DUC Chamber Music Series: Isabel Trautwein, violin and Patti Wolf, piano

PROGRAM:

J. Brahms (1833-1897)
Sonata in G-major, Opus 78

------------Intermission----------

J.S.  Bach (1685-1750)  

Ciaconna for Violin Solo in d-minor

L.v. Beethoven (1770-1826) 
Sonata in c-minor, 0pus 30, no. 2

  

ISABEL TRAUTWEIN Violinist, The Cleveland Orchestra

Isabel Trautwein has been a member of the first violin section of The Cleveland Orchestra since September 2002. 

Previously, she was Principal Second Violinist of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, Concertmaster of the New World Symphony in Miami, member of the Houston Symphony and Violinist in the Naumburg-award-winning Pacifica String Quartet. She toured under Sergui Celibidache’s with the Münchner Philharmoniker and with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Ms. Trautwein has appeared as soloist with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, the National Repertory Orchestra, the Musikhochschule Lübeck orchestra and with many American regional orchestras. For two summers she served as Concertmaster of the National Repertory Orchestra in Colorado, performing the Bartok 2nd, Beethoven and Brahms Concerti.

Born in Huntsville, Alabama, USA, she began Suzuki violin studies at age 5. When she was 12, her family moved to their native Germany, where she continued her studies with Prof. Ulrich Gröner in Ravensburg. 

During her years in Germany, she was a member of Claudio Abbado’s European Community Youth Orchestra and of the German National Youth Orchestra, traveling to Israel, West Africa and India. She was 3rd Prize winner in the Bundeswettbewerb “Jugend Musiziert” in a piano trio and was awarded a fellowship to the Aspen Center for Advanced Quartet Studies in Colorado.

She studied under Prof. Uwe-Martin Haiberg at the Musikhochschule Lübeck. Important additional influences came from Christian Tetzlaff, Walter Levin and Henry Meyer. While in Lübeck, Ms. Trautwein was awarded the “Possehl-Preis” and was accepted by the “Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes”.

Upon receiving her undergraduate degree (Diplom) in Lübeck, she pursued graduate studies under Prof. Donald Weilerstein at the Cleveland Institute of Music in Ohio, USA, funded by a German government “DAAD” scholarship.

Alongside her orchestral work, she has performed and coached at many music festivals, including at the German “Wolfegger Wintermusik”, the Grand Teton Festival, Wyoming, the MIMIR Festival, Texas and at the Innsbrook Institute, Missouri. She is a frequent audition coach at the New World Symphony in Miami and also maintains a private teaching studio. This summer, she will travel to Armenia to coach and perform chamber music with professionals and gifted young artists.

Since 2005, Ms. Trautwein has been Artistic Director of the Heights Arts “Close Encounters” chamber music series in Cleveland and has performed in over 30 concerts with faculty members from the Cleveland Institute of Music and Cleveland Orchestra members.

Passionate about teaching and creating equitable access to music and music education, Ms. Trautwein took a leave from her orchestral work in 2010 to pursue a year long El Sistema fellowship at New England Conservatory in Boston and in Venezuela. Upon her return to Cleveland, Ms. Trautwein launched two El Sistema programs in some of Cleveland’s most impoverished neighborhoods. Today, over 80 students receive free daily orchestra training in these programs and perform annually on stage at Severance Hall.

Ms. Trautwein has been recognized with the Cleveland Institute of Music Alumni Achievement Award (2013), the Martha Joseph Cleveland Arts Prize (2012), the Ted Horvath Prize from Rainey Institute (2012) and the Judson Smart Living Award (2013) in honor of her efforts to enrich the Cleveland community through music.

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 Chautauqua Symphony and has performed under the batons of Leonard Slatkin, Catherine Comet, Raymond Leppard, and many others.

As a collaborative pianist, Ms. 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. Last June, she performed at The Kennedy Center for the Washington International String Competition.  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. From 2001-2009 she was on the staff at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University as a collaborative pianist. Recently, Ms.Wolf was appointed adjunct faculty at Maryville University. She performs regularly as a pianist for the Saint Louis Symphony, the Chautauqua Symphony, the Chamber Music Society of Saint Louis, and maintains an active private studio. In October, Ms. Wolf will be performing the Grieg Piano Concerto with the Saint Louis Philharmonic.