NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC NAMES THREE MUSICIANS
TO POSITIONS IN THE ORCHESTRA
Contrabassoon, Cello Appointments are Effective Immediately
May 21 -- The New York Philharmonic has announced that contrabassoonist
Arlen Fast and cellists Maria Kitsopoulos and Qiang Tu have been selected
as the Orchestra's newest members. The appointments begin immediately.
Arlen Fast joins the Philharmonic as its Contrabassoonist after serving
seventeen seasons as second bassoon and second bassoon/contrabassoon for
the San Diego Symphony and San Diego Opera, respectively. While earning
his music degree at Wichita (KA) State University, Mr. Fast was second bassoonist
of the Wichita Symphony Orchestra. While on the West Coast, he studied with
Norman Herzberg, who had himself studied with the New York Philharmonic's
former second bassoonist, Simon Kovar. Mr. Fast's other orchestra appearances
include a tour with the Japan Philharmonic, and membership in the La Jolla
(CA) Chamber Orchestra. He has also performed with the Sunriver Music Festival
in Bend, Oregon; San Diego's Mainly Mozart Festival; and La Jolla's Summerfest
Chamber Music Festival. Active as well in chamber music, he is a former
member of Arioso Winds, one of Southern California's most active wind ensembles.
Mr. Fast is married to linguist Anne Ediger, who will be teaching in the
Graduate Studies Department of Applied Linguistics at Columbia University.
Maria Kitsopoulos received both her Bachelor's and Master's degrees from
The Juilliard School, which awarded her the Peter Mennin Prize for Outstanding
Leadership. She now teaches at Juilliard, in addition to pursuing a Doctor
of Musical Arts degree at that institution. Her solo recital debut in New
York's Merkin Concert Hall was sponsored by the Guild of Composers as well
as the Alexander S. Onassis Foundation.. Other New York engagements include
performances with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke's,
and the New York Chamber Symphony. In 1988 Ms. Kitsopoulos appeared as soloist
with the Continuum ensemble in Alice Tully Hall, and has since performed,
also as soloist, with the Phoenix Symphony, the Westfield Symphony and the
Graz Orchestra, among others. In addition to her concerts with Continuum,
she is an active performer of contemporary music with groups such as Music
Mobile and the Guild of Composers, and has traveled throughout Europe with
the Paris-based Ensemble Intercontemporain. A member of the popular four-cello
ensemble CELLO, Ms. Kitsopoulos has appeared with this quartet at the Kennedy
Center, Lincoln Center, and Merkin Concert Hall, in addition to various
colleges and universities throughout the United States. She has won fellowships
for study from the Aspen and Tanglewood music festivals, and her teachers
have included Jerome Carrington, Ardyth Alton, Scott Ballantyne, Harvey
Shapiro, and Aldo Parisot.
Qiang Tu made his solo debut at age thirteen in Beijing, later graduating
from the Central Conservatory with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Also at age
13, he was soloist with one of China's major symphony orchestras for an
extended, two-year period. At age seventeen, and as a member of the China
Youth String Quartet, he was awarded England's Menuhin Prize, later being
selected by the Chinese government to study at the Sydney Conservatorium.
In this capacity he toured the country giving chamber-music and solo recitals,
including a concert broadcast live from the Sydney Opera House. The culmination
of his Australian tenure came when he won Sydney's Parlings Award for Music.
Returning to Beijing he was appointed, at age 20, Associate Professor of
Cello in the Central Conservatory. Concurrently he was Principal Cellist
of the China Youth Symphony and concertized with the orchestra in Switzerland,
West Germany, France, Belgium, Italy, and Great Britain. In the United States,
Mr. Tu has appeared in Chicago, St. Louis, New York, and other major cities.
In 1990, he earned a Master's degree at Rutgers University, where he studied
with Bernard Greenhouse, and in 1994 served as Principal Cellist of the
Princeton Chamber Symphony. In addition to Bernard Greenhouse, other teachers
have been Zara Nelsova, Paul Tortelier, and Zeguang Tu. His solo album,
Meditation, was distributed by the China Record Company
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