Les Amis Concert: Elizabeth Dolin, Cello and Laurence Kayaleh, Violin

Ken Prue and Michael Pepa presents: a Les AMIS Concert

Sunday, October 29 at 3 pm

Venue: TRINITY UNITED CHURCH, 284 Division Street Cobourg

Elizabeth Dolin, cello and Laurence Kayaleh, violin

This will be Elizabeth and Laurence's third appearance at Les AMIS, Cobourg, the prior two being at The LOFT in 2019 and 2022. Both past performances earned standing ovations from sold-out audiences. I like to make reference to the personal connection between Founding Artistic Director, Michael Pepa and visiting artists. In this case Maestro Pepa met Elizabeth Dolin when she was a child and Pepa was studying music composition from her father, Samuel Dolin. In the 1940s, Sam Dolin, was a Music Master at Trinity College School,Port Hope and Music Director of Northumberland School Board Programs.

The biographies of Elizabeth and Laurence (below) were replicated from the website Chamber Music Series (lesamisconcerts.org)

Elizabeth Dolin, Cellist:

Since her Carnegie Recital Hall debut in 1985, Elizabeth Dolin is recognized as one of Canada's finest cellists, in demand as a recitalist and chamber musician throughout Canada and the United States, and as soloist with major Canadian orchestras under such conductors as Mario Bernardi, Yannick Nezet-Séguin and Simon Streatfield. Referring to her Mendelssohn recording with Bernadene Blaha on the Analekta label, The Strad writes that she "performs these works with technical finesse and just the right level of delicacy that Mendelssohn...demands. Highly recommended" A founding member of several highly regarded ensembles (Les Cordes Romantiques, Duo Fouquet-Dolin, Reiner Trio), she has collaborated with such artists as Martin Beaver, Bernadene Blaha, Steven Isserlis and Pinchas Zuckerman. Her regular appearances at Festival of the Sound, the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, the Orford Festival, Chamber Music Kincardine and the Fredericton Chamber Music Festival, among others, have been enthusiastically received. Highlights of note include a tour of Beethoven's Triple Concerto with l'Orchestre Metropolitain and a performance of Schumann's Concerto for Cello with the Victoria Symphony. Elizabeth Dolin's large and varied discography includes works by Chopin, Coulthard, Debussy, Dolin, Franck, Mendelssohn, Mozart, St-Saëns, Widor, Rachmaninoff and Vierne, for the Naxos, Analekta, ATMA, CBC-Musica Viva, Fonovox , Espace XX1, and Pélleas labels. Her recording of the Rachmaninoff and Debussy sonatas, as well as the complete works of Mendelssohn for cello and piano, both for Analekta, were nominated for Best Album of the Year by l'ADISQ in 2002 and 2004 and received rave reviews. In addition to being an active member of Montreal's chamber music scene, Ms. Dolin is Assistant Professor of Cello at the Schulich School of Music, McGill University, as well as Professor of Cello at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal. She is also on faculty at Domaine Forget. Elizabeth Dolin plays on a François Nicolas Voirin bow, graciously provided to her by the company CANIMEX INC. from Drummondville (Quebec), Canada.

Laurence Kayaleh, Violin:

Laurence Kayaleh has performed as guest soloist with many distinguished orchestras: Zurich Tonhalle, RTBF Symphony Orchestra (Belgium), Russian National Orchestra, National Symphony (Washington), Lamoureux (Paris), Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and the major orchestras of Cleveland, St. Louis, Caracas (Simon Bolivar), Basel, Mexico City, under such conductors as Slatkin, Dutoit, Kogan, Pletnev, Nowak, Wakazugi, Carewe, Turnovsky and Venzago. She gave major recitals in world centres including Paris, Montreal, Prague, Messina, Brussels, Zurich, Milano, Sofia, Dublin, Bern, Bologna, Moscow, Modena and Geneva. Le Figaro world-renowned critic, Pierre Petit, used the phrase " L'Archet Royal " to describe her golden tone. She performed at the Bolchoï and Tchaïkovsky Halls (Moscow), Théâtre du Châtelet, Pleyel and Gaveau Halls (Paris), Suntory Hall (Tokyo), Victoria Hall (Geneva), Verdi Hall (Milano), Teatro Teresa Carreño (Caracas), Donizetti Theater (Bergamo), Place des Arts (Montreal), The John F. Kennedy Center (Washington), Powell Hall (St. Louis), Pollack Hall (Montreal), and at The Tsu Center for The Performing Arts (Japan). Other engagements include 20th-century chamber music concerts, recordings for the CBC-Series (Canada), and for major European radios/TVs. Guest of international music festivals - Lucerne, Blossom, Cervantino, Divonne, Ottawa, Parry Sound, Annecy, Abbey Bach Festival - she shared concerts with Viktor Pikayzen, Ida Haendel and Igor Oïstrakh. Laurence has recorded for NAXOS Records the complete works for violin and piano by N. Medtner, A. Honegger and G. Catoire. Laurence plays a magnificent 1742 Pietro Guarneri of Venice which belonged to the eminent violinist and pedagogue, Carl Flesch. (www.laurencekayaleh.com)

A Les AMIS concert is a perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Tickets are $35 plus service fee and available at the Victoria Hall Box Office: 905-372-2210

We hope to see you on Sunday, October 29.

-Ken Prue and Michael Pepa