The Saint Vincent College concert series will host violinist Emil Altschuler on Saturday, Nov. 11, at 7 p.m. in the Robert S. Carey Performing Arts Center. The concert is the third in this year’s series.
The Concert Series was founded in 1971 by Fr. Joseph Bronder, O.S.B., a concert pianist and longtime chair of the music department at Saint Vincent. This is the 46th annual series. Since 2008, one performer annually has been awarded the Bronder Prize for Piano, named in Bronder’s honor.
This season opened with pianist Zhenni Li, filling in for Bronder Prize
winner Sejoon Kim. Organist Giancarlo Parodi played the Archabbey organ on Oct. 27. The decision to invite musicians playing such a wide range of instruments was deliberate, according to Br. Bernard Cline, O.S.B., Concert Series director.
“When Fr. Bronder started the concert series, he wanted to have a mix of musicians during each series. So, this concert season, we have a pianist, an organist, a violinist, a guitarist, a brass quintet, a flutist and a cellist,” Cline said.
Those performers are guitarist Jordan Dodson on Jan. 20; the Seraph Brass quintet on Feb. 17; flutist Anthony Trionfo on March 17; and cellist Edgar Moreau on April 7.
Cline explained that the series generally focuses on fostering young, talented musicians early in their careers. Altschuler fits the bill. After studying at the Juilliard School as an undergraduate, he obtained his Masters from the Yale School of Music in 2003. He has performed as a featured soloist with the Aspen Young Artists Orchestra, Binghamton Philharmonic, Binghamton University Chamber Orchestra, Parkway Concert Orchestra and Harvard Summer School Orchestra, and currently runs an active studio in Boston.
Altschuler will present a blend of old and new pieces in Saturday’s concert. He will begin with Franz Schubert’s “Fantasia for Violin and Piano in C-Major,” then move through the Romantic period before concluding with a number of pieces by George Gershwin. Altschuler will introduce and explain each piece before performing it.
Cline thinks the concert series has a unique meaning for the Saint Vincent community.
“Boniface Wimmer, the founder of Saint Vincent, was always interested not only in the growing theologically, intellectually but also artistically,” Cline said. “The concert series is an expression of Wimmer’s original vision of the Abbey.”
Cline hopes to continue that legacy during his tenure as director by growing the audience among the students, as well as the general public. He has other plans for the future, though, which he isn’t divulging at the moment.
Photos: emilaltschuler.com; stvincent.edu