AICF Concert
September 13, 2005

Amit Peled, cello; Alexander Fiterstein, clarinet; Alon Goldstein, piano

Amit Peled

Cellist Amit Peled was born and raised on Kibbutz Yizreel in Israel. After winning the first prize at the 1998 François Shapira competition, the most prestigious award for classical music in Israel , he embarked on an international career of the highest calibre.

Mr. Peled has been featured guest artist in some of the world's major concert halls such as: Wigmore Hall and St. Martin in the Fields, London, Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall, NY City, Salle Gaveau, Paris, National Auditorium in Barcelona, Konzerthaus Berlin and Tel Aviv's Man Auditorium . Among the orchestras that he has collaborated with are most of Israel's Orchestras, the European Philharmonic Orchestra, the Jerusalem Symphony, Radio Symphony Orchestra Saarbr?cken, Orquestra Simf?nica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, Philharmonie der Nationen, London Soloists, Musica Vitae Chamber Orchestra, Academia Ars Musica, Velcea Philharmonic, Hartford Symphony, Nashua Symphony, String Orchestra of the Rockies and Cape Symphony to name few.

A former student of Laurence Lesser and Bernard Greenhouse in Boston and Boris Pergamenschikow in Berlin, Mr. Peled joined the distinguished faculty of the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore in September 2003, becoming one of the youngest cello professors in the United States . Increasingly in demand as a teacher, Peled conducted among others master classes at the Boston University, University of Wisconsin, at the Mizra International Cello Congress in Israel and at Bernard Greenhouse's 90th Birthday Celebration at the North Carolina University. This summer Peled will give master classes in Leipzig Germany as part of the Euro Arts Festival.

Mr. Peled is a frequent guest at some of the most prestigious festivals such as the Marlboro Music Festival, Strings in the Mountains, Newport Music Festival, Schleswig - Holstein Festival, Cape Cod Music Festival, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Moselfestwochen, where he played all six Bach Suites, Ludwigsburger Festspiele , playing to raving reviews Beethoven's Triple concerto and Brahms's Double concerto in one evening, Four Seasons, Båstad, Prussia Cove, Millstatt Musikwochen and Kfar Blum . This summer he will debut at the Maui Chamber Music Festival and the Seattle Chamber Music Festival .

He joined violinist Midori in a gala concert for the America-Israel Cultural Foundation at Lincoln Centre's Alice Tully Hall and performed for the Marlboro 50th Anniversary concerts in Washington and NY. His concerts and recordings can be heard frequently on the Israeli National Classical Music Radio & TV, NPR, WGBH Boston, WFMT Chicago, WQXR NY, Saarländischer Rundfunk, Deutschland Radio Berlin, Hessischer Rundfunk, Radio France and Swedish National Radio & TV.

Mr. Peled is playing an Andrea Guarneri Cello ca. 1689.

Alexander Fiterstein

Clarinetist ALEXANDER FITERSTEIN is in demand both in the U.S. and abroad in recital and as soloist with orchestra. This season he performs as a member of Lincoln Center's Chamber Music Society Two at Alice Tully Hall and on tour. He appears at Merkin Concert Hall with pianist Ken Noda and at Caramoor with the Mendelssohn String Quartet, and makes return appearances in recital at the JCC of Greater Washington and as soloist with the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle (NC).

Mr. Fiterstein has worked closely with and performed the works of such distinguished composers as John Corigliano, Osvaldo Golijov and Betty Olivero and given the premieres of pieces by Samuel Adler and Mason Bates and the U.S. premiere of Henrik Strindberg's Clarinet Concerto with the Juilliard Orchestra at the 2000 FOCUS Festival in New York. As a chamber musician, he has made regular appearances at the Marlboro Music Festival since 2001. He appeared at New York's Bargemusic in 2003. In 2000, Mr. Fiterstein toured the U.S. with soprano Roberta Peters and pianist Warren Jones performing Schubert's The Shepherd on the Rock, of which the Knoxville News-Sentinel wrote, "Especially due to Fiterstein's intuitive and sensitive conversational playing, it was of such rare beauty, if there had been nothing else, this one piece would have been worth the ticket price."

His performances as soloist with orchestra in the U.S. include the Orchestra of St. Luke's, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Albany (GA) Symphony, the Fargo-Moorhead (ND) Symphony, the Mansfield (OH) Symphony, the Bangor (ME) Symphony. He has performed abroad with the Israel Chamber Orchestra, the Jerusalem Symphony, the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Odense Symphony (Denmark), and the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, and in Asia with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Beijing National Symphony.

The Young Concert Artists Series presented Mr. Fiterstein's debut recitals the 92nd Street Y in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, as well as a chamber music concert at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall. He has given recitals in Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia and Washington State. Abroad, he has played at the Louvre in Paris, in England, Holland, Germany, Israel, Latvia, Japan and Korea.

Mr. Fiterstein won First Prize in the 2001 Young Concert Artists International Auditions. That same year, he won First Prize in the Carl Nielsen International Clarinet Competition, as well as Special Prizes for the Best Interpretation of a Danish Work and Best Performance with the Odense Symphony Orchestra. He also won the 2000 Francois Schapira Prize for Woodwinds and the prize for Best Performance of an Israeli Composition at the 2000 Aviv Israel Competition for Young Musicians, First Prize at the Paul Ben-Haim Competition in Israel, and the 1999 Bunkamura Orchard Hall Award in Japan. Mr. Fiterstein has been awarded scholarships from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation since 1991.

Alexander Fiterstein was born in Minsk in the former Soviet Union and emigrated with his family to Israel when he was two years old. He studied at the Israel Arts and Science Academy and received his high school diploma from the Interlochen Arts Academy. He holds a Bachelor's degree and a Graduate Diploma from The Juilliard School, where he worked with Charles Neidich.

Alon Goldstein

Alon Goldstein is one of the most respected young pianists on the international scene. Admired for technical prowess and musical intelligence, he is poised to lead his talented generation. Goldstein earned his masters degree from the Peabody Conservatory, where he worked intensively with Leon Fleisher. He has earned glowing recommendations from Fleisher, Claudio Abbado, and Zubin Mehta, among others.

In recent seasons, Mr. Goldstein has played with the Philadelphia, San Francisco, Houston, Baltimore, Vancouver, and Saint Louis Symphony orchestras under such conductors as Raphael Frübeck de Burgos, Peter Oundjian, and Leon Fleisher. Other recent highlights include recitals at the Metropolitan Museum and Peoples' Symphony Concerts in New York, Dame Myra Hess Memorial concert series in Chicago, The Phillips Collection and Strathmore Hall in Washington DC. Recent international appearances include the Jerusalem Camerata and the Orchestre National de l'Ile de France in addition to closing the 2004 "Proms at St. Judes" festival in London.

During the 2004-05 season Mr. Goldstein is reunited with Peter Oundjian in his third appearance with the Saint Louis Symphony in addition to his debuts with the Dallas Symphony and with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. Recitals include performances at the Ravinia Festival and Bard Music Festival. Internationally, Alon returns to the "George Enescu" Philharmonic in Bucharest, and performs with the Bulgarian National Radio Orchestra, the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, and at the Kremlin in Moscow.