CELEBRATIONS

THE BEETHOVEN IN THE ROCKIES CONCERT SERIES PRESENTS

Sunday, October 26, 2025 2:00 PM

First Congregational Church
2101 16th St, CO 80631, United States

Colorado Piano Trio with Friends
Miriam Kapner, oboe
Yuriy Bekker, violin
Jubal Fulks, violin
Joshua Ulrich, viola
Gal Faganel, cello
Adam Piotr Żukiewicz, piano

PROGRAM

Robert Schumann

Piano Quintet in E-flat Major, Op. 44

Allegro brillante
In modo d'una marcia. Un poco largamente
Scherzo: Molto vivace
Allegro ma non troppo

INTERMISSION

Theodore Dubois

Oboe Quintett in F major (1905)

Allegro
Canzonetta. Tranquillo
Adagio non troppo
Allegro con fuoco

This program will last approx. 75 minutes, including a brief intermission.

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Yuriy Bekker is a critically-acclaimed violinist and conductor, and an impassioned community ambassador.

Bekker has been a mainstay of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra (CSO) for 17 years. He has led the CSO as Artistic Director since 2021 and concurrently leads as Concertmaster (2007) and Principal Pops Conductor (2016). Bekker previously served as the orchestra’s Acting Artistic Director from 2010-2014 and has a long history of dedication and vision for the CSO.

In 2011, he was given the Outstanding Artistic Achievement award from the city of Charleston to honor his cultural contributions to the community.

Bekker has performed worldwide as a celebrated guest concertmaster, avid chamber musician, conductor and soloist. Bekker has held the position of concertmaster for the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra and the AIMS Festival in Graz, Austria. He has also held positions with the Houston Symphony and the Houston Grand Opera and Ballet Orchestras. Bekker is also an adjunct faculty member of the College of Charleston School of the Arts as a violin professor and as conductor of the College of Charleston Orchestra.

Bekker earned a Graduate Performance Diploma from the Peabody Conservatory under the tutelage of Herbert Greenberg. He also holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Indiana University School of Music, where he studied violin with Nelli Shkolnikova and Ilya Kaler. Bekker has studied conducting with Christopher Wilkins, David Zinman, Imre Pallo and David Effron.

Born in Minsk, Belarus, Bekker is now a U.S. citizen, proud husband to his wife, Jenny, and father to their children, Nathanael and Charlotte. Bekker performs on the 1638 Franz Degen Andrea Guarneri violin, generously on loan to him from an anonymous patron.

Miriam Kapner’s oboe playing has been described by the New York Times as “a sensitive exploration of the oboe's singing character and its technical armory”. She has performed with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, New York City Opera, Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Ballet, Symphony Silicon Valley, and Ballet San Jose. She is currently a member of the Colorado Bach Ensemble where she performs on oboe, English horn, and oboe d’amore. Ms. Kapner has been heard on NPR as part of Studio 360, discussing the art of oboe reed making. Her writing has been published by the National Library of Poetry, in the International Double Reed Society Journal, and online in various arts webzines. Ms. Kapner is the oboe instructor at Regis University in Denver. Additionally, she composed the score for a documentary short subject film, entitled Out of the Darkness, about the musicians who played for first responders in the weeks and months following 9/11. She was also the Executive Producer of this film, which was screened at four different film festivals around the country. B.M. degree from New England Conservatory, M.M. from Manhattan School of Music.

Violinist and violist Joshua Ulrich has performed internationally as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. His growing artistic reputation is supported by having collaborated with such esteemed artists as James Tocco, Awadagin Pratt, and Anton Nel. He was educated at the Juilliard School and the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati.
Joshua’s teachers included renowned pedagogues: Dorothy Delay, Won-Bin Yim, Edward Dusinberre, Geraldine Walther, Hyo Kang, Joel Smirnoff, and Cho-Liang Lin and has performed in masterclasses taught by Midori, Pinchas Zuckerman, Cheeyun Kim, and Igor Ozim. He has been awarded fellowships at the Aspen Music Festival and Bowdoin International Music Festival and was a Shouse Artist at the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival. As an orchestral musician, Joshua was a performer with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, an associate musician with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, and the Associate Concertmaster of the Richmond Symphony Orchestra, Indiana.
Joshua has just completed a post-graduate degree at the University of Colorado-Boulder, where he and the Altius Quartet were the Fellowship String Quartet-in-Residence working with the Takács Quartet.

The Colorado Piano Trio is an award-winning international chamber music ensemble. American violinist Jubal Fulks, Polish pianist Adam Piotr Żukiewicz, and Slovenian cellist Gal Faganel began their artistic collaboration in 2016 as faculty members at the University of Northern Colorado. Since then they have performed across the United States including performances at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and at the Contemporary Music Festival Koper Biennale in Slovenia, collecting enthusiastic reviews and invitations for future performances. The trio was recently featured as concerto soloists in Beethoven’s Triple Concerto and Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante.

The trio’s current projects include a new concert series in Northern Colorado dedicated to community enrichment and a recording of a debut album featuring music by Leonard Bernstein, Francis Poulenc, and commissioned premiers by Jim Klein & Ian Jamison, Krystian Kiełb, Zach Gulaboff Davis, and Blaž Pucihar. They are also preparing an upcoming European tour to showcase this music to new audiences. As dedicated educators, Adam, Jubal, and Gal are involved in a variety of outreach, arts advocacy, and educational projects. The trio treasures meaningful connections to the community and is heard frequently on Colorado Public Radio.