An all-star cast of Metropolitan Opera Musicians play music for woodwind quintet by Beethoven, Berlioz, Gluck, and Poulenc in celebration of the life of Bob Fischel.
Pedro Diaz, oboe;
Maron Khoury, flute;
Anton Rist, clarinet;
William Short, bassoon;
Hugo Valverde, French horn
A Downtown Music debut.
This concert is made possible by a generous gift from the Fischel Family in memory of Bob Fischel, who loved Downtown Music.
At age 20, virtuoso flutist Maron Khoury became the youngest musician to join the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Born in the village of Tarshiha, Galilee, to a musical family, Khoury started playing the flute at the age of 11. Three years later, he was admitted to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia to study with renowned flutist Jeffrey Khaner. Prior to his enrollment at Curtis, Khoury studied with Eyal Ein-Habar and Uri Shoham (Israel Philharmonic), Sara Andon (Idyllwild Arts Academy), and David Shostak (Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.) Khoury is a recipient of several grants from the Curtis Institute of Music and the Charles M. Kanev Memorial Fellowship. In addition, he is a winner of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation Scholarship and the Schoen Fellowship Grant in honor of Charlotte White. He performed under many notable conductors including James Levine, Riccardo Muti, Simon Rattle, Christoph Eschenbach, and Daniel Barenboim. Khoury has performed numerous concerts and recitals throughout the U.S. and Europe and has received extensive invitations to lead workshops. He has performed with The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra under the direction of the renown conductor Daniel Barenboim. He has also participated in the New York Mostly Mozart festival, The Lake Tahoe summer festival, and has performed as soloist with iPalpiti Festival among others.
Pedro R Diaz joined The Metropolitan Opera in 2005 and has performed as solo English hornist in hundreds of productions. As a sought-after teacher, Mr Díaz has lectured extensively at the top music conservatories such as The Juilliard School, The Manhattan School of Music, The Eastman School of Music, The Hartt Music School, and Duquesne University. His international appearances include masterclasses in Panama, Italy, Mexico, Canada, Puerto Rico, Leipzig, Berlin, and Italy. A native of Puerto Rico, he received his early musical training in the “Escuela Libre de Musica”, an esteemed public school for the performing arts. He has performed as a guest artist with The Chicago Symphony and The New York Philharmonic, among others. Mr. Diaz has performed the opera Tristan und Isolde by Richard Wagner twenty-four times in three different productions under the batons of James Levine, Daniel Barenboim, and Sir Simon Rattle.
Anton Rist was appointed principal clarinetist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in 2016. He previously held principal positions with the Princeton and New Haven Symphony Orchestras. In addition, Mr. Rist has performed with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Grant Park Festival Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke's, the Louisiana Philharmonic, the American Ballet Theater, and on several Broadway productions. Mr. Rist toured Japan with the New York Symphonic Ensemble and has performed as a chamber musician throughout Europe and Asia. As a soloist, Mr. Rist has performed with the Mainly Mozart Festival of Orchestras, the Cheyenne Symphony, the Knoxville Symphony, and the Sullivan County Chamber Orchestra.
William Short was appointed Principal Bassoon of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in 2012. He previously served in the same capacity with the Delaware Symphony Orchestra and has also performed with the Houston and Detroit Symphonies and the Philadelphia Orchestra. William has performed as a soloist with the Vermont and Delaware Symphonies, the New York Classical Players, and the Strings Festival Orchestra. He is a founding member of the Gotham Wind Quintet and has performed many times with the Camerata Pacifica, Dolce Suono, and MET Orchestra Chamber Ensemble chamber music series. A dedicated teacher, William serves on the faculties of The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, and Temple University, and is a Valade Fellow at Interlochen Arts Camp. In addition, he is a Visiting Faculty member at The Tianjin Juilliard School and has held visiting guest positions at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music and the University of Colorado at Boulder. He has presented classes around the world, including at conferences of the International Double Reed Society, for which he served as a board member from 2017-2021.
Hugo Valverde carries a professional orchestral and solo career in the United States and his native Costa Rica as a French horn player, currently holding the full-time and tenured position of Second Horn with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra since 2017. As an orchestral player, he has performed with the Costa Rican National Symphony Orchestra, the Classical Tahoe Festival Orchestra in Incline Village, Nevada, The Strings Music Festival Brass Ensemble in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, The Orchestra of the Americas on their Eastern Canada Tour, The Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan, The New York City Ballet and The Philadelphia Orchestra. In his role as a soloist he performed Richard Strauss’ Concerto No. 1 with the Lynn Philharmonia Orchestra under Guillermo Figueroa and premiered the piece “Tributo al Ciudadano Pablo” by Marvin Camacho—who is a well-renowned Costa Rican composer and pioneer in new contemporary music—with the “Heredia Symphony Orchestra” of Costa Rica under Josué Jiménez. Written and dedicated by the composer to Valverde, it reflects his commitment to Latin American repertoire, having performed and premiered pieces by Manuel Matarrita -Costa Rican pianist and composer-, and other Latin American composers. He often performs chamber music concerts with his colleagues of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra at the Carnegie Hall Concert Series at Weill Recital Hall and also with the woodwind quintet “Quinteto de Luz” in Costa Rica at the National Music Institute, Teatro Espressivo and the National Theatre of Costa Rica.