Violinist, pianist and cellist perform classical music

Violinist Lawrence Golan and pianist Judith Quimby joined by cellist Kurt Kaufman perform a concert of classical music in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall May 8 at 8 p.m. The public is invited to attend free of charge.

The trio will perform Sonata in C minor, Op. 45 by Edvarg Grieg; Sonatine for violin and cello by Arthur Honegger; Suite Hebraique and Elegy Haba–era by George Perlman; and Sonata in F major, Op. 24, Spring, by Beethoven. Fantasia for Solo Violin, composed by Golan, also will be performed.

Born in 1966, Golan became the first violinist ever to receive a Ph.D. from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Golan began his musical carer at the age of 16 with the Ravinia Festival Orchestra in Illinois for the ballet companies of Hamburg and San Francisco. Since then, his musical engagements have included everything from performing in backup bands for Dionne Warwick, Johnny Mathis and Frank Sinatra, to recording motion picture soundtracks in Hollywood and appearing as a soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Other career highlights include performances in London and Moscow conducted by Leonard Bernstein and a European tour with Sergiu Celibidache with stops in Paris, Berlin, Hamburg, Milan, Geneva and Basel.

In the summer of 1994, Golan performed two concerts in Carnegie Hall as a member of a nationally selected orchestra under the direction of Sir Georg Solti, referred to as “the orchestral equivalent of the ‘Dream Team'” by the New York Times.

In 1989, Golan joined the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra as principal second violinist, before accepting the position of concertmaster of the Portland Symphony Orchestra and director of string studies at the University of Southern Maine. Golan also has performed extensively throughout New England and has been active on the podium as music director and conductor of the University of Southern Maine Orchestra and the Community Orchestra of the Portland Symphony. Golan’s recordings include his his first CD, Fantasia for Solo Violin and his second CD, Indian Summer: The Music of George Perlman. Judith Quimby’s varied career has taken her from Brazil to Caribou, Maine, from Los Angeles to New York. Well-known throughout Maine, she is an accomplished collaborative pianist and performs regularly throughout the state with various singers, instrumentalists, chamber groups and other performing ensembles.

The current conductor of the 120-voice Portland Community Chorus and the director of the Portland Symphony’s Magic Christmas Chorus, Quimby also teaches a variety of music courses at the University of Southern Maine, where she works with student and faculty recitalists. She has been associated with Bates College as an applied piano instructor.

Kurt Kaufman is a graduate of the Julliard School and has held the position of principal cellist of the State Opera of Flanders in Belgium, the Sacramento Symphony Orchestra and the Festival Dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy. Formerly a faculty member at the University of California at Davis and California State University at Chico, he currently is principal cellist with the Portland Opera Repertory Theater (PORT). He also performs regularly with the Maine Chamber Orchestra and the Maine State Ballet.