MIKA & RICHARD STOLTZMAN

Description

Mika Stoltzman BIO 
Mika Stoltzman, called "High-wire jazz marimbist... an amazing, energetic performer ready for major exposure." (LA Times) was born in Amakusa Island, Kumamoto, Japan, and now resides in Boston. 

Mika released her album, Mitsue, in 1998, Marimba Phase, in 2003. In 2010 also released a live DVD, MARIMBA MADNESS (Big Round Records). Mikarimba (Video Art Music, Japan).In 2013 released If You Believe,in 2013(TeeGa music,Japan) with Steve Gadd. 

Also,Her arrangement and performance of "Tokyo/Vermont Counterpoint" appears on Steve Reich's album Triple Quartet (Nonesuch). She has also appeared on Richard Stoltzman's album Goldberg Variations (BMG Japan) and Jo Hisaishi's Asian X.T.C. (Universal Japan). 

Mika has performed 7 times at Carnegie Hall (Zankel & Weill),PASIC 2005&2007,Blue Note Tokyo&Nagoya and Cairo Jazz Festival. In addition to touring in 19 countries and 65 cities around the world. 

She premiered Marimba Concerto with the Kyushu Symphony Orchestra and Kumamoto Symphony Orchestra. She was also guest soloist in the Kracow Philharmonic in Poland, and Szombathey Symphony Orchestra in Hungary. 

In 2013, Mika's guest performance of Chick Corea's Piano Concerto No. 1 on Marimba (World Premiere) with Xalapa Symphony Orchestra in Mexico and in 2017,Machiavelli Chamber Orchestra in Italy 

On August 13th 2015, Mikarimba celebrated a sell-out concert at the Rockport Jazz Festival (MA) with Steve Gadd. 

Richard Stoltzman BIO 
Richard Stoltzman's virtuosity, musicianship and sheer personal magnetism have made him one of today's most sought-after concert artists. As soloist with more than a hundred orchestras, as a captivating recitalist and chamber music performer, as an innovative jazz artist, and as a prolific recording artist, two-time GRAMMY® Award winner Stoltzman has defied categorization, dazzling critics and audiences alike throughout many musical genres. 

Stoltzman graduated from Ohio State University with a double major in music and mathematics. He earned his Master of Music degree at Yale University while studying with Keith Wilson, and later worked toward a doctoral degree with Kalmen Opperman at Columbia University. As a ten-year participant in the Marlboro Music Festival, Stoltzman gained extensive chamber music experience, and subsequently became a founding member of the noted ensemble TASHI, which made its debut in 1973. 

His talents as a jazz performer as well as a classical artist have been heard far beyond his annual tours. He has performed or recorded with such jazz and pop greats as Gary Burton, the Canadian Brass, Chick Corea, Judy Collins, Steve Gadd, Eddie Gomez, Keith Jarrett, the King's Singers, Mike Manieri, George Shearing, Wayne Shorter, Mel Tormé, Spyro Gyra founder Jeremy Wall and Kazumi Watanabe. His commitment to new music has resulted in the commissioning and premiere of numerous new works for the clarinet, including "Fantasma/Cantos" by Toru Takemitsu, the 1994 winner of Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, "Landscapes with Blues" by Stephen Hartke, a concerto by Einojuhani Rautavaara which premiered with conductor Leonard Slatkin and the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall, "TRIO 2009" written for him, cellist Lynn Harrell and pianist Robert Levin by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, Yehudi Wyner and most recently, "Marika Groove" by Chick Corea, written for him and marimbist, Mika Yoshida, which premiered with Eddie Gomez and Steve Gadd at Carnegie Hall. 

Richard Stoltzman has a discography numbering over 80 releases on BMG/RCA, SONY Classical, MMC, BIS, Albany and other labels, including a GRAMMY® -winning recording of Brahms Sonatas with Richard Goode. Among Stoltzman's most beloved releases are "Amber Waves", a CD of American works, and the Trios of Beethoven, Brahms and Mozart with Emanuel Ax and Yo-Yo Ma, which won Stoltzman his second GRAMMY® Award. Acclaimed recordings include Hartke's "Landscapes with Blues" with IRIS, conducted by Michael Stern (Naxos), a New York Times "Best of 2003", Rautavaara's Clarinet Concerto recorded with Leif Segerstam and the Helsinki Philharmonic(Ondine), an All-Bach recording, "Vibrations and Fantasies"(BMG Japan), among others. Recent recordings range from William Bolcom's "Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra" and Clare Fischer's "The Duke, Swee'pea and Me" (Marquis Classics) to Chick Corea's "Marika Groove" (Big Round Records) to "Resolve" featuring Hindemith works (Navona Records). In May 2017, SONY Classical issues a 40-CD boxed set, celebrating the variety and depth of Stoltzman's artistry. 2017 also saw a new release, "Duo Cantando" with Mika Stoltzman, marimba (Savoy/Denon). 

2018 Stoltzman appearances will stretch from New England to Alaska and throughout Japan, including a variety of Bernstein Centennial celebrations. 2017 touring included collaborations with the American, Borromeo, Dover, and Jupiter String Quartets, the addition of the jazzy Seigmeister Concerto to his repertoire, Bernstein's "Sonata" orchestrated for Stoltzman by Sid Ramin at ClarinetFest and New York's Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, among others. 

Over the years, Stoltzman has received numerous requests for the music to the enchanting arrangements and original works that can be heard on his recordings and in live performance. Amateur and professional clarinetists alike are now in luck as they can finally enjoy this music published in a variety of volumes. The "Richard Stoltzman 21st Century Series for Clarinet" is published by Lauren Kaiser Music and features sheet music and accompanying CDs. Brahms Intermezzo, Op. 118, No. 2, Bach Chromatic Fantasia & Fugue in D minor, BWV 903, Schubert 2 Sonatines For Clarinet, Op. Post. 137 are among the works available. "ARIA," featuring music from the BMG recording of the same name, and "The Richard Stoltzman Songbook," a collection of jazz and classics, are both published by Carl Fischer.