This side-by-side concert will feature International Center for Music cellist Daniel Veis, pianist Lolita Lisovskaya-Sayevich and violist Christine Grossman performing with the KC Symphony’s first violinist and concertmaster Jun Iwasaki, principal cellist Mark Gibbs and acting associate principal double bassist Richard Ryan. They will present a masterful chamber music program that will include Mendelssohn’s “Piano Trio No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 49,” and Schubert’s “Trout Piano Quintet (Forellenquintett) in A Major, D. 667”.
Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 49 by Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
I Molto allegro agitato
II Molto allegro agitato
III Scherzo. Leggiero e vivace
IV Finale. Allegro assai appassionato
Jun Iwaski, Violin
Mark Gibbs, Cello
Lolita Lisovskaya-Sayevich, Piano
Intermission
The Trout Piano Quintet (Forellenquintett) in A Major, D. 667 by Franz Schubert (1797 – 1828)
I Allegro vivace
II Andante
III Scherzo: Presto
IV Andantino – Allegretto
V Allegro giusto
Jun Iwasaki, Violin
Christine Grossman, Viola
Daniel Veis, Piano
Richard Ryan, Double Bass
Lolita Lisovskaya-Sayevich, Piano
Born into a Tashkent (Uzbekistan) musical family, Lolita Lisovskaya-Sayevich began studying piano at the age of 4. In 1985 she entered the Uspensky Central Music School in Tashkent. In 1993 she started attending a private school for young musicians in Moscow, and that same year received the first prize at the Chopin International Piano Competition in Göttingen, Germany. She entered the Tchaikovsky Special Music School in 1995, and two years later was accepted to the Tchaikovsky Moscow Conservatory under the tutelage of Vera Gornostaeva, with whom she continued postgraduate study from 2002 to 2004. Lisovskaya-Sayevich also studied with Stanislav Ioudenitch at Park University.
Daniel Veis has been widely recognized as the finest Czech cellist since winning the Silver Medal at the prestigious 1978 Tchaikovsky International Competition, Moscow, and the First Prize at the 1976 Prague Spring International Competition.
He started his musical studies in his native Prague and proceeded to the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatoire furthering his studies with the famous Natalia Shakhovskaya, graduating with full distinction.
Since 1979 he has performed regularly as a soloist with many major orchestras in such respected venues as Avery Fisher Hall and Carnegie Hall NY, Royal Albert Hall, Purcell Room, Wigmore Hall and Kings Place (London), Orchard Hall (Tokyo), Auditorí de Barcelona, Auditorio National de Madrid, Neues Gewandhaus Leipzig and Festsaal Dresden and all major halls in Czechoslovakia including Rudolfinum and Smetana Hall in Prague.
Born to a musical family and raised in New York City, Christine Grossman began playing the violin at the age of 5, piano at the age of 10 and viola at 16. She received both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in viola performance from the Juilliard School.
Before moving to Kansas City, Grossman previously held positions with the Pacific Symphony in Southern California, Delaware Symphony and the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, Fla. She has also performed as a substitute violist with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra and St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.
Jun Iwasaki was appointed Concertmaster of the Kansas City Symphony by Music Director Michael Stern and will start at the beginning of the 2022/23 season. A graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music’s prestigious Concertmaster Academy, he has been hailed for his combination of dazzling technique and lyrical musicianship. In a review of Iwasaki’s performance at the Mimir Chamber Music Festival, the Fort Worth Star Telegram called him “the magician of the evening. He could reach into his violin and pull out bouquets of sound, then reach behind your ear and touch your soul.”
Prior to joining the Kansas City Symphony, Iwasaki served as concertmaster of the Nashville Symphony from 2011-2022 and the Oregon Symphony from 2007-11. Throughout his career, he has appeared with numerous other orchestras, including the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Oregon, Symphony, Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Blossom Festival Orchestra, Rome (Georgia) Philharmonic, New Bedford Symphony, Canton Symphony, Richardson Symphony, Cleveland Pops Orchestra, Plano Symphony Orchestra and the Huntsville Symphony. In addition, he has served as guest concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Symphony, Gulbenkian Orchestra (Portugal), São Paulo Symphony Orchestra (Brazil), Santa Barbara Symphony, National Arts Center Orchestra (Ottawa), and Canton (Ohio) Symphony Orchestra.
As chamber musician, Jun has been a part of the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, La Jolla Summerfest, Chamber Music Northwest, Mainly Mozart, Chamber Music International, and Mimir Chamber Music Festival among others.
In addition to teaching at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music, Iwasaki also served as the artistic director of Portland Summer Ensembles in Portland, Oregon, a workshop for young musicians focusing on chamber music.
Richard Ryan grew up near Phoenix, Arizona, always dreaming of becoming a musician. He received his bachelor’s degree in Music Performance from Indiana University and won his first professional orchestra position in the Louisville Orchestra at the age of 20. While in Louisville, Richard was also a staff conductor for the Louisville Youth Orchestra and maintained a private bass studio. Richard joined the Kansas City Symphony in 2011. He has been the bass instructor at the University of Kansas since 2013, and has been the Music Director of the Lenexa Community Orchestra since 2017.
Praised by the Kansas City Star for his “sweet, sensuous tone and sophisticated feel for long-breathed lines,” Principal Cellist Mark Tsuyoshi Gibbs holds the Robert A. Kipp chair in the Kansas City Symphony. Prior to this appointment, Gibbs earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Northwestern University, where he was a student of Hans Jørgen Jensen. While at Northwestern, Gibbs was named principal cellist of the Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago.
Gibbs’ numerous awards include the Northwestern University Civic Scholar Fellowship, the Union League Civic and Arts Foundation Prize, winner of the Northwestern University Bienen School of Music Concerto Competition, first prize in the Music Teachers National Association Collegiate Artist National Competition, and grand prize in the American String Teachers Association National Solo Competition. He has appeared many times as a soloist with the Kansas City Symphony, including twice on Classical Series opening weekend as well as on the Symphony’s 2015 all Saint-Saëns disc from Reference Recordings, which earned a Gramophone editor’s choice and a GRAMMY nomination. Of his 2023 performance(s) of Richard Strauss’ Don Quixote, celebrating Michael Stern’s final season with the KCS, the KC Independent declared that “Principal Cellist Mark Gibbs gave one of the richest, most heart-rending performances of this musical chronicle that I’ve ever heard.”
Gibbs plays on a beautiful modern cello, crafted by Eric Benning in 2008, and a gold-mounted Pierre Guillaume bow. He is proud to be known as a “fine Kansan cellist” (Audiophilia.com) and resides in Overland Park with his wife, Kansas City Symphony Principal Second Violinist Tamamo Someya Gibbs, and their two daughters.