Over the final weekend of September, the Pomona College Music Department will present two free chamber music concerts offering many rarely heard works in Bridges Hall of Music (150 E. Fourth St., Claremont). The first, on Saturday, Sept. 26, 2015 at 8 p.m., centers around the music of American Modern composer Ruth Crawford Seeger, and the second, on Sunday, Sept. 27, 2015 at 3 p.m., features a wide array of selections, including two world premieres.
The Sept. 26 concert, The Music of Ruth Crawford Seeger unites performers Alfred Cramer (violin), Sarah Thornblade (violin), Kira Blumberg (viola), Eric Lindholm (cello), Genevieve Feiwen Lee (piano), Joti Rockwell (guitar), Gwendolyn Lytle (soprano) and a children’s vocal ensemble in a program of her wide-ranging music. “She’s a fascinating composer,” says Cramer, who is coordinating the concert. “When she was young in the 1920s and early 1930s, she wrote really thorny modern music, hoping in part that her abstract musical language would level the playing field—that her high art would be empowering to the working class. That didn’t happen, so she and other members of her very musical family shifted their attention to folk music. She edited some very influential folk music anthologies, and her stepson, Pete Seeger, was the main person in the folk music revival.” In this concert Cramer will be exploring both her modern and her folk music. “Throughout her career she ran up against the problems of communication between intellectuals and broader society—a problem that continues to face us—and that’s what interests me about her,” says Cramer.
On Sept. 27, members of the Music Department’s applied faculty and friends will share an afternoon concert entitled Chamber Music Extravaganza. Long-time Southern California performers with ties to Los Angeles Master Chorale, numerous Southland orchestras, and many recording studios will feature works from Handel to Hindemith and Liszt to Louie. Two world premieres will be presented, one composed by Ray Burkhart and another by Stephen Klein. Performers include faculty members Holly Shaw Price (soprano), Rachel Rudich (flute), Francisco Castillo (oboe), Carolyn Beck (bassoon), Cynthia Fogg (viola), Roger Lebow and Tom Flaherty (celli), Raymond Burkhart (trumpet), Stephen Klein (tuba), Mary Dropkin (harp), Gayle Blankenburg, Jennie Jung, Karl Kohn and Phillip Young (pianos). Joining these faculty members are Linda Silva (clarinet), and Paul Baker (harp).
Programs:
The Music of Ruth Crawford Seeger:
Sonata for Violin and Piano
White Moon (text by Carl Sandburg)
The White House Blues (transcription of Maynard Britton’s recording)
Bonaparte's Retreat (transcription of William H. Stepp’s recording)
“Hoedown” from Rodeo, by Aaron Copland (transcribed for violin and piano by the composer)
Songs from anthologies American Folk Songs for Children and Animal Folk Songs for Children
String Quartet 1931
Chamber Music Extravaganza:
Handel: “Ah! Spietato!” from Amadigi di Gaula and “Let the Bright Seraphim” from Samson
Liszt: Les jeux d’eau à la Villa d’Este” from Années de pélerinage III
Kohn: Encounters V
Alexina Louie: “Memories in an Ancient Garden” from Scenes from a Jade Terrace
Hindemith: Phantasiestück, Op. 8, No. 2
Salzedo: “Catacombs” from Pentacles
Andres: La ragazza
Klein: Everyone’s a Winner, 2 Miniatures for Celliola and Tuba**
Cameron-Wolfe: Kyrie (Mantra) II
Kohn: Etude for Tuba
Burkhart: Suite Arcata**
**World premiere
Additional Upcoming Faculty & Guest Performances
Programs are ticketless and free, with open seating.
(Exception: Kronos Quartet will require a ticket for entry. See below for more information.)
Martin Chalifour and Friends
Martin Chalifour, violin, with Genevieve Feiwen Lee*, piano; and seven guest violinists
8 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 10, 2015
Bridges Hall of Music
Music by Brahms, Prokofiev, Andrew Norman and others
Beethoven’s Last Piano Sonatas with Genevieve Feiwen Lee
3 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 1, 2015
Bridges Hall of Music
Opus numbers 109, 110 and 111
Trio FUGU: Lorenz Gamma, violin; Joon Sung Jun, cello; Ming Tsu*, piano
3 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 8, 2015
Bridges Hall of Music
Music by Juhi Bansal, Clarke and Dvořák
Kronos Quartet: David Harrington, violin; John Sherba, violin; Hank Dutt, viola; Sunny Yang, cello
8 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 14, 2015
Bridges Hall of Music
Admission: Free with tickets – Tickets available starting Oct. 19, 2015; contact: (909) 607-1139
Music by Ali-Zadeh, Laurie Anderson, Pete Townshend and more
Members from the LA Chamber Orchestra
Tereza Stanislav & Sarah Thornblade*, violins; Rob Brophy, viola; Trevor Handy, cello
8 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 21, 2015
Bridges Hall of Music
The complete Art of Fugue, BWV 1080
*Pomona College Department of Music faculty members