Gary Levinson, violin
Yuriy Bekker, violin
CSO String Quartet
Yuriy Bekker, violin
Micah Gangwer, violin
Jan-Marie Joyce, viola
Damian Kremer, cello
Julia Harlow, harpsichord
Jean-Marie Leclair, Sonate for Two violins, op.3 no 5 in e minor
Johann Sebastian Bach, Violin Concerto in G minor, BWV 1056R
Francesco Geminiani Concerto Grosso No 12 D minor “La Folia”
Antonio Vivaldi, Concerto for two Violins in A minor, RV 522
J.S. Bach, Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, BWV 1043
Gary Levinson is the Senior Principal Associate Concertmaster of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and the Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth. Chosen by Zubin Mehta to join the New York Philharmonic before the completion of his undergraduate degree from the Juilliard School in 1988, Mr. Levinson made his New York Philharmonic solo debut in 1991, under the baton of Erich Leinsdorf, coinciding with the completion of his Master’s of Music degree at the Juilliard School, where his teachers included Dorothy DeLay, Glenn Dicterow and Felix Galimir.
Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, Levinson began studying the violin at the age of five with Professor Sergeev at the Leningrad Special Music School. After immigrating to the United States in 1977, he won the top prize at the 1986 Romano Romanini International Violin Competition in Brescia, Italy, as well as becoming the top American Prize winner at the 1987 Jacques Thibaud International Violin Competition in Paris, France.
As a soloist, Mr. Levinson has collaborated with Erich Leinsdorf, Jaap van Zweden, Miguel Harth-Bedoya and many others. Much sought-after as a chamber musician, Mr. Levinson has collaborated with Yo-Yo Ma, Lynn Harrell, Eugenia Zukerman, Lukas Foss, Carter Brey, Joseph Kalichstein and Christopher O’Riley.
The summer season takes him to various music festivals, such as the Strings Festival in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, The Josef Gingold Festival in Miami, Florida, the Summit Music Festival in Purchase, NY and the San Miguel de Allende Music Festival. He served on the faculty of the Aspen Music Festival from 2001-2010. Outside of the US, he was featured in Audition Perform in Chichester, United Kingdom, the LacMus Festival in Italy, the Banhoff Rolandseck Festival, Germany, China and South Korea.
A champion of contemporary music, Mr. Levinson recorded the Margaret Brouwer Violin Concerto under the baton of 2012 Musical America’s Conductor of the Year, Jaap van Zweden in 2012. He premiered and recorded several works dedicated to Mr. Levinson by award winning Iranian composer, Behzad Ranjbaran. In 1996 he, along with his father, renowned double bassist Eugene Levinson, recorded the world premiere for CALA Records of Dances of Life, a bass and violin duo, written for and dedicated to the Levinsons. Mr. Levinson also collaborated with New York Philharmonic Principal English Hornist Thomas Stacy in a CD for CALA’s New York Legends series.
The complete Beethoven Violin and Piano Sonatas with acclaimed pianist Daredjan Kakouberi were released in August, 2011. The Vivaldi Four Seasons and the Brouwer Violin Concerto were released in 2013. His CD, My New York Years, debuted to critical acclaim in January 2007. In the summer of 1999, Mr. Levinson completed a critically acclaimed all Mozart CD, featuring the Elysium String Quartet and three then New York Philharmonic principals – Stanley Drucker, clarinet, Joseph Robinson, oboe and L. William Kuyper, Horn. The American Record Guide hailed it “utterly Mozartean…full of good spirits and a real sense of occasion”. The CD is currently available. In the summer of 1999, Lucas Foss chose Mr. Levinson and the ESQ to collaborate with him on an all-Bach CD of works never before recorded in that artists’ distinguished career.
Mr. Levinson performs on an Antonio Stradivari violin, crafted in 1726. It is graciously made available for his use by the Dallas Symphony Association.
Yuriy Bekker, critically-acclaimed violinist and conductor, has led the Charleston Symphony Orchestra as Concertmaster since 2007 and was named its Principal Pops Conductor in 2016. Bekker served as the orchestra’s Acting Artistic Director from 2010-2014 and Director of Chamber Orchestra from 2014-2015, playing a major role in the orchestra’s successful resurgence.
Mr. Bekker is an adjunct faculty member of the College of Charleston School of the Arts as a violin professor and as conductor of the College of Charleston Orchestra. He is Music Director of the Piccolo Spoleto Festival’s Spotlight Chamber Music Series and co-founder of the Charleston Chamber Music Institute. In the summer, he also serves on faculty of the Gingold Chamber Music Festival in Miami. Mr. Bekker was given the Outstanding Artistic Achievement award from the city of Charleston in 2011 to honor his cultural contributions to the community. Bekker has also held the position of concertmaster for the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra and the AIMS Festival in Graz, Austria, and has held additional positions with the Houston Symphony and the Houston Grand Opera and Ballet Orchestras. Bekker has performed worldwide as a celebrated guest concertmaster, avid chamber musician, and critically-acclaimed soloist. In addition to over a dozen concertos with the Charleston Symphony, he has performed with the Vancouver Symphony (British Columbia), Ulster Orchestra in Northern Ireland, Buffalo Philharmonic, Chicago Chamber Music Society, European Music Festival Stuttgart (Germany), Pacific Music Festival (Japan), Spoleto Festival USA, Piccolo Spoleto Festival, Aspen Music Festival, at the Kennedy Center, and in cities including New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Orlando, Amarillo, El Paso, Missoula, Asheville, Flagstaff, Scottsdale, Barcelona, Spain and Graz, Austria. He has collaborated with Herbert Greenberg, Claudio Bohorquez, Alexander Kerr, Andres Cardenes, Andrew Armstrong, Robert DeMaine, Sara Chang, Gil Shaham, Ilya Kaler, Joshua Roman, JoAnn Falletta, and Andrew Litton. As Principal Pops Conductor of the Charleston Symphony, Bekker has worked with notable guests artists such as Ben Folds, Tony Desare, Ellis Hall, and Cirque de la Symphonie.
Bekker’s recent and upcoming engagements include conductor and violinist with the Amarillo Symphony, violinist on Tchaikovsky’s, Bruch’s, and Edward Hart’s Concertos for Violin with the Charleston Symphony, conductor of Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 at the Miami Music Festival, a chamber music appearance with the Fort-Worth Chamber Music Society, and a busy upcoming pops season packed with exciting repertoire and guest artists. Bekker earned a Graduate Performance Diploma from the Peabody Conservatory under the tutelage of Herbert Greenberg. He also holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Indiana University School of Music, where he studied violin with Nelli Shkolnikova and Ilya Kaler. Mr. Bekker has studied conducting with Christopher Wilkins, David Zinman, Imre Pallo and David Effron. His debut CD, Twentieth Century Duos, received world-wide acclaim and a nomination for the International Classical Music Awards. Born in Minsk, Belarus, Bekker is now a United States citizen, and is a proud husband and father to his wife, Jenny, their toddler son, Nathanael, and newborn daughter Charlotte. He performs on the 1638 Franz Degen Andrea Guarneri violin, generously on loan to him from an anonymous patron. Visit www.YuriyBekker.com for more information.
Micah Gangwer is the Assistant Concertmaster of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra and Concertmaster of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra. He attended Miami University for his undergraduate degree in violin performance, and studied at the University of Oklahoma and the University of South Carolina for graduate school. Micah began studying the violin at the age of four and has studied privately with violinists Stephan Shipps, William Terwilliger, Movses Pogossian, Harvey Thurmer, and Felicia Moye. Micah made his solo debut performing with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra when he was eleven years old, and throughout his childhood and college he won a number of solo and concerto competitions. Solo appearances include concertos and concert pieces by Bach, Vivaldi, Tartini, Mozart, Beethoven, Wieniawski, Saint-Saens, Massenet, Fritz Kreisler, John Williams, Tan Dun, William Grant Still, Schnittke, and Samuel Barber with various university and professional orchestras across America, and he has also been showcased on public radio and television as a soloist.
As a chamber musician, Mr. Gangwer has played in concerts across America and Europe including performances for ambassadors, royalty, and heads of state. In 2003 Micah was a finalist in the internationally renowned Coleman Chamber Music Competition as a member of the Lennox Trio. He has been coached by current and former members of some of the premier chamber ensembles of the world, including the Miami, Amernet, Oxford, Debussy, Vienna, and Kronos quartets. Micah has participated and performed in many festivals and institutes including the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Gamper Festival of Contemporary Music, and the Salzburg Chamber Music Institute. Mr. Gangwer also performed, toured, and recorded for three summers as a member of the Echternach Festival Orchestra of Luxembourg, and served for several seasons as the concertmaster of the Piccolo Spoleto Festival Orchestra in Charleston SC.
Jan-Marie Christy Joyce is in her 23rd season as Principal Violist with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, where she has appeared frequently as soloist. She is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music where she studied under Stanley Konopka, Assistant Principal Violist of the Cleveland Orchestra.
Jan-Marie is former Principal Violist of the Canton (OH) Symphony and currently spends her summers as a member of the Breckenridge Music Festival Orchestra in Colorado where she has served as acting Principal Viola. In the summer of 2005, she was invited to perform in Seattle Opera’s production of Wagner’s “Ring des Nibelungen”. She is on the faculty of the Charleston Chamber Music Intensive and the Charleston International Music School where she teaches viola and coaches chamber music and previously was a member of the faculty at the College of Charleston. Ms. Joyce can be heard on a CD of chamber music for oboe and strings with members of her family. She also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Trumpet Performance.
Jan-Marie is married to CSO bass trombonist Tom Joyce and has three children, Anthony, Emma, and Kenneth.
Cellist Damian Kremer has been with the Charleston Symphony since 1997. A native of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, has performed throughout the world as a soloist and as a chamber and orchestral musician. Mr. Kremer studied cello at Michigan State University, Western Illinois University, and Boston University, and spent many summers at the Meadowmount Summer School of Music. His primary cello instructors include Owen Carman, Tanya Carey, and Leslie Parnas.
He has served as principal cellist of several orchestras, including the Chautauqua Music Festival Orchestra and the Lansing Symphony, and for three years played with the New World Symphony Orchestra. He has also been a member of the Metropolitan Orchestra of Lisbon, Portugal, where he was the cellist of the Fidelio String Quartet of Portugal. Mr. Kremer also served as cellist in the Honolulu and the Savannah Symphony Orchestras, the Sun Valley Summer Symphony, and is currently with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra. He also served for several years as adjunct music faculty at the College of Charleston. He now teaches cello privately at home, where he and his wife, CSO violinist Asako Kremer, are raising their three children. Mr. Kremer and his wife comprise the Kremer Duo, which performs recitals frequently in Japan, where the Kremer family enjoys much of their summer vacation time.
Julia Harlow is the Director of Music and Organist at Second Presbyterian Church in downtown Charleston, SC and teaches music (ear training, organ, and world music) at the College of Charleston.
Originally from Iowa, her doctoral and masters degrees in organ and harpsichord performance are from the University of Oregon. She served on the board of the American Guild of Organists for 11 years.