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Upcoming concerts at Gallery 345.
Quintimacy
with Special Guest Artist Kristin Mueller-Heaslip
Expressionists in the Melting Pot
Sunday January 31st at 4
PM
$25/$15 seniors and students
PROGRAM:
Korngold: Drei Lieder, Opus 22
Berg: Sieben Fruehe Lieder and
an excerpt from Lulu,
Scriabin: Prelude and Nocturne for Left
Hand Alone,
Schoenberg: Sechs Kleine Klavierstuecke
and other between-the-wars
treats.
As always with Quintimacy, our concert will be followed
by a brief reception and includes entertaining anecdotes
mixed with the music. Check out our Facebook Page (under
groups) for more information and reservations or call Gallery
345 at 416-822-9781.
Quintimacy is a Toronto-based group dedicated to rebuilding
a close working relationship between composer, performer
and audience through intimate salon-style performance of
new, rare and beautiful chamber works. It was founded by
Musicologist Eleanor Johnston, Composer Chad Martin and Performers:
Ramona Carmelly, Joseph Ferreti and Elaine Lau in 2008.
Want a sneak peek? Quintimacy’s performance of Wagner’s “Wesendonck
Lieder” and Chad Martin’s “I will open
petal by petal myself” from our 2008 season is posted
at:
http://www.instantencore.com/contributor/contributor.aspx?CId=5143176
II - Lynn
Kuo Winona Zelenka
Admission: Adults
$20 / Seniors $15 / Students $10
Tuesday, February 2, 2010 - 8:00
p.m.
Program:
Maurice Ravel: Sonata for Violin and Cello (1920-22)
I. Allegro
II. Très vif
III. Lent
IV. Vif, avec entrain
William Bolcom: Suite for Violin and Cello (1997)
I. Prelude – Very free and fast
II. With Energy
III. Stately, slow
IV. Very fast and skittish
V. Street dances
- INTERMISSION -
Beverly Grigsby: Dithyrambos for Violin and Cello (1974)
Michael Pepa: DUO for Violynn and Winoncello (2009)
Erwin Schulhoff: Duo for Violin and Cello (1925)
I. Moderato
II. Zingaresca: Allegro giocoso
III. Andantino
IV. Moderato
Lynn Kuo, violin
Photo credit: Elaine Ling
“…. Lynn Kuo’s violin is dramatic, both
rousing and melancholy..." - Showtime Magazine
Violinist Lynn Kuo has performed as soloist and chamber
musician across Canada, United States, Wales, Austria, Hungary,
Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria, and Romania. As guest soloist,she
has performed with the Quebec Symphony Orchestra, Orpheus
Chamber Orchestra of Bulgaria, Canadian Sinfonietta, Brandon
Chamber Players, the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, the
Nexus percussion ensemble, and has also collaborated with
artists such as Christoph Eschenbach, William Aide, the Gryphon
Trio, and Penderecki String Quartet.
In demand as an interpreter of new music,
Lynn has given numerous world premieres of acoustic and
electroacoustic works written for her and various ensembles
(Duo Vita, Les AMIS Ensemble): Canadian and European composers
which include Michael Pepa, Dennis Patrick, Katarina Miljkovi?,
Daniel Foley, Elizabeth Raum, Scott Godin, James Harley,
John Oliver, Constantine Caravassilis, Avalon Rusk (Canada),
Séan
Clancy (Ireland), and Viktorija Cop (Croatia).
In 2008-09, Lynn gave the Canadian and European premieres
of a fifth Michael Pepa work (ISOMORPHE), as soloist with
the Cantus Ensemble of Croatia. Reprising her role as head
of the Les AMIS Ensemble, Lynn embarked on a third European
tour in April 2009 under the artistic direction of Michael
Pepa. Among the performances: world premieres at the 2009
Music Biennale Festival in Zagreb, Croatia, the Mendelssohn
Concerto in D minor with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra of
Bulgaria and the Chausson Concerto for Piano, violin and
String Quartet with Marianna Humetska, piano and the Penderecki
String Quartet.
Maintaining a busy performance schedule,
Lynn is the Assistant Concertmaster of the National Ballet
of Canada Orchestra, and has also served as guest concertmaster
of orchestras including the National Arts Centre Orchestra.
Lynn also performs with the Canadian Opera Company, Via
Salzburg Chamber Orchestra, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
In addition to performing, Lynn is a doctoral candidate
in the Doctoral of Musical Arts program at the University
of Toronto for which her dissertation research is on “Holistic
Health and its Role in the Prevention of Musculoskeletal
Disorders in Musicians.”
Lynn gratefully performs on a 1904 Riccardo Antoniazzi violin
and Hill bow on loan from Steven Pepa.
www.lynnkuo.com
Winona Zelenka, cello
Photo credit: David Leyes
Winona Zelenka, known for her gorgeous,
singing tone, is one of Canada’s finest cellists on the scene today.
As a soloist, she has performed with the Toronto Symphony
Orchestra (Strauss’ Don Quixote Suite, with Thomas
Dausgaard conducting, 2006), and performs often with conductor
John Barnum. Their past collaborations include Lalo’s
Cello Concerto in D Minor with the Mississauga Symphony (2008)
and Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto No. 1, with both
the Scarborough Philharmonic (2007) and the Huronia Sinfonietta
(2006). She has also performed Haydn’s Concerto No.
2 in D Major with the Canadian Sinfonietta (2007), conducted
by Tak Ng Lai. At this same concert, Ms. Zelenka, a proponent
of new music, performed the world premiere of “Invocation
II’” for cello and orchestra, a work written
for her by Canadian composer Michael Pepa. In 2008, Ms. Zelenka
performed as guest Principal Cellist for the Canadian Opera
Company’s production of Tosca. She has been Assistant
Principal of the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra since 2005, and
served as Principal during the summers of 2007 and 2008.
She is currently serving as Acting Principal of the Toronto
Symphony Orchestra, and has held that position since the
2004/2005 season.
Winona is a dedicated recitalist and
chamber musician, who regularly performs on the Les AMIS,
Syrinx, Amici, Art of Time and Offcentre series in Toronto.
She collaborates regularly with many of Canada’s finest musicians including violinists
Stephen Sitarski and Erika Raum; violist Steven Dann; bassist
Joel Quarrington, pianist Andrew Burashko, and countless
others. This summer ( 2009) she performed at the Ottawa Chamberfest
with, among others, soprano Donna Brown and pianist/composer
Heather Schmidt. The 2009/2010 season sees Winona performing
with the Zuckerman ChamberPlayers at the Royal Conservatory’s
new Koerner Hall as well as at the 92nd St. Y in New York.
Ms. Zelenka recently formed Trio Arkel
with violinist Marie Bérard and violist Teng Li,
with whom she will perform at the Four Seasons Amphitheatre
in February of 2010. She will also be performing at the
Amphitheatre with long-time duo partner Jacques Israelievitch
in December 2009. In the 2009/2010 season, Ms. Zelenka
is very pleased to work with Mr. Pepa again, who will compose
a work for cello, violin and percussion for his Les AMIS
series in Toronto.
Since the summer of 2004, Ms. Zelenka
began performing in the Music Garden Series at Toronto’s waterfront. Every
year, she has performed a different Bach cello suite. In
2006, she performed Canadian composer Chris Paul Harman’s “After
the Sixth Suite”, also a composition written for her,
which, as the title suggests, she performed in tandem with
Bach’s Cello Suite No. 6. For her performance of the
Suite No. 4 in September of 2009 she was joined by dancer
Claudia Moore who added beautiful movements choreographed
by Carol Anderson. Winona was also the cello soloist of such
notable film scores as Atom Egoyan’s “Adoration” (2008),
István Szabó’s “Being Julia” (2004),
and the IMAX film “Under The Sea” (2009).
Exciting new projects include the recently-released films
in HD of the Suite for Solo Cello by Gaspar Cassado, filmed
by Moving Head Productions and available on Youtube. Winona
will also be releasing the complete Bach Cello Suites in
the spring of 2010; all projects are recorded by CBC recording
engineer Ron Searles , whose credits include I Furiosi and
the Eybler Quartet as well as film scores by Mychael Danna
and Andrew Lockington.
Winona Zelenka began her career at age
22 as Associate Principal in the Liverpool Philharmonic
Orchestra and won orchestra jobs with the National Ballet
Orchestra and the Hallé Orchestra
in Manchester. She obtained her Bachelor of Music and Artist
Diploma at the University of Indiana, and studied with the
legendary Janos Starker. Ontario born and raised, Ms. Zelenka’s
other main teachers include William Findlay, Vladimir Orloff,
and William Pleeth.
Winona plays on the “Starker Guanerius”, which
was made in 1707 by Giuseppe Guarneri, the father of the
legendary “Guanerius del Gesù”. This instrument,
formerly owned by Janos Starker for 30 years, is on loan
to the TSO for Ms. Zelenka’s use thanks to the generosity
of Dr. Edward Pong.
“Their swords were their bows, and their victory was
in forgetting about their individual status in their main
jobs … and deliver a gorgeous, and intellectually
stimulating program…Bérard, Li and Zelenka
carved into [Beethoven’s Trio Op. 9, No. 2] with glee,
coming up with a full-blooded reading that never rode roughshod
over quiet passages.”
John Terauds, The Toronto Star, January 2009
(Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 in B Flat
Major, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin)
"Her account of the famous cello prologue and epilogue
in the andante movement was ravishing and deserved its special
ovation."
Ken Winters, The Globe and Mail, May 2008
www.winonazelenka.com
The Art of the Piano: Marilyn Lerner
Saturday February 13 at 8pm
Songs for a midwinter night
An evening of solo piano improvisations, folk songs, jazz
standards and original compositions ...
Marilyn Lerner - pianist/composer
‘with a breathtaking command of the piano, Lerner effortlessly
ran through the instrument’s expansive palette of colours.
It was delicate and probing, hard driving, witty and funny…
Graeme Pillsworth, Coda Magazine
Repeatedly, Lerner’s
interpretations are enhanced by the engaging way she slips
between limpid coolness and rhythmically-charged vibrancy.
Pianists with a less finely calibrated touch would plough
through passages that Lerner precisely etches.
Bill Shoemaker, Point of Departure
Marilyn Lerner Bio
Exhilarating jazz pianist/improviser
Marilyn Lerner performs to acclaim internationally, from
her native Montreal to Havana, from Jerusalem to Amsterdam
and the Ukraine. Her groundbreaking recordings have garnered
recognition, including "Best
Western Jazz Recording 2004" for her "Special Angel" duo
with legendary guitarist Sonny Greenwich.
Lerner's work spans the worlds of jazz,
creative improvisation, klezmer and 20th century classical
music. She composes for film, theatre, radio and television.
She produced "Birds
Are Returning", the first contemporary Canadian jazz
recording to come out of Cuba, playing her compositions with
greats Dafnis Prieto, Yosvanny Terry and Jane Bunnett.
Along with her innovative solo piano work, Lerner tours
with The Queen Mab Trio (clarinettist Lori Freedman and Dutch
violist Ig Henneman) across Canada, the U.S. and Europe.
Their fall 2006 European tour included the prestigious Wels
XX Music Unlimited Festival in Austria. Marilyn also performs
with Sonny Greenwich, the Mad Satie Trio (Andrew Downing,
David Occhipinti), Nick Frasier and Matt Brubeck, Lou Grassi
and Ken Filiano, and in the Jewish scene with Adrienne Cooper,
Frank London, Alicia Svigals, From Both Ends of the Earth,
and David Wall. She has appeared with Steve Lacy, Tito Puente,
Michael Vatcher and Gerry Hemingway.
Lerner's original music has garnered
the Montreal International Jazz Festival award for best
composition. Her audio art collages have been broadcast
internationally. A recent commission by CBC in honour of
composer Dmitri Shostakovitch's 100th birthday entitled "Meditations on Mitya" was
performed by the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra and in November
2006.
A prolific recording artist, her most
recent work includes the independently produced "Romanian Fantasy",
a solo recording of improvisations on traditional Eastern
European Jewish music recorded at the Glenn Gould Studio
at CBC Toronto, "Thin Air" (WIG) the Queen Mab
Trio's new release based on Hector Berloiz' Queen Mab Scherzo, "Luminance" (Ambiences
Magnetiques), solo improvised piano music using different
microphone techniques, "Special Angel" (C.B.C.
records), duo with jazz guitar legend Sonny Greenwich, and,
with singer David Wall, "Still Soft Voiced Heart" (Traditional
Crossroads), original settings of contemporary Yiddish poetry.
Lerner conducts workshops on improvisation
and on Jewish music throughout North America, Europe and
the former Soviet Union. Current projects include both
a recording and performances of "Shake My Heart Like a Copper Bell",
Lerner's contemporary Yiddish song cycle on the poetry
of Anna Margolin, scored for piano, cello, clarinet and
singer Adrienne Cooper, for which she received a Hadassah-Brandeis
research award, ongoing collaborations with poet Patrick
Friesen, a new trio project with cellist Matt Brubeck and
drummer Nick Fraser and numerous solo concerts.
2 Pianos 4 Hands:
John Farar & Attila Fias
Improvisations
Friday February 19, 2010 at 8pm
JOHN FARAH
Composer, pianist, electronic musician
and visual artist John Kameel Farah studied composition
and performance with William Aide at the University of
Toronto, where he received the Glenn Gould Composition
Award twice. Later he had private lessons with minimalist
composer Terry Riley in California and furthered his interest
in the music of the Middle-East at the Arabic Music Retreat
in Hartford. He has performed with Arraymusic and Tapestry
New Opera and has had the opportunity to collaborate with
a great number of improvisors, jazz, classical, electronic
and indie artists across Toronto's diverse music scenes.
Though still active in classical music, he now focuses
primarily on his own creative hybrid of composition, keyboard
improvisation, Electronica, Jazz, Baroque and Middle-Eastern
music, and enjoys being able to perform this music in concert
halls, jazz festivals and electronic raves alike. NOW Magazine
named Farah as Best Pianist 2006. In 1998, he performed the
complete solo piano works of Arnold Schönberg. He has
performed across Europe, USA, Canada, U.K., the Middle–East,
South Korea and Mexico – in 2008 performing atop the
Aztec Great Pyramid of Cholula along with galactic visuals
by astronomer John Dubinski. In 1999 and 2002, he was guest
artist at the Edward Said National Conservatory, giving performances
and masterclasses in Ramallah, East Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
This summer he released his new CD "Unfolding" on
Dross:tik Records, which can be found at www.johnfarah.com.
ATTILA FIAS
Born in Budapest, Hungary, Attila Fias began studying music
and playing piano at an early age with his father’s
guidance. When his family moved to Canada, he studied with
distinguished Canadian musician Dr. David Ouchterlony.
He graduated with a performance degree in jazz from the
University of Toronto. Attila has performed and recorded
with people such as producer Oscar-winner A.R. Rahman (Slumdog
Millionaire) and other Indian music stars, Jack Douglas
(Aerosmith, John Lennon), New York Brazilian jazz harmonica
virtuoso Hendrik Meurkens, tabla master Rajesh Rajbhatt
and many fine Canadian musicians. Attila has produced,
composed, arranged, and performed for Universal/MCA, Sony/BMG,
EMI America and independent labels, on over 80 internationally
distributed CDs. With over two million units sold worldwide,
including a platinum and three gold-selling albums in Canada,
they cover a diverse range of styles.
While rooted in modern jazz, the influences
of Brazilian, Indian and Hungarian musical cultures can
be heard in Attila’s
music as well as elements of contemporary classical music
and Electronica. Attila has just released a CD of his original
jazz trio compositions entitled Stories, available through
his website, www.attilafias.com
The Art of the Piano: Stephen Clarke
Saturday, February 20, 2010 at 8 PM
Stephen Clarke has performed in festivals in Europe, Canada,
the U.S. and South America, among these the Donaueschinger
Musiktage and the Berliner Festwochen. He has appeared as
soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group,
the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Esprit Orchestra, New Music
Concerts, the Orchestra of the S.E.M. Ensemble and the Merce
Cunningham Dance Company. He also plays in a duo with violinist
Marc Sabat, is the pianist with Arraymusic and has worked
with a number of other ensembles. Solo recordings include
works by Giacinto Scelsi (Mode Records). Mr. Clarke studied
composition at the University of Toronto and has written
works for various ensembles.
PROGRAMME
Udo Kasemets (1919):
Piano Sonata (1951) (premiere)
Koch Curve (1996)
Kaikhosru Sorabji (1892-1988):
Two Piano Pieces: - In the
Hothouse (1918)
- Toccata (1920)
Horatiu Radulescu (1942-2008)
Third Piano Sonata op.86 (1992/99)
"You
Will Endure Forever"
Duo Cornelia:
Galina Zisk & Jean Sophie Kim
Sunday, February 21, 2010 at 3pm
Please join us on Sunday afternoon as Zisk and Kim perform
duos by Mozart, Debussy, Michael Pepa, Rachmaninov and Gershwin.
GALINA ZISK
Dr. Galina Zisk has garnered much acclaim
from international audiences and critics alike for her
powerful performances, often being praised for her impressive
combination of virtuoso technique and colorful musicality.
Called “a real
musician, hearing the music as a whole conception and putting
her part of it in absolute harmony and balance” by
Canada’s Hamilton Spectator, and praised for her
ability to “draw in the attention of the audience” by
the New York Concert Review, Dr. Zisk has performed throughout
Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Italy,
Canada and the U.S. as concerto soloist, chamber musician,
and in solo recital.
In North America her performances have included Carnegie
Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Klavierhaus, World Financial
Center, the Juilliard School, Steinway Hall, Merkin Concert
Hall, University of Buffalo Center for the Arts, Goethe Institute,
and Roy Thomson Hall among many other prestigious venues.
Dr. Zisk has also given numerous Master Classes and has adjudicated
Music Competitions in Europe, North America, and Hong Kong.
She is a member of the MTNA (Music Teachers National Association),
and is a member of the College of Examiners at the Royal
Conservatory of Music and National Music Certificate Program.
Dr. Zisk is a winner of numerous competitions
including First Prizes from the Kiwanis Music Festival,
Canadian Music Competition, and “Stars of Tomorrow” Concerto
Competition. She is the recipient of the Yamaha Scholarship,
Sinclair Radio Laboratories Ltd. Award, as well as the Artists
International Presentations, Inc. Award.
Dr. Zisk has served on the piano faculty
of Manhattan School of Music, Hartwick Summer Music Festival & Institute
(Oneonta, NY), International School for Musical Arts (Canada),
and was a Program Director of the Tchaikovsky Summer School
(Cambridge, MA). She has also collaborated with the Boys
Choir of Harlem, Inc., Songs of Solomon Academy for the Arts,
Christine Jowers’ “Moving Arts Projects”,
Tchaikovsky Music Society, and The New Stage Theater in an
off-Broadway show “Some Historic/Some Hysteric.” Her
solo recitals have been broadcast on CJRT-FM radio in Canada
as well as the Bravo! TV channel, and her CD recording, Alexander
Gedike’s arrangement for Piano Trio of Tchaikovsky’s
Seasons, was released by Fidelis Records, Ltd. in 2002.
Galina Zisk holds a Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of
Music Degrees in Piano Performance from the Manhattan School
of Music, and a Bachelor of Music Degree in Piano Performance
from the University of Toronto, Canada.
JEAN SOPHIE KIM
Canadian born pianist Jean Sophie Kim
has performed as a concerto soloist, recitalist and chamber
player in Korean, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Austria and
North America. Some of the venues Ms. Kim has played include
Weill Recital Hall, CAMI Hall, the Fine Arts Building in
Chicago and the Banff Centre among others. As an accompanist
she has performed at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall, Loren Maazel’s
Chateauville Foundation in Virginia and has accompanied
Deutsche Gramophone artist Measha Brueggergosman on WNYC.
While in high school she worked for many years as an accompanist
and improvisational pianist for several dance academies
and has accompanied masterclasses taught by dancers Robert
Morris and Margie Gillis.
Jean has been the recipient of numerous
awards and grants including The Honor Scholarship from
the Korean Embassy in Washington D.C., a Board of Governors
Scholarship in London Canada and the University of Cincinnati
Global Scholarship. Jean Kim is currently a doctoral candidate
at the University of Cincinnati under the tutelage of James
Tocco. She received her Master’s degree from the
Manhattan School of Music and Bachelor of Music from the
University of Western Ontario.
Ms. Kim is an adjunct faculty member
at CUNY’s Borough
of Manhattan Community College where she teaches history,
theory and piano. She is also an associate conductor and
pianist at the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. Her versatility as
a musician has enabled her to adapt to many different roles;
she has conducted the Brooklyn Youth Chorus at the televised
Lighting of the UNICEF snowflake Ceremony in New York City
as well as functioned as associate producer for several of
their recording projects.
Ms. Kim has also worked as a voice over artist and sound
consultant for a video tribute made for the Council of Fashion
Design Arts Awards 2007.
Program
W.A. Mozart Adagio and Fugue in C Minor, K. 426
Claude Debussy En blanc et noir
I. Avec emportement
II. Lent. Sombre
III. Scherzando
Michael Pepa Duello (*world premiere)
I. Arioso-Cantabile
II. Duello-Variazione
III. Tan-go
*Intermission*
Sergei Rachmaninov Fantasy, Opus 5
I. Barcarole
II. A Night For Love
III. Tears
IV. Russian Easter
George Gershwin Sweet And Low-Down
Drifting Along With The Tide
Kickin’ The Clouds Away
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