Community Concerts at Second

Elmar Oliveira

The son of Portuguese immigrants, American violinist Elmar Oliveira was nine when he began studying the violin with his brother John, and he later continued his studies with Ariana Bronne and Raphael Bronstein at the Hartt College of Music and the Manhattan School of Music. The only American violinist to win the gold medal at Moscow’s Tchaikovsky International Competition, he was the first violinist to receive the coveted Avery Fisher Prize, and he also won first prizes at the Naumburg and Dealey competitions. He appears throughout the world and has premiered works by such composers as Charles Wuorinen, Joan Tower, Andrzej Panufnik, Benjamin Lees, Leonard Rosenman, Hugh Aitken, and Richard Yardumian, and has performed infrequently heard concertos by Alberto Ginastera, Einoujuhani Rautavaara, and Joseph Joachim.

Among his many recordings is the Grammy-nominated performance of Barber’s Violin Concerto with Leonard Slatkin and the St. Louis Symphony. Of special significance are a CD featuring Oliveira performing on some of the world’s greatest violins (fifteen by Stradivari and fifteen by Guarneri “del Gesu”) and his recording of short pieces spotlighting rare violins from the Library of Congress collection.

Robert Koenig

Pianist Robert Koenig has quickly established a reputation as a much sought-after collaborative pianist and chamber musician. Recent engagements have included performances at Carnegie Hall in New York, The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, The Concertgebuow in Amsterdam, and the Louvre Museum in Paris. He has performed with many of today’s leading artists including Sarah Chang, Hilary Hahn, Pamela Frank, Roberto Diaz, Elmar Oliveira, and Aaron Rosand.

In the fall of 2007 Mr. Koenig assumed his new position as Professor and Head of The Collaborative Piano Program at The University of California in Santa Barbara.

He has recorded for Artek, Ambassador, Biddulph, Cedille, CRI, Decca, Eroica, and Naxos. His most recent CD of transcriptions for viola and piano by William Primrose was released in July/2006 on Naxos with violist Roberto Diaz, and was nominated for “Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without orchestra)” at the 49th annual Grammy Awards in 2007.

Born in Saskatchewan, Canada, Robert Koenig began his formal training at the Vancouver Academy of Music with Lee Kum Sing and Gwen Thompson. He completed both his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Accompanying at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where he studied with Dr. Vladimir Sokoloff and chamber music with Felix Galimir and Karen Tuttle.