Eduard Schmieder

Conductor

www.EduardSchmieder.com

Born and educated in Russia, Eduard Schmieder has been characterized as an “extraordinary musician of the late 20th century.” His ability to communicate with audiences and students alike places him in a rare category of elite performers and educators. As artist and teacher, Schmieder amalgamates and creatively transforms the great traditions of American and European art.

As a conductor, Schmieder has performed in such prestigious halls as Cite de la Musique in Paris, Crown Hall in Jerusalem, Grand Philharmonic Hall in St. Petersburg, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Wagner Hall in Riga and other major concert halls worldwide. On April 14, 1996, Eduard Schmieder performed a recital in Genoa, on Paganini’s famous Guarneri del Gesu “Il Cannone” violin.

Currently Eduard Schmieder holds Carnell Distinguished Professor Chair at Temple University, Philadelphia. Prior to his appointment at Temple University, he was Distinguished Algur H. Meadows Chair of Violin and Chamber Music in the Meadows School of the Arts in Dallas (1990-2006), and tenured professor of the violin at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, the position formerly held by Jascha Heifetz.

As violinist he has been collaborating with celebrated musicians in major concert halls throughout the world, and gives master classes at the foremost conservatories and music festivals.

He frequently represents the United States as a jury member at leading international competitions including Queen Elisabeth, Sibelius, Mozart, Paganini, Sarasate, Lipizer, and ARD among others.

Students of professor Schmieder have established careers as prominent soloists, active chamber musicians, and hold principal positions in major orchestras such as the Chicago Symphony, London, Los Angeles, Israel Philharmonies, Bavarian State, Dresden Staatskapella, Dallas Symphony, and others. He is Music Director and Conductor of iPalpiti orchestral ensemble of international laureates.

“..a serous and resourceful podium personality.” Daniel Cariaga, Los Angeles Times

“I shall never forget his extraordinary power over the players; his drive is quite astounding.” Margaret Campbell, FRSA Music Critic, The Strad and Author of The Great Violinists and The Great Cellists

“… [He] is a remarkable conductor.” John Ardoin, Dallas Morning news

Samuel Nebyu

Violinist/Hungary-Ethiopia

Samuel is the winner of numerous national  and international competitions including Grand prizes at the National ASTA (American String Teachers  Association) Solo Competition (2015),  “Remember Enescu” International Violin Competition (Romania, 2013), the Flame International Violin Competition (Paris, 2008), and the Beverly Hills National Auditions (CA, 2014).  Born in Hungary of Ethiopian-Hungarian descent, Samuel spent most of his early childhood in Asia.  He started playing the violin at the age of six; at fifteen, he was admitted to the Young Talents Program at the Brussels Royal Conservatory where he received tutelage from renowned musicians, including Igor Oistrakh.  Samuel was a violinist-in-residence for several years at the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium. He continued his education in the US in the international violin class of Professor Eduard Schmieder at Boyer College of Music at Temple University in Philadelphia, where he received his BM, MM, and in May 2022, became a DMA. From 2017, Samuel teaches at the Community Music Scholars Program at Temple University. Samuel has performed as soloist with number of orchestras, including the Brussels Philharmonic, at important international music festivals, and in venues such as the Centre of Performing Arts in Brussels (BOZAR), the Peles Castle in Romania, the Wiener Saal in Salzburg, and Alice Tully Hall in New York. In 2015, he was selected as an iPalpiti Junior and was a featured soloist with iPalpiti orchestra in Los Angeles at the Wallis Annenberg Center. Since, he has returned to iPalpiti every season; in 2017 he was featured in Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with iPalpiti alumnus violist Juan-Miguel Hernandez at Walt Disney Concert Hall, and in 2019 was a soloist in a West Coast premiere of Alexey Shor “Seascapes” violin concerto at the Conrad Performing Arts Center in La Jolla and at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills. In 2016, Samuel received the prestigious Clifton Emerging Artist Award and gave a recital at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia; same year he became a prize winner of the Mozarteum Salzburg Festpiel competition – the only one of 291 violinists to be selected as one of the eight prize winners – and was further honored to conclude the winners concert at the Mozarteum Grosse Saal.  Highlights of the recent seasons included performance of a Concerto for Violin with Choir and Orchestra by Jennifer Higdon at Kimmel Center Verizon Hall in Philadelphia, recital with Professor Lambert Orkis (long-time piano partner of violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter),  a recital with Prof. Charles Abramovic (the collaborative pianist of Midori) at LACMA’s Sundays Live! Livestream series, and a South America’ tour with Mutter’s Virtuosi. Samuel is the 3rd iPalpiti artist chosen by the great violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter for her foundation (prior artists were cellist Kian Soltani and bassist Roman Patkolo).  His CD “Violin Gems from Black Composers” was released on BCM+D label in 2018; selected for Grammy nomination, it was named Best Album of the Year by numerous classic radio stations across the nation, including KUSC-FM.  This spring, Samuel performed Brahms’ Violin Concerto with the Temple Orchestra. After iPalpiti festival, he will give a solo recital at the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland. This is Samuel’s 7thseason with iPalpiti.

Juan-Miguel Hernandez

Violist/CANADA

FEATURED SOLOIST 2017

“…tender, lyrical, loaded with personality” (Atlanta Journal Constitution), violist Juan-Miguel Hernandez is also recognized for drawing “...the sweetest, most sonorous tone...”  (Washington Post).   Juan-Miguel is a member of the legendary Fine Arts Quartet and the youngest Professor of Viola at the Royal Academy of Music in London.  As a founding member of the Harlem Quartet he performed with them from 2006 to 2012.  Winner of the First Prize at the 16^th International Johannes Brahms Competition in Austria in 2009, Juan-Miguel is delighted to join as a juror for its 2017 edition.  Other top prizes include the National Canadian Music Competition, and the 9th National Sphinx Competition in 2006.  As a featured soloist, Juan-Miguel has appeared with orchestras in Atlanta, Seattle, Colorado, Rochester, and Chicago.  Performances in recent seasons have brought Juan-Miguel on tour throughout Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, South America, Canada, and the United States.  Juan-Miguel has collaborated with distinguished artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Lynn Harrell, Kim Kashkashian, Gérard Caussé, Nicolas Dautricourt, Misha Dichter, the Weilerstein trio as well as Jazz living legends Chick Corea, Gary Burton, Stanley Clark and Paquito D’Rivera.  Recent festival and program appearances as guest artist and teacher include the Festival Pablo Casals (Prades, France), the Festival Des Arcs (France), the Amalfi Coast Music Festival (Italy), Orford Academy (Canada), Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival (South Africa), the Salzburg Festival, the Brevard Summer Institute, the Mozaic Festival, Festicamara (Colombia), Montreal Jazz & Panama Jazz Festivals and Musica Mundi International Festival (Belgium).  His strong commitment to educate and engage new audiences all around the globe have brought him to reach young musicians and various communities through art convoys in South Africa and Venezuela, various music festivals in South America and outreach projects in Europe and North America.  He has appeared on NBC’s Good Morning America, the Today Show and the Telemundo Network.  His discography includes three quartet CDs as well as multiple collaborations with Chick Corea, Gary Burton and Norah Jones.  In 2010, he was honored with the medal of the National Assembly of Quebec.  As a distinguished alumnus of the iPalpiti (2005 to 2010), he returns this season as a soloist in Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante at the Walt Disney Concert Hall (Los Angeles), and the Mozarteum (Salzburg).www.jmhernandez.com

Kazuhiro Takagi

Violinist/Japan

FEATURED SOLOIST 2017

Kazuhiro Takagi enjoys an international career and reputation as violin soloist, recording artist, and leader of orchestras. He has served tenures as concertmaster of the Tokyo Symphony (2007-2013), Chicago Civic Orchestra (under Daniel Barenboim), and solo concertmaster of the Yamagata Symphony and Wuerttembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen in Germany. As a soloist, he has played with a number of national and international orchestras including prestigious orchestras in his native Japan such as Osaka Philharmonic and Osaka Symphony Orchestras, Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra, and Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Takagi has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in the United States, Europe and Japan. He is a laureate of the prestigious Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition and the prizewinner of the 54th Geneva International Music Competition. As first violinist of the Eusia String Quartet, he received First Prize in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition in Indiana. For his performances, he has also received the coveted Aoyama Music Award of Kyoto Baroque Saal. Born in Osaka, Japan, and currently a resident of Tokyo, Mr. Takagi returns to Dallas frequently as concertmaster of the Dallas Chamber Symphony, since he established deep roots in the North Texas community while studying violin with Eduard Schmieder at Southern Methodist University. He is a graduate of the prestigious Deuxieme Academie de Musique Francaise de Kyoto where he was a pupil of Pierre Dukan, and the Conservatoire National Superieur in Lyon, France, where he was mentored by Yuko Mori and Eduard Wulfson. In addition to his solo and concertmaster duties, Mr. Takagi holds soloist positions with the Nagaokakyo Chamber Ensemble in Kyoto, Izumi Sinfonietta Osaka, and the alternative music group A Hundred Birds. Mr. Takagi's solo recordings with the Osaka Philharmonic are widely distributed on the Naxos label. His most recent album features the twentieth-century works of composer Hiroshi Ohguri. Kazuhiro joined iPalpiti in 1995, and was featured as a soloist in 1996 in Dallas and in 1999 at the iPalpiti Festival in Los Angeles. As a distinguished alumnus, he returns this season as a soloist with iPalpiti at Soka Performing Arts Center (Los Angeles) and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. www.kazuhirotakagi.com

iPalpiti Orchestra

Acclaimed by the press for its “beauteous string playing”, “lustrous, polished tone,” and “vocal quality”, iPalpiti (ee-PAHL-pit-ee is Italian for “heartbeats”) is a consortium of prize-winning young professional musicians from around the globe, where each member is considered a soloist.

Under his direction, iPalpiti has performed to sold-out audiences in prestigious venues such as Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Mozarteum Grosse Hall (Salzburg), Nikkei Hall (Tokyo), Walt Disney Concert Hall (Los Angeles), YMCA Jerusalem, Carnegie Zankel Hall (New York), and has been invited as ensemble-in-residence at festivals in Slovenia, Israel, Carinthia, Belgium, and Italy, as well as the Martha Argerich Festival in Beppu, Japan.

iPalpiti has since grown to an ensemble of international recognition, establishing a summer residency in Beverly Hills, California in 1999. iPalpiti Festival of International Laureates in Los Angeles—presented annually since 1998—is one of the nation’s significant music festivals and the subject of international accolades. The prestigious STRAD magazine devoted numerous enthusiastic features and reviews, and the Los Angeles Times acclaimed the Festival’s ”take-your-breath-away demonstrations of musicianship and technique,” where artists are encouraged to find their “own voice,” performing as iPalpiti Soloists in solo and chamber ensemble concerts. Referred to as a “Musical Peace Corps,” iPalpiti has created an international cultural network of hundreds of classical artists, forging life-time associations and friendships that transcend the conflicts of our time.

The orchestra’s players (ages 19-32) are all winners of prestigious international awards and represent countries worldwide. iPalpiti alumni have established solo and chamber ensemble careers and have taken up leading positions in major international orchestras such as the Chicago, Tokyo, Jerusalem, Monte Carlo, Bavarian State and Munich Symphonies, London, Berlin and Israel Philharmonics, Dresden Staatskapelle, etc. Several have exclusive recordings with labels like Decca, Telarc, and Supraphon records, and are considered among the premier musicians of their generation.

iPalpiti’s performances have been acclaimed by critics throughout the world. In 1996 Noord Holland Dagblad proclaimed “[iPalpiti’s] performance can be called righteously overwhelming.” John Ardoin of the Dallas Morning News raved “iPalpiti sprang to life as a single, singing voice. It was the natural, ‘vocal’ quality that stayed with me long after the final notes of the concert were sounded,” while the Los Angeles Times hailed the group’s performances as “an astounding demonstration of seamless and beauteous string playing…memorable, luminous, deeply moving performance” (Daniel Cariaga 2000) and as a “cool display of virtuosity…unified to an often startling degree” (2006). The New York Times noted that “…ensemble was particularly noteworthy for its unity of purpose and blend. It was as if the musicians’ hearts were beating to the same buoyant rhythm…lustrous, polished tone and graceful phrasing.” (2007)

iPalpiti has released 20 CDs issued on TELOS, YAI/iPalpiti and BCM+D Records. Performances are broadcast by Classic Arts Showcase nationally to over 62 million viewers on PBS/Art Channel and other public television channels, in Philadelphia on WRTI, New York on WQXR-FM.