Festival Artist in Residence, Violist Leslie Harlow is the Founder and Co-Director of the Park City Beethoven Festival and over the years has performed in chamber concerts with many of the finest artists of this era. A graduate of the Juilliard School, Leslie Harlow performed in master classes for William Primrose, Paul Doktor, Donald McGinnis, Heidi Castleman and Nabuko Imai. Her primary teachers were Marna Street, Susan Schoenfeld, Paul Doktor, and violinist Harry Shub with additional lessons with Heidi Castleman, Donald Wright and Francis Tursi. Ms. Harlow studied chamber music with coaches including Felix Galimer, Samuel Rhodes, Claus Adam, Paul Doktor, Charles Castleman, Robert Sylvester and Julius Baker. Following graduation from Juilliard, Ms. Harlow moved to Utah and, in 1984, founded the Deer Valley (Utah) Chamber Music Festival in Park City, Utah. Renamed the Park City Beethoven Festival, the Festival continues as Utah’s oldest classical music festival, and, as of 2016, the Festival has presented nearly 700 festival chamber concerts. Leslie Harlow also founded and directs the Park City Film Music Festival.
As an active recording artist in both chamber music and in commercial studio work, Ms. Harlow’s viola solos can be heard on a number of feature film and television soundtracks including “Murder in the First” and “Surviving Picasso.” In 2015 Ms. Harlow presented the collegiate level viola master class at the National American String Teachers Association Convention along with serving as a judge for the collegiate solo competition. Leslie and her husband, clarinetist Russell Harlow, perform recitals throughout the year including performing for senior retirement homes. In addition to much performing in Utah, the Harlows are often invited to perform at festivals and on concert series. Those series, festivals and conventions have included the Bargemusic Series in New York, international clarinet festivals in Baltimore, Utah, Vancouver (CA), Puerto Rico and Texas, the Lyrica and Ars Nova Series in New Jersey, chamber festivals in Colorado, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, Alaska, and for the Piatigorsky Foundation of New York. Representing the Beethoven Festival, the Harlows recently presented a concert in New York hosted by the Bargemusic Series.
Russell and Leslie Harlow are two of the major arts donors in the Park City/Summit County community, having donated over $500,000 towards bringing live chamber music performances and educational programs since 1984.
Leslie Harlow can be heard on numerous broadcasts, film soundtracks and recordings including Chamber Music for Clarinets and Strings on the ISOMIKE.com label, performing chamber music of Husa and Martinu. Ms. Harlow uses Leslie Harlow as her professional name and her full name is Margaret Leslie Blackburn Harlow. She is a native of Lubbock, Texas.
Hear the Biber Passacaglia recorded at the home of the Harlows featuring Leslie Harlow performing the work, originally written for violin, on viola, followed by a live performance from the Beethoven Festival. Visit the youtube link below to hear Leslie performing a solo for the the film “Murder in the First”.
This first link features Leslie Harlow performing Mozart’s Duo in G Major with acclaimed violinist Charles Libove live at the Beethoven Festival (formerly the Deer Valley Chamber Music Festival.)
Hear Leslie Harlow, Russell Harlow and pianist Doris Stevenson perform here on Classical 89 Radio
Hear Leslie Harlow, violinist Monte Belknap, cellist Julie Bevan and pianist Michael Gurt perform here on Classical 89 Radio
A number of years ago, Leslie Harlow performed for the recording of the film score by Christopher Young for the film “Murder in the First” which featured a number of viola solos. Click here to visit youtube and hear some of the solos as performed by Leslie Harlow.
Purchase this album for download through CDBaby: