Fundraiser Concert with the Berkshire Chamber Players

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Featuring the New England premiere of “Leonard Bernstein’s “Music for String Quartet”
Mozart Divertimento in F, K138
Beethoven 12 Variations on Handel’s Judas Maccabeus
Schumann Quintet for piano and string quartet

Yevgeny Kutik and Robyn Quinnett, violins, Marka Gustavsson, viola; Ronald Feldman, cello, Jonathan Feldman, piano

Honorary concert co-chairs: Jamie Bernstein, Alexander Bernstein & Nina Bernstein Simmons

Concert Sponsors:  Evelyn Pascal and Len & Louise Schaper

Reception following the concert.

Yevgeny Kutik – With a “dark-hued tone and razor-sharp technique” (The New York Times), violinist Yevgeny Kutik has captivated audiences worldwide with an old-world sound that communicates a modern intellect. Praised for his technical precision and virtuosity, he is also lauded for his poetic and imaginative interpretations of both standard works and newly composed repertoire.

A native of Minsk, Belarus, Kutik began violin studies with his mother, Alla Zernitskaya, and immigrated to the US with his family at the age of five. An advocate for the Jewish Federations of North America, the organization that assisted his family in coming to the US, he regularly speaks and performs across the country to promote the assistance of refugees from around the world. Kutik’s discography, all on Marquis Classics, includes The Death of Juliet and Other Tales (2021), Meditations on Family (Marquis Classics 2019), Words Fail (2016), Music from the Suitcase (2014), and Sounds of Defiance (2012).

In 2021, Kutik made his debut with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra led by Leonard Slatkin, performing the world premiere of Schwantner’s Violin Concerto written specifically for Kutik. In 2019, he made his debuts at the Kennedy Center, presented by Washington Performing Arts, and at the Ravinia Festival. Kutik made his major orchestral debut in 2003 with Keith Lockhart and The Boston Pops as the First Prize recipient of the Boston Symphony Orchestra Young Artists Competition. In 2006, he was awarded the Salon de Virtuosi Grant as well as the Tanglewood Music Center Jules Reiner Violin Prize.

Kutik holds a bachelor’s degree from Boston University and a master’s degree from the New England Conservatory and currently resides in Boston. Kutik’s violin was crafted in Italy in 1915 by Stefano Scarampella.

Robyn Quinnett was born on the island of Montserrat in the Caribbean and began playing violin at eight years old. She has won several competitions including the National Mariam Hayes and Ruth Kern Competitions. Robyn earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Juilliard School
studying with Naoko Tanaka and the late Stephen Clapp. In 2019, Robyn completed her DMA from Stony Brook University studying with Hagai Shaham. She has attended the Tanglewood Music Center, Aspen Music Festival,
Colorado College Music Festival, and Festival Internacional de Inverno de
Campos do Jordão in Brazil. She has performed with ensembles such as the
American Symphony Orchestra, Knoxville Symphony, Hudson Valley
Philharmonic, Princeton Symphony, Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic,
New Haven Symphony, American Ballet Theatre Orchestra, and has recently
joined Opera Philadelphia. Currently, Robyn is the violin professor at Smith
College.

Marka Gustavsson – A dedicated chamber musician, violist Marka Gustavsson spent 3 summers as a Tanglewood Fellow, 91-93. Since that time, Marka has pursued a rich and varied performance life both internationally and in the US. She has been a guest artist at the Bard Music Festival, Mostly Mozart, Vancouver’s Music in the Morning, the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, WQXR’s Showcase Concerts, Yale Faculty Artists’ Series, Eastman, and Banff.

Marka has premiered and recorded solo and chamber music of composers John Halle, Joan Tower, Kyle Gann, George Tsontakis, Martin Bresnick, Richard Wernick, Laura Kaminsky, Tania Leon, and Tan Dun. From 1999 through 2014, Marka served as violist of the Colorado Quartet, a group that toured extensively and founded the Soundfest Quartet Festival on Cape Cod. Their Complete Beethoven Quartets are available on Parnassus Records.

As a teacher, Marka Gustavsson has given master classes at Yale, Eastman, Indiana University, Hartt, and Oberlin, and adjudicated competitions at Juilliard, Hartt, Yale, Astral Artists, and Banff. She has taught for several summers at the Yellow Barn YAP in Putney, VT. A graduate of Indiana University, Mannes College, and CUNY, her formative teachers include Joseph Gingold, Mimi Zweig, Felix Galimir, Michele Auclair, Viktor Liberman, Julius Levine, and Daniel Phillips. Ms. Gustavsson is on the faculty at Bard College and Conservatory, where she performs with the Blithewood Ensemble and also serves as Associate Director and Coordinator of Chamber Music.

Ronald Feldman – Two-time winner of the League of American Orchestras’ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music, Ronald Feldman has achieved critical acclaim for his work as a conductor and cellist.He has appeared as guest conductor with major orchestras, including theLondon Symphony Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the St. Louis Symphony, and the Quebec Symphony. He served as assistant to Boston Pops Principal Conductor and composer John Williams from 1989 to 1993. Seiji Ozawa, Conductor Laureate of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, called Feldman “an outstanding conductor…with a deep musical mind, which is clearly conveyed through his performances.” John Williams regarded Feldman as “a brilliant conductor who displays the best leadership qualities…and an outstandingly high level of musicianship that imbues his conducting style with strength, taste, and imagination. ”Feldman joined the Boston Symphony at the age of 19. He has appeared as a soloist in concerto repertoire from Dvořák to Ligeti. Chamber music affiliations have included performances with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, Collage New Music, and the Williams Chamber Players. Other performances have included collaborations with violinist Gil Shaham, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and pianists Emanuel Ax and Garrick Ohlsson. In 2001, Feldman left the Boston Symphony Orchestra to pursue other musical interests. He was appointed Music Director of Longwood Symphony Orchestra in July 2012. He also serves as Music Director of the Berkshire Symphony Orchestra, a regional orchestra in residence at Williams College. He is Artist in Residence and Lecturer in Music at Williams College.

Jonathan Feldman – Recognized by colleagues and critics worldwide as a leading chamber
musician and collaborative pianist, Jonathan Feldman has performed
with some of the world’s most legendary musicians, including violinists
Nathan Milstein, Itzhak Perlman, Gil Shaham, Kyung Wha Chung,
Joshua Bell, Yehudi Menuhin, Augustin Hadelich, cellists Pierre
Fournier, Zara Nelsova, Harvey Shapiro, and flutists James Galway and
Emanuel Pahud.
A graduate of The Juilliard School, Mr. Feldman joined its faculty in
1989 and became chairman of the school’s collaborative piano
department from 1991 until 2015. He was invited to join the
collaborative piano faculty of New England Conservatory in 2010. He
has given master classes throughout the United States and the Far
East and has lectured at international festivals and competitions. He is
the Director of Collaborative Piano at the Music Academy of the West
in Santa Barbara, California, a post he has held since 2005. He has
appeared in other summer festivals, such as Tanglewood,
Bridgehampton, Music from Angel Fire, Vail Bravo Festival, the Hidden
Valley Music Seminars, the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival and the
Collaborative Piano Institute. He has performed with the Chamber
Music Society of Lincoln Center in New York City and was a featured
performer in a Live From Lincoln Center with Gil Shaham. For over
twenty years, he performed regularly with the New York Philharmonic
as a keyboard player and appeared in many concerts with the New
York Philharmonic Chamber Ensembles.
Jonathan Feldman has recorded for Angel/EMI, RCA Red Seal, DGG,
Columbia Masterworks, Naxos, Nonesuch, Summit, Avie and Cala
Records. Mr. Feldman has recorded with his wife, New York
Philharmonic principal bassoonist Judith LeClair. His most recent
recording is with violinist William Wei, winner of the 2015 Queen
Elizabeth competition.

Mr. Feldman can also be heard on soundtracks for many movies, most
notably Music of the Heart with Meryl Streep and The Man Who
Wasn’t There, directed by the Coen Brothers.

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