Former Young Artist winner pianist Joshua Sawicki is joined by Colorado Symphony principal cellist Silver Ainomäe for an evening of exquisite chamber music including Brahms’ Cello Sonata in F Major and Messiaen’s Praise to the Eternity of Jesus from the Quartet for the End of Time among other selections. Seating is limited, so RSVP to save your spot!
The Duo Recital Program:
• Brahms: “Sonata for cello and piano in F major, op. 99” – (30 mins)
• Messiaen: “Praise to the Eternity of Jesus, from the Quartet for the end of time” – (8 mins)
• Intermission
• Janacek: “Pohadka (fairy tale)” – (10 mins)
• Beethoven: “Sonata for cello and piano no. 3 in A major” – (25 mins)
From his 2000 solo debut with the Estonian National Orchestra, Silver Ainomäe has performed in over 30 countries, including concertos with the Finnish Radio Orchestra, Zürich Chamber Orchestra, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, Polish Radio Orchestra, and the Colorado Symphony. He has won prizes in international cello competitions in Warsaw, Helsinki, and Tongyeong (South Korea) and awards in London and Rome.
Born in Estonia, Silver moved with his family to Finland in 1990. He was accepted into the celebrated Sibelius Academy to study with Hannu Kiiski and Arto Noras, ultimately receiving his Masters degree. He went on to London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama and later to the Razumovsky Academy, where he studied with Oleg Kogan.
Currently Principal Cellist of the Colorado Symphony, Silver has served as guest Principal with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Helsinki Philharmonic, and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.
Visit Silver’s website for more information: silvercello.com.
Joshua Sawicki was born in New Britain, Connecticut, into a family of Polish, French, and Native American descent. He was raised in Unionville, Connecticut, where he began piano lessons at age 4 — and graduated from Farmington High School in 2006. During high school he studied at the Hartt School of Music (Hartford, CT) and won awards in various piano competitions, including the Musical Club of Hartford Piano Competition, Renee B. Fisher Piano Competition, Hartford Young Artists Concerto Competition, the Williams Chorale New England Young Artists Competition, the Audrey Thayer Piano Competition, and was the recipient of the Hartt School’s Jeffrey Quinn Memorial Scholarship.
Since then, Joshua has studied at the Royal College of Music (London, England), Boston University, University of South Florida, the Aspen Music Festival, the Chautauqua International Piano Festival, the International Keyboard Institute and Festival (New York City) and recently finished an Artist Diploma at the Lamont School of Music, where he studied with New York-based pianist Steven Mayer.
Recent awards include 1st place in the Grand Junction Symphony Orchestra concerto competition, 1st place in the Lamont Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, 2nd place at the Artist Series of Sarasota piano competition, the Jacques Abrahms Piano Scholarship, 1st place in the USF Tampa Symphony Orchestra concerto competition, 1st place in the Stephen P. Brown concerto competition, 1st prize for the best performance of the commissioned competition piece (“Starlight,” by David Liptak of the Eastman School of Music) in the 14th Chautauqua International Piano Competition. Joshua was a quarter-finalist in the Sixth Isidor Bajic Piano Memorial Competition (Novi Sad, Serbia), a semi-finalist in the Maria Herrero International Piano Competition, and a finalist in the 15th Chautauqua International Piano Competition.
Recent concerto appearances include d’Indy’s “Symphony on a French Mountain Air” in Denver, Prokofiev’s 3rd Piano Concerto in Denver and in Grand Junction, Brahms’ Second piano concerto in Tampa; Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s “Millennium Fantasy” with the Patel Conservatory Chamber Orchestra. Recent solo performances have been in Novi Sad, Serbia (Isidor Bajic Memorial), Paris, France (Association Philomuses), Utrecht, Netherlands (Utrecht Conservatory), Cambridge, Massachusetts (Boston Ethical Society), Tampa, Florida (Clarion Society, Rutenberg Chamber Festival), and Aspen Colorado (Spotlight Series) and Denver (Playground New Music Ensemble, Newman Center for the Performing Arts), and a world premiere video recording of Geoff Sheil’s “Newport” (2012). Recent chamber performances been with principal members of the Colorado Symphony on Colorado Public Radio, on the Grand Junction Symphony Orchestra chamber series, and with the Playground Ensemble (www.PlaygroundEnsemble.org)
Joshua has performed in masterclasses with Veda Kaplinsky, Niklas Sivelöv, Enrico Elisi, Awagadin Pratt, Rebecca Penneys, Sebastian Colombo, Misha Dichter, Nikki Melville, Boaz Sharon, Dai Uk Lee, John Milbauer, Maria Clodes-Jaguaribe, Margreet Francis, Alexander Korsantia, Jonathan Bass, Sean Duggan, Thomas Schumacher, Theodor Paraskivesco, and the Muir String Quartet.
Besides performing, Joshua is an avid teacher. While in Tampa, he taught piano classes at the University of South Florida, and taught privately at the Tampa Piano Academy and at the Patel Conservatory. Currently he is adjunct faculty at the Community College of Denver, teaches privately in Denver, and is the owner and director of Colorado Music Quest, a music school in Aurora (www.ColoradoMusicQuest.com)
Joshua’s major teachers include Rebecca Penneys, Steven Mayer, John O’Conor, and Svetozar Ivanov. Learn more on his website: joshuasawicki.com.
