February 1, 2025
Franco-Belgian Connection
Busch Trio with Gary Levinson
Program includes:
Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Trio in B-flat major, WoO 39
Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Trio No. 1 in E-flat major, Op. 1 No. 1
César Franck: Piano Quintet in F minor
The Busch Trio from Belgium join Gary Levinson and friends to perform Beethoven and Franck.
Photo by Kaupo Kikkas
The Artists
Piano
Omri Epstein
In recent years Omri has established himself as a sought-after chamber musician. Born in Israel in 1986, he commenced his piano studies at the age of 7 with Sarah Tal at the Israeli Conservatory in Tel Aviv. Omri saw early success winning the Israeli Conservatory’s junior and senior piano competitions and was a recipient of the prestigious America-Israel Cultural Foundation Scholarship. Since 2012 Omri has been a member of the highly regarded Busch Trio with which he enjoys much success across Europe and the US. They regularly appear on the leading concert stages such as the Wigmore Hall, Berlin’s Konzerthaus, Brussel’s BOZAR and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw.
Violin
Mathieu van Bellen
Mathieu van Bellen was born in the Netherlands and started studying the violin in Belgium with Nico Baltussen. He continued with Jan Repko, first at the Amsterdam Conservatoire and at Chethams School of Music in Manchester, for which he was awarded a scholarship by The VandenEnde Foundation. He continued at the Royal College of Music in London with Itzhak Rashkovsky and at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin, with Ulf Wallin. In 2015 Mathieu won the Grachtenfestival Prize, resulting in a residency during the 2016 Grachtenfestival.Mathieu plays on the ex-Adolf Busch G.B. Guadagnini violin (Turin, 1783), as well as a Dominique Peccatte bow.
Cello
Ori Epstein
The youngest of 3 musical siblings, Ori began to play the cello at the age of 6. In 2002, together with his family they left Israel and relocated to London. He has since studied with Miklós Perényi and Bernard Greenhouse and completed his degrees at the Bern University of Arts in the class of Antonio Meneses. For a period of 5 years Ori was Artist in Residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel under the guidance of Gary Hoffman. His achievements on the cello have been recognised by a number of prizes, including the 3rd Prize at the Bromsgrove International Competition and1st Prize at Tunbridge Wells International Competition. Ori plays on an 1815 Giovanni Battista Ceruti, Cremona. Considered to be one of the best-preserved examples of Ceruti’s work – it is also thought to be the last cello made by him.
Violin
Gary Levinson
Gary Levinson is the Senior Principal Associate Concertmaster of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and the Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth. Known for his Bel Canto playing style and adroit technique, Mr. Levinson made his New York Philharmonic solo debut in 1991, under the baton of Erich Leinsdorf, coinciding with the completion of his Master’s of Music degree at the Juilliard School, where his teachers included Dorothy DeLay, Glenn Dicterow and Felix Galimir.
