Ukaria Cultural Centre, Mt Barker
Program
Brahms Sonatensatz, WoO 2
Mozart Violin Sonata K526 (A major)
Debussy Violin Sonata, L148
Chausson Poème, Op. 25
Please note program is yet to be fully finalised, there may be adjustments to the pieces or length, which will be clearly announced ahead of the concert. Approximate duration 120 minutes (including interval)
With thanks to the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, where Grace Clifford is the Emerging Artist in Association.
About the artists
Grace Clifford, violin
Grace is 18 years old and entering her fourth year in the Bachelor of Music program at the Curtis Institute, studying with Pamela Frank and Ida Kavafian and, immediately prior, with the late Joseph Silverstein. During the 2016–17 season Grace had the privilege of performing violin concertos with the Adelaide Symphony, Sydney Symphony, Melbourne Symphony, and Melbourne Chamber Orchestra and playing piano trios with Kathryn Selby and Clancy Newman on a six-concert Australian tour with Selby & Friends. Grace was a fellow at Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute for the summer of 2017.
A highlight in the 2015–2016 year was playing violin and viola in performances of Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire in Philadelphia and Washington as part of Curtis on Tour, and in New York with renowned soprano Lucy Shelton.
From 2009 to 2014 Grace was in the pre-college program at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, studying with Dr Robin Wilson, who continues to be a mentor. During this time Grace had many wonderful performance experiences in Australia, culminating in winning the 2014 ABC Symphony Australia Young Performer of the Year and three performances of the Beethoven Concerto with the Adelaide Symphony. She also won Best Recital, Best Chamber Performance, and the People’s Choice Award.
In 2013, Grace was chosen by audition to study with Professor Ana Chumachenco at the Kronberg Academy Masterclasses in Germany. In 2012, Grace was awarded 4th prize in the Junior Section of the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition in Beijing.
Konstantin Shamray, piano
Konstantin Shamray was born into a musical family in 1985 in Novosibirsk, Russia and at age 6 started formal studies at the Kemerovo Music School with Natalia Knobloch. He later studied in Moscow at the Gnessin Special Music School, and the Russian Gnessin Academy of Music with Professor Tatiana Zelikman, then post-graduate studies with Vladimir Tropp. In 2014, he completed post masters-equivalent advanced courses at Hochschule fuer Musik in Freiburg, Germany with Professor Tibor Szasz. He is currently completing a PhD at the Elder Conservatorium, University of Adelaide.
Konstantin is the first and only competitor to date in the 40 years of the Sydney International Piano Competition to win both First and People’s Choice Prizes, in addition to six other prizes. Immediately following his unprecedented success, he undertook a tour of 27 performances throughout all Australian states and territories. He partnered with the Australian String Quartet for their 13-concert National Subscription Tour of 2009 and recorded CDs for the labels Naxos, ABC Classics and Fonoforum.
He has performed with the Russian National Philharmonic, the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, Moscow Virtuosi, Orchestre National de Lyon, Prague Philharmonia, Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra and the Sydney Symphony among others under the baton of distinguished conductors including Vladimir Spivakov, Dmitry Liss, Tugan Sokhiev, Nicholas Milton and Alexandr Vedernikov.
Konstantin won First Prize at the 2011 Klavier Olympiade in Bad Kissingen, Germany and now performs yearly at the Kissinger Sommer festival. In July 2013, following chamber recitals with Alban Gerhardt and Feng Ning, he was awarded the festival’s coveted Luitpold Prize for “outstanding musical achievements”. He has enjoyed critical acclaim at the Klavier-Festival Ruhr, the Bochum Festival in Germany, the Mariinsky International Piano Festival, the White Nights Festival with the Maryinsky Theatre Orchestra in St. Petersburg and the Adelaide Festival.