Faculty Artist Series: David Saltzman, tuba and Yevgeny Yontov, piano
Wednesday, October 21, 2026
8 P.M.
Bryan Recital Hall
Program
Sonata | Thom Ritter George (b. 1942)
I. Vivace e con brio
II. Vivace assai
III. Ballad: Mesto
IV. Ben ritmato
Concerto “War Games” | Barbara York (1949-2020)
I. Toy Soldiers
II. Courtship
III. Marriage
IV. Capture the Flag
Lieder ohne worte | Camille Saint Saëns (1835-1921)
I. Le lever de lune
II. La cloche
III. Extase
IV. La mort d’Ophélie
Overdrive | Brady Fortman (b. 2004)
David Saltzman is the Tuba and Euphonium Instructor at Bowling Green State University and has been the Principal Tuba player of the Toledo Symphony and the Toledo Symphony Brass Quintet since 2007. In 2011, David joined the Glimmerglass Opera Festival based in Cooperstown, NY as their Principal Tuba player for their summer Opera series. Prior to these appointments, he was the Principal Tuba player for the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra and the Honolulu Brass Quintet (1997-2007). He was also the Tuba/Euphonium instructor at the University of Hawaii and the founder and director of the University of Hawaii’s Tuba/Euphonium Ensemble.
David has performed with many orchestras throughout the United States and Canada, including the Cleveland Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony, the Alabama Symphony and the Windsor Symphony. Most recently, David spent four months of the summer of 2018 playing with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and guest teaching at the Melbourne Conservatory of Music, as well as joining them for their tour of China.
An active soloist and chamber musician and a Buffet-Crampon Artist, David was the winner of the Colonial Tuba Euphonium Quartet’s Tuba Solo Competition held in Albany, New York back in 1996. Since then, David has performed and given Master classes as a featured soloist and educator throughout the United States, Australia and Europe. In 2014, David performed Eugene Bozza’s Concertino with the United States Army Orchestra. He has also performed John Williams’ Tuba Concerto and Arild Plau’s Concerto for tuba and strings with the Toledo Symphony in 2010 and 2014 respectively. In October of 2018, David was privileged to give the world premiere of Samuel Adler’s Concerto for Tuba in Toledo.
David is proud to have studied with Harvey Phillips, Daniel Perantoni, Fritz Kaenzig, Toby Hanks and David Fedderly. He lives in Sylvania, Ohio with his amazing wife, three beautiful children, two happy and energetic standard poodles, and two much quieter and less energetic cats.
Yevgeny Yontov has established himself as one of the leading Israeli pianists of his generation. As finalist in the 2017 Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition, he received the Prize for Best Performance of Chamber Music, and the Prize for the Best Israeli Pianist. Other international top prizes include gold medals at the Wideman International Piano Competition and Berliner International Music Competition, as well as additional prizes at the Boesendorfer International Piano Competition, the Olga Kern International Piano Competition, and the Pinerolo International Piano Competition, among others.
A founding member of icarus Quartet, an award-winning 2piano/2percussion group, from 2015 to 2022, Mr. Yontov holds chamber music close to heart. He has performed chamber music in Israel, Europe, Asia, and North and South America, in venues that include Carnegie Hall and the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington D.C. Chamber colleagues include distinguished artists, such as David Shifrin, Roberto Diaz, Tara Helen O’Connor, Fred Sherry, and many others, including members of established string quartets like the Orion, Dover, Aviv, and Miro Quartets. Mr. Yontov has also performed in numerous chamber festivals, most notably returning visits to Chamber Music Northwest.
As a soloist, Mr. Yontov has performed on stages across Israel, the US, China, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, and many European countries. Orchestral engagements include numerous orchestras in the US, including orchestras in New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Florida, Louisiana and Arkansas, and all major Israeli orchestras. He also performed on Israeli national TV, and recorded for Israeli, US, Portuguese and Spanish radios.
Mr. Yontov’s playing can be found on a number of commercial CDs, including his own debut CD, “Schubert: Piano Variations,” released on Naxos Records in 2017, “Big Things,” icarus Quartet’s debut album released on Furious Artisans in 2022, “Samuel Adler: A Celebration of Sam @ 95” released on Toccata Classics in 2022, and “Turning into Song” released on Musica Solis in 2023.
Mr. Yontov began his musical studies at the age of six with Adela Umansky, and later received his B.Mus degree summa cum laude from the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music at Tel-Aviv University, where he studied with Prof. Arie Vardi. He then moved to the US to study with Prof. Boris Berman at the Yale School of Music, from which he received his M.M. and D.M.A. degrees.
Mr. Yontov has given masterclasses across the US, East Asia, and Israel. In 2018, he joined the faculty of Bowling Green State University, where he serves as Associate Professor of Piano.
Thanks for attending our performances. If you have enjoyed your
experience, please consider donating to the College of Musical Arts in
support of our students and programming. Donate online at bgsu.edu/givecma, or call Karmen Concannon at 419-372-2424.
To our guests with disabilities, please indicate if you need special services, assistance or appropriate modifications to fully participate in our events by contacting Accessibility Services, access@bgsu.edu, 419-372-8495. Please notify us prior to the event.
Audience members are reminded to silence alarm watches, pagers and cellular phones before the performance. As a matter of courtesy and copyright law, no recording or unauthorized photographing is allowed. BGSU is a nonsmoking campus.
Updated: 10/12/2026 07:34PM