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Concert sponsored by Nick Winograd and Barbara Garrison

The 2024/2025 Chamber Music series is sponsored by the Diefenbach and Gray families  in loving memory of Rob and Ruth Diefenbach.

Chamber Music Series Presents:

American Virtuosi

Program

“Bohemian Bash with an Italian Twist”

Dvorak Terzetto in C Major opus 74.

1. Introduzione: Allegro ma non troppo
2. Larghetto

Puccini “Crisantemi” for String Quartet.

Puccini, Verdi and Bellini arias and songs.

Intermission.

Dvorak String Quartet opus 96.” American”

1. Allegro ma non troppo
2. Lento
3. Molto vivace
4. Finale: vivace ma non troppo

Dvorak Piano Quintet opus 81

4th Movement: Finale: Allegro

Annually the American Virtuosi concerts bring some of the most celebrated musicians in the genre from around the country together for intimate chamber concerts. Now in its 15th season, the American Virtuosi concerts present Southwest Florida with a memorable evening of chamber music

About the Musicians

Jennifer Rowley, Soprano

Soprano, Jennifer Rowley is acclaimed worldwide for her unforgettable voice and remarkable stage presence, singing a richly varied repertoire that includes opera’s greatest heroines. The 2024/25 season highlights Rowley’s continued ascent in the opera world. She opened with a reprisal of Minnie in La Fanciulla del West at Beijing’s National Center for the Performing Arts, under the direction of Thaddeus Strassberger and maestro Carlo Rizzi. Returning to Opernhaus Zurich, Rowley revisits the role of Amelia in Andreas Homoki’s intense production of Simon Boccanegra for the third time. The season also brings a return to her signature role of Tosca at the Teatro Petruzzelli, in Bari, Italy, and with conductor Valentina Peleggi and the Richmond Symphony.

The 2023/24 season marked significant milestones for Jennifer Rowley, featuring several notable debuts. She performed at the Bayerische Staatsoper in a recital with pianist James Vaughn, and sang her celebrated role of Amelia in Simon Boccanegra at Opera Philadelphia. At the Teatro Carlo Felice, Rowley took on the title role of Madama Butterfly under maestro Fabio Luisi’s baton. Her role debut as Minnie in La Fanciulla del West at the Teatro Regio Torino drew high praise from Opera Libera, which lauded her “splendid soaring and confident instrument in the high notes” and her “interpretation of great communicative power and sweetness.” The season also saw her return to Berlin’s Staatsoper Unter den Linden for Tosca. Rowley’s concert appearances spanned continents, including performances at the Shanghai International Arts Festival, Weifang Concert Hall in Shandong, and the Coex Center in Seoul. In France, she headlined in a Puccini Gala concert with Opera de Tours, commemorating the composer’s centennial. The season concluded with Rowley as soprano soloist in Verdi’s Messa da Requiem with the Richmond Symphony.  

Peter Winograd, Violin

Peter Winograd joined the American String Quartet, Artists in Residence at Manhattan School of Music, in 1990. He gave his first solo public performance at the age of 11, and at age 17 he was accepted as a scholarship student of Dorothy DeLay at the Juilliard School. Recognized early as an exceptionally promising young artist, Winograd was a top prizewinner in the 1988 Naumburg International Violin Competition. He then made his New York debut to critical acclaim and has since appeared as a guest soloist with numerous orchestras and in recital across the country and abroad, including annual collaborative performances with cellist Andrés Díaz at the Florida Arts Chamber Music Festival. In 2002 Winograd performed the Sibelius Violin Concerto with the Hartford Symphony; his father, Arthur Winograd, was the featured guest conductor.

Peter Winograd has been a member of the violin and chamber music faculties of the Manhattan School of Music and the Aspen Music School (where the American is Quartet in Residence) since 1990. Born into a gifted musical family, Winograd began his studies with his parents. His mother was a professional pianist, and his father was the founding cellist of the Juilliard Quartet and a conductor of the Hartford Symphony in Hartford, Connecticut, where Winograd grew up. He holds Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from Juilliard. His wife, violinist Caterina Szepes, is a regular participant in the Marlboro Festival and a member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. His violin is by Giovanni Maria del Bussetto (Cremona, 1675).

Caterina Szepes, violin

Violinist Caterina Maria Szepes was born in Berlin, Germany, into a musical family. Her father was an opera singer and her mother a violinist. She studied at the Karlsruhe Conservatory of Music with Prof. Ulf Hoelscher 1985-1991 and the Cleveland Institute of Music with Donald Weilerstein 1991-1993. Her recital debut on RIAS Berlin Radio in 1987 was followed by concerto performances and recitals throughout Europe, Australia and the U.S. Ms. Szepes has performed at the Taos, Marlboro, Kingston and Aspen Music Festivals and has collaborated with many artists, including members of the Juilliard and American String Quartets, Lynn Harrell, Hillary Hahn and Andres Diaz among others. She was featured on a recording for the Karlsruhe Conservatory performing the Kurt Weill Violin Concerto and in the Marlboro Music festivals 50th Anniversary CD. Since 1997 C. Szepes has been a member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.

Matthias Buchholz, Viola

Matthias studied in his hometown Hamburg, in Cincinnati, Detmold and at the famous Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Among his teachers were Bruno Giuranna, Michael Tree, Alexander Schneider and Karen Tuttle.

He won top prizes at the Deutscher Musikwettbewerb Bonn 1978, the Fischoff and the Coleman competition in Los Angeles 1982 as well as the International Music Competition Budapest 1984.

Since 1976 Buchholz performed as soloist and chamber musician in most European countries, in Canada and the U.S.A., as well as in South America, Russia, India and throughout the Far East.

He was a member of the Brahms Quartet Hamburg, the Ridge Quartet New York and the Heine Quartet in Cologne. Since 1991 he has performed in numerous concerts and recorded more than 25 CD’s with the Linos-Ensemble, who was awarded an ECHO- KLASSIK 2017 for their CD of the Quintet by Franz Schmidt.

He has been invited to perform at the Marlboro Festival, at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival, the Salzburg Festival, Rheingau, Library of Congress (Washington D.C.), Tokyo- and Seoul Spring Festival, Hitzacker, Mondsee, Este, Lyon and Warsaw Spring Festival, where he shared the stage with the Vermeer-, the Petersen-, the Auryn- and Fine Arts Quartet, as well as being inspired by  Benny Goodman, Heinz Holliger, Rainer Kussmaul, Anner Bylsma, Viktor Tretjakov, Christian Polterá und Cecile Licad and members of the Guarneri Quartet.

Jim Griffith, viola

viola, received his M.M. degree from the Juilliard School. He also received his undergraduate degree from the Manhattan School of Music and attended Florida State University. He is a former member of the Hudson String Quartet in New York, faculty member of Point-Counterpoint Chamber Music Camp in Vermont and director of the New Arts Festival in Fort Myers. He formerly served as principal violist of the New York Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra and the New York Virtuosi and was a founding member of Chamber Music Palm Beach.

Griffith is a Florida native and returned in 1988. Since then he has managed the creation and development of what has become a premier visual and performing arts organization in Southwest Florida. Working with state and local historic preservation offices and federal, state and local governments, Jim has successfully managed the acquisition, planning, design and restoration of the historic former Federal Building in downtown Fort Myers to become the new premier fine art center now known as the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center.

Jim was a founding member of the Naples Philharmonic from 1998 to 2022 and now performs with the Venice Symphony. He was recently appointed Executive Director of New Canaan Chamber Music in New Canaan, Connecticut.

Ani Aznavoorian, cello

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 60 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 Ehnes, 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 JupiterSymphony Chamber Players.
Andrew’s upcoming 2023-24 season looks especially fun: solo recitals in Glasgow and Edinburgh, Scotland and in Norwich, England; concerts with the Barbican String Quartet in the UK & EU; violin recitals with James Ehnes at London’s Wigmore Hall, as well as Cambridge, Oxford, and at Ann Arbor’s University of Michigan; more violin recitals with Arnaud Sussmann in Hong Kong; Chamber Music in Halifax, NS & Portland, ME; Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto with the South Carolina Philharmonic; release of Andrew’s solo album featuring Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, Julia Perry, William Grant Still, and Aaron Jay Kernis; and a new recording session for the album “Home-Away-Home.”

The last two seasons have 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. And after joining James Ehnes to perform the complete Beethoven Violin Sonata cycle within Melbourne, Australia as well as a duo recital in Sydney, Andy stopped by Singapore for a solo recital.

In addition to his performance activities, Andrew serves as Artistic Director of several flourishing chamber music series: Fabbri Chamber Concerts in New York City at the Fabbri Mansion’s 17th century Renaissance library; in Connecticut, New Canaan Chamber Music, which he founded in 2020; and in South Carolina, USC Beaufort’s Chamber Music Series and the Columbia Museum of Art’s Chamber Music on Main. Adding to these efforts in building communities of chamber music appreciation, Andrew will direct two concerts for Chamber Music Charleston and one for Music Worcester (MA) this 23-24 season.

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 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.