Daniel Pearl Memorial Concert: 28 October 2012

Folks Inbal Megiddo (cello), Paul Altomari (Bass) and Donald Maurice (Biola) are giving a memorial concert in memory of Daniel Pearl, an American Jewish journalist murdered by the Taliban.

The programme will include works for cello and bass by Jewish and Israeli composers, as well as pieces by Bach and Rossini, and the Klezmer Trio for cello, viola and bass by Wellington composer Ross Harris.

A great opportunity to call friends in Wellington if you can’t make it yourself.

ABOUT THE MUSICIANS

Cellist Inbal Megiddo brings to her performances and teaching years of experience, the influence of master teachers, and praise from influential musicians. Maestro Zubin Mehta describes her as “an extremely talented, very musical musician.” At her New York debut at the Lincoln Center her playing was hailed by the press as having “magical expression and technical expertise.” She has a “warm lustrous communicative way… the performance was sincerity personified!”

Ms Megiddo has given many concerts in Europe, Asia and America. Among these are a recital in the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Carnegie Hall in New York, her Berlin debut with the Berlin Symphony with Maestro Lior Shambadal at the Philharmonie and a recital at the Staatsoper. She has had performances and radio broadcasts with the Jerusalem Symphony under the direction of Sergiu Comissiona, live recital broadcasts in several countries including Israel, Germany, Spain, Ireland, New Zealand, the USA  (Chicago – the Dame Myra Hess Concert Series – and New York’s Bob Sherman Show on WQXR) and the Mishkenot Shaananim Music Center in Jerusalem. She has performed and toured extensively with recital partner, pianist Saleem Abboud Ashkar. A champion of contemporary compositions, Ms Megiddo has made a recording of Israeli composer Hanna Levy’s works, a recording of works by Douglas Lilburn for the Atoll label, and premiered works of composers including Ezra Laderman, Dave Brubeck, and Ofer Ben Amots . She has also regularly recorded and performed with the Grammy Award nominated group, The Yale Cellos. Other recent and upcoming engagements include performances with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, the Lithuanian Philharmonic Society, and concerts at the Lincoln Center in New York and at the Israel Music Festival.

Inbal Megiddo began her cello studies at the age of two, and gave her first performances a year later.  She holds graduate and undergraduate degrees from Yale University, where she studied with Professor Aldo Parisot.  She also worked and performed with Erick Friedman, Jesse Levin, Ben Verdery, Peter Oundjian, Boris Berman, Peter Frankl, Claude Frank, and the Tokyo String Quartet. Among her other cello teachers were Prof. Uzi Wiesel, at the University of Tel-Aviv and Sydney Conservatorium, Prof. Shmuel Magen, at the Rubin Academy in Jerusalem, and she received private lessons from Mstislav Rostropovich. She later performed as part of Maestro Rostropovich’s cello ensemble to mark the tenth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. She performed in master classes with such artists as Janos Starker, Heinrich Schiff, and Michel Strauss.  Ms Megiddo has participated in the Manchester, Banff, Rolandseck (Bonn) and West-East Divan festivals as a soloist and chamber musician where she performed in the master classes of Daniel Barenboim, Pinchas Zukerman and Yuri Bashmet.

Ms. Megiddo taught at Yale University for five years as assistant to Aldo Parisot, has given master classes at the Royal Academy of Music in Dublin, University of North Texas, University of North Carolina, the La Salle School for the Arts, the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory, Dublin International Master Classes Festival, and the Israel Cello Festival.  She has received many awards and prizes. Since the age of six, she has been a recipient of the America Israel Cultural Foundation scholarship, under the patronage of Isaac Stern.  She also won the William Waite Concerto Competition, the Max Varon Fund competition, and was selected by the Stradivari Society as a rising star.

PAUL ALTOMARI

Paul Altomari hails from Columbia, Missouri where he began studying double bass at age 12. He received his bachelor’s degree from the Eastman School of Music, studying with James Van Demark and Jeffrey Turner, and a master’s degree from the Yale School of Music, studying with Donald Palma. He has performed with several orchestras throughout his career including the Missouri Chamber Orchestra (assistant principal), Yale Philharmonia and Yale Players (principal), the Waterbury Symphony (assistant principal) and is currently principal of the Greater Bridgeport Symphony Orchestra under Gustav Meyer. He also performs in chamber music groups throughout the tri-state area, and regularly performs in a duo with cellist and wife, Inbal Megiddo. Mr. Altomari is the recipient of many awards and scholarships, including the Eastman Arts Leadership award, and Yale’s Sterling Memorial scholarship. He currently resides in Stamford, Connecticut and works in New York City for Decca Label Group, a division of Universal Music Group.

DONALD MAURICE

Born in Nelson, Donald didn’t begin his musical studies until moving to Christchurch at age eleven. In addition to his first violin lessons, he took up the Banjo. He supported himself by playing in a dixie band from the age of fifteen. His first violin teacher was Lois MacDonald. After taking up the viola, he learned from Elizabeth Rogers.

At age nineteen, he made the decision to go to London to further his studies. Initially, a job as a truck driver in Christchurch financed his airfare, his fees at the Guildhall and a few months worth of living expenses.

In the U.K., his teachers included Nannie Jamieson at the Guildhall school of Music and Max Rostal at the Aldeburgh Festival. He later travelled to North America to study with Donald McInnes in Washington and with William Primrose in Banff.

He established a significant free-lance career in Europe, touring far and wide on his motorbike. He played with many major orchestras including the Bournemouth Symphony, the London Mozart Players, the Belfast Symphony Orchestra (as principal viola), Ballet Rambert, The Berne Baroque Orchestra, Sadlers Wells and numerous touring ballets. During this time he also taught viola at Cambridge University.

He has played with all of the major orchestras in New Zealand and has toured extensively as a chamber musician in the capacity of both a violist and a violinist. In 1995, he gave the premiere performance of the Anthony Ritchie viola concerto with the Dunedin Sinfonia.

He has a special academic interest in the music of Bela Bartok. His revision of the Viola Concerto has attracted international attention and has earned him invitations to give seminars in Switzerland, the United States and Australia. In 1997, he was awarded a PhD by the University of Otago for his dissertation on this work.

More recently, he was instrumental in bringing the International Viola Congress to Wellington. He has been invited to become a member of the presidency of the International Viola Society. He is currently an Associate Professor at the Conservatorium of Music at Massey University in Wellington and enjoys a busy teaching schedule.