We are proud to present the popular Amanti Conservatory group of Students and Faculty on Sunday, July 20 at 3:00 PM. The concert will be held at the Frank W. Cyr Center on West End Avenue in Stamford, New York.

The Amati Conservatory of Music is a unique classical music school located in Northern New Jersey. Students receive quality training close to home from faculty members who are world-class artists with the best credentials in their fields. Further inspiration comes from close proximity to the rich cultural life of New York City.

As a small private music school with an emphasis on individual attention, the school's faculty is able to nurture and guide each student regardless of age or level. Students must practice daily, take lessons twice weekly and participate in music theory and ear training classes. They perform in numerous school concerts and in public concerts once they attain a proficient level. Amati Conservatory students have won top prizes in competitions and have performed as soloists with orchestras and in recitals. Many have gone on to further study at some of the finest conservatories in the country.

Not every child who studies music will become a professional artist, but it is the belief of the school’s founders that music must be encouraged with the utmost dedication at an early age with the support of the student’s family. The student will in turn acquire a discipline that will become part of their lives, a discipline that will benefit them in everything they choose to do.

Each summer the school organizes the Amati Music Festival. Conservatory and guest faculty and students from across the country and around the world enjoy an intensive three weeks of musical learning and performing, the fruits of which Friends of Music will enjoy today.

Si-Nae Shim, violin and viola
Director, Amati Conservatory of Music
Violinist Si-Nae Shim has performed in music capitals of North America, South America, Asia and Eastern Europe, being called “strictly world-class” by the press. She has performed in such venues as the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York City, Abelardo Hall in Philippines, the Grand Hall at the Seoul Fine Arts Center and Suwon Municipal Theater in Korea, Rachmaninoff Hall in Russia, Killington Music Festival in Vermont and at the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado among many others.

Recently she was invited by the Embassy of Chile and the University of the Philippines to perform at the Abelardo Hall Auditorium in the Philippines. The Manila Bulletin called her performance an “impressive interpretation of Beethoven's Sonata ‘Kreutzer’…” and said “The soloist Violinist sparkled, glowed, shone, and impressed the audience while also winning their hearts.” In 1996 she was the featured soloist for the New Year Gala Concert of the Seoul Royal Symphony Orchestra, performing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor. She recently finished a successful concert tour of Chile performing in Santiago, Temuco, and Osorno. Her upcoming engagements include concerts in Busan and Ulsan in Korea, Guangzhou in China and four cities in Chile.

Si-Nae Shim studied at the Mannes College of Music and at the Seoul Yego (Seoul High School for the Arts) in Korea. Her teachers in the U.S. include Margaret Pardee, Almita and Roland Vamos and Hyo Kang. She currently teaches at the Manhattan School of Music, Amati Conservatory and Amati Music Festival. Si-Nae Shim plays on a Giacomo & Leandro Bisiach violin of 1957 made in Milano, Italy.

Alejandro Mendoza, violin
President, Amati Conservatory of Music
Violinist Alejandro Mendoza has toured North America, South America and Asia, performing both as a recitalist and soloist with orchestras. He has been greeted with standing ovations from audiences around the world and has received critical acclaim from the press as well. The Press in New York has called him “an outstanding soloist” and the Ann Arbor (MI) News wrote, “Alejandro Mendoza's playing of the violin ... is enough to start the bravos pouring from the gallery.” In South America, the Venezuelan media raved about his performances with such superlatives as “sweetest tone” and “impeccable technique.” More recently, the El Paso Herald Post wrote that he “digs into a piece with maximum effect . . . giving off light and airy insights and a downright robust and racy ending. . . Mendoza maneuvered his violin through all the difficult plucks, chips and rolls with quick, abrupt movements and a soulful cry at the end.”

Mr. Mendoza recently went on his first concert tour of China where he performed in several cities and gave master classes in the leading conservatories of Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Beijing. He has performed in Japan as well where sold-out concerts in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya led to return engagements.

Alejandro Mendoza also teaches at the Manhattan School of Music Preparatory Division in New York City, gives Master Classes, and is frequently asked to adjudicate violin competitions and auditions around the country and abroad. While he was still a student at the Juilliard School, he was chosen by renowned violin pedagogue Dorothy DeLay to work with her as a teaching fellow at Juilliard and as a faculty member at the Aspen Music Festival. Mr. Mendoza was also exposed to the great teaching tradition of the late Ivan Galamian when he attended the Meadowmount School of Music. Mr. Mendoza makes annual tours in South America where he appears as soloist in concerts and gives Master Classes at conservatories and universities.

So Yeon Park, piano
Born in Seoul, Korea, So Yeon Park started her musical education at the age of 4 at the Sun-Hwa Art School, and gave her first recital during her second year at the school. In 1998, she immigrated to the United States and was accepted to the Preparatory Division of the Manhattan School of Music. In the same year she was the First Prizewinner of the Annual Audition sponsored by the Professional Music Teachers Guild of New Jersey. In 1999 she received honorable mention at the Manhattan School of Music Annual Concerto Competition (Prep Division) and gave her first recital in the U.S. When she entered high school she received scholarships from the Manhattan School of Music and the Children’s Foundation for the Arts.

In 2000, Ms. Park was selected to participate at the Governor’s School in the state of New Jersey, and won several competitions such as the Great Neck Young Musicians Competition, Young Artists Audition by Associated Music Teachers League, Inc. in New York and Young Musicians Competition sponsored by the Five Towns Music and Arts Foundation. She also participated in the master class of Constance Keene sponsored by the Children’s Foundation for the Arts. In 2001, she competed at the Gina Bachauer International Young Artists Piano Competition in Salt Lake City, Utah. She also won awards from the Manhattan School of Music Annual Competition (Prep Division) and Friday Woodmere Music Club’s Annual Young Musicians Audition. In 2001 and 2002 she was a participant in the master class of Luiz De Maura Castro at “Tivoliclassica” – Festival Internationale di Musica Classica. In 2002, Ms. Park won the second prize at the Manhattan School of Music Concerto Competition, and recently gave her graduation recital at the School where she received her Bachelor’s Degree.

Friends of Music of Stamford, NY
July 20, 2008
Amati Music Festival Students and Faculty

“A Room with a Classical View”

• Amati Music Festival Student Performances
•   Performers and program to be announced; please see program insert.
• Intermission
• Felix Mendelssohn (1809 – 1847)
•   Violin Sonata in F major (1838)                   
• Allegro vivace
• Adagio
• Assai vivace
• Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
•   Sonata for Viola & Piano No. 1 in F minor, Op. 120, No.1 (1894)
• Allegro apassionato - Sostenuto ed espressivo
• Andante un poco adagio
• Allegretto grazioso
• Vivace
   
• he Robinson-Broadhurst Foundation generously provides the Stamford Friends of Music with grants,
  we still need additional support. We suggest our friends and patrons do not forget to renew their sup-
  port of Friends of Music. The Officers and Board of Directors of Stamford Friends of Music wish its
  friends, patrons and their families a Happy and Merry Holiday Season and a Happy, Healthy, Prosper-
  ous and Fulfilled New Year..