The Harley-Fadial Duo has performed across the US and on recording, treating audiences to their probing and thoughtful interpretations, for over twenty years. Andrew Harley and John Fadial first performed together as faculty colleagues at the University of North Carolina and have managed to continue their collaboration. Their 2019 release of the complete Brahms Sonatas for Piano and Violin on the Centaur label met with critical acclaim and has stoked intense interest in their unique brand of imaginative and expressive interpretation.
“Rich tone and elegant phrasing… (Harley- Fadial Duo) … Five Stars: a fresh rendition by a pair of elegant artists….” (Peter Burwasser, Fanfare)
Employing a sweet, supple tone (more French than Russian) and the avoidance of cliché throbbing Romantic style, Fadial personalizes these scores in such a fashion that you cannot tear yourself away. Andrew Harley has made a specialty of collaborative pianism, teaching and performing on an international scale, and the Brahms violin sonatas could hardly be bettered to display what collaboration means. He is a superb interpreter of the piano part, effortless in technique, eloquent in expression. But in addition, Harley blends so seamlessly with Fadial that we get the alchemy that results when two musical minds are in perfect sympathy. Five Stars: “…these could hardly be bettered” (Huntly Dent, Fanfare).
Over my years with Fanfare, I’ve reviewed countless recordings of Brahms’s violin sonatas. Some I’ve panned, others I’ve praised. But I can honestly say that I’ve never heard these works played like this. John Fadial and Andrew Harley bring an interpretive vision to the music, which, in my experience, is unique and, crucially, convincing, and compelling. Of the two-dozen or more versions I have of these sonatas on my shelf—a number of which I really like—I can see myself reaching for Fadial and Harley before any of the others. Urgently recommended. Jerry Dubins Five stars: “Extraordinary music-making, truly visionary” (Jerry Dubins, Fanfare)
Harley-Fadial Duo’s recordings of works for Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Brahms may be found on Amazon, iTunes, and Spotify. Look for us on YouTube.
English pianist Andrew Harley enjoys an internationally recognized performing and teaching career. Specializing in instrumental chamber music and song literature, he has been heard in live radio and television broadcasts, on numerous recordings, as well as at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room, Kennedy Center, Library of Congress, and the Supreme Court of the United States.
Dr. Harley began his early musical education at the renowned Chetham’s School of Music, continuing his studies at Oxford University, the Royal Northern College of Music, and the University of Southern California. Since immigrating to the United States, Dr. Harley has held faculty positions at The Juilliard School, the University of Southern California, and the University of North Carolina. His summer affiliations include Director of Chamber Music for the International Institute for Young Musicians, the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, the Vancouver International Song Institute (VISI), and The Aspen Music Festival and School, where he served as Interim Director. As a guest artist, he has taught and given master classes at The New England Conservatory, Indiana University Bloomington, the Royal Northern College of Music, Chapman University, and the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, Germany, where he served as Visiting Guest Faculty in Accompanying. Dr. Harley was recently featured as the National Conference Master Clinician for the National Association of Teachers of Singing. He currently serves as a member of the Eastman Piano Faculty, as well as Director of the Piano Accompanying and Chamber Music Degree Program.
As a performing artist, Dr. Harley concertizes across the globe, collaborating with such distinguished recital partners as international opera stars J’Nai Bridges, Denyce Graves, Susanna Phillips, Eric Owens, the legendary American cellist Lynn Harrell, and members of The Cleveland Quartet, The Juilliard Quartet, and Talich Quartet. In June 2018, together with J’Nai Bridges and Susanna Phillips, Dr. Harley gave the East Coast premiere of The Long View: A Portrait of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Nine Songs by Patrice Michaels. Recent recital partners include concertmasters and principal players of Bamberg Symphony, Bavarian State Opera Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Moscow Virtuosi, National Symphony Orchestra, Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Radio Symphony Orchestra (WDR) Cologne, Radio Symphony Orchestra (NDR) Hamburg, Teatro La Fenice, and Teatro alla Scala. Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung recently described him as “a soloist who understands how to blend within an ensemble with excellence, yet without subjugating himself. Pearls of gold met with a diamond.” A recording of four-hand works by Schubert and Brahms is scheduled for release in 2022.
Violinist John Fadial serves as Professor of Violin and Head of Strings at the University of Wyoming. At the age of eleven, he performed for President Gerald Ford and since has appeared around the globe as chamber musician, soloist, and pedagogue. His performances have been praised by the critics. “Sparkling Technique,” L’Est Republicain (France) “Wow! Great Stuff,” The Washington Post “Gorgeously rendered!”, New York Concert Review. He has toured four continents for the US State Department as a United States Artistic Ambassador, and has served as Concertmaster of the North Carolina Opera, the Colorado Festival, ProMusica Colorado, the Menuhin Festival Orchestra of Saumur (France), the Heidelberg Schloss-Spiele (Germany), and Greensboro (NC) Symphony Orchestra (eighteen seasons). Additionally, he has served as Associate Concertmaster of the Eastern Festival Orchestra, appearing as both concertmaster and soloist, under the direction of Gerard Schwarz since 1999.
As a recording artist he was a semifinalist for the Grammy Award for best Chamber Music Performance of 2007 for the CD Where Does Love Go: Chamber Music of Mark Engebretson on the Innova label; and in 2009 he released a disc of the Complete String Sextets of Johannes Brahms (RadioFrance) with the Stanislas Sextet of Nancy (France), of which he is a founding member. His disc of the Chamber Music of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor with English pianist Andrew Harley was deemed “not to be missed” by American Record Guide; and he and the duo recently completed a recording of the Brahms Sonatas for the Centaur label. His disc of the Chamber Music of Jennifer Higdon, produced in collaboration with the Pulitzer Prize winning composer was released on the Albany label in 2013. In 2016 Fadial embarked on a recording project of string sextet repertoire with the Nancy-based Stanislas Sextet in celebration of their 20th season. Discs released so far include world premier recordings of new Sextets by Georges, Sauget and Fadial on the Forgotten Records label. 2023 will see his recording at Cornell University of the complete works for violin and piano of Gabriel Fauré, with pianist Chi-Chen Wu, using an1860 Erard keyboard. The release on MusicOmnia/Naxos will coincide with the 2024 centennial of the composer’s death.
Dr. Fadial holds degrees from the North Carolina School of the Arts, the Eastman School of Music, and the University of Maryland. His teachers have included Jerry Cadek Lucktenberg, Elaine Richey, Charles Castleman, Arnold Steinhardt, Zoltan Szekely, and Joseph Silverstein. Mentors have included Jan DeGaetani, Abram Loft, Joseph Gingold, members of the Beaux Arts Trio, and members of the Cleveland, Juilliard, and Guarneri String Quartets.