Features

The Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival Artists
The artists on this CD are some of the finest chamber musicians performing in the US. Featured are: Heidi Grant Murphy (soprano) and Marc Neikrug (piano) in Marc Neikrug's Pueblo Children's Songs; Pinchas Zukerman (violin), Cynthia Phelps (viola), Eric Kim (cello), and Marc Neikrug (piano) in the Mozart G-Minor Quartet; and Jaime Laredo and Daniel Phillips (violins), Robert Rinehart (viola), Sharon Robinson (cello), and Joseph Kalichstein (piano) in the Elgar Piano Quintet.

Pinchas Zukerman and his longtime collaborator, Marc Neikrug, rehearse in St. Francis Auditorium. (Bette Marshall photo)

Pinchas Zukerman (violin) was born in Tel Aviv in 1948, and began his musical training with his father, first on recorder, then clarinet, and ultimately violin. He came to America in 1962 to study with Ivan Galamian at Juilliard. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with Daniel Barenboim, Itzhak Perlman, the late Jacqueline du Pré, Zubin Mehta, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Isaac Stern, the Guarneri and Tokyo quartets, Midori, Yo-Yo Ma, Emmanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, Ralph Kirshbaum, and Shlomo Mintz. Zukerman has conducted many of the world's leading orchestras, including the Chicago, Boston, National, San Francisco, Montreal, and Toronto Symphonies; the New York, Los Angeles, and Berlin Philharmonics; and the National Arts Centre Orchestra.

Zukerman's recordings for Angel, CBS, DG, London, Philips, and RCA have won two Grammy awards and 21 Grammy nominations. In January 1998, BMG released his latest—the Beethoven Triple Concerto with cellist Ralph Kirshbaum and pianist John Browning, and the Brahms Double Concerto with Ralph Kirshbaum, both accompanied by Christoph Eschenbach conducting the London Symphony. It was nominated for a 1999 Grammy.

Marc Neikrug (piano), artistic director of the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, is a pianist and composer of international acclaim. His compositions range from chamber music to symphonic works and opera, including Through Roses and Los Alamos. He has received commissions for: Pueblo Children's Songs (1995) from soprano Heidi Grant Murphy, featured on this CD; Piano Concerto No. 1 (1996), from the Aldeburgh Festival; and Viola Quintet (1995), for performances by the Tokyo String Quartet and Pinchas Zukerman. His new violin concerto was performed by Pinchas Zukerman and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in February 1999.

As a pianist, Neikrug performs regularly throughout the world, and has collaborated with Pinchas Zukerman for over 20 years. Together they have made numerous recordings for CBS and Philips, and have recently embarked on several ambitious projects for BMG Classics, including recording the complete repertoire of sonatas for violin and piano.

Cynthia Phelps (viola) has appeared internationally as soloist with the Minnesota Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Orquesta Sinfonica de Bilbao, and San Diego Symphony, among many others. In coming seasons, she performs twice with the New York Philharmonic: in the Benjamin Lees Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra, and in a new concerto written for her and Rebecca Young by Sofia Gubaidulina. She has been heard on NPR, PBS's MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour, CBS's Sunday Morning, Radio France, and RAI (Italy). She appeared on a Live from Lincoln Center telecast with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and has toured North and South America, Israel, and Germany with Pinchas Zukerman and Itzhak Perlman as a member of the Zukerman and Friends Ensemble. She has also performed with the Guarneri String Quartet, and at the Schleswig-Holstein, Naples, Cremona, Marlboro, Seattle, La Jolla, Santa Fe, and Bravo! Colorado Festivals.

Following her solo recording debut on Cala Records, Phelps recorded concertos by Bartók and Serly in Spain. She can also be heard on the Marlboro Recording Society, Polyvideo, Nuova Era, Virgin Classics, and Covenant labels.