Underwriter: J&E Berkley Foundation

Program

ALL BEETHOVEN CONCERT

• 12 Variations on “Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen” from Mozart’s Opera “Die Zauberflöte”, in F Major for Piano and Cello, Op. 66
• Sonata for Piano and Cello in A Major, Op. 69
• Sonata for Piano and Cello in C Major, Op. 102, No. 1
• Sonata for Piano and Cello in g minor, Op. 5, No. 2

Artist Biographies

Lambert Orkis

Lambert Orkis has received international recognition as chamber musician, interpreter of contemporary music, and performer on period instruments. He has appeared in recital with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter since 1988 and with cellist Mstislav Rostropovich since 1983.

His distinguished career also includes collaborative appearances with cellists Lynn Harrell, Anner Bylsma, and Han-Na Chang, violinist Julian Rachlin, and violist Steven Dann, and he has performed with the Vertavo, Emerson, American, Mendelssohn, Curtis, and Manchester String Quartets. As soloist he has made appearances with conductors including Mstislav Rostropovich, Leonard Slatkin, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Günther Herbig, Kenneth Slowik, John Mauceri, Robert Kapilow, Leon Fleisher, and others.

A multi-Grammy Award nominee, his wide discography comprises works of the Classical, Romantic, and Modern eras on many labels. With Anne-Sophie Mutter, he has frequently recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, winning a Grammy Award for “Best Chamber Music Performance” for the Beethoven Piano and Violin Sonatas and a 2006 “Choc de l’année” award from the French magazine Le Monde de la Musique for the recently released Mozart Violin Sonatas audio recording. He has also recorded works of Brahms, Schumann, and Chopin/Franchomme with Dutch cellist Anner Bylsma, and has released discs on Bridge Records of solo works written for him by George Crumb, Richard Wernick, and James Primosch.

His most recent solo releases on the Bridge Records label include, as fortepianist and pianist, three separate performances of Beethoven’s “Appassionata” sonata using instruments based upon Viennese piano building designs which represent three snapshots in time of Viennese keyboard evolution. Another disc features piano music by Louis Moreau Gottschalk performed on an 1865 Chickering concert grand piano from the collections of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.

As a founding member of the Kennedy Center Chamber Players, he has performed with them since 2003 to critical and audience acclaim. The ensemble is comprised of principal players of the string and keyboard sections of Washington’s National Symphony Orchestra. A recording of Brahms’ Piano Quartet in G minor, Op. 25 has been released.

Solo discs as fortepianist of Schubert works for Virgin Classics have been recorded. As founding member and fortepianist of the Smithsonian Institution’s Castle Trio, he has given many performances including several cycles of Beethoven’s twenty-eight major works for fortepiano and strings, and produced highly regarded recordings of Beethoven and Schubert trios. In 2006 they have presented concerts in Washington DC, Virginia, the Netherlands, and Belgium.

Lambert Orkis holds the position of Principal Keyboard of Washington’s National Symphony Orchestra. He is Professor of Piano at Temple University’s Esther Boyer College of Music in Philadelphia, where he was honored with the university’s Faculty Award for Creative Achievement and the Alumni Association’s Certificate of Honor.

David Hardy

David Hardy, principal cellist of the National Symphony Orchestra, achieved international recognition in 1982 as the top American prize winner at the Seventh International Tchaikovsky Cello Competition in Moscow. Mr. Hardy won a special prize for the best performance of the “Suite for Solo Cello” by Victoria Yagling, commissioned for the competition. In praise of Mr. Hardy’s performance of the Dvorák Cello Concerto, Tass called it “beautifully spontaneous and unpretentious. His performance gave the feeling of improvisation through the varied use of his colorful and powerful sound.”

A native of Baltimore, Maryland, David Hardy began his cello studies there at the age of eight. He was 16 when he made his debut as soloist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. In 1979, when he was 21 years old, Mr. Hardy won the certificate in the prestigious Geneva International Cello Competition. The next year, he was graduated from the Peabody Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Laurence Lesser, Stephen Kates and Berl Senofsky.

In 1981, he was appointed to the National Symphony Orchestra as Associate Principal Cellist by its then Music Director, Mstislav Rostropovich. In 1994, Mr. Hardy was named Principal Cellist of the NSO by Music Director Leonard Slatkin. Mr. Hardy made his solo debut with the National Symphony Orchestra in 1986 with Mstislav Rostropovich conducting. A regular soloist with the NSO, Mr. Hardy, in 2004, gave the world premiere performance with Leonard Slatkin conducting of the Stephen Jaffe Concerto for Cello and Orchestra which was commissioned by the Hechinger Foundation. The National Symphony Orchestra’s recording of John Corigliano’s Symphony No. 1 featuring Mr. Hardy’s solo cello performance won the 1997 Grammy Award for best classical recording.

Mr. Hardy is a founding member of the Opus 3 Trio, with violinist Charles Wetherbee and pianist Lisa Emenheiser. The Opus 3 Trio has performed to critical acclaim across the country and has commissioned, premiered and recorded dozens of new works for Piano Trio. Additionally, Mr. Hardy is cellist of the 21st Century Consort in Washington, D.C. where he has premiered works by Stephen Albert, Nicholas Maw, and Joseph Schwantner. Mr. Hardy is also the cellist with the Kennedy Center Chamber Players which since 2003 has been the resident chamber ensemble for the Kennedy Center.

Mr. Hardy’s playing can be heard on recordings under the Melodyia, Educo, RCA, London, Centaur and Delos labels. The Washington Post has praised his “resplendent playing and virtuoso technique” and “deep musical sensitivity.” In addition to his performing schedule Mr. Hardy is Professor of Cello at the Peabody Conservatory of Music. Mr. Hardy’s instruments were made by Carlo Giuseppe Testore in 1694 and Raymond Hardy in 2000.

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