Search - Johannes Brahms, Benjamin Britten Ludwig van Beethoven, Evgeny Rivkin David Starkweather :: Beethoven Brahms & Britten

David Starkweather was declared by Pierre Fournier to be "one of the best cellists of his generation." Starkweather was awarded a certificate of merit as semifinalist in the 1986 Tchaikovsky Competition.Growing up near San Francisco, Starkweather attended the Eastman School of Music. This was followed by graduate studies with cellist Bernard Greenhouse at SUNY Stony Brook, earning a doctorate degree in 1983. In 1985 Starkweather spent six months in Switzerland for intensive work with Pierre Fournier, earning the famous French cellist's accolade given above. A review in Atlanta praised "the sensitive phrasing and Starkweather's obvious technical facility." His cello is a Jean Baptiste Vuillaume from c.1830. Pianist Evgeny Rivkin has won many major awards including 1st prize in the 1998 Louise D. McMahon International Music Competition, 3rd Prize at the 1978 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, 2nd Prize at the 1977 USSR National Piano Competition in Saint Petersburg, and 3rd Prize at the 1985 Bayerische Rundfunk Competition in Munich. He was born in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. Rivkin received the bachelor of music from the Nizhny Novgorod College of Music, and the master?s and doctoral degrees from the Moscow Conservatory where he studied with Evgeny Malinin. Rivkin is a Distinguished Professor of Music at the University of Georgia. He was previously Professor of Piano at the Latvian Academy of Music (1988 to 1995).