By Eileen Wingard
RANCHO SANTA FE, California — Yes, Israel is a leader in high tech start-ups. But it also continues to produce a plethora of high quality musicians. Proving that point were two concerts last week featuring scholarship recipients of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, one of the institutions which nurtures high quality music education in Israel.
The first concert was organized by July Galper and took place at a lovely estate in Rancho Santa Fe. The second, under the auspices of the San Diego Center for Jewish Culture, was performed in the intimate and acoustically excellent auditorium of the Dove Library in Carlsbad.
Tuesday evening, Galper presented two rising stars, Pianist Victor Stanislavsky and Violinist Asi Matathias in a program which one listener described as “the best evening of classical music I ever heard!” The young men, both still in their twenties, performed the Cesar Franck Sonata and two shorter selections together. Asi filled the high-ceilinged living room with the glorious sounds of his old Italian violin.
When I listened to them in rehearsal the day before, I realized the performance of the Franck was as good as one could imagine, so sensitive were the two musicians to each other, so expressive were they of the composer’s intent.
Alone, Victor played a Schubert song arranged by Liszt and, what pianist Monique Kunewalder described as Liszt’s impossibly difficult “Dante Sonata.” She lauded the young man’s delightful pianissimos, superb musicality and wonderful training.
The elegant evening concluded with a dessert reception and the opportunity to chat with the two charming young artists. Both young men have full performance schedules. Victor just came from a recital in Chicago and has forthcoming engagements in Israel where he works as pianist for Yoav Talmi’s conducting class at Tel Aviv University. Asi has performances scheduled in South America, Japan and Israel.
At Sunday’s Dove Library concert, Pianist Ory Shihor, now a resident of Los Angeles, proved to be a consummate artist, performing works by Mozart and Schubert. From the opening bars of Mozart’s Fantasy in D minor, the listeners recognized in Shihor a performer with a vast dynamic palette who was able to structure and shape the music with remarkable control and emotional beauty. Among the highlights were the agitated loveliness of the Presto in Mozart’s Sonata No. 8, the sublime spirituality of the Andante sostenuto in Schubert’s Sonata in B flat, and the powerful chords in the final Presto. We were, indeed, privileged to hear a pianist of the highest caliber.
Shihor, winner of the Young Concert Artists International Auditions and a prize winner at the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition has distinguished himself not only as a performer, but, also, as an outstanding piano pedagogue and arts administrator. He serves as Director of the Colburn School’s Academy and produces the annual Colburn Piano Festival.
Members of the San Diego Center for Jewish Culture’s Music Subcommittee, Naomi Crosby, July Galper, Monique Kunewalder, Norene Shenhav and I as well as staff person D. Candis Paul hosted a reception following the concert.
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Wingard is a retired violinist with the San Diego Symphony and is a freelance writer. She may be contacted at eileen.wingard@sdjewishworld.com