Liebesfreud
Geoffrey Michaels & Philip Kates, violins
David Giles, viola ~ Charles Forbes, cello
The Philadelphia-based Liebesfreud is an ensemble devoted primarily to the performance of great literature for the string quartet.
The name, meaning Love's Joy, is best known as that of a heartfelt piece by beloved violinist Fritz Kreisler.
The main focus of Liebesfreud's work is the "heart" of the classical repertoire, such as is offered in programs of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert in the Kimmel Center's "Free in the Plaza" series, on our "Last Fridays" series at the Ethical Society of Philadelphia and Art Alliance and, since 2003, in the ensemble's annual "Beethoven's Birthday" celebrations at the Trinity Center for Urban Life. (This season look for a 200th Anniversary Mendelssohn program.)
Liebesfreud has also presented programs of African-American, Italian, Jewish and Russian composers, as well as a commemoration, in 2003, of the 60th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, with works of Polish writers of that time. Liebesfreud was recently honored to provide music for Philadelphia's Annual Holocaust Memorial Ceremony.
Among Liebesfreud's most popular performances are the "house concerts".
These private events, usually attended by 25 - 75 people, are flexible in terms of length and formality, but always include spoken commentary and an opportunity to discuss the program with the musicians afterward.
In addition to public and private concert events, Liebesfreud takes an active role in community outreach and education with performances and workshops at community centers, schools, hospitals and soup kitchens.
The summer of 2005 saw Liebesfreud honored to begin an association (four years and counting...) as Quartet-in-Residence with the Strings International Music Festival in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.
Liebesfreud started 2006 in style by offering a free concert in observance of Mozart's 250th Birthday! This became the first in our series of "Last Fridays" programs, twenty-one of which have been offered to date.
We were thrilled to collaborate with three principal players of the Philadelphia Orchestra: In January, Ricardo Morales (clarinet), in June, Harold Robinson (bass), and in September, Jennifer Montone (horn).
Other recent highlights included participation in the Kimmel Center's Summer Solstice Celebration, the presenting of a series of open rehearsals for Elderhostel and a performance of Schubert's Cello Quintet with Efe Baltacigil and Vivian Barton-Dozor. We have also been honored to appear three times in live performance on WRTI radio and twice in "Postlude" concerts for Christoph Eschenbach and the Philadelphia Orchestra in Verizon Hall.
Liebesfreud's 2006 release (on Fritz Kreisler's birthday - February 2nd) of a compact disc, "Selected Shorts, Neglected Gems for String Quartet", includes single and two movement works by Schubert, Rachmaninoff, Grieg, Mendelssohn, Wolf and Rimsky-Korsakov.
(Please click on "News" - scroll to January 2006 entry- and "Music" tabs - scroll to composer names - to read Geoffrey Michaels' scintillating program notes.)
Hear Liebesfreud live next on October 31st at the Philadelphia Art Alliance for the 23rd installment in our "Last Fridays" series.
Details listed on the "Calendar" page.
Bring Liebesfreud to you!
See the "Command Performances" page.
Liebesfreud
THE ARTISTS
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Geoffrey Michaels, a graduate of Philadelphia's prestigious Curtis Institute, was born in Western Australia and began playing the violin at the age of five. At fourteen, he became the youngest performer ever to win the Australian Broadcasting Commission’s concerto competition, and he toured Australia as a recitalist and soloist with the major orchestras.
In 1961, he was admitted to Curtis where he studied with Efrem Zimbalist and Oscar Shumsky and, while still a student, he accepted the Curtis String Quartet's invitation to become a member - a position he held until 1969.
Mr. Michaels has been a prizewinner in the Tchaikovsky Competition, the Queen Elizabeth of Belgium Competition, and the Concours Jacques Thibaud in Paris. He has won critical acclaim for solo appearances throughout Europe, North America and in his native Australia.
Recent U.S. performances include Tully Hall, the Library of Congress, and the Kennedy Center and have featured solo works by Berg, Kurt Weill, Arvo Part and Alfred Schnittke. His performance of Schnittke’s Concerto Grosso, a U.S. premiere, was broadcast here and in the former Soviet Union.
An experienced teacher of violin, viola and chamber music, Geoffrey Michaels has maintained lengthy affiliations with the New School of Music (now part of Temple University), Princeton University, and Swarthmore College. He has also served as professor at Florida State University and at the University of British Columbia. He continues to perform extensively in North America and overseas, with recent tours in Australia, Spain, and the U.K.
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Philip Kates began violin lessons before the age of three with his father, Henry Kates. Subsequent teachers included Jascha Brodsky of the Curtis Quartet, Sally Thomas (Juilliard School), and Norman Carol (concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra). Studies continued on viola with Joseph dePasquale (Philadelphia Orchestra principal viola) and in chamber music with Norbert Brainin, Isadore Cohen, Felix Galimir, Josef Gingold, Alexander Schneider, Vladimir Sokoloff, Susan Starr, Arnold Steinhardt, Isaac Stern and Michael Tree.
Mr. Kates has been a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra since 1980, and concurrently a frequent Guest Concertmaster with Peter Nero and the Philly Pops and of the Orchestra Society of Philadelphia, with which he has made nearly annual solo appearances since 1981.
Recital and chamber music performances have been many and varied, including the Philadelphia premier, in 1980, of the Delius String Quartet, the quartet performance, in 1990, for the Andre Sakharov memorial at the New York Public Library, first Philadelphia performance, in 1997, of the Louis Gruenberg sonata (violin and piano) at the Philadelphia Public Library, the first Philadelphia Orchestra Chamber Series performances, in 2001, of the Fritz Kreisler String Quartet and in 2006 of the Enescu Octet and, in 2002, the Philadelphia premier of the Delius Violin Concerto.
Mr. Kates is also a composer of several dozen works for voice, solo violin and various chamber groupings, and he leads an active life in community service, raising funds for numerous humanitarian charities and other organizations. Since 1990 he has performed as solo violinist at Philadelphia’s annual Holocaust Memorial Observance Ceremony, and since 1977 he has organized and performed at Thanksgiving and Christmastime in Philadelphia-area nursing homes, hospices and soup kitchens.
As an educator, Mr. Kates has been guest lecturer for Temple University, Philadelphia Elderhostel and the Philadelphia Orchestra Volunteer Committees' Lecture/Luncheon series. He has presented programs to children in schools throughout the United States and in conjunction with tours of the Philadelphia Orchestra to Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, England, Wales, Poland, Japan, Malaysia and Viet Nam.
Mr. Kates was recently honored by a very generous gift from Hilarie and Mitchell Morgan to endow his chair in the Philadelphia Orchestra.
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David Giles graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy (where he spent his last two years of high school) and then went on to Indiana University, where he studied viola with David Dawson and Abraham Skernick, and chamber music with Fritz Magg and Georgy Sebok. From 1979 to 1982 he was a member of the Florida Orchestra, playing co-principal viola for the 1980-81 season. While there, he became a founding member of Tampa Musica Viva Chamber Players, whose NPR and PBS performances, as well as those at the University of Tampa and in St. Petersburg, received critical and audience acclaim.
A Philadelphian for twenty years, David’s work has included performances with the Pennsylvania Pro Musica, Orchestra 2001, Peter Nero and the Philly Pops and Choral Arts Society, among many others. He has performed in premiers of works by Rands, Fakete, Schnittke and others. He maintains an active studio, teaching privately and at Philadelphia's venerable Settlement Music School.
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Charles Forbes grew up in Cambridge, Massachusettes, and received degrees from Harvard College and Manhattan School of Music. His principal cello teachers were Maurice Eisenberg and Bernard Greenhouse. He also studied cello with Luigi Silva and Pablo Casals, chamber music with Leonard Shure, and conducting with Jonel Perlea.
His orchestra life has included playing principal cello with the American Symphony under Leopold Stokowski, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Princeton Chamber Orchestra, the Springfield Symphony, and the Vermont Symphony.
Mr. Forbes has given four solo recitals at Carnegie Recital Hall, and he played for 30 years with the New York Camerata, a chamber group with which he toured widely and recorded several discs. That group commissioned many new works from American composers, including George Crumb’s “Voice of the Whale”, and it was the resident ensemble with the New York-based Affiliate Artists in Wisconsin and Alabama for four seasons. He has also played with the Chancellor and Windsor (Vermont) String Quartets, and in Philadelphia with the Network for New Music, Relache, the Philadelphia Camerata and Orchestra 2001.
Charles Forbes has been on the faculties of Smith, Amherst and Mt. Holyoke colleges, Exeter Academy, the Manhattan School of Music, and the University of Delaware. He has been music director of the Princeton Chamber Music Play Week since it was founded 13 years ago. He currently lives in Langhorne, PA, plays with Orchestra 2001 and the Bucks County Symphony (principal), and teaches privately and at the Settlement Music School.
Liebesfreud
THE INSTRUMENTS
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Some may be curious about the beautiful instruments heard on the recording.
Geoffrey Michaels plays a 1733 Carlo Bergonzi violin made in Cremona, Italy.
Philip Kates plays a copy of the "Kreisler" Guarnerius del Gesu made in 1970 by Sergio Peresson (born in Udine, Italy).
We all love the sound of David Giles' viola even though noone knows what it is! (It's a copy of an old Italian, of course!)
Charles Forbes plays on a cello made in Rome, Italy by David Tecchler in 1713.
Liebesfreud
OUR "DESERT ISLAND DISCS"
Brahms Quinet for Clarinet and String Quartet
Reginald Kell, Clarinet
Busch Quartet