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Music Director and Conductor of the Fresno Philharmonic since 2002, Theodore Kuchar, one of the most prolifically recorded conductors of the past decade, appears on over 100 compact discs for the Naxos, Brilliant Classics, Ondine and Marco Polo labels. For the past sixteen years, he has served as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of two of Europe's pre-eminent Orchestras, the Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra (formerly the Czech Radio Orchestra) and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. He also serves as the Music Director of the Reno Chamber Orchestra in Nevada. Since 2004, he has served as Resident Conductor at the Kent/Blossom Music Festival, the educational institution established by the late George Szell, in cooperation with The Cleveland Orchestra.

Highlights of Maestro Kuchar’s conducting activities over the past season have included appearances with the Israel Symphony, the Cape Town Philharmonic, and the Munich Philharmonic. Last winter he led his Janacek Philharmonic on a four-week, nineteen-city concert tour of the United States that included a stop in Fresno. This past summer, in addition to performances in the Czech Republic, South Africa, Israel, and his annual residency at the Kent/Blossom Festival, Maestro Kuchar also conducted the National Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela in Caracas.

In recent seasons, Maestro Kuchar’s guest conducting engagements have taken him to major musical centers including Amsterdam, Berlin, Chicago, Helsinki, Hong Kong, London, Madrid, Prague, Seoul, and Sydney. In 2008, he was called upon with a single day’s notice to conduct the BBC Symphony Orchestra of Wales in Josef Suk's epic Asrael Symphony. Soloists with whom Kuchar has collaborated include James Galway, Jessye Norman, Lynn Harrell, Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Sarah Chang, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Frederica von Stade, among others.

As Principal Conductor of the Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra since 2005, Kuchar and the orchestra have recorded 10 compact discs, devoted to the complete symphonies of Carl Nielsen, the complete overtures and tone poems of Dvorak and the complete orchestral works of Bedrich Smetana, all for the Brilliant Classics label. Also completed for Brilliant Classics, was a world premiere recording of Rachmaninoff’s Fifth Piano Concerto, a reconstruction of that composer’s Second Symphony based on the composer’s manuscripts. In addition to the 2009 USA Tour, Kuchar has conducted the orchestra in concert tours of Australia, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands and Switzerland.

During Maestro Kuchar’s tenure, the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine became the most frequently recorded orchestra of the former Soviet Union. During the period 1994-2004, the orchestra recorded over 70 compact discs for the Naxos and Marco Polo labels, including the complete symphonies of Kalinnikov, Lyatoshynsky, Martinu and Prokofiev, as well as major works of Dvorak, Glazunov, Mozart, Shchedrin, Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky and the symphonies and orchestral works of Ukraine’s leading contemporary symphonist, Yevhen Stankovych. The first of these recordings, devoted to Lyatoshynsky’s Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3, was awarded the ABC’s “Best International Recording of the Year” in 1994. Their recording of the complete works for violin and orchestra by Walter Piston for the Naxos label was hailed by Gramophone (January 2000) as a “Record of the Year” for 1999. Their complete symphonies of Prokofiev under Kuchar are regarded by many critics as the most accomplished recorded cycle available.

During the 1996-97 season, Kuchar and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine undertook a project devoted to the performance of the cycle of complete symphonies of Anton Bruckner, in their original versions. This historic project, commemorating the centenary of Bruckner’s death, was sponsored by the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During the 1997-98 season, they undertook a cycle of the complete symphonies of Franz Schubert, commemorating the 200th anniversary of the composer’s birth.

An enthusiastic frequent flyer and international traveler, Maestro Kuchar, during his tenure in the Ukraine, led the orchestra on eleven international tours, including Asia, Australia, Central Europe and the United Kingdom. During the 2003-04 season, he conducted the opening subscription weeks and a three-week European Tour with the Berliner Symphoniker (Berlin Symphony). In recent seasons, Maestro Kuchar has conducted nearly forty concerts with this distinguished orchestra. In February 2005, he conducted a three-week United States Tour with the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie.

Theodore Kuchar, who is also a violist, continues to devote several periods annually to one of his most serious passions, the performance of chamber music. Kuchar was the Artistic Director of The Australian Festival of Chamber Music from 1990 until 2006. Since 2005, he serves as the Artistic Director of the Nevada Chamber Music Festival. His chamber music colleagues have included James Buswell, Martin Chalifour, Sarah Chang, Lamar Crowson, Leila Josefowicz, Oleg Kagan, Dong-Suk Kang, Isabelle van Keulen, Oleh Krysa, Mark Lubotsky, Truls Mork, Paul Neubauer, Irina Schnittke, Torleif Thedeen and Thomas Zehetmair. In 1994, he participated with colleagues Oleh Krysa and Alexander Ivashkin in the world premiere of Penderecki’s String Trio in New York City. In July of 1999, he appeared as violist in two recordings for the Naxos label, in works by Alfred Schnittke (with Irina Schnittke and Mark Lubotsky) and Walter Piston. Kuchar’s recording of works by Walter Piston was awarded the Chamber Music America/WQXR “Record of the Year” for 2001.

Kuchar remains as strong an advocate of composers of the present day as he does of the great composers of the past. He has conducted works, in the presence of the composers such as George Crumb, Sofia Gubaidulina, Giya Kancheli, Benjamin Lees, Alfred Schnittke, Rodion Shchedrin and Yevhen Stankovych, among others. In May 2000, Mr. Kuchar conducted the world premiere, at the invitation of Yo-Yo Ma, of the Capriccio for Cello and Orchestra, with Mr. Ma as soloist, by American composer Lukas Foss. During recent seasons in Fresno, Maestro Kuchar has conducted works by John Adams and Christopher Rouse, as well as music by Fresno composers Jack Fortner and George Warren.

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Consistently cited for his astonishing power and “sound imagination,” Markus Groh has confirmed his place among the finest pianists in the world today. Sharing the same birthday with Alfred Brendel, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli and Maurizio Pollini, he has proven himself worthy of their company. Most recently, Mr. Groh’s highly acclaimed New York Philharmonic debut in June 2007 was followed by an electrifying Philadelphia Orchestra subscription debut in November playing Liszt’s Concerto No. 1 in E-flat under the direction of Miguel Harth-Bedoya.

In the United States, Mr. Groh has appeared with the symphony orchestras of Baltimore, Colorado, Detroit, Florida, Fort Worth, Jacksonville, Louisville, Milwaukee, New Jersey, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C., among others. Outside the U.S., engagements have included the Auckland Philharmonia, Bamberg Symphony, Beijing Symphony, Berlin Symphony, Bournemouth Symphony, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Hague Residentie Orkest, Helsinki Philharmonic, London Symphony, Mälmo Symphony, MDR Orchestra at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, New Japan Philharmonic, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Osaka Philharmonic, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, and the SWR Orchestra (Stuttgart). Among the conductors with whom he has collaborated are Jesus Lopez Cobos, Andreas Delfs, Ivan Fischer, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Marek Janowski, Neeme Järvi, Fabio Luisi, Kent Nagano, Jonathan Nott, Kwamé Ryan, and Stefan Sanderling.

Recent and upcoming engagements include debuts with the Indianapolis Symphony, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony, and the Warsaw Philharmonic, as well as return appearances with the Florida Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, West Virginia Symphony, and the MDR Orchestra at the Leipzig Gewandhaus. Touring with the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine under Kwamé Ryan during the spring of 2008, Mr. Groh appeared in Bordeaux and at the Folle Journée Festival in Nantes.

A spellbinding recitalist, Markus Groh reveals shapes, textures and colors that one seldom hears in live performance. Critics agree: “Groh is a great pianist.” [Toronto Star]; “…a superb recital…” [New York Times]; “A new star in the pianistic firmament…” [Neue Zürcher Zeitung]. Mr. Groh has appeared most recently in recital at the Friends of Chamber Music Denver, Friends of Chamber Music Kansas City, Vancouver Recital Society, and at the Frick Collection in New York. Chamber music activities include tours with both Claudio Bohórquez and the Tokyo String Quartet.

Widely acclaimed for his interpretations of Liszt, an all-Liszt CD, including the Totentanz and B Minor Sonata, was released by AVIE in 2006. Showered with rave reviews, it was also named “Editor’s Choice” in Gramophone Magazine. An all-Brahms CD was released by AVIE in June of 2008. Other recordings include a CD of Debussy, Prokofiev, and Britten cello sonatas with Claudio Bohórquez on Berlin Classics and a CD of Liszt’s Totentanz with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande conducted by Fabio Luisi on Cascavelle.

A frequent guest at international festivals such as Ruhr, Ludwigsburg, Bad Kissingen, Festival Cultural de Mayo, and Schubertiade (Austria), Mr. Groh is the founder and artistic director of the Bebersee Festival near Berlin. He has appeared frequently on radio and television in Germany, Spain, Belgium, Holland, France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Japan (NHK), Mexico and the United States (NPR).

Markus Groh was born on the 5th of January 1970 in southern Germany. He was a student of Professor Konrad Richter in Stuttgart and Professor Hans Leygraf in Berlin and Salzburg. He gained immediate world attention after winning the prestigious Queen Elisabeth International Competition in Brussels in 1995, the first German to do so. Other awards include First Prize at the 1990 Artur Schnabel Competition in Berlin.

Mr. Groh divides his time between Berlin and New York.

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