ALEXANDER FITERSTEIN
(clarinet)

Clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein won First Prize in the 2001 Young Concert Artists International Auditions. Recent performances include debut recitals in the Young Concert Artists Series in Washington, DC at the Kennedy Center, in New York at the 92nd Street Y, and in Boston at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, as well as a concert in Washington, DC on the "Music at the Supreme Court" Series.

During the 2002-2003 season, Mr. Fiterstein performs the Mozart Concerto with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, makes his New York concerto debut with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Alice Tully Hall, and appears in the Young Concert Artists Series at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall as recipient of the Summis Auspiciis Prize. He gives recitals in Europe at The Louvre in Paris and in Jerusalem, and in the U.S. at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, Iowa State University, Washington State University, the Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center in Birmingham, for the Springfield (OH) Arts Council, and for the JCC of Greater Washington. In addition to his New York concerto debut, Mr. Fiterstein solos with the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony and the Mansfield (OH) Symphony this season.

Mr. Fiterstein has performed as a soloist with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra as Winner of the 1999 Bunkamura Orchard Hall Award, as well as with the Israel Chamber Orchestra, the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and the Albany (GA) Symphony. He performed the Corigliano Clarinet Concerto with the Juilliard Orchestra conducted by Robert Spano, gave the U.S. premiere of Henrik Strindberg’s Clarinet Concerto at Juilliard’s FOCUS! Festival, and has collaborated with the Juilliard Dance Ensemble, performing the Copland Concerto.

In recital, Mr. Fiterstein has performed in the United States, England, Holland, Germany, Latvia, Japan (Suntory Hall and Kyoto Concert Hall), Korea (Sejong Hall) and Israel (Tel Aviv Museum). As a chamber musician, he has received critical acclaim for his performances of “The Shepherd on the Rock” with soprano Roberta Peters and pianist Warren Jones, and participated in the 2001 and 2002 Marlboro Music Festival.

Other performances have included a concert at the Finnish Embassy in Washington, where Mr. Fiterstein was selected to perform with Arab musicians on a program presented by the peace organization Search for Common Ground; and concerts in Germany as principal clarinetist under the baton of Daniel Barenboim, part of Maestro Barenboim’s West-Eastern Divan Workshop consisting of Israeli, Palestinian and Arab Instrumentalists.

Mr. Fiterstein won First Prize in the 2001 Carl Nielsen International Clarinet Competition, as well as Special Prizes for the Best Interpretation of a Danish Work and Best Performance with the Odense Symphony Orchestra. He has also won the Francois Schapira Prize for Woodwinds of the Aviv Israel Competitions for Young Musicians and the special prize for Best Performance of the Israeli Composition, and First Prize at the Paul Ben-Haim Competition in Israel. Mr. Fiterstein has received awards from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation since 1991.

Alexander Fiterstein was born in Minsk in the former Soviet Union, and emigrated with his family to Israel when he was two years old. He has studied at the Israel Arts and Science Academy, and received his high school diploma from the Interlochen Arts Academy. Mr. Fiterstein received a Bachelor’s degree and a Graduate Diploma from The Juilliard School, where he worked with Charles Neidich.

For more information about Alexander Fiterstein,
please visit his web site at www.yca.org/fiterstein.html.