Faculty and Friends Concert to feature violinist Claude Richard

Monday, October 15, 2012

Violinist Claude Richard, along with pianist Jimmy Brière, will perform at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 23, in Belk Theater  of the Robinson Hall for the Performing Arts as part of the Music Department’s Faculty and Friends Concert Series.

The performance will feature selections such as “Sonatensatz and the Violin Sonata in D Minor” by Johannes Brahms, the “Violin Sonata in C Minor” by Edvard Grieg and a “Theme and Variations” by Oliver Messaien.

After winning first prize in violin at the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal, Richard went on to win the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (OSM) competition and the U.S. Jerome Gross Prize. With grants from the Canada Council of the Arts, the Blossom Music Center in Ohio, the Cleveland Institute of Music, Fonds FCAR and the Académie de Lausanne, he studied with David Cerone and Donald Weilerstein. He went on to obtain the artist diploma and the professional studies diploma from the Cleveland Institute of Music. He has appeared as a guest soloist with Canadian and American orchestras and has toured Germany, Switzerland, Italy  and France. Currently, Richard is associate professor of violin at the University of Montréal.

Brière was the first prize winner of the Hong Kong International Piano Competition in 1997 and a prize winner of the Porto International Competition and the CBC Radio National Radio Competition for Young Performers. He has performed throughout the United States and in Canada, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Bulgaria and Israel.  A chamber musician, Brière has played with renowned musicians and ensembles, including double bassist Edgar Meyer, clarinetist James Campbell, the New Zealand String Quartet and the Canadian Chamber Players. A graduate of the University of Montréal, Indiana University and the Glenn Gould School of Toronto, he has studied with Marc Durand, Leon Fleisher, Menahem Pressler and André Laplante. He, too, is on the music faculty of the University of Montréal.

Tickets for this Faculty and Friends Concert are $9, $7 for seniors and UNC Charlotte faculty and staff and $6 for all students. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.coaa.uncc.edu or call 704-687-1849.