Pomona College Music Department faculty and friends come together to present two varied programs the weekend of February 11-12. At 8 p.m. on Saturday, Genevieve Feiwen Lee, Everett S. Olive professor of music at Pomona College, and friend Lina Bahn join forces for a recital with violin, piano, drums and harpsichord. Then on Sunday at 3 p.m., “Breaking the Glass Ceiling,” a program created by Pomona College piano instructor Ming Tsu, faculty and guest artists will be featured. Both recitals will be held in Bridges Hall of Music, (150 E. Fourth St., Claremont) and are free and open to the public.
The Saturday program unites pianist Lee, and violinist Bahn in a program featuring the music of George Antheil, Beethoven and Corelli. Lee has said about the program, “it’s quite a varied concert which spans the ages, something both Lina and I like to do. We will offer Corelli’s Baroque Sonata for violin and harpsichord, to the other end of the spectrum is the 20th century composer Antheil’s wacky piece, Sonata No. 2, where Satie meets Ives and I get to play the drums. Then there’s also Beethoven’s final violin sonata.”
Lee’s performances have “brought a melting lyricism to the singing melodies” (New Classic LA). Her first engagement with the York Symphony came at the age of 12, and she has maintained an active schedule performing with the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra (Brazil), the Vratza State Philharmonic (Bulgaria) and The Orchestra of Northern New York. She has given solo recitals at Merkin Concert Hall (NYC), the Salle Gaveau (Paris), in Changsha, China, (broadcast by Hunan State Television) and at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
Bahn, described as “brilliant” and “lyrical” by The Washington Post, was a member of the award-winning Corigliano Quartet from 1998 to 2010, and with them held residency posts at Indiana University, Juilliard and Dickinson College. Bahn was the executive director and violinist with the VERGE Ensemble, resident ensemble of the Corcoran Gallery of Art and a member of the National Gallery New Music Ensemble of the Smithsonian. She is currently a member of MoVE (Modern Violin Ensemble), a quartet that commissions works to bring awareness to global issues. In addition to her active performing schedule she teaches at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California.
Sunday’s program, “Breaking the Glass Ceiling” features music by women composers Amy Beach, Rebecca Clarke and Karen Tanaka. Tsu says of the program, “Back in the summer when I was first planning a program for this concert, I knew I wanted to include a new work by a woman composer for the simple reason that there are so many fantastic women composers out there these days. I was very happy to have found a violin and piano duo, ‘Ocean,’ by Karen Tanaka, who has a beautiful imagination for sound. The rest of the program — the viola sonata by Rebecca Clarke and the piano quintet by Amy Beach, both passionate and powerful pieces, as well as the title “Breaking the Glass Ceiling” all fell into place the day after the election. It was impossible not to be affected by this turbulent election and have lingering feelings about it. Rebecca Clarke and Amy Beach were both incredibly gifted women composers who were trying to break their own glass ceilings during a time when it was unimaginable for women to have any significant role or accomplishment outside of domestic life, let alone a creative career that involved performing in public and writing serious concert music.”
Tsu is widely acclaimed for her artistry and refined pianism, and has appeared on concert stages in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Europe and Asia. She will be joined by violinist Ken Aiso, who has performed widely in Europe, the U.S. and Japan as a recitalist and chamber musician. They will offer a U.S. premiere by Karen Tanaka and Rebecca Clarke’s Sonata for violin and piano. The second half of the program adds Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra violinist and Pomona College violin instructor Sarah Thornblade, and Los Angeles Philharmonic members Dale Hikawa Silverman (viola) and Ben Hong (cell0), in Amy Beach’s Piano Quintet.
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Saturday Program:
Arcangelo Corelli......................... Sonata for violin and harpsichord
George Antheil:............................ Sonata No. 2
Ludwig van Beethoven:................ Sonata Op. 96
Sunday Program:
Karen Tanaka:............................. Ocean (U.S. premiere)
Rebecca Clarke:........................... Sonata
Amy Beach:.................................. Piano Quintet
Additional Upcoming Faculty & Guest Performances
Programs are ticketless and free, with open seating.
Chamber Music with Faculty and Friends
8 p.m. Saturday, March 4, 2017
Bridges Hall of Music, 150 E. Fourth St., Claremont, CA 91711
“Poised, ravishing” (The Guardian), the Eclipse Quartet members: Sara Parkins and Sarah Thornblade*, violins; Alma Fernandez, viola; and Maggie Parkins, cello, are joined by Kira Blumberg, viola; and Eric Lindholm*, cello, for Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht and music by Flaherty, Lindholm and others.
Brass Extravaganza
3 p.m. Sunday, March 5, 2017
Bridges Hall of Music, 150 E. Fourth St., Claremont, CA 91711
Faculty artists Ray Burkhart, trumpet; Phil Keen, trombone; Stephen Klein, tuba; and Jennie Jung, piano, are joined by friends in a concert of music by Bach, Burkhart, Flaherty, Gabrieli, Handel, Marcello, Piazzolla and others. Additional performers include: Jim Grinta, Richard Chasin, and John Aranda, trumpet; Annie Bosler, and Rachel Berry, horn; Loren Marsteller, and Ken Kugler, trombone/euphonium; and Beth Mitchell, tuba.
Baroque Chamber Music
3 p.m. Sunday, March 26, 2017
Bridges Hall of Music, 150 E. Fourth St., Claremont, CA 91711
Cornucopia Baroque Ensemble: Alfred Cramer* and Lindsey Strand-Polyak, baroque violins; Aki Nishiguchi, baroque oboe; Carolyn Beck*, baroque bassoon; Roger Lebow*, baroque cello; Jason Yoshida*, theorbo; Graydon Beeks*, harpsichord, perform music by Handel and others.
Chamber Music with the Mojave Trio
8 p.m. Saturday, April 1, 2017
Bridges Hall of Music, 150 E. Fourth St., Claremont, CA 91711
Mojave Trio: Sara Parkins, violin; Maggie Parkins, cello; and Genevieve Feiwen Lee*, piano, perform music by Schumann, Shostakovich and others
Chiaroscuro: Light and Dark in Art Song with soprano Melissa Givens
3 p.m. Sunday, April 2, 2017
Bridges Hall of Music, 150 E. Fourth St., Claremont, CA 91711
This Grammy-award-winning soprano is joined by pianist Shannon Hesse for a program of music by Bolcom, Haydn, Martucci, Mendelssohn, Poulenc, Purcell and Strauss. Opera L hails Givens for her “clear, expressive voice, bright, strong and yet with tinges of vulnerability, laced with seamless legato and tasteful phrasing.”