Left to Right:

• Jeremy Findlay, Canadian cellist
• Elena Braslavsky, Russian pianist
• Nurit Pacht, Israeli-American violinist

In 2005, the FLATIRON TRIO formed and named themselves after the architectural landmark of their neighbourhood in New York City, the city's first skyscraper, a symbol of the alliance of modernity and grace. Last season, they performed at Carnegie Hall and were featured live on radio and TV broadcasts from the Chicago Cultural Center. They have also performed in Canada, Slovenia and in festivals in Italy and Croatia. Their first recording will feature a monumental work - one they themselves had premiered - by the Spanish composer Octavio Vasquez.

The FLATIRON TRIO is made up of the Israeli-American violinist Nurit Pacht, the Canadian cellist Jeremy Findlay and the Russian pianist Elena Braslavsky. The members were performing together in chamber music festivals throughout Europe when they first met in Cracow, Poland in 1995, ten years prior to their official formation. Individually, the performers have played as soloists and as chamber musicians in most of the worlds great concert halls to great critical acclaim. They have each commissioned and performed new works by some of the leading composers of our time.

The FLATIRON TRIO is also dedicated to children and to education. The members have taught at the Juilliard School of Music, Mannes College in New York, the Special Music School in New York, Encore School for Strings and the Mozarteum in Salzburg. The FLATIRON TRIO has also given master classes and seminars at the Lucy Moses School at the Kaufman Center in New York.

Jeremy Findlay, Canadian cellist

Jeremy Findlay's passion for the cello began at an early age. Born into a musical family, he pursued his interest in both solo and chamber music performance. As a recitalist and chamber musician he has appeared in many prestigious venues including the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, Konzerthaus in Berlin, Rudolfinum Hall in Prague, Warsaw Philharmonic, Izumi Hall in Osaka, Coliseo in Buenos Aires, Weill Hall at Carnegie and Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center, New York.

Featured as a soloist, Findlay has performed with orchestras including the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Prague Philharmonia, the Warsaw Radio Orchestra, the Cracow Philharmonic, the Poznan Philharmonic, the National Orchestra of Malta, the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, the Camerata Salzburg, the Hermitage Chamber Orchestra in Moscow and the Symphonic Orchestra of the Municipal Theatre of São Paulo. His recording of the Saint-Saëns Cello Concertos nos. 1 & 2 was praised by Sir Roger Norrington: “This is superb playing by a fine young cellist who deserves to be heard worldwide”.

Findlay has also been a guest at festivals including the “Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival” in Cracow, “Music in Old Cracow” Festival, International Musicians Seminar in England, International Chopin festival in Poland, Villach Festival Austria, Festival Pontino in Italy and plays regularly with ensembles including the Flatiron Trio, Okoun Ensemble and the Ensemble Salzburg. He has made numerous CD recordings of both solo and chamber music repertoire and has also been featured on radio and television networks including the ORF in Austria, Czech National Radio, the Polish Radio, NHK in Japan, the CBC in Canada and the National Public Radio in the USA.

Jeremy Findlay's cello lessons began with his father, William Findlay, as a scholarship student at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. He continued his studies with Daniel Domb at the University of Toronto where he graduated in 1992. Canada Council and Ontario Arts Council grants provided the opportunity for further studies with Josef Chuchro at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and later with Christoph Richter in Germany. Findlay also studied chamber music at the European Mozart Academy, under the direction of Sándor Végh, and took part in the master classes of Boris Pergamenschikow and Yo-Yo Ma.

Ever since their meeting in Prague in 1994, Jeremy Findlay has played and recorded with pianist Elena Braslavsky. In addition to the standard repertoire for cello and piano, they take an active interest in contemporary music. The Czech composer Jiri Gemrot wrote them his Double Concerto for Cello, Piano and Orchestra and they premiered it at the Rudolfinum Hall in Prague with the Prague Philharmonia. Together Braslavsky and Findlay have performed in North America, South America, Europe, China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Australia. They make their home in Salzburg with their six-year-old daughter Alyssa.

Elena Braslavsky, Russian pianist

Pianist Elena Braslavsky has distinguished herself as both a soloist and chamber musician. Her appearances include concerts at the Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York, Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, Berlin Philharmonic, Izumi Hall in Osaka, Melba Hall in Melbourne, Rudolfinum Hall in Prague, Tonhalle in Düsseldorf, Bologna festival, and La Fenici in Venice. She has performed with musicians including Nobuko Imai, Steven Isserlis, and also appeared as a soloist in the German première of a composition "Alleluia" by Sofia Gubaidulina conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich.

She has performed as a soloist with orchestras including the New Jersey Symphony, the Salzburg Chamber Soloists, the Cracow Philharmonic, the Warsaw Camerata, the North Czech Philharmonic, and the Prague Philharmonia.

Ms. Braslavsky began piano lessons at the age of five in Moscow, USSR. In 1979 she graduated Summa Cum Laude from the Gnesin School of Music. After emigrating with her family to the United States, she continued her studies at the Juilliard School with Leonard Eisner, Nadia Reisenberg, and Oxana Yablonskaya until receiving her Doctoral Degree in 1991. She also studied at the Staatlische Hochschüle for Music in Cologne, Germany, as a Fulbright- DAAD scholar and at the European Mozart Academy in Prague.

In addition to her active concert schedule Braslavsky has served on the faculties of the Juilliard School of Music and Mannes College in New York. She is currently on the faculty of the University Mozarteum in Salzburg.

Nurit Pacht, Israeli-American violinist

Violinist Nurit Pacht was selected as one of the "Stars of the Year 2000" by Le Monde de la Musique and since then her career has blossomed with appearances in London's Wigmore Hall, Vienna's Musikverein, Moscow's Great Hall, Washington's Kennedy Center, Carnegie's Weill Hall, The People's Hall of China in Beijing and at Ravinia's Rising Stars Series. Chosen by director Robert Wilson to be the featured musician in his multi-media piece Relative Light featuring solo violin works by John Cage's and J.S. Bach, Nurit is equally at home in the standard repertoire as in the contemporary.

Last season, Nurit performed as soloist in collaboration with the dancer/choreographer Bill T. Jones in one of Europe's greatest Cathedrals, the Duomo in Milan as well as at Kennedy Center and on tour in many U.S. capitals with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company culminating in performances at the Lincoln Center Summer Festival. She is now in her third season serving as the artistic director of the "Alliance Players," a dynamic group of musicians who perform innovative programs in New York City. Nurit performed in duo recitals with Philip Glass playing the composer's works for violin and piano. She commissioned and premiered works from other leading composers including, Michael Hersch, Noam Sheriff, Annie Gosfield and Octavio Vazquez.

Nurit has toured as soloist with the Israeli Chamber Orchestra. She also performed the world premiere of Noam Sheriff's Violin Concerto Dibrot , a work dedicated to her, with the Israeli Contemporary Players in a radio broadcast from Jerusalem and in the Contemporary Music Festival in Tel-Aviv. Nurit was also the soloist on a tour of China with the Young Israel Philharmonic, performing in the major concert venues of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. In the United States she has been a soloist with the Rhode Island Philharmonic, Houston Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Santa Barbara Symphony, Des Moines Symphony, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Alliance Players, American Youth Symphony and Santa Rosa Symphony. In Italy she performed with the Filarmonica di Roma, in Poland and Germany with the Wroclaw Chamber Orchestra, with most of the major orchestras of Romania including the Georges Enesco Philharmonic and with the National Symphony of Columbia.

In the spring of 1996, immediately following the cease-fire, she concertized in six of the worst war-devastated cities of Bosnia to enthusiastic audiences of the three ethnic minorities, with the sponsorship of the United Nations and the European Mozart Foundation. At the invitation of the European Commission she also performed on the occasion of the inauguration of the European Monetary Union in Bruxelles. She was heard at the festivals of Santa Fe, Mecklenberg Vorpommern, Divonne, Stresa, Kfar Blum, George Crumb, Tartini, Monadnock and, at the invitation of Christoph Eschenbach, performed in Ravinia's Rising Stars Series. One of her live performances from Wigmore Hall was released by Nimbus records.

Nurit Pacht grew up in Texas and made her first solo public appearance on national television at the age of 12. In 1990, at age seventeen, she made her U.S. solo debut with the Houston Symphony Orchestra and has since won top prizes in international competitions in Europe and the United States, including the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition in Switzerland. She plays on a violin made by P. Guarneri in 1750.