Jennifer Frautschi (violin), Jon Masasse (clarinet), and Jon Nakamatsu (piano) are a Trio of acclaimed musicians who frequently collaborate in various ensembles. This Trio is a past favorite of the MCMS audiences.

Jennifer Frautschi:

Two-time GRAMMY nominee and Avery Fisher career grant recipient violinist Jennifer Frautschi has appeared as soloist with innumerable orchestras including the Cincinnati Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Milwaukee Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, and St Paul Chamber Orchestra. As chamber musician she has performed with the Boston Chamber Music Society and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and appeared at Chamber Music Northwest, La Jolla Summerfest, Music@Menlo, Tippet Rise Art Center, Toronto Summer Music, and the Bridgehampton, Charlottesville, Lake Champlain, Moab, Ojai, Santa Fe, Seattle, and Spoleto Music Festivals.

Born in Pasadena, California, Ms. Frautschi attended the Colburn School, Harvard, the New England Conservatory, and the Juilliard School.  She performs on a 1722 Antonio Stradivarius violin known as the “ex-Cadiz,” on generous loan from a private American foundation with support from Rare Violins In Consortium. She currently teaches in the graduate program at Stony Brook University.

Jon Masasse:

Among the most distinguished classical artists of his generation, clarinetist Jon Manasse is internationally recognized for his inspiring artistry, uniquely glorious sound and charismatic performing style.

An avid chamber musician, Jon Manasse has been featured in New York City programs with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Walter Reade Theatre (on Lincoln Center’s “Great Performers Series”), The Sylvia & Danny Kaye Playhouse and Merkin Concert Hall; at the Aspen Music Festival, Caramoor International Music Festival, Colorado Springs Music Festival, Newport Music Festival, Sarasota Music Festival and France’s Festival International des Arts, as well as the chamber music festivals of Bridgehampton, Cape and Islands, Crested Butte, Georgetown, St. Bart’s, Seattle and Tucson. He has also been the guest soloist with many of the leading chamber ensembles of the day, including The Amadeus Trio and Germany’s Trio Parnassus and the American, Borromeo, Colorado, Lark, Manhattan, Moscow, Orion, Rossetti, Shanghai, Tokyo and Ying String Quartets, and has collaborated with violinist Joshua Bell and pianist Jon Nakamatsu.

Jon Manasse is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where he studied with David Weber.  Mr. Manasse was a top prize winner in the Thirty-Sixth International Competition for Clarinet in Munich and the youngest winner of the International Clarinet Society Competition. Currently, he is an official “Performing Artist” of both the Buffet Crampon Company and Vandoren, the Parisian firms that are the world’s oldest and most distinguished clarinet maker and reed maker, respectively. Mr. Manasse is currently on the faculties of The Juilliard School,The Lynn Conservatory, and The Mannes School of Music. 

Jon Nakamatsu:

Since winning the Gold Medal at the 1997 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, Jon Nakamatsu tours year-round working with many of today’s leading conductors and orchestras, and appears in recital and chamber collaborations at festivals and music centers worldwide. Together with the renowned clarinetist Jon Manasse, Mr. Nakamatsu regularly tours as a member of the Manasse/Nakamatsu Duo. The Duo also serves as Artistic Directors of the esteemed Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, founded by pianist Samuel Sanders in 1979. Mr. Nakamatsu is a frequent guest with ensembles such as the Emerson, Tokyo, Prazak, Escher, Jupiter and Ying String Quartets. He has also toured extensively with the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet.

Named Debut Artist of the year by NPR’s Performance Today, Mr. Nakamatsu has been profiled by CBS Sunday Morning, Reader’s Digest and is featured in Playing with Fire, a documentary about the Tenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. He records exclusively for harmonia mundi usa, which has released 13 CDs to great critical acclaim. His recording of Gershwin’s Concerto in F and Rhapsody in Blue with the Rochester Philharmonic remained on top of Billboard’s classical charts for nearly six months. Mr. Nakamatsu’s CD of the Brahms Clarinet Sonatas with clarinetist Jon Manasse was selected by the New York Times as among its top classical recordings for 2008.

Jon Nakamatsu studied privately with Marina Derryberry since the age of six, has worked with Karl Ulrich Schnabel, and studied composition and theory with Dr. Leonard Stein of the Schoenberg Institute at the University of Southern California. A former high school German teacher, Mr. Nakamatsu is a graduate of Stanford University and holds a bachelor’s degree in German Studies and a master’s degree in Education. In 2015, Mr. Nakamatsu joined the adjunct faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Mr. Nakamatsu has served on multiple international piano competition juries, and has also been invited as guest speaker at numerous institutions including the Van Cliburn Foundation, Stanford University and the Juilliard School.

Program:

Debussy: Sonata in G minor for Violin and Piano
Debussy: Premier Rhapsody for Clarinet and Piano
Chopin: Andante Spianato & Grand Polonaise
Milhaud: Suite for Violin, Clarinet and Piano
Stravinsky: Suite from L’Histoire du Soldat for Violin, Clarinet and Piano
Novocek: Two Rags for Violin, Clarinet and Piano