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ARTIST SERIES: Festival Trio
Jerzy Kaplanek (violin), Paul Pulford (cello), Ken Gee (piano)

Thursday, May 21, 2009 at 8 pm

Guelph Youth Music Centre, Recital Hall

75 Cardigan Street, Guelph, ON

PROGRAMME
HAYDN: Trio in G minor

BLOCH: Nocturnes

HAYDN: Trio in D major(Hungarian Rondo)

MENDELSSOHN: Trio in D minor

Jerzy Kaplanek violin

Violinist Jerzy Kaplanek received a BMUS degree at the Conservatory in Bytom, Poland, and a MA from the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music, where he studied with Janusz Skramlik, Stanislaw Lewandowski, and Aureli Blaszczok. He has been a member of the Penderecki String Quartet since 1987. With the Quartet, and also as a soloist and chamber musician, he performs internationally. His discography includes a dozen CDs with the Penderecki Quartet and Schoenberg’s Perrot Lunaire with the Blue Ride Ensemble. His chamber music partners have included talents such as pianist James Parker and cellist Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi. He is frequently heard on CBC Radio and in the fall of 1997 was featured soloist at a concert held in the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, as a tribute to Karol Szymanowski. Pursuing his interest in Baroque performance practice, Kaplanek has also worked with the Custodian of Period Instruments at the Smithsonian Museum, Jaap Schroeder.

Jerzy Kaplanek is presently an associate professor at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, where he teaches violin and chamber music. He plays a copy of the “Kreisler”, Joseph Guarnerius del Gesù 1733, made by Luiz B. Bellini (New York 1997).

Paul Pulford cello

Cellist Paul Pulford has been an active soloist and chamber musician since his debut recital in Winnipeg in 1967. Since then, Mr. Pulford has performed many of the great works for cello and orchestra with ensembles as diverse as the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Banff Festival Orchestra, Symphony Nova Scotia, Toronto Chamber Players, and Irish Radio Orchestra.

Mr. Pulford’s CD of the Complete Works for Cello and Fortepiano by Beethoven with pianist Boyd McDonald (EBS Germany) received rave reviews in a number of publications, including CONTINUO Magazine, which remarked, “In what is certainly the major period instrument release of Beethoven chamber music in many a year, Pulford and McDonald have completely blown the competition out of the water—there is simply no need to consider any other version, despite the many big-name cellists who have recorded this music.”

Until recently a member of the Penderecki String Quartet, with which he toured worldwide and recorded 21 CDs, Mr. Pulford also maintains an active interest in New Music.

He is a founding member of the Blue Rider Ensemble, which has recorded a CD featuring Pierrot Lunaire by Schoenberg, and The Cinnamon Peeler, a new work by American composer Donald Crockett, based on poetry by Michael Ondaatje.

Mr. Pulford is committed to sharing the experience of classical music with younger musicians. He teaches cello at Wilfrid Laurier University where he coordinates the Orchestral Program and the innovative Chamber Music Program. Mr. Pulford plays a cello by the French maker August Bernardel from 1847.

Ken Gee piano

Ken Gee studied piano with Edna Smith, Reginald Bedford and Boris Berlin, and performed in many master classes. A winner of many performance scholarships, Ken is an experienced recitalist, concerto soloist, accompanist, and chamber music player. He has a Music B.A. from McMaster University, where he was awarded the McMaster Medal for the Creative and Performing Arts. Ken was music critic for the Hamilton Spectator, manager for chamber music series and Ensemble Sir Ernest MacMillan, co-director of the Hamilton Kiwanis Music Festival, and a teacher at McMaster University, Sheridan College and Mohawk College.

Ken’s other life is in Macintosh-based design work and music production. He developed classical piano music software for PG Music Inc., Victoria, and makes music and music text books for Frederick Harris Music Ltd., the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, and Kjos Music in San Diego. He is the accompanist for Guelph Youth Singers, Suzuki String School of Guelph, and Suzuki summer Institutes in Waterloo and Montreal, and has also been a piano adjudicator, private teacher and music ensemble coach.

In May 2007, he introduced Guelph Musicfest, a concert series in the Guelph Youth Music Centre Recital Hall, which is now in its third season. In 2008, he was the recipient of a City of Guelph Mayor’s Award.

Ken lives in Guelph with his violinist wife, Paule Barsalou (director of the Suzuki String School of Guelph).

LINKS
Penderecki String Quartet

may 14 – valerie tryon | may 15 - marion samuel-stevens & william shookhoff

may 21 – festival trio | may 22 - cecilia string quartet