UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Penn State School of Music will present Leonid Finkelshteyn, principal bassist of the North Carolina Symphony and the Eastern Festival Orchestra, in a guest recital at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 13, in Esber Recital Hall. Finkelshteyn serves on the faculties of East Carolina University and North Carolina State University in addition to maintaining a large private studio. Accompanied by pianist Svetlana Rodionova, Finkelshteyn's recital will occur prior to the Bass Bash (double bass studio recital) beginning at 8:30 p.m. He will also present a masterclass for double bass students at 8 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 12, in 128 Music Building II. Admission is free.
Program
Adagio (from "The Limpid Stream") -- Dmitri Shostakovitch
Sonata "#2 in E Minor, Op. 6" -- Adolf Mišek
"Prelude Op. 23, No. 10" -- Sergei Rachmaninoff
"Oriental Dance, Op. 2" -- Rachmaninoff
"Elegy No. 1" -- Giovanni Bottesini
Variations on "Nel cor piu non mi sento" (from Paisiello's La Molinara) -- Bottesini
Bassist Leonid Finkelshteyn has made numerous concerto appearances with the North Carolina Symphony and with the Peninsula Music Festival Orchestra (Wisconsin), including works by Bottesini, Bruch, Koussevitsky and Tubin. He also performed at the North American premiere of Gareth Glyn’s "Microncerto" and the world premiere of J.Mark Scearce’s "Antaeus," a concerto for double bass and orchestra, which the North Carolina Symphony commissioned for him. Upon arriving in the United States, Finkelshteyn attended the Aspen Music Festival where he won the E. Nakamichi Double Bass Competition, performing the Koussevitsky concerto with the festival orchestra.
Other artistic pursuits have included tours with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and the Philharmonia Hungarica. In addition, Finkelshteyn has appeared with the St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Dallas symphonies as guest principal bassist. He recently served as principal bassist of the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, led by Louis Langree at Lincoln Center in New York. He also performed with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Milwaukee Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony and, most recently, appeared with the All-Star Orchestra under the direction of Gerard Schwarz as part of a series of programs for PBS. Finkelshteyn has performed with a number of renowned conductors throughout his career, including Daniel Barenboim, Pierre Boulez, Alan Gilbert, Marris Jansons, Neeme and Paavo Jarvi, Louis Langree, Lorin Maazel, Andrew Manze, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Gerard Schwarz, Yannick Nezet-Seguin, Yuri Temirkanov and Osmo Vanska.
An avid chamber musician, Finkelshteyn has participated in the South Hampton Arts Festival in New York, and continues to appear as part of the Four Seasons Festival at East Carolina University, the Eastern Music Festival Chamber Music Series and the North Carolina Symphony Chamber Music series. He has collaborated with his brother, cellist Ilya Finkelshteyn, Julia Fischer, Mark Kosover, Adam Neiman, Awadagin Pratt and Elina Vahala among others.
A committed teacher, Finkelshteyn was recently invited to give masterclasses at Yale University and in New York City for students from the Manhattan School of Music and the Mannes College of Music. He makes a point of being involved within his community as well, leading sectionals for local youth orchestras and the North Carolina All-State high school orchestra. In addition, he works with local music teachers and their double bass students, offering masterclasses and sectionals. A native of Leningrad in the former Soviet Union, he joined the Symphony Orchestra of the Leningrad Philharmonic at age 19 while he was a student at the Leningrad Conservatory. He earned an master's of music degree, graduating with honors from that institution. His primary teachers were Peter Weinblatt and Sergei Akopov. He became principal bassist of the Symphony Orchestra and was a prize winner of the Soviet Union Bass Competition before emigrating to the United States in 1990.