Left to right: Aiyun Huang, Jose Franch-Ballester, Cristina Gómez Godoy, Joel Brennan. Photos courtesy of the artists.
This evening's concert presents an exploration of sonorities in chamber music, demonstrating the genre's remarkable versatility and expressive power. Similar instruments unite to achieve unmatched richness; contrasting timbres combine to create something altogether new. Through juxtapositions and playful exchanges of voices, the dialogues between the Interplay musicians range from the nuanced to the sublime.
“Franch-Ballester played with technical wizardry and tireless enthusiasm.” — The New York Times.
“One would be hard pressed to find anyone who better embodies the spirit of drumming than Aiyun Huang… Her approach pushes percussion playing to the point that it becomes a kind of theatre.” — The WholeNote
Interplay is made possible through the generous support of the David Spencer Endowment Encouragement Fund and the Yolande Freeze Master Artists in Music Fund. Banff Centre is in partnership with the Music in PyeongChang.
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Jose Franch-Ballester
The multi-award-winning Spanish clarinetist Jose Franch-Ballester (FrAHnk Bai-yess-TAIR) is considered one of the finest classical soloists and chamber music artists of his generation. He has been hailed for his “technical wizardry and tireless enthusiasm” (The New York Times), his “rich, resonant tone” (Birmingham News), and his “subtle and consummate artistry” (Santa Barbara Independent). The recipient of a prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2008, and winner of both the Young Concert Artists and Astral Artists auditions, he is a solo artist and chamber musician in great demand.
As a concerto soloist Mr. Franch-Ballester made his New York debut in 2006 with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Lincoln Center. He has also performed with the BBC Concert Orchestra, Louisville Orchestra, Princeton Symphony Orchestra, Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, Wisconsin Philharmonic, Louisiana Philharmonic, Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, and various orchestras in his native Spain.
Mr. Franch-Ballester made his New York recital debut at the 92nd Street Y, and has appeared in recital at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Iowa State University, the Buffalo Chamber Music Society, and the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts. He performs regularly with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center both in New York City and on tour, and also acts as principal clarinet of the Santa Barbara-based chamber music collective Camerata Pacifica.
U.S. festival appearances include the Saratoga Chamber Music Festival, Music@Menlo, Mainly Mozart, Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, Music from Angel Fire, Chamber Music Northwest, and Skaneateles Festival. Abroad, Mr. Franch-Ballester has appeared at the Usedomer Musikfestival in Germany, the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, the Cartagena Festival Internacional de Música in Colombia, the Kon-Tiki Festival in Norway, and the Young Concert Artists Festival in Tokyo.
Aiyun Huang
Aiyun Huang enjoys a musical life as soloist, chamber musician, researcher, teacher and producer. Globally recognized since winning the 2002 First Prize and Audience Prize of the Geneva International Music Competition. She is a champion of existing repertoire and a prominent voice in the collaborative creation of new works. Huang has commissioned and premiered over two hundred works in her two decades as a soloist and chamber musician. The Globe and Mail critic Robert Everett-Green describes Huang’s playing as “engrossing to hear and to watch” and her choice of repertoire as capable of “renovating our habits of listening.” Her past highlights include performances at the Victoria Hall in Geneva, Weill Recital Hall in New York, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra’s Green Umbrella Series, LACMA Concert Series, Holland Festival, Agora Festival in Paris, Banff Arts Festival, 7éme Biennale d’Art Contemporaine de Lyon, Vancouver New Music Festival, CBC Radio, La Jolla Summerfest, Scotia Festival, Cool Drummings, Montreal New Music Festival, Centro Nacional Di Las Artes in Mexico City, Cervantino Festival, and National Concert Hall and Theater in Taipei. Her recent highlights include performances with St. Lawrence String Quartet, L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Taipei Symphony Orchestra and San Diego Symphony Orchestra. Her recent premieres include works by Philippe Leroux, David Bithell, Nicole Lizée, George Lewis, and Eliot Britton.
Cristina Gómez Godoy
In February 2022 she released her debut album under Warner Classics: "Mozart and Strauss Oboe concertos" with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra & Daniel Barenboim. Highly acclaimed by the critics, it was rated with 5-stars by the BBC Music Magazine: “Mozart and Strauss works that mesmerise the ears".
Cristina Gómez Godoy takes on the 2023-24 season with numerous exciting performances, including concerts as a soloist with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla, and Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra. In addition, she will complete her three years-residency as a "Junge Wilde" artist at the Konzerthaus Dortmund in December 2023.
She develops an intense activity as soloist and chamber musician. Gómez made in 2019 her recital debuts at Carnegie Hall and Pierre Boulez Saal with the pianist Michail Lifits. Shortly after, she was selected by the European Concert Hall Organisation (ECHO) as "Rising Star" for the season 2020-21.
Recent highlights include appearances as a soloist with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Festival Strings Lucerne, Saarländisches Staatsorchester, Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona and Orquesta Sinfónica de la Región de Murcia. Past solo concerts have also been held with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, Polish Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, Munich Chamber Orchestra and Stettin Philharmonic Orchestra, among others.
Cristina frequently collaborates with such artists as Daniel Barenboim, Guy Braunstein, Pablo Ferrández, Mario Häring, Radek Baborak, Sophie Dervaux, Sara Ferrández, Calidore String Quartet, Streichquartett der Staatskapelle Berlin and Castalian String Quartet, at renowned festivals and halls such a Ravinia Festival(USA), Lucerne Festival, Rheingau Musik Festival, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Liceo de Cámara XXI, East Neuk Festival, Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival, Elbphilharmonie, Paris Philharmonie, Mozarteum, Konserthuset Stockholm, Berlin Philharmonie, Sage Gateshead, Köln Philharmonie, Barbican Centre, Philharmonie Luxembourg, Müpa Budapest, Bozar Brussels, Casa da Música in Porto, L’Auditori and Palau de la Música in Barcelona, Auditorio Nacional in Madrid and Vienna Musikverein.
Born in Linares (Spain) in 1990. Her musical education took place at the conservatories of Linares, Jaén and Seville while she simultaneously joined the Academia de Estudios Orquestales of the Barenboim-Said Foundation at the early age of 14. She finished her studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Rostock.
She was a Prizewinner at the 60th ARD International Music Competition including the BR-Klassik Prize and at the Internationaler Instrumentalwettbewerb Markneukirchen.
In 2013, Gómez was appointed principal solo oboist of the Staatskapelle Berlin under the baton of Daniel Barenboim. Furthermore, she is since October 2015 and adjunct professor at the Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK).
Marina Thibeault
Renowned for her “rich and deep sound as well as her virtuosity and exceptional enthusiasm” (The Strad), violist Marina Thibeault invests the musical scene with an ever renewed fervor as a chamber musician, concert artist and soloist. Convinced that one must “undergo everything, experience everything, face all obstacles, all contradictions” (Pierre Perrault), she sails through the sometimes tumultuous waves of a carefully curated repertoire, approaching old and new works with the same commitment. Through her practice, she constantly questions the traditional place of the performer in order to embody a poetic approach as well as a quest to surpass herself physically and spiritually.
Marina Thibeault plays an English viola made by Gordon Kerr (2020) and wishes to thank the anonymous donor of the instrument.