Montreal Chamber Music Festival presents

Pinchas Zukerman, Amanda Forsyth and the Jerusalem Quartet

This unique concert is the highlight of the Montreal Chamber Music Festival’s 2021 season.
This world-class event is chamber music at its best!

Musicians

Pinchas Zukerman

With a celebrated career encompassing five decades, Pinchas Zukerman reigns as one of today’s most sought after and versatile musicians – violin and viola soloist, conductor, and chamber musician. He is renowned as a virtuoso, admired for the expressive lyricism of his playing, singular beauty of tone, and impeccable musicianship, which can be heard throughout his discography of over 100 albums for which he gained two Grammy® awards and 21 nominations.

A devoted teacher and champion of young musicians, he has served as chair of the Pinchas Zukerman Performance Program at the Manhattan School of Music for over 25 years, and has taught at prominent institutions throughout the United Kingdom, Israel, China and Canada, among others. This fall, he proudly joins Dallas Symphony Orchestra as their new Artistic & Principal Education Partner for the next two seasons. He will collaborate with DSO in partnership with Southern Methodist University’s Meadows School of the Arts, where he will provide intensive coaching and tutoring sessions for Meadows’s music students.

As a mentor he has inspired generations of young musicians who have achieved prominence in performing, teaching, and leading roles with music festivals around the globe. Mr. Zukerman has received honorary doctorates from Brown University, Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, and the University of Calgary, as well as the National Medal of Arts from President Ronald Reagan. He is a recipient of the Isaac Stern Award for Artistic Excellence in Classical Music.

Amanda Forsyth

Canadian Juno award winning cellist Amanda Forsyth is considered among her peers and critics alike to be one of the most dynamic cellists on the concert stage today. Describing a recent performance, California’s Ventura County Star raves: “In Forsyth’s hands, it was sheer magic.” She has achieved an international reputation as a premiere soloist and chamber musician and previously enthralled audiences as the principal cellist of both The Calgary Philharmonic and Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestras. Her intense richness of tone, exceptional musicality and passion are reminiscent of cellists of a former age. She captivates audiences with every phrase.

Ms. Forsyth has been soloist on international tours with: The Royal Philharmonic; English Chamber Orchestra; Seoul Philharmonic and Israel Philharmonic Orchestras. Among others, she has appeared abroad with: Orchestra Radio de France; Lisbon’s Gulbenkian Orchestra; Calgary Philharmonic; Toronto Symphony; National Arts Centre Orchestra; Vancouver Symphony; Luxembourg Philharmonic; Gyeonggi Philharmonic; Teatro San Carlo and Seoul Philharmonic. With multiple tours in Australia, she has performed with the Sydney, Perth and Adelaide Symphonies. In the U.S., she has performed with: The Chicago Symphony; Washington National Symphony; San Diego Symphony; Colorado Symphony; San Antonio Symphony; Madison Symphony; Oregon Symphony; New West Symphony; Grand Rapids Symphony and Dallas Symphony. She has appeared on tour and in St Petersburg numerous times with the Marinsky Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev. Her Los Angeles Philharmonic debut was conducted by Zubin Mehta and Ms. Forsyth made her Carnegie Hall debut with The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

Born in South Africa, Ms. Forsyth immigrated to Canada as a child and began playing cello at age three. She became a protege of William Pleeth in London and later completed her studies at The Juilliard School with Harvey Shapiro. Her instrument is a rare 1699 cello by Carlo Giuseppe Testore.

Jerusalem Quartet

Since the ensemble’s founding in 1993 and subsequent 1996 debut, the four Israeli musicians have embarked on a journey of growth and maturation. This journey has resulted in a wide repertoire and stunning depth of expression, which carries on the string quartet tradition in a unique manner. The ensemble has found its core in a warm, full, human sound and an egalitarian balance between high and low voices. This approach allows the quartet to maintain a healthy relationship between individual expression and a transparent and respectful presentation of the composer’s work. It is also the drive and motivation for the continuing refinement of its interpretations of the classical repertoire as well as exploration of new epochs.

The Jerusalem Quartet is a regular and beloved guest on the world’s great concert stages. With regular bi-annual visits to North America, the quartet has performed in cities such as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Washington, and Cleveland as well as in the Ravinia Festival. In Europe, the quartet enjoys an enthusiastic reception with regular appearances in London’s Wigmore hall, Tonhalle Zürich, Munich Herkulessaal, Theatre des Champs-Elysées, as well as special guest performances at the Auditorium du Louvre Paris, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and festivals such as Salzburg, Verbier, Schleswig-Holstein, Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, Rheingau, Saint Petersburg white Nights and many others.

Program
Anton Bruckner – String Quintet in F Major, Adagio
Antonin Dvorak – Sextet for Strings in A Major, Opus 48
intermission
Johannes Brahms – Sextet for Strings in B Flat Major, Opus 18

Monday, November 8th, 2021 • 7:30 pm
Salle Bourgie, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

To purchase your tickets visit: www.festivalmontreal.org