"From Past to the Future" Free Concert

Continuing our Free Concert Series, we are thrilled to welcome internationally-acclaimed musicians Martin Labzevitch, Amit Peled, and Alexander Fiterstein for a world-class presentation of works from Chopin, Debussy and Ryu.

Travel through time with this curated repertoire from the Romantic period to today. What better way to bring in the new year?

Featuring:
Alexander Fiterstein, Clarinet
Amit Peled, Cello
Martin Labazevitch, Piano

Performing works by Chopin (1810-1849), Debussy (1862-1918), and Ryu (b. 1970).

The concert is free and open to the public. Bring your friends and family.

Music is an expression of the soul, and through the God-given gifts of a performer, can bring the listener closer to the source of all that is, Our Lord. Gifted artists, performing in our church, provide an opportunity for people who might not otherwise have the chance to experience this music performed live, to do so in an environment that inspires the human spirit to seek a closer connection to God.

Program: From Past to Future

Frederic Chopin (1810–1849)

Sonata for Cello and Piano Op.65

∼ Allegro moderato

∼ Scherzo - Allegro con brio

∼ Largo

∼ Finale - Allegro

Claude Debussy (1862–1918)

Premiere Rhapsodie for Clarinet and Piano

Jeajoon Ryu (b.1970)

Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Piano “Hommage a Penderecki” (2025) World Premiere

∼ Allegretto con amore

∼ Allegro vivace con delicatezza

∼ Andante con amore

∼ Molto allegro con brio

Artist Bios:

Alexander Fiterstein, Clarinetist 

Clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein is considered one of today’s most exceptional artists. Fiterstein has performed in recital, with distinguished orchestras, and with chamber music ensembles throughout the world. He won first prize at the Carl Nielsen International Clarinet Competition and received the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant Award. The Washington Post has described his playing as “dazzling in its spectrum of colors, agility, and range. Every sound he makes is finely measured without inhibiting expressiveness” and The New York Times described him as “a clarinetist with a warm tone and powerful technique.”

As soloist he has appeared with the Czech, Israel, Vienna, and St. Paul Chamber Orchestras, Belgrade Philharmonic, Danish National Radio Symphony, Tokyo Philharmonic, China National Symphony Orchestra, KBS Orchestra of South Korea, Jerusalem Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Lincoln Center, Kansas City Symphony, and the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela. He has performed in recital on the Music at the Supreme Court Series, the Celebrity Series in Boston, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Kennedy Center, the Louvre in Paris, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Tel Aviv Museum, and NYC’s 92d Street Y.

A dedicated performer of chamber music, Fiterstein frequently collaborates with distinguished artists and ensembles and regularly performs with the prestigious Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Among the highly regarded artists he has performed with are Daniel Barenboim, Yefim Bronfman, Mitsuko Uchida, Richard Goode, Emanuel Ax, Marc-Andre Hamelin, Pinchas Zukerman, and Steven Isserlis. Fiterstein performed with the Dover, Pacifica, Jerusalem, and Shanghai String Quartets as well as with Ensemble Wien-Berlin. He spent five summers at the Marlboro Music Festival and appeared at the Caramoor, Moab, Music@Menlo, Montreal, Toronto, Jerusalem, and Storioni Chamber Music Festivals.

Fiterstein is a founder of the Zimro Project, a unique ensemble dedicated to incorporating Jewish art music into chamber music programs. He performed as principal clarinet of the West-East Divan Orchestra at the invitation of Daniel Barenboim and has appeared as guest principal clarinet with the Israel Philharmonic with Zubin Mehta, KBS Orchestra with Yoel Levi, and with the St. Paul and Orpheus Chamber Orchestras.

Fiterstein has a prolific recording career and has worked with composers John Corigliano and Osvaldo Golijov and had pieces written for him by Samuel Adler, Mason Bates, Paul Schoenfield, and Chris Brubeck, among others. Fiterstein was born in Belarus and immigrated to Israel at the age of 2 with his family. A Juilliard graduate, he won first prize at the Young Concert Artists International Auditions and received awards from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. He is currently Professor of Clarinet and Chair of Winds at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. Fiterstein is a Buffet Crampon and Vandoren Performing Artist. 

Amit Peled, Cellist

Praised by The Strad magazine and The New York Times, internationally renowned cellist Amit Peled is acclaimed as one of the most exciting and virtuosic instrumentalists on the concert stage today. Having performed in many of the world’s most prestigious venues, including Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C., Salle Gaveau in Paris, Wigmore Hall in London, and the Konzerthaus Berlin, Peled has released over a dozen recordings on the Naxos, Centaur, Delos, and CTM Classics labels. A professor since 2003 at the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University, he has performed and presented master classes around the world including at the Marlboro and Newport Music Festivals and the Heifetz International Music Summer Institute in the U.S., the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival in Germany, International Musicians Seminar Prussia Cove in England, and Keshet Eilon in Israel. Peled performs on a cello made by Carl Becker, Sr., from 1931. He is represented worldwide by CTM Classics. For more information, visit amitpeled.com. 

Martin Labazevitch, Pianist
 
Praised by critics in Europe and the United States for his lyricism, virtuosity and an intensity of performance, pianist Martin Labazevitch appeared in many concert halls and festivals in Poland, Ukraine, Finland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, Israel, Japan, South Korea and the United States. Born in Poland, Mr. Labazevitch studied at the Odessa Conservatory in Ukraine and at the Manhattan School of Music in New York. In 2019 he received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Rome School of Music, Drama and Art in Washington D.C.

He has been a soloist with leading orchestras in Spain, Poland, Lithuania, Japan, and the United States. Of his debut album release of the Chopin Concerto with the Beethoven Academy Orchestra, ConcertoNet wrote, “. . . he pleasantly refrains from overtaxing Chopin’s conclusive Allegro vivace with shimmering grandeur and eloquent precision that could even rival that of Arthur Rubinstein.” 

An enthusiastic educator, Mr. Labazevitch has been sharing his passion for teaching with students at the Levine School of Music in Washington D.C. He is also the Co-Founder of the Puerto Rico International Piano Festival, in San Juan as well as the Artistic Director of the Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Piano Competition and Chopin Piano Academy in Washington D.C. In 2022 Mr. Labazevitch co-founded The Paderewski Academy, a pioneer hybrid piano academy based in Zurich, Switzerland. 

Mr. Labazevitch is a Steinway Artist.

Artist Bios & Program