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Grand Canyon Chamber Music Festival - Musicians

Jay Berliner, guitar

Guitarist Jay Berliner is a native of Brooklyn, New York, and a graduate of the Eastman School of Music. Following school he returned to New York City where, over the past twenty years, he has played on over 10,000 recordings ranging from phonograph records to commercial jingles to motion pictures and television. He has recorded with such diverse artists as Harry Belafonte, Frank Sinatra, Eddie Arnold, Andre Kostelanetz, George Benson, Stephane Astrud Gilberto and Charlie Mingus.

For five consecutive years Mr. Berliner won "Most Valuable Player Award for Best Acoustic Guitar Player" from NARAS (National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences)-prized recognition from a jury of his peers. Mr. Berliner performs in many idioms, such as classical, jazz, folk and rock


Robert Bonfiglio, harmonica

Festival Director Robert Bonfiglio holds a Masters degree in composition from Manhattan School of Music. He studied composition with Charles Wuorinen and Charles Jones, and took Master Classes with Aaron Copland and John Cage; he studied harmonica with Chamber Huang, and received private coaching by Andrew Lolya of the New York City Ballet Orchestra. His first recording, with Gerard Schwarz and the New York Chamber Orchestra, featuring the Villa-Lobos Harmonica Concerto, was released to critical acclaim.

Mr. Bonfiglio's appearances in solo recital and with orchestra have earned him superlative praise. He has performed on the Damrosch series in New York's Lincoln Center, at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and with the symphonies of Spokane, Milwaukee, Queens and Nebraska. He has also been featured as a soloist at the United Nations, the Mohawk Trails Concerts, the Grand Teton Music Festival, Music Mountains, and the Montalvo Music Festival. Bonfiglio recently appeared with Skitch Henderson and the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, John Williams and the Boston Pops on PBS and John Mauceri and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl. He was featured on the "CBS Morning Show" playing the title cut from his new recording, "Through the Raindrops" which has been on the Billboard charts for nine months. He has also been featured on "CBS Sunday Morning" with Charles Kuralt, "Live with Regis and Kathy Lee" on ABC and the Garrison Keillor "American Radio Show."

Bonfiglio - Live at the Grand Canyon


Kenneth Cooper, harpsichord and piano

Harpsichordist, pianist, musicologist and conductor Kenneth Cooper is one of the world's leading specialists in music of the 18th century, and one of America's most exciting and versatile performers. He is famous for his improvisations, which enable him to revive a long-forgotten 1 8th century art, lending extraordinary authenticity to his performances. As Music Director of the Berkshire Bach Ensemble, he has instituted a series of Concertofests, recreating the atmosphere of Zimmermann's Coffee- Haus, where Bach held his weekly concerts with his Collegium. Kenneth Cooper was the co-director of the legendary Our Bach Concerts, for years a Lincoln Center sell-out at midnight. He has been a soloist with the American Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Ohio Chamber Orchestra, Northwest Chamber Orchestra and Mostly Mozart Festival. He was the soloist in Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 on Live From Lincoln Center with the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society.

Among Kenneth Cooper's recordings are his J.S. Bach Harpsichord Recital - Musical Heritage label; the complete Gamba and Harpsichord Sonatas - CBS, with Yo Yo Ma; the complete Bach Flute and Harpsichord Sonatas - Vanguard, with Paula Robison and Timothy Eddy; and his about to be released Goldberg Variations - Classic Masters. His brilliant and inimitable improvisations may be heard on J.S. Bach - A Musical Celebration - Musical Heritage; his ragtime and other Americana can be heard on EMI-Angel's CD, Silk and Rags.

The possessor of a PhD in musicology from Columbia University, Kenneth Cooper is on the faculty there as well as the Manhattan School of Music.


Gordon Gottlieb, percussion

A native New Yorker, Gordon Gottlieb studied music with his principal influence, James Wimer, and received B.M. and M.S. degrees from the Juilliard School.

Mr. Gottlieb has played with the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, Speculum Musicae, the Group for Contemporary Music, and is currently commissioning and performing new works for percussion and piano with his brother, Jay.

Mr. Gottlieb performs extensively with the New York Philharmonic, and has also played with the London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, the Casals Festival and others. Also involved in jazz, rock and popular music, he has performed with such notables as Keith Jarrett, George Benson, Sarah Vaughan, Debbie Harry, Carly Simon and Ray Charles. He has recorded for thirty record companies and for television, theater and films.

He is a lifetime participant with the Imperio Serrano Escola de Samba in Rio de Janeiro, on the faculty of the Yale School of Music, and the 1989 recipient of the NARAS most valuable player award in the New York studios. Mr. Gottlieb is also currently teaching percussion at the Juilliard School.


Marian Hahn, piano

Marian Hahn's solo career was launched in 1976 when she became a winner in the International Leventritt Competition. She made her Carnegie Recital Hall debut as a Concert Artist Guild winner and subsequently appeared in New York recitals at the Metropolitan Museum and Merkin Hall. She has also been a top prizewinner in the Busoni, University of Maryland, and Kosciuszko competitions. Nationwide tours have included recitals on prestigious series in Washington D.C., Boston, Chicago and Minneapolis. As soloist with orchestra she has appeared with the Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Pops, and five times with the Jacksonville Symphony. Critically acclaimed European tours have taken her to cities in England, Italy, Holland, Belgium, and Germany. An avid chamber musician, Ms. Hahn has been a participant in the Marlboro, Grand Teton, Grand Canyon, and Newport festivals and is a founding member of the Amabile Piano Quartet. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Oberlin College, she received her MM degree from the Juilliard School; her teachers have included John Perry, Leon Fleisher and Benjamin Kaplan. Ms. Hahn is a member of the piano faculty at the Peabody Conservatory and also teaches at the Kneisel Hall Summer Chamber Music School in Maine.


Clare Hoffman, flute

Artistic Director Clare Hoffman pursues a career in music which allows her the opportunity to explore all her varied musical interests. As a soloist she has appeared on the Distinguished Artist Series on Long Island, the Raritan River Concerts in New Jersey, and the Close Encounters With Music Series with cellist Yehuda Hanani in Miami. She is a frequent guest at the Mohawk Trails Concerts and has participated in the Montalvo Music Festival in California, and the Arts and Literacy Program in Philadelphia. In 1990 she participated in the 33rd Music Festival at Sea, performing concerts in an amphitheater on the Greek island of Rhodes and in La Chiesa di San Giovanna in Bragora, Antonio Vivaldi's parish church in Venice, Italy. In 1992 she toured the southern and western United States, and in 1993 her schedule included performances at the Bear Lake Festival in Utah, the Wall to Wall Schubert Festival at the Annenberg Theater in Palm Springs, California, and the Emerging Artists Series in Philadelphia.

Ms. Hoffman has been awarded grants from both the National Endowment for the Arts and Chamber Music America. Aside from rediscovering many forgotten works for flute and strings from the Classical and Romantic eras, she has arranged over 50 works -- from Strauss waltzes and Italian opera to George Gershwin and Cole Porter -- for the Cantabile Trio, a group she founded in 1980. The Trio performs frequently throughout the New York area. In 1988 it was invited to perform twice during the New York Summer Festival of the Arts' Fete de la Musique. In 1992 the Trio performed aboard the Queen Elizabeth II.

Ms. Hoffman's arrangement of John Corigliano's "Voyage" for flute and string quintet, which she premiered at the Grand Canyon Chamber Music Festival, was recently published by Schirmer's.

Ms. Hoffman studied flute with Andrew Lolya and Samuel Baron, and participated in the Master Classes of Jean-Pierre Rampal in Nice, France, and Julius Baker. She has a Bachelor of Music degree from the Mannes College of Music.


Benny Kim, violin

Benny Kim, winner of several prestigious awards, including Young Concert Artists International Auditions in 1983, is one of the nation's most engaging violinists. He has performed with many of America's leading orchestras including the Chicago and St. Louis Symphonies. Among the newspapers to recognize Kim's talent is The Washington Post, whose critic wrote, "Kim's technique was dazzling, but his emotional depth and musical carriage are his real drawing cards. His is a style that touches the peak of romantic violin playing."

Mr. Kim has appeared as soloist with the symphonies of Denver, Nashville, Richmond, San Diego, Buffalo and Phoenix. His recital appearances have included two highly successful engagements at New York's 92nd St. "Y". He has participated in numerous festivals including the Interlochen National Music Camp and the Aspen and Marlboro Festivals.

Born of Korean parentage in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, Benny Kim's early studies were Doris Preucil and Almita Vamos. He is a graduate of the Juilliard School where he studied with Dorothy Delay. He now makes his home in Chicago.


Josephine Mongiardo, soprano

Soprano Josephine Mongiardo received her Masters degree in musicology from Columbia University. She has been widely acclaimed for her "extraordinary voice" and "brilliant ornamentation." Her credits include the New York stage premieres of several 18th-century operas including Handel's Acis and Galatee. An accomplished actress, Ms. Mongiardo has commanded attention in such roles as Lucia, Violetta and Rosina, and as she speaks four languages, she has become a renowned recitalist and chamber music artist. Her chamber music and orchestral appearances have taken throughout the United States, Europe and South America. Her festival appearances include Santa Fe, Waterloo, Chamber Music Northwest, Arcady, Grand Canyon and Mohawk Trails Concerts. Ms. Mongiardo's diverse repertoire includes orchestral works such as premieres of pieces by Seymour Barab and Wendy Chambers; she has also been featured as the narrator in Walton's Facade and as the Devil in Stravinsky's L'Histoire du Soldat as well as works by Andre Caplet and Douglas Moore. She recently performed leading roles in the Berkshire Bach Society's staged production of Bach's Hercules at the Crossroads and Over Coffee; at her Lincoln Center debut this year with the Little Orchestra Society, she received a standing ovation for her performance of Vivaldi's spectacular cantata In Furore, which was featured at the Grand Canyon Chamber Music Festival in 1989. Ms. Mongiardo can be heard on the CD of Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot (Musical Heritage Society).


Laura Seaton, violin

Violinist Laura Seaton is well-known for her work performing (from classical to jazz, from avant-garde to performance art) and composing for the former Soldier String Quartet (now the Sirius String Quartet) and improvising trio Framework. She has toured throughout Europe and North America, playing many jazz, avant- garde and new music festivals, and has recorded and collaborated with and performed for artists as diverse as Phillip Glass, John Zorn, Marin Alsop, Anthony Davis, Jonas Hellborg, the New England Bach Festival, Astor Piazolla, Sinead O'Connor and others. She has recorded for Newport Classics, High Harmony (on Robert Bonfiglio's Through the Raindrops) and others.

Ms. Seaton made her Carnegie Hall debut in 1989 and has performed for German Television, PBS, The Serious Fun Festival at Lincoln Center, the Relative Violin Festival, Ottawa Jazz Festival, Bimhuis & Steim in Amsterdam, London's Guildhall School of Music, the Kennedy Center, the Akademie der Kunste and others. The Sirius String Quartet recently appeared at the Knitting Factory and live on WNYC; the Laura Seaton Sextet appeared at the Knitting Factory as part of the "What is Jazz Festival?", the "Blues to Bop Festival" in Lugano and the "unlimited 93" festival in Austria.


Miami String Quartet

Praised in The New York Times as having "everything one wants in a quartet," the Miami String Quartet has quickly established its place among the most respected young quartets in America. In 1992, the Miami became the first string quartet in a decade to win First Prize of the Concert Artists Guild New York Competition. The Miami Quartet has won recognition in competitions throughout the world as laureate of the 1993 Evian and 1991 London string quartet competitions and as the 19X9 Grand Prize Winner of the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition.

Founded and in residence at the New World School of the Arts in Miami, Florida, the Miami Quartet has appeared with the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society and many festivals including New York's Mostly Mozart, Chamber Music Northwest, Kent/Blossom Music, the Maverick Concerts, Princeton Summer Music Concerts, Strings in the Mountains Festival and the Bellingham Chamber Music Festival. The current season includes the release of the quartet's first recording of the first two quartets of Alberto Ginastera on the Pyramid label.
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