Franz Schubert: Piano Trio No. 2 in E-flat Major, D 929
Tom Stone was born in Chicago where he studied music with Hilel Kagan. At age 16 he attended Tanglewood where he coached with Eugene Lehner of the Kolisch Quartet and played in an orchestra under the direction of Leonard Bernstein. After this experience, his focus on music became increasingly intense. Mr. Stone went on to pursue musical studies at the Eastman School of Music and the Cleveland Institute of Music. His major teachers have included Donald Weilerstein, Zvi Zeitlin, Gyorgy Sebok, and Bonnie Hampton. Mr. Stone has also performed in masterclasses for Issac Stern and members of the Amadeus, Emerson, Juilliard Quartets and LaSalle Quartets. He has performed with many distinguished artists including Awadagin Pratt, Leon Fleisher, Zuill Bailey, Jon Nakamatsu, Ian Hobson, and Donald Weilerstein.
During his 20 years as a founding member of the Cypress String Quartet, Mr. Stone performed in major musical venues all over the world including the Kennedy Center, Library of Congress and the Ravinia Festival. He also commissioned and premiered works by George Tsontakis, Jennifer Higdon, Benjamin Lees, Philippe Hersant and Elena Ruehr.
Mr. Stone has served as artistic director of the Centrum Chamber Music Festival and has worked closely with educational and arts organizations throughout the country to conceptualize and implement some of the nation’s most innovative educational programs. He has also served as treasurer of the San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music, board member of Chamber Music America, and panelist for the San Francisco Arts Commission.
Mr. Stone plays a violin made in Cremona, Italy by Carlos Bergonzi in 1734.
Tanya Tomkins has carved out a unique career path, specializing in the repertoire for both modern and baroque cello. In addition to her current positions as Co-Principal Cellist in both the Portland and Philharmonia Baroque orchestras, she has performed as a soloist with various orchestras and festivals throughout the world. Of special recognition are Tanya’s performances of the six Bach Suites on baroque cello, which she has recorded for the Avie label. She presented all six in one day, including in concerts at the Library of Congress, the Da Camara Society in L.A. and the Vancouver Early Music Society.
Together with her partner, the pianist Eric Zivian, in 2015 Tanya founded the Valley of the Moon Music Festival in Sonoma, California. Presenting Romantic and Classical music on original instruments, the festival aims to provide talented emerging musicians with performance opportunities alongside veteran performers and is the only existing chamber music festival that emphasizes approaching this well-known repertoire from a historic perspective. “Musicians from Valley of the Moon” also presents a series of concerts during the year at the Green Music Center at Sonoma State University.
Tanya is a member of the Benvenue Fortepiano Trio with Baroque violinist, Monica Huggett and Eric Zivian, and in the San Francisco Bay Area performs with the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble in programs combining traditional and contemporary repertoire.
She has given many master classes, including at Yale, Juilliard and at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Eric Zivian is a fortepianist, modern pianist, and composer. He has performed with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, the Portland Baroque Orchestra, the Santa Rosa Symphony and the Toronto Symphony, among others.
Eric has given solo recitals in Toronto, New York, Philadelphia, and the San Francisco Bay Area. He has performed extensively on fortepiano since 2000 and is a member of the Zivian-Tomkins Duo and the Benvenue Fortepiano Trio, performing at Chamber Music San Francisco, the Da Camera series in Los Angeles, Boston Early Music, the Seattle Early Music Guild and Caramoor. On modern piano, he is a member of the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble and has performed with the Empyrean Ensemble, Earplay, and the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players. He is a founder and Music Director of the Valley of the Moon Music Festival, a new festival in Sonoma specializing in Classical and Romantic music on period instruments.
Eric’s compositions have been performed widely in the United States and in Tokyo, Japan. He was awarded an ASCAP Jacob Druckman Memorial Commission to compose an orchestral work, Three Character Pieces, which was premiered by the Seattle Symphony in March 1998.
Eric studied piano with Gary Graffman and Peter Serkin and composition with Ned Rorem, Jacob Druckman, and Martin Bresnick. He attended the Tanglewood Music Center both as a performer and as a composer.
