Two, Three, Four & Five:
Members of the Jupiter Chamber Ensemble
with Olga Rakitchenkov (harp)
play Andriasov, Beethoven & Golubev
Sunday 12 Mar 2017 at 7:00pm The Berkeley Hillside Club is pleased to present all the members of the Jupiter Chamber Ensemble, along with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra’s Principal Harpist Olga Ortenberg-Rakitchenkov, performing a wonderful, diverse program featuring a string trio by Beethoven, and several works by 20th Century Russian composers Iosif Andriasov and Evgeny Golubev, including Golubev's famous Quintet for Harp and String Quartet. Don't miss these remarkable artists performing in our historic and acoustically-excellent hall. The Artists: Victor Romasevich - violin, piano Michael Jones - violin Stephen Levintow - viola Paul Rhodes - cello Olga Rakitchenkov - harp The Program: String Quartet in D Major, Op.1 (1954) - Iosif Andriasov (1933-2000) Jupiter Chamber Ensemble 3 Sketches for Cello and Piano - Iosif Andriasov Op. 4B (1955) Op. 24C (1970) Op. 30B "Meditation" (1981) Paul Rhodes, cello Victor Romasevich, piano String Trio in C minor, Op. 9 No 3 (1797-98) - Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Victor Romasevich, violin Stephen Levintow, viola Paul Rhodes, cello Quintet for Harp and String Quartet in C minor, Op. 39 (1953) - Evgeny Golubev (1910-1988) Olga Rakitchenkov, harp Jupiter Chamber Ensemble
About the Artists: Victor Romasevich was born in Minsk, Belarus. His mother, Lena Lubotsky, began teaching him piano at the age of four. When five, he started violin studies with Anna Silberstein. At six, he enrolled in the violin class of Mikhail Garlitsky and Lev Sharinov at The Gnesin Music School in Moscow. As a youth he studied violin with Rostislav Dubinsky of the Borodin Quartet. He continued his training at the Moscow Conservatory with Boris Belenky and Nadia Beshkina. Following Romasevich’s emigration to the United States in 1977, he studied at Juilliard with Ivan Galamian. In 1979 he became a violin and viola pupil of the composer and philosopher Iosif Andriasov. Winner of the Gina Bachauer Prize at the 1985 J.S. Bach International Competition, Romasevich joined the San Francisco Sympohony as Associate Principal Violist in 1990, and in 1992 moved to the First Violin section. He appears frequently in recitals and chamber concerts as a violinist, violist and keyboard player. Micheal Jones studied with Jorja Fleezanis and Andor Toth. With John Burke and cellist Gwyneth Davis, he was a longtime member of the piano trio I Gatti Freschi. He is second violinist of the Jupiter String Quartet, of which he was a founder. Stephen Levintow studied viola at Juilliard with the late Paul Doktor and chamber music with Samuel Rhodes of the Juilliard Quartet. For many years he has been a free lance musician in the Bay area, with an emphasis on chamber music. He and Michael Jones co-founded the Jupiter Chamber Players in 1997. Cellist Paul Rhodes received the Bachelor of Arts in Music from Dominican College, where he studied with Margaret Rowell, and the Master of Music from the University of Texas at Austin after studies with Paul Olefsky. Paul is a member of the Oakland-East Bay Symphony and,in the summer, the Carmel Bach Festival. Locally, he has worked with the symphonies of Berkeley, Marin, California, Sacramento and San Jose as well as with the New Century Chamber Orchestra, Santa Cruz Baroque Festival, and Earplay. Outside the area he has appeared with the San Antonio Symphony, Brandywine Baroque, Orchestra of Santa Fe, Reinische Philharmonie, and the Jugend im Musik festival in Vienna. San Francisco Opera Orchestra’s Principal Harpist Olga Ortenberg-Rakitchenkov was born in Russia into a family rich in musical tradition. Her mother was an editor of Musica, a major Russian publishing company, and her granduncle was a member of the Budapest Quartet. The former Associate Concertmaster of the San Francisco Opera, Adolf Bruk, is her uncle. Olga started piano lessons at seven at Moscow’s Gnesin School for Musically Gifted Children. At eleven, she began to study harp in the class of Mark Rubin, making it her primary instrument. She graduated with Highest Honors from Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Conservatory, studying with Professor Vera Dulova. Olga won the position of Associate Principal Harp in the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra in 1973 and was promoted to Principal. In 1989, after immigration to the United States, she won the position of Principal Harp for the San Francisco Opera Orchestra. Olga performs much contemporary chamber music, and she has premiered works by Schnittke, Denisov, and Smirnov. Ms. Rakitchenkov has participated in international festivals and congresses and was the first prize winner of the 1974 International Competition of Harpists in Geneva. She toured as a soloist with the Orchestra de la Suisse Romaine and with orchestras in Melhause, Basel, and Schauffhausen. Her performances were broadcast on radio and television in Russia, France and Switzerland.