Berlin 11-06-2010
Concert this evening of CARSON BECKE + YOLANDA BRUNO
2030 hrs 11th June 2010
Konzertsaal Friedrichshain
Zellestraße 12
10247 Berlin
[5 min. walk -close to U-Bahn + S-Bahn stations Frankfurter Tor]
Classical music is alive and well in Canada – and that is at it should be!
Many young Canadian musicians come to Europe to extend their education and participate in the rich cultural life here – taking this varied, intense and bountiful experience back with them.
Two such Canadian artists are playing this evening in Berlin Friedrichshain – go and hear them – and bring your friends!
You well say – but wait France is playing Uruquay at 2030 hrs!?
Rest assured that Uruguay will probably beat or tie France – so don’t worry about it – and get a life!!!!
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Some short biograhpical details about the artists/
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Yolanda Bruno has been studying the violin since the age of five with Joan Milkson, David Stewart and Elaine Klimasko. Six-time finalist and two-time winner at the Canadian Music Competition, Yolanda has won first prize in several concerto competitions, and has received numerous scholarships. She has performed with the Thirteen Strings Chamber Ensemble, the Ottawa Youth Orchestra and several community orchestras. Yolanda has attended Encore Summer Institute (Cleveland, Ohio), Le Domaine Forget Summer Music Academy (Saint Irenée, Quebec), Morningside Music Bridge at Mount Royal College (Calgary, Alberta), the Junior Young Artists Program (Ottawa, Ontario) and the Orford Arts Centre (Magog, Quebec). Last summer, she performed at the Casalmaggiore Summer Music Festival in Italy. Yolanda is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s of Music at McGill University.
Carson Becke, Canadian pianist (20) was born in Ottawa, and began learning the piano at the age of five with his Great Grandmother, Mary Mackey.
In 2005, he began his studies at the Purcell School, where he studied with Ilana Davids (Piano) and Jonothan Cole (Composition).
Within a year he won the top prize in the S.V. Rachmaninov International Piano Competition in Novgorod, Russia, and a special award from the Russian Ministry of Culture.
Performances in 2006 included giving a recital at the Canadian Embassy in Dublin, Ireland, and participating in the Dublin Master Classes Festival (with Jeno Jando).
In July 2006, Carson reached the finals of the Oberlin International Piano competition in Ohio. A recital at the Wigmore Hall followed in October, where Carson played works of Shostakovich and Liszt.
In March 2007, Carson gave performances in the Leeds International Lunchtime Concerts series and with the Barnet Symphony Orchestra in London.
The premier of Carson’s orchestral composition “Three Orchestral Nocturnes” was performed by the Purcell School Symphony Orchestra at LSO St. Luke’s Hall in London in the presence of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies.
In July, Carson participated in the Verbier Festival Academy in Verbier, Switzerland, where he performed in masterclasses with Emile Naoumoff, Claude Frank, Gabor Tackacs-Nagy and Yuri Bashmet.
Carson is now an official member of SOCAN (Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada).
In June 2007, he won 1st Prize in the BBC Proms/The Guardian Young Composers composition for his orchestral composition, which resulted in a broadcast on BBC Radio 3, and a performance in the summer of 2008 of a new piece in the BBC Proms.
In January 2008, he was a winner of the BBC performing arts fund bursary. Carson commenced his studies on scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music in London in September 2007. He studies piano there with Tatiana Sarkissova, and composition with Gary Carpenter. He also studies conducting privately with Peter Stark.
Recent performances have included a recital for the International Rachmaninov Society in Wolverhampton, recitals in Wiesbaden, Berlin, Cambridge, London and Krakow, masterclass performances for Boris Berman and Stephen Hough, and solo recitals in and Canada.
He also recently won the “Harold Craxton Chamber Music Prize” at the Royal Academy. In July he was the artist in residence at the “Festival Pontiac Enchante” in Quebec, where he performed a number of times as soloist and with chamber ensembles.
