Russian-born pianist Dina Vainshteinhas degrees from the Gnesin Institute of Music in Moscow, the Cleveland Institute of Music and NEC. Her principal teachers were Boris Berlin and Vivian Hornik Weilerstein. She received a Special Prize for Best Collaboration at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (1998): and also won prizes at the Schubert and Modern Music International Competition in Austria (1997) and the All-Union Russian Piano Competition (1993). She has performed at Alice Tully Hall and Weill Hall in New York City, Jordan Hall in Boston and the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. She has also performed at the Ravinia Festival, Caramoor Festival, Music Academy of the West (Santa Barbara), Meadowmount and the Heifetz International Music Institute. Ms. Vainshtein has appeared as a soloist with I Musici de Montreal and as a guest artist with the Borromeo String Quartet. She has given live performances on WGBH (Boston) and for NPR’s Performance Today series, and her recording for the Naxos label with violinist Frank Huang. At present she is a collaborative pianist for the Walnut Hill School and the New England Conservatory.
Dina Vainshtein
Jonathan Bass, Piano
Bass Jonathan
Pianist Jonathan Bass appears frequently throughout the US as soloist and chamber musician. He made his New York debut at Weill Hall as First Prize-winner of the 1993 Joanna Hodges International Piano Competition, and has performed internationally in China, Israel, Japan, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, and Spain. Mr. Bass has appeared with the Boston Pops and with numerous orchestras across the country. Other awards include First Prize in the 1989 American Pianists Association Beethoven Fellowship Competition and First Prize in the 1984 American National Chopin Competition. Mr. Bass is a founding member of the Walden Chamber Players, with whom he has toured extensively and made three recordings and is a regular guest of the BSO Chamber Players. He and his wife, BSO violinist Tatiana Dimitriades, appear frequently throughout New England as the Boston Duo. A Professor of Piano at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee where he has served on the faculty since 1993, Jonathan Bass was previously Piano Chair at BU. He is also on the faculty of NEC Preparatory Division and the Walnut Hill School. Mr. Bass holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Juilliard School and a Doctor of Music degree from the Indiana University School of Music, where he was a student of, and teaching assistant to, Menahem Pressler of the Beaux Arts Trio.
Katherine Chi, piano
Chi Katherine
Pianist Katherine Chi was accepted to the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music a year after her debut recital at the age of nine. She continued studies at NEC, where she received her Master’s degree, Graduate, Artist Diploma and Doctorate. She later studied for two years at the International Piano Foundation in Como, Italy, and at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne. In 2000, Ms. Chi won first prize in Honens International Piano Competition and was the first Canadian to win this award. She was also a prizewinner at the 1998 Busoni International Piano Competition. Her debut recording, on the Arktos label, features works of Beethoven and Rachmaninoff. Ms. Chi has appeared with the Alabama, Calgary, Colorado, Columbus, Edmonton, Grand Rapids, Huntsville, Kitchener-Waterloo, Modesto, Nova-Scotia, Philadelphia, Quebec, Richmond, San Antonio, Saskatoon, Symphoria, Tallahassee, Thunder Bay, Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria Symphony Orchestras, CBC Radio Orchestra, Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, I Musici de Montreal, Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, Mexico City Philharmonic, Neue Philharmonie Westfalen, Toronto Sinfonia. Festival appearances including Aldeburgh, Banff, Canada’s Festival of the Sound, Launadière, Domaine Forget, Marlboro, Osnabrück Kammermusik, Germany’s Ruhr, Santander Summer Music, and Festival Vancouver.
World Premiere Recording of “Three Chorales”
World Premiere Recording of “Three Chorales”
Three Chorales was commissioned by Jonathan Miller and received its world premiere by the Boston Artists Ensemble on September 23 and 25, 2017 at Hamilton Hall in Salem, MA and St. Paul’s Church in Brookline, MA to open their 2017-2018 season
Mr. Miller states, “As Judith’s only cello-piano work. I find its utterly unique, honest voice a gift from a truly great composer — the three movements form a triptych that illuminate the human condition. In my opinion it is a masterpiece, and I am certain that it will be played often in the future.”
Download here or listen on Apple Music.
Randall Hodgkinson - piano
Hodgkinson Randall
Randall Hodgkinson won the International American Music Competition in 1981 and his October 1986 formal New York recital debut at Alice Tully Hall under the competition’s auspices was greeted with critical acclaim. Mr. Hodgkinson has, in recent years, performed with orchestras including those of Philadelphia, Atlanta, Albany, Buffalo, Westchester, Oakland, and Caramoor and has collaborated with such conductors as Leonard Bernstein and Gunther Schuller. 1985 saw his European orchestral debut with the Santa Cecilia Orchestra of Rome. He is a featured artist on the Bosendorfer Concert Series aired over WNYC – FM in New York City and has recorded for the Nonesuch, CRI and New World labels. Mr Hodgkinson studied with Veronica Jochum and Russell Sherman at the New England Conservatory where he now serves on the faculty. He is a member of the Gramercy Trio.
BAE Hosts 24 Students from Beacon Academy for final concert of 2017
BAE Hosts 24 Students from Beacon Academy for final concert of 2017
The Boston Artists Ensemble worked with Boston’s Beacon Academy — a 14-month school between 8th and 9th grades designed to prepare motivated and promising urban students for success in competitive independent high schools and beyond — to bring 24 students to our season finale. On the program was Messiaen’s “Quartet for the end of Time”, written when the composer was a prisoner of war in German captivity during WW2, and Schubert’s delightful “Trout” Quintet.
September Concert Review by Boston Musical Intelligencer
September Concert Review by Boston Musical Intelligencer
Headlined “BAE Introduces Important New Weir Work” the Boston Musical Intelligencer called the new piece “exquisitely written for the cello. The first section matched a shimmering, feathery piano to long, soulful cello lines, “supremely lyrical… will surely make a luminous and evocative addition to legions of cellists’ recitals” Read the full review here.
April Concert Review by Boston Musical Intelligencer
April Concert Review by Boston Musical Intelligencer
Headlined “Unbeatable Choices from BAE” and referring to the “Sumptuous blend” that “could be another way of praising BAE’s Mozart. So, too, could sustainability, in their ability to maintain an elevated vision yet always with the spirit of human endeavor, which places BAE’s performance of the quintet at the top of my list.” Read the full review here.
January 2016 Performance Review by ArtsFuse
January 2016 Performance Review by ArtsFuse
The January 10 BAE concert of string quartets by Bartók and Ravel drew praise from David Janssen from Boston’s ArtsFuse. Noting that the BAE “is serving up world class performances of chamber music” and delivered a performance “full of bravado, virtuosity, subtlety, and charm”, the review went on to express appreciation for the musician’s virtuosity and presentation of the pieces. “As gorgeous as the work may be, it is no less technically demanding than the Bartók. The virtuosity of the performers turned sounding beautiful into an easy task…The performers provided seamless intonation throughout the work; their detailing was particularly impressive during very bare spots in the third movement.” The full review can be read here on the ArtsFuse website.
Boston Musical Intelligencer reviews “South of the Rio Grande”
Boston Musical Intelligencer reviews “South of the Rio Grande”
The November BAE concert of the music of Heitor Villa-Lobos and Alberto Ginastera drew kudos from the Boston Musical Intelligencer. Citing the possibility that “more downtowners will be eager to seek it (the BAE) out in the leafy corner of Brookline, the publication lauded the programming and the performances. Saying “the string quartet drawn from BAE’s roster offered up a sampler of some of the best quartet music ever produced south of the Rio Grande.” The full review can be read here on the Intelligencer website.
BAE Brookline Move Featured in “Wicked Local”
BAE Brookline Move Featured in “Wicked Local”
” The Boston Artists Ensemble (BAE), a chamber music group known for providing deeply moving concerts, is moving itself.” The BAE’s move from Newton Centre to St. Paul’s Church in Brookline was the subject of a feature article in “Wicked Local Brookline” this week. Read the full article here.
(photo DailyNews/Ken McGagh)
Boston Artists Ensemble Presents Revolutionary Piano Trios in E-Flat
Boston Artists Ensemble Presents Revolutionary Piano Trios in E-Flat
Boston Artists Ensemble will present our first chamber music program of the 2015/2016 season at historic Hamilton Hall in Salem, and St. Paul’s Church in Brookline on September 18 and September 20, respectively. For our first program, Artistic Director Jonathan Miller has selected two revolutionary works for piano trio, both in the key of E-flat: Beethoven’s Op. 70, No. 2 and Schubert’s Op. 100 (D. 929). Mr. Miller will be joined by violinist Sharan Leventhal and pianist Randall Hodgkinson.
Hamilton Hall is located at 9 Chestnut Street, Salem. The performance is on Friday evening, September 18, 2015 at 8 PM. Please Note: Hamilton Hall is a Registered National Historic Landmark and is not handicap accessible to the performance hall on the second floor.
St. Paul’s Church is located at 15 St. Paul Street, Brookline. The performance is on Sunday afternoon, September 20, 2015 at 3 PM.
Tickets are available on-line at BostonArtistsEnsemble.org and may be purchased at the door before each performance (cash, credit card and checks are accepted at the door). Season subscriptions and advance tickets can also be purchased on our website.
BAE Featured in Mass Realty Site
BAE Featured in Mass Realty Site
The Boston Artists Ensemble would like to thank Mass Realty for featuring our 2015-2016 chamber music season in Brookline and Salem on their website. We are delighted that Mass Realty takes an interest in the arts as part of building communities. You can read the article here.
Boston Artists Ensemble featured in Salem News
Boston Artists Ensemble featured in Salem News
Today’s Salem News features BAE Artistic Director Jonathan Miller discussing Beethoven’s Opus 131 String Quartet, what’s “great” in music, and the wonderful acoustics in Hamilton Hall.
Boston Artists Ensemble musicians Jonathan Miller, Kathryn Lockwood, Bayla Keyes, and Peter Zazofsky rehearse Beethoven’s Opus 131.
Boston Artists Ensemble to Present Music of Beethoven and Debussy
Boston Artists Ensemble to Present Music of Beethoven and Debussy
On Friday, December 5, at 8:00 PM in historic Hamilton Hall in Salem and again on Sunday, December 7 at 2:30 PM in beautiful Trinity Church in Newton Centre, the Boston Artists Ensemble will perform Beethoven’s String Trio in C minor, Opus 9, No. 3 and Debussy’s String Quartet in G minor, Opus 10. In addition our annual “Mystery Piece” invites our audience to guess the composer of an unannounced piece. The winner(s) receive free tickets to one of our upcoming performances.
Artists for these concerts are Bayla Keyes and Tatiana Dimitriades on violins, Kazuko Matsusaka on viola, and Jonathan Miller on cello.
There is ample parking is available at both locations. Tickets for all concerts are available at the door, or may be reserved by telephone.
Ticket prices are $27 for the general public, $24 for senior citizens and $12 for students.
Jonathan Miller to Perform Elgar Cello Concerto on November 9
Jonathan Miller to Perform Elgar Cello Concerto on November 9
Boston Artists Ensemble Artistic Director Jonathan Miller will perform the Elgar Cello Concerto, Opus 85 in E minor with the North Shore Philharmonic Orchestra on November 9, 2014 at 3:00 pm. The concert will take place at Swampscott High school. This program also includes Rossini’s Overture to La Gazza Ladra and Brahms’ Symphony No. 1, Opus 68, in C minor. Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for seniors and students, and free for children under 13. To purchase tickets, click here.