Soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian is widely celebrated for her strikingly multihued voice and immense interpretive talent. She is an eagerly anticipated vocalist at major opera houses and concert halls the world over including New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, London, Paris, Vienna, Florence and Salzburg. A distinguished fellow of the Music Academy of the West in 1998, she was a winner in the 1997 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the first winner of the Marilyn Horne Song Competition in 1998, took the First Prize in the 2000 Placido Domingo Operalia vocal competition, and received both Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee and Diamond Jubilee awards. Her Nonesuch CD of the songs of the Armenian composer Gomidas was nominated for a Grammy® in 2009, and in 2002 she was the featured vocalist on the Grammy®-award winning soundtrack of the blockbuster film The Two Towers from The Lord of The Rings trilogy.

St. Lawrence String Quartet

Geoff Nuttall, Violin

Owen Dalby, Violin

Lesley Robertson, Viola

Christopher Costanza, Cello

Established in Toronto in 1989, the St. Lawrence String Quartet quickly earned acclaim at top international chamber music competitions and was soon playing hundreds of concerts per year worldwide. They have served as ensemble-in-residence at Stanford University since 1998.

Program:

Ottorino Respighi: Il tramonto (“The Sunset”), P.101
Osvaldo Golijov: Qohelet (2011) for string quartet
Songs by Leonard Bernstein, arranged by John Greer:
“A Simple Song” (Hymns & Psalm), from MASS
“A Julia de Burgos,” from Songfest
“A Little Bit in Love,” from Wonderful Town
“I Can Cook Too,” from On the Town
TANGOS, arranged by Peter Tiefenbach:
Carlos Gardel: “Por una Cabeza”; “Volver”; “El Día Que Me Quieras”
Astor Piazzolla: “Oblivion”; “Che Tango Che”
Gerardo Matos Rodríguez: “La Cumparsita” (string quartet)
Kurt Weill: “Youkali (Tango Habanera)”
Hans-Otto Borgmann: “Tango Notturno”
Farid al-Atrash: “Ya Zahratan Fi Khayali”
Arno Babajanian: “Chqnagh Yeraz (Du Indz Hamar)”

Sir András Schiff is world-renowned and critically acclaimed as a pianist, conductor, pedagogue and lecturer. He returns to Santa Barbara for his seventh Masterseries appearance in recital. Knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to music, Sir András is one of the piano’s true legends.

“…so successful was the evening that the critic can only throw up his hands, wish you had been there, and quote Ira Gershwin’s endearing tombstone inscription: ‘Words Fail Me.’”  —The New York Times

“Listening to Schiff play is like looking into a running stream and seeing all the colorful, round pebbles beneath the water.”  —San Jose Mercury

“Schiff stands with perhaps only a handful of pianists in his total achievement of the most severe beauty.”  —The Philadelphia Inquirer

Program:

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy: Fantasy in F-sharp minor, Op.28

Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonata No.24 in F-sharp Major, Op.78

Johannes Brahms: 8 Klavierstücke, Op.76

Johannes Brahms: 7 Fantasien, Op.116

Johann Sebastian Bach: English Suite No.6 in D minor, BWV 811

“Peter Serkin is one of the handful of pianist who not only possess a cerebral understanding of the music of our time but the ability to communicate it with feeling. In his hands, even the most formidable works are fluid and expressive.”  — The New York Times

Recognized as an artist of passion and integrity, the distinguished American pianist Peter Serkin has successfully conveyed the essence of five centuries of repertoire. His inspired performances and recordings have been lauded worldwide for decades. Serkin returns for his fifth Masterseries appearance with a apollonian program of Mozart and Bach’s immortal Goldberg Variations.

Program:

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Adagio in B minor, K.540

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Sonata No.17 in B-flat Major, K.570

Johann Sebastian Bach: The Goldberg Variations, BWV 988

Juilliard String Quartet

Joseph Lin, Violin

Ronald Copes, Violin

Roger Tapping, Viola

Astrid Schween, Cello

“Each of the four has a notably beautiful tone, a sound that sings out but also blends. They show a shared understanding of the music they play; every bow stroke adds to its meaning and its integrity.” — Chicago Tribune

Known through its performances and recordings as the quintessential American string quartet, the Juilliard String Quartet returns to Lobero Theatre with new cellist Astrid Schween. In 2011, the multiple Grammy® Award-winning Quartet became the first classical music ensemble to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

Program:

Franz Joseph Haydn: Quartet in D Major, Op.76, No.5

Béla Bartók: Quartet No.5, Sz.102

Dvořák: Quartet No.11 in C Major, Op.61