Marc Coppey and Ran Dank

Program

Program

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
Sonata No. 3 in A Major, Op. 69

Claude Debussy (1862–1918)
Sonata for cello and piano in D minor

Béla Bartók (1881–1945)
Rhapsody No. 1, Sz. 87

Intermission 

César Franck (1822–1890)
Sonata in A Major, FWV 8

About the Artists

French cellist Marc Coppey, winner of the two highest prizes at the Bach competition Leipzig at the age of 18, first prize and special prize for the best interpretations of Bach, is considered to be one of the leading cellists of today. Sir Yehudi Menuhin discovered Marc’s talent at an early age and subsequently invited him to make his Moscow and Paris debuts performing together Tchaïkovsky Trio along with Victoria Postnikova, a collaboration documented on film by the acclaimed film director Bruno Monsaingeon. In 1989 Mstislav Rostropovitch invited Marc to the Evian Festival and from that moment on his solo career took off. 

A frequent soloist with leading orchestras, Marc Coppey has collaborated with distinguished conductors such as Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Alan Gilbert, Lionel Bringuier, Eliahu Inbal, Alain Altinoglu, Emmanuel Krivine, Yutaka Sado and  Asher Fisch among others. Mr. Coppey has appeared on numerous occasions in Europe, North and South America and Asia and in some of the most prestigious concert halls such as the Wigmore Hall in London, the Schauspielhaus in Berlin, the Salle Pleyel, the Théâtre de la Ville, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, the Théâtre du Chatelet and the Cité de la Musique in Paris, the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, the National Concert Hall in Dublin, the Rudolfinum in Prague, the Liszt Conservatory Hall in Budapest, the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory in Moscow, the Capella in Saint-Petersburg, the Casals Hall in Tokyo and the Metropolitan Museum in New York. He is a regular guest of the festivals of Radio-France-Montpellier, Strasbourg, Besançon, La Roque d’Anthéron, Monte-Carlo “Printemps des Arts”, Nantes “Folles Journées”, Stuttgart, Midem, Kuhmo, Korsholm and Prades.

An avid chamber music player, Marc Coppey has explored and performed the cello repertoire with such renowned artists as Maria-Joao Pires, Stephen Kovacevich, Nicholas Angelich, Aleksandar Madzar, Michel Beroff, Peter Laul, François-Frédéric Guy, Augustin Dumay, Victoria Mullova, Tedi Papavrami, Ilya Gringolts, Laurent Korcia, David Grimal, Gérard Caussé, Janos Starker, Marie-Pierre Langlamet, Michel Portal, Paul Meyer, Emmanuel Pahud and the Prazak and Talich Quartets. From 1995 to 2000 he was a member of the Ysaÿe Quartet, performing at the most prestigious international concert venues.

Marc Coppey’s choice of repertoire is eclectic and innovative. He frequently plays the complete Bach Suites and other well-known and loved concert repertoire, and also brings to the public’s attention works that are rarely heard. Performing and promoting contemporary music is very important to Marc Coppey and composers such as Christian Durieux, Fénelon, Jarrell, Krawczyk, Lenot, Marc Monnet, Pauset, Reverdy Tanguy, Auerbach and Bruno Mantovani have all dedicated works to him. He gave the world premieres of Lenot’s Cello Concerto, Tanguy’s 1st Cello Concerto as well as Marc Monnet’s Cello Concerto and the French and Spanish premiere of Elliott Carter’s Cello Concerto.

In addition to his solo concert career and his chamber music activities, Marc Coppey is a professor at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and gives master-classes all over the world. Marc Coppey is the artistic director of the Colmar Chamber Music Festival as well as the Zagreb Soloists. He performs on a rare cello by Matteo Goffriller (Venice 1711) and resides in Paris.

Marc Coppey was born in Strasbourg, France. He studied cello at the conservatory of his home town and continued at the National Conservatory of Paris and at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana (USA).

Pianist Ran Dank deploys his brilliant technique with astonishing energy, intellect and intensity, captivating audiences and critics alike. In the past season of New York concerts alone, he has performed Beethoven sonatas at Merkin Hall, Prokofiev’s Concerto No. 2 in his debut with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Alice Tully Hall, and gained critical acclaim for his “vivacious playing” (The New York Times) of the Tobias Picker Concerto at Columbia University’s Miller Theatre and for his performance of Ravel’s piano trio at the Chelsea Music Festival for “the sweep and fire of his playing” (The New York Times).

During the 2013/14 season he performed the Grieg Piano Concerto with Daniel Meyer and the Asheville Symphony and solo recitals for the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and the Brownville Concert Series in Nebraska. Following a highly acclaimed duo program with SoYeon Kate Lee at New York City’s Le Poisson Rouge that included the world premiere of Fredric Rzewki’s Four Hands, the duo toured Hawaii and will appeared at the University of Georgia, University of Florida, EMMA Concert Association, and Vanguard Concerts in Dayton, OH.

In the previous season he made his recital debut at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, and appearances at Portland Ovations, Merrick-Bellmore Community Concert Association, Missouri State University, Tannery Pond Concerts, the University at Buffalo, and Pro Arte Musical in Puerto Rico. Dank also performed in the inaugural season of the Young Concert Artists ensemble miXt, with performances at New York City’s Merkin Hall, Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center, and elsewhere in the U.S.

Mr. Dank has appeared as soloist with the Phoenix, Ann Arbor, Hilton Head, and Pensacola symphonies, the Cleveland Orchestra as a laureate of the Cleveland International Competition, as well as the Orquesta de Valencia in Spain, among others; he has been presented by the Washington Performing Arts Society’s prestigious Hayes Piano Series at the Kennedy Center, the Chopin Festival in Warsaw, Finland’s Mänttä Festival where his all-Liszt recital was broadcast on Finnish National Radio; and performed as a chamber musician at YCA’s Tokyo Festival and the Seattle and Montreal chamber music festivals.

Recipient of the Sander Buchman Memorial First Prize of the 2009 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, Mr. Dank made his New York debut in the Jerome L. Greene Foundation Concert. At the Auditions, he was also honored with the John Browning Memorial Prize, the Slomovic Orchestra Soloist Prize, the Albany Symphony Prize, the Embassy Series Prize for a concert in Washington DC, and the Saint Vincent College Bronder Prize for Piano.

In his native Israel, Mr. Dank has been invited as soloist with the symphony orchestras of Jerusalem, Rishon Lezion, Haifa and Raanana, as well as the Israel Festival in Jerusalem, and most recently, at the Israel Conservatory of Music in a recital celebrating Debussy’s 150th anniversary.

In addition to First Prize at the Hilton Head International Piano Competition, Mr. Dank is a laureate of the Naumburg Piano Competition and the Sydney International Piano Competition. Mr. Dank is the recipient of grants from the Arthur Foundation and the America-Israel Cultural Foundation.

Mr. Dank earned his Bachelor’s degree from the Rubin Academy of Music at Tel Aviv University, where he studied with Emanuel Krasovsky, and received his Master’s degree from the Juilliard School where he worked with Emanuel Ax and Joseph Kalichstein and Juilliard’s Artist Diploma, under Robert McDonald. He is currently pursuing his Doctorate of Musical Arts with Ursula Oppens and Richard Goode at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York as a chancellor’s fellow.