This Thursday night, Spaulding Auditorium will be the site of a rare musical occurrence when world-renowned violinist Pamela Frank appears in concert with both her husband, violinist and violist Andy Simionescu, and her father, pianist Claude Frank.
The three are expected to devote part of the concert to their playing as a trio, with the remainder of the program comprised of the Franks and Simionescu rotating as pairs for duets.
The program will open with Handel's "Sonata in D Major," followed by selections by Prokofieff, Schubert, Mihaud, DeBerio, and Mozart. It will conclude with Handel/Halvorsen's "Passacaglia".
Pamela Frank, 31, has achieved international fame as both a soloist and in chamber ensembles. The Philadelphia-born violinist has performed with distinguished orchestras across the globe, including the New York Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de France and the Israel Philharmonic.
Her touring experience includes a 1996 American tour with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic that included a Carnegie Hall concert. Frank has also performed many recitals at international venues, including Amsterdam, London, Paris, Vienna, and her Carnegie Hall recital debut in 1995.
In addition to musical collaborations with her husband and her father, Frank frequently performs with world-renowned musicians Yo-Yo Ma, Peter Serkin and Tabea Zimmerman.
For the film "Immortal Beloved," Frank recorded the violin music played by Isabella Rossellini's character. Rossellini studied Frank's movements and playing style for the movie.
This year, Frank was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize. This marked the first time in the 25-year history of the award that a woman was the recipient of the high honor.
Alexander Simionescu is also known worldwide as a recitalist and chamber musician, playing both the violin and viola. He has appeared with the symphonies of Houston, North Carolina, Montreal, Vienna, Tokyo and his birthplace, Bucharest, Romania. Various tours have taken him across America, Europe, the Far East, Carnegie Hall and the White House.
Simionescu has been a prolific chamber musician, playing in over 300 concerts with the Bowdoin Trio. He traveled to Japan with the Furusawa Quartet and toured the European capitals and Canada with Mikhail Barishnikov and the White Oak Dance Project.
Simionescu won Top Prize in over two dozen National Young Artist Competitions. He was a Presidential Scholar in the Arts, won the Washington and Concert Artists Guild International Competitions and earned the Silver Medal and Prize for the Commissioned Work at the 1987 Montreal International Violin Competition.
Pianist Claude Frank's distinguished career, like his daughter's and Simionescu's, includes frequent appearances as a soloist and chamber musician. Claude Frank has appeared repeatedly with orchestras from around the world, including the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Jerusalem Symphony and the orchestras of Toronto, Zurich and Frankfurt.
Frank often appears as a recitalist with his wife, pianist Lillian Kallir. The two have performed together at Town Hall in New York City and the Raviana Festival in Chicago.
In addition to performances, Claude Frank has an outstanding reputation as a teacher. He is on staff at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, a professor at the Yale School of Music and an artist-in-residence at Kansas City.
A milestone is Claude Frank's career was the critically acclaimed RCA release of his recordings of 32 Beethoven Sonatas. Frank also appeared on television in ABC's "Beethoven: Ordeal and Triumph!"
Adding to his large recorded body of work, Claude Frank recorded the cycle of Beethoven Violin and Piano Sonatas with his daughter.
The collaboration of these three musicians is sure to yield an interesting and varied performance with the family dynamics of the trio adding a rare dimension to the concert.