Mark Ludwig – As Artistic Director for the past 21 years, Mark Ludwig develops concert programs for the MusicWorks season.

Acknowledged as a leading scholar and champion of Holocaust music, Mr. Ludwig performs and lectures worldwide on this repertoire and its history.  Mr. Ludwig is the founding director of the Terezín Chamber Music Foundation (TCMF), a non-profit organization dedicated to documenting, preserving and advancing the resilience of the human spirit as expressed in the music and the arts created by victims of the Holocaust (www.terezinmusic.org).  TCMF fosters and sponsors the commission of chamber music compositions by young emerging composers. These commissions will form an ongoing contribution to the chamber music repertoire and serve as agents of inspiration, healing, and transformation in the consciousness of future generations of artists and audiences.  The preservation and public accessibility of TCMF’s archives, and education programs sponsored or facilitated by TCMF, support the commission and performance of these works.

A Fulbright scholar of the Terezín composers, Mr. Ludwig has authored essays, CD liner and program notes and a national Holocaust curriculum for mid to senior high school level students.  He has served as a consultant for numerous cultural organizations internationally as well as for symphony orchestras such as Chicago, Boston, and Birmingham, UK and Philadelphia Orchestras.  He has also participated as an artist, consultant and producer in compact disc recordings produced by London DECCA and TCMF.

Mr. Ludwig’s commitment to the education of children and adults alike led to the creation of a national curriculum entitled "Finding a Voice: Musicians in Terezin" used in schools to explore the lives and music of composers who perished in the Holocaust.  While this educational program encourages students to challenge their own unique artistic views, it also provides a forum in which issues such as intolerance, human rights and artistic freedom can be examined through music and discussion.  In May 1999, as director of the Terezín Chamber Music Foundation, he was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts grant to complete this curriculum.  Under Mr. Ludwig’s direction, TCMF and Facing History & Ourselves (a national Holocaust education organization) collaborated on the development and distribution of this curriculum throughout the United States.  Annually, the curriculum is available to over 900,000 students.

Harvard, The University of Virginia, and the Charles University in Prague are among the universities and colleges that Mr. Ludwig has appeared as a guest lecturer on Holocaust music.  During the academic year of 2005-06 Mr. Ludwig will be the Sterne Virtuoso Artist in-Residence at Skidmore College.  His residency will include a lecture series, master classes, solo and chamber music performances and community outreach events in music and Holocaust studies.  In the fall 2001, Mr. Ludwig was appointed Adjunct Professor at Boston College, where he teaches a Holocaust Studies course entitled Music in the Third Reich and the Holocaust.

The U.S. State Department requested Mr. Ludwig to produce fundraising concerts to assist 2002 flood relief efforts in the Czech Republic.  Under their sponsorship and the honorary patronage of President Vaclav Havel, he produced a series of chamber concerts with the Hawthorne String Quartet in Prague Castle, the Prague Spanish Synagogue and in Pamatník Terezín in November 2002.  Following the success of these programs, Mr. Ludwig was asked to direct and produce a Czech-American cultural program in the fall of 2004 by the Czech government and the US State Department.  This cultural initiative culminated in TCMF unveiling a memorial plaque in Terezín honoring the “determination and courage of the amateur and professional musicians incarcerated in Terezín.” 

Mr. Ludwig has been featured on a number of national television and radio programs in the United States, South America and Europe in addition to documentaries examining the role of music during the Holocaust.  Most recently, NPR, BBC World Radio and ABC World News showcased the work of Mr. Ludwig and TCMF.  He also appeared in the Knight-Ridder documentary production of Terezín: Resistance and Revival aired nationally on PBS.

As a dedicated advocate of both orchestral and chamber music, Mr. Ludwig joined the viola section of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the fall of 1982 where he continues to be an active member.  As a member of the Hawthorne String Quartet, he has performed extensively with concert tours in the United States, South America, Europe and the Pacific Rim.  Over the past twenty years the Hawthorne  quartet has recorded an extensive and varied collection of compact discs.  Noted for championing the music of composers who suffered under the Nazi tyranny, their recordings have received the Preis der Schallplattenkritik Musik and Belgium’s prestigious Cecilia awards.  They began recording for the London Decca label in 1993.

Additionally, he founded the Richmond Performance Series in 1985 which in October 2001 became MusicWorks (www.musicworksberkshires.org).  This Berkshire-based chamber music concert series, of which Mr. Ludwig is artistic director, presents outstanding artists and ensembles in performances, pre-concert lectures and educational programs.  Mr. Ludwig effectively synthesized these three venues in his development of the Artists in Residency Program and Young People’s Concerts series. Through the Artists-in-Residency Program, gifted professional musicians from the BSO share their time, experience and expertise in one-on-one relationships with young student musicians in schools throughout Berkshire County.  These artists coach and perform with the students for week-long intervals.  They conclude each residency week with both in-school and community performances.  Complementing the Artists-in-Residency Week programs, the Young People’s Concert is a series of programs devoted to entertaining and educating young people and their families.

In November 1997, Mr. Ludwig launched the MusicFOR/Sarajevo project to rebuild the Music Academy of Sarajevo.  In addition to bringing musical instruments and supplies to the conservatory, he coached and performed with students and faculty members.  Over the years Mark Ludwig has blended social and environmental causes with music and the arts.  He strives to blend his scholarship, teaching and performance endeavors with community service.

Mark Ludwig comes from a musical family. His father, Irving Ludwig, was a violinist with The Philadelphia Orchestra and is presently Music Director of the Lansdowne Symphony Orchestra. His brother, Michael, is the Associate concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra. His cousin, Jules Eskin, is the principal cellist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Outside the professional realm of activities, Mark is an avid hiker and member of the Berkshire hiking group, the Monday Mountain Boys.  He enjoys sharing scuba diving and a passion for cooking Italian cuisine with his family.

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Rebecca Gitter
Viola

Born in Canada in 1978, Rebecca Gitter began violin studies at the age of seven and viola studies when she was thirteen. In May 2001 she received her bachelor of music degree from The Cleveland Institute of Music where she was a student of Robert Vernon, having previously studied in Toronto, Ontario. While at CIM, she was the recipient of The Institute's Annual Viola Prize and the Robert Vernon Prize in Viola, and twice received honorable mention in the school's concerto competition resulting in solo performances. Among other honors, she was the 2000 recipient of Toronto's Ben Steinberg Jewish Musical Legacy Award and prior to being appointed to the BSO viola section, she was offered a position in the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. During the summers she has participated in the Taos School of Music, Ravinia's Steans Institute for Young Artists and The National Academy and National Youth Orchestras of Canada. Rebecca joined the viola section of The Boston Symphony Orchestra in August 2001.

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The Hawthorne String Quartet - Ronan Lefkowitz, Violin; Mark Ludwig, Viola; Si-Jing Huang, Violin and Sato Knudsen, Cello

Since its inception in 1986, the Hawthorne String Quartet has performed extensively throughout Europe, South America, Japan and the United States, including major festivals such as Tanglewood, Ravinia and Aspen.

The Quartet has an expansive repertoire ranging from the classics of the 18th and 19th centuries to contemporary works. It has distinguished itself internationally by championing the works of composers persecuted during the Nazi regime during World War II, with an emphasis on the Czech composers incarcerated in the Theresienstadt concentration camp (Terezín).

The Quartet boasts a rich history of collaborations with Christopher Hogwood, Ned Rorem, Andre Previn, Sir Simon Rattle, Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Lynn Harrell, Marta Argerich and the Philobolus Dance Company. In addition, it has made solo appearances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO), National Symphony, Julliard Orchestra and the Deutsch Kammerphilharmonie. With the BSO and the Deutsch Kammerphilharmonie, the Hawthorne String Quartet presented the American and German premiere performances of Schulhoff’s Concerto for Solo String Quartet and Wind Chamber orchestra.

In October, 1991, the Quartet performed in Terezín and Prague in ceremonies hosted by Presidents Havel and Herzog to mark the opening of the Ghetto Museum in Terezín and to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first transports to the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp. The quartet has since returned for additional performances in the Czech Republic. Most recently it performed concerts in Prague and Terezín in November, 2002 at the invitation of President Vaclav Havel and under the sponsorship of the U.S. State Department. The concerts were part of a diplomatic cultural mission to raise funds for Czech flood relief and restoration efforts at Pamatník Terezín. The quartet performed at Prague Castle in 2004.

The Quartet's recording, Chamber Music from Theresienstadt, has received international critical acclaim and won the Preis der Schallplattenkritik in 1991. Their Silenced Voices CD on Northeastern Records also premiered newly recovered music of composers persecuted during World War II. The recordings were produced by the Terezín Chamber Music Foundation.

Displaying a diverse repertoire, the Hawthorne String Quartet has also recorded compact discs featuring chamber music by Arthur Foote, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Thomas Oboe Lee in addition to several motion picture and documentary soundtracks. Throughout its travels, the quartet has performed on radio and television programs worldwide.

In April, 1993, the Hawthorne String Quartet began recording with the London Decca Recording Company. As part of London Decca's Entartete Musik Project, its first recording of the Haas and Krasa string quartets was released in April, 1994. The recording was awarded Belgium's Cecilia Grand Prix Special Du Jury. The award was presented in recognition of "an exceptional undertaking and paying homage to an interpreter who has made a mark on the history of recorded sound."

Their next recording on the London Decca label was Ervin Schulhoff's Concerto for Solo String Quartet and Chamber Orchestra. The Quartet gave the American premiere of this work with Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Upcoming projects include recordings, the commissioning and performance of new chamber works and the national release of a PBS documentary on the history of artists incarcerated in Terezín and educational programs spearheaded by the Terezín Chamber Music Foundation.

The Hawthorne String Quartet includes Boston Symphony Orchestra violinists Ronan Lefkowitz and Si-Jing Huang, violist Mark Ludwig, and cellist Sato Knudsen. Based in Boston, the Quartet takes it name from the New England novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne. The Quartet was appointed Quartet-In-Residence at Boston College in 1998.

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Si--Jing Huang
Violin

Violinist Si-Jing Huang joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the beginning of the 1989-90 season, having graduated from the Juilliard School of Music in New York in May 1989. Mr. Huang's numerous scholarships and awards included the Lincoln Center Scholarship; he was also a winner of the Young Concert Artists Auditions held in Hawaii. Mr. Huang's teachers included Glenn Dicterow and Dorothy DeLay, as well as his father, Da-Ying Huang. A former member of the Juilliard Orchestra, he has participated in the chamber music festivals at Aspen and Taos, toured the United States with the Classical String Players, and has performed internationally with the Hawthorne String Quartet.

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Bob Jaffe
Bob Jaffe ’s varied experiences have incorporated acting, directing, stage management, design and technical theatre, both in and outside of New York.

Most recently, Bob works independently as an Actor and Director, having originated … and then you go on. An Anthology of the Works of Samuel Beckett at Perishable Theatre in Providence, RI and in its subsequent acclaimed runs at the Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge, MA, Off-Broadway in New York City, and selected dates on tour. Most recently, he appeared at the Providence Black Repertory as Louis in Sam Shepard's Suicide in Bb, played Detective-Sergeant J. du Preez in Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act at the 2004 New York Fringe Festival and played Creon in the US premiere of David Eliet's Humboldt Award winning play, Ismene. On stage in past seasons, Bob appeared in And Then..., two one-act plays by David Eliet, at the Carriage House Theatre in Providence, RI. He also performed at Perishable Theatre as The Storyteller in the Oana Maria Cajal/Mark Lerman collaboration of The Long Journey to Whereto, and was featured in the monologue, Speaker’s Head, as part of Three One-Acts by Aishah Rahman, also at Perishable Theatre.. On film, Bob starred as the title character in A Lively Experiment a film biography of John Clarke, one of the founders of Rhode Island, which is now having its first public showings. He is currently filming Sleep: A Novel, playing a leading role in that film written and directed by Broto Chakrabati of the Providence Film Collaborative. In 2006 Bob will be seen as Charlie Gueno in the upcoming Showtime original series The Hill.

His work as stage director has centered mostly on new works, and ranges broadly from solo performance pieces to world premiere dramas to music-theatre works.

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Mihail Jojatu
Cello

Boston Symphony Orchestra Sandra and David Bakalar chair

Cellist Mihail Jojatu was born in Romania and studied at the Bucharest Academy of Music before coming to the United States in 1996. He attended the Boston Conservatory of Music, where he studied with former BSO cellist Ronald Feldman and worked privately with Bernard Greenhouse, subsequently studying with BSO principal cellist Jules Eskin at Boston University. Mr. Jojatu's numerous awards include winning the Aria Concerto Competition at the Boston Conservatory and the Carl Zeise Memorial Cello Prize while attending the Tanglewood Music Center. He has performed as guest soloist with the Radio Television Orchestra of Bucharest, and won many prizes in Romania for solo and chamber music performance. Currently a member of the Boston-based Triptych String Trio, Mihail Jojatu joined the BSO's cello section in December 2001, and became fourth chair of the orchestra's cello section at the start of the 2003-04 season. He has been invited to perform the Dvorák Cello Concerto with Sergiu Comissiona and the National Symphony Orchestra.

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Sato Knudsen

Born in Baltimore, Sato Knudsen was raised in Newton, Massachusetts, and began his musical studies as a violinist at age three, switching to cello when he turned seven. Mr. Knudsen joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1983. His teachers included David Soyer at Bowdoin College and Stephen Geber, Robert Ripley, and Madeleine Foley at the New England Conservatory of Music. He also attended the Piatigorshky Seminar in Los Angeles and was a fellowship student at the Tanglewood Music Center. Before joining the BSO he was associate principal cellist of the San Antonio Symphony for three years; prior to that he performed with the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Boston Opera Company, the New Hampshire Symphony, and the Worcester Symphony. Mr. Knudsen was a concerto soloist with the BSO in 1974, as a winner of the BSO's Youth Concerts Concerto Competition. More recently he has been soloist with the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, the Newton Symphony, and the Brockton Symphony. A member of the Hawthorne String Quartet, he has performed extensively with that group throughout the world. As cellist with the Anima Piano Trio, he performed at Carnegie Recital Hall and Jordan Hall, throughout New England, and on radio stations WQXR-FM in New York and WGBHFM in Boston. Since 1988, Mr. Knudsen has occupied the Esther S. and Joseph M. Shapiro Chair in the second stand of the Boston Symphony Orchestra's cello section.

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Ronan Lefkowitz
Violin

Boston Symphony Orchestra David H. and Edith C. Howie chair, fully funded in perpetuity

Born in Oxford, England, Ronan Lefkowitz joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1976. Mr. Lefkowitz is a graduate of Brookline High School and Harvard College. His most notable teachers included Gerald Gelbloom, Max Rostal, Louise Vosgerchian, Joseph Silverstein, and Szymon Goldberg. While in high school, he was concertmaster of and a frequent soloist with the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra. He was also concertmaster of the International Youth Symphony Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski. In 1972 Mr. Lefkowitz won the Gingold-Silverstein Prize at the Tanglewood Music Center, where he now coaches chamber music. In 1984 he helped establish and endow the Gerald Gelbloom Fellowship for a student of violin at the Tanglewood Music Center. Also in 1984 he was featured on the PBS television program "Evening at Pops" as a soloist with three of his Boston Symphony colleagues in a performance of Vivaldi's Concerto for Four Violins. In 1986 Mr. Lefkowitz joined the contemporary music group Collage. That summer he performed the American premiere of Witold Lutoslawski's Chain 2 for violinist and chamber orchestra as part of the Festival of Contemporary Music at Tanglewood; leading to performances of the piece in its Boston Symphony premiere under the composer's direction in October 1990. In the spring of 1988, he was one of five Boston Symphony members, all Greater Boston Youth Symphony alumni, to take part as soloist in the world premiere of Peter Lieberson's Gesar Legend, which was composed for the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra. Other recent concert engagements have included two performances with Yo-Yo Ma, a benefit at Harvard for Philips Brooks House, and a Tanglewood performance of the Ives Piano Trio with pianist Gilbert Kalish. Most recently, Mr. Lefkowitz has been involved with the Terezín Chamber Music Foundation, directed by BSO colleague Mark Ludwig, which seeks to find, perform, and record music written in the early 1940s by such composers as Gideon Klein, Hans Krasa, Viktor Ullmann, and Pavel Haas during their internment at the Theresienstadt concentration camp. In addition, he has recently recorded two compact discs of chamber music by Arthur Foote and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor for Koch International with Harold Wright, Virginia Eskin, and the Hawthorne String Quartet, of which he is first violinist.