Four Season Chamber Music Festival
with Ara Gregorian,
Artistic Director

Ara Gregorian, a violin soloist, made his debut with the Boston Pops in 1997. He was concertmaster of the orchestra at Juilliard where he earned a Master's Degree.

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about the Four Seasons
and Ara Gregorian...

Saturday, October 18th
8pm, The History Place
Morehead City

Ara Gregorian always brings us internationally renowned musicians and this year he is bringing us Hagai Shaham, Nicholas Cords, Michael Kannen, Christopher Grymes

The Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival has just completed its eighth year in residence at East Carolina University's School of Music. In this eighth season, they gave ten concerts in East Carolina and beyond, conducted 23 public master classes, participated in interactive community outreach programs and had a dedicated Children's Residency program. This year Mr. Gregorian's Four Seasons has appeared at Carnegie Hall and in Israel on a six-concert tour that included a live radio broadcast.

	Hagai Shaham, violin First prize winner of the 1990 Munich ARD International Music Competition, Shaham has performed as soloist with the English Chamber Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Belgian National Orchestra, Taiwan National Symphony Orchestra, and the Israel Philharmonic. He has recorded for the Decca International, Chandos, Biddulph, Naxos, and Hyperion labels and is a member of the faculty at the University of Southern California.
	Nicholas Cords, viola A member of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, Cords has appeared across the U.S. and Europe, and in Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Singapore, India, Iran, Syria, and Egypt. He has performed as soloist with the Chicago Symphony and the Minnesota and Philadelphia orchestras and has appeared at the Schleswig-Holstein, Santa Fe, Tanglewood, Piccolo Spoleto, Lincoln Center, Mostly Mozart, Ravinia, and the Smithsonian Folklife festivals.
	Michael Kannen, cello A former member of the Brentano Quartet, Kannen has received the Cleveland Quartet, Naumburg Chamber Music, Martin E. Segal (from Lincoln Center), and the Royal Philharmonic Society awards. He has appeared at the Vancouver, Spoleto, Rockport, Chamber Music Northwest, Skaneateles, and Caramoor festivals and is a member of the Apollo Trio. He is Director of Chamber Music at the Peabody Conservatory.
	Chris Grymes, clarinet Formerly a member of the eclectic ensemble Tales & Scales, Grymes was a first prize winner at the MTNA National Collegiate Woodwind Soloist Competition, a member of the National Repertory Orchestra, and a fellow at the Norfolk/Yale School of Music Festival.  He has performed with the Boston, Utah, Saint Louis, and North Carolina symphonies and is a member of the faculty at the East Carolina University School of Music.

Ara Gregorian, violin

Equally accomplished as soloist and chamber musician, violinist Ara Gregorian made his debut with the Boston Pops Orchestra in Symphony Hall in 1997 and his New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in 1996. Mr. Gregorian has made chamber music appearances at New York’s Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall, and Avery Fisher Hall in a concert commemorating Mozart’s life as well as appeared as a recitalist at Detroit’s Henry Ford Centennial Library and Harvard University’s Payne Hall. Additional orchestral appearances have included performances with the Shanghai, Lansing (MI), Pueblo (CO), Michigan State, East Carolina University, and Las Cruces (NM) Symphony Orchestras.

Mr. Gregorian is the founder and Artistic Director of the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival of Eastern North Carolina and has performed at the Santa Fe, El Paso, Cactus Pear, and Strings in the Mountains chamber music festivals. He has collaborated with such artists as Andre-Michel Schub, the Brentano Quartet, and members of the Cleveland Quartet, and has recorded for New York’s WQXR radio station. Mr. Gregorian is a member of the chamber music ensemble, Concertante, which has toured throughout the major cities of the United States and China and maintains residencies at Merkin Hall in New York, NY and at the Whitaker Center for the Performing Arts in Harrisburg, PA.

As former violinist of The Arcadian Trio, he has performed at Carnegie Hall at the “Time for Peace” awards ceremony, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and at the Skaneateles and Garth Newel music festivals. The trio was selected in a partnership with the Wintergreen Music Festival (VA) to participate in Chamber Music America’s “A Musical Celebration of the Millennium”.