LOS ANGELES PIANO QUARTET

"The Los Angeles Piano Quartet achieved artistic perfection "
--The Saint Louis Post-Dispatch

Michi Wiancko, violin
Katherine Murdock, viola
Steven Doane, cello
Xak Bjerken, piano

The Los Angeles Piano Quartet made its debut at The Music Center in Los Angeles in l977, and soon earned recognition as America's premier
piano quartet. This accomplished ensemble has been repeatedly re-engaged by major chamber music presenters, and hailed by the public and press in New York, Washington, Detroit, St. Louis, Chicago, Dallas, Cincinnati, St. Paul, Milwaukee, Phoenix, Houston, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Buffalo, and Los Angeles. The Quartet has been a popular guest on Minnesota Public Radio's "St. Paul Sunday" and New York's "Live from WNCN," and has been featured at the Bermuda and Tucson Festivals and the Eugene and Carmel Bach Festivals.

Following an impressive international debut at the Cheltenham Festival in England, the Los Angeles Piano Quartet was engaged for an appearance at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and an extensive tour of Europe. Highlights of subsequent European tours have included two additional appearances at the Concertgebouw, and concerts at the Hamburg Musikhalle and Santa Cecilia in Rome.

The Los Angeles Piano Quartet has been an active force in the creation of new works for piano quartet, commissioning works from such prominent contemporary composers as Stephen Hartke, Gerard Schurmann, and Pulitzer Prize-winner Steven Stucky, whose piano quartet had its premiere performance by the LAPQ at the 2005 Tucson Festival. The ensemble has been supported in this activity by the National Endowment for the Arts and Chamber Music America.

Their recordings include Dvorak and Schumann on the MusicMasters label and the two Fauré piano quartets on Pickwick.

2/06 - Please discard previously dated biographical material

Violinist MICHI WIANCKO made her New York solo recital debut at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, after winning the 2002 Concert Artists Guild International Competition. She made her Los Angeles Philharmonic debut in 1997, and made her New York Philharmonic debut in 2003 in Avery Fisher Hall. She has toured extensively throughout the country as soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician, and has appeared in such major venues as the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Gallery, Library of Congress, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and numerous others. Ms. Wiancko has participated in several tours with Musicians from Marlboro, and spent three consecutive summers at the Marlboro Music Festival. She has also performed nationwide with renowned modern dance ensemble the Mark Morris Dance Group. A native of Southern California, Michi Wiancko began her violin studies at the age of 3. A graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music, she studied with Donald Weilerstein and then completed her Master's degree at The Juilliard School, working with Robert Mann.

Violist KATHERINE MURDOCK has performed throughout the world with such groups as Music from Marlboro, the Boston Chamber Music Society, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Brandenburg Ensemble, and the New York Philomusica. She has participated in the Edinburgh, Salzburg, and Gulbenkian Festivals in Europe, and in the U.S. at Aspen, Tanglewood, Mostly Mozart, Ravina, Saratoga, and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festivals. She appeared at Lincoln Center as a guest of the Beaux Arts Trio, toured New Zealand as a guest of the New Zealand String Quartet, South America with the New York Philharmonic, and Europe with a chamber ensemble from Orpheus. From 1988 to 1994, Ms. Murdock was a member of the Mendelssohn String Quartet. She is currently on the faculty of the University of Maryland and SUNY Stony Brook, and in the summers is on the Artist-faculty of the Yellow Barn and Kneisel Hall festivals.

Cellist STEVEN DOANE is former principal cellist of the Milwaukee Symphony and the Rochester Philharmonic, and was a member of the Naumburg Award winning New Arts Trio during the 1980s. He was honored with the Eisenhart Award for Excellence in Teaching at the Eastman School, where he has been on the faculty since 1981. Mr. Doane's recent recital appearances have included New York's Alice TUlly Hall, Harvard's Sanders Theater, and two recitals at London's Wigmore Hall. A Visiting Professor at the Royal Academy in London, he is also a regular participant in the International Musicians Seminar in Cornwall, England, and has performed concertos in recent seasons in Dublin and Ediburgh. His newest recording of Brtiten and Bridge sonatas with pianist Barry Snyder on the Bridge label, won a NAIRD Award from the US music press. He has also recorded on the Pantheon, Dademon, Gasparo, and Sony labels.

Pianist XAK BJERKEN has given solo and chamber music recitals throughout Europe and the United States. Orchestral solo appearances include Edinburgh with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Rome with the Spoleto Festival Orchestra. He has performed at the Royal Concertgebouw Hall in Amsterdam, Alice Tully Hall, Weill Hall, Merkin Hall, and the Kennedy Center and hasa recently given recitals in Germany, Switzerland, Spain and Hungary. Mr. Bjerken has held chamber music residencies at the Tanglewood Music Center and the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy, performed at the Olympic Music Festival, and served on the faculty of the Eastern Music Festival. His first solo recording for CRI, released in 2001, is entitled "High Rise;" he has also recorded for Chandos and Koch International and has made two recordings with violist Michael Zaretsky for the Artona label. Mr. Bjerken is Professor of Piano at Cornell University.