MEET THE ARTISTS

Winner of a 2008 Avery Fisher Career Grant, clarinetist Jose Franch-Ballester has been called “that rare find, an artist whose brilliant mastery of his instrument is matched by sound and secure gifts as a musician” (The News-Gazette, Champaign-Urbana). He won first prize winner in the 2004 Young Concert Artists International Auditions and, in the same year, he performed the premiere of Jake Heggie's song cycle Winter Roses with mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade. This season he performs with the Victoria and Wichita Falls symphonies in Texas and gives recitals at Pace University, Iowa State University, the Buffalo Chamber Music Society, the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. A member of Chamber Music Society Two, he has performed at numerous festivals, including Chamber Music Northwest, Music from Angel Fire, Verbier, and the Cartagena Festival Internacional de Música in Colombia. In February and March of 2008 he toured California with the Jupiter String Quartet. Born in Spain, he began clarinet lessons at age nine, gave his first recital in Valencia at age 16, and graduated from the conservatory there in 2000. He also won the competition of the Cultural Council of Valencia for three consecutive years. Mr. Franch-Ballester graduated in 2005 from The Curtis Institute of Music.

Violist Beth Guterman has appeared as soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Wigmore Hall, Jordan Hall, and Seoul Arts Center. She has also performed at the Marlboro Music Festival, Steans Institute at Ravinia, Festival Montreal, and Aspen. Her solo appearances include performances with the Spoleto Orchestra, Juilliard Symphony, and Aspen's Sinfonia Orchestra. This season she performs recitals in Boston at Jordan Hall, and throughout New England and the New York area in addition to serving as principal violist of the IRIS Chamber Orchestra and Sejong, a conductor-less string orchestra. A member of Chamber Music Society Two, she has recorded works of Mozart, Schubert, and Dvořák with other CMS Two Artists and Menahem Pressler on the Deutsche Grammophon label; her other recordings appear on the Tzadik, and Naxos labels. A top prize winner in the Juilliard and Aspen Nakamichi competitions, she will finish her artist diploma at the New England Conservatory this spring, studying with Kim Kashkashian. She received her bachelor's and master's degrees from The Juilliard School under Masao Kawasaki and has also studied with Misha Amory, Catherine Carroll, Heidi Castleman, and Michael Zaretsky. Ms. Guterman plays a Gasparo da Salò viola made in 1590, on loan through the generosity of The Stradivari Society of Chicago.

Winner of an Avery Fisher Career Grant, violinist Erin Keefe is garnering praise as a compelling artist. She has performed as an orchestral soloist in Korea, Japan, the United States, and Europe. Last season she performed with the New Mexico Symphony, the New York City Ballet Orchestra, and the Torun Symphony Orchestra in Poland. Other concerto performances included the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra of Poland, the Sendai Philharmonic, and the Allentown Symphony. She recently took Grand Prize in the Torun International Violin Competition, the Schadt Competition, and the Corpus Christi International String Competition, and was Silver Medalist in the Carl Nielsen, Sendai, and Gyeongnam international violin competitions. This season she appears with the Gottingen, Pioneer Valley, and Ridgewood symphonies, in addition to performing recitals in Korea, Poland, Dallas, and Hartford. She has appeared at the Marlboro, OK MOZART International, Music@Menlo, Music from Angel Fire, Ravinia, Seattle, and Bridgehampton chamber music festivals. A member of Chamber Music Society Two, she recently participated in a CMS release on the Deutsche Grammophon label of Bartók's Contrasts and Dvorak's Piano Quintet with other CMS Two Artists and co-artistic director Wu Han. Ms. Keefe received her bachelor's degree from The Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with CMS Artist Ida Kavafian and Arnold Steinhardt, and her master's degree from The Juilliard School under Ronald Copes.

Cellist Fred Sherry has introduced audiences on five continents and all 50 United States to the music of our time through his close association with such composers as Babbitt, Berio, Carter, Davidovsky, Foss, Knussen, Lieberson, Mackey, Takemitsu, Wuorinen, and Zorn. He has been a member of the Group for Contemporary Music, Berio’s Juilliard Ensemble, the Galimir String Quartet, and a close collaborator with jazz pianist and composer Chick Corea. Mr. Sherry was a founding member of Speculum Musicae and Tashi. He is on the faculty of the Mannes College of Music, the Manhattan School of Music, and The Juilliard School. In his extensive recording career, he has been soloist and "sideman" on hundreds of commercial and esoteric recordings; his longstanding collaboration with Robert Craft has produced recordings of major works by Schoenberg, Stravinsky, and Webern. In 2001, in collaboration with the Chamber Music Society and Merkin Concert Hall, he created and directed A Great Day in New York, a groundbreaking festival featuring the music of 52 living composers. Mr. Sherry has been an Artist of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since 1984 and was its artistic director from 1989 to 1993. This season Fred Sherry turns 60; there will be celebration concerts at Miller Theatre and the Guggenheim Museum.

Violinist Arnaud Sussmann, a multi-faceted and compelling artist, has won high praise from both critics and audiences. This season he leads the Suedama Ensemble at the 92^nd Street Y and performs with the Metropolis Ensemble at Le Poisson Rouge. He has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, American Symphony Orchestra, the Cannes Orchestra, Nice Orchestra, Monaco Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestre des Pays de la Loire, and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, and has given recitals in New York, Memphis, Chicago, Panama City, San Salvador, Paris, and St. Petersburg. Last season he appeared with the Hudson Valley Philharmonic and Nice Orchestra, performed at the Metropolitan and Gardner museums, and played recitals in Sarasota and New York. He is the winner of several international competitions, including the Italian Andrea Postacchini Competition, the French Vatelot/Rampal International Competition, and a New York Virtuosi concert series grant that resulted in a live broadcast on WQXR's Young Artists Showcase. He has recently recorded works of Beethoven and Dvořák with CMS artistic directors David Finckel and Wu Han, and Schubert's Trout Quintet with Menahem Pressler and Gary Hoffman. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Itzhak Perlman. Mr. Sussmann is a member of Chamber Music Society Two.

Pianist and co-artistic director of the Chamber Music Society, Wu Han ranks among the most esteemed and influential classical musicians in the world today. Her career has taken her to many of the world's most prestigious venues, including Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and Washington's Kennedy Center. She has toured North and South America, Europe, and Asia, and her regular summer festival appearances include Aspen, Santa Fe, Chamber Music Northwest, Caramoor, and Music@Menlo. She is active as a concerto soloist as well, recently appearing with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in a performance of the Beethoven Triple Concerto. She is a frequent collaborator with many of today's finest musicians and ensembles, including the Borromeo, Emerson, Pacifica, and St. Lawrence quartets. With cellist David Finckel, she performs extensively across the United States and Europe. In 2006 Wu Han and David Finckel made their Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center recital debut. Last season the duo gave the world premiere of Pierre Jalbert's Cello Sonata at the Aspen Music Festival, and this season they will give the world premiere of a new work by George Tsontakis. Wu Han's wide-ranging musical activities include the founding of ArtistLed, classical music's first musician-directed, Internet-based recording company. All ten ArtistLed recordings have received critical acclaim and are available via the company's website. ArtistLed's recent release, Russian Recital, features works by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, and Scriabin, and marks Wu Han's first full-length solo recording for the label. This season ArtistLed releases its 11th album, a recording of the Schubert piano trios, featuring David Finckel, Wu Han, and violinist Philip Setzer. In recent years, Wu Han and David Finckel have become widely recognized for their initiatives in expanding audiences for classical music, and for guiding the careers of countless young musicians. They are the founders and Artistic Directors of Music@Menlo, a chamber music festival in Silicon Valley. Prior to launching Music@Menlo, they served for three seasons as Artistic Directors of La Jolla SummerFest.