Concert to feature reunion of talented musicians

Skidmore will present a concert of "Romantic and Baroque Fantasy" by cellist Ann Alton, flutist Caitlin Coyiuto, and pianist Cristine Coyiuto at 8 p.m. Thursday, June 24. The event will take place in Skidmore's Arthur Zankel Music Center (Helen Filene Ladd Concert Hall). Admission is free and open to the public. 

The program will consist of Rachmaninoff's Sonata for Cello and Piano, Schumann's Fantasy Pieces for Cello and Piano, Hue's Fantasy for Flute, and the Trio in B minor by Loillet.

Alton and Coyiuto are performing together again for the first time in 25 years. They formed a duo during their student years at the Juilliard School, giving many concerts in the New York area. Coyiuto returned to her native Philippines to become one of her country's foremost pianists, earning such accolades as "Poetess of the Piano." Alton, who teaches cello at Skidmore, has also won praise for her "great poetic beauty and emotional intensity."

Coyiuto and Alton have pursued separate but somewhat parallel careers since their student days. In addition to their study at Juilliard, both received grants and awards to continue their musical development in Europe. Coyiuto studied with the French pianists Gaby Cassadesus and Philippe Entremont, and obtained a Diplome from the Academie 

International de Musique "Maurice Ravel." Alton studied with the English cellist William Pleeth, and received a Diplome in chamber music from the Ecole Normale de Paris. Both have appeared many times in recital and as soloists with orchestra in the United States, Europe, and the Far East.  

For this concert they will also perform the Loillet Trio with Cristine's daughter, Caitlin Coyiuto, a prize-winning young flutist. Caitlin, who is 16 years old, will also play Hue's Fantasy for Flute.

More about the performers:

Cellist Ann Alton was called an "exquisite performer" by High Performance Review.

Having started cello study at an early age with her mother, Ardyth Alton, Ann attended the Pre-College Division of the Juilliard School as a student of Channing Robbins. She received a Juilliard scholarship to earn bachelor and master of music degrees. She received a doctorate of music from the Manhattan School of Music, where she was a fellowship recipient student of Bernard Greenhouse. Winning the Harriet Hale Woolley Fellowship enabled Ann to spend a year studying and performing in Europe, where she worked with musicians Genvieve Martigny, Yvonne Loriod, and William Pleeth.

In addition to the Woolley Foundation Grant, Alton has won awards from the National Federation of Music Clubs, the Koussevitsky Foundation, the National Arts Club, and the National Music Teachers Association.  She has performed as orchestra soloist, chamber musician, and in recital throughout the United States and Europe and has been featured on American and German Public Television and National Public Radio.

As a member of Tritonis (a trio with guitarist Joel Brown and flutist Kristin Bacchiocchi), Alton has been active in commissioning and presenting new music by noted composers. Alton is principal cellist of the Lake Placid Sinfonietta, and can be heard on the Vox and Albany labels.

In addition to teaching at Skidmore, Alton is on the faculty of the Juilliard School's Pre-College Division.  Active as an adjudicator and clinician, she has been a performing faculty member of the Killington Festival and Villars International Festival. In 2009, Alton started the Lake Placid String Festival, which brings together a diverse group of  talented young string players  for intensive study, chamber music, and  performances.

Cristine Coyiuto has been called the "Pianists' Pianist" and "Poetess of the Piano." She began studying piano at the age of three with her mother and gave her first solo recital at the age of nine.  She then studied with the legendary pianist and pedagogue Rosario Picazo, a pupil of Isabelle Vengerova, at the Sta. Isabel College. While attending the Juilliard School in New York City as a pupil of Jacob Lateiner, she received her master of music degree. Several grants and awards enabled Coyiuto to further her artistic development in Europe with renowned pianists Gaby Casadesus, Nikita Magaloff, Fou Ts'ong and Philippe Entremont, a direct link to the 20th century great piano tradition.  She was a laur ate of the Acad mie Internationale de Musique "Maurice Ravel" in St. Jean-de-Luz, France, and Gen ve Conservatoire in Switzerland.

Coyiuto has given numerous recitals in the US, Canada, United Kindgom, France, Switzerland, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the Philippines, and has been heard on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Singapore Broadcasting, Radio Hong Kong, Radio Taiwan and DZFE Manila.

Last June, Cristine and her flutist daughter, Caitlin Alisa, toured the Visayas and Metro Manila, where they were received with much acclaim.