Current Season Guests, Performer, Pianist
Nico Giacalone started his musical career under the direction of Ana Maria Trenchi Bottazzi and Bruno Bottazzi in Manhasset, New York. With the Bottazzi’s he debuted for the first time as a performer in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. He showed promise as a musician when he gave his first solo recital at the age of 10. Nicolas continued his studies at the Aaron Copland School of Music under Proffesor Jeffrey Biegel and Professor Nina Lelchuk where he completed his undergraduate degree in Piano Performance. Following this he studied in Italy with Massimiliano Ferrati and Alessandro Taverna.
He won the Aaron Copland School of Music Concerto Competition and performed Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini with the ACSM Orchestra the following year. He also performed Rhapsody in Blue with the ACSM Wind Ensemble and later, with the Conservatorio di Musica Agostino Stefani Orchestra under the direction of Dr. Ernest Hoetzl and Maestro Roberto Zarpellon in Castelfranco Veneto and Treviso. He has also performed with the Circle Symphony Orchestra.
Nico has performed many times in different halls in New York City, New England, and abroad. He has performed at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Cami Hall, Steinway Hall, the Goethe Institute, St. Peter’s Church, the National Arts Club, and the House of the Redeemer; in Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood in Lenox, Massachusetts; in Padua, Cittadella, Castelfranco, Treviso and Villa Contarini in Piazzola; in Kötschach-Mauthen, Austria; and Taipei, Taiwan.
From 2014-2019 and 2023, Nico studied at the International Keyboard Institute and Festival. He was awarded a scholarship and studied under pianists Jerome Rose, Jeffrey Swann, Ilya Yakushev, and Jean-Efflam Bavouzet.
Nico has been recording music for the past four years. His most notable releases include the minor Mozart Sonatas, Beethoven’s Sonata Op. 109, Liszt’s Funérailles, and coming soon the Four Ballades of Chopin. His recordings can be found on Spotify and YouTube.
Nico Giacalone has recently won second prize in the International Mozart Competition in Vienna. He also graduated this past year with a Master’s Degree from the Mannes Conservatory and was awarded the Steinway Award for outstanding work as a performer and supportive classmate.
Performer, Pianist
David Oei was a soloist with the Hong Kong Philharmonic at the age of nine and has since performed with major orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore Symphonies. Mr. Oei is the winner of five Interlochen Concerto Competitions and the Concert Artists Guild, WQXR Young Artists, Young Musicians Foundation and Paul Ulanowsky Chamber Pianists Awards. A perennial fixture on the New York City chamber music scene he has made guest appearances with the Audubon Quartet, Strathmere Ensemble, Claring Chamber Players, Friends of Mozart, Da Capo Chamber Players, New York Philharmonic Ensembles, St. Luke’s and Orpheus Chamber Ensembles and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. In 2012 he performed the Mozart Concerto K.466 and the Brahms Concerto No. 1 with the Strathmere Festival Orchestra.
Founding director of the Salon Chamber Soloists and a founding member of the Aspen Soloists, Festival Chamber Music and the Intimate P.D.Q. Bach he is also currently a member of the Elysium Chamber Ensemble, LED Trio and the HD Duo with pianist Helene Jeanney besides enjoying a longtime collaboration with violinist Chin Kim. A former regular artist at Bargemusic and Chamber Music Northwest he has performed at various festivals including Caramoor, Sitka, Bard, Gretna, Seattle, Washington Square and Kuhmo (Finland). Mr. Oei is an Affiliate Artist of Innovative Music Programs, a company that develops and implements creative ideas with people in the visual and performing arts the world over.
His television credits include “Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts”, “CBS News Sunday Morning” and the “Today Show”. He has recorded a wide range of chamber works for Delos, ADDA, Vanguard, CRI, Pro Arte, Arabesque, Albany, Grenadilla, Festival Chamber Music and New World Records. Mr. Oei was the Music Director and Production Advisor for Music-Theatre Group’s productions of Stanley Silverman and Richard Foreman’s “Africanis Instructus” and “Love and Science”. He was also the Music Director for the Sundance Theater Workshop production of the Wallace/Foreman opera “Yiddisher Teddy Bears”. In the summer of ’07 he conducted the Washington Square Festival Chamber Orchestra in a Gershwin/Weill concert titled “Music as Political Statement” and has since recorded the Strauss and Rachmaninoff Sonatas for cello and piano with Ruth Sommers and “The Lay of Love and Death of the Cornet Christoph Rilke” by Viktor Ullmann for piano and speaker with Lutz Rath. His first duo CD with Eriko Sato titled “Five Not-So-Easy Pieces” has been release on their new label Prestissimo.
A former affiliated teacher at SUNY Purchase and the Volunteers Coordinator and Head Coach for Manhattan Special Olympics, Mr. Oei is a faculty member of Summertrios, Bennington Chamber Music Conference, Hoff-Barthelson Music School and the Mannes College Of Music. He is also a member of Alaria, Mannes Extension Division’s ensemble-in-residence, which has offered the Chamber Music At Mannes program and an annual Weill Recital Hall series for over two decades. Mr. Oei lives in NYC with his wife, violinist Eriko Sato, and their pit bull mix, Jazz.
www.davidoei.weebly.com
Performer, Pianist
Hailed for his “splendid powers of concentration” (The Washington Post) and performances that are “exciting to watch and hear” (The San Diego Union-Tribune), Michael Mizrahi has won acclaim for his compelling performances of a wide-ranging repertoire and his ability to connect with audiences of all ages. He has appeared as concerto soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and music educator across the United States and in Europe.
Mr. Mizrahi has performed as soloist with the Houston Symphony, National Symphony, Haddonfield Symphony, Sioux City Symphony, and Prince Georges Philharmonic Orchestra, performing in venues such as the Kimmel Center, the Kennedy Center, and Houston’s Jones Hall. In 2005 Mizrahi appeared as soloist in Mozart’s Piano Concerto K488 with the Curtis Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Leon Fleisher. Mizrahi is a founding member of the Moët Trio, which is quickly establishing itself as one of today’s most exciting young piano trios. The Moët Trio is in residence at the New England Conservatory this season. Equally at home with contemporary music, Mizrahi is a founding member of NOW Ensemble, a chamber group devoted to the commissioning and performing of new music by emerging composers. A winner of Astral Artistic Services’ 2005 National auditions, Mizrahi joined Astral’s artist roster that year.
In January 2007 Mizrahi was selected to join The Academy: A Program of Carnegie Hall, the Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute (ACJW). Under the auspices of this ground-breaking new program, Mizrahi teaches music at a New York City public school one and-a-half days a week, participates in workshops with leading classical musicians and entrepreneurs, and appears with other Academy members in chamber music concerts at Carnegie Hall and throughout New York City.
Michael Mizrahi began piano studies at the age of four. He received a B.A. in music and religion from the University of Virginia and a Doctoral degree in piano performance from the Yale School of Music. Former teachers include Robert Wyatt, Eric Himy, Mary Kathleen Ernst, and George Francois.
Performer, Pianist
Christopher Guzman, of San Antonio, Texas, has won top prizes in numerous competitions, given solo and chamber music recitals throughout America, Europe and Asia and performed with orchestras throughout the United States.
Mr. Guzman made his orchestral debut at the age of thirteen and subsequently performed Prokofiev’s Concerto No. 3 in C Major with orchestras in Texas, North Carolina, and New Mexico. He has also performed with the EOS Orchestra of New York City, the Fort Worth Symphony and extensively with the San Antonio Symphony.
At The Juilliard School, he is the only current student to have performed with the Juilliard Orchestra three times: in Avery Fisher Hall under the direction of Andrew Litton, in Alice Tully Hall under Jeffrey Milarsky, and in Spoleto, Italy, under Jonathan Sheffer. In addition to these performances, Mr. Guzman is also a member of the school’s New Juilliard Ensemble; in November 2002, he performed John Cage’s Concert for Piano and Orchestra with the New Juilliard Ensemble at the Festival Whynote! in Dijon, France.
Mr. Guzman is an avid chamber musician, and has performed chamber music throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. Recently he has performed with other musicians in the Juilliard Theater, Columbia University’s Miller Theater, Alice Tully Hall, Leipzig’s Gewandhaus, as part of the Artists Ascending Concert Series of Memphis, Tennessee, the Festival dei Due Mondi of Spoleto, Italy, the Vancouver Recital Series, and San Francisco Performances.
He has toured Japan twice with acclaimed violinist Ilya Gringolts, including a debut in Suntory Hall, Tokyo. In October of 2002 he was featured with Gringolts on NPR’s “Saint Paul Sunday,” performing a recital of Bartok, Dvorak and Ravel. Mr. Guzman is currently studying with Jerome Lowenthal and Robert McDonald at The Juilliard School.
Performer, Pianist
Pianist DANIEL EPSTEIN received international acclaim in 1973 with his performances of the Yellow River Concerto – the first piece of Chinese classical music to be performed in the United States – in a series of concerts and RCA debut recording with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Since then, he has become recognized as one of the most vital and versatile solo and chamber pianists of his generation, as well as an articulate communicator and educator.
Winner of the prestigious Kosciuszko Chopin Award, the National Arts Club Prize, the Prix Alex de Vries at the Marguerite Long Competition, in Paris, and the Concert Artists Guild Award — which afforded him his Carnegie Hall debut recital — Epstein was also selected for an NEA Recitalist Grant to perform recitals throughout the US. He has appeared as guest soloist with such eminent American orchestras as Philadelphia, San Francisco, Houston, Detroit, and Rochester. He has given recitals at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and the 92nd Street Y as well as in major cities throughout the US, complemented by master classes and intensive seminars for pianists at colleges and universities. He has also toured in China, Japan and Europe.
As pianist and founding member of the famed Raphael Trio, since 1975, he has performed virtually the entire piano trio repertoire. The Trio has appeared regularly in New York’s Carnegie and Town Halls, The Kennedy Center in Washington, London’s Wigmore Hall, Vienna, Paris, Geneva, Budapest, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, as well as numerous other musical centers throughout the U.S. and Europe. The Trio’s recordings of Beethoven, Dvorak, Mendelssohn, and Wolf-Ferarri have received wide critical and public praise. He has collaborated with many renowned string quartets, including the Ying, American, and Talich, and has played with members of the Juilliard and Guarneri quartets as well as many other distinguished chamber musicians and soloists.
In the fall of 2004, Mr. Epstein was invited to Shanghai, China, serving as visiting faculty at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. He has visited China since then at least annually, performing and teaching in the conservatories of Shanghai, Beijing (Central) Xi’an and performing recitals and concerti. In the summer of 2017 he performed the Yellow River Concerto for the first time in China at the Xiamen International Piano Festival.
Additional recent performances have included the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Broadway Bach Ensemble in May, 2017, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue in September of 2017 with the Rutgers Symphony Orchestra, and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in March of 2018 with the Bartlesville OK Symphony.
Mr. Epstein has been a member of the piano faculty of the Mason Gross School of Music at Rutgers University since 2007 and Manhattan School of Music since 2001. In February of 2018 he was appointed Head of Keyboard at Rutgers.
Daniel Epstein’s unique and comprehensive teaching style has made him one of the most sought-after teachers in the United States. Among his current and former students are major competition prizewinners, performers with major conductors and symphony orchestras throughout the world, and recording artists on major record labels.
Recordings: RCA, Sony, Albany, Sonar, Nonesuch, Newport Classic, ASV, Unicorn-Kanchana and EMS.
Conductor, Performer, Pianist
Robert Ainsley began his musical career at the age of eleven, studying the piano and violin at Durham School, in England.
He became a Licentiate of Trinity College of Music, London, in solo piano performance at age 17 and won the National Schools’ Chamber Music Competition twice. Rob won the organ scholarship to St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, where he studied with Dr Peter Hurford, Dr John Butt, and David Sanger and directed the chapel choir for three years, conducting and playing in major venues in around the world. In 1999, he graduated with a degree in Mathematics, and later that year was invited to become senior organ scholar at Christ Church, Greenwich, CT.
Since then, he has also served as assistant conductor and accompanist of the New Haven Chorale and Greenwich Choral Society, Musical Director of the Marsh Singers, and completed a master’s degree in solo piano performance at Mannes College of Music, NYC.
After serving as Maestro Joseph Colaneri’s assistant for a year at Mannes College of Music, Mr. Ainsley joined the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at the beginning of the 2003-2004 season. He has just completed his two years in the program, which culminated in his acting as assistant conductor and pianist for Wagner’s Die Walküre with Maestro Valery Gergiev and Placido Domingo this season. Mr. Ainsley will continue to work as a vocal coach, repetiteur and church musician, with the intention of eventually conducting some of the music he enjoys so much.
Performer, Pianist
Christopher Oldfather has devoted himself to the performance of contemporary music for over twenty years. He has participated in innumerable world premiere performances, featuring every possible combination of instruments, in cities all over America. He has been a member of Collage New Music since 1979 and New York City’s Parnassus since 1997.
He appears regularly in Chicago and has joined singers and instrumentalists of all kinds in recitals throughout the United States. In 1986 he presented his recital debut in Carnegie Recital Hall, which then closed immediately for renovations. Since then he has pursued a career as a freelance musician, which has taken him as far afield as Moscow and Tokyo and has seen him play virtually every sort of keyboard ever made, including the Chromelodeon.
He is widely known for his expertise on the harpsichord and is one of the leading interpreters of contemporary works for that instrument. As a soloist Mr. Oldfather has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, the New World Symphony, and Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt, Germany. He has collaborated with the conductor Robert Craft and can be heard on several of his recordings. His recording of Elliott Carter’s violin-piano Duo with Robert Mann was nominated for two Grammy Awards in 1990.
