Program
Takae Ohnishi and Friends
Yao Zhao, cello
Lily Josefsberg, piccolo
Zou Yu, violin
Ai Awati, violin
Pièces de clavecin en concerts no 1
Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764)
La Coulicam
La Livri
Le Vézinet
Harpsichord, flute, cello
Sonata for Harpsichord and Cello in G Major BWV 1027
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Adagio
Allegro ma non tanto
Andante
Allegro moderato
Paris Quartet No. 3 in G Major
Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
Prèlude
Légèrement
Gracieusement
Vite
Modéré
Gai
Lentement
Flute, violin, cello, harpsichord
Intermission
La Majestueuse
La Marche des Scythes
Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer (1703-1755)
Solo Harpsichord
Pièces de Clavecin en Concerts No. 5
Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764)
La Forqueray
La Cupis
La Marais
Flute, violin, cello,harpsichord
Sonata for two violins and basso continuo “La Folia”
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
(Theme and nineteen variations)
Violins, cello, harpsichord
Takae Ohnishi
Harpsichordist Takae Ohnishi has performed extensively as a soloist, chamber musician and continuo player. The Gramophone remarks that "Ohnishi's brilliant artistry immerses the listener in the creative and emotional narratives Bach unfolds with incomparable mastery." Classics Today described her performance as "masterful," and praises its "vitality and impressively differentiated articulation."
Ms. Ohnishi has been the principal harpsichordist at Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, as well as a soloist with the Berlin Philharmonic Scharoun Ensemble, Gardner Chamber Orchestra, and continuo player with Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, and Bach Collegium San Diego. She has performed at the Festival Internacional Cervantino in Mexico, Boston Early Music Festival, the American Academy in Rome, and took part in the complete Brandenburg Concertos at the Gardner Museum directed by Paula Robison. As a performer of contemporary music, Ms. Ohnishi appeared as a guest artist at Yellow Barn, and the Summer Institute for Contemporary Piano Performance held at the New England Conservatory of Music. She also performed with the Harvard Group for New Music and the Callithumpian Consort.
Ms. Ohnishi is a prizewinner at the International Early Music Harpsichord Competition in Japan. Her debut CD A Harpsichord Recital was selected as an International Special Prized CD by the Japanese leading music magazine Record Gei-jyu-tsu. Her recording of contemporary music is released on Mode and New World Records. Her latest solo disc Goldberg Variations is released on Bridge Records to critical acclaim.
As a lecturer, Ms. Ohnishi has been invited to lecture and give master classes in Yantai, China, Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo, as well as the Early Music Festival in Fukuoka, Japan. She participated in a lecture series entitled "Historical Performance Practice," recorded and published by Tokyo's Muramatsu Gakki company. Her recital tour in Japan was broadcast nationally on NHK TV program "Classic Ku-ra-bu."
Ms. Ohnishi graduated from Toho Gakuen School of Music, and holds a Master of Music degree from the New England Conservatory of Music and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Stony Brook University. Her teachers include Arthur Haas, Peter Sykes, John Gibbons and Chiyoko Arita. Since 2007, Ms. Ohnishi has been Lecturer of Harpsichord and Baroque Chamber Music at the University of California, San Diego; she also taught at the University of San Diego. As Music Director of the "Music at Green" concert series, she brings live performance to the patients at the Scripps Hospital. In 2011-12, Ms. Ohnishi served as Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome.
Yao Zhao
Hailed in New York Concert Review as “a superb cellist with intense and sensuous sound,” and described by the Los Angeles Times as “being able to handle the most intricate musical works with unblinking ease and expressive zeal,” cellist Yao Zhao performs with a rare and captivating dynamism that has secured him a successful career as the tenured Principal Cellist for the San Diego Symphony Orchestra since 2005, and as a faculty member at San Diego State University since 2009. He is one of the founding members of the award-winning Great Wall String Quartet, and in 2013, he was honored as one of China’s Ten Extraordinary Cellists of the Generation.
Mr. Zhao made his first concert appearance at five, and solo debut in the Beijing Concert Hall at nine. He garnered further attention in 1988 upon winning second prize at the First Chinese National Cello Competition and went on to win more than thirteen competitions, awards and honors. His career has seen him performing in over forty cities around the world including a successful solo debut at the Weil Recital Hall (Carnegie Hall) in New York. Some of his many festival appearances include Ojai Music Festival, La Jolla Music Society SummerFest, Mainly Mozart Music Festival, Idyllwild Arts Summer Festival, Great Wall International Music Academy in Beijing, Global Chinese Orchestra in China, the Asia Philharmonic Orchestra in Japan and Korea, and Qingdao International Music Festival. Since 2018, Mr. Zhao has been serving as principal cellist of one of the longest-running professional orchestra festivals, the Grand Teton Music Festival. His many recordings – as both a soloist and an ensemble artist - are often featured on radio stations K-MOZART, K-PBS, XLNC-1, CNR.CN and K-USC.
As a chamber musician, Mr. Zhao frequently collaborates with renowned artists from around the world. And, for the past thirteen years, he has been part of the Great Wall String Quartet which was invited as the only western music ensemble to proudly represent the Great Wall of China in a documentary film for UNESCO about six of the world’s heritage sites in Beijing. The quartet released their first recording - Great Wall - in September of 2012 which claimed the Best Performance Award at the 2013 24th Golden Melody Award in Taiwan. Their second album – Tango – which was released in the summer of 2015, was awarded the Best String Quartet Album of the 11th HiFi Album Award in China.
In addition to keeping up with his busy performance schedule, Mr. Yao Zhao serves as the President of the San Diego Cello Foundation a 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts organization that is dedicated to further and better music education of all ages in the community. While serving on faculty at San Diego State University and maintaining a private teaching studio, he regularly holds masterclasses at universities and conservatories in Beijing, Shanghai, Harbin, Taiyuan, Wuhan, Hong Kong, Macau, Taipei, and Jakarta. Mr. Zhao has been named Honorary Advisor of the Macau Youth Symphony Orchestra, and his achievements and generous contributions to music performance and education have been recognized and highly commended by the City of Los Angeles and the Governments of Macau and Hong Kong.
Born in Beijing in 1976, Mr. Zhao began his studies on the cello and piano at age four under the instruction of his father, Xuelian Zhao, a distinguished cellist and teacher. He attended the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing studying with Professor Mingqing Yu before coming to the United States at the age of fifteen when he attended Idyllwild Arts Academy and Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California where he studied under renowned pedagogue, Professor Eleonore Schoenfeld. Prior to his appointment as the cello principal, Mr. Zhao was the Associate Cello Principal of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra and he was a member of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra.
Mr. Zhao performs on the ex-Jules Eskin cello by Matteo Gofriller of Venice, circa 1710, the “Muller-Bergonzi” generously sponsored by an anonymous donor.
Zou Yu
Originally from Shanghai, China, violinist Zou Yu has performed around the world and currently performs as a member of the San Diego Symphony. Her festival appearances include Verbier, Tanglewood, Aspen, Lucerne and more. From 2013-16, she was a member of the New Haven Symphony, and from 2016-17 she served as the Assistant Principal Second Violin of the San Diego Symphony.
Throughout her professional career, she has had the privilege of performing at renowned venues including the Shanghai Concert Hall, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Markin Hall in New York City, Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, Château de Fontainebleau in France and Scotch College Symphony in Australia. Ms. Yu completed her studies at the Oberlin Conservatory and Yale School of Music, with teachers Ani Kavafian, Milan Vitek, Glenn Dicterow, Lisa Kim and David Kim.
Ai Nihira Awata
Violinist Ai Nihira Awata received her Bachelor’s degree and Artist Diploma from the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) and Master’s degree from the Yale School of Music. As a chamber musician she has performed as part of the Taos School of Music, Pacific Music Festival Quartet program, Music Academy of the West, Tanglewood Music Center, CIM Intensive Quartet Seminar and CityMusic Cleveland chamber music series. She has served as Concertmaster and Principal of the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra, Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, Music Academy of the West Orchestra, Yale School of Music Orchestra, CIM Orchestra and CityMusic Cleveland.
She has made solo appearances with the National Repertory Orchestra, CIM Orchestra and Orquesta Sinfonica Uncuyo. She was born in Tokyo, Japan, and started the violin at age four in Seattle, Washington, with Mihoko Hirata. She later moved to Los Angeles, California, where she studied with Margaret Shimizu, Richard Schwabe and Henry Gronnier at the Colburn School of Performing Arts.
Lilly Josefsberg
Lily Josefsberg was appointed piccolo of the San Diego Symphony in January 2022, having previously held the 3rd flute/piccolo position with the South Dakota Symphony. She has played with the New York Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Columbus Symphony, Florida Grand Opera and Richmond Symphony, among other ensembles.
Originally from Ridgewood, New Jersey, Ms. Josefsberg earned her Masters of Music and Graduate Performance Diploma in piccolo performance from Peabody Conservatory, where she was the teaching assistant and a student of Laurie Sokoloff. Her Bachelors of Music in flute performance is from Boston University, where she studied under Linda Toote and John Heiss.
She attended the Aspen Music Festival, serving for three summers as the piccolo fellow under the primary tutelage of Nadine Asin. In 2019 she won the Walfrid Kujala International Piccolo Competition.