Inspired by the quote by Nadia Boulanger "To study music, we must learn the rules. To create music, we must break them." Salon 58 features Yannick Rafalimanana and Joshua Halpern - returning to Salon 58 for "Rule Breakers" a special program featuring works by three iconic women from music history:

• Nadia Boulanger,
• Rebecca Clarke, and
• Clara Schumann.

All three rose to positions of global distinction as performers, composers, and teachers at a time when it was almost unheard of for women to participate in the music profession at all.

Yannik and Joshua pair their music with works by men who benefited greatly from their influence, but ultimately overshadowed their female counterparts due to gender bias.

• Doors open - welcome snacks and drinks - 7:30pm
• Music program - 8:00-9:00pm
• After-concert jam - 9:00 - 10:30pm

Concert Program

• Nadia Boulanger - 3 pieces for cello and piano
• Gabriel Fauré - selection of songs for voice and piano arranged for cello and piano
• Frank Bridge - 4 pieces for cello and piano
• Rebecca Clarke - Epilogue
• Clara Schumann - 3 romances op. 22 for violin and piano arranged for cello and piano
• Johannes Brahms - Sonata No.2 op. 99 for cello and piano

About Yannick

French pianist Yannick Rafalimanana has developed an international concert career performing recitals and chamber music concerts regularly throughout Europe, the United States, South America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Winning the first prize in the 2012 Tufts/New England Conservatory Soloist Competition, he made his US debut in Symphony Hall in Boston, playing Schumann Concerto with the Boston Pops Orchestra under the baton of Keith Lockhart.
He recently performed at the Berliner Philarmonie, in Shanghai Symphony Orchestra Chamber Hall, in the Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Kennedy Center in Washington, live on Boston’s radio station WBGH, in Jordan Hall with the Borromeo String Quartet, in Boston with violists Kim Kashkashian and Thomas Reibl, in Poland with violinists Andreas Reiner, Arnold Steinhardt and in Shelter Island (NY) sharing the stage with Itzhak Perlman. He also made his Brazil recital debut performing at the Mube Museum and his Israel debut performing at the Jerusalem Music Center.

Mr. Rafalimanana has won numerous awards and prizes in several competitions, including the Borromeo Quartet Guest Artist Award, the Bruxelles J-Musiciens Competition, the Brest Piano Competition, and the International Ravel Academy's Rotary-Lions Competition.

As a soloist, he has performed regularly with the Orchestre CNR de Lille, Orchestre Impromptu, and the Ensemble Parisien. He recently founded and conducted the LFO - a chamber orchestra based out of Boston, involving NEC students, with whom he has also played as a soloist. Mr. Rafalimanana also performs frequently with the Trio La Plata, a group formed in Paris in 2006.

An advocate of new music, he has great experience as a collaborative pianist with orchestras, and it has led him to work under the batons of Peter Eotvos, Jean Deroyer, Thomoty Brock, Zolt Nagy and John Heiss and perform in such venues as La Cite de la Musique and Radio France in Paris, Jordan Hall and Harvard Music Association in Boston and at the “Poisson Rouge” in New York. He also works often with the Ensemble Le Balcon under Maxime Pascal in Paris.

Mr. Rafalimanana has participated in numerous summer festivals; among them are the Perlman Music Program, the Greatlakes Chamber Music Festival, the Brussels Chamber Music Festival, Krzyzowa Music Festival. He has collaborated with some of most well known musicians, such as Itzhak Perlman, Donald Weilerstein, Joseph Kalichstein, Kim Kashkashian, Gary Hoffman, Paul Katz, Narek Hakhnazaryan , Roger Tapping, Julian Arp, Frank Stadler, and Andrej Bielow.

Born in Lille, France, Mr. Rafalimanana began his musical studies at the Conservatory of Lille under the tutelage of Alain Raes. He later graduated with first prizes in both Piano Performance, and Chamber Music and Collaborative Piano Performance, from the 'Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris'. Among his teachers are Bruno Rigutto, Michael Levinas and Jean-Claude Pennetier. His chamber music and collaborative piano coaches include Francois Salque, Michel Moraguais, David Walter and Jean Koerner. Mr. Rafalimanana graduated from the New England Conservatory with a Graduate Diploma in Piano Performance and a Master of Music in Chamber Music under Vivian Weilerstein.

Mr. Rafalimanana has been teaching Chamber Music at the Folkwang University of Arts in Essen from 2015 to 2018.

About Josh

Joshua Halpern has appeared on stages around the world as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral principal cellist. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with artists including Jonathan Biss, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Roberto Díaz, Viviane Hagner, Gary Hoffman, Kim Kashkashian, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Anthony McGill, Olli Mustonen, and Itzhak Perlman, and appeared at music festivals including the Ravinia Steans Institute, Music@Menlo, the Perlman Chamber Music Workshop, the New York String Orchestra Seminar, the Taos School of Music, La Jolla Summerfest, Musikiwest, and Krzyzowa-Music, with whom he has also toured extensively. An eager advocate of contemporary music, he has worked personally with composers such as Richard Danielpour, Scott Ordway, Kevin Puts, Dai Wei, Nick DiBerardino, and Kaija Saariaho. During the 2019 season he served as guest principal cello of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, including on tours to Germany, Taiwan, and China, and in 2020 served as cellist with the Banff Competition-winning Rolston Quartet. In 2023, he appeared numerous times as guest principal cello with the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, as well as guest with the Varian Fry Quartet; the 12 Cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic; and in Greece, Spain, and Germany with Curtis On Tour.

Josh completed his Artist Diploma at The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where he performed throughout the United States, Europe and Latin America with Curtis On Tour, and served as principal cello of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra during the 2016/17 season. At Curtis he studied with Carter Brey and Peter Wiley. As an undergraduate at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, he studied with Desmond Hoebig and won the school's concerto competition. From 2021 until 2023, he was a member of the Karajan Akademie of the Berliner Philharmoniker, in which he played as a member of the Berliner Philharmoniker and was mentored by Ludwig Quandt.

In 2018, Josh curated a solo tour across Colorado to bring classical music to unexpected places, including the state penitentiary, small-town saloons, bicycle shops, and more. Since then, he has continued bringing music to unique spaces, fostering connection and conversation with all types of people along the way. In 2021, he founded the Cultural Caravan, a Colorado-based organization operating at the intersection of small businesses, social-service nonprofits, municipal organizations, and local artists. The Cultural Caravan has since presented over 70 artists with backgrounds ranging from Zimbabwean Afropop to Venezuelan jazz to Classical Music in dozens of concerts in coordination with over 50 local businesses and community organizations, reinvesting over $200,000 into the community to date.

As a teacher, Josh has presented master classes throughout the United States and South America and has taught at Curtis Summerfest, the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, and on faculty at the Brooklyn School of Music. He lives in Berlin.

Josh's Cello

Josh plays on a Neapolitan cello likely by Giovanni Gagliano, circa 1800. The top was replaced roughly 100 years later by a carpenter-turned-luthier named Valentino de Zorzi. De Zorzi usually stamps his work, but in this case left a more discreet message on the top's underside, describing where he found the wood: the roof of the local church, right above where the crypts were kept. The inscription concludes with the line: “After centuries of watching over the dead, it now inspires the living.”

​Josh plays on a modern bow by a Swiss maker named Pierre-Yves Fuchs.