Richard Becker has performed solo recitals at over fifty colleges and at venues such as Tully Hall, Town Hall, Library of Congress, and the National Gallery. He has been a chamber music performer at Carnegie Hall, Kaufmann Hall (of the 92nd St. Y), Brattleboro Music Center, Harvard Summer Chamber Music Seminar, and locally at the University of Richmond. He has collaborated with the Shanghai Quartet, Richmond Sinfonia, Currents, violinists Weigong Li and Hongong Li, (1993) violist Zheng Wang (1993), and cellists James Wilson (1993) and Andor Toth Jr., and others.

In addition to appearances as solo recitalist, chamber musician Richmond area this season, Mr. Becker has also performed at the French Piano Institute's French Music Festival in Paris (Saale Cortot, July 20, 1996) where he was awarded a recital at the French Embassy in Washington, D.C. (to take place October 20, 1996), for excellence in his performance of Debussy, sponsored by the French Piano Institute in collaboration with the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris .

His compositions have been performed by the Peabody Piano Trio, the Roxbury Chamber Players; the University of Richmond ensembles, Currents and Schola Cantorum, and others at such places as the National Gallery of Arts' American Music Festival, Tanglewood Music Festival; Peabody Conservatory, the Eastman School of Music, Virginia Musem; and at University of Richmond (1994) and have been heard on NPR and over the Voice of America.

Program Notes

Alexander Glazunov started composing music at an early age. While still a young boy, he attracted the attention of Balakirev, who arranged for Rimsky- Korsakov to become Glazunov's music instructor. He was also influenced by Tchaikovsky and Borodin. His first symphony was written at the age of 16, and he attracted wide public interest a year later with his first string quartet. At age 24, Glazunov was appointed professor at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, and from 1905-1928 he was its director. In 1907, Glazunov was awarded Doctor of Music degrees from Oxford and Cambridge Universities. Glazunov went to France in 1928 for medical treatment, and died there in 1936.

The "Oriental Reverie" was completed in March 1886, and dedicated to Cesar Cui. It is an elaborate version of one of Glazunov's early works - an "Adagio" for two clarinets. In 1887, Glazunov arranged the "Oriental Reverie" for orchestra. Later on, he expressed his desire to have the piece published in its original version 'for clarinet solo with quartet' The manuscript is in the Leningrad Conservatoire Library.

Walter Ross was born and raised in Nebraska, and became a professional french horn player at age 17. For many years he played recorder and flute in a baroque trio ensemble, and now performs on double bass. After four years of mechanical engineering, and a brief career in machine design, Ross returned to the University of Nebraska to take up the study of musical composition. While completing his doctoral degree at Cornell University, he studied with Robert Palmer and Karel Husa, and traveled to Argentina to study with Alberto Ginastera.

Ross has been a visiting composer at the Aspen Music Festival, and has many recordings and published works. His music has been performed around the world in 25 countries. Ross has served as president of the Southeastern Composers League, and is on the board of the Capital Composers Alliance. Currently he lives in Charlottesville, where he is Professor of Music at the University of Virginia.

Recordings: Although there is no recording of the Flute Quartet No. 2, there is a new release of wind music by Walter Ross. It is: "Harlequinade - The Albemarle Ensemble Performs Wind Music of Walter Ross" Virginia Arts Recording VA-95216-CD< p> Piotr Ilych Tchaikovsky's Trio in A Minor, dedicated to the memory of Nikolay Rubinstein, begins and ends in a funereal tone. In his recent book, "Tchaikovsky, The Quest for the Inner Man," Alexander Poznansky groups the A Minor Trio with the Sixth Symphony and Romeo and Juliett as examples of Tchaikovsky's more tragic voice.

The Trio was featured during Tchaikovsky's famous American tour during the summer of 1891, with performances at the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C. and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. At the end of the latter concert in which the composer sat in the first row, he is known to have received a bouquet of roses that was literally thrust into his face by an admiring woman. Tchaikovsky was heard to remark that he found the concert to be too long!