Left to Right: Éric Le Sage, photo by Nicolas Guerin. Magali Mosnier, photo courtesy of the artist. Paul Meyer, photo by Edith Held Vandoren. Sung-Won Yang, photo courtesy of the artist.
Discover the world of chamber music, where a small number of instruments can make a massive impact.
At the intimate Rolston Recital Hall, pianist Éric Le Sage, flutist Magali Mosnier, clarinetist Paul Meyer, cellist Sung-Won Yang, trumpeter Joel Brennan, trombonist Lee Allen, violinist Patricia Shih, violist Nikita Pogrebnoy, and double bassist Gahlord Dewald will showcase their technical brilliance as the sun sets over the Rocky Mountains.
Each performer is on the faculty of Interplay, an innovative residency program that celebrates the convergence of opera and chamber music, bringing together composers, musicians, singers, stage managers, and more.
Chamber music is a form of classical music composed for a modest group of instruments—traditionally, a group that could fit in a palace chamber. More broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by few performers, with one performer to a part.
From delicate melodies to passionate themes, experience the rich palette of musical textures that define the genre.
Interplay is made possible through the generous support of the David Spencer Endowment Encouragement Fund and the Yolande Freeze Master Artists in Music Fund.
Banff Centre is in partnership with the Music in PyeongChang.
Eric Le Sage is established as a famous representative of the French piano school, regularly boasted for his very subtle sound, his real sense of structure and poetic phrasing. Already when he was 20 years old, the Financial Times had described him as “an extremely cultivated disciple of the great French tradition of Schumann piano”. In 2010, die Zeit, praised his “ideal French piano aesthetics and clarity”.
Eric is invited to perform as a soloist with orchestras at the highest level such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Saint-Louis Symphony Orchestra, Berlin’s Konzerthaus Orchester, SWR Symphony Orchestra, Bremer Philharmoniker, Dresden Philharmonie, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Göteborg Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra, Münchner Kammer Orchester, Dresdner Philharmonie, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre National de Bordeaux-Aquitaine, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Métropolitain, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, with conductors like Edo de Waart, Stéphane Denève, Pablo Gonzalez, Fabien Gabel, Sir Jeffrey Tate, François Leleux, Alexander Liebreich, Kazuki Yamada, Alondra de la Parra, Lionel Bringuier, François Leleux, Michael Stern, Leonardo Garcia Alarcon, Sir Simon Rattle and Yannick Nézet-Seguin.
Eric has performed recitals and chamber music concerts in major venues across the world such as Wigmore Hall, Suntory Hall, Carnegie Hall, Hamburg’s Laeiszhalle, Paris Philharmonie, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Radio France, Cologne Philharmonie, Essen Philharmonie, Dresden Philharmonie, Frankfurt’s Alte Oper, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Schwartzenberg’s Schubertiade, Salzburg Mozarteum, Ludwigsburg Festival, Prague’s Rudolfinium, Taipei National Concert Hall, Konzerthaus Vienna, Luxembourg Philharmonie, Dublin’s celebrity series, Edinburgh International Festival, Düsseldorf Tonhalle, la Roque d’Anthéron Festival, Potsdam Sanssouci, Brussels’ Bozar, Berlin’s Boulezsaal, Konzerthaus Berlin, Berlin Philharmonie.
Eric Le Sage released many albums, all of which were critically acclaimed and received multiple awards. Besides his world-famous Schumann cycle in 2010 that were awarded the very prestigious Jahrespreis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik, other milestones include Francis Poulenc's complete chamber works with piano (BMG, 1998), Fauré¹s complete works for chamber music with piano, and Brahms complete chamber music works (B-Records, 2021).
Two magnificent albums were released in 2022: A Mozart album under the baton of his longtime stage partner François Leleux and the Gävle Symphony Orchestra on Alpha (concertos n° 17&24) and a solo album on Sony Classical featuring rare French repertoire from the beginning of the 20th century. In the last few years Eric released Fauré’s complete Nocturnes on Alpha (2019) and Beethoven's last 3 Sonatas (2014). Other recent chamber music recordings include collaborations with such artists as tenor Julian Pregardien for a Schumann album (2019) or Emmanuel Pahud, Paul Meyer, Daishin Kashimoto, Aurélien Pascal and more for albums around repertoire from Vienna in the 1900s, and works by Nino Rota.
A true chamber music lover, Eric regularly plays with friends like Emmanuel Pahud, Paul Meyer, Quatuor Ebène, François Leleux, Jean-Guihen Queyras, les Vents Français, François Salque, Lise Berthaud, Daishin Kashimoto, Claudio Bohorquez, Julian Prégardien, Sandrine Piau, Olivier Latry and many other musicians.
Born in Aix en Provence, Eric Le Sage was the winner of major international competitions such as Porto in 1985 and the Robert Schumann competition in Zwickau, in 1989. He was also a prize-winner at Leeds International competition the same year, which allowed him to perform under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle. Eric Le Sage is Professor at the Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg, Germany.
Principal flute of the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra since 2003, Magali Mosnier is one of the most sought-after flutists on the international scene. Swinging happily from the Baroque to the Contemporary, she divides her career between concerts with her prestigious orchestra and solo projects throughout the world.
Having won the Jean-Pierre Rampal international competition in Paris (2001) and the ARD Competition in Munich (2004), she was named "Instrumental Soloist Revelation" at the Echo Klassik 2006 and nominated in the "Instrumental Soloist" category at the Victoires de la Musique Classique 2016 and 2020.
Magali has recorded four albums for Sony Classical: Fantaisie, Bach, Mozart and Mozart's Concerto for flute and harp with Xavier de Maistre. She has also collaborated on numerous chamber music recordings with works by Ravel, Dutilleux, Lenot, Lefrancois, and recently Debussy's flute, viola and harp Sonata with Antoine Tamestit and Xavier de Maistre for Harmonia Mundi.
This season she will appearing at the Klosters Festival with Arabella Steinbacher and Kammerakademie Potsdam, at the Moritzburg Festival, on tour in Germany with Eric Le Sage, with Anneleen Lenaerts and Nils Mönkemeyer at the Mecklenburg Vorpommern Festival, in Alexandre Desplat's concerto with the Wiener Symphoniker and Alexandre Desplat at the MusikVerein.
Magali is represented by Konzertdirektion Dr. Rudolf Goette, Hamburg. In addition to her activities as a performer, Magali Mosnier has always privileged teaching and transmission. After two years at the HEMU in Lausanne, she has been a professor at the CRR and the Pôle Supérieur de Paris for the past five years. Magali also regularly gives masterclasses in France and abroad.
Paul Meyer made his debut in 1982 by winning the prestigious Eurovision Competition at just 17 years old. He was appointed Solo Clarinet at the Lyon Opera Orchestra in 1983, then at the Ensemble Intercontemporain in 1984 and at the Paris Opera in 1985. Very quickly, he left the orchestra for an international soloist career with performances in major international venues with world renowned orchestras (Orchestre National de France, Orchestre de Paris, Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, NHK Tokyo, Russian State Orchestra, …) and alongside the world’s finest musicians such as Benny Goodman, Isaac Stern, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Martha Argerich, Yuri Bashmet, Gidon Kremer, Yehudi Menuhin, Yo-Yo Ma or Emmanuel Ax.
Passionate with chamber music, he has founded the ensemble Les Vents Français and is co-founder with Eric Le Sage and Emmanuel Pahud of the Festival International de Musique de Salon de Provence.
For his contribution to the Arts in France and throughout the world, Paul Meyer has been awarded Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres, France’s highest cultural honour.
Born in Korea, Sung-Won Yang graduated from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and was assistant to Janos Starker at Indiana University in the United States. He is regularly invited to be in the jury of the International Competitions such as International String Quartet competition in Banff, Canada, the International Cello Competition André Navarra in France, the International Cello Competition Cassado Japan and the Tongyeong International Competition in Korea. Recipient of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French government, he is currently a professor of cello at the School of Music Yonsei University in Seoul, visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music and Artistic Director of the Festival Beethoven à Beaune, in France, as well as Music In PyeongChang Festival.
Trombonist Lee Allen has performed with the Buffalo Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the San Diego Symphony. As acting principal trombone of the Las Vegas Philharmonic, he has performed with the Santa Monica Symphony, Riverside Symphony, San Bernardino Symphony, Long Beach Opera, Burbank Philharmonic, and Los Angeles Jewish Symphony . Allen toured as a member of award-winning smooth jazz artist Brian Culbertson’s band in 2008 and also performed with Adele at the Academy Awards in 2013. Allen has worked on numerous recording projects including a project at The Bridge Recording in L.A. with Jay Friedman. He is a founding member of the critically acclaimed MOMUS trombone quartet, and a member of the Pacific Trombone Project, which comprises some of the leading players in Thailand, South Korea, China, and Australia.
A dedicated and sought-after teacher, Allen currently serves as trombone faculty and chair of brass and percussion at The Tianjin Juilliard School. There he is also a member of the Tianjin Juilliard Ensemble, an all-faculty ensemble performing chamber concerts throughout Asia. Allen is a member of the summer faculty at RondoFest in Penang, Malaysia. He has taught at the Oberlin Conservatory, University of Southern California, and Colburn School for the Performing Arts. During his tenure as assistant professor of trombone at the Oberlin Conservatory from 2013 - 2019, Allen was soloist with many large ensembles. He performed the US premiere of Christopher Starks’ Nanokonzert for solo trombone and contemporary ensemble in 2015. He also led the Oberlin Brass Quintet on a month-long tour of China and took students to Uganda, Africa as part of a collaboration with Brass for Africa. Allen has presented master classes throughout the United States, South Korea, and China.
Allen earned a DMA and MM in trombone performance from the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, and a bachelor’s of music education from the
University of Kentucky. His primary mentors have included Terry Cravens, Dale Warren, Bill Watrous, and Per Brevig.
Lee Allen is a Shires Performing Artist.
Dr. Joel Brennan enjoys a diverse career as a performer and teacher. He has performed with orchestras around the globe, including the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (Australia), Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra (Korea), Rotterdam Philharmonic (Netherlands), Winnipeg Symphony (Canada), Malaysian Philharmonic, and Bilkent Symphony Orchestra (Turkey), and has served as principal trumpet of the Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra (Japan) and Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra (Netherlands).
A proponent of contemporary music and chamber music, Joel has commissioned and premiered dozens of new works, with a particular emphasis on working with emerging composers and those from underrepresented demographics. He is a member of Ensemble Three, a unique trio of trumpet, trombone, and guitar which has been praised as “an inspiring example of forward-thinking classical music culture” and won the 2017 Melbourne Recital Centre Contemporary Masters Award. He is also a member of Lyrebird Brass, a collective of players dedicated to performing the finest brass chamber music.
Joel received his bachelor's degree from Oberlin Conservatory of Music before pursuing graduate studies at the Yale School of Music from which he is a recipient of the Doctor of Musical Arts degree. Awarded a Fulbright Grant 2007, Joel spent a year performing, teaching, and studying in the Netherlands.
Deeply devoted to education, Joel is Associate Professor of Music Performance at Melbourne Conservatorium of Music (University of Melbourne, Australia). He has also served on the faculty of Brandon University (Canada) and the Juilliard School's campus in Tianjin (China) where he worked with students in the pre-college program and graduate school in addition to performing with the Tianjin Juilliard Ensemble. He has been a guest teaching artist at the Australasian Trumpet Academy, Danish/German Brass Academy, and Oberlin Trumpet Workshop. He is the creator of "Poper's Game," a unique practice app for trumpet players.
Joel is a Yamaha Performing Artist.
PATRICIA SHIH, Violinist, became a pupil of the legendary Josef Gingold at Indiana University at age 14. He described her as "one of the greatest talents that I have ever taught. Her great technique, inborn musicality, sense of style and virtuosity are unequalled." Patricia has appeared worldwide as soloist and recitalist in major halls including Wigmore Hall in London and Carnegie Hall in New York performing the Wieniawski Concerto No. 1 at age 15. The same year, she won the Special prize at the Wieniawski International Competition in Poland. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Sylva Gelber Award for the most outstanding young Canadian musician and the Mozarteum prize in Salzburg. Patricia has performed as guest soloist with major orchestras such as Royal Philharmonic, Halle Orchestra, Toronto, Singapore and Seattle Symphonies, National Orchestra of Mexico, Munich Chamber Orchestra and the Polish National Radio Orchestra. Her DVD of Vitali's Chaconne was featured on the Classic FM Channel across Europe. Recently, a half-hour documentary on Patricia's career was televised on the Biography Channel across North America.
Violin: Lorenzo Storioni (Cremona, c 1780)
NIKITA POGREBNOY, Violist, was born in St. Petersburg, Russia where he graduated from the world-famous St. Petersburg Conservatory with highest honors. He then came to the United States by the invitation of Victor Rosenbaum, the Director of the Longy School of Music who after hearing his performance, awarded him a full scholarship to study in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Nikita is the winner of the Valentino Bucchi International Competition in Rome, Italy. Since then he has appeared as both soloist and with various chamber ensembles across Russia, Spain, Central America and the United States. He has also performed at numerous festivals including the International Musical Arts Institute in Fryeburg, Maine, and the Colorado Music Festival among others. He has been broadcast on both television and radio in the United States, including the National Public Radio which aired nationwide.
Viola: Pietro Giovanni Mantegazza (Milano, 1791)
Gahlord Dewald is a creative musician devoted to experimentation in acoustic, electric, and synthetic bass frequencies. He works seamlessly through the spectrum of composed and improvised musical expression, often blending acoustic and synthetic sound worlds to create complex textures and soundfabric.
For The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, he assembled a quad sound, synthetic sound texture to stir the inner workings of the mind, the heart, and the body. Each fragment was performed once and only once, an ephemeral experience of music, time, and space.
Gahlord lives in Vermont along the banks of the Winooski River. He drinks an awful lot of coffee.
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