Featured Recital: Korbinian Altenberger, violin; Jiayi Shi, piano

Korbinian Altenberger is one of the most sought after violinists and chamber musicians in Europe of the young generation today, after having won top prizes from numerous international competitions such as the Montreal Violin Competition, the Concours Tibor Varga, Michael Hill Competition and the Postacchini Competition.

At the age of twelve, he made his debut at the Salzburg Festival, and since then his playing can be heard regularly as a soloist and chamber musician on every continent. He has performed with the Orchestral National, the Auckland Philharmonia, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Goettingen Symphony, the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra, and also the Saarland and South-West German Radio Orchestras. He has concertized as the soloist in North and South America with such ensembles as the Winnipeg Symphony, the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra and the Iris Orchestra as well as the National Orchestra of Costa Rica. In recent years, he has also given many recitals in Japan, South Korea, Cambodia, the United States, New Zealand, Israel along with European countries such as the U. K., Austria, Italy, France, the Czech Republic, Switzerland the Slovakia.

Korbinian Altenberger received his early education with Charles A. Linale and Donald Weilerstein in Cologne and Boston. He has also been under the tutelage of the musical greats such as Shmuel Askenasi, Gerhard Schulz, Leon Fleisher and members of the Guarneri, Juilliard and Cleveland Quartets. His enthusiasm for chamber music has been fostered by frequent invitations to a wide variety of festivals in Ravinia, Caramoor and Marlboro in the US, and Prussia Cove, Verbier, Moritzburg, and Israel Chamber Project.

Having held a position as the Principal Concertmaster in the Symphony Orchestra of the WDR in Cologne under Semyon Bychkov, Korbinian Altenberger has been seclected by Maestro Mariss Jansons to be a concermaster of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra since 2011.

Pianist Jiayi Shi maintains an active schedule as a chamber musician and collaborative pianist. She works extensively with the internationally renowned violinist Midori, and made her New York recital debut with Midori in March 2004. In April 2008, she also made recital appearance in London Symphony Orchestra's St Luke's Hall. In addition to numerous chamber performances, Ms. Shi often plays solo piano recitals in North America and in her native China. Her performances took her not only throughout the USA, but also to Germany, Hong Kong, as well as the Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Center and Lincoln Center in New York City.

Soon after arriving in the United States from her native city Shanghai, China, Ms. Shi won a succession of honors and awards, including top prizes in the Sydney Wright Competition, the Steinway Society Piano Competition and the state winner of the MTNA piano competition. She has also been accepted in many prestigious music festivals, such as the Shanghai International Music Festival in China, the Music Academy of the West, the Aspen Music Festival, the Beethoven Institute, as well as the Schleswig-Holstein Festival in Luebeck, Germany. Her upcoming schedule includes performances in New York City and Montana as part of Young Artists Recital Series organized by Partners-In-Performances, an organization aimed to stimulate interests in recitals and chamber music.

Born to a musical family, Ms. Jiayi Shi started to play the piano at age 4. At age 7, she was accepted in the prestigious pre-college division of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. With the support of the Fund for Chinese Pianists in Texas, Ms. Shi received a Bachelor's degree in Piano at the University of Texas and continued her education at the Eastman School of Music with the renowned pianist Barry Snyder. She graduated from Eastman in 2002 with both a Master's degree and the Performance Certificate in Piano and in 2010 completed a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in collaborative piano at the Manhattan School of Music.

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