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NEW YORK, NY - September 7, 2004 - Video Artists International (www.vaimusic.com), today announced the planned Holiday 2004 DVD release of internationally acclaimed violinist Aaron Rosand in recital. Rosand, a violinist in the romantic tradition for more than half a century and a prolific recording artist, performed this recital program last Fall at Mills College in Oakland, California, to inaugurate a scholarship fund in his name. VAI will begin distributing Rosand's DVD at a suggested retail price of $29.95. The DVD, produced by elfenworks (www.elfenworks.com), will be available through retail outlets, worldwide, as well as from major on-line vendors. It is scheduled for an October release and will soon become available for pre-order from major online vendors.
"I'm thrilled that VAI will be releasing Aaron Rosand's first recital DVD." says Video Artists International President Ernest Gilbert, "The technical security and superb musicianship of this ever-astonishing artist belies the extraordinary length of his career. Aaron Rosand's prime appears to be infinite."
The DVD features Sonatas by LeClair and Franck; solo Bach; virtuoso showpieces including Preghiera (Rachmaninoff-Kreisler), Zigeunerweisen (Sarasate), March (Prokofieff-Heifetz), Hopak (Moussorgsky-Rachmaninoff); Romantic works such as Valse Sentimentale (Tschaikovsky-Press) and Nocturne in C# minor (Chopin-Milstein); and a Brahms Hungarian Dance.
"I am both delighted and grateful to be in a position to continue performing at an age when most of my 20th Century colleagues are retired, or no longer perform at their recognized level," explains Rosand, who continues to maintain a busy schedule, balancing concert performances with academic and pedagogical pursuits, "I believe that I am playing as well as ever and I'm looking forward to creating music and performing in front of packed audiences for many years to come."
In other news, VAI will also release newly rediscovered recordings of Rosand's live performances in Norway. The CD release is slated for November 2004. For more information, visit Aaron Rosand's website at www.aaronrosand.com or www.vaimusic.com.
Aaron Rosand's technique is "undiminished by the passing years, interpretations honed to perfection by a lifetime of performances. He has always had that ability to make music sound fresh and spontaneous, his tone shaded with a flexible vibrato ideal for Romantic music." - The Strad.
Among the world's outstanding violinists is Aaron Rosand, whose masterful playing has captivated audiences and critics throughout the world. A true violinist's violinist and "one of the great living exponents of Romantic violin music," (New York Times), Rosand has made "some of the greatest recordings of this century" (Gramophone Magazine); recordings lauded by Strad magazine as "synonymous with immaculate technical achievement, beautiful multi-colored tonal luster, artful phrasing, stylistic elan, and a probing musical intellect." As Dorothy Richard Starling Chair of Violin Studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia as well as in master classes throughout the world, Rosand seeks to impart the twin strains embodied in his own playing - the Russian school of Leopold Auer and the Ysaye tradition - to a new generation.
Canadian pianist Robert Koenig has quickly established a reputation as a much sought-after collaborative pianist and chamber musician. He performs regularly in major centers throughout the world with many of this generation's most renowned musicians. From 1992-1999, Mr. Koenig was staff pianist at The Juilliard School and in 1999 he became a staff pianist at The Curtis Institute of Music. In the fall of 2000, he was appointed Assistant Professor of Piano and Piano Chamber Music at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. He has recorded for Artek, Ambassador, Biddulph, Cedille, CRI, Decca, Eroica, and Naxos.