Friday, March 09, 2007

Prouvost and Sévilla to perform at Borderless Song this weekend

The latest installment of Christopher Burton's Borderless Song series features violinist (and former Zino Francescatti pupil) Gaëtane Prouvost performing with pianist Jean-Paul Sévilla at Forest Grove United Church on Sunday, March 11 at 7:30. The recital will feature works by Hahn, Franck, and Ravel. Tickets are $25, free to children under 12.

For more information, contact borderless_song [at] yahoo dot see eh

With some technical problems happening at the Borderless Song website, artistic director Christopher Burton has kindly asked me to post Prouvost's and Sevilla's bios on this site, which I have done below:

Violinist Gaetane Prouvost studied at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique of Paris where, at the age of sixteen, she unanimously won the First Prize in violin and chamber music. Later she was named laureate of the Carl Flesch International Violin Competition of London and following the advice of Zino Francescatti, she went to New York to study with Ivan Galamian at the Juilliard School of Music. Invited to play in numerous locations in the United States, in particular Carnegie Hall, she started her international career under the direction of orchestra directors such as James Colon, Michai Bredichianou, and Serge Baudo. She participated in television and radio shows both in France and abroad. Olivier Messiaen personally chose her for a performance in the former Soviet Union of his "Quartet for the End of Time."

Her activities are divided between her career as a soloist and her position as a teacher at Paris Conservatory. She also teaches at the CGFC in Paris.

Her exceptional technique allows her to approach the modern repertoire with great ease. Many recent works have been dedicated to her. She is frequently invited to the Ensemble Intercontemporain under the direction of Pierre Boulez, Gary Bertini, or Kent Nagano. Her recordings of the two sonatas by Sergei Prokofiev with Abdel-Rahman El Bacha were enthusiastically greeted by critics, notably by Gramaphone, Diapason, and Le Monde de la Musique,, “L’ame et la corde” which was described as “a stupefying recording of great sound beauty.”

French pianist Jean-Paul Sevilla gave his first recital at the age of nine. At the age of fourteen entered the National Conservatory of Music of Paris where he obtained the First Prize in piano, as well as a unanimous Prix d'honneur which has not been awarded since. He also received the First Prize in chamber music.
In 1959 he captured, also unanimously, the First Prize at the Geneva International Competition. His numerous tours, as soloist and chamber musician, have taken him from Europe and Africa to both Americas and Asia. Now a Canadian citizen as well, he was bom in Algeria, of Spanish descent.

For more than twenty years Jean-Paul Sévilla lived in Ottawa where he is now Professor Emeritus, after being full professer of piano, chamber music and piano literature at the University of Ottawa, while continuing his successful career as a concert pianist, lecturer and clinician. He even taught a course in Opera! He has produced many talented young artists, many of whom have won top awards at different international competitions. His musical and intellectual culture have made him in high demand for courses, lectures and master classes alike. As a writer, he has had many articles published in musical journals in the United States. He is a noted expert on Fauré and Ravel, whose complete works he has often performed.

In 1986 he spent one year as guest professor at the Musashino University in Tokyo, and has since returned every year to Asia, adding Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia and Hong Kong to his tours. Jean-Paul Sévilla has directed summer courses in Europe (Aix en Provence, Perpignan, Toulon, Nice, Poitiers, Saint Jean de Luz, Flaine, Courchevel) in Canada (Orford, Banff , Victoria) and in Korea. From 1997 to 2001 Jean-Paul Sevilla has been teaching at the Schola Cantorum in Paris, and from September to December 1999, he was guest Professor at the Oberlin (Ohio) Conservatory of Music. He is regularly invited as a jury member at national and international competitions such as Munich, Lisbon, Porto, Cleveland, Marsala, Senigallia, Jaen, Orléans, Cagliari, Moscow, Leipzig as well as the Paris Conservatoire, The Pro Musicis Competition, Le Concours des Grands Amateurs, the Canada Art Council, the Canadian Music Competitions etc.

Jean-Paul Sévilla has released a C.D. featuring works of Vincent d'Indy and Albert Roussel and an album of two CDs entitled "Homage to childhood" with works of Debussy, Prokovief, Ibert, Grovlez, and the world premiere of works by Pierné and Soulima Stravinsky. More recently, he has recorded works by Fauré in Japan and in France (Préludes op.103).
A recent CD of the world premiere of Gabriel Pierné's Variations in C minor has just been awarded a Diapason d'Or, the highest award given by the French music magazine "Diapason". A new album including Fauré's complete Nocturnes has just been released and critically acclaimed.

Jean-Paul Sévilla is an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters (France).


No comments:

Post a Comment