PAUL SEIKO CHIHARA was born in Seattle, 
Washington in 1938. He received his doctorate degree (D.M.A.) from Cornell University in 1965 as a student of Robert Palmer. Mr. Chihara also studied with the renowned pedagogue Nadia Boulanger in Paris, Ernst Pepping in Berlin, and with Gunther Schuller at Tanglewood. With Toru Takemitsu, Chihara was composer-in-residence at the Marlboro Music Festival in 1971, and also the first composer-in-residence of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Neville Marriner, Conductor. More recently, he has served as the composer-in-residence with the Mancini Institute in Los Angeles.
In addition to his many concert works, Mr. Chihara has composed scores for over 100 motion pictures and television series. He has worked with such luminaries as directors Sidney Lumet, Louis Malle, Michael Ritchie, and Arthur Penn. His movie credits include Prince of the City, The Morning After, Crossing Delancey, and John Turturro’s Romance and Cigarettes. His works for television include China Beach, Noble House, Brave New World, and 100 Centre Street. Mr. Chihara also served as music supervisor at Buena Vista Pictures (Walt Disney Co.). Also active in the New York musical theatre world, Mr. Chihara served as musical consultant and arranger for Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies, and was the composer for James Clavell’s Shogun, the Musical.
Mr. Chihara’s works have been widely recorded. His compositions appear on many labels including BMG Records, Reference Recordings, CRI, Music and Art, Vox Candide, New World Records, The Louisville Orchestra First Editions Records, and Albany Records. Mr. Chihara is a Professor of Music at UCLA.
“It is almost easier to think of Paul Chihara as several different composers. There is the Chihara whose sensitivity to exquisite instrumental color has made him a favorite with such performers as conductor Seiji Ozawa and the Sequoia String Quartet. There is, however, a strong theatrical side to Chihara which expresses itself in works for dance, musical theater and film. And there is Chihara’s love for American popular music of the ‘30s and ‘40s.” The Los Angeles Times, Mark Swed.
GREG MACGILLIVRAY
Greg MacGillivray's film career spans more than 40 years. As a cinematographer, he has shot more 70mm film than anyone in cinema history -- more than two million feet. His Laguna Beach company has been dedicated to the large screen motion picture format since the production of the IMAX® Theatre film, To Fly!, which he co-produced and directed with his partner, the late Jim Freeman in 1976. MacGillivray also worked in Hollywood, directing and photographing for Stanley Kubrick, and filming for the Academy Award® nominees Jonathan Livingston Seagull and The Towering Inferno."
MacGillivray and company have received numerous international film awards and industry accolades. MacGillivray was first nominated for an Academy Award® in 1995 for The Living Sea (Best Documentary Short Subject), and was nominated in the same category for Dolphins in 2000. In 1998, the company's dramatic film about climbing the world's tallest peak, Everest, became the first large-format film ever to reach Variety’s #top 10 box office chart. In 1996, the company's first IMAX® theatre classic, To Fly!, was selected by the Library of Congress for inclusion in America's film archives. The first large format film to receive this honor, To Fly! joined such cinema greats as Gone With the Wind, Star Wars and Citizen Kane as one of the most important films in filmmaking history. In 2001, To Fly! was inducted into the IMAX Hall of Fame followed by The Living Sea six years later. In September 2002, the Giant Screen Theatre Association honored MacGillivray as one of five most important contributors to the success of the large format industry. Two months later, MacGillivray accepted the Bradford Washburn Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Museum of Science, Boston, for his contribution to science education. He joins an illustrious group of previous honorees that includes Jacques Cousteau, Walter Cronkite, Sylvia Earle, Jane Goodall and Carl Sagan.
CLAREMONT TRIO
Widely regarded as the premier piano trio of its generation, the Claremont Trio is sought after for its thrillingly virtuosic and richly communicative performances. First winners of the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson International Trio Award and the only piano trio ever to win the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, the Claremonts are consistently lauded for their "aesthetic maturity, interpretive depth, and exuberance" (Palm Beach Daily News). To celebrate their 10th anniversary season, the trio returns to New York's Carnegie Hall and Washington D.C's Kennedy Center, and appears in more than 60 halls throughout the country.
The Trio maintains a strong New York presence this season, performing at Carnegie Hall, Symphony Space, Merkin Hall, and Miller Theatre. Their extensive countrywide tour encompasses major venues in Washington D. C., Boston, Seattle, Phoenix, Anchorage, Syracuse, Columbus, and Puerto Rico as well as universities including Duke, Kansas State and SUNY Purchase. Deeply committed to expanding the trio repertoire, the Trio will present the world premiere performance of a work by Nico Muhly at Washington D.C.'s Kennedy Center and will also premiere a new piece written for them by Howard Frazin. They will perform Mason Bates' new work, "Red River" (2007) for piano trio, clarinet, and electronics and perform in special concerts celebrating Leon Kirchner's 90th and Elliott Carter's 100th birthdays.
Believing that education on all levels is essential to the future of classical music, the Claremont Trio is extensively involved in teaching the next generation of musicians and music lovers. Sought after for their effectiveness in the classroom as well as on the concert stage, the Trio will conduct educational outreach activities and master classes in more than ten states this season, including a mini-residency at the Peabody Conservatory's Preparatory Division and master classes at the University of Washington. In recent years, the Claremonts have led master classes at the Eastman School of Music, Boston Conservatory, Purchase College at SUNY, Middlebury College, University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh, Longy School of Music, and Gettysburg College's Sunderman Conservatory.
Highlights of the Trio's 2007-08 season included a complete cycle of Brahms and Schumann trios at Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and summer appearances at the Saratoga, Mostly Mozart, Bard, Rockport, and Hamptons festivals. During the main season, they performed under the auspices of New York's Peggy Rockefeller concerts, the Rhode Island Chamber Music Concerts, Memphis' Concerts International, St. Paul's Music in the Park, University of Kansas' Lied Center, Middlebury College, and the chamber music societies of Honolulu, Buffalo, Tulsa, and Williamsburg.
In recent seasons, the Trio has toured throughout the United States in its major concert halls and on the series of prestigious chamber music societies. They have performed at Avery Fisher Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York's Lincoln Center; the UCLA Center for the Performing Arts; Stanford Lively Arts; the La Jolla Music Society; the Performing Arts Center at SUNY Purchase; the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts; and Wolf Trap. They have been featured guests of the chamber music societies of Detroit, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Louisville, and San Antonio. During summers, the Claremont Trio has appeared at the Caramoor, Ravinia, Norfolk, Moab, Cape Cod Chamber Music, and Great Lakes festivals. The Trio also has performed at the American Academy in Rome, and in 2002 they traveled to Bosnia, Serbia, and Slovenia as part of a stimulating cultural exchange co-sponsored by the U.S. State Department and Carnegie Hall.
The Claremont Trio frequently performs the Beethoven Triple Concerto with orchestras such as the Utah Symphony, Virginia Symphony, and Pacific Symphony. They have collaborated with Peter Martins, director of the New York City Ballet, on a ballet based on Paul Schoenfield's "Cafe Music". They have also been privileged to perform with many distinguished guest artists including Toby Appel, Joseph Kalichstein, Martha Katz, Jaime Laredo, Ida Kavafian, Nokuthula Ngwenyama, Sharon Robinson, and Richard Young. The Claremont Trio has commissioned new works for piano trio by Daniel Kellogg, Mason Bates, and Hillary Zipper, and this year they will embark on a project with the innovative composer and violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain.
The Claremont Trio's debut CD of Mendelssohn trios was released on the Arabesque label in 2004 to overwhelming critical acclaim. Gramophone magazine praised the disc for giving "large-scale performances with a sweeping, romantic sense of space and strong dramatic contrasts," while Strings celebrated the Trio's ability to "find a cool equilibrium between industry and frivolity where an elegant, totally Mendelssohnian sexiness resides." The group's second disc of Shostakovich and Arensky trios was released on Tria Records in 2006 in honor of the 100th anniversary of Shostakovich's birth.
The Claremont Trio has been featured on both Japanese and American television and is also heard frequently in interviews on radio stations throughout the U.S. and abroad, including Australia's ABC, New York's WQXR, Boston's WGBH, Chicago's WFMT, Salt Lake City's KBYU, and Columbia University's WKCR. In 2006, they added a new feature to their website - a blog describing their adventures on the road. Through this online tour diary the members of the trio reach out to friends and music lovers of all ages around the world, offering a window into their lives as traveling musicians.
Twin sisters Emily Bruskin (violin) and Julia Bruskin (cello) formed the Trio with Donna Kwong (piano) in 1999 at The Juilliard School. The Claremonts are based in New York City near their namesake: Claremont Avenue.
MARIA BACHMANN, violin
A violinist who combines outstanding musicianship with dazzling technical command, a tone of exceptional purity, and a magnetic stage presence, Maria Bachmann has been the subject of critical accolades worldwide from the very beginning of her career. The New York Times has hailed her as “a violinist of soul and patrician refinement,” and The Boston Globe has similarly praised Ms. Bachmann as being “astonishing in every musical and technical regard.” Ms. Bachmann has also had the rare distinction of being profiled by Time magazine, as well as by such journals as Mirabella, Fanfare and CD Review.
Among Ms. Bachmann’s numerous competition victories are First Prizes at the Fritz Kreisler Competition in Vienna, the Concert Artists Guild Competition in New York and the Pro Musicis Foundation Award. These distinctions were followed by acclaimed debuts with the St. Louis Symphony under Leonard Slatkin, the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center with Robert Spano and with Marin Alsop conducting the Pacific Symphony in Los Angeles.
An active guest soloist abroad, Ms. Bachmann has been heard with the Taipei Symphony, Shanghai Symphony, MAV Symphony in Budapest, the Brabants Orchestra of the Netherlands, and with the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra on tour in Japan. She has performed recitals in Tokyo, Kyoto, London, Paris, Shanghai, Taipei, Vienna, Budapest, The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Herbst Theater in San Francisco, Ambassador Auditorium in Los Angeles, New York's Town Hall, Merkin Hall and Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, and in Boston's Jordan Hall. Of Hungarian descent, Ms. Bachmann is noted for her performance of Bela Bartok, and was invited by the Library of Congress to recreate the legendary Szigeti/Bartok recital of 1940 in a nationally broadcast performance there.
Highlights of the 2008-09 season include the world premiere of Philip Glass's first Sonata for Violin and Piano commissioned for Ms. Bachmann. She performed the premiere of the Glass Sonata at The Whitaker Center in Harrisburg, PA for Market Square Concerts in February 2009. Ms. Bachmann also performs recitals at the St. Petersburg Museum of Art in Florida, in Newtown, CT, Gretna Music in Mt. Gretna, PA, and in New York City for the Anne Ratnor/Camp Hill Village benefit series. Ms. Bachmann performs at Spivey Hall in Atlanta as guest artist with the Georgian Chamber Players in May 2009, and will perform the world premiere of Paul Moravec's Violin Concerto at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia in May 2010.
In 2007-08, Ms. Bachmann concerto appearances included Vivaldi Concertos at Carnegie's Zankel Hall in New York with The Little Orchestra Society, the world premiere of Jay Reise's Violin Concerto at Philadelphia's Kimmel Center with Orchestra 2001, and performances of John Corigliano's Red Violin Concerto with the Waukesha Symphony in Wisconsin. Ms. Bachmann performed recitals in Boston's Jordan Hall, Brooklyn’s Museum of Art for the Corigliano Festival celebrating his 70th Birthday (presented by The Brooklyn Philharmonic), at LACMA in Los Angeles for the “Sundays Live” broadcasts, and at The Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ.
Ms. Bachmann continues her role as Artistic Director of Telluride MusicFest in Colorado for the seventh year in summer 2009 where Philip Glass will be Composer-in-Residence. She performs frequently at many festivals including Bravo! Vail Festival in Vail, CO, The Ameila Island Festival, The Caramoor Festival, Maverick Concerts and Cooperstown Festivals in New York, The Moab Festival, The Grand Canyon Festival, and The Cape Cod Festival.
Ms. Bachmann has been a notable performer of John Corigliano’s Red Violin Concerto, and has been heard in this work with the Omaha Symphony, Chicago Humanities Festival Orchestra, the Richmond Symphony, and at Royce Hall in Los Angeles with the Mancini Institute Orchestra. “The Red Violin,” Ms. Bachmann’s latest recording which includes music of Corigliano, Moravec, Ravel, Copland and Gershwin, was released in February 2007 on Endeavour Classics. It was chosen by BBC Music Magazine as the "North American CD of the Month" in May 2007, and selected as Classical Gold: Top Ten cds of 2007 by NPR's WGBH in Boston.
Ms. Bachmann has been equally successful as a performer of the established repertoire
and as champion of contemporary music. Her recordings for the BMG/Conifer label of the Beethoven and Mendelssohn violin concertos with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic conducted by Libor Pesek have been praised for their elegance and musical insight.
Her CD “Fratres” features a recital of works by John Corigliano, Arvo Pärt, Paul Moravec, Albert Glinsky and Olivier Messiaen on the BMG/Catalyst label. This issue drew critical plaudits, receiving a “Best Classical Recording of the Year” rating from the New York Daily News. It was subsequently re-issued on the RCA Red Seal label in 2005. Ms. Bachmann has recorded a recital disc titled “Kiss On Wood” for BMG/Catalyst, “Rhapsody” for Violin and Orchestra by Ian Krouse for Koch, violin sonatas by Beethoven and George Rochberg for the Connoisseur Society and concertos by Lou Harrison for Argo and Koch labels.
Ms. Bachmann has premiered many new works including those of George Rochberg, Leon Kirchner, James MacMillan, Sebastian Currier and 2004 Pulitzer Prize-winner Paul Moravec, who has written a total of fourteen works for Ms. Bachmann ranging from a violin concerto to works for violin and piano and other chamber forms. Moravec’s 2004 Pulitzer Prize-winning work, TEMPEST FANTASY, was composed for her chamber group, Trio Solisti, with whom she maintains an active touring schedule. She has made numerous recordings with Trio Solisti including their own arrangement of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, Brahms Trios, and music of Paul Moravec.
Maria Bachmann studied at The Curtis Institute of Music with Ivan Galamian and Szymon Goldberg, and was awarded Curtis's Fritz Kreisler Prize for outstanding graduating violinist. She performs on a 1782 violin by Nicolo Gagliano. www.mariabachmann.com
CLAIRE CHASE, flute
Declared “indefatigable” by Time Out Chicago, flutist Claire Chase is First Prize Winner of the 2008 Concert Artists Guild Competition. A passionate performer, leader and innovator, she creatively links traditional, contemporary and experimental music with program choices that range from Bach and Brahms to Boulez, Saariaho, Zorn and beyond.
In the 2008-09 season, Ms. Chase’s varied performances include New York City’s Miller Theatre, Chicago’s Contemporary Museum of Art, Boston’s Gardner Museum, Northwestern and Bowling Green State Universities, the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and venues in Berlin, Frankfurt and Barcelona. Recent highlights include solo appearances at the Kennedy Center in Washington, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles and El Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City.
Ms. Chase is credited with world premiere performances of over 100 new solo works for the flute and has produced eight large-scale contemporary music festivals in New York City and Chicago, playing more than 200 concerts of new music in those cities. In 2001, she founded the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), which has been described as “one of the most adventurous and accomplished groups in new music” (New York Times) and “a powerhouse of new-music programming…brilliant and unexpected” (The New Yorker). She has served as executive director of ICE since its inception and is a frequent performer with the ensemble.
Her debut solo album, aliento, which features world premiere recordings for flute and electronics, will be released in March 2009 on the New York-based label New Focus Recordings. Her extensive chamber music discography includes recordings with various groups for the Tzadik, Bridge and Naxos labels. Ms. Chase is featured on a Fall 2008 release of the music of George Crumb, part of Bridge Records’ Complete Crumb Edition, recorded in close collaboration with the composer.
Ms. Chase has taken top prizes at the National Young Artist Competition and the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts Competition and was a featured soloist at the 2005 National Flute Association Convention, performing the world premiere of a new flute concerto by Harvey Sollberger. Notable awards include the Theodore Presser Foundation, ASCAP, Chamber Music America and the MacArthur Fund for Arts and Culture at the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation.
A sought-after lecturer, teacher and chamber music coach, Claire Chase has given lectures and master classes recently at Smith College, CalArts and Oberlin Conservatory, from which she received a B.M. in 2001 in the studio of Michel Debost. She made her concerto debut at age 14 with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra and at age 17 was named a Presidential Scholar in the Arts by the White House Department of Education.
Jon Klibonoff, piano
Jon Klibonoff has established a versatile career as orchestra soloist, recitalist and chamber musician throughout the United States and abroad. His many awards include the Silver Medal of the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, the Affiliate Artists Xerox Pianists Award, the Pro Musicis Foundation Award, First Prize in the Kosciuszko Chopin Competition, and a Solo Recitalists Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Presently a member of Trio Solisti, Klibonoff has also appeared as guest artist to numerous chamber music groups including the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and the Shanghai, Miami and Lark String Quartets.
In recital, Mr. Klibonoff has appeared at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall, the 92nd Street Y, the National Gallery, and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
His many orchestral appearances include the Baltimore, Utah, Buffalo, Denver, and North Carolina Symphonies. He has several CD recordings to his credit including two recordings of twentieth century violin and piano music with violinist Maria Bachmann on the BMG/Catalyst label as well as three recordings with Trio Solisti which include trios of Brahms, Ravel and Paul Moravec.
A graduate of The Juilliard School and Manhattan School of Music, Klibonoff has been on the faculty of Hunter College and Concordia College and is currently a member of the faculty at SUNY Purchase College and the Manhattan School of Music.
DONALD CROCKETT, composer
Born in 1951 in Pasadena, California, Donald Crockett is dedicated to composing music inspired by the musicians who perform it. He has received commissions from the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (Composer-in-Residence 1991-97), Pasadena Chamber Orchestra (Composer-in-Residence 1984-86), Kronos Quartet, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Hilliard Ensemble, Stanford String Quartet, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Charlotte Symphony, Music from Angel Fire, the Chamber Music Conference and Composers’ Forum of the East (Senior Composer-in-Residence 2002-), Pacific Serenades and the California EAR Unit, among many others.
SHARON FARBER, composer
Sharon Farber, originally from Israel, has received critical acclaim as a composer in the Concert world as well as that of Film and TV. She brings to her music influences from her Middle Eastern heritage as well as her extensive knowledge of Classical and Western music.
Sharon began her musical career at the age of seven, as a classical pianist. After graduating from Thelma -Yelin High School for the Arts, she served in the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) and later worked as a theater composer and musical director in Israel. She won the first prize in Colors in Dance in 1992 for her music for choreography.
n 1994, she moved to Boston upon receiving a scholarship from Berklee College Of Music. During her studies, she won the first prize in the yearly Professional Writing Division Concert with her first string quartet. After graduating Summa Cum Laude in 1997 (majoring in both Classical Composition and Film Scoring) she moved to Los Angeles to begin her professional career. Miss Farber was the recipient of the prestigious Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Internship in Film Scoring, as well as the Mentorship program of the Society of Composers and Lyricists, on which she currently serves as a board member.
Ms. Farber, Composer In Residence of the 2009 Beverly Hills International Music Festival,
has been writing concert and choir music in parallel to a film-scoring career, and has many international premieres and performances to her credit. To name a few: The Third Mother/Mothers’ Lament, in memory of slain reporter Daniel Pearl, which was world premiered by the distinguished Los Angeles Master Chorale, under the direction of Maestro Grant Gershon, and won her the First Prize in the Cincinnati Camerata Composition Competition in 2007 (published by Roger Dean Music publishing), ASHKINA, featuring Omar Faruk Tekbilek, premiered in New York, October 2004, and has had many performances since. Her recent commissioned piece, Translucent Rocks, was premiered by the prestigious Israeli Chamber Orchestra, October 2007 to rave reviews. Her work “My Beloved” for Women’s Choir and Ensemble was premiered in April by The Ithaca College Women's Chorale with Janet Galván, conductor and her song cycle, “To Always Remember” was recently recorded for an album by acclaimed Soprano Sharon Rostorf- Zamir. Ms. Farber’s music was featured in a concert at The Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles on June 7th, 2009, performed by a symphony orchestra and a 100 piece Gospel choir. She has recently completed her Composer Residency at the 2009 Beverly Hills International Music Festival, where she curated two new concerts, and her film music has been featured time and again on “From Stage To Cinema” concert series.
In the Film and TV industry, Sharon has been working with such prestigious companies as NBC (EMMY Award Winning TV series “Starting Over” and “Passions”), Showtime (“In Class Of His Own”, staring Lou Diamond Phillips) “Call Me Sirr”, staring Michael Clarke Duncan (“The Green Mile”) and WB (“Superman & Batman”), as well as writing music for independent features and other projects. She won the Telly Award in 1998 for best score for the docu-drama series "California 2000" and her work can also be heard at the Museum of Sacramento, as part of the Museum's permanent exhibition. Her orchestral score for “When Nietzsche Wept”, starring Aramand Assante and Ben cross (Millennium Films) was released October 20008, and she has recently completed the score for Folie a Deux for director Sean Martin (UK). In addition, she was commissioned to compose a new full CD for APM/SONOTON Music which is available on her website.
PAMELA MADSEN, composer
Pamela Madsen’s work as a composer, theorist and performer focuses on the interaction of music, text, drama and electronics. She completed her Ph.D with Brian Ferneyhough at UCSD, with additional doctoral studies in music theory at Yale University supported with a Mellon Foundation Award, and post-doctoral studies in music technology at IRCAM, Paris.
PAOLA PRESTINI, COMPOSER
Paola Prestini's music takes the listener on a journey through different life experiences, creating an aural and visual map of the different countries and cultures that have inspired her.These travels sonically reflect the impact that collective identities, cultures and values have when they meet and dissolve in a person whose artistic roots are the collective sum of many parts.
This culminates in a romantic vision told in the form of calls to prayers, spirituals, narrations, and electronic resonances that come together with visuals to create Prestini’s unique voice.
Italian born composer PAOLA PRESTINI is the director and co-founder of the award-winning interdisciplinary performing collective, VisionIntoArt (VIA). VIA has performed in theaters, museums, and clubs all over the world and specializes in creating collaborations that stem from new music. Her works and arrangements have been commissioned by Carnegie Hall, Concert Artist Guild, the Kronos Quartet, and VisionIntoArt, and have been performed by groups such as the Kronos Quartet, the Tucson Symphony, the Haydn Orchestra, the American Composers Orchestra’s (ACO) for the Whitaker Reading Sessions, the Aleph Ensemble, the Verge Ensemble, and the Prism Quartet, in venues such as Zankel Hall, Weill Hall, the Whitney Live series, BAM Café, Symphony Space, Joe’s Pub, Performance Space 122, the Krannert Center, and Royce Hall/UCLA. She has participated in international performances and festivals such as EtnaFest in Sicily, Concerti Apertivi in Milan, and the new music festival BEMUS in Belgrade, Serbia.
HILA PLITMANN, SOPRANTO
Grammy award-winning soprano Hila Plitmann has quickly become a glittering jewel on the international music scene, known worldwide for her astonishing musicianship and gossamer voice. She regularly premieres works by today's leading composers while maintaining a vibrant and extraordinarily diverse professional life in film music, musical theatre, and songwriting.
The Los Angeles Times calls her a performer with "tremendous vocal and physical grace," while Entertainment Today raves, "Plitmann has a vocal instrument that is simply unreal in its beauty." USA Today quotes "...her (Plitmann's) emotional interpretation of Blowin' in the Wind unleashes startling fury and despair". For her extensive soundtrack work as a soloist for the Hollywood blockbuster The DaVinci Code, CNN says: "Plitmann's glissandi sail above the petty pulpits of earthly doctrine with an ethereal ease that argues for Plitmann's pairing with [Kathleen] Battle or Dawn Upshaw."
In recent years she has worked with many of today's leading conductors, including Leonard Slatkin, Kurt Masur, Robert Spano, Marin Alsop, Esa Pekka Salonen, Andrew Litton, and Steven Sloane. She has appeared as a headliner with the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the New Israeli Opera and numerous other orchestras and ensembles in the U.S. and abroad.
In constant demand as a singer of new and contemporary classical music, she has recently appeared as the soloist of several world premieres, including Paul Revere's Ride with the Atlanta Symphony, written by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Del Tredici ; Esa Pekka Salonen's Wing on Wing with The Los Angeles Philharmonic, the composer conducting; Mr. Tambourine Man written by Oscar and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Corigliano with The Minnesota Orchestra; Two Awakenings and a Double Lullaby, a song cycle written for her by Pulitzer Prize winner Aaron Jay Kernis.
In 2007 she originated the role of Exstasis in Eric Whitacre's groundbreaking electro-musical Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings. Ms. Plitmann sang, acted, danced and fought in long martial arts battles nightly for a seven week sold-out run, a tour-de force performance that prompted Backstage West to call her, "brilliant, eliciting strong empathy and singing gorgeously", and Theatre Mania to declare she "fights like a warrior and sings like the angel she portrays." For her work in the show she received nominations for Best Actress in a Musical from the Los Angeles Ovation Awards and The L.A. Ticketholder Awards. In the fall of 2009 she originated the role of Mrs. Clayton in Stephen Schwartz's opera "Seance on a Wet Afternoon" .
Ms. Plitmann is accumulating an impressive catalogue of professional recordings, appearing on the Decca, Telarc, Naxos, CRI, Reference Recordings and Disney labels. The Da Vinci Code Soundtrack (Decca) was a worldwide bestseller, spending several weeks on the Billboard charts. Both Paul Revere's Ride (Telarc), and The Da Vinci Code received Grammy nominations, and she won 'Best Classical Vocal performance' in the 2009 Grammy Awards for her work on the Naxos recording of John Corigliano's song cycle "Mr. Tambourine Man" with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, JoAnn Falletta conducting. She can also be heard on the soundtrack to the film "New York, I Love You".
Upcoming engagements include performances with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and a concert of Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings in Carnegie Hall.
Born and raised in Jerusalem, Ms. Plitmann received her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees with high honors from The Juilliard School of Music, and has been awarded the coveted Sony ES Prize for her outstanding contribution to the vocal arts. She has a Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do.
Enjoy Lovely
Laguna Beach
Located on the beautiful California Riviera in South Orange County, California, Laguna Beach is a picturesque seaside city with a village atmosphere. Known as
The Art Colony, Laguna is home to a number of fine art galleries, a variety of stylish shops and great dining and accommodations that offer something for everyone.
Festival Headquarters are at the historic Hotel Laguna: the essence of early California, combined with the charm and elegance of Europe’s finest historical establishments.