I. A Sea-Change (...those are pearls...)

II. The Woods So Wild

III. Lachrymae

IV. Divisions on a Lute-song: Wedekind’s Round

The clarinet quintet Alchymia is woven from four threads leading out of the alchemical world of Elizabethan London. The movement titles refer to:

William Shakespeare, “The Tempest” 1611 - the king’s eyes transformed by the sea into pearls.

“The Woods So Wild,” 1612 - Tudor popular song transformed by William Byrd into keyboard divisions (variations).

“Lachrymae”, 1600 - (Tears) - John Dowland’s lute-song, which he transformed into viol consort Fantasias.

Divisions on a Lute-song: Wedekind’s Round - variations on the playwright Frank Wedekind’s Lautenlied (lute-song), which is played by clarinet, imitating a barrel-organ in the London street, in the final scene of Alban Berg’s opera Lulu.

- Thomas Adès

Andrew Lowy joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic as Second/E-flat Clarinet in 2014, having previously served for four seasons as Principal Clarinet of the North Carolina Symphony, a position he was awarded at the age of 22 while pursuing graduate studies at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music. While a member of the North Carolina Symphony, Andrew was featured frequently as a soloist, playing works of Debussy, Mozart, Weber, and Derek Bermel. Other concerto engagements include performances with the Queens Symphony Orchestra and Yonkers Philharmonic.

Originally from Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, Andrew attended the Manhattan School of Music Precollege Division while in high school and completed his bachelor’s degree at Harvard College, where he studied music and linguistics. His primary clarinet teachers were Yehuda Gilad, Larry Guy, and Tom Martin. Andrew has held summer fellowships at the Tanglewood Music Center and Music Academy of the West, and has appeared as a guest artist at Twickenham Fest. Also active as a recitalist, chamber musician, and teacher, Andrew has recently presented masterclasses at the Juilliard School, the New England Conservatory, the University of Southern California, and the National Conservatory of Music in Mexico.

In 2018, he recorded his first album as soloist with the Hollywood Studio Symphony in Chad Cannon’s concerto Dreams of a Sleeping World, which was released on Tōrō Records. Andrew is a Buffet-Crampon Clarinet Artist and a Vandoren Performing Artist.

Antonio Lysy, an artist of international stature and a dedicated pedagogue, has performed as a soloist in major concert halls worldwide. He has appeared with such orchestras as the Royal Philharmonic and Philharmonia Orchestras of London, Camerata Academica of Salzburg, Zurich Tonhalle, the Zagreb Soloists, Orchestra di Padova e il Veneto, Israel Sinfonietta, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Les Violions du Roi, and several other orchestras around the world. He has collaborated with distinguished conductors including Yuri Temirkanov, Charles Dutoit, Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Sandor Vegh, and Kees Bakels, and continues to perform regularly both as a solo, and chamber music artist. 

Lysy enjoys exploring the versatility of the cello’s voice, from Baroque to electric, and is committed to projects which enrich his diverse interests in music:

The touring show he co-produced and directed, Te Amo, Argentina, premiered at BroadStage— a personal journey through the heart and soul of Argentina’s fascinating culture, featuring solo cello and chamber works, dance, film, and spoken word, met with widespread acclaim. Te Amo, Argentina is based on Lysy’s Latin Grammy award-winning CD on the Yarlung Records label - Antonio Lysy at the Broad - Music From Argentina, featuring the works of Piazzolla, Golijov, Ginastera, Bragato, and Schifrin. A review on Musicangle.com declares it “among the most beautiful recordings of cello and piano you are likely ever to hear”, and Absolute Sound recognized it as one of the 40 best recordings of all time.

Other highlights of his work include a multi-faceted recital, broadcast on live radio, celebrating Bach and the cello through performances on baroque, acoustic, and electric cellos at the Los Angeles County Museum of the Arts ; He produced and presented a multimedia concert with pianist and actor Jean Marchand, showcasing the history of his Carlo Tononi cello on its the 300th birthday; Most recently he performed and recorded the cycle of Bach Suites for solo cello, on a mid-summer’s evening, within the acoustically resonant T.E.U.C.L.A. sculpture by Richard Serra. This endeavor was born from an invitation three seasons ago to perform the same cycle at BroadStage. The sold-out performance included an ornamentation of the stage with stunning projections, inviting the audience to a new “delight of spirit” through the art of digital photography. Following that success he was asked to return to the Broad Stage for a performance of the cycle of Beethoven sonatas, with the pianist Tom Beghin. Beghin played on two fortepianos from Beethoven's time, for a journey through Beethoven's life, covering all three of the composer's major creative periods.

Antonio Lysy has recorded extensively for CBC Radio, BBC Radio, Classic FM, and other European radio networks. His live recording of solo cello repertoire by Bach, Berio, Henze, and Walton, released on the Pelléas label, is "...some of the most beautiful Bach ever heard" (La Presse, Montréal). In addition, he has recorded for the Claves, Dinemec Classics, and Fonè labels. In January 2012, he recorded and premiered the reworked Eric Zeisl cello concerto with the UCLA Philharmonia directed by Neal Stulberg. This cd, highly praised by Donald Rosenberg on Gramophone is also available on the Yarlung Records label.

Yarlung Records and Antonio partnered soon after in a unique recording of South American-connected compositions and arrangements. Titled South America, the nine compositions honor Astor Piazzolla, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Carlos Gardel, Antonio's violinist father Alberto Lysy (with whom he recorded the Kodaly Duo in 2001), and Argentine bandoneon master Coco Trivisonno. Several works are recorded with ingenuous multi- tracking which, thanks to all-analog Sonorus Holographic Imaging technology, Antonio plays all the parts! For both Villa-Lobos' arrangement of Bach's Prelude and Casals' Les Rois Mages, Mr. Lysy created a virtual cello orchestra of 16–28 cellos playing 4–7 parts.

Antonio’s love and commitment to chamber music is demonstrated by his musical directorship and founding in 1989, of the annual Incontri in Terra di Siena Chamber Music Festival in Tuscany, Italy (www.itslafoce.org). Distinguished artists from around the globe take part in this idyllic summer retreat, which is crowned by performances in medieval fortresses, palazzi, and churches in the Southern Tuscan region. The series celebrated its 30th anniversary in the summer of 2018. Antonio invited his friend and colleague, the greatly admired italian pianist, Alessio Bax, to collaborate closely with him and act as Artistic Director for an undetermined term.

In 2003 Antonio accepted the position of Professor of Cello at University of California, Los Angeles. Prior to moving to the United States, he held a professorship at McGill University in Montréal. He was also, for a number of years, visiting professor at the International Menuhin Music Academy in Switzerland. Mr. Lysy appears regularly on prominent online platforms in ‘cello chats’, blogs and interviews, and shares his passion for teaching at international festivals in the summer such as the Heifetz International Music Institute in Virginia, NUME in Cortona, Italy, and the Toronto Summer Music Festival in Canada.