How I made my profile: I used Dave & Jay's amazing myspace editor.
Gennady Filimonov
violinist and a native of the former Soviet Union, emigrated to the United States at age 10. At age 7, he was accepted at the School of Stoliarsky (school for gifted children in Odessa, which produced such luminaries as David Oistrakh, Emil Gillels, Nathan Milstein and many more). Still in his teens, he made his solo debut playing Lalo’s Symphony Espagnole and was subsequently featured on Robert Sherman’s Young Artists Showcase on WQXR (NYC): Classische Musica (live broadcast) in Meinz Germany and Radio Nationale de France. He has appeared as soloist with, Kensington Philharmonic of London, Manhattan Symphony Orchestra, South Jersey Symphony, Downeast Chamber Orchestra, Jersey City Symphony, Carmel Bach Festival, New York Symphonic Ensemble and Seattle Symphony.
Gennady is a co-founding member of the Opus One Chamber Ensemble in NYC , and is a member of the Odeon String Quartet which was the Lehmann Ensemble-in-Residence at Cornish College of the Arts from 2001-2003, a residency made possible by a generous gift from Thelma Lehmann. He has also been a member of the New York Chamber Symphony at the 92nd St. Y, the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra at Lincoln Center, Musica Sacra, New York Symphonic Ensemble, Manhattan Philharmonic, American Symphony Orchestra, Waterloo Festival Orchestra and has been a member of the Seattle Symphony since 1994. His deep commitment to chamber music, has led to performances throughout the United States, Europe, Japan and Southeast Asia. He has participated in many festivals including the Carmel Bach Festival: Chamber Music Festival of Sintra, Portugal; Bluehill Chamber Music Festival; CCNF Nice, France; Meinz, Germany; Cullowee (SC) Music Festival and Aspen Music Festival.
He has received his Bachelor’s and Master’s of Music Degrees from Manhattan School of Music and was a recipient of the prestigious U.S. Government “Fulbright Grant” to pursue an Advanced Solo Studies Course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, England. Among his numerous awards, Mr. Filimonov has been a recipient of the first prize at the National Arts club of New York Competition, the Pythias Young Artists Competition, The Friends of Mozart Competition, Arthur Schorr Award, Margaret Lowe Award, Jane Gardner Prize, Lusk Memorial Fellowship and Maurice Ravel Prize (France). A highly sought after musician, Gennady has been soloist/concertmaster in collaboration with Rod Stewart, Linda Rondstatt, Tony Bennett, Sarah Brightmann, “Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber” , “Heart” and many others. His film appearances include an award winning motion picture “FAME” and the premier episode of the Equalizer. He is also a prolific studio recording artist. To date, he has performed in over 850 soundtracks including “HEART” Road Home album. Mr. Filimonov’s former teachers include Aaron Rosand, Yfrah Neaman, Burton Kaplan, Stanley Bednar and Koichiro Harada (former 1st violinist of Tokyo String Quartet).
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Artur Girsky
violinist, was born in Riga, Latvia into a family of violinists. He began playing violin at the age of five. He later entered the Special Music School in Riga studying for seven years, and moved to Moscow 1989 where he was accepted in the class of Prof. Maya Glezarova at the Moscow Central Music School. A year later Girsky won the third prize in International Violin Competition of Naples in Italy (Alberto Curci). From 1991 to 1993 he took part in a postgraduate program in Royal College of Music in London, working with Prof. Felix Andrievsky. After returning to Moscow, Girsky became the Concertmaster of the well known '' Moscow Soloists"' Chamber Orchestra under the baton of the world renowned violist Yury Bashmet. In 1997 Girsky moved to the US where he joined Florida Orchestra in Tampa as Principal Second Violin. He has been a member of Seattle Symphony Orchestra since 2006.
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Heather Bentley
Viola, holds Bachelors and Masters degrees in Viola and Chamber Music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She has also attended Indiana University where she studied chamber music with Rostislav Dubinsky of the Borodin Quartet, Joseph Gingold and Menachem Pressler of the Beaux Arts Trio.
Ms. Bentley was a fellow and Principal Violist at the Tanglewood Festival, and was Associate Principal of the New York String Orchestra with Alexander Schneider. She has appeared as soloist with the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra, the Northwest Sinfonietta, the San Francisco Conservatory Orchestra and the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra. Local chamber music performances include appearances with the Seattle Chamber Players, the Olympic Music Festival, Second City Chamber Music Series, and the Bell' Arte Series in Bellevue, as well as the New Performance Group at the Cornish College of the Arts. Ms. Bentley teaches a private class of young violinists and is on the music faculty of the Northwest School.
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Walter Gray
is in his 28th season as a member of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and has been featured several times as a soloist, most recently in the world premier of a new concerto by David Kechley. “Gray played with his usual intensity and flair…the cello’s lyrical possibilities are realized.” (The Seattle Times) Mr. Gray attended the Curtis Institute of Music and was a founding member of the Kronos Quartet. He has been on the faculty of Western Washington University, Cornish College of the Arts and in 1998-99 he spent a highly successful year as a member of the Artist Faculty at the University of North Texas.
Mr. Gray has recorded for Delos, CRI, New Albion, Klavier and Mode. He has also served as Recording Producer for the London Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Northwest Chamber Orchestra, New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra, and the New Performance Group. As a founding member of the new music ensemble Quake, Mr. Gray produced and performed on the CD Seven Mirrors, music of Chinary Ung, on New World Records. Quake was featured last spring in a performance at the Zagreb Biennale, Zagreb, Croatia.
During the summer Mr. Gray has performed at the Santa Barbara Chamber Music Festival. “The evening closed with a shatteringly beautiful rendition of Samuel Barber’s Sonata for Violoncello and Piano (1932) by cellist Walter Gray.” He has been Principal Cello with the New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra for 22 years and recently premiered Voice of the Wood, a concerto for cello quartet and orchestra by Russell Peck. He has also participated in the Marrowstone, Waterloo, Mostly Mozart, Mt. Gretna, Olympic, Cabrillo, and Tidewater Music Festivals.
Influences
Composers:
Beethoven, John Cage,Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Philip Glass, Osvaldo Golijov, Henryk Gorecki, Wayne Horvitz, Thomas Oboe Lee, Laura Kaminsky, Giya Kancheli, Aarvo Part, Astor Piazzolla, Alfred Schnittke, Dmitri Shostakovitch, Marcello Zarvoz, John Zorn.
Collaborators
Bruce Adolph (narator & piano), Eric Barber (Sax), Lisa Bergman (piano), Colorado String Quartet, Alan Dameron, Bill Frissel, Natalie Lerch, soprano, Peter Mack, piano, Roger Nelson, Eyvind Kang (viola), Peggy Lee (cello), Ron Miles (trumpet), Amy Rubin (piano), Tom Swafford (Jazz Violin), Paul Taub (flute), Craig Weaver (cello).
“Just a few seasons old, this young, vibrant group has made a Kronos-like commitment to a 20th century music all over the artistic map – from serialism, evocations of folk and pop music from around the world, American classics and European neo-romanticism, “ wrote music critic Gavin Borchert in the Seattle Weekly. Thus the mission of the acclaimed odeonquartet was noticed early on. Formed in 1999, odeonquartet (their preferred spelling) is comprised of distinguished artists who are dedicated to presenting concerts of the highest artistic quality and building new audiences for chamber music through performances and educational outreach programs.
The artists include Gennady Filimonov 1st violin, Artur Girsky 2nd violin, Heather Bentley viola and Walter Gray cello. The quartet was the Lehmann Ensemble-in-Residence at Cornish College of the Arts from 2001-2003, a residency made possible by a generous gift from Thelma Lehmann. The odeonquartet enjoys featuring works that reflect the diversity of American and International musical styles including fresh and imaginative performances of standard and lesser known masterpieces. Their musical journey often leads them to unusual repertoire, performing music that weaves in threads of tango, American prison blues, Persian folk music, Jazz, Minimalism & European Neo-Romanticism. Odeonquartet has premiered dozens of new works written for them. They also feel just as comfortable playing Mozart, Sibelius, Ravel and Shostakovitch among others. For the past few years the quartet has been at the forefront of groundbreaking events.
In April 2003, Gennady Filimonov of the odeonquartet created and produced, Playing the Game a panel discussion on composition for interactive video which received national attention. The event featured several top composers in the gaming industry: Alistair Hirst, Marty O'Donnell, Jeremy Soule, Ben Houge and Scott Selfon, all award-winning composers in the gaming industry. Topics for discussion included: linear music elements, non-linear elements (game play), compositional elements, programming elements, sound elements/sound design, and internet-based game play. Two time Emmy-Award winning Canadian film score composer Hummie Mann moderated the discussion.
Playing the Game was sponsored by the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences and was co-hosted by the Seattle Composer's Alliance and Cornish College of the Arts. Odeonquartet has also been instrumental in helping launch several prominent chamber music series including: Sound Currents, Simple Measures & the Pilchuck Chamber Music Series. They were the first classical string quartet “ever” to have appeared at Seattle’s own “Triple Door” (one of the hottest Jazz/Night Clubs around).
In 2006, odeonquartet opened the Earshot Jazz Festival along with Wayne Horovitz, Gravitas and Bill Frissel. The odeonquartet has been recipients of the prestigious King County Arts Commission Grant, and have been guests of the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, PONCHO Concert Hall at Cornish College of the Arts, Belle Arte Chamber Music Series, Olympic Chamber Music Festival, the Lopez Center for the Arts in San Juan Islands and the Pilchuk Chamber Music Series. Other appearances include Benaroya Hall, KCTS/PBS, the Gala opening of Experience the Music Project, Seattle Chamber Music Festival with composer/narrator Bruce Adolph, Under Forte Series, KING FM, KSER KUOW/NPR as well as The Triple Door in Seattle with jazz favorites Wayne Horvitz and Robin Holcomb. The odeonquartet is dedicated to nurturing the human spirit by promoting and perpetuating greater understanding through music.
Since 2002 the odeonquartet has had an exclusive artist endorsement agreement with Connolly & Co., Inc on behalf of Thomastik-Infeld company (manufacturers of superior strings for the violin family). The Odeon String Quartet joins the roster of accomplished professionals which include the legendary Pinchas Zukerman, Ann-Sophie Mutter, Modern String Quartet, Turtle Island String Quartet, Chee Yun, American String Quartet, Hilary Hahn among others.
Hello, ODEONQUARTET... Greetings from a band of rock n' roll astronauts for peace. Thanks for letting us land our eco-spaceship on your beautiful planet of magnificent world-class music. Kudos and bravissimi! You are always welcome at dreamland11, our Cosmogaian outpost of social justice, activism, and rock. Peace and friendship, RE-VO
Thank you very much for adding me to your circle of friends. I love your sound, your eclecticism and your commitment to the music of our times.
I would like to invite you to listen to my STRING QUARTET NO. 1 (THE AWAKENING) performed by the St. Lawrence String Quartet and two of my piano trios performed by the Gryphon Trio: ODD WORLD, on my audio player and OLD PHOTOGRAPHS on the Gryphon Trio site (www. myspace. com/gryphontrio.)
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Hi Gennady and group! Thank you for the add. Your recordings sound wonderful! How have you been? Are you still posting on violinist.com? All the best, Nate
