(MAURICETOWN, NJ) -- Renowned violist Ana Tsinadze and violinist Ruotao Mao, will be the featured performers at the next Maurice River Music salon concert on Sunday, February 25, at 2:30pm, at a residence in the Mauricetown, NJ area.
For the program, Tsinadze and Mao will perform duos by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the 20th century Czech composer Behoslav Martinů, and the early-20th century Norwegian composer Johan Halvorsen, as well as solo works.
Tsinadze, making her third Maurice River Music salon concert appearance, was born in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia, and began her music education there at the age of six. She benefited from intensive studies at the Zakharia Paliashvili Special Music School for exceptionally gifted children, where she worked with renowned Soviet musicians including professors Alexander Begalishvili and Boris Chiaureli. Graduating with the Gold Medal in 1987, Tsinadze performed with various ensembles and was a prize-winner in numerous solo competitions, winning the Tbilisi Solo Instrumental Competition.
After entering Tbilisi State Conservatory, she continued with viola studies from the celebrated Soviet Georgian pedagogue, Shota Shanidze. During this time, she won another major prize and performed as a soloist with the State Symphony Orchestra. By 1989, she had been offered assistant principal positions with the State Symphony Orchestra and the Tbilisi Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, both of which toured extensively throughout the world. In 1994, she accepted a full teaching position at the Tbilisi State Conservatory.
Tsinadze came to the United States in 1995 and joined the Honors String Quartet at Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ. She continued her studies in this country, getting a Master of Music degree from Louisiana State University, where she studied with Dr. Jerzy Kosmala and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Temple University’s Boyer College of Music and Dance.
She is an active chamber musician, recitalist, soloist, and orchestral player. The principal violist of the Bay Atlantic Symphony, she is a former member of the Serafin String Quartet. She also maintains an active studio and is devoted to the development of young musicians. Her performances were showcased by WXPN radio and can be heard on the Centaur label. She has also recorded three works by Robert Russell Bennett—his Three Chaucer Songs, Water Music, and String Quartet, as part of the Maurice River Press Robert Russell Bennett publishing and recording project.
Mao, making his fourth Maurice River Music salon concert appearance, started learning the violin at the age of six under the guidance of his father and gave his first public performance at the age of nine in Shanghai. Now an active soloist and chamber musician, he was described by Classical New Jersey as performing with “…virtuoso display of world-class magnitude” and a “level of playing [which] has reached far beyond mere technical competence.”
He came to Boston on a full scholarship offered by the New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Dorothy DeLay, Paul Kantor, and Masuko Ushioda. While in Boston, he won numerous prizes and graduated With Distinction in Performance. He also attended prestigious music festivals such as the New York String Seminar with Alexander Schneider and at Tanglewood with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, where his performance of Bartok’s String Quartet No. 1 received an honorary mention. He started working with violinist Arnold Steinhardt of the Guarneri String Quartet in 1989 at the Mason Gross School of the Arts, where he received a Master’s degree. While at Rutgers, he won many concerto competitions.
Mao has appeared as soloist with the Jupiter Symphony, Riverside Symphonia, New England Conservatory Symphony Orchestra, Rutgers University Orchestra, Edison Symphony, Delaware Valley Philharmonic Orchestra, Bay Atlantic Symphony, and Corelliard Chamber Orchestra, among other orchestras. In 2004, he premiered a violin concerto by Ernest Stires in the Stern Auditorium of Carnegie Hall.
As a chamber musician, he was one of the founding members at Rutgers University of the esteemed Amabile String Quartet and the Beijing Piano Quartet. His piano quartet has appeared in Alice Tully Hall, Bruno Walter Auditorium, and Weill Recital Hall of Carnegie Hall as a winner of Artists International Chamber Music Series in 1994. His string quartet—Rutgers’ Quartet-in-Residence from 2000 to 2002—has performed with the Muir String Quartet, has appeared in many concert series on the East Coast, and has been heard on radio nationwide. Its performing was praised by Classical New Jersey as “luminous, raised to that level by exceptional precision of ensemble.”
Mao has also performed in Korea and Colombia, South America. On radio, he has played on WNYC, WETS public radio—serving Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina, and on WDVR-FM—serving Delaware Township, Lawrenceville, Princeton, and Trenton, NJ. He has recorded for the CRI and Beijing Broadcast CD labels.
The concertmaster of the Bay Atlantic Symphony, he also serves as the concertmaster of the Delaware Valley Philharmonic Orchestra, Riverside Symphonia, and Edison Symphony Orchestra.
Future Maurice River Music salon concerts will include performances by guitarist Keith Calmes and Indian drummer Swamiganesh Vinayakram on March 11; and pianist Norma Meyer, in a return appearance, on April 15. Both concerts will be at 2:30pm.
Seating is very limited, so reservations are required. Donations to assist in covering expenses will be accepted. To reserve seats, receive directions, or receive more information on the series, please call Maurice River Music at 856-506-0580, e-mail them at info@mauricerivermusic.com, or visit their website at www.mauricerivermusic.com.
