Our previous
seasons:
2003-2004
2002-2003
2001-2002
2000-2001
1999-2000
1998-1999
Our 2002-2003 season:
On May 19, 2003. at 7 P.M., we presented our last concert of the 2002-2003 season, "Sounds of the East and Sounds of the West" at the beautiful Indian Consulate 3 East 64th Street. This was formerly the Astor Mansion.
The artists representing the West were the 15 year old violin prodigy Francisco Fink, accompanied on the guitar by Adam Brown, in a program including Paganini, Piazolla, Sarasate and DeFalla. Steve Gorn, represented the East with a program on the Bansuri, (Indian Bamboo Flute) with Narendra Budhakar on the Tabla. Anup Kuma Das performed Kathak dances. This was followed by a delightful Indian Buffet Reception.Anup Kuma Das 
Steve Gorn Francisco Fink Adam Brown Adam Thomas brown & Francisco fink
Ole Akahoshi
On March 11th, 2003 we held a special event for Patrons and Benefactors at the residence of Ambassador and Mrs. Nishida of Japan. We featured the very young exceptional pianist, TOMAOKI MATSUO and OLE AKAHOSHI, cellist on the faculty at Yale and a recent Salon de Virtuosi fellowship grant winner. The concert was followed by a buffet supper reception. Tomaoki Matsuo
Shai Wosner
On January 7,2003, we were thrilled to present the outstanding 2 piano team...one ISRAELI, SHAI WOSNER, and the other, PALESTINIAN Pianist SALEEM AHBOUD... held at Steinway Hall. A marvelous demonstration of the possibility of harmony and cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians, musically, and hopefully in all other ways for the future!
Maestro Daniel Barenboim presented this 2 Piano team with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The concert was followed by a buffet supper reception.Saleem Ahboud
A Gala Concert/Dinner cum Reception for the Salon De Virtuosi Fellowship Fund was held at the exclusive and glamorous SONY CLUB, the beautiful PENTHOUSE at the SONY BUILDING 550 Madison Avenue, NYC on Wednesday, April 23 2003. The concert was followed by a delightful Supper-Reception. The concert featured the world-renowned pianist VLADIMIR FELTSMAN. The 21 year old Israeli CAROLINA SILVER, cellist, and protege of Aldo Parisot, also performed. The honorary chairperson was the famous cellist ALDO PARISOT. The fund aids uniquely gifted young emerging Artists of the future. Since 1995, when we inaugurated our Fellowship Program, we have awarded $130,000 in Grants, to fantastic talents, many of whom have already achieved international fame! Vladimir Feltsman Carolina Silver Aldo Parisot
April 2nd, 2003. A special concert at the residence of the Consul General and Lady Harris of Great Britain. We featured the British pianist, ANTHONY HEWITT as well as CHEN TAO, artist of the Chinese bamboo flute, playing exquisite ethnic music. A charming reception followed the concert.
Anthony Hewitt Chen Tao
On February 19, 2003 at the elegant French Consulate on Fifth Avenue we met with an ensemble of harp, viola, flute and soprano, HYUNAH YU, all superb artists, many from the Metropolitan Opera orchestra; MICHAEL PARLOFF, first flutist, MARIKO ANRAKU, harpist, and HSIN-YUN HUANG, violist, in a program consisting of works by French composers such as Debussy, Ravel, and Satié There was a delightful reception following the concert. Mariko Anraku Hsin-Yun Huang Michael Parloff Hyunah Yu 
Our 2001-2002 season:
On December 5, 2002, we presented “A Hungarian Fantasy” at the elegant Hungarian Consulate featuring Terrence Wilson, Pianist, our first Fellowship award winner and recent winner of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, who performed Liszt. We also presented a very young protégé of Itzhak Perlman, Minzi Cho. This was followed by a Hungarian Buffet Supper Reception.
Terrance Wilson
On November 9th, 2002 at 2 P.M. we presented once again our “CONCERT SERIES FOR THE YOUNG”. This was a free concert for children of the New York Public School System and for our members and their young relatives, held at Rockefeller University. The program aimed at exposing the young( from 5 to 12 years of age) to the great classics under the most ideal conditions with an M.C., who is a charismatic and knowledgeable music educator ,along with some of our very young, appealing and exceptional virtuosi. The program consisted of “Pictures at an Exhibition” and the first movement of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto…presented both visually and aurally .
October 7, 2002 marked our 13th Anniversary and at that time we opened our series with the traditional "GALA ENCORES 2002” at Steinway Hall at 7 PM, where once again we celebrated by awarding a number of Fellowship Grants.
The Salon De Virtuosi Fellowship Award winners who received $5000. each were: KRISTIN LEE, violin protégé of Itzhak Perlman; SHOTA NAKANO, wonderful young pianist, student of Veda Kaplinsky at Juilliard: and CATRIN FINCH, remarkable young harpist from Wales, who had been appointed the special harpist for Prince Charles. Our Master of Ceremonies was ROBERT SHERMAN, introducing all three.
We presented a program displaying the unique talents of these marvelous emerging virtuosi. It was followed by a lavish buffet supper reception.
Since we inaugurated our Fellowship Program in 1995 , we have endowed a wonderful group of young talents with $135,000. in Grants.
Kristin Lee
Katrin Finch
Shota Nakano
Our 2001-2002 season:
The closing concert of the Series was May 15th, 2002, and one of the most popular that we have presented was "Strings of the East and Strings of the West" held at the Indian Consulate (New India House) 3 East 64th Street.
The artists representing the West were the very fine Avalon String Quartet and for the East - Shubha Sankaran on the Surbahar and Mohan Shyam Sharma, percussionist performed fascinating Ragas from India.
This concert was followed by an Indian Buffet Supper Reception
April 16, 2002 at 7 pm marked our "International Artists" concert at Steinway Hall. It featured the amazing young pianist Nakano Shota and the exciting young violinist, Kristin Lee. It was followed by a Buffet Dinner Reception.
March 19, 2002 - a concert and Reception at the residence of Consul general and Mrs. Harris of Great Britain at 4 East 66 St. We featured the recent awards winning harpist from Wales, Catrina Finch, who has also been named the special harpist for the Prince of Wales. We introduced the very young and gifted Kende Trio. Catrina Finch
February 21, 2002 - a joint presentation together with the Japan Society and the Korean Society was held at the fascinating Japan Society, 333 East 47 St. We featured the magnificent International Sejong Soloists, the string ensemble composed of 15 of the greatest string artists. A Buffet-Reception followed.
We held a special concert for Patrons and Benefactors celebrating our opening concert of the 2002 season on Jan 23rd at the beautiful and exclusive Lotos Club, 5 East 66th street, New York City. We featured Karen Gomyo, superb 19 year old violinist and 1997 winner of the Salon de Virtuosi fellowship grant, Kristina Reiko Cooper, cellist hailed by the New York Times as a sensation. The concert was followed by a cocktail reception. 
Karen Gomyo Christina Reiko Cooper On January 2nd WQXR broadcast our successful Gala concert we held at Steinway hall on October 23. Robert Sherman introduced the artists: Dmitri Berlinsky, Dmitri Shteinberg and Sarah and Susan Wang
On December 5, 2001, we were fortunate enough to present the fantastic pianist, Frederic Chiu, winner of the Avery Fisher Career Grant and other prestigious awards. He performed an All Liszt program including Liszt’s exciting Transcriptions! This took place at the elegant Hungarian Consulate and was followed by a Hungarian Supper-Reception.
Dmitri Berlinsky Dmitri Shteinberg Sarah and Susan Wang October 23, 2001 marked our 12th Anniversary. We opened our series with the traditional Gala Encores 2001 at Steinway Hall, where once again we celebrated by awarding a number of Fellowship Grants of $5000 each to the above most gifted and deserving artists who have performed for us. It was followed by a lavish Supper-Reception. Since we inaugurated our Fellowship program in 1995 we have endowed a wonderful group of young talents with $120,000 in Grants.
Our 2000-2001 season:
We held a spectacular BENEFIT on May 16, 2001 at the exquisite SONY CLUB, the penthouse atop the Sony Building featuring the now famous and young pianist, HELEN HUANG. A delectable sit down dinner was included.
Support for Grants in the 2000-2001 season were generously provided by the ARTHUR W. DIAMOND FUND, SONY-USA FOUNDATION, the ZIPKIN FOUNDATION, the VALERIE BETH SCHWARTZ FELLOWSHIP FUND, and the BERNHEIM FOUNDATION
On April 24 we once again ended our season with "Sounds of the East and Sounds of the West" at the exciting INDIAN CONSULATE. The great Sarodist Asheesh Khan played ragas with Ray Spiegal on Tabla. Makoto Nakura gave us a remarkable performance on the Marimba. An Indian Buffet supper followed .
LINK TO SNAPSHOTS
On April 3, 2001 once again we presented at the exquisite French Consulate. The Parisii String Quartet, directly from Paris, played BEETHOVEN and RAVEL and the spectacular saxophonist Gary Louie played BENJAMIN BRITTEN, all followed by a charming reception.
LINK TO SNAPSHOTSOn February 28th we presented "International Virtuosi" at Steinway Hall featuring the fabulous South American flautist - Marcos Granados and cellist , Alban Gerhardt. Susan and Sarah Wang, a two paino team and recent winners of the Murray Dranoff Artists International 2 piano competition, also appeared. This was followed by a supper reception. LINK TO SNAPSHOTS
On January 31, 2001, we presented another SPECIAL CONCERT for our Patrons, Sustaining Patrons and Benefactors, at the magnificent residence of Ambassador and Mrs. Kawamura., of Japan. The participating artists were the 1997 VAN CLIBURN gold medal winner, pianist JON NAKAMATSU and harpist MARIKO ANRAKU. An elegant Japanese Supper-Reception followed.
we opened with A GALA "ENCORES 2000", on October 11, 2000, at Steinway Hall where once again we awarded 5 enormous talents with Fellowship Grants, and presented these winners in unforgettable performances, to gift our audience with the opportunity to discover the future Heifetz’s and Horowitz’s.
The grant winners were:
Ori Friedman, pianist, SONY-USA fellowship grant
Alban Gerhardt, cellist, SALON DE VIRTUOSI fellowship grant
Stefan Milankovich, violinist, ARTHUR W. DIAMOND fellowship grant
Daria Robotkina, pianist, VALERIE B. SCHWARTZ fellowship grant
Mikhail Simonyan,violinist, JEROME ZIPKIN fellowship grantOn November 18th, 2000, as a result of the great success of our 1999 "CONCERT SERIES FOR THE YOUNG", we presented once again a program for children from ages 5 through 12, at Rockefeller U.
Our program consisted of a visual as well as aural presentation plus the young winning, performing artists were surely as enticing and fulfilling to all, as our original presentation proved to be. All members were invited to attend and bring as our guests their children and grandchildren. They shared their musical experiences and communicated meaningfully with their next generation!December 14th was our last concert for the year 2000, with our "Hungarian Fantasy", once again at the lovely Hungarian Consulate. It was an all Liszt program played by DMITRI SHTEINBERG, pianist , and Bartok played by PHILIP QUINT, violinist. A Hungarian Buffet Dinner-Reception followed the Concert.
Our GALA "ENCORES 2000" concert was played in full on WQXR, Wednesday evening January 3rd at 9:00pm, hosted by Bob Sherman.
Our final concert of the season was on April 18th, 2000, for one of our most popular programs. "SOUNDS OF THE EAST AND SOUNDS OF THE WEST" presented at the lovely old Astor mansion, now housing the Indian Consulate. The outstanding NEW YORK STRING QUARTET will represented the West with Schubert and Brahms - STEVE GORN the exciting Indian Bamboo Flutist and LEELA RAJA, dancer of the Bharat Natyam school, presented the East. An elegant Indian Buffet Supper followed the concert. LINK TO SNAPSHOTS
March 21st, 2000, was the date for our very special concert held at the elegant and prestigious SONY CLUB, Madison Avenue Penthouse atop the Sony Building. The artists appearing were MIKHAIL SIMONYNAN, the fantastic thirteen year old violin prodigy from Siberia and DARIA ROBOTKINA, the young piano protégé of Vladimir Feltsman. A Buffet Reception followed.
LINK TO SNAPSHOTS
| On March 2nd, 2000, we presented our first concert- event at the gorgeous French Consulate on Fifth Avenue. The program included works by Ravel and Debussy, played by the fine young GAGLIANO STRING QUARTET. MARIKO ANRAKU, the major harpist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra performed a group of french compositions she has just recorded. MAKINTO, singing ethnic French songs from the Ivory Coast , accompanied himself on fascinating African instruments. A lovely Buffet and Champagne Reception will followed. LINK TO SNAPSHOTS |
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| On February 15th, 2000, we presented "THE MUSICAL SOUL OF POLAND" at the elegant Polish Consulate. Renowned violinist, STEFAN MILANKOWICH with famous ROHAN DESILVA at the piano were our featured soloists. The program included works by Wieniawski, Tchaikowsky, and Paganini. It was followed by a delightful Polish Buffet Dinner. LINK TO SNAPSHOTS |
| We presented A HUNGARIAN FANTASY on January 20th, 2000, at the beautiful Hungarian Consulate. It featured the remarkable young pianist, ORI FRIEDMAN and cellist, BORISLAV STRULEV who replaced Yo Yo Ma in concert last July. Our program included Hungarian folk music played on the cymbalom by Robert Gorcsi. The program included works by Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Popper, and Massenet. A Hungarian Supper Buffet followed the recital. |
On January 31st, we offered a special, exclusive event at the magnificent residence of Ambassador Kawamura for our Patrons and Benefactors featuring Jon Nakamatsu, the 1997 Van Cliburn Gold Medal winning pianist and Mariko Anraku the exquisite Metropolitan Opera Orchestra harpist in an unforgettable program. This was followed by a fabulous Japanese supper, including the best of sushi and other delicacies!
A group of "International Virtuosi" were featured at Steinway Hall, on February 28th.2001 when Marco Granados, Venezuelan flutist; Alban Gerhardt, German cellist and former Salon De Virtuosi Grant winner and the Chinese-American 16 year old twins, Sarah and Susan Wang who formed the two piano team, created an evening to remember. A dinner-reception followed.
On April 3rd, 2001 we brought in the great Parisii String Quartet from Paris to perform at the exquisite French Consulate on 5th Avenue as part of a program called "Musique Enchante". Gary Louie, the unique classical saxophonist balanced the program with a charming Suite by Benjamin Britten. This was followed by a delightful Buffet-Reception including French wines and delicacies.
Our traditional "Sounds of the East and Sounds of the West" took place at the beautiful Indian Consulate on April 24th, which officially ended our series for 2000-01. Asheesh Khan, the great Sarod Player performed with Ray Spiegel on the Tabla. Makoto Nakura represented the West with a program including Bach and Gounod on the Marimba. A delightful Indian Buffet Supper followed.
As mentioned earlier, our most successful Gala Benefit took place on May 16th, 2001 at the Sony Club. This wonderful event was sponsored by Sony Corporation of America.
Opening concert ENCORES 1999 was held on October 19, 1999, 7 P.M. at Steinway Hall when we awarded this season’s Fellowship Grants to the winners who performed as well. These included TWO Salon De Virtuosi Arthur W. Diamond Grants and the prestigious Salon De Virtuosi Sony Grant.
At our "ENCORES ‘99" Gala opening the winners of five Grants were selected and were presented with their awards. They were:
CHUAN YUN LI, violinist protégé of Dorothy De Lay. He won the Salon De Virtuosi Fellowship Grant of $5000.
IGOR BEGELMAN, clarinetist: The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote: "Taking the clarinet where few have gone." He won the $5000 Salon De Virtuosi Fellowship Grant.
THE JERUSALEM PIANO TRIO, composed of Roy Shiloah, violin, Ariel Tushinsky, cello and Yaron Rosenthal, piano, won the "Arthur W. Diamond Fellowship Grant " of $5000.
DAVID BODEMANN, Music educator and researcher who has developed significant and original materials for the Young was awarded the first Arthur W. Diamond Grant of $5000 for music education.
JOYCE YANG, thirteen-year-old piano prodigy and student of Yoheved Kaplinsky at Juilliard, won the prestigious Salon De Virtuosi SONY Grant, of $5000.
All winning artists performed at this outstanding event at Steinway Hall, on October 19, 1999. A Buffet supper was served following the concert.
On November 13th, 1999 at 2 pm we inaugurated the first of our DIAMOND CONCERTS FOR THE YOUNG. This took place at Caspary Auditorium /Rockefeller University. This was an immensely successful FREE concert for children from ages 5 through 12. The program which included an art exhibit commissioned for the purpose of demonstrating visually as well as aurally an understanding of Moussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" was an immediate "hit" with both the children and their accompanying adults. Our M.C. was the very original and fascinating music educator, Mr."B", who presented Mexican pianist and recent Salon De Virtuosi Fellowship awardee, Alejandro Vela. Shunsuke Sato. Last year's winner of the prestigious SONY Grant, performed Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto as well.The 1998-99 concerts included:
Our opening ENCORES ’98 Gala in October, when all five Fellowship Award winners received their Grants and performed; followed by a dinner-reception
SOIREE CHINOISE at Steinway Hall in November where we presented the great young Chinese violinist, CHUAN YUN LI and Chinese bamboo flutist, CHEN TAO, followed by a delightful Chinese Buffet Supper.
THE MUSICAL SOUL OF POLAND in December, at the beautiful Polish Consulate featuring pianist ELENA BAKSHT and clarinetist IGOR BEGELMAN followed by a Polish Supper Reception.
On February 25th, THE INTERNATIONAL SEJONG SOLOISTS the outstanding 15 member String Ensemble performed at Rockefeller U. with OLE AKAHOSHI as cello soloist, followed by a dinner catered by Restaurant Associates.
On April 14, our SHALOM ISRAEL concert featured the JERUSALEM PIANO TRIO at Steinway Hall followed by an Israeli Buffet Supper.
On May 11th, STRINGS OF THE EAST and STRINGS OF THE WEST presented at the elegant Indian Consulate, prize winning cellist ALBAN GERHARDT, representing the West; and Sitarist KRISHNA BHATT with Tabla, representing, the East. NewYork City Opera Soprano, INDIRA MAHAJAN created the vocal bridge between the East and West. This was followed by an Indian dinner reception.
A special event on May 18th was offered exclusively to Patrons and Benefactors of the “Salon” .We presented an intimate recital at the lovely Park Avenue residence of Barbara Brookes, where the unique thirteen year old “wunderkind” pianist JOYCE YANG thrilled us with her performance.