Kiesewetter, Erica

Violinist from Centerport, Long Island, who attended Juilliard and the New York String Orchestra Seminar and studied with Gerry Beal, Earl Carlyss, Charles Castleman, Joey Corpus, Ivan Galamian, Lisa Kim, Joyce Robbins and Emanuel Vardi.

In 1986, she became the concert master of the Stamford Symphony in Connecticut.

Other groups with whom she has worked include the Alexandria Quartet, the American Ballet Theatre, the American Symphony Orchestra, the Amici New York Orchestra, the Bard Conservatory Orchestra, Bargemusic, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Colorado Quartet, the Columbia Synfonietta, the Dakota Quartet, Eos, the Jerusalem Symphony, the Leonardo Trio, the Long Island Philharmonic, the New York Pops, the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, the Odyssey Chamber Players, the Opera Orchestra of New York, Orpheus, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Perspectives Ensemble, and the Solisti New York Chamber Orchestra.

She recorded the fourth movement of Bela Bartok’s “Sonata for Solo Violin” for Pitch for the International Microtonalist, Vol. 1, No. 3 in the winter of 1988-1989.

Other recordings on which she appears include: Berg: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra with the American Symphony Orchestra; Erno Dohnanyi: Concertino for Harp and Chamber Ensemble/Sextet in C major/Six Pieces for Piano with Leon Botstein; Grace by Kathleen Battle; Griffes: Goddess of the Moon; Igor Stravinsky/C.F. Ramuz: Histoire du soldat: The Soldier’s Tale for 3 Actors & Instrumental Ensemble with Solisti New York; James Primrosch: Icons and Morris Rosenzweig with the Leonardo Trio; Jay Reise: Rhythmic Garlands by Charles Abramovic; Music by Shulamit Ran; and, Song of the Stars: Granados/Casals/Blancafort by the Voices of Ascension.

She can also be heard on the soundtracks of The Brave One and The Last Mimzy.

In the early ‘90s, she became the concert master of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic.

The Leonardo Trio appeared at the University of the Pacific’s Faye Spanos Concert Hall in Stockton, California, on 12^th March 1994 for a trio of trios: “Trio (Cinq pieces breves)” by Bohuslav Martinu; “Trio No. 3 in G minor, Gp. 110” by Robert Schumann; and, “Trio No. 2 in E flat major, Gp. 100 (D. 929)” by Franz Schubert.

In 1997, Erica was in the orchestra pit for a production of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide at the George Gershwin Theatre in New York.

She became concert master of the American Symphony Orchestra and began participating in the Central Vermont Chamber Music Festival in 2001.

In 2002, she became concert master of the Long Island Philharmonic.

She and percussionist Chacho Ramirez were guest artists at Third Street Music School’s Anna-Maria Kellen Auditorium in Manhattan on 23^rd January 2004. The kid-friendly concert featured the “Ciaconna” from “Partita No. 2” by Johann Sebastian Bach, Ferdinand by Munro Leaf & Alan Ridout, the world premiere of The Jester and the Necklace by Carolyn Steinberg, “Reynolds Etudes” by Phil Kline, “Sonata for Two Violins” by Sergei Prokofiev, and “Sonata No. 6” by Eugene Ysaye.

On 3^rd February 2007, the Long Island Philharmonic & Chamber Choir offered up “Baroque by Candlelight” at the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Garden City. The evening’s music comprised J.S. Bach’s Cantata No. 4 (Christ lag in Todesbanden), ArcangeloCorelli’s “Concerto Grosso in G minor, Op. 6, No. 8” (“Christmas Concerto”) and Antonio Vivaldi’s Gloria, RV 589 and “Winter” from The Four Seasons, with Erica as soloist.

Erica inaugurated the School for Strings Summer Program in June 2007. The focus of the program is to help students graduate from chamber ensembles to chamber orchestras without a conductor.

In November 2007, the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic gave a pair of concerts at the F.M. Kirby Center and Scranton Cultural Center. The centerpiece of these performances was Erica’s interpretation of the “Violin Concerto in D minor” of Jean Sibelius. Other works involved were the overture from Der Freischutz by Carl Maria von Weber, the overture from The School for Scandal by Samuel Barber and “Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes of Carl Maria von Weber” by Paul Hindemith.

Erica reprised the Sibelius violin concerto with the Long Island Philharmonic at the Staller Center for the Performing Arts on 6^thApril 2008. Also on the program were highlights from Music for the Royal Fireworks by George Frideric Handel and “Symphony No. 104 in D major” (“London”) by Franz Joseph Haydn.

On 25^th and 26^th April 2008, she revisited Sibelius’s concerto yet again, this time with the American Symphony Orchestra at the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. The concert was rounded out by Barber’s “Knoxville Summer of 1915” and Richard Strauss’s Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30.

She gave a master class at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, on 27^th January 2009.

On 6^th March 2009, she and pianist Blair McMillen gave a recital in the Kellogg Music Center at the Bard Conservatory and College. The sonata-heavy event included “Sonata in B flat, K. 454” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, “Sonata No. 4” by GrazynaBacewicz, “Sonata No. 3” (“Ballade”) by Eugene Ysaye, “Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108” by Johannes Brahms and “Two Etudes for Piano” by Marc Mellits.

Erica was in the Sosnoff Theatre on 30^th October 2009 as part of “John Cage at Bard College: A Symposium” for a program that concentrated on his chamber works. She was featured on “Nocturne for Violin and Piano”, “Six Melodies for Violin and Keyboard” and “String Quartet in Four Parts”.

On 28^th March 2010, she and David Creswell were the soloists with the Long Island Philharmonic in the John Cranford Adams Playhouse at Hofstra University. They performed “Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra in E flat major, K. 364” by Mozart. It was supplemented by “Dances of Galanta” by Zoltan Kodaly, the overture from William Tell by Gioachino Rossini and “Vocalise” by Sergei Rachmaninoff.

She was one of the featured performers at the Round Top Music Festival in Texas on 3^rd July 2010. The chamber music event paired Felix Mendelssohn’s “Octet for Strings in E flat, Op. 20” with Max Reger’s “Quintet for Clarinet in Strings in A, Op. 146”, with soloist Hakan Rosengren.

On 24^th September 2010, she and Alberto Perrini shared the stage at the F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts as the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic presented Brahms’ “Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra in A minor, Op. 102”. The romantic affair included Beethoven’s “Egmont Overture, Op. 84” and Mendelssohn’s “Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 56” (“Scottish”).

She reprised Brahms’ double concerto with Edward Aaron and the Stamford Symphony Orchestra on 16^th and 17^th October 2010. Also on the program were Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 5” and Prokofiev’s “Symphony No. 1” (“Classical”).

In June 2011, she and Robert Zubrycki shared solo duties on J.S. Bach’s “Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, BWV 1043” with the Amici New York Orchestra at the OK Mozart International Music Festival. Their repertoire was supplemented by Antonin Dvorak’s “Serenade for Strings in E major, Op. 22”, Franz Joseph Haydn’s “Toy Symphony in C major”, Astor Piazzolla’s “Fuga y Misterio” and Ottorino Respighi’s “Ancient Airs and Dances Suite No. 3”.

She was at the Festival Concert Hall in Round Top, Texas, on 2^nd July 2011, for performances of “Rhapsody for Seven” by Andre Jolivet and The Soldier’s Tale by Stravinsky.

On 12^th July 2011, she gave a master class at the Edythe Bates Old Chapel, also in Round Top.

She was one of a handful of musicians who appeared at Fisher Center on 14^th August 2011 in a recital of selections from “Lyric Pieces, Op. 54” by Edvard Grieg, songs of Wilhelm Peterson Berger and Frederick Delius, and “Svartsjukans Natter” and “Valsetriste, Op. 44/1” by Sibelius.

On 20^th August 2011, she was back at Fisher in Annandale-on-Hudson for a Finnish affair that comprised “Autumn, Op. 68” by Leevi Madetoja, the “Schott Concerto” of Aarre Merikanto, “String Trio, Op. 133” by Erkki Melartin and “Quartet for Strings in D minor, Op. 56” (“Voces intimae”) by Sibelius.

She went on the road with the Bard Music Festival on 9^th June 2012 for an all-Tchaikovsky event in Loke Yew Hall at Hong Kong University. Their program featured the master’s “String Quartet No. 1 in D major, Op. 1” and “String Sextet in D major, Op. 70” (“Souvenir de Florence”).

In the field of music education, she has taught at the Appleton Conservatory, Bard College, the Bard Conservatory, ColumbiaUniversity, Juilliard, the Manhattan School, Mannes, Penn State, Purchase State University in New York, the Round Top Institute, and the aforementioned School for Strings.

Sources:

Kiesewetter, Erica

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