ARTIST PROFILE

Paul Coletti and Lydia Artymiw

BIOGRAPHY

After PAUL COLETTI'S 'auspicious' New York debut recital in 1983 The New York Times hailed him for his 'mastery and impeccable technique' and proclaimed him a 'remarkable, elegant, distinct artistic personality'. In San Francisco the Examiner wrote, 'He reminds me of the great William Primrose at his best', and in Switzerland Der Bund was moved to remark, 'It was breathtaking. One could simply not have imagined a better performance.'

Born in Scotland, Paul Coletti studied at The Royal Scottish Academy, the Menuhin Music Academy, the Banff Center and the Juilliard School. His main influences were Alberto Lysy, his teacher and colleague in concerto and chamber music recordings, Sándor Végh (since 1979), Donald McInnis and William Lincer. He has appeared regularly as viola soloist throughout the world including his native Edinburgh, as well as in Belgrade, Buenos Aires, Geneva, London, New York, Paris, Tokyo, Toronto and Sydney, and also in Berlin playing Bartók's Viola Concerto with Sir Yehudi Menuhin conducting - a concert televised throughout Europe.

As a chamber musician he has played in many of the world's major festivals, performing over a hundred concerts a year with such groups as the Menuhin Festival Piano Quartet, and with the chamber societies of Boston, Seattle, Washington and Lincoln Center (with whom he has made several recordings); also with Bargemusic, Bridgehampton, at the Grand Canyon, and in Japan.

Paul Coletti gives annual master classes at the Lenk Summer Music Academy and the Menuhin Academy in Swizerland, and frequently in Japan. For eight years he chaired the viola department at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, the USA's oldest music school. Previously he was chairman of the string department at the University of Washington in Seattle, making him one of the youngest artists ever to receive such an appointment.

Among other activities are work with Claude Bolling and his Jazz Trio on the Caribbean island of St Barths, and guest-conducting the New Japan Philharmonic in Tokyo in an all-Mozart programme.

He is also a composer, with a work recorded on the Epic Sony label by Typhoon 4.

Paul lives in New York with pianist Hannah Reimann.

The Los Angeles Times described LYDIA ARTYMIW as "an important pianist because she combines so many diverse qualities. Artymiw is authoritative in many styles; she wields power and delicacy with equal ease; she is securely equipped with technique, and she feels deeply and knows how to communicate her feelings. She stirred her audience repeatedly." Artymiw has also been hailed by The New York Times as "a pianist with a beautiful touch, a creative imagination, and a feeling for color and texture far in advance of that cultivated by most of the young virtuosos we hear." She has succeeded in every facet of an important international career: as soloist with orchestra, in recital and chamber music, and in solo and chamber music recordings. Artymiw has appeared with over one hundred orchestras throughout the United States, Europe, and the Far East. Her American orchestral appearances include the Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, as well as the Baltimore, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Denver, Detroit, Kansas City, Minnesota, National, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Seattle, and St. Louis Symphonies, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. As a recitalist, she has been heard in such major cities as London, Berlin, Rome, Milan, Paris, Taipei, New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, Washington, and Los Angeles. She has concertized extensively throughout Europe and has performed in Korea, Taiwan, New Zealand, and Singapore.

Artymiw's festival appearances include Aspen, Bard, Bravo! Colorado, Caramoor, Chamber Music Northwest, Chautauqua, Grand Canyon, Hampden-Sydney, Hollywood Bowl, Maverick, Montreal, Mostly Mozart, Newport, Tucson, Virginia Waterfront, and Marlboro (where she continues to return as a "senior artist/participant.") Since 1982, she has performed regularly with the Guarneri Quartet and has also collaborated with the Shanghai, Orion, Miami, Borromeo, Tokyo, Vermeer, and American Quartets, has given recitals with Yo-Yo Ma, Arnold Steinhardt, Michael Tree, John Aler and Benita Valente (with whom she has recorded for the Centaur and Pantheon labels), and she has toured with "Music From Marlboro" groups throughout the United States. Artymiw is a member of the Steinhardt-Artymiw-Eskin Trio (with Arnold Steinhardt, first violinist of the Guarneri Quartet and Jules Eskin, principal cellist of the Boston Symphony).

Lydia Artymiw is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 1989 Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award and the 1987 Avery Fisher Career Grant, and she has garnered top prizes in major competitions, such as the 1978 Leeds International in England, the 1976 Leventritt, and the 1972 Koszciuszko Foundation Chopin Competition. Her seven solo albums for the Chandos label in England have been critically acclaimed, and she has also recorded for the Centaur, Pantheon, and Artegra labels.

Her debut record was a Gramophone Magazine "Critic's Choice" and "Best of the Year" disc, her Mendelssohn record was hailed by Hi-Fi News and the Monthly Guide to Recorded Music as "Best of the Month," and Ovation honored her Schubert album as "Recording of Distinction."

Born in Philadelphia, Lydia Artymiw began piano studies at four and made her professional debut at eight with the Philadelphia Orchestra while studying with Freda Pastor Berkowitz of the Curtis Institute. A graduate of Philadelphia's University of the Arts, her principal teacher was Gary Graffman, with whom she studied for twelve years. Artymiw and her musicologist husband, David Grayson, live in Minneapolis where they began their tenure at the University of Minnesota in 1989. In 2000, Artymiw received the "Dean's Medal" for Outstanding Professor, and in 2001, she was awarded a Distinguished McKnight Professorship, becoming the first performing artist at the University of Minnesota to receive this honor.