La Sierra chamber concert to feature top classical artists

Robert deMaine, principal cellist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Simon Adda-Reyss, international chamber and solo pianist, and violinist Jason Uyeyama, La Sierra’s director of string studies and player with the L.A. Phil will bring their talent to Hole Memorial Auditorium on Sun., Oct. 1 at 7 p.m.

The musicians will perform Sergei Rachmaninoff’s “Sonata for Piano and Cello in G Minor Op.19” and Felix Mendelssohn’s “Piano Trio in D Minor Op. 49.”

DeMaine, a cello virtuoso, is the principal cellist for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He studied at The Juilliard School, Eastman School of Music, University of Southern California, Yale University, and Kronberg Academy in Germany. DeMaine is a first-prize winner in numerous competitions, and was the first cellist ever to win the grand prize at San Francisco’s prestigious Irving M. Klein International Competition for Strings. He is the recipient of a career grant from the Helen M. Saunders Foundation.

Before joining the Los Angeles Philharmonic, deMaine was the principal cellist for more than a decade with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. He has appeared on the stages of the world’s leading performance venues including New York’s Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C., Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Hall and Shanghai Oriental Arts Center. Throughout his extensive career, he has collaborated with such renowned conductors as Gustavo Dudamel, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Peter Oundjian, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, and Leonard Slatkin. He has recorded for Naxos, Chandos, Onyx, CBC, DSO, Elysium, and Capstone and has been featured by multiple news media including the BBC, PBS, the Canadian Broadcasting Company and NPR's “Performance Today.”

DeMaine is a founding member of the Ehnes Quartet in 2010, and also performs in a piano trio with famed violinist Hilary Hahn and pianist Natalie Zhu. DeMaine performs on a cello made in 1684 by Antonio Stradivari, the “General Kyd, ex-Leo Stern,” his bio states.

Adda-Reyss began playing the piano at age 8, and was admitted to the Conservatoire National de Région in Paris at age 13. He studied with renowned pedagogue Laurence Allix and also earned a teaching certificate from Paris Conservatoire National Superior de Musique. He won the Ermend-Bonnal prize during the first Andre Marchal International Organ Competition and was the chosen accompanist of opera singer Jane Rhodes. He was appointed assistant teacher in 2008 at the Conservatoire National Superior de Musique. Adda-Reyss regularly performs on piano and organ in Paris and around the world as a soloist or a chamber musician. He has appeared in such notable venues as the great hall of the Tchaivosky Conservatory in Moscow and at the Chanel Chamber Music Festival in Ginza, Tokyo, Japan. Adda-Reyss has partnered with violinists Julien Dieudegard, Akiko Yamada and Nemanja Radulovic, as well as cellists Atsushi Sakai, Mark Drobinsky, and Jan-Erik Gustafsson.

Uyeyama is associate professor of music and director of string studies at La Sierra University where he teaches violin, viola and chamber music. He regularly performs with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and has performed with the Pacific Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Uyeyama has been the music director of Community Kids Connection, a nonprofit organization in San Bernardino where he provides free violin lessons to underprivileged children, since 2008. Uyeyama is also the founder and director of the Orange County String Studio where he offers lessons and instruction.  Uyeyama received his master’s degree from The Juilliard School where he studied with Masao Kawasaki.