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This spring, pianist Jonathan Biss embarks on a three-concert Zankel Hall series that focuses on the music of Schumann, Janácek, and Mozart, including a solo recital and two chamber music programs with the Elias String Quartet. The recital, on Tuesday, March 12 at 7:30 p.m., features Schumann’s Fantasiestücke interspersed with selections from Janácek’s On the Overgrown Path. Also on the program is Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze and Mozart’s Minuet in D Major and Adagio in B Minor.

The following month, on Tuesday, April 2 at 7:30 p.m., Mr. Biss is joined by the Elias String Quartet for the first of two concerts, performing piano quartets by Mozart and Schumann as well as the New York premiere of Timothy Andres’s Piano Quintet, co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall. In addition, the Elias String Quartet plays Janácek’s’s String Quartet No. 2, “Intimate Letters.” The final performance in Biss’s three-concert series takes place on Wednesday, April 10 at 7:30 p.m., and features Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 13 in C Major and Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E-flat Major with the Elias String Quartet. The group is also joined by Ensemble ACJW alumni: clarinetist Carol McGonnell, horn player Eric Reed, and bassoonist Brad Balliett for Janácek’s Concertino for Piano and Chamber Ensemble.

The April 2 concert will be aired on WQXR 105.9 FM in New York and stations nationwide as part of the Carnegie Hall Live broadcast and digital series, produced by WQXR and Carnegie Hall in collaboration with American Public Media and hosted by WQXR’s Jeff Spurgeon and American Public Media’s Fred Child. Concerts in the series are available for live streaming on wqxr.org and carnegiehall.org/wqxr. During every live broadcast, WQXR, Carnegie Hall, and digital partner NPR Music will host live web chats, including Twitter commentary by the broadcast team, from backstage and in the control room, connecting national and international fans to the music and to each other.

Artist Information
American pianist Jonathan Biss is widely regarded for his artistry, musical intelligence, and deeply felt interpretations, winning international recognition for his orchestral, recital, and chamber music performances and for his award-winning recordings. He made his New York Philharmonic debut in 2001, and since then has appeared with the foremost orchestras of North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. He is a frequent performer at leading international music festivals and gives recitals in major music capitals both at home and abroad.

Last season Mr. Biss made his much-anticipated Carnegie Hall recital debut in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage with a program of works by Beethoven, Schumann, Janácek, and a new work written for him by Bernard Rands. In January 2012, Onyx Classics released the first CD in a nine-year, nine-disc recording cycle of Beethoven’s complete sonatas. Mr. Biss’s previous recordings include an album of Schubert Sonatas and two short Kurtág pieces from Játékok released in October 2009 on the Wigmore Hall Live label, which was named by NPR Music as one of the best albums of the year. That recording followed four acclaimed recordings for the EMI Classics label, including an all-Schumann recital album, which won a Diapason d’Or de l’année award, and an album of Beethoven Piano Sonatas, which received an Edison Award. With the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Mr. Biss recorded Mozart’s Piano Concertos No. 21 and 22 in a live performance. His first recording for EMI Classics was a 2004 recording on EMI’s Debut series of works by Beethoven and Schumann.

Mr. Biss has been recognized with numerous awards, including the Leonard Bernstein Award, presented at the 2005 Schleswig-Holstein Festival; Wolf Trap’s Shouse Debut Artist Award; the Andrew Wolf Memorial Chamber Music Award; Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Segal Award; an Avery Fisher Career Grant; the 2003 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award; and the 2002 Gilmore Young Artist Award. He was an artist-in-residence on American Public Media’s Performance Today and was the first American chosen to participate in the BBC’s New Generation Artist program.

The Elias String Quartet takes its name from the German form of Mendelssohn’s oratorio, Elijah, and has quickly established itself as one of the most intense and vibrant quartets of its generation. The Elias String Quartet was formed in 1998 at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester where the musicians worked closely with the late Dr. Christopher Rowland. The quartet also spent a year studying at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne with the Alban Berg Quartet. Other mentors in the quartet’s studies include Hugh Maguire, György Kurtág, Gábor Takács-Nagy, Henri Dutilleux, and Rainer Schmidt. The quartet has been chosen to participate in BBC Radio 3's prestigious New Generation Artists’ program and is the recipient of a 2010 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award. The ensemble has released discs by Mozart, Beethoven, and Spohr with the Sanctuary Classics and Nimbus labels. The Elias String Quartet’s debut recording of Mendelssohn quartets for Sanctuary Classics received wide acclaim, and its performance of the Op. 80 quartet was chosen as best recording on BBC Radio 3's Building a Library. The group’s Wigmore Live disc has received outstanding reviews. The quartet has also released a disc of French harp music with harpist Sandrine Chatron for the French label Ambroisie and Goehr’s Piano Quintet with Daniel Becker for the Meridian Records label. Its latest CD is a Britten Quartets disc, released by the Sonimage label.

Program Information
Tuesday, March 12 at 7:30 p.m.
Zankel Hall
JONATHAN BISS, Piano

ROBERT SCHUMANN Fantasiestücke, Op. 12
LEOŠ JANÁCEK Selections from Selections from On the Overgrown Path, Book I
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Minuet in D Major, K. 355
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Adagio in B Minor, K. 540
ROBERT SCHUMANN Davidsbündlertänze, Op. 6

Tickets: $43, $50
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Tuesday, April 2 at 7:30 p.m.
Zankel Hall
JONATHAN BISS, Piano
ELIAS STRING QUARTET
•• Sara Bitlloch, Violin
•• Donald Grant, Violin
•• Martin Saving, Viola
•• Marie Bitlloch, Cello

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, K. 493
LEOŠ JANÁCEK String Quartet No. 2, "Intimate Letters"
TIMOTHY ANDRES Piano Quintet (NY Premiere, co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall)
ROBERT SCHUMANN Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 47

Pre-concert talk starts at 6:30 p.m. in Zankel Hall with Jonathan Biss in conversation with Jeremy Geffen, Director of Artistic Planning, Carnegie Hall.

Lead support for Carnegie Hall commissions is provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Funding for the Carnegie Hall Live broadcast series is provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Tickets: $44, $52
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Wednesday, April 10 at 7:30 p.m.
Zankel Hall
JONATHAN BISS, Piano
ELIAS STRING QUARTET
•• Sara Bitlloch, Violin
•• Donald Grant, Violin
•• Martin Saving, Viola
•• Marie Bitlloch, Cello
Carol McGonnell, Clarinet
Eric Reed, Horn
Brad Balliett, Bassoon

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Piano Concerto No. 13 in C Major, K. 415
LEOŠ JANÁCEK Concertino for Piano and Chamber Ensemble
ROBERT SCHUMANN Piano Quintet in E-flat Major, Op. 44

Tickets: $44, $52

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