Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford, Koncerthuset in Stockholm, Victoria Hall in Geneva, Smetana Hall in Prague, Megaron in Athens, Palau de la Musica Catalana in Barcelona, Alte Oper in Frankfurt, Kölner Philharmonie, Mumbai's National Center for Performing Arts, Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Hall, Saint Petersburg Philharmonia, among many others. She has given recitals and master classes at many festivals and at many music schools worldwide. Well-versed not only in opera, symphonic and chamber music repertoire, she performs and records in many other genres and styles, including tango, jazz, blues, folk, world music, contemporary/ electronic music, Stroh violin, and Indian Ragas. She has partnered for chamber music performances with James Levine, Janos Starker, Gary Karr, Pascal Rogé, Vassily Lobanov, with tango and jazz legends such as Octavio Brunetti, Fernando Otero and David Amram, and with world-renowned Indian classical musicians - the superstars of the Sarod - Amjad Ali Khan and his sons Amaan & Ayaan Ali Bangash, with whom she recorded a trilogy of CD albums, based on traditional Indian Ragas (released in the United States, and separately, on the Indian sub-continent).
She has recorded 2 CDs of Baroque music (world-premiere recordings) with the world's most renowned double bassist Gary Karr, and she has performed with him Bottesini's Gran Duo Concertante in the United States and Canada.
She has also recorded 3 CDs of music by Astor Piazzolla, two of them with the late great tango pianist and arranger Octavio Brunetti (named by the New York Philharmonic "the inheritor of Piazzolla's mantle"), and she has performed in a duo with Octavio Brunetti at festivals in the US and Europe.
For the Naxos label she has recorded 3 CDs of chamber music by Franco Alfano (world-premiere recordings), and she has also released world-premiere recordings of chamber music by René de Castéra and Émile Goue for two albums recorded by the French label Azur Classical. For the Solo Musica label she recorded, together with pianist Zhen Chen, the complete Brahms Sonatas. For the Affetto label and the Urlicht AudioVisual label she has recorded numerous albums, including the critically acclaimed world-premiere recording of the violin concerto by Vernon Duke (with the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony), a highly-praised recording of the iconic Brahms Horn Trio with the principal horn of the New York Philharmonic Philip Myers, the violin sonata of Amanda Maier (with renowned pianist Bryan Wagorn), a Poulenc disc with the distinguished pianist Pascal Rogé, and the recently released album "Violin Declamations from the Twilight of the Workers' Paradise" - which includes world-premiere recordings of music by Elena Firsova, Nikolai Badinski and Konstantin Soukhovetski.
In addition to music by Vernon Duke, Franco Alfano, David Amram, Phillip Ramey, René de Castéra, Émile Goué, Amanda Maier, Jacobo Cervetto, Francois Barthélemon, Pierre de Breville, Charles-Marie Widor, Gustav Mahler, Astor Piazzolla, Francis Poulenc, Elena Firsova, Dmitri Smirnov, Sylvie Bodorova, Stephen Brown, Gernot Wolfgang, she has also premiered and/or recorded chamber music by Paul Chihara, José Serebrier, Eugene Ysaÿe, Nikolai Kapustin, David Baker, Erich Korngold, Joseph Marx, Georgy Catoire, Aram Khachaturian, Alfred Schnittke, György Ligeti, Grigory Zaborov, Wang Jie, Sean Hickey, Dobrinka Tabakova, Nikolai Badinski, Carsten Bo Eriksen, Ejnar Kanding, Amjad Ali Khan, among numerous others (and in addition to recordings of beloved masterpieces by Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Brahms, Clara Schumann and César Franck). Many composers have dedicated works to Elmira Darvarova. She has recorded live for Radio Innsbruck in Austria, as well as for Radio Suisse Romande in Switzerland. Her recital at Bela Bartok's memorial house in Budapest was broadcast live throughout Europe. A documentary film about her life and career was shown on European television. She performs in a duo with Grammy®-winner, pianist/ composer Fernando Otero, and is a founding member of The New York Piano Quartet, the Delphinium Trio, the Quinteto del Fuego and the Amram Ensemble. She is Jury President of several international chamber music competitions in Europe, and she is the President and Artistic Director of the New York Chamber Music Festival.
Howard Wall
The Ruth F. and Alan J. Broder Chair, a native of Pittsburgh, joined the horn section of the New York Philharmonic in 1994, after having been a member of The Philadelphia Orchestra for 18 years and a former member of the Phoenix and Denver Symphony Orchestras. He also performs and records with the All-Star Orchestra. Mr. Wall has appeared as soloist with the New York Philharmonic in Schumann’s Konzertstück for Four Horns in New York (1995, 2001, and 2007) as well as on New York Philharmonic tours in Europe (1996) and South America (2001). An avid chamber musician, he appears regularly on the New York Philharmonic Ensembles series at Merkin Hall as well as at the New York Chamber Music Festival, and performs with the Delphinium Trio, the Amram Ensemble, and in a duo with his wife, violinist Elmira Darvarova. He can be heard on the CD Take 9, featuring the New York Philharmonic horn section and the American Horn Quartet, as well as on former Principal Horn Philip Myers’s New York Legends CD. Howard Wall recorded Poulenc’s Elégie for Horn and Piano with world-renowned French pianist Pascal Rogé. Mr. Wall has also recorded David Amram’s Blues and Variations for Monk for Solo Horn and gave its European Premiere in Paris. His most recent CD is Phillip Ramey: Music for French Horn (Affetto Records, 2017). Howard Wall began playing the horn at age ten and earned his bachelor’s degree in music performance at Carnegie Mellon University. He made his Carnegie Hall debut at age 19 performing Schumann’s Konzertstück for Four Horns; he most recently performed the same work again at Carnegie Hall in 2012. Howard Wall was among the performers awarded Gold Medal and Top Honors at the 2018 Global Music Awards.
Thomas Weaver
is an American pianist and composer currently based in Philadelphia. A native of Marlton, NJ, he began his study of piano at the age of eight, giving his first public performance at the age of nine.
Thomas Weaver maintains an active solo and chamber career that has included performances in the United States, Europe, and Asia. His playing has been hailed as displaying both “sensitivity” and “incredible dexterity.” Weaver has appeared in many concert halls, including those in New York (Carnegie/Weill Recital Hall, Greene Space, Lincoln Center, Merkin Hall), Philadelphia, Washington D.C. (Phillips Collection), Boston (Jordan Hall), Chicago, Nashville, Dallas, Berlin (Germany), Itami (Japan), the Tanglewood Music Festival, Red Rocks Music Festival, New York Chamber Music Festival, and others. Weaver has performed with a number of eminent musicians including Elmira Darvarova, Jess Gillam, Kenneth Radnofsky, Jennifer Frautschi, Gene Pokorny, and members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, and others. Weaver is a currently a member of the Amram Ensemble, Trio Ardente, and New England Chamber Players.
A champion of new music, Weaver has premiered many pieces, including works by David Amram, David Loeb, John Wallace, and Christopher LaRosa. Recently, Weaver was featured performing Leonard Bernstein’s Symphony No. 2 “Age of Anxiety” with the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Orchestra as part of Bernstein’s centennial celebration. This summer, he will perform George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue conducted by H. Robert Reynolds at Seiji Ozawa Hall. His playing can be heard on the CD, David Amram: “So In America”, released by Affetto Records, which includes many world premiere recordings.
An award-winning composer, Thomas Weaver’s music has been performed throughout the United States, Germany, Austria, and Japan. His works have been commissioned by number of organizations and musicians including The New York Chamber Music Festival, Elmira Darvarova, Britt Lasch, Pharos Quartet, Kenneth Radnofsky, Joshua Blumenthal, and the Daraja Ensemble. Weaver’s works have also been performed by large ensembles such as the Boston University Symphony Orchestra, Alea III, and Mannes American Composers Orchestra. His works have been conducted by various conductors including Theodore Antoniou, Alan Pierson, and Konstantin Dobroykov.
Weaver is on faculty at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia (www.curtis.edu), where he teaches Core Studies (harmony, counterpoint, and analysis), Keyboard Studies, and Supplementary Piano. He is a staff pianist and accompanist at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute and for Mannes College The New School for Music. He holds a Master of Music degree in both Piano Performance and Composition from Mannes College, and a Bachelor of Music degree, summa cum laude, from Boston University. His primary piano teachers include Anthony di Bonaventura, Victor Rosenbaum, and Pavel Nersessian. His primary composition instructors include David Loeb, Dr. John Wallace, Dr. Martin Amlin, and Jonathan Coopersmith.
