Kenneth Kulosa, cello and Patti Wolf, piano

Danforth University Center - Chamber Series

Free Admission.

 
Suite Italienne for cello and piano (1932)--  Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
 
     Introduzione
     Serenata
     Aria
     Tarantella
     Minuetto e Finale
 
--Intermission--
 
Sonata for cello and piano in G minor, Op. 19 (1901)  
Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943)
 
     Lento. Allegro moderato
     Allegro scherzando
     Andante
     Allegro mosso
 
 

A native of Albuquerque, NM, Kenneth Kulosa moved to St. Louis in 1997 at the invitation of the St. Louis Symphony. Kenneth came to St. Louis from Chicago where he played with the Chicago Symphony, the Grant Park Symphony, and at the same time, held the posts of principal cellist for both the South Bend and Northwest Indiana Symphonies. A graduate of the New England Conservatory and the University of Houston, Kenneth studied with Laurence Lesser and Hans Jorgen Jensen, later becoming Mr. Jensen’s assistant at Northwestern University. An active pedagogue as well as performer, Kenneth is in great demand as a private teacher and in 2003 the Missouri Chapter of the American String Teachers Association named him their Artist/Teacher of the Year.  Mr. Kulosa maintains a large private studio of talented cellists and has placed students in virtually every major music school and conservatory in the United States.  Currently, he serves as Adjunct Professor of cello at Webster University. 

A versatile musician, Kenneth is found performing in many realms.  Kenneth has appeared throughout the United States as soloist with the Storioni Ensemble, Ars Nova Chamber Orchestra, the Bataquitos Festival Orchestra, the civic orchestras of Boston and Fort Worth, as well as the orchestras of St. Louis, Santa Fe, Lake Charles, South Bend, Northwest Indiana, and Webster University.  An active and enthusiastic chamber musician, Kenneth can be found performing as well as teaching chamber music on a regular basis.  Past years have included nationwide live performances on WFMT radio as a member of the Chicago Chamber Musicians, performances at the Boston Academy of Music, the Three Arts Club in Chicago, Santa Fe Bach Festival, Alterezza Chamber Music Series, New Music America Festival as well as the Innsbrook and Wintergreen summer music festivals.  He is active as a chamber musician throughout the St. Louis area with the Saint Louis Symphony’s Community Partnership program, the Pulitzer Foundation, and as a member of the Sheldon Concert Hall’s education series Classical Connections Trio.

Passionate about period performance, Kenneth is currently a member of the Kingsbury Early Music Ensemble and frequently performs music from the baroque and classical period on baroque cello, violoncello piccolo, and viola da gamba.  He has also performed with Early Music St. Louis, Bach at the Sem, and has served on the faculty of the Baroque String Academy of the Community Music School at Webster University.  In the summers he travels to the French Pyrenees with the Kingsbury Ensemble to perform at the Festival de Musique Ancienne de Saint-Savin.  In the 2011-12 season, Kulosa performed 6 complete cycles of the Unaccompanied Cello Suites of J.S. Bach on baroque cello, and his performance of the C Major Suite can be heard on the soon-to-be-released documentary, “Fourty-seven Views of Leslie Laskey”.

PATTI WOLF

Since being selected at age nineteen as the youngest competitor in the prestigious 1985 Van Cliburn Competition, Patti Wolf has been in demand as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician, playing with many of the world’s most distinguished artists.  Among the last are collaborations with concertmasters Glenn Dicterow of the New York Philharmonic, Andreas Cardenas of the Pittsburgh Symphony, recital appearances with the Chicago Symphony’s principal horn, Dale Clevenger, and collaboration with the renowned horn soloist Hermann Baumann.   In August of 2004, Ms. Wolf made her debut in Chautauqua playing a duo piano recital with Peter Frankl.  Subsequently, she has appeared with the Audubon Quartet, flautist Carol Wincenc, and cellist Lynn Harrell. As a soloist she has appeared with the Saint Louis Symphony, the Houston Symphony, the Portland Youth Philharmonic, and has performed under the batons of Leonard Slatkin, Catherine Comet, Raymond Leppard, and many others.

 

As a collaborative pianist, Patti Wolf has been invited to several International Brass Conferences in Chicago, Kansas City,  and San Fransciso, and she has performed in recital at the University of Michigan, Northwestern University, Westminster College, the Eastman School, and  the University of Iowa. Summer engagements have taken her to the Marrowstone Festival, the Cactus Pear Festival, Strings in the Mountains, and the Aspen Music Festival, where she worked as an accompanying fellow.  Ms. Wolf’s numerous awards and honors include the Kosciuzko Chopin Competition, the American Music Scholarship Association, and the Yale Alumni Association Award.  A scholarship student of Jane Allen at the Saint Louis Conservatory, she later worked with Joseph Kalichstein at the Julliard School, receiving a Bachelor of Music in 1987, followed by graduate work at the Yale School of Music under Peter Frankl, Claude Frank, and Boris Berman, receiving her Master’s degree in 1989.  In 2001 she joined the staff at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University as a collaborative pianist, and recently she served as visiting professor of piano at Washington University in St. Louis.  In April she was featured at the historic Sheldon Concert Hall’s classical series. Currently she is a regular pianist for the Saint Louis Symphony, the Chautauqua Symphony, the Chamber Music Society of Saint Louis, and maintains an active private studio.