Violinist Pamela Frank was born in New York City in 1967. As the daughter of pianists Lilian Kallir and Claude Frank, she partook of a musically vibrant home life, including violin lessons from the age of five. Although she enrolled in the pre-college division of the Juilliard School of Music, she otherwise enjoyed a typical adolescence. She attended the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she earned a bachelor's degree in 1989. Her violin teachers included Shirley Givens for eleven years, followed by Szymon Goldberg and Jaime Laredo. She officially launched her career in 1985, when she accompanied Alexander Schneider and the New York String Orchestra in four performances at Carnegie Hall. Not until ten years later, in 1995, did she make her Carnegie Hall solo recital debut. In 1999, she won the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize.
Accustomed to being surrounded by musicians at home, Frank continued the trend when away by spending many of her summers at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont. In the course of practicing and performing chamber music with the musicians there, as well as touring with them on occasion, she formed significant and lasting professional associations with many of the world-class performers with whom she would later concertize in cities around the globe. Her father, pianist Claude Frank, and pianist Peter Serkin were two such performers.
Ms. Frank's passion for chamber music, and the finely tuned synergy of the groups in which she plays today, have produced many memorable performances, both live and recorded. Among Ms. Frank's noteworthy chamber music recordings are the Brahms Violin Sonatas with Peter Serkin on the London/Decca label, the Piano Trio of Frédéric Chopin with Emanuel Ax and Yo-Yo Ma on Sony Classical, and the "Trout" Quintet of Franz Schubert, also on Sony Classical.
Aside from her chamber music activities, Pamela Frank carries on an active career as a soloist with major American orchestras, and as a recitalist. Although devoted to the standard repertoire, she frequently includes contemporary works by composers such as Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Toru Takemitsu, and Aaron Jay Kernis in her live and recorded performances.
Frank is a member of the faculties of the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, and Stony Brook University in New York. She and her husband, violinist Alexander Simionescu, live in the New York City area.
Discography
1990
Sony Classical SK 45901
Julia Lichten, cello; Peter Wiley, cello; Steve Tenenbom, viola; Felix Galimir, violin.
Schubert, Franz
Quintet for Strings in C Major, Op. 163 / D. 956
1992
Library of Congress Concert, 1992-02-07
RGA 3370-3371
David Shifrin, clarinet; Peter Wiley, violoncello; David Golub, piano.
Beethoven, Ludwig van
Trio for Piano, Clarinet and Cello No. 4 in B-flat Major, Op. 11
Brahms, Johannes
Sonata No. 2 for Viola and Piano in E-flat Major, Op. 120, No 2
Messiaen, Olivier
Quartet for the end of time
Delos 3088
David Shifrin, clarinet; Walter Trampler, viola; Theodore Arm, ; Warren Lash, .
1993
Delos 3136
Edgar Meyer, double bass; Paul Neubauer, viola; David Shifrin, clarinet; Allan Vogel, viola.
Prokofiev, Sergei
Quintet for Oboe, Clarinet, Violin, Viola and Double Bass in G minor, Op. 39
MusicMasters Classics 01612-67087 - "Beethoven: Sonatas for Violin and Piano, Volume 1"
Claude Frank, piano.
Beethoven, Ludwig van
Sonata No. 9 for Violin and Piano in A minor, Op. 47, "Kreutzer"
Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano in D Major, Op. 12, No. 1
Reissues: MusicMasters 01612-67197 (1999)
Music & Arts Programs Of America 1143 (2004)
1994
Sony Classical SK 53112
Yo-Yo Ma, violoncello; Emanuel Ax, piano.
Chopin, Frédéric
Trio for Piano and Strings in G minor, Op. 8
1996
Sony Classical SK 61964
Emanuel Ax, piano; Rebecca Young, alto; Yo-yo Ma, cello; Edgar Meyer, double bass; Barbara Bonney, soprano.
Schubert, Franz
Quintet for Piano and Strings in A major, D 667 / Op. 114, "Trout"
Reissue: Sony Classical 92765 (2005)
MusicMasters Classics 01612-67106
Claude Frank, piano.
Beethoven, Ludwig van
Sonata No. 6 for Violin and Piano in A major, Op. 30 No. 1
Sonata No. 7 for Violin and Piano in C minor, Op. 30 No. 2
Sonata No. 8 for Violin and Piano in G major, Op. 30 No. 3
Reissues: MusicMasters 01612-67197 (1999)
Music & Arts Programs Of America 1143 (2004)
Decca 48174
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Alastair Neale, conductor.
Kernis, Aaron Jay
Still movement with hymn
1998
Decca 455643
Peter Serkin, piano.
Brahms, Johannes
Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano in G Major, Op. 78
Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano in A Major, Op. 100
Sonata No. 3 for Violin and Piano in D minor, Op. 108
Decca 460316
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras, conductor.
Dvorák, Antonín
Concerto for Violin in A minor, Op. 53
Romance for Violin and Orchestra in F minor, Op. 11 / B 39
Suk, Joseph
Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra in G minor, Op. 24
Reissue of Romance and Fantasy: Decca 550402, 2005.
1999
Decca 460226
Minnesota Orchestra, David Zinman, conductor.
Kernis, Aaron Jay
Lament and Prayer
MusicMasters 01612-67197
Claude Frank, piano.
Beethoven, Ludwig van
Sonata No. 9 for Violin and Piano in A minor, Op. 47, "Kreutzer"
Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano in D Major, Op. 12, No. 1
Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano in A Major, Op. 12, No. 2
Sonata No. 3 for Violin and Piano in E-flat Major, Op. 12, No. 3
Sonata No. 4 for Violin and Piano in A minor, Op. 23
Sonata No. 10 for Violin and Piano in G Major, Op. 96
Sonata No. 5 for Violin and Piano in F major, Op. 24, "Spring"
Sonata No. 6 for Violin and Piano in A major, Op. 30 No. 1
Sonata No. 7 for Violin and Piano in C minor, Op. 30 No. 2
Sonata No. 8 for Violin and Piano in G major, Op. 30 No. 3
Sonatas 1, 9, 6, 7 & 8 previously issued on MusicMasters.
Reissue: Music & Arts Programs Of America 1143 (2004)
Sony Classical SK 61665
Sam Waterston, narrator; Yo-Yo Ma, violoncello; Paul Winter, saxophone; The Orchestra of St. Luke's, Derrick Inouye, conductor.
Stock, Jeffrey
Lulie the iceberg
2001
Chandos 9898
Marlboro Festival Orchestra Members, Paul Tortelier, conductor.
Tortelier, Paul
Offrande
2003
Hänssler Classics 98
Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Sir Neville Marriner, conductor.
Bruch, Max
Concerto for Violin No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26
Schwedische Tanze, Op. 63
Symphony No. 1 in E-flat Major, Op. 28
2005
Arte Nova 721040
Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, David Zinman, conductor.
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus
Concerto for Violin No. 1 in B-flat Major, K. 207
Concerto for Violin No. 2 in D Major, K. 211
Concerto for Violin No. 3 in G Major, K. 216
Concerto for Violin No. 4 in D Major, K. 218
Concerto for Violin No. 5 in A Major, K. 219, "Turkish"
Serenade No. 7 in D Major, K. 250 (K. 248b), "Haffner" - movements 2-4
Arte Nova 721280
Claude Frank, piano.
Schubert, Franz
Rondo for Violin and Piano in B minor, D. 895 / Op. 70, "Rondo Brilliant"
Fantasy for Violin and Piano in C Major, D. 934 / Op. 159
Sonata for Violin and Piano in A Major, D. 574 / Op. 162
Naxos 8.559268
Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra, Michael Stern, conductor.
Zwilich, Ellen Taafe
Concerto for Violin
DISCLAIMER:
This discography was assembled using available catalog records, internet resources, discographies, and other works. Especially included are the performers' Library of Congress concert appearances, the recordings of which reside in the Library of Congress's Recorded Sound collections. Excluded are the numerous promotional and special market reissues of excerpts of complete recordings.
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