Ryuji Ueno Foundation

May 11, 2018 (Fri)

Clancy Newman (cello) and Ryo Yanagitani (piano)

7:00PM Doors Open, Pre-Concert Reception
7:30PM Performance
9:00PM Post-Concert Reception

Clancy Newman (cello) and Ryo Yanagitani (piano)

May 11, 2018 (Fri)

PROGRAM

Program:

Ludwig van Beethoven: Cello Sonata No. 3 in A major, Op. 69

Clancy Newman: Pop-Unpopped solo cello pieces selections

Sergei Prokofiev: Sonata for Cello and Piano Op. 119

Clancy Newman: From Method to Madness

7:00PM Doors Open, Pre-Concert Reception
7:30PM Performance
9:00PM Post-Concert Reception

BIOGRAPHY

Clancy Newman

Cello

Cellist Clancy Newman, first prize winner of the prestigious Naumburg International Competition and recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant, has had the unusual career of a performer/composer. He received his first significant public recognition at the age of twelve, when he won a Gold Medal at the Dandenong Youth Festival in Australia, competing against people twice his age. Since then, he has performed as soloist throughout the United States, as well as in Europe, Asia, Canada, and Australia.

He can often be heard on NPR’s “Performance Today” and has been featured on A&E and PBS. A sought-after chamber musician, he is a member of the Clarosa piano quartet and a former member of Chamber Music Society Two of Lincoln Center and Musicians from Marlboro. As a composer, he has expanded cello technique in ways heretofore thought unimaginable, particularly in his "Pop-Unpopped" project, which been ongoing since 2014. He has also written numerous chamber works and has been a featured composer on series by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Chicago Chamber Musicians. In March 2019, his piano quintet, commissioned by the Ryuji Ueno Foundation, was premiered at the opening ceremony of the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington DC.

Mr. Newman is a graduate of the five-year exchange program between Juilliard and Columbia University, receiving a M.M. from Juilliard and a B.A. in English from Columbia.

Composer

Cellist Clancy Newman, first prize winner of the Naumburg International Competition and recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant, has had the unusual career of a performer/composer. He has performed as soloist throughout the U.S., as well as in Europe, Asia, and Australia, and he has been a member of Chamber Music Society Two of Lincoln Center and Musicians from Marlboro, and is a current member of the Clarosa piano quartet. He has been a featured composer on series by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Chicago Chamber Musicians, and his "Pop-Unpopped" solo cello project has expanded cello technique in ways heretofore unimagined. He is a graduate of the five-year exchange program between Columbia University and The Juilliard School. www.clancynewman.com

BIOGRAPHY

Ryo Yanagitani, D.M.A.

Piano

Hailed by the Washington Post as "a pianist's pianist," Ryo has established himself as one of Canada's shining artists. His success includes winning the gold medal at the 10th San Antonio International Piano Competition, where he was also given special recognition for a performance of the complete Chopin Ballades. He is also the grand prize winner of the Hugo Kauder International Piano competition and a laureate of the Minnesota International Piano-e-Competition, the Dr. Luis Sigall International Piano competition in Vina del Mar (Chile), and the Hilton Head International Piano Competition.

Ryo has made concerto appearances with orchestras around the world including the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Montreal Metropolitan Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Hartford Symphony Orchestra, the Moroccan Symphony Orchestra, and the Tokyo Kioi Symphonietta. His performances have taken him to such venues as the Kennedy Center, The National Gallery of Art, Library of Congress, Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, and Salle Cortot in Paris among others.

In addition to his solo career, he is much sought after as a chamber musician, performing in a wide range of settings from the duo sonata repertoire to large ensembles. Ryo is frequently invited as guest pianist to chamber music festivals across the US, in the capacity of both lecturer and collaborative pianist.

A recipient of many scholarships and awards, Ryo has been endowed twice by the Canadian Arts Council with a grant as an Emerging Artist and is a recipient of the Arthur Foote Scholarship from the Harvard Musical Association. He was also awarded the Sony Foundation of America Career Grant through the Salon de Virtuosi of New York, and a Washington Award by the S&R Foundation of Washington DC. He has also been an artist-in-residence of the Maxwell Shepherd Fund of Connecticut. Ryo is also increasingly recognized not only as a performer but as a pedagogue and is in demand as adjudicator to competitions and as masterclass clinician in North America and Asia. He has also released two solo CDs consisting of works by Chopin and Debussy, as well as a CD in collaboration with the cellist Dai Miyata in Japan.

Ryo Yanagitani received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Yale School of Music under Boris Berman, a Bachelor Degree in Piano Performance from the University of British Columbia under Doctor Henri-Paul Sicsic, and an Artist Diploma from the Cleveland Institute under Sergei Babayan. He was an instructor for the Chamber Music Program at Yale and was a visiting Assistant Professor of Piano at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. He currently holds the title of Artistic Director of the Ryuji Ueno Foundation in Washington, DC, and oversees the Evermay Concert Series in Georgetown.