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ILYA SHTERENBERG, clarinet
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Each BPA audience favorites, Ilya and Scott reunite in a long awaited performance at The Ballroom, featuring a rising star of the opera world, soprano Eva Martinez, in Schubert's masterpiece Shepherd on the Rock. About La Vie Estate Winery: La Vie, the way life should be! Kara Cleaver founded La Vie Estate Winery on a beautifully terraced 26 acres in Blanco, Texas, with breathtaking views for miles. La Vie is situated at the highest elevation on Ranch Road 1623, the connecting route between Highways 281 & 290, the Texas Wine Trail. Formerly known as the Circle H Ranch, it is a perfect fit for La Vie’s “happiness” motto and living life to its fullest. La Vie’s Circle H red wine is a tribute to this journey.
Ilya Shterenberg, clarinet
Scott Cuellar, piano
Eva Rae Martinez, soprano
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About the Performers:Principal clarinetist of the San Antonio Symphony and Principal clarinetist of the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra (Columbus, OH), Ilya Shterenberg balances a busy career as an orchestral musician, chamber music performer, and a soloist. Hailed by the press: “He possesses that miraculous gift of an innate musical sense...music seemed to flow toward the infinite, as if divinely ordained”, he has been featured as a soloist performing standard works by Mozart, Weber, Rossini, Debussy, as well as rarely heard clarinet concertos by Krommer and Kurpinsky, as well as the American premiere of Richard Strauss’s Serenade for Clarinet and
Chamber Orchestra. He has been featured as Principal clarinetist with Baltimore, Cincinnati, and Seattle Symphonies, and has collaborated with some of the most notable conductors of our time, including Roger Norrington, Seiji Ozawa, Dennis Russell Davies, Herbert Blomstedt, Daniel Barenboim, George Solti, Pierre Boulez and others. Away from the orchestras, Ilya is very active as chamber musician, festival performer, and educator. He is a member of Olmos Ensemble, a chamber group made up of principal woodwind players from the San Antonio Symphony. His summer appearances have included the Colorado Music Festival and Britt Festival, as well as the Piccolo Spoleto Festival – USA. As an educator, he has been a faculty member of the College of Charleston, the University of Texas San Antonio, and UT Austin. A native of Ukraine, Ilya began his music education at the Kosenko Music College, in Zhitomir, city of his birth. After his immigration to the United States in 1989, he received an Artist Certificate diploma from the Meadows School of the Arts, Southern Methodist University, after which he did further study at DePaul University in Chicago. His principal teachers have included Larry Combs, Stephen Girko, and Charles Neidich. Mr. Shterenberg’s performances have been heard on National Public Radio stations throughout the country as well as Chicago’s WFMT nationwide classical music network. He performs frequently as a recitalist and chamber music artist with Cactus Pear Music Festival and the North Shore Chamber Music Festival. Ilya is a Buffet Group USA performing artist. |
Eva Rae Martinez is a fourth-year student at Manhattan School of Music (MSM) studying classical voice with Ms. Shirley Close. In her time at MSM, Eva has had the opportunity to perform Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with orchestra, both the Mozart Requiem and Fauré Requiem as the soprano soloist, scenes from I puritani (Elvira), scenes from L’elisir d’amore (Adina), and Verdi’s La traviata (chorus). She also appeared as Juliette in scenes from Gounod’s Romèo et Juliette this past summer at the Sewanee Summer Music Festival Operafest. Eva’s most recent engagement was with the Olmos
Ensemble, based in San Antonio, Texas, for a recital with pianist Warren Jones and clarinetist Ilya Shterenberg featuring works by Poulenc, Vaughn Williams, and Schubert. Eva is a finalist of the National YoungArts Competition in Miami, Florida, a Schmidt Vocal Competition Finalist in New York City, a Presidential Scholar in the Arts Semifinalist, and a recipient of the Bruce Montgomery Foundation for the Arts Springboard Grant. Eva aspires to further her studies abroad to ultimately pursue a career in opera.
In reviewing pianist Scott Cuellar’s debut recital at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, David LaMarche of the New York Concert Review described Mr. Cuellar’s performance as “virtuosic in scope and expression, like a great man of the theater,” and praised his “ability to illuminate both the external structure and the emotional core of the work he plays.” He has been described by Cleveland Classical as possessing “nerves of steel, a formidable technique, and an architect’s understanding of structure,” and the Lima News lauded his “poignant sensitivity to the expressive demands of the music that far surpasses his years.”
Mr. Cuellar won the gold medal at the 2016 San Antonio International Piano Competition, where he also received prizes for the best performance of both a Romantic work (Schumann’s Humoreske), as well as of a Russian work (Prokofiev’s 4th Sonata). He was the 1st place winner in the solo division of the 2013 Virginia Waring International Piano Competition, where he also took 2nd place in the concerto division, and was the winner of the Krenek Prize for the best performance of a sonata by Ernst Krenek. Additionally, he was the 3rd place winner of the 2016 New Orleans International Piano Competition, the winner of both the Rice and Oberlin concerto competitions, and was a semifinalist in the 2015 Honens Piano Competition. He has given solo recitals at major venues around the world, including Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Vienna’s Konzerthaus and Bösendorfersaal, the Newport Music Festival, the Shenyang Conservatory of Music in the People’s Republic of China and as a guest recitalist at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music. He has performed in solo and collaborative settings at major venues including the Kennedy Center, the Sede Histórica of Peru’s Conservatorio Nacional de Música in Lima, Minneapolis’s Orchestra Hall, New York’s Merkin Hall, Calgary’s Jack Singer Concert Hall, and the Greene Space of WQXR New York. He has appeared as a soloist with the Rochester Symphony Orchestra, the Oberlin Orchestra, the Lima (Ohio) Symphony Orchestra, the Waring Festival Orchestra, both the Minneapolis and St. Paul Civic Symphonies, and several others.
Mr. Cuellar has attended the Banff Center in Alberta, Canada, and was one of ten pianists invited to study under Jerome Lowenthal at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara. As a dedicated chamber musician, he has coached with members of the Takacs, Moscow and former Cleveland String Quartets, and has performed with internationally-respected musicians including violist Hsin-Yun Huang, soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian, and clarinetist James Campbell. He enjoys continuing private study with Orli Shaham. Mr. Cuellar holds a Master of Music from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Julian Martin, and holds a Bachelor of Music from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Alvin Chow. During his time at Oberlin, he won three of the largest prizes offered to pianists: the Oberlin Concerto Competition, the Arthur Dann Competition, and the John Elvin Prize for Juniors. Mr. Cuellar graduated from the Shepherd School of at Rice University, where he studied with Jon Kimura Parker. He currently resides in Oberlin, OH.
Ensemble, based in San Antonio, Texas, for a recital with pianist Warren Jones and clarinetist Ilya Shterenberg featuring works by Poulenc, Vaughn Williams, and Schubert. Eva is a finalist of the National YoungArts Competition in Miami, Florida, a Schmidt Vocal Competition Finalist in New York City, a Presidential Scholar in the Arts Semifinalist, and a recipient of the Bruce Montgomery Foundation for the Arts Springboard Grant. Eva aspires to further her studies abroad to ultimately pursue a career in opera.
In reviewing pianist Scott Cuellar’s debut recital at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, David LaMarche of the New York Concert Review described Mr. Cuellar’s performance as “virtuosic in scope and expression, like a great man of the theater,” and praised his “ability to illuminate both the external structure and the emotional core of the work he plays.” He has been described by Cleveland Classical as possessing “nerves of steel, a formidable technique, and an architect’s understanding of structure,” and the Lima News lauded his “poignant sensitivity to the expressive demands of the music that far surpasses his years.”
Mr. Cuellar won the gold medal at the 2016 San Antonio International Piano Competition, where he also received prizes for the best performance of both a Romantic work (Schumann’s Humoreske), as well as of a Russian work (Prokofiev’s 4th Sonata). He was the 1st place winner in the solo division of the 2013 Virginia Waring International Piano Competition, where he also took 2nd place in the concerto division, and was the winner of the Krenek Prize for the best performance of a sonata by Ernst Krenek. Additionally, he was the 3rd place winner of the 2016 New Orleans International Piano Competition, the winner of both the Rice and Oberlin concerto competitions, and was a semifinalist in the 2015 Honens Piano Competition. He has given solo recitals at major venues around the world, including Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Vienna’s Konzerthaus and Bösendorfersaal, the Newport Music Festival, the Shenyang Conservatory of Music in the People’s Republic of China and as a guest recitalist at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music. He has performed in solo and collaborative settings at major venues including the Kennedy Center, the Sede Histórica of Peru’s Conservatorio Nacional de Música in Lima, Minneapolis’s Orchestra Hall, New York’s Merkin Hall, Calgary’s Jack Singer Concert Hall, and the Greene Space of WQXR New York. He has appeared as a soloist with the Rochester Symphony Orchestra, the Oberlin Orchestra, the Lima (Ohio) Symphony Orchestra, the Waring Festival Orchestra, both the Minneapolis and St. Paul Civic Symphonies, and several others.
Mr. Cuellar has attended the Banff Center in Alberta, Canada, and was one of ten pianists invited to study under Jerome Lowenthal at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara. As a dedicated chamber musician, he has coached with members of the Takacs, Moscow and former Cleveland String Quartets, and has performed with internationally-respected musicians including violist Hsin-Yun Huang, soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian, and clarinetist James Campbell. He enjoys continuing private study with Orli Shaham. Mr. Cuellar holds a Master of Music from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Julian Martin, and holds a Bachelor of Music from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Alvin Chow. During his time at Oberlin, he won three of the largest prizes offered to pianists: the Oberlin Concerto Competition, the Arthur Dann Competition, and the John Elvin Prize for Juniors. Mr. Cuellar graduated from the Shepherd School of at Rice University, where he studied with Jon Kimura Parker. He currently resides in Oberlin, OH.
