Southampton - The Southampton Cultural Center announces a concert performance by the Southampton Cultural Center Chamber Players on Sunday, March 20 at 3 p.m. as part of the Southampton Cultural Center Chamber Music Series. Tickets will be sold online and at the door: $20/$10 students. Credit cards will be accepted online and credit cards, cash and checks will be accepted at the door. Primary Contact: Southampton Cultural Center at 631-287-4377. For series details contact Marc Levine at 646-279-2799; mhlevine@gmail.com.

French Classics
An intimate concert of sonatas by Debussy, Faure and Messiaen with the Ravel piano trio as a centerpiece. With Marc Levine, violin; Aron Zelkowicz, cello; Vanessa Fadial, piano.

Levine's (violin) versatile performances have been described as "eloquent as well as technically superb combining technical mastery with emotional perceptiveness and beautiful sound" (Southampton Press). He is artistic director of the Southampton Cultural Center Chamber Music Series, has performed at Carnegie Hall and Symphony Space, and has been a member of several notable groups including the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble and The New Tango Project, with whom he recorded in collaboration with the Center for Contemporary Opera. As a baroque violinist, Levine was a prizewinner in the 2008 American Bach Soloists International Competition for Baroque Violin and has performed with top baroque ensembles, including Concert Royal, the Lyra Baroque Orchestra, the Aulos Ensemble, and Early Music New York, a group with which he has served as principal second violin and recorded on the Ex Cathedra label. Marc is a founding member of the baroque ensemble Flying Forms, known for innovative, interdisciplinary performances and considered "names to watch" (Berkshire Review for the Arts) and "the bright future of early music" (Arthur Haas, harpsichord).

Vanessa Fadial. (Courtesy Photo: SHCC)

Zelkowicz has been recognized by critics, audiences, and colleagues alike for his ability to communicate with audiences, students, and communities. With a career encompassing a broad range of activities as a cellist, performer, teacher, and administrator, he has cultivated a repertoire both classical and ethnic, familiar and obscure. He currently serves as the Founder and Director of the Pittsburgh Jewish Music Festival, which presents rare and diverse works from Jewish musical traditions to Pittsburgh audiences every spring. Currently in its seventh season, the Festival has featured renowned ensembles and guest artists from the orchestral, chamber, early music, rock, and world music genres in innovative and thematic programs. Under his guidance the Festival has commissioned several works from major composers, received major grants and mainstream critical acclaim, and has been featured in full-length radio and cable television broadcasts.

As a chamber and orchestral musician, Zelkowicz has performed at the Tanglewood, Banff, Aspen, Sarasota, Chautauqua, Colorado, and Sunflower music festivals, the New York String Orchestra and Juilliard Quartet Seminars, with members of the Emerson and Cleveland Quartets, and on European and American tours with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Zelkowicz enjoys relating directly to both adults and children with outreach programs and personal introductions to his concerts, as he has done with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra in South Carolina, the Proteus Ensemble, Piccolo Spoleto's Spotlight chamber music series, as well as his own Pittsburgh Jewish Music Festival. He has served for several summers on the faculties of Point Counterpoint Chamber Music Camp in Vermont and the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina as a teacher and coach to young string players. Highlights of the current 2009-2010 season include appearances in Grand Rapids, Terre Haute, Pittsburgh, and Southampton as well as New York City.

Marc Levine. (Courtesy Photo: SHCC)

Born in Ottawa, Canada, Zelkowicz grew up in Pittsburgh and received degrees from the Eastman School of Music (BM), Indiana University (MM), and most recently SUNY Stony Brook (DMA), where his major teachers included Anne Martindale Williams, Paul Katz, Steven Doane, Janos Starker, and Colin Carr. He plays a cello made in 1705 by Giovanni Grancino and resides in New York City.

Fadial's warmth and sensitivity as a pianist have endeared her to audiences and students alike in New York City, where she is in demand as a teacher, soloist, and chamber musician. She is on the roster of the Golden Key Salon Series at the Bechstein Piano Centre, making her debut on the series last season, and is a former member of the New York-based chamber group the Circadia Ensemble, with whom she performed at Christ and St. Stephen's Church, the Bloomingdale House, and the Hudson Theater. Fadial's concerts on the Faculty Artist Series at the Third Street Music School Settlement, where she has taught for over a decade, have become full-house events marked by stimulating programs and high quality collaborations, including those with her brother, violinist John Fadial.

As a teacher, Fadial provides her students with a wide ranging knowledge, encourages them to collaborate with other musicians, and enthusiastically shows how music can be a valuable and enjoyable part of a fulfilling, well-rounded life. She is a former faculty member of the Point CounterPoint Chamber Music Camp in Vermont. In addition to a DMA from Stony Brook University, Fadial holds degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music and Oberlin Conservatory. She twice attended the summertime program at the Banff Centre for the Performing Arts on fellowship.