First Posted: 11/17/2010
Violinist, Fritz Valenches and pianist, Catherine Shefski, will present a performance of works by Beethoven, Kreisler, and Debussy for violin and piano as part of the 2010 Salon Concert Series at The Music Studio, 106 Colburn Avenue, Clarks Summit, Nov. 20, at 3 p.m.
Valenches, named after the famed violinist and composer Fritz Kreisler, began studying violin at 2 under the tutelage of his father, Leon Valenches. At 10, he began studying in New York with Inez Lauritano. By 11, Fritz Valenches had become the youngest member of the Scranton Philharmonic, the Wilkes-Barre Philharmonic and the Sinfonia de Camera. At 15, he became the youngest concertmaster of the Wilkes-Barre Philharmonic. He has studied with William Kroll of the Mannes School of Music and the late Ivan Galamian, head of the string department at both the Juilliard School in New York and Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.
Valenches currently performs in the first violin section of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic and is a freelance musician and founder of the Strad Quartet. He teaches privately and is the violin instructor at Baptist Bible College in Clarks Summit.
Shefski studied piano as a teenager with Anne Vanko Liva in Scranton. She attended Smith College, New England Conservatory and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. She has performed solo, chamber and duo-piano recitals in Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston as well as at area colleges. A former faculty member of Settlement Music School in Philadelphia, Shefski has also held teaching positions at Wilkes Community Conservatory and Doylestown Community Conservatory. She currently teaches more than 40 piano students at The Music Studio, in Clarks Summit.
Reservations are recommended. Tickets are $5 and $2 for students and can be reserved by contacting Shefski at 586.1977 or by e-mailing .