26/07/2011
www.josepplana.com
© 2011 Josep Plana All Rights Reserved
Joan Plana: Violinist
Born in Lleida, Catalunya, violinist Joan Plana alternates his career in the US and Europe between the worlds of both modern and baroque violin. He is an inaugural member of The Juilliard School's Historical Performance Program, studying with Monica Huggett and Cynthia Roberts. Since moving to New York last year, Joan has built an active career as solo, orchestral and chamber musician.
A founding member of the baroque ensemble CONCITATO, Joan also plays with a variety of early music groups around the country, including Apollo’s Fire, L’Academie and Baroque Band.
An advocate of contemporary music, he has premiered and recorded several works from Spanish and American composers, some of them written especially for him. He appears in groups such as BCN 216 (Barcelona), Metropolis Ensemble, Axiom Ensemble and the New Juilliard Ensemble.
He is the recipient of several prizes, awards and scholarships, including the “Jeanne Lamon Scholarship Award”, “Arjau Competition” Catalan contemporary music prize (Barcelona) and the “Achievement Award” from the Cleveland Institute of Music.
As a recitalist and chamber musician, Joan has performed concerts all over Europe, Canada and the US. He has recorded for radio and TV stations including the BBC, RAI, TVE, TV3, WQXR, WCLV and WFMT.
He has played in concerts and festivals such as the Aspen Music Festival, Ravinia, Dame Myra Hess Concert Series (Chicago), Boston Early Music Festival, York Early Music Festival (England), Auditori de Barcelona (Spain), Auditorio Nacional (Madrid, Spain), Alice Tully Hall (New York) and Rencontres Musicals des Graves (France).
An avid chamber musician, he founded the Arion BCN Quartet, while studying with the Ysaye Quartet in Barcelona. With the quartet, he won several national music competitions and played concerts all over Catalunya. He has been featured in concerts with different chamber music groups in the US (Chicago, Cleveland, New York and Boston) as well as Canada, Italy, Luxembourg, Switzerland and France. He was a member of the Intensive Quartet Program at the Cleveland Institute of Music, studying with the Cavani Quartet and Peter Salaff. He has been coached by members of the Casals, Cassatt, Ying and Tokio Quartets.
Further studies and masterclasses include teachers such as Josep-Lluis Puig, Solange Dessane Jose-Luis Garcia Asensio, Lewis Kaplan, Midori, Ruggiero Ricci and Pierre Reach, among others.
He has participated in festivals as the Bowdoin International Music Festival (Maine), Sommerakademie at the Mozarteum of Salzburg (Austria), Encuentros Musicales de Santander (Spain), Aspen Music Festival (Colorado), Zephyr Music Festival (Italy) and “Musica en Compostela” (Spain).
Joan started his violin studies with Francesc Rodoreda at the Conservatori Professional de Musica de Lleida, where he obtained an Honorable Mention and received the 1st Prize on the Conservatory Music Competition. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree with Honors from the Escola Superior de Musica de Catalunya (Esmuc) in Barcelona, studying with Kai Gleusteen, Agustin Leon Ara and the Ysaye Quartet. Thanks through the support of the Fundacio Privada Sorigue, Joan moved to Cleveland in 2005 to study with the renowned teacher Paul Kantor, at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He received a Master of Music and a Professional Studies Degree from CIM.
www.joanplana.com
Photos by Sonia Tapiolas
www.soniatapiolas.com
www.josepplana.com
© 2011 Josep Plana All Rights Reserved
