The Autumn of Brahms, with Leopoldo Erice, James Campbell, and Katie Schlaikjer

Spanish pianist Leopoldo Erice will perform some of Brahms’ masterpieces with clarinetist James Campbell and cellist Katie Schlaikjer as part of the 2024-2025 season of “Les Concerts de Ponticello.”

Professor Erice will pay tribute to Brahms by performing some of the composer’s masterpieces. On this occasion, he will be joined on stage by renowned Canadian musicians: clarinetist James Campbell, a recipient of the Order of Canada and a JUNO Award winner, and cellist Katie Schlaikjer.

James Campbell

James Campbell has been described as “Canada’s pre-eminent clarinetist and wind soloist” by the Toronto Star, “Canada’s premier clarinetist” by the Ottawa Citizen, “a national treasure” by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and “one of the top half-dozen clarinetists in the world today” by Fanfare Magazine.

He has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in over 35 countries with more than 65 orchestras, including the Boston Pops, Montreal Symphony, and London Symphony.

Campbell has collaborated with renowned artists such as Glenn Gould and Aaron Copland and has toured with over 35 string quartets, including the Guarneri, Amadeus (when he replaced an ailing Benny Goodman on a California tour), and Vermeer. Of his more than 60 recordings, the BBC and The Times of London rated his recording of the Brahms Clarinet Quintet as the best available.

He has received numerous accolades, including being named Canada’s Artist of the Year, awarded the Queen’s Gold and Diamond Jubilee Medal, and receiving an Honorary Doctor of Laws. He also holds Canada’s highest honor, the Order of Canada. Recently, he was inducted into the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Classical Music Hall of Fame.

From 1988 to 2019, Campbell served as a Professor of Music at the prestigious Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University and continues to perform concerts and masterclasses worldwide. Since 1985, he has been the Artistic Director of the Festival of the Sound, programming over 1,500 concerts. Under his leadership, the festival has traveled to England, Japan, and the Netherlands and has been featured in documentaries by BBC Television, CBC Television, and TV Ontario.

Katie Schlaikjer

Cellist Katie Schlaikjer is a member of the JUNO-winning Penderecki Quartet, serving as the quartet-in-residence at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. She was part of the Colorado String Quartet from 2009 to 2013 and previously played with the Avalon Quartet, which has won several prestigious competitions. An accomplished chamber musician and soloist, Ms. Schlaikjer has performed globally, including tours in Europe, Asia, and the Americas, and has played at renowned venues like Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Centre.

In her chamber music career, she has performed the complete Beethoven and Bartok quartets and has contributed to over 100 new works for the Penderecki Quartet. She has participated in notable festivals such as Tanglewood and Aspen and has recorded for several music labels.

As a soloist, she premiered J. Mark Scearce’s cello concerto “Aracana” and performed Haydn’s D major cello concerto with the Wuhan Symphony Orchestra. Passionate about teaching, she has mentored award-winning students who have advanced to institutions like Juilliard and has held faculty positions at several music schools. Since 2013, she has been teaching cello and chamber music at Wilfrid Laurier University.

Ms. Schlaikjer holds a Doctoral and Master’s degree from Stony Brook University and a Bachelor’s degree from the New England Conservatory, where she studied under Timothy Eddy and Laurence Lesser.

Leopoldo Erice

Leopoldo Erice is a Spanish pianist born in Madrid, enjoying a successful career in performance and teaching that has taken him across Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Africa. He is a professor at the University of Ottawa’s School of Music and has been a member of the Faculty of Music at Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada. Erice has also held the position of Associate Professor of Music at the American University of Sharjah in the UAE and taught at Middle Tennessee State University in the USA.

In 2006, he founded the Festival Internacional de Música Clásica de Ribadeo in Spain. Erice has received several prestigious national and international awards and has recorded for television and radio programs in Spain, Argentina, Syria, and the USA.

An Odradek Records Artist since 2023, his recording Beethoven: The Last Sonatas has recently been launched internationally. He studied at the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid in Spain, the Koninklijk Conservatorium in the Netherlands, and as a Fellow of the prestigious “la Caixa” Foundation Fellowship Program at the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University in the USA.

Erice holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.