2008/2009
CHAMELEON SERIES
at the
Leiser Opera Center

Cello & Piano 4

January 18 2009 at 3 pm .....

Iris van Eck, Cello & Kemal Gekic, Piano

Program

Pietro Locatelli (1695-1764)
Sonata in D Major for cello and piano
(piatti edition)
Allegro
Adagio
Minuetto

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847)
Sonata in Bb major, Op.45
Allegro Vivace
Andante,
Allegro assai

Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983)
Pampeana No. 2 , Op. 21 (1950)
Rapsodia para Violoncello y Piano

INTERMISSION

Serge Prokofiev (1891-1953)
Sonata in C, Opus 119 (1949)
Andante Grave
Moderato
Allegro ma non troppo

Iris van Eck, cellist, was born in the Netherlands to an artist painter (father) and a piano teacher (mother). She had studied flute for 5 years with the famous Dutch flutist Abbie de Quant when she fell in love with the cello at a concert of Jean Decroos… Ignoring everyone’s advice, she borrowed a cello from a friend and started playing… first without a teacher…After only 2 years of playing she was admitted to the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, where she was a student of Rene van Ast and Jean Decroos. In that same year, she also became the winner of the Edith Stein Concours on flute and was invited to play the Chaminade concertino for flute and orchestra as a soloist with the Residentie Orchestra (The Hague Philharmonic). A few years later, when she started to play cello professionally in the same orchestra, she was asked how her sister’s flute playing was…
She is the founder of “Chameleon Chamber Music Series at the Leiser Opera Center” and has been principal cellist for the Florida Grand Opera for the last 7 years. She has appeared as soloist with various orchestras in the United States & in Europe, and is frequently heard on the chamber music circuit in South Florida and abroad. A recording of the three solo cello suites by Max Reger, was made in December...it is awaiting editing; her recording, “Works for Cello & Piano by Women Composers” is available at www.eroica.com.
She plays a beautiful French cello made by Bernardel “Pere” in 1831 and her bow was made just a few years later by “Grand” Adam.

Kemal Gekic Flamboyant, daring, provocative, exciting, seductive and sensitive are some of the words used to describe one of today’s most formidable pianists, Kemal Gekic, whose playing has been acclaimed worldwide by public and critics alike.
Born in Split, Croatia in 1962, Gekic amazed his family by
accurately picking out melodies on the piano at age one and a half. The young prodigy received all his early musical training from his aunt, Lorenza Batturina.
He created a sensation at the Chopin Competition in Warsaw. Although panned by the jury he won the hearts of audience and critics alike, and began receiving many invitations to perform abroad. The Warsaw Philharmonic invited Gekic to perform the Chopin E minor Piano Concerto in Philharmonic Hall in their regular series that season. In the same hall, with the same
orchestra as he would have done in the competition finals, Gekic wowed the Warsaw audience once more, and for an encore gave Chopin’s Third Sonata in B minor in its entirety!
In 1999 he was invited to perform at the Miami International Piano Festival. Minutes before he was to walk on stage, a chance glance at a television showed houses burning in his hometown of Novi Sad. It was March 24th; the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia had begun. Instead of canceling, he went out on stage and played what many consider to be the best recital he ever gave, one that launched his current re-emergence as one of the major pianists of our century.
Gekic sees the process of musical communication as the transmission of spiritual material. In this as well he is sure to give you an unforgettable experience.
Mr. Gekic is Artist in Residence at Florida International University.

The recording of Faure’s complete works for cello and piano by the
van Eck/Gekic duo will be available at www.gamamedialc.com/music