FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 18, 2013
Contact: Paula Mlyn
DUO SONIDOS CONTINUES SUCCESSFUL 2012-2013 CONCERT SEASON WITH A SPRING TOUR OF THE MIDWEST AND AN APPEARANCE AT THE QUEENS NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL,
NEW YORK CITY
Midwest tour from March 17-21 includes concerts with Pilgrim Chamber Players of Chicago, Indiana University South Bend, Chamber Music North of Traverse City, MI, and University of Wisconsin-Parkside in Kenosha, WI
Duo Sonidos performs on the Queens New Music Festival, New York City,
on May 19, 2013, 3 pm
Programs will include the world premieres of two commissioned duos: Funk by Jorge Muñiz and Jardin Bajo La Luna (Moonlight Garden) by David Del Puerto
NEW YORK, NY - Praised for their “stunning performances” by BBC Music Magazine, American chamber ensemble Duo Sonidos, featuring violinist William Knuth and classical guitarist Adam Levin, will conclude their successful 2012-2013 US touring season in with a four-city tour of the Midwest from March 17-21, including Pilgrim Chamber Players in Chicago, IL (March 17, 3pm), Indiana University South Bend, IN (March 19, 7:30 pm), Chamber Music North in Traverse City, MI (March 20, 7:30 pm), and University of Wisconsin-Parkside, Kenosha, WI (March 21, 7:30 pm). Duo Sonidos will also perform at the second annual Queens New Music Festival in New York City on May 19, 2013, 3 pm.
Advancing their mission to expand the chamber music repertoire with newly commissioned violin and guitar duos, Duo Sonidos will present the world premiere of Funk (2011) by Spanish composer Jorge Muñiz on Tuesday, March 19, 2013, 7:30 pm, at Indiana University South Bend’s Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts (where Muñiz also teaches on the music faculty). Funk is a respectful homage to great masters of the guitar and bass like Jimi Hendrix and Bootsy Collins. Funk will be performed also on the programs at Chamber Music North, March 20, and the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, March 21.
Duo Sonidos concludes their successful 2012-13 with an engagement on the second annual Queens New Music Festival in New York City on Sunday, May 19, 2013, 3 pm, at The Secret Theatre (44-02 23rd Street, Long Island City, Queens). The program will feature the world premiere of a suite for violin and guitar, Jardin Bajo La Luna (Moonlight Garden) (2011) by David Del Puerto. Also at the Queens New Music Festival, Duo Sonidos will also present the US premiere of Tre Divertimenti by Salvador Brotons (arranged for violin and guitar by the composer) and Duo Sonidos’ commissioned score Volavérunt: Homage to Francisco Goya by Eduardo Morales-Caso, recorded on their debut album. Adam Levin will also perform the US or New York premieres of several commissioned solo guitar pieces by contemporary Spanish composers, works that will be featured on his first Naxos CD release, 21st Century Spanish Guitar, Volume 1 (April 30, 2013).
Established at New England Conservatory in 2006 by William Knuth and Adam Levin, Duo Sonidos has performed extensively in Europe and the United States. From 2008-2011, the Duo performed extensively in Europe while Knuth and Levin were studying as Fulbright Scholars in Vienna and Madrid, respectively. In 2010, Duo Sonidos released their self-titled debut CD featuring musicby Astor Piazzolla, Manuel de Falla, Salvador Brotons, plus the premiere recording of Volavérunt by Eduardo Morales-Caso. Duo Sonidos subsequently won first prize at the 2010 Luys Milan Chamber Music Competition in Valencia, Spain, followed by a national tour.
Their debut CD has received considerable critical acclaim in the media. American Record Guide wrote “All these performances are outstanding. Knuth plays violin with perfect intonation, a wide range of timbre, sprightly rhythm, expressive phrasing, and great sensitivity. He never overwhelms his partner… and his affinity for this music is ideal. Levin is every bit as fine. This is exquisite music-making… an exciting discovery, recommended to all lovers of great chamber music playing.”
BBC Music Magazine cited Duo Sonidos with a prestigious US Choice Selection in May 2012. Music critic Julian Haylock wrote, “How refreshing to encounter two gifted young American musicians playing the Histoire du Tango with a loose-limbed, easy virtuoso ‘cool’ and beguiling tonal warmth that combines laid-back intuitiveness with classical sophistication… stunning performances from Duo Sonidos.”
Duo Sonidos returned to the US full time in 2011 and began concertizing nationally with appearances on WFMT/Chicago’s Live at Mayne Stage, the New York City Classical Guitar Society’s Second Sunday Series, Saratoga ArtsFest, a return engagement at Boston GuitarFest from artistic director Eliot Fisk, the Chicago Latino Music Festival, the 2013 Association of Arts Presenters national conference in New York City, and a Texas debut on January 26, 2013 at the University of Texas-Dallas.
Upcoming projects for Duo Sonidos in 2013-2014 include plans to record their second album of folk-inspired music by Bartok, Szymanowski, Foss, Montsalvatge, and Moonlight Garden by David Del Puerto. The duo will make major city debuts at the Music Center at Strathmore in Washington, DC, the Chamber Music Society of Detroit, among others.
CONCERT CALENDAR – SPRING TOUR, 2013
Pilgrim Chamber Players
Sunday, March 17, 3 pm
Highland Park Community House, Chicago, IL
Tickets: $20 Adults, $16 Seniors, $8 Students
Indiana University South Bend
Tuesday, March 19, 7:30 pm
Recital Hall, South Bend, IN
Tickets: $9 Adults, $5 Seniors, FREE for Students and IUSB Faculty/Staff with ID
Chamber Music North
Wednesday, March 20, 7:30 pm
The Inn at Black Star Farms, Suttons Bay, MI
Tickets: $25 + optional pre-concert dinner available for $30 with reservations
University of Wisconsin-Parkside
Thursday, March 21, 7:30 pm
Main Stage Theatre, Kenosha, WI
Tickets: $21.50-$25.50
Queens New Music Festival
Sunday, May 19, 3 pm
The Secret Theatre, Long Island City, New York
Tickets: $20 (on sale April 16, 2013)
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Adam Levin has been praised by renowned American guitarist Eliot Fisk as a “virtuoso guitarist and a true 21st century renaissance man with the élan, intelligence, charm, tenacity and conviction to change the world.” Levin’s debut album, In the Beginning, was praised as “absolutely thrilling…will dazzle and entertain at every possible opportunity” by Minor 7th Acoustic Guitar Music Reviews.
Levin has embarked on expanding the guitar’s repertoire through collaborations with thirty renowned contemporary Spanish composers. His second album, Music from Out of Time featured world premiere recordings by contemporary Spanish composers Eduardo Morales-Caso, Leonardo Balada, Mario Gosalvez-Blanco, David Del Puerto, and José María Sánchez Verdú. His most recent solo recording on Verso Records, Fuego de la Luna, showcased the complete guitar works of Eduardo Morales-Caso. In September 2012, production begins on a four-volume solo CD series on the Naxos label and a companion publication with Brotons y Mercadal Edicions Musicals, presenting the thirty Spanish works commissioned while in residency in Spain from 2008-2011.
Levin has performed across the United States and Europe at renowned venues such as Chicago’s Pick Staiger and Mayne Stage concert halls, at the Palazzo Chigi Saracini in Italy, Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and Jordan Hall, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Berlin Universität für Musik und darstellende Künst, the Barcelona Auditorio Axa, and in Madrid at the Palacio de Godoy, BBVA Palacio del Marqués de Salamanca, and Sala Manuel de Falla.
The recipient of numerous top prizes, Adam Levin has been recognized by the Society of American Musicians, the Lake Forest Concerto Competition, Minnesota’s Schubert Competition, Boston GuitarFest, Concurso Internacional de les Corts para Jóvenes Intérpretes in Barcelona, Concurso Internazionale Di Gargnano, and Certamen Internacional Luys Milan de Guitarra in Valencia. Levin has been guest artist on a variety of music series, including Madrid’s Sociedad Española de Guitarra, Conciertos en Palacios and Festival Clásicos en Verano, Valencia’s Amigos de la Guitarra, Boston GuitarFest, L’Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, and Festival Pro Música e Cultura in St. Moritz.
In 2005, as part of a fundraising effort for Hurricane Katrina victims, Levin directed the Concert for Gulf-Coast Aid, which raised $10,000 for hurricane relief. In 2007-2008, Levin was awarded an Albert Schweitzer Fellowship, encompassing 200 hours of innovative community work in Boston area schools, homeless shelters, rehabilitation centers, halfway houses, and prisons. In 2008, Levin was honored as a Fulbright Scholar in the field of music performance, researching contemporary Spanish guitar repertoire in Madrid. In collaboration with the Spanish and American embassies, Levin has continued outreach performances in Madrid at a number of bilingual school programs, introducing both American and Spanish classical guitar repertoire to students. In 2009, he was awarded the Program for Cultural Cooperation Fellowship, promoting cultural understanding between Spain and the United States. In May 2010, Levin was awarded the Kate Neal Kinley Fellowship, continuing his research and performance of contemporary Spanish music in Madrid.
A native of Chicago’s North Shore, Levin holds BM and BA degrees from Northwestern University in Music Performance, Psychology, and Pre-Med. Under the tutelage of Eliot Fisk, Levin completed a MM at New England Conservatory in Boston. His esteemed teachers have included Oscar Ghiglia, Gabriel Estarellas, Anne Waller, Mark Maxwell, and Paul Henry. Levin was professor of guitar at Amadeus Escuela de Música in Madrid, Spain and is currently the co-director of the music program, Boston Guitar Immersion, which offers comprehensive guitar instruction to independent schools.
William Knuth, violinist, has earned recognition for his artistry as a solo and chamber musician and has been praised by American Record Guide for his “perfect intonation, wide range of timbre…expressive phrasing, and great sensitivity.” Mr. Knuth spent two years as a US Fulbright grantee to Vienna, Austria studying at the Vienna Universitat fur Musik und darstellende Kunst. He was a featured performer multiple times for members of the United Nations Council as well as foreign ambassadors from Russia, Spain, Germany, and Austria.
In addition to his international touring as a member of Duo Sonidos with Adam Levin, William has participated in various international festivals and academies including the Internationale Sommer Akademie Prague-Vienna- Budapest, the IMPULS New Music Ensemble Akademie with the Vienna Klangforum Orchestra, and the Juilliard International Akademie at the Hochschule fur Musik in Leipzig, Germany. Mr. Knuth has traveled and performed in central Europe at notable venues such as the Bösendorfer Hall and Antonio Vivaldi Hall in Vienna, the Mendelssohn House in Leipzig, Germany, the Instituto Internacional of Madrid, and the Berliner Ensemble in Berlin. Recent concerts in the US have included performances in New York’s Carnegie Hall, Columbia University’s Miller Theater, Boston’s Jordan Hall, Boston Symphony Hall, Harvard Sanders Theater, Boston WGBH Radio, Chicago WFMT Radio, NPR Radio, Mayne Stage Chicago, guest solo appearances with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, the Boston International Guitarfest, and ensemble work with Discovery Ensemble (Associate Concertmaster), Signal Ensemble. Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, The Harvard Group for New Music, June in Buffalo festival, and the Ojai Festival.
William holds a MM degree at the New England Conservatory of Music where he studied with Nicholas Kitchen of the Borromeo Quartet, a Fulbright certificate for work with Ernst Kovacic at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts, and a BM in violin with a minor in German from the Eastman School of Music and the University of Rochester where he was a student of Lynn Blakeslee and the Ying Quartet. William completed his preparatory studies under the tutelage of James Krehbiel in Syracuse, NY.
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