The Art of the Rehearsal: Chopin’s Great Chamber Music with Brian Ganz, Carter Brey, and Laura Colgate

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The Kosciuszko Foundation
2025 O St., N.W., Washington, DC 20036

The Artists will play, discuss and rehearse excerpts from the following program, which they will perform in its entirety at the Strathmore Music Center on February 25.

The event is sponsored by The Sylvian and Eugenia Bobinski Fund.

Introduction and Polonaise Brillante in C major for Cello and Piano, Op. 3 (1829-30) 

Trio in G minor for Piano, Violin, and Cello, Op. 8 (1828-29)

 Allegro con fuoco

Scherzo: Con moto, ma non troppo. Trio. Scherzo da capo

 Adagio sostenuto

 Finale: Allegretto

INTERMISSION

Grand Duo Concertant for Cello and Piano on themes from Meyerbeer’s Robert le diable (1831)

Sonata for Cello & Piano in G minor, Op. 65 (1845-46)

  Allegro moderato

  Scherzo

  Largo

  Finale: Allegro 

Brian Ganz is widely regarded as one of the leading pianists of his generation. A laureate of the Marguerite Long Jacques Thibaud and the Queen Elisabeth of
Belgium International Piano Competitions, Mr. Ganz has appeared as a soloist with such orchestras as the St. Louis Symphony, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the Baltimore Symphony, the National Philharmonic (USA), the National Symphony (USA), the City of London Sinfonia, and the Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra, and has performed with such conductors as Leonard Slatkin, Marin Alsop, Mstislav
Rostropovich, Piotr Gajewski and Yoel Levi.The Washington Post has written: “One comes away from a recital by pianist Brian Ganz not only exhilarated by the power of the performance but also moved by his search for artistic truth.” For many years Mr. Ganz has made it his mission to join vivid music-making with warmth and intimacy onstage to produce a new kind of
listening experience in which great works come to life with authentic emotional power. As one of Belgium’s leading newspapers, La Libre Belgique, put it, “We don’t have the words to speak of this fabulous musician who lives music with a generous urgency and brings his public into a state of intense joy.”
In January 2011 Mr. Ganz began a multi-year project in partnership with the National Philharmonic, in which he will perform the complete works of Frédéric Chopin at the Music Center at Strathmore. After the inaugural recital, The Washington Post wrote: “Brian Ganz was masterly in his first installment of the complete works [of Chopin].” The February 2022 recital marked the eleventh in the series, and the next one, featuring all of Chopin’s chamber music for piano and
strings, is scheduled for February 25, 2023. Joining Ganz for that performance will be the principal cellist of the New York Philharmonic, Carter Brey, and the concertmaster of the National Philharmonic, violinist Laura Colgate. Gifted as a teacher, Mr. Ganz is on the piano faculty of St. Mary’s College of Maryland, where he is an artist-in-residence, and has just retired from the piano faculty of the Peabody Conservatory, where he taught for 21 years.

Photo credit: Michael Ventura

Carter Brey was appointed principal cellist of the New York Philharmonic in 1996 and made his subscription debut as soloist with that orchestra the following year. He has appeared as soloist with many of America’s major symphony orchestras, collaborating with such ensembles as the Tokyo, Emerson, and Harlem string quartets. He has performed and recorded with such pianists as Christopher
O’Riley and Garrick Ohlsson, and violinist Leila Josefowicz. Mr. Brey is also cellist in the New York Philharmonic String Quartet, which debuted in 2017 and performs widely throughout the U.S. Mr. Brey rose to international attention in 1981 as a prizewinner in the Rostropovich International Cello Competition; subsequent appearances with Mstislav Rostropovich and the National Symphony Orchestra were unanimously praised. His awards include the Gregor Piatigorsky Memorial Prize, and an Avery Fisher Career Grant. A faculty member of the Curtis Institute of Music, Mr. Brey attended The Peabody Institute, as a student of Laurence Lesser and Stephen Kates, and Yale University, where he studied with Aldo Parisot and was a Wardwell Fellow and a Houpt Scholar. He lives in New York City with
his wife, Ilaria Dagnini Brey. They have two adult children, Ottavia and Lucas.

Praised by the Cleveland Plain Dealer as “remarkably poised…sensitive and majestic,” violinist Laura Colgate enjoys a versatile career as a chamber and orchestral musician, soloist, educator, curator, activist, and innovator. Having performed worldwide across Europe, Asia, and North America, she has performed on stages including the Barbican Centre, Kennedy Center, and multiple appearances at Carnegie Hall. Laura currently lives in Takoma Park, MD, and is the Concertmaster of The National Philharmonic at Strathmore in Bethesda, MD, and was formerly the concertmaster of the Greenville Symphony Orchestra in South Carolina and the El Paso Symphony Orchestra. She frequently performs as a substitute with several major orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, and National Symphony Orchestra, and is a member of the IRIS Chamber Orchestra in her hometown, Memphis, TN. Laura was an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland where she taught Financial Entrepreneurship for Arts Leaders in 2021, and is currently teaching as a violin and chamber music instructor. She is also the curator for the Strathmore Music in the Mansion series and the National Philharmonic Chamber Music Series, and formerly curated the Chamber Music Series at The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. She completed her Doctorate from the University of Maryland (UMD) School of Music, focusing her thesis on Women Composers. Laura is passionate about being an innovator in the world of classical music, and in March 2018 co-founded the Boulanger Initiative, an advocacy organization for women composers based in D.C., for which she holds the position of Executive and Artistic Director. The Initiative champions the works of women composers through consulting, performance, education, and commissions.