Fridman to Open Gold Medal Recital Series

Gold Medal ‘89, a series of eight recitals, as well as a presentation of the opera “Aroldo,” begins the second decade of the Ambassador Auditorium Gold Medal series on Jan. 9 with a performance by cellist Semyon Fridman.

Fridman, who has performed with the Kiev State Philharmonic, the Baltimore Symphony and the Bowdoin Trio, was first-prize winner in the 1987 Concert Artists Guild International New York Competition.

Other recitalists in the series include a Jan. 16 recital by Los Angeles pianist Daniel Shapiro, who in 1988 won the Joanna Hodges International Piano Competition in Palm Desert and the Coleman Chamber Music Competition, as well as first prize in the Young Musicians Debut and International Piano Recording competitions; Jan. 23--soprano Faith Esham, who has performed at the Metropolitan, San Francisco, Santa Fe, New York City and Vienna State operas, as well as La Scala, and the Glyndebourne and Laussane festivals; Feb. 13--Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos, first-prize winner of the 1988 Walter W. Naumburg International Violin Competition, and winner of the 1985 Sibelius Competition in Helsinki and the 1986 Indianapolis International Violin Competition.

Canadian flutist Marina Piccinini appears in recital March 13. And on March 27 soprano Alessandra Marc, who has been a soloist in many orchestra concerts in the United States and abroad and sang this year at Santa Fe Opera, will perform on the series.

Pianist Thomas Lorango appears April 3; violinist Maria Bachmann, a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music who has won numerous competitions, plays at Ambassador, April 10.

Also included in the series is a performance, Jan. 30, of Verdi’s “Aroldo” by Los Angeles Concert Opera Assn., conducted by Anton Guadagno, with singers including Brenda Wimberly, Keith Ikaia-Purdy, Kewei Wang and Mark Coles.