Berkshire Symphony Student Soloist Competition

The Williams College Department of Music  presents the annual Berkshire Symphony Student Soloist Competition on Wedesday, Feb. 16 at 6 p.m. in Brooks-Rogers Recital Hall on the Williams College campus. There are also two pre-competition studio recitals on Wednesday, Feb. 9 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 13 at 3 p.m. in Brooks-Rogers. These free events are open to the public.

As a highlight the competition winners appear with the Berkshire Symphony in the fourth and final regular season concert on Friday, April 15, in Chapin Hall, a concert which showcases the remarkable talents of Williams students. All four of these annual events are noted for their high level of performance and the particular verve that these young musicians bring to their interpretations.

The Berkshire Symphony is conducted by Ronald Feldman and includes Music Department Williams students, faculty members, and professionals. The ensemble presents four major concerts each season. The programs include music from all periods and genres, from classical standards to cutting edge premieres.

The competition is open to Williams College students who have completed required instrumental or vocal studies and are enrolled in qualifying courses. The students must be recommended by their instrumental or vocal teachers. The works may be one movement from a concerto, a single-movement work, a concert or operatic aria, song cycle, etc. for soloist and orchestra.

A distinguished panel of judges consisting of professional musicians from outside the Williams community chooses the winners. This year the panel welcomes Chris Krueger, flautist and professor of music at the University of Massachusetts; Pianist Judith Gordon, assistant professor of music at Smith College, Joel Pitchon, associate professor of violin and chamber music at Smith, and singer Jane West.

The Judges

Judith Gordon, piano
Pianist Judith Gordon gave her New York recital debut at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s ‘Introductions’ series, and was selected as Boston Globe 1997 ‘Musician of the Year’. She joined the Smith College music faculty in 2006. With the Boston Pops she was soloist in Mozart, Saint-Saens and Ravel concertos and with groups including the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Boston Modern Orchestra Project and Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra she’s explored repertory from Bach, Beethoven, Schumann, Rachmaninoff and Hindemith to Berg, Boulez, Gorecki, Harbison and Hyla. In addition to her Smith faculty colleagues, Judith works with artists and groups including vocalists Lisa Saffer, Mary Nessinger, Krista River, William Hite and James Maddalena; cellists Andres Diaz and Rhonda Rider; violists Marcus Thompson and Roger Tapping; violinists Rose Mary Harbison and Elizabeth Chang; Imani Winds; Borromeo, Daedalus, and Lydian string quartets; Lighthouse Chamber Players, Collage New Music, and Santa Fe New Music. Composers with whom she has often collaborated include Martin Brody, Peter Child, John Harbison, Lee Hyla and Peter Lieberson. In 2008 she premiered and recorded Donald Wheelock’s Piano Variations. Ms. Gordon performs and teaches at festivals including Charlottesville (VA), Rockport (MA), and Token Creek (WI), and Music from Salem (NY) where she is an Artistic Co-Director.

Joel Pitchon, violin
Joel Pitchon, violinist, is an Associate Professor of violin and chamber music at Smith College. A graduate of the Juilliard School, Mr. Pitchon studied with Oscar Shumsky and Joseph Fuchs. Mr. Pitchon is currently a member of the Boston based Walden Chamber Players, the Smith Chamber Ensemble, and the New Baroque Soloists. He has been the concertmaster of numerous orchestras, including the Orquestra Ciutat de Barcelona (Spain), the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, and the EOS Chamber Orchestra (NY). For his performance of Stravinsky’s L’histoire du Soldat with the EOS Orchestra, the New York Times wrote  “…superb playing by Joel Pitchon…” Mr. Pitchon has been a featured artist for the arts program “Cadencia” on TV3 Catalunya and profiled in STRAD magazine. He has performed in many concerts in the U.S. and abroad with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and has appeared in numerous radio and television broadcasts including WGBH, WYNC, and PBS television. Mr. Pitchon has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, Vox Cum Laude, CBS Masterworks, and the Musical Heritage Society. He has recently made two recordings of sonatas and solo works by Porter, Piston, Amy Beach and Clifton J. Noble for Gasparo Records. His most recent recording is of the chamber works of Augusta Read Thomas with the Walden Chamber Players.

Chris Krueger, flute
Christopher Krueger has performed as principal flutist with the Boston Symphony, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Opera Company of Boston, and is a member of Collage New Music and Emmanuel Music. As a Baroque flutist, he has been a soloist at Lincoln Center, Tanglewood, Ravinia, and throughout North America and Europe. He is a member of the Bach Ensemble and the Aulos Ensemble, and is principal flutist with the Handel and Haydn Society and Boston Baroque. Mr. Krueger is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and is on the faculty of New England Conservatory, Boston University, and Oberlin’s Baroque Performance Institute.

Jane Bryden, soprano
A distinguished advocate of chamber music, soprano Jane Bryden has appeared with St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, the Kennedy Center Chamber Players, the Bach Ensemble, the Boston Museum Trio, the Aulos Ensemble, Tafelmusik and the Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra.  In addition she has also been a soloist with the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony and the Israel Philharmonic.  Ms. Bryden sang in Peter Sellar’s production of Handel’s “Orlando” with the American Repertory Theater and is a founding member of Boston’s Emmanuel Music with whom she has given more than 100 performances of Bach cantatas in their liturgical context.  Composers whose works she has premiered include John Harbison, Earl Kim, Martin Boykan, Donald Sur and Ronald Perera and Donald Wheelock.  As a recipient of a Howard Foundation grant, Jane Bryden produced and participated in a festival of the music of Luigi Dallapiccola, and organized a series of concerts and lectures devoted to the legend of Orpheus. Her recordings have been released on Koch International Classics, L’Oiseau Lyre, Pro Arte, Angel, Denon, CBS Masterworks, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, Gasparo and CRI.  Jane Bryden is the Iva Dee Hiatt Professor of Music at Smith College.

Event Program