The Official Website of Intersection Music Trio
Violinist Laura Frautschi, cellist Kristina Reiko Cooper and pianist John Novacek, and their group Intersection, have forged a powerful connection with audiences worldwide.
Formed in 1998 [under the name "Kristina & Laura"] , the group's numerous recordings have been best-sellers in Asia and have topped the classical and crossover charts. In Japan alone, CD sales have been well in excess of 100,000. In addition to their best selling CDs, Intersection has released over half a dozen DVDs, and have become a familiar presence in the popular media, through numerous magazine covers, high-profile appearances on television (including CNN International), and even through their much-loved cameos on TV commercials.
An essential component of their concert activity has been their guest appearances, often televised, with major orchestras such as the Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra, the Osaka Symphony, the Yomiuri Orchestra, and the Tokyo Philharmonic. Concertante repertoire ranges from the classic multiple-instrument concerti of Beethoven, Brahms and Mendelssohn, to new, approachable works written expressly for the group in conjunction with orchestra, all intermixed with standard solo concerti. In addition to Asia, the group has toured Europe and the U.S.
The quintessential Intersection event is the trio concert, with a varied program of repertoire from all parts of the music world. A typical evening with Intersection may center on a Ravel, Dvorák or Brahms trio, but will veer into previously unexplored byroads. A Hungarian thread present in the Brahms may be further spun into a sequence of Gypsy tunes, Dvorak into slavic dance forms, Ravel into the ethereal world of sensuous French song. American music, crucial to Intersection's repertoire, is presented in musical forms spanning the most avant garde of compositions to lighter fare such as excerpts of film music and popular theater and song. Various solos and duos add to the aural variety.
Intersection are reknowned for the new catalog of trio works that they have directly inspired. These works, substantial but immediately accessible, figure prominently in their programs. Energetic young composers such as Patrick Zimmerli, Kenji Bunch, Dan Coleman, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Novacek himself have all contributed to the catalog, and one hallmark common to much of this music is a suggestion of the trio's hometown, New York City, in its vitality, verve, and diversity.
Kristina, Laura and John have individually achieved enviable successes as solists and chamber musicians in the world of classical music, but each have effectively ventured beyond circumscribed artistic borders, exploring new music, world music, jazz and pop. The uniqueness of the group is in tapping to the full these highly varied backgrounds, in shows that seamlessly fuse the traditional and the surprising, the premeditated and the improvisatory, and of course their easy verbal interplay with each other and with the audience. An evening with Intersection is a virtual collaboration between artists and audience.
Laura Frautschi Violin
Violinist Laura Frautschi has established a reputation as a versatile musician with a strong commitment to contemporary as well as classical repertoire. She regularly performs as soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States and Asia, and collaborates frequently with living composers. She has given world premieres of violin concerti by leading American composers Lee Hyla and Augusta Read Thomas.
Her recent chamber music activities include appearances at the Caramoor International Festival, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Wellseley Composer Conference, Moab and St. Bart's Music Festivals. In addition, she is a concertmaster of the New York City Opera Orchestra, and has toured internationally as a concertmaster of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.
Ms. Frautschi’s extensive discography ranges from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons with the Festival Strings Lucerne and Lee Hyla ’ s Violin Concerto with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, to twentieth-century chamber works by Bernard Rands, Chen Yi, and Margaret Brouwer.
Laura Frautschi studied applied mathematics at Harvard College, and violin performance with Robert Mann atThe Juilliard School.
Kristina Cooper Cello
Hailed by the New York Times as “sensational in concert”, and as a "stunning virtuoso" by the Los Angeles Times, cellist Kristina Reiko Cooper has performed as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia.
Ms. Cooper’s recent and upcoming concerto appearances include the Prague Chamber Orchestra, the Osaka Symphony, the Jerusalem Academy Chamber Orchestra, the San Salvador Symphony and the Toronto Symphony. Other recent noted solo appearances include a tour with the Shanghai Symphony culminating in a performance at the World Expo, an NHK televised solo recital and appearing as the soloist for Tan Dun's Water Passion in LA's Disney Hall. An enthusiast of contemporary music, Kristina has premiered many works, including the US premiere of Tigran Mansurian’s Cello Concerto #2, the European premiere of Mario Davidovsky’s Cello Concerto, the world premier of Roberto Sierra’s Sonata for Cello and Piano, the world premiere of Phillip Glass’s The Sound of a Voice.
As first-prize winner of the 1998 Walter M. Naumburg Chamber Music Award, Kristina is also a much sought after chamber musician. She has taken part in such groups and festivals as Musicians from Marlboro, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, The Aspen Music Festival, La Jolla Summerfest, Mostly Mozart Festival (Lincoln Center) Spoleto Festival USA, Angel Fire Music Festival, Ravinia and Chamber Music Northwest.
Ms. Cooper has a discography of CD recordings for Arabesque, CP2, TNC, Helicon Records, Spin Art Records and a solo recital DVD for Amadeus Press. She has been featured on CNN, CBC Television, CBS’s and 60 Minutes. Kristina studied with Joel Krosnick at the Juilliard School where she earned her BM, MM and DMA. She plays on a 1786 William Forster cello.
Kristina's official website: www.KristinaReikoCooper.com
John Novacek Piano
Grammy nominated pianist John Novacek, regularly tours the Americas, Europe, and Asia as solo recitalist, chamber musician and concerto soloist. Venues include Kennedy Center, Avery Fisher Hall, Zankel Hall, Weill Hall, 92nd Street Y, Hollywood Bowl, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Royce Hall, Paris’ Theatre des Champs-Elysees, London’s Wigmore Hall and Barbican Hall.
In addition he has appeared at Lucerne Festival, Mostly Mozart Festival (Lincoln Center), Wolf Trap, SummerFest La Jolla, Seattle Chamber Music Festival, Menuhin Festival Gstaad (Switzerland), and Ravinia. Novacek took top prizes at the Leschetizky, Etude Music Club, Carmel Music Society, Mannes Concerto, and Joanna Hodges International Piano Competition. He's been a featured performer on many television shows including Tonight Show and Entertainment Tonight.
A much sought-after collaborative artist, Novacek has played with Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Emmanuel Pahud, Truls Mork, Julius Baker, and Leila Josefowicz. He’s given numerous world premieres and worked closely with composers John Adams, George Rochberg, John Williams, John Harbison, Sebastian Currier, and John Zorn. Novacek’s compositions and arrangements have been performed by the Pacific Symphony, Concertante, Kristina & Laura, Millennium, the Harrington String Quartet, and the Three Tenors.
He records for Philips, Nonesuch, Arabesque, Warner Classics, Koch International, Universal Classics, Ambassador, Four Winds, Arkay, Virtuoso, & EMI Classics. He studied piano with Peter Serkin, Bruce Sutherland, and Jakob Gimpel.