John Malveaux: All Russian Violin Recital Feb 5, 2019

John Malveaux of 

www.MusicUNTOLD.com 

writes:

A free concert featuring acclaimed violinist Annelle Kazumi Gregory will be held on Tuesday evening, Feb. 5, 2019, in the Gerald R. Daniel Recital Hall at 6200 E. Atherton Street on the campus of California State University at Long Beach.

The hour-long concert will begin at 8 p.m. Free parking is available along Atherton Street  and paid parking in Lot G 12 just east of Daniel Hall.

Ms. Gregory, who grew up in San Diego, is a laureate of the 2013 Stradivarius International Violin Competition and winner in Detroit of the 2017 National Sphinx Competition among the nation’s young African American and Latin classical string players.

She is a champion of Russian music and is devoted to reviving the works of great Russian composers. In 2017 she released the first-ever CD of Sergei Rachmaninoff's complete violin/piano works, recorded with Russian pianist Alexander Sinchuk (Bridge Records). The CD has received international acclaim and aired on radio stations across the U.S. and Europe.

Her most recent project was the recording of lesser-known works by Rimsky-Korsakov and Taneyev with the Kiev Virtuosi Symphony Orchestra, to be released by Naxos Records in 2019.

Ms. Gregory has performed as soloist with the symphonies of Houston, Detroit, the Chicago Sinfonietta, Kiev Virtuosi, in Carnegie Hall, Disney Hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and  in the concert halls of San Diego, Nashville, Santa Monica, La Jolla, as well as in England, Germany, Portugal, Russia, and Ukraine.

The artist graduated first in her class, summa cum laude, from the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, where she studied under Glenn Dicterow, former concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and New York Philharmonic symphony orchestras.

She was awarded the 2017 Isaac Stern Award and the 2014 Glenn Dicterow Music Scholarship. Other awards include 1st Prizes in the 2017 “Grand Prize Virtuoso” International Competition, the 2017 NANM National Strings Competition, the 2016 American Protégé International Concerto Competition, and the 2017 Beverly Hills National Auditions. She was a featured soloist for the 2018 International Easter Festival (Kiev Conservatory), the 2017-18 Sphinx Virtuosi National Tours, the 2016 iPalpiti Festival of International Laureates on behalf of world peace, and in 2013 opened for the Moscow Ballet, performing a solo with the principal ballerina.

“Miss Gregory has not only fine and distinguished sounds plus excellent intonation, but also spirit galore in the various phases of the multiple moods and variations in Taneyev’s Concert Suite for Violin.  Her facility never wavers and she has confidence throughout. . . Her playing is exacting and also exciting,” says Larry Grika, retired first violinist after more than 40 years with the Philadelphia Orchestra.

In addition to violin, Ms. Gregory also performs on viola and has played piano, drums, guitar, and bass guitar. She has also performed tap, jazz, flamenco, and Japanese classical dance. In her spare time, she enjoys reading Russian classics, cooking, and playing with her two cats.