Celebrating Our Seventh Season!
Presented by the Happy Valley Cultural Center under the Artistic Direction of renowned harpist
Heidi Lehwalder.
Chamber On The Mountain honors the traditional
while celebrating the innovative and the intermingling of nascent talent with venerated masters.
How to Help
Would you like to make a Tax-Deductible Contribution to Chamber On The Mountain? You can make a donation online or by check. Click Here to Learn More
at the Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts
8585 Ojai-Santa Paula Rd. (in Upper Ojai)
Ojai, CA 93023 Detailed map and directions
All-Brahms Program:
Piano Sonata No. 3 in F minor, Op. 5
Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1, Op. 78 (arr. for cello and piano)
"Unbewegte Laue Luft" Op. 57, No. 8 (arr. for cello and piano)
Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 2 in F Major, Op. 99
Meet the Artists!
A Reception will follow the performance.
BIOGRAPHY
Zlatomir Fung, Cellist
Photo by Matt Dine
First Prize and Gold Medal, XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition
in St. Petersburg, Russia (2019)
New York WQXR’s "20 for '20 Artists to Watch for the Upcoming Year"
New York Times' "Classical Concerts You Won't Want to Miss!"
First Prize, 2018 Schoenfeld International String Competition
First Prize, 2017 Young Concert Artists International Auditions
Alexander Kasza-Kasser Prize
Rhoda Walker Teagle Concert Prize
Slomovic Soloist Prize
Buffalo Chamber Music Society Prize
Embassy Series Prize
Lied Center of Kansas Prize
Paramount Theater Prize
Sunday Musicale Prize
2017 Astral National Auditions
2016 Presidential Scholar for the Arts
First Prize, George Enescu International Cello Competition (Romania)
First Prize, Irving Klein International Competition
OBERON’S GROVE (New York): "Mr. Fung displayed clean, warmly resonant tone, a gift for dynamic finesse, and a depth of
feeling remarkable in one so young. He established himself as both a poet and virtuoso of the
highest order in this wide-ranging, thrillingly-played program."
THE BALTIMORE SUN: "Zlatomir Fung brought a rich, warm tone, impeccable intonation, appreciation for dynamic
shading and thoughtful phrasing to the Schumann Cello Concerto (with the Baltimore
Chamber Orchestra)."
BENICIA HERALD (California): "In the Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1 with the Vallejo Symphony Orchestra, Fung
showed a mastery of his instrument that was truly a thing to behold. He was lost in the magic
of the music, maneuvering the strings with exquisite control as he created his own musical
mosaic."
—PERFORMING ARTS MONTEREY BAY: "The Saint-Saëns concerto demands technically flawless execution, and here Fung delivered
hands down. This was a spectacular performance."
Cellist Zlatomir Fung captured the Gold Medal at the 2019 International Tchaikovsky Competition with his dynamic competition performances, including the Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations and the Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 2 with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic. He is the first U.S. cellist to win the Gold Medal in over thirty years, and the youngest to ever achieve this honor. Since then, he has performed with fellow Tchaikovsky Competition winners this season at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall, and has been named one of New York WQXR’s "20 for '20 Artists to Watch for the Upcoming Year."
Mr. Fung has appeared as soloist with the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Boston Pops, Santa Cruz, Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids Symphonies, Orchestra Iowa, New England Philharmonic, Juilliard Orchestra conducted by Itzhak Perlman at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, Romania’s State Philharmonic of Sibiu, George Enescu Philharmonic in Bucharest, Poland’s Poznan Philharmonic, and Lausanne Sinfonietta in Switzerland. This season, he performs Dvorak as soloist with the Ann Arbor Symphony, Lalo with the Asheville Symphony, and Schumann with the Aiken Symphony.
As a First Prize Winner of the 2017 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, Mr. Fung made his recital debuts in the 2018-19 Young Concert Artists Series at New York's Merkin Concert Hall, sponsored by the Rhoda Walker Teagle Concert Prize and in Washington, DC's Kennedy Center, sponsored by the Alexander Kasza-Kasser Concert Prize. He also won special performance prizes from: the Buffalo Chamber Music Society, Embassy Series in Washington D.C., Friends of Music Concerts, Paramount Theatre, Lied Center of Kansas, Sunday Musicale, and the Slomovic Prize for sponsorship of an Orchestra Partnership Project concerto engagement.
His appearance this season on the YCA "Encores" Series at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York this season, in a program that includes Young Concert Artists composer David Hertzberg’s "Vocalise," made The New York Times"10 Months of Classical Concerts You Won't Want to Miss!" He also performs recitals this season for the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Pepperdine University, Chamber On The Mountain, and the Evergreen Museum & Library.
A 2016 Presidential Scholar for the Arts, Mr. Fung has won First Prizes at the Schoenfeld International String Competition in China, George Enescu International Cello Competition in Romania, Johansen International Competition for Young String Players, Stulberg International String Competition and Irving Klein International Competition, the Astral National Auditions, and Second Prize at the 2018 Paulo International Cello Competition in Finland. He has participated at Ravinia's Steans Music Institute, the Heifetz International Music Institute in Virginia, and the Aspen and Giverny Music Festivals. He is a regular member of the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players in New York, and has been featured on NPR’s radio show "From the Top" six times, as well as on "Performance Today."
Mr. Fung is of Bulgarian-Chinese heritage. He spent his early years in Oregon, and then he and his family moved to the Boston area so that he could attend the New England Conservatory Preparatory School. He is currently a full Kovner Fellowship student of Richard Aaron and Timothy Eddy at The Juilliard School. Outside of music, he enjoys cinema, reading philosophy, and chess. Mr. Fung holds The Anne & George Popkin Cello Chair of YCA.
Janice Carissa, from Surabaya, Indonesia, entered the Curtis Institute of Music in 2013 and studies piano with Gary Graffman and Robert McDonald. All students at Curtis receive merit-based, full tuition scholarships, and Ms. Carissa is the Gerry and Marguerite Lenfest Fellow.
A recipient of numerous awards and honors, Ms. Carissa was recently awarded the 2018 Career Grant Winner of Charlotte White’s Salon De Virtuosi. She will perform at WQXR’s Greene Space in New York in November. In Summer 2018, Ms. Carissa participated at Ravinia Steans Music Institute Summer Festival and premiered the Timo Andres Piano Trio, which she would play in Ravinia’s 2019 Tour along with Miriam Fried and her colleagues. Following her success at Ravinia, Ms. Carissa was also invited to collaborate with players of Berlin Philharmoniker’s Scharoun Ensemble in Poland at Penderecki Center, performing works by Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Bach. Her upcoming 2020 engagements include a recital tour series with cellist Zlatomir Fung.
Ms. Carissa was a Young Scholar of Lang Lang’s International Music Foundation; the runner-up in the 2014 piano competition at the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen Music Festival and School; Star Performance Award Winner of the 2012 American Protégé International Music Talent Competition in New York; the runner-up in Indonesia Pusaka International Piano Competition in 2011; and the Top Prize Winner of the IBLA Foundation’s 2006 International Piano Competition.
Ms. Carissa has been featured on television and radio, including Indonesia Mencari Bakat, Inspirasi Pagi, Sang Juara, Global TV, RCTI, Trans TV, BC TV, Metro TV, TV One, Voice of America, WHYY-TV, WXQR’s Greene Space, and National Public Radio’s From the Top.
Recent career highlights include her debut with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra playing Mozart Piano Concerto and a solo recital tour in New Mexico, Arizona, California, Long Island, and New York. She has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Peter by the Sea; Midwest Young Artists Symphony Orchestra; Symphony in C; the Eastern Wind Symphony; Bay Atlantic Symphony; and appears regularly with the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Concert Series. She also has performed at the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris for the Auditorium opening in 2016. Other notable venues include The Sydney Opera House, Stern and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Steinway Hall in New York, Miller Theater in Columbia University, the Richardson Auditorium at Princeton University, the Kimmel Center, United Nations in New York, Oxford University’s St. Hilda’s College, Chicago’s Jay Priztker Pavilion, the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, the Sydney Opera House, the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music’s Concert Hall in Warsaw, Theatre Hall of the Karol Lipinski Academy of Music in Wroclaw, and performances in Rimini, Ragusa, and Cesena in Italy.
In 2011, Ms. Carissa performed for the President of Indonesia and other dignitaries at the Presidential Palace in Bogor and for Lady Dewi Sukarno in Bali.
Upcoming Performances
2019 - 2020 Series:
Narek Arutyunian, Clarinetist Photo by Christian Steiner
Sunday, May 3, 2020
Narek Arutyunian, Clarinetist
3:00 pm,
Logan House
at the Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts
8585 Ojai-Santa Paula Rd. (in Upper Ojai)
Ojai, CA 93023 Detailed map and directions
Announcing the 2019 Tchaikovsky Competition Gold Medalist, Zlatomir Fung
The Cello Jury of the prestigious International Tchaikovsky Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia has awarded
20 year-old Zlatomir Fung the competition’s First Prize and Gold Medal, following his Final Round performance
of Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations and Shostakovich’s Concerto No. 2 with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra. Watch Video
Zlatomir Fung performed for Chamber On The Mountain on Sunday, March 3, 2019. He will be back to perform an All-Brahms Program on Sunday, March 1, 2020! Click Here to purchase your advance reservations.
Congratulations Zlatomir!
Pianist Albert Cano Smit Won First Prize at the 2019 Young Concert Artists International Auditions!
Spanish/Dutch pianist Albert Cano Smit won First Prize at the 2019 Young Concert
Artists International Auditions, as well as The Paul A. Fish Memorial Prize, the Alexander
Kasza-Kasser Concert Prize for support of his Kennedy Center debut, the Friends of
Music Concert Prize (NY), and the Sunday Musicale Prize (NJ). Other prizes include First
Prizes at the 2017 Walter W. Naumburg Piano Competition, which presented him in
recital at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall.
As soloist with orchestra, Mr. Cano Smit has performed with the San Diego Symphony
Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, the Manchester Camerata, the
Nottingham Youth Orchestra, and the American Youth Symphony. In recital, he has
performed at L’Auditori de Barcelona, Herbst Theatre in San Francisco and Fondation
Louis Vuitton in Paris, and on tour in Spain. Mr. Cano Smit currently studies with Robert
McDonald at The Juilliard School. Previous teachers include Ory Shihor, Graham Caskie
and Marta Karbownicka. He has benefited from major artistic advice by YCA alumni
Richard Goode and Jean-Yves Thibaudet, with whom he gave four-hand performances at
Zipper Hall in Los Angeles and Wallis Annenberg Center Hall in Beverly Hills. Mr. Cano
Smit is an alumnus of the Verbier Festival Academy.
Albert Cano Smit performed for Chamber On The Mountain with Flutist, Anthony Trionfo on March 4, 2018.
Congratulations Albert!
Heidi Lehwalder, Artistic Director for Chamber On The Mountain,
Receives the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra's (first-ever) 2018 Distinguished Alum Award
Former SYSO musician Heidi Lehwalder is an internationally renowned harpist who has performed and taught around the globe. In recognition of Lehwalder's remarkable career and her ongoing dedication to coaching young musicians, SYSO is thrilled to present her with their first-ever Distinguished Alum Award at The Power of Music Benefit Luncheon, April 22, 2018.
Heidi Lehwalder's career highlights include:
First recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize (now the Avery Fisher Career Grant)
Only harpist to ever tour with the famed Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont
Served as Professor of Harp at the School of Music at the University of Washington
Appeared on Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concerts on CBS at age 14
Performed as guest artist with more than 65 orchestras including: New York Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, Montreal Symphony, and, of course, Seattle Symphony where she has appeared 55 times
Met Opera’s New Concertmaster: The Canadian Violinist Nikki Chooi
The Metropolitan Opera announced Thursday that its next concertmaster would be the young Canadian violinist Nikki Chooi,
who performed for Chamber On The Mountain on May 1, 2016. Mr. Chooi, 27, who was offered a one-year contract
beginning next month,
will join the Met’s other concertmaster, David Chan. Read the Article that appeared in the New York Times, July 6, 2016
Congratulations Nikki!
The Real Star of the 2016 Grammys was Ji-Yong Kim, the Pianist from That Android Commercial
Ji, Pianist, performed for Chamber On The Mountain on Sunday, May 17, 2015 and also Sunday, September 23, 2018.. Watch his phenomenal performance in a commercial that aired during the 2016 Grammy Awards Show. WATCH VIDEO
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Please email us at: ChamberOnTheMountain@gmail.com and ask to be added to our contact list.
Ms. Carissa has been featured on television and radio, including Indonesia Mencari Bakat, Inspirasi Pagi, Sang Juara, Global TV, RCTI, Trans TV, BC TV, Metro TV, TV One, Voice of America, WHYY-TV, WXQR’s Greene Space, and National Public Radio’s From the Top.
