Silvian Iticovici, Faculty Violin Recital

A native of Romania, Silvian Iticovici, violin, is a renowned international soloist and collaborator.  He received his master’s degree from the Bucharest Conservatory and continued his studies with Yehudi Menuhin, in London and Amsterdam, and Ivan Galamian, in New York, and Norbert Brainin. Mr. Iticovici won second prize in the 1969 International Violin Competition in Sion, Switzerland and was the recipient of the Andr Gertler prize in the 1972 International Bach Competition in Leipzig. He has recorded for the Suisse-Romande Radio and was a member of the Camerata of Lysy, Switzerland.  Mr. Iticovici has been a member with the Saint Louis Symphony since 1976 and is currently the Second Associate Concertmaster Emeritus.   He has performed numerous concerti as a soloist with the Saint Louis Symphony and has been an active chamber musician with Chamber Music St. Louis and the Discovery series.  Most recently, Mr. Iticovici has been featured in concerto performances with the Bacau Philharmonic and Philharmonic “Moldova,” both in his native Romania, performing the works of Britten and Shostakovich.  He also was featured in 2005 with the University City Philharmonic Orchestra performing the popular music from the film “The Red Violin,” by John Corigliano.  Mr. Iticovici is just returning from a trip to California where he was featured in a Japan Disaster Relief Concert sponsored by the American Association of Japanese University Women.  In addition to his performing duties, Mr. Iticovici has been a member of the faculty of Washington University since 1985 and has been an Artist-in-Residence at Saint Louis University since 1983.

Richard T. Katz began his piano studies at the age of six, and obtained a full scholarship to the Chatham Square Music School at the age of eleven.  He continued his studies at the Mannes School of Music before entering the University of Rochester Eastman School of Music.  He received a Bachelor's Degree in Piano and completed master's work in piano at the Eastman School of Music and the Cleveland Institute of Music.  He has performed numerous benefit concerts for worthy causes, and has won semi-finalist and finalist awards in several piano competitions including the Young Keyboard Artist Association, and the Society of American Musicians.  He has competed twice in the Van Cliburn International Competition for Outstanding Amateurs.  His chamber music performances have included Schubert’s Trout Quintet with members of the Cleveland Orchestra, and violin and piano recitals with St. Louis Symphony Orchestra violinists Silvian Iticovici, Haruka Watanabe, Darwin Apple and St. Louis Symphony Orchestra Concertmaster.

He has performed at the National Press Club in Washington D.C., Chicago Historical Society, the Dame Myra Hess Recital Series at the Chicago Cultural Center (broadcast on WFMT), the St. Louis Pro Musica, St. Louis Ethical Society, United Hebrew Congregation, University of Missouri, and Christ Church Cathedral. Katz appeared at the Sheldon with members of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in a lecture-recital on the music of Ludwig van Beethoven and a performance of the Archduke Trio.  He is an avid transcriptionist of new works for solo piano, including the Ravel “Piano Sonata” (from the String Quartet), the Schubert Fantasy, and the Bach “Brandenberg Concerto #5.”

Juri Seo is a composer & pianist based in New Jersey. She loves to write music that is full of energy, often incorporating contrasts, deceptions, humor, and lyricism imbued with contemporary quirkiness and experimental spirit.

Juri has received a Goddard Lieberson Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Kate Neal Kinley Memorial Fellowship from the University of Illinois, and Otto Eckstein Fellowship from Tanglewood. She holds a D.M.A. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has also studied at Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (Rome) and Tanglewood, Bang on a Can, and SoundSCAPE festivals. She is now Assistant Professor of Composition at Princeton University. Her teachers include Reynold Tharp and Ivan Fedele.