Information: Ariane N. Bicho
(415) 338-1442/abicho@sfsu.edu
www.collegeofcreativearts.org
Third Annual Yehudi Menuhin Chamber Music Seminar
Presents a Series of Concerts and Master Classes,
June 3 through June 5 at San Francisco State University
SAN FRANCISCO, May 5, 2005–A dozen outstanding emerging professional and young
chamber ensembles receive daylong coaching culminating with evening performances featuring
internationally acclaimed musicians at the Third Annual Yehudi Menuhin Chamber Music
Seminar, Friday, June 3 through Sunday, June 5 at San Francisco State University.
Presented by SFSU’s School of Music and Dance and the San Francisco Friends of Chamber
Music, the Seminar’s world class roster includes Alexander String Quartet, pianist Jeremy
Menuhin, Cypress String Quartet, Jupiter Trio, baritone Christopheren Nomura, violist
Eric Nowlin, bassist Shinji Eshima, and violist Toby Appel.
“Lord Menuhin believed in music as much more than a performing art. He saw it as a
humanizing force,” says Paul Yarbrough, Artistic Director. “It is our intention to honor his
artistry, visionary spirit and his lifelong association with San Francisco through this seminar.”
Performance Information
Opening Concert
Friday, June 3, 8:00 pm, Knuth Hall, Creative Arts Bldg, SFSU campus
Program: This concert features Seminar faculty artists Alexander String Quartet with Toby
Appel, viola, for a presentation of Brahms String Quintet in F Opus 88.Christopheren Nomura,
baritone, and pianist Jeremy Menuhin will offer songs of Schubert, Schumann and Brahms. The
Jupiter Trio will perform the Ives Piano Trio. The Cypress String Quartet and Christopheren
Nomura will present Barber's Dover Beach, and violist Eric Nowlin and the Alexander String
Quartet will perform Scene Andalouse by Joaquin Turina.
Concert Two
Saturday, June 4, 8:00 pm, Knuth Hall, Creative Arts Bldg, SFSU campus
Program: This concert will open with the Alexander String Quartet and Jeremy Menuhin
performing Schumann's Piano Quintet. The Cypress String Quartet will perform Bartok's String
Quartet #2, and the concert will conclude with the Trout Quintet of Schubert performed by the
Jupiter Trio and guest artists Toby Appel, violist, and Shinji Eshima, bass.
Concert Three
Sunday, June 5, 8:00 pm, Knuth Hall, Creative Arts Bldg, SFSU campus
Program: This concert will feature Menuhin Fellowship ensembles, the California String
Quartet and others. The concert will conclude with a performance of the combined forces of
Seminar participants and faculty in music of Schubert and Beethoven.
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Menuhin Seminar/SFSU, page 2 of 4
Master Classes
A series of master classes, open to the public for audit, present topics such as Breathing and
Phrasing, Romantic Music, Classical Style Music Performance and Shostakovich. All classes are
located in the Creative Arts Building on the SFSU campus. For information, please call
415/710-0551.
Tickets
Single Concert Tickets are $20 general admission and $10 for students and seniors. Single
Master Class Tickets (to audit) are $10 General Admission and $5 for students and seniors.
Opening Night Benefactor tickets for Friday, June 3 are $100 and include preferential concert
seating, a gala reception, and a complimentary CD. All Events/All Weekend Benefactor tickets
are $150 and include preferential seating at all concerts and master classes, a gala reception, and
a complimentary CD. For tickets, call 415/710-0551 or email menuhinseminar@earthlink.net.
All major credit cards are accepted. Tickets are also available at the door. For more information
please visit www.sffcm.org.
Guest Artists
Among the performers and educators at the Menuhin Seminar is world-renowned pianist Jeremy
Menuhin, one of Lord Menuhin’s four children and the only other musician in the family. The
other distinguished artists include SFSU’s and San Francisco Performances’ quartet-in-residence,
the Alexander String Quartet, known to local and international audiences as the premier
quartet of its generation; Cypress String Quartet, featured in Chamber Music Magazine as a
“Generation X Ensemble to Watch;” Jupiter Trio, the first American chamber music ensemble
to win the prestigious Osaka International Chamber Music Competition, in 2002; Toby Appel, a
renowned violist who has appeared in recital and concerto performances throughout North and
South America, Europe, and the Far East; Christopheren Nomura, described by the Boston
Globe as “both subtle and direct… a wonderfully expressive face and a first-class baritone
voice—warm, robust and clear." Violist Eric Nowlin, winner of the 2003 Irving M. Klein
International String Competition, and Shinji Eshima, Assistant Principal Bass of the San
Francisco Ballet Orchestra and a member of the San Francisco Opera.
Participating Ensembles
Primarily for the artistic edification of emerging and young professionals and college students, as
well as high school and middle school students, participating ensembles include players from
San Francisco Conservatory, Crowden School, the San Francisco Symphony Youth
Orchestra, School of the Arts, the California String Quartet, and a quartet from Juilliard.
Yehudi Menuhin
Legend has it that at age 13, Menuhin inspired Albert Einstein to declare at a Berlin concert,
“Now I know there is a God in heaven!” Years earlier, Menuhin made his debut in San
Francisco. By the tender age of seven, he impressed international audiences with his technical
mastery and emotionally charged playing, beginning with his performance of Mendelssohn’s
Violin Concerto, which propelled him to instant fame. Over the course of his life, Menuhin
performed thousands of concerts, made recordings from the great works of the classical canon,
and collaborated with Bela Bartok in what is considered one of the greatest compositions of
twentieth-century classical music. In 1963, Menuhin opened the Yehudi Menuhin School for
musically gifted children. On March 12, 1999 he died in Berlin, ending one of the longest and
most prestigious careers of any American violinist.
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Menuhin Seminar/SFSU, page 3 of 4
The Third Annual Yehudi Menuhin Chamber Music Seminar is sponsored in part by the Ross
McKee Foundation and the San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music, with support from the L.J.
Skaggs and Mary C. Skaggs Foundation, the Haas Foundation, the Amateur Chamber Music
Players Foundation, and the School of Music and Dance, College of Creative Arts at San
Francisco State University. The Menuhin Seminar committee is headed by Paul Yarbrough,
Artistic Director, Dominique Pelletey, Executive Director, and Susan Bates and Tom Stone.
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Calendar Editors, Please Note:
Third Annual Yehudi Menuhin Chamber Music Seminar
Presents a Series of Concerts and Master Classes June 4 through June 6 at
San Francisco State University
Opening Concert
Friday, June 3, 8:00 pm
Information: 415/710-0551
Knuth Hall, Creative Arts Bldg
SFSU campus, 1600 Holloway Ave, SF
Tickets: $20 General/$10 Students & Seniors
Program: Alexander String Quartet with Toby Appel, viola: Brahms’ String Quintet in F Opus
88/Christopheren Nomura, baritone, and Jeremy Menuhin, piano: songs of Schubert, Schumann
and Brahms/Jupiter Trio: Ives’ Piano Trio/Cypress String Quartet and Christopheren Nomura,
baritone: Barber's Dover Beach/Eric Nowlin, viola, and Alexander String Quartet: Joaquin
Turina’s Scene Andalouse.
Concert Two
Saturday, June 4, 8:00 pm
Information: 415/710-0551
Knuth Hall, Creative Arts Bldg
SFSU campus, 1600 Holloway Ave, SF
Tickets: $20 General/$10 Students & Seniors
Program: Alexander String Quartet and Jeremy Menuhin, piano: Schumann's Piano Quintet/
Cypress String Quartet: Bartok's String Quartet #2/Jupiter Trio and Toby Appel, violist, and
Shinji Eshima, bass: Schubert’s Trout Quintet.
Concert Three
Sunday, June 5, 8:00 pm
Information: 415/710-0551
Knuth Hall, Creative Arts Bldg
SFSU campus, 1600 Holloway Ave, SF
Tickets: $20 General/$10 Students & Seniors
Program: Menuhin Fellowship ensembles, California String Quartet and seminar faculty present
music of Schubert and Beethoven.
Master Classes
Saturday, June 4, 11 am to 5:00 pm
Sunday, June 5, 1 pm to 4:30 pm
Information: 415/710-0551
Knuth Hall, Creative Arts Bldg
SFSU campus, 1600 Holloway Ave, SF
Tickets: $10 General/$5 Students & Seniors
A series of master classes, open to the public for audit, present topics such as Breathing and
Phrasing, Romantic Music, Classical Style Music Performance and Shostakovich.
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