June 9th Benefit Concert

On Sunday, June 9, 2013, at 4:00 p.m., the Ferris Burtis Music Foundation and the Berkshire Taconic Foundation will present its third annual Benefit Concert at the Sandisfield Arts Center on Hammertown Road in Sandisfield, MA.

The Ferris Burtis Music Foundation was established in 1987 by the late John Ferris and by Herbert Burtis to promote the education and careers of talented young musicians. 

Reservations for the concert are $20.00 each. If you wish to make a more generous tax-free gift to the Foundation here are the categories: Friend-$100.00-$299.00, Sponsor-$300.00-$499.00, Benefactor-$500.00-$699.00, Angel-$700.00-$999.00, Founder-$1000.00 or more. All funds go toward the aid of these talented young artists. You may mail checks for reservation orders and tax-free special gifts to Herbert Burtis, 53 Rood Hill Road, Sandisfield, MA 01255. Make out the check to 'Ferris Burtis Foundation'. Your name will be placed in the program for gifts of $100.00 or more. Please include your email address for confirmation.

At the moment the Foundation is sponsoring the following four brilliant young artists who will all perform at the concert on June 9th.

Hailed for his dazzling command of the violin and its repertoire, as well as a communicative immediacy that harkens back to the legendary Romantic masters, Russian-American violinist Yevgeny Kutik has become a highly sought-after artist on the concert stage worldwide. The Foundation has helped in his education and in furthering his career.

Recent performances include guest soloist appearances with The Riverside Symphony in New York City, of which The New York Times wrote that his violin projected "an old-fashioned rhapsodic style…magnified by (his) rich, sweet tone," the Atlantic, Bozeman, East Texas and Wyoming symphony orchestras, Germany's Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock and WDR Rundfunk Orchestra Koln, and Japan's Tokyo Vivaldi Ensemble. With the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, Yevgeny Kutik gave the 2006 world-premiere performance of Ron Ford's Versus, receiving praise from both The New York Times and The Boston Globe. He has also returned to The Boston Pops, under the baton of Keith Lockhart. Mr. Kutik has appeared in recital in Miami, New York City, Chicago, Washington, DC, Montréal, Munich, Prague and Tokyo, while festival audiences have heard him at Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele (Germany) and Verbier (Switzerland). Of special, personal significance, he was a featured performer at the 2012 March of the Living observances, playing at the Krakow Opera House and in front of over 10,000 people at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Early in 2012, Marquis Classics released Yevgeny Kutik's highly acclaimed debut CD - "Sounds of Defiance," featuring the music of Shostakovich, Schnittke, Pärt and Achron. Later in the year, he was the featured soloist with the newly formed All-Star Orchestra, recording Joseph Schwantner's Soliloquy for Violin and Orchestra - The Poet's Hour for a national broadcast on PBS. Comprised of distinguished American orchestral musicians from across the country, and under the baton of Gerard Schwarz, the All-Star Orchestra taped eight programs in August 2012, all of which will be broadcast on National Television and then issued on DVD by Naxos.

Yevgeny Kutik's current season is highlighted by a debut with the Juneau Symphony (conducted by Kyle Wiley Pickett), the Montenegro Symphony (Ronald Zollman), return engagements with the Bozeman and Wyoming symphony orchestras (both under Matthew Savery), and a pair of performances on Washington, DC's distinguished Embassy Series. He also appears as soloist with the Westchester Chamber Symphony, as well as in recitals in Chicago, NYC, and Connecticut.

Yevgeny Kutik made his debut with Keith Lockhart and The Boston Pops in 2003 as the 1st Prize recipient of the Boston Symphony Orchestra Young Artists Competition. He was also awarded a 2006 Salon de Virtuosi Grant as well as the 2006 Tanglewood Music Center Jules Reiner Violin Prize.

A native of Minsk, Belarus, Yevgeny Kutik immigrated to the United States at the age of five. Shortly thereafter, he began violin lessons with his mother, Alla Zernitskaya, and continued with the late Zinaida Gilels. His other principal teachers have included Shirley Givens, Roman Totenberg and Donald Weilerstein. Mr. Kutik holds a bachelor's degree (cum laude) from Boston University and a master's degree from the New England Conservatory.


www.yevgenykutik.com




Julian Müller is currently studying at the Cleveland Institute of Music with Sharon Robinson. He has also studied with Ronald Feldman, Helene Annas, Jay Shulman, and Georg Faust. In 2012 he was selected for the New York String Orchestra Seminar, performing in Carnegie Hall. In 2011 Julian won first prize at the Uel Wade Music Competition. He was also awarded grants from The Ferris Burtis Music Foundation and the Henriette Reiss Award. He won first prize at the Stefan Concerto Competition. As principal 'cellist in the Empire State Youth Orchestra, he performed at the Mozarteum, Rudolfinum, Carnegie Hall, the Fisher Center at Bard College, The Palace Theatre, Proctors Theatre, Ozawa Hall, and at the Troy Savings Bank. Last summer he was a young artist at the Manchester Music Festival.

Katie Weiser just recently graduated from Smith College where she studied with Herbert Burtis, Jane Bryden, and Clifton J. Noble. She was a music major and she was the first vocalist at Smith to receive the Concentration in Performance. Katie began her classical music education at the age of seven when she joined the semi-professional children’s choir, Chorus Angelicus, under the direction of Paul Halley. Katie has been taking voice lessons since the 5^th grade, originally with Laura Mashburn. She has also appeared in the main stage productions at TriArts Sharon Playhouse since 2000. Throughout high school, she participated in many Choral Festivals. In March of 2009, she was awarded the Burton O. Cowgill award from the New England Music Festival, which is given to the musician who has been a member of the festival for all four years and who has received the highest score in the Solo and Ensemble Festival adjudications. In her junior and senior year of high school, she won first place in the NATS advanced high school division competitions. Since attending Smith College, she has been a member of the Glee Club, Chamber Singers, won the Smith College Concerto Competition as a sophomore, performed as Sister Genovieffa in Puccini’s Suor Angelica, and sang first soprano in a select group with the New York City Ballet. This year she has performed two senior recitals, one in the fall and one in May. She is a recipient of a Ferris Burtis Scholarship grant.

 

Gabriella Makuc is a music student at Lawrence University in Appleton Wisconsin. She has studied piano with Anne Marie Enoch, Robert Neidig, and Jean Stackhouse. she now studies with Catherine Kautsky at Lawrence, where she is an accompanying fellow in a vocal studio and a member of the women's choir, Cantala. She has won top prizes in the Berkshire Music School Merit Scholarship Competition, The Young Artists Piano competition at Westfield State University, and the Berkshire Lyric Theatre Young Musicians Scholarship Competition. She was last year's winner of the Ferris Burtis Music Foundation scholarship grant. She recently represented the state of Wisconsin in a regional MTNA competition in Chicago. She has spent her summers at Point Counter Point Chamber Music Camp at Westminster Choir College and at Blue Mountain Festival. She has soloed with the Stockbridge Sinfonia.

All of these brilliant young artists will perform at the June 9th concert. We recommend sending your reservation order in early to have a seat.

www.hburtis.com
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