Les AMIS Concerts
2012-13
30th Season
Michael Pepa, Founding Artistic Director
Lynn Kuo, Chef de l’ensemble
NEXT CONCERT
Tuesday, March 26, 2013 - 8:00 p.m.
at GALLERY 345
345 Sorauren Avenue, Toronto Canada M6R 2G5
[South of Dundas West, Between Lansdowne & Roncesvalles]
http://www.gallery345.com/performances.php
Meet the artists at the reception after the concert.
Duo Les AMIS
(ON TOUR)
Please see https://www.reverbnation.com/artist/artist_shows/3120453
Lynn Kuo, Violin Marianna Humetska, Piano
Guest Artist: Composer/Cellist Yuri Lanyuk (Ukraine)
performing his Anticipation Sonata (1996) for cello, piano and four melody voices (tape)
Selections from LOVE: Innocence, Passion, Obsession
César Franck: Sonata in A major:
1. Allegretto Ben Moderato
2. Allegro
3. Recitativo Fantasia
4. Allegretto Poco Mosso
Nino Rota: Improvviso in re minore 4'30
Astor Piazzolla: Milonga en re
Igor Frolov: Concert Fantasy on themes from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess
Michael Pepa: Fantaisie bohémienne
A native of St. John's, Newfoundland, violinist Lynn Kuo has earned accolades and praise for "her impeccable playing and tasteful phrasing." An Eaton Graduate Fellow at the University of Toronto, Lynn studied under the tutelage of Lorand Fenyves. In 2003, Lynn won the Second Prize at the Eckhardt-Gramatté Competition, and has also been the winner of top prizes in numerous Canadian competitions such as the Montreal Symphony Orchestra Competition, Quebec Symphony Orchestra Canadian Concerto Competition, and the Debut Young Concert Artist Series auditions. Lynn has appeared 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, Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, Canadian Sinfonietta, Brandon Chamber Players, Nexus percussion ensemble, Bulgaria’s Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Croatia’s Cantus Ensemble, and Hungary’s gypsy orchestra, Rajkó Band. 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 by international composers: Michael Pepa (six works), Dennis Patrick, Daniel Foley, Elizabeth Raum, Scott Godin, James Harley, John Oliver, Constantine Caravassilis, Avalon Rusk (Canada), Séan Clancy (Ireland), Katarina Miljkovic (Serbia/USA), and Viktorija Cop (Croatia).
In 2008-09, Lynn gave both the Canadian and European premieres of a fifth Michael Pepa work (ISOMORPHE) as soloist with the Cantus Ensemble of Croatia, as well as led the Les AMIS Ensemble in world premiere performances of Canadian compositions at the 2009 Music Biennale Festival in Zagreb, Croatia. In Bulgaria, Lynn has been a frequent soloist with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and in Romania and Serbia, performed the Chausson Concerto for Piano, Violin, and String Quartet with Marianna Humetska, piano and the Penderecki String Quartet.
Her performances have been featured on CBC Radio's Musicraft, Take Five, and Music Around Us, as well as Serbian, Romanian, and Hungarian national radio and television broadcasts.
Lynn continues to collaborate with leading artists, having performed solo and chamber works with artists such as pianist William Aide, pianist/conductor Christoph Eschenbach at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival (Germany), the Gryphon Trio at the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, and at the soundaXis Festival (Toronto), University of Toronto New Music Festival, and Music Biennale Zagreb Festival (Croatia). Lynn has led Toronto’s Les AMIS Ensemble in three European tours (2005, ’07, ‘09) (members have included: Marianna Humetska, piano; Rachel Mercer, cello; Lori Freedman, clarinet; Joseph Macerollo, accordion; and Katarzyna Sadej, mezzo-soprano), as well as performs numerous duo recitals with Ukrainian Canadian pianist Marianna Humetska. Lynn has also formed exciting performance collaborations with cellist Winona Zelenka as well as Vancouver guitarist/composer, John Oliver, (violin/guitar duo, Duo Vita). 2010-11 collaborations include performance projects with Canadian accordionist Joseph Petric, a NAXOS CD recording of Nino Rota music with pianist Mary Kenedi, two European tours as head of the Les AMIS Ensemble (Ukraine, Serbia, Romania, Croatia), and a multimedia collaboration with artistic coalition AOR Presents of St. John’s.
Maintaining a busy performance schedule, Lynn serves as both Assistant and Guest 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, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and Via Salzburg Chamber Orchestra.
Lynn has also served as a guest artist, teacher, and lecturer at Canadian universities and is also a doctoral candidate in the University of Toronto’s Doctoral of Musical Arts program, for which her dissertation research is “Holistic Health and its Role in the Prevention of Musculoskeletal Disorders in Musicians.”
Updated 04/28/10
Pianist Marianna Humetska is a winner of numerous prizes and diplomas in international competitions, among which include the Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians and Diaghilev Competition in Moscow, “Virtuosos of the Year 2000” Competition in St. Petersburg, Dvarionas Competition in Vilnius, and the Honens Competition in Calgary. Ms. Humetska is also a winner of the “Galaxie” Rising Stars Award of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the “Debut” Young Artists Auditions, and the Marusia Yaworska Award from the University of Ottawa.
Born in Lviv, Ukraine, Ms. Humetska holds a Diploma with Honours from the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, an Artist Diploma from the Glenn Gould School of Music in Toronto, and a Masters Degree from the Lviv Music Academy.
Marianna Humetska regularly concertizes in some of the world’s prestigious music festivals, which have included the Kuhmo Festival (Finland), Rheingau Festival (Germany), Tibor Varga Festival (Switzerland), Music at the Institute in New York (USA), Music Biennale Zagreb (Croatia), Niagara International Music Festival (Canada), Szymanowski Quartet and Friends, Kyiv Music Fest, Festival of Contemporary Music “Contrasts”, “Virtuosos”, Chamber Music Sessions, and Bach-Fest (Ukraine).
Ms. Humetska has also performed in some of the world’s most celebrated concert halls: the Great Hall and Rachmaninov Hall of Moscow Conservatory, Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, Steinway Hall and St. Martin-in-the-Field Church in London, Kasinosaal in Wiesbaden, George Enescu Hall in Bucharest, Kolarac Hall in Belgrade, Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto, Chapelle Historique in Montreal, Ukrainian Institute in New York and Chicago.
Her performances with orchestras have included concerts with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, London Soloists, Russian National Orchestra, Festival Orchestra of the Banff Art Center, Orchestra of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto (Canada), Banatul Filarmonica Timisoara (Romania), Geminiani Orchestra (Italy), Lviv Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Lugansk Philharmonic Orchestra (Ukraine).
In addition to her solo and orchestra performances, Ms. Humetska is also very much in demand as a chamber musician and collaborative artist. Marianna Humetska has collaborated with artists such as Victoria Loukianetz, Jovan Kolundjia, Jeffrey Solow, Thomas Sanderling, Gary Kulesha, Volodymyr Sirenko, Simon Streatfield, Shauna Rolston, Lynn Kuo, Rachel Mercer, Lori Freedman, Martin Owen, Joseph Macerollo, Miriam Konzen, Joaquin Valdepenas, Mark Skazinetsky, Aviv String Quartet, Tokai String Quartet, and Penderecki Quartet, among others.
“The real, expressive interpreter”: “Intense expressiveness is characteristic of the artist’s masterly performance.”
– Lauterbacher Anzeiger, Germany
“Her playing is distinguished by perfect technique, sound colors, vivacity and generosity in conveyance of feelings. Marianna Humetska startled everyone by her virtuosity, depth and temper of the performance. The viewers got a powerful charge of active energy from her art.”
- Panorama, Ukraine.
“…startled by not only confident pianism, which excluded any randomness, but also by the deepness of philosophical comprehension of music, harmony of the performer’s concept and preciseness of its implementation. She did not have a single sound, which was not filled with an idea, warmed by a feeling.”.
- On performance of Beethoven Piano Concerto #3, Music Life Magazine, Russia
ON TOUR
Michael Pepa, Composer
| Piano Concerto (2012) (world premiere) |
Sep. 7/12 | Filarmonica Banatul Timisoara, Romania |
Marianna Humetska, Piano Radu Popa, Conductor |
| Violin Concerto “l’abeille dans la fleur” (2010) |
Sep. 7/12 | Filarmonica Banatul Timisoara, Romania |
Gabriel Popa, Violin Radu Popa, Conductor |
| Rhapsodie des Danses Populaires (1976) |
Sep. 20/12 | Pernik, Bulgaria | Orpheus Chamber Orchestra Raitcho Christov, Conductor |
| Piano Concerto (2012) |
Sep. 30/12 | Lviv Philharmonic Society Lviv, Ukraine |
Marianna Humetska, Piano Radu Popa, Conductor |
| Violin Concerto “l’abeille dans la fleur” (2010) |
Sep. 30/12 | Lviv Philharmonic Society Lviv, Ukraine |
Gabriel Popa, Violin Radu Popa, Conductor |
I - Sunday, October 28, 2012 - 3:30 p.m.
at La Chapelle historique du Bon-Pasteur
maison de la musique
100, rue Sherbrooke E Montréal, QC H2X 1C3
(514) 872-5338
http://www.ville.montreal.qc.ca/chapellebonpasteur
présente
Milos Raickovich:
Waiting for C-A-G-E (2012)
Video: John Cage`s Cage Musicircus "A House Full of Music"
Conlon Nancarrow:
Three 2-part studies (1940)
Blues (1935)
Three Canons For Ursula (1989)
Canon A (5/7)
Canon B (6/9/10/15)
Canon C (2/3)
Thanks to pianist Helena Bugallo for the transcription of Canon B.
Belgrade-based Nada Kolundzija is an internationally renowned pianist and performer. A passionate promoter of contemporary music, Ms. Kolundzija has premiered major piano works of twentieth and twenty first century music, and commissioned and inspired the creation of significant new works by Serbian and international composers.??Her enthusiasm for new music includes championing creative experiment in musical expression extending far beyond piano repertoire. In 2008, she initiated and organized the first International Festival of Electronic Polymedia Art, Electroacoustic and Radiophonic Music festival in Belgrade, Art of Sounds, which presented more then forty works of composers from Australia, Canada, Europe, USA and Asia.??Ms. Kolundzija is also fervent in supporting the development of young pianists and other young musicians. She is a tenured professor of contemporary piano music at the Belgrade Faculty of Music. And she is also the artistic director of Guarnerius Art Center, whose mission is to promote young artists and enrich the cultural life of Belgrade. Nada was born in Belgrade, Serbia, and earned her Master degree in piano performance at the Academy of Music in Belgrade under Professor Dusan Trbojevic. She completed her graduate studies at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest, where she studied with world-renown pianist Zoltan Kocsis.
During the last three years, Ms Kolundzija has been preoccupied with the John Cage's works. With the American director Scott Fielding, she has created a multimedia project The music Circus of John Cage – A House Full of Music, which was nominated for the city of Belgrade prize. With the musicologist Ivana Miladinovic Pricom she created John Cage's Imaginary Landscapes (music circus / concerts / video / reading of Cage / films / exhibitions / web conference) to celebrate the centenary of Cage. She also gave public readings of Cage's writings.
Ms Kolundzija's LP recording of Sonatas and Interludes was issued on 1981.
Milos Raickovich, composer and conductor, was born in Belgrade in 1956. He has lived in Belgrade, Paris, Los Angeles, Honolulu, Hiroshima and New York, where he now resides. Raickovich’s music has been performed in Europe, the US and Japan. Milos Raickovich studied composition with Vasilije Mokranjac, Olivier Messiaen, Armand Russell, and David Del Tredici; and conducting with Borislav Pascan, Barry Brisk, Pierre Dervaux, and Herbert Blomstedt. He studied at the University of Belgrade, and University of Hawaii. Raickovich holds a Ph.D. in composition from The City University of New York, and has taught in the U.S. and Japan. Raickovich’s music is released on CDs New Classicism (Mode Records), B-A-G-D-A-D, and Far Away (Albany Records). The critic Mark Swed describes Raickovich’s music as “a unique postmodern response to both minimalism and multiculturalism.” (http://amc.net/MilosRaickovich)
Waiting for C-A-G-E (2012) is a piano piece written for the publication New Unknown Music: Essays in Honour of Nikša Gligo. The book is published in celebration of the 65th Birthday of Nikša Gligo, musicologist and the former artistic director of the Music Biennale Zagreb. Waiting for C-A-G-E comprises a musical motive built on the notes-letters of the composer John Cage’s last name. In my only conversation with Cage, one evening in New York, while walking together after a concert, the main subject was our common friend, Nikša Gligo. This year, 100 years after Cage’s birth, this coincidence seemed to be significant. The piece ends with 65 notes, permutations of C, A, G, E.
Waiting for C-A-G-E received its premiere in Berlin by Margaret Leng Tan, and a Belgrade premiere by Nada Kolundžija.
M. R.
About the video - John Cage`s Cage Musicircus "A House Full of Music" Project co-creators: Nada Kolundzija and Scott Fielding. This multi-media performance inspired by John Cage: his music, his approach to composing, music, and theatre, and his views on art and life, premiered at the opening of 19th International Review of Composers in Bitef Theater, Belgrade on November 19th 2010.
Assemblage of performance footage and video art used in performance is by Milan Popovic who has been working as a film and TV editor and video compositing artist since 1999.
From early 90's, he has been playing bass guitar in a rock band and composing music for theatre and various films - documentary, experimental and animated. He collaborated with many important multimedia artists.
Mr. Popovic was born in 1973 in Belgrade, Serbia and lives and works in Serbia.
The video includes compositions by John Cage, Katarina Miljkovic and Miroslav Misa Savic
Performers: Nada Kolundzija, piano, prepared piano, toy piano Katarina Jovanovic, soprano Aleksandar Bevcic, trombone ?Svetozar Cvetkovic, actor Percussionist: Lazar Colovic, Miona Backovic, Branislava Savic, Stefan Lubarda Ensemble "Manufacturing Industry of Musical Material" (Jovana Djordjevic, Darja Damjanovic, Nevena Jankov, Milan Ninkovic, Ana Kovacevic)
"Conlon's music has such an outrageous, original character" — John Cage
In 1976 John Cage wrote a little mesostic for Conlon Nancarrow
the musiC
yOu make
isN’t
Like
any Other:
thaNk you.
Conlon Nancarrow is remembered almost exclusively for the pieces he wrote for the player piano. Because the music he imagined was too fast and intricate that it was beyond the ability of human performers and sometimes so complicated that musicians refused to play them, he created it for the player piano, punching the piano rolls by hand. He was one of the first composers to use musical instruments as mechanical machines.
He lived most of his life in complete isolation, not becoming widely known until the 1980s. Although he left a small body of work, American Conlon Nancarrow is remembered as one of the most influential and original composers of the late 20th century.
Three Two-Part Studies and Blues are early works, and the Three Canons for Ursula are late works. These are not canons in the traditional sense, rather an interplay of the same melody at different speeds.
II - Tuesday, October 30, 2012 - 8:00 p.m.
at
GALLERY 345
345 Sorauren Avenue, Toronto Canada M6R 2G5
[South of Dundas West, Between Lansdowne & Roncesvalles]
http://www.gallery345.com/performances.php
Meet the artists at the reception after the concert.
Pianist Nada Kolundzija
Plays Sonatas and Interludes (1946-1948) by John Cage (1912-1992)*
Milos Raickovich:
Waiting for C-A-G-E (2012)
Video: John Cage`s Musicircus "A House Full of Music"
Sonata
XII
First Interlude
Sonatas
VI
I
IV
XIII
* Choice and order are made by using chance operation
Conlon Nancarrow:
Blues (1935)
Three Canons For Ursula (1989)
Canon A (5/7).
Canon B (6/9/10/15)
Canon C (2/3)
Thanks to pianist Helena Bugallo for the transcription of Canon B.
"Conlon's music has such an outrageous, original character"—John Cage
In 1976 John Cage wrote a little mesostic for Conlon Nancarrow
the musiC
yOu make
isN’t
Like
any Other:
thaNk you.
Belgrade-based Nada Kolundzija is an internationally renowned pianist and performer. A passionate promoter of contemporary music, Ms. Kolundzija has premiered major piano works of twentieth and twenty first century music, and commissioned and inspired the creation of significant new works by Serbian and international composers.??Her enthusiasm for new music includes championing creative experiment in musical expression extending far beyond piano repertoire. In 2008, she initiated and organized the first International Festival of Electronic Polymedia Art, Electroacoustic and Radiophonic Music festival in Belgrade, Art of Sounds, which presented more then forty works of composers from Australia, Canada, Europe, USA and Asia.??Ms. Kolundzija is also fervent in supporting the development of young pianists and other young musicians. She is a tenured professor of contemporary piano music at the Belgrade Faculty of Music. And she is also the artistic director of Guarnerius Art Center, whose mission is to promote young artists and enrich the cultural life of Belgrade. Nada was born in Belgrade, Serbia, and earned her Master degree in piano performance at the Academy of Music in Belgrade under Professor Dusan Trbojevic. She completed her graduate studies at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest, where she studied with world-renown pianist Zoltan Kocsis.
During the last three years, Ms Kolundzija has been preoccupied with the John Cage's works. With the American director Scott Fielding, she has created a multimedia project The music Circus of John Cage – A House Full of Music, which was nominated for the city of Belgrade prize. With the musicologist Ivana Miladinovic Pricom she created John Cage's Imaginary Landscapes (music circus / concerts / video / reading of Cage / films / exhibitions / web conference) to celebrate the centenary of Cage. She also gave public readings of Cage's writings.
Ms Kolundzija's LP recording of Sonatas and Interludes was issued on 1981.
Conlon Nancarrow is remembered almost exclusively for the pieces he wrote for the player piano. Because the music he imagined was too fast and intricate that it was beyond the ability of human performers and sometimes so complicated that musicians refused to play them, he created it for the player piano, punching the piano rolls by hand. He was one of the first composers to use musical instruments as mechanical machines.
He lived most of his life in complete isolation, not becoming widely known until the 1980s.
Although he left a small body of work, American Conlon Nancarrow is remembered as one of the most influential and original composers of the late 20th century.
Three Two-Part Studies and Blues are early works, and the Three Canons for Ursula are late works. These are not canons in the traditional sense, rather an interplay of the same melody at different speeds.
Milos Raickovich, composer and conductor, was born in Belgrade in 1956. He has lived in Belgrade, Paris, Los Angeles, Honolulu, Hiroshima and New York, where he now resides. Raickovich’s music has been performed in Europe, the US and Japan. Milos Raickovich studied composition with Vasilije Mokranjac, Olivier Messiaen, Armand Russell, and David Del Tredici; and conducting with Borislav Pascan, Barry Brisk, Pierre Dervaux, and Herbert Blomstedt. He studied at the University of Belgrade, and University of Hawaii. Raickovich holds a Ph.D. in composition from The City University of New York, and has taught in the U.S. and Japan. Raickovich’s music is released on CDs New Classicism (Mode Records), B-A-G-D-A-D, and Far Away (Albany Records). The critic Mark Swed describes Raickovich’s music as “a unique postmodern response to both minimalism and multiculturalism.” (http://amc.net/MilosRaickovich)
Waiting for C-A-G-E (2012) is a piano piece written for the publication New Unknown Music: Essays in Honour of Nikša Gligo. The book is published in celebration of the 65th Birthday of Nikša Gligo, musicologist and the former artistic director of the Music Biennale Zagreb. Waiting for C-A-G-E comprises a musical motive built on the notes-letters of the composer John Cage’s last name. In my only conversation with Cage, one evening in New York, while walking together after a concert, the main subject was our common friend, Nikša Gligo. This year, 100 years after Cage’s birth, this coincidence seemed to be significant. The piece ends with 65 notes, permutations of C, A, G, E.
Waiting for C-A-G-E received its premiere in Berlin by Margaret Leng Tan, and a Belgrade premiere by Nada Kolundžija.
M. R.
A House Full of Music is a multi-media performance inspired by John Cage: his music, his approach to composing, music, and theatre, and his views on art and life.
Project co-creators are: Nada Kolundzija and Scott Fielding. It was premiered at the opening of 19th International Review of Composers in Bitef Theater in Belgrade, on November 19th 2010.
Assemblage of performance footage and video art used in performance is by Milan Popovic who has been working as a film and TV editor and video compositing artist since 1999.
From early 90's, he has been playing bass guitar in a rock band and composing music for theatre and various films - documentary, experimental and animated. He collaborated with many important multimedia artists.
Mr. Popovic was born in 1973 in Belgrade, Serbia and lives and works in Serbia.
This video includes compositions by John Cage and serbian composer: Katarina Miljkovic and Miroslav Misa Savic
Sonatas and Interludes is a collection of twenty pieces for prepared piano by American avant-garde composer John Cage (1912–1992). It was composed in 1946–1948, shortly after Cage's introduction to Indian philosophy and the teachings of art historian Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, both of which became major influences on the composer's later work. Significantly more complex than his other works for prepared piano,[1][2] Sonatas and Interludes is generally recognized as one of Cage's finest achievements.[3][4]
The cycle consists of sixteen sonatas (thirteen of which are cast in binary form, the remaining three in ternary form) and four more freely structured interludes. The aim of the pieces is to express the eight permanent emotions of the rasa Indian tradition. In Sonatas and Interludes, Cage elevated his technique of rhythmic proportions to a new level of complexity.[2] In each sonata a short sequence of natural numbers and fractions defines the structure of the work and that of its parts, informing structures as localized as individual melodic lines.[5]
From Lectures and writings by John Cage
...I have
already compared
the selection
null
for the Sonatas
and Interludes
to a selection
of shells
while walking along
a beach. They
are therefore a
collection exhibiting
taste...
...The So-
natas and In-
terludes were com-
posed by playing
the piano,
listening to
differences,
making a choice,
roughly writing
it in pencil;
later this sketch
was copied, but
again in pencil.
Finally
an ink manuscript
was made carefully...
From Conversation in retrospect by Joan Retallack
John Cage:
..."Humor in Eastern philosophy, must be connected with the mirthful. As such, it's one of the white emotions, rather that the dark ones. The white emotions are the heroic, the eroticc, the mirthful, and wondrous. The black ones are fear, anger, disgust, and sorrow. Sorrow for instance over the loss of something cherished, or the gaining of something undesired. Even that, I think, is very little known in the West. There is the strong flowing through all of these of freedom from likes and dislikes. Which we also find in Duchamp, in his wanting to find an object which he neither likes nor dislikes. And central to the white and black emotions, is the one emotion of tranquility. So that traditionally in Indian culture , you`re‚ not to express any one, or any combination of the emotions, without expressing tranquility. A piece that I wrote whan i become aware of these Indian "rasas" . as they're called, is the S. & I. There are 16 sonatas and 4 inter, and they are a bringing together of these 8 emotions, with their tendency towards tranquility, So all of the music moves towards its absence, hmm? Whether it represents the erotic, the mirthful ...or any of the others. So I've seen mirthful in that context - as being white, opposite the dark. And I've frequently said when asked whether I like comedy or not, that i preferred laughter to tears. That's one of my stock answer (laughter)..."
III - Tuesday, November 13, 2012 - 8:00 p.m.
at
GALLERY 345
345 Sorauren Avenue, Toronto Canada M6R 2G5
[South of Dundas West, Between Lansdowne & Roncesvalles]
http://www.gallery345.com/performances.php
Meet the artists at the reception after the concert.
Piano Duo: Ellen Annor-Adjei and Erika Crinó
J.S. Bach: Concerto in C minor, BWV 1060
1. Allegro
2. Largo ovvero Adagio
3. Allegro
L. van Beethoven: Sonata Op. 27, No. 2 "Moonlight"
1. Adagio sostenuto
2. Allegretto
3. Presto agitato
S. Rachmaninoff: Prelude in C sharp minor, Op. 3, No. 2
S. Rachmaninoff: Fantaisie (Tableaux), Op. 5
1. Barcarolle. Allegretto, in G minor.
2. La nuit... L'amour... Adagio sostenuto, in D major. (The night...the love...)
3. Les Larmes. Largo di molto, in G minor. (The Tears)
4. Pâques. Allegro maestoso, in G minor. (Easter)
W. Lutoslawski: Paganini Variations
Ellen Annor-Adjei was born in Moscow into a family of mixed African and Russian ancestry. As an accomplished artist, she brings to the classical piano repertoire a unique perspective, which has been showcased in many successful concerts in Russia, Europe, and North America.
Ms. Annor-Adjei studied piano from the age of five and later attended the Musical College of Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatoire where her teachers were Boris Shatskis and Galina Ygeazarova.
Ms. Annor-Adjei moved to Canada and has appeared in numerous recitals at the Arts & Letters Club, the Toronto Centre for the Arts, Glenn Gould Studio, and the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.
Ellen Annor-Adjei currently lives in Toronto where she has completed many solo recitals. Her repertoire includes works by Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Mussorgsky, Balakirev, Rachmaninoff, and other Classical, Romantic and Contemporary composers.
In the West Indies, Ellen Annor-Adjei was the featured soloist in the inaugural Steinway Concert Series at the Queen’s Hall in Trinidad. Ms. Annor-Adjei presented a solo recital in Bermuda which was sponsored by the Bermuda Musical & Dramatic Society. She has also performed at the Harquail Theatre in the Cayman Islands. At the present time Ms. Annor-Adjei is Director of Musical Arts Academy which she founded and is developing into an institution whose program is designed to produce performing artists.
IV - Tuesday, November 27, 2012 - 8:00 p.m.
at
GALLERY 345
345 Sorauren Avenue, Toronto Canada M6R 2G5
[South of Dundas West, Between Lansdowne & Roncesvalles]
http://www.gallery345.com/performances.php
Meet the artist at the reception after the concert.
S. Rachmaninoff: Prelude in C sharp minor, Op.3, No.2
Bach-Busoni: Choral-Prelude, 'Ich Ruf' zu Dir, Herr Jesu Christ'
Maurice Ravel: Valses nobles et sentimentales
1. Modéré - très franc
2. Assez lent - avec une espression intense
3. Modéré
4. Assez animé
5. Presque lent - dans un sentiment intime
6. Assez vif
7. Moins vif
8. Epilogue: lent
Maurice Ravel: Jeux d'eau
Michael Pepa: INVENZIONI for Erika (2012) (world premiere)
1. A piacere, Allegro
2. A piacere, Largo tranquillo
3. Perpetuum mobile, A piacere
4. Andantino con moto, A piacere
Sofia Gubaidulina: Sonata
1. Allegro
2. Adagio
3. Allegretto
Italian pianist Erika Crinó is very active both as a chamber musician and a soloist. Several of her performances have been featured on CBC Radio both as a soloist, as winner of the Debut Series, and in chamber music settings, collaborating with percussionist Salvador Ferreras, clarinetist Francois Houle, pianist Brett Kingsbury, and, more recently, in a performance of Jocelyn Morlock's "Involuntary Love Songs", with soprano Vania Chan, winner of the special prize at the Eckhard-Gramatté Competition.
Since her move to Toronto, Erika has been regularly heard in several important venues, among which, the Glenn Gould Studio, where she performed and recorded Bach's Triple Concerto with pianists Robert Silverman and Brett Kingsbury, and the Koffler Chamber Orchestra directed by Jacques Israelievitch, the historical Massey Hall directed by William Shookoff, Heliconian Hall, Gallery 345, and the University of Toronto. In 2006 she co-founded Trio sTREga, a Trio dedicated to contemporary music with which she toured western Canada and performed several concerts in Italy. Erika has just returned from Italy where she performed a series of solo and chamber recitals.
After obtaining the Diploma in Piano at the conservatory of her own town, Trieste, and the Diploma in Chamber Music with the Trio di Trieste, Erika studied with M. Bruno Canino in Milan. Shortly after, she moved to Canada where she completed her Doctorate in Piano Performance with Dr. Robert Silverman at the University of British Columbia.
Erika is currently faculty at the Kingsway Conservatory.
V - Tuesday, December 11, 2012 - 8:00 p.m.
at
GALLERY 345
345 Sorauren Avenue, Toronto Canada M6R 2G5
[South of Dundas West, Between Lansdowne & Roncesvalles]
http://www.gallery345.com/performances.php
Meet the artists at the reception after the concert.
Left to Right: Lynn Kuo, Violin Erin Cooper Gay, Horn & Voice Erika Crinó , Piano
Guest artist: Daisuke Takeya, performance painter
Born and raised in Japan, Daisuke Takeya obtained a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Graduate School of Figurative Art at the New York Academy of Art and received Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the School of Visual arts in the States. Currently based in Toronto, Canada, Daisuke has had numerous solo and group exhibitions internationally. Venues have fincluded the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Fukushima Contemporary Art Biannual 2012, the Japan Foundation, Toronto, the Embassy of Japan in Canada, Nuit Blanche (Toronto), Seoul auction, Pouch Cove Foundation, SVA Gallery, Wagner College Gallery, Mori Art Museum Roppongi Hills Club, Kyoto Art Center, Sezon Art Program / Sezon Museum of Modern Art, Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, Tate Tokyo Reisency, and the Prince Takamado Gallery at the Embassy of Canada in Japan. Daisuke has co-directed and performed at Ashita: Artists for Japan, a Tsunami Relief Fundraiser in March, 2011, which featured the visual music, dance performance, and literary art communities of Toronto. Daisuke is also a past programming director and board member of Gendai Gallery, and is currently an artist and afmbassador of ARTBOUND, co-director of DAICHI Projects, and the curator of Field Trip Project.
G.F. Handel: HWV 210, from Neun Deutschen Arien fur Soprano
Süsse Stille, sanfte Quelle
Flammende Rose, Zierde der Erden
K. Szymanowski: La Fontaine d'Aréthuse from Mythes, for Violin and Piano, Op. 30
M. Ravel: Jeux d'eau for Piano
J. Brahms: Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano, Op.40 in E Flat major
1. Andante
2. Scherzo
3. Adagio mesto
4. Allegro con brio
A native of St. John's, Newfoundland, violinist Lynn Kuo has earned accolades and praise for "her impeccable playing and tasteful phrasing." An Eaton Graduate Fellow at the University of Toronto, Lynn studied under the tutelage of Lorand Fenyves. In 2003, Lynn won the Second Prize at the Eckhardt-Gramatté Competition, and has also been the winner of top prizes in numerous Canadian competitions such as the Montreal Symphony Orchestra Competition, Quebec Symphony Orchestra Canadian Concerto Competition, and the Debut Young Concert Artist Series auditions. Lynn has appeared 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, Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, Canadian Sinfonietta, Brandon Chamber Players, Nexus percussion ensemble, Bulgaria’s Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Croatia’s Cantus Ensemble, and Hungary’s gypsy orchestra, Rajkó Band. 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 by international composers: Michael Pepa (six works), Dennis Patrick, Daniel Foley, Elizabeth Raum, Scott Godin, James Harley, John Oliver, Constantine Caravassilis, Avalon Rusk (Canada), Séan Clancy (Ireland), Katarina Miljkovic (Serbia/USA), and Viktorija Cop (Croatia).
In 2008-09, Lynn gave both the Canadian and European premieres of a fifth Michael Pepa work (ISOMORPHE) as soloist with the Cantus Ensemble of Croatia, as well as led the Les AMIS Ensemble in world premiere performances of Canadian compositions at the 2009 Music Biennale Festival in Zagreb, Croatia. In Bulgaria, Lynn has been a frequent soloist with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and in Romania and Serbia, performed the Chausson Concerto for Piano, Violin, and String Quartet with Marianna Humetska, piano and the Penderecki String Quartet.
Her performances have been featured on CBC Radio's Musicraft, Take Five, and Music Around Us, as well as Serbian, Romanian, and Hungarian national radio and television broadcasts.
Lynn continues to collaborate with leading artists, having performed solo and chamber works with artists such as pianist William Aide, pianist/conductor Christoph Eschenbach at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival (Germany), the Gryphon Trio at the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, and at the soundaXis Festival (Toronto), University of Toronto New Music Festival, and Music Biennale Zagreb Festival (Croatia). Lynn has led Toronto’s Les AMIS Ensemble in three European tours (2005, ’07, ‘09) (members have included: Marianna Humetska, piano; Rachel Mercer, cello; Lori Freedman, clarinet; Joseph Macerollo, accordion; and Katarzyna Sadej, mezzo-soprano), as well as performs numerous duo recitals with Ukrainian Canadian pianist Marianna Humetska. Lynn has also formed exciting performance collaborations with cellist Winona Zelenka as well as Vancouver guitarist/composer, John Oliver, (violin/guitar duo, Duo Vita). 2010-11 collaborations include performance projects with Canadian accordionist Joseph Petric, a NAXOS CD recording of Nino Rota music with pianist Mary Kenedi, two European tours as head of the Les AMIS Ensemble (Ukraine, Serbia, Romania, Croatia), and a multimedia collaboration with artistic coalition AOR Presents of St. John’s.
Maintaining a busy performance schedule, Lynn serves as both Assistant and Guest 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, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and Via Salzburg Chamber Orchestra.
Lynn has also served as a guest artist, teacher, and lecturer at Canadian universities and is also a doctoral candidate in the University of Toronto’s Doctoral of Musical Arts program, for which her dissertation research is “Holistic Health and its Role in the Prevention of Musculoskeletal Disorders in Musicians.”Canadian-American soprano http://erincoopergay.ca/ Erin Cooper-Gay's career is quickly gathering momentum as she studies with the top baroque specialists around the world. Her unique tone, along with her musicality and expression make her an exciting up-and-comer to watch. She is no stranger to the music scene; her mother was an opera singer turned conductor, her father also a conductor. She herself can also be found on stage with major orchestras playing in the French Horn section. A unique but natural progression for her to make from professional Horn player to soprano, she uses her breath and musicality to guide her in her singing. Erin made her debut with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra last year as "Kate Middleton" in the Last Night of the Proms. This year marks her 8th season as acting utility Horn with the very same group. A "double threat", she toured to Europe with Bernard Labadie's Violons du Roy on Horn and then sang in his Chapelle de Quèbec, performing the Messiah and Bach's St. John Passion, the latter tour finishing at Carnegie Hall.
The upcoming season includes solo recitals in Toronto and performances with Les Amis Concerts in Toronto and The Madison Bach Players. She has coached with Nancy Argenta, Bernard Labadie and Emma Kirkby and continues her studies with Mary Morrison and Daniel Taylor in Toronto.
Canadian-American soprano Erin Cooper Gay's career is quickly gathering momentum as she studies with the top baroque specialists around the world. Her unique tone, along with her musicality and expression make her an exciting up-and-comer to watch. She is no stranger to the music scene; her mother was an opera singer turned conductor, her father also a conductor. She herself can also be found on stage with major orchestras playing in the French Horn section. A unique but natural progression for her to make from professional Horn player to soprano, she uses her breath and musicality to guide her in her singing.
Erin appeared with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra last year as "Kate Middleton" in the Last Night of the Proms. This year marks her 9th season as acting utility Horn with the very same group. A "double threat", she toured to Europe with Bernard Labadie's Violons du Roy on Horn and then sang in his Chapelle de Quèbec, performing Messiah and Bach's St. John Passion, the latter tour finishing at Carnegie Hall.
She recently made her debut in the United States with the Madison Bach Players and has given vocal recitals in Toronto at the Arts and Letters Club and Victoria College Chapel. An avid chamber musician, Erin has performed with Daniel Taylor's Theatre of Early Music and founded the ensemble 2 B'roque Girls with soprano Agnes Zsigovics. This past November, she was a soloist with the York Symphony, performing Gluck and Haydn. Upcoming engagements include a recital in New Mexico with the Chatter chamber ensemble, a two week residency at the Scotiabank Northern Lights Festival in Ajijic, Mexico and the Mozart Requiem with Orchestra Toronto for their 60th anniversary.
Italian pianist Erika Crinó is very active both as a chamber musician and a soloist. Several of her performances have been featured on CBC Radio both as a soloist, as winner of the Debut Series, and in chamber music settings, collaborating with percussionist Salvador Ferreras, clarinetist Francois Houle, pianist Brett Kingsbury, and, more recently, in a performance of Jocelyn Morlock's "Involuntary Love Songs", with soprano Vania Chan, winner of the special prize at the Eckhard-Gramatté Competition.
Since her move to Toronto, Erika has been regularly heard in several important venues, among which, the Glenn Gould Studio, where she performed and recorded Bach's Triple Concerto with pianists Robert Silverman and Brett Kingsbury, and the Koffler Chamber Orchestra directed by Jacques Israelievitch, the historical Massey Hall directed by William Shookoff, Heliconian Hall, Gallery 345, and the University of Toronto. In 2006 she co-founded Trio sTREga, a Trio dedicated to contemporary music with which she toured western Canada and performed several concerts in Italy. Erika has just returned from Italy where she performed a series of solo and chamber recitals.
After obtaining the Diploma in Piano at the conservatory of her own town, Trieste, and the Diploma in Chamber Music with the Trio di Trieste, Erika studied with M. Bruno Canino in Milan. Shortly after, she moved to Canada where she completed her Doctorate in Piano Performance with Dr. Robert Silverman at the University of British Columbia.
Erika is currently faculty at the Kingsway Conservatory.
VI - Thursday, December 13, 2012 - 8:00 p.m.
at
La Chapelle historique du Bon-Pasteur
maison de la musique
100, rue Sherbrooke E Montréal, QC H2X 1C3
(514) 872-5338
http://www.ville.montreal.qc.ca/chapellebonpasteur
présente
Pianist Erika Crinó
S. Rachmaninoff: Prelude in C sharp minor, Op.3, No.2
Bach-Busoni: Choral-Prelude, 'Ich Ruf zu Dir, Herr Jesu Christ'
Maurice Ravel: Valses nobles et sentimentales
1. Modéré - très franc
2. Assez lent - avec une espression intense
3. Modéré
4. Assez animé
5. Presque lent - dans un sentiment intime
6. Assez vif
7. Moins vif
8. Epilogue: lent
Maurice Ravel: Jeux d'eau
Michael Pepa: INVENZIONI for Erika (2012)
1. A piacere, Allegro
2. A piacere, Largo tranquillo
3. Perpetuum mobile, A piacere
4. Andantino con moto, A piacere
Sofia Gubaidulina: Sonata
1. Allegro
2. Adagio
3. Allegretto
VII - Saturday, March 23, 2013 - 8 p.m.
A visit from LVIV
at
Glenn Gould Studio - 250 Front St. W.
(Adult $35 / Senior $30 / Student $20)
CANDIAN SINFONIETTA
Tak Ng Lai, Artistic Director and Conductor
Joyce Lai, Concertmaster
Volodymyr Syvokhip, guest conductor
Pianist Marianna Humetska
Peter Vasks: Musica Dolorosa for String Orchestra
Ignacy Jan Paderewski: Polish Fantasy for piano and orchestra (arr. for strings)
Ronald Royer: In Memoriam for clarinet, cello and strings
(Andras Weber, cello with Kaye Royer, Clarinet)
Michael Pepa: TREMA for percussion and strings
Yuri Laniuk: Chamber music
TanGopak" for piano and string orchestra
VIII - Tuesday, March 26, 2013 - 8:00 p.m.
at
GALLERY 345
345 Sorauren Avenue, Toronto Canada M6R 2G5
[South of Dundas West, Between Lansdowne & Roncesvalles]
http://www.gallery345.com/performances.php
Meet the artists at the reception after the concert.
Duo Les AMIS
Lynn Kuo, Violin Marianna Humetska, Piano
Guest Artist: Composer/Cellist Yuri Lanyuk (Ukraine) performing his Anticipation Sonata (1996) for cello, piano and four melody voices (tape)
Selections from LOVE: Innocence, Passion, Obsession
César Franck: Sonata in A major:
1. Allegretto Ben Moderato
2. Allegro
3. Recitativo Fantasia
4. Allegretto Poco Mosso
Nino Rota: Improvviso in re minore 4'30
Astor Piazzolla: Milonga en re
Igor Frolov: Concert Fantasy on themes from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess
Michael Pepa: Fantaisie bohémienne
A native of St. John's, Newfoundland, violinist Lynn Kuo has earned accolades and praise for "her impeccable playing and tasteful phrasing." An Eaton Graduate Fellow at the University of Toronto, Lynn studied under the tutelage of Lorand Fenyves. In 2003, Lynn won the Second Prize at the Eckhardt-Gramatté Competition, and has also been the winner of top prizes in numerous Canadian competitions such as the Montreal Symphony Orchestra Competition, Quebec Symphony Orchestra Canadian Concerto Competition, and the Debut Young Concert Artist Series auditions. Lynn has appeared 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, Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, Canadian Sinfonietta, Brandon Chamber Players, Nexus percussion ensemble, Bulgaria’s Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Croatia’s Cantus Ensemble, and Hungary’s gypsy orchestra, Rajkó Band. 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 by international composers: Michael Pepa (six works), Dennis Patrick, Daniel Foley, Elizabeth Raum, Scott Godin, James Harley, John Oliver, Constantine Caravassilis, Avalon Rusk (Canada), Séan Clancy (Ireland), Katarina Miljkovic (Serbia/USA), and Viktorija Cop (Croatia).
In 2008-09, Lynn gave both the Canadian and European premieres of a fifth Michael Pepa work (ISOMORPHE) as soloist with the Cantus Ensemble of Croatia, as well as led the Les AMIS Ensemble in world premiere performances of Canadian compositions at the 2009 Music Biennale Festival in Zagreb, Croatia. In Bulgaria, Lynn has been a frequent soloist with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and in Romania and Serbia, performed the Chausson Concerto for Piano, Violin, and String Quartet with Marianna Humetska, piano and the Penderecki String Quartet.
Her performances have been featured on CBC Radio's Musicraft, Take Five, and Music Around Us, as well as Serbian, Romanian, and Hungarian national radio and television broadcasts.
Lynn continues to collaborate with leading artists, having performed solo and chamber works with artists such as pianist William Aide, pianist/conductor Christoph Eschenbach at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival (Germany), the Gryphon Trio at the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, and at the soundaXis Festival (Toronto), University of Toronto New Music Festival, and Music Biennale Zagreb Festival (Croatia). Lynn has led Toronto’s Les AMIS Ensemble in three European tours (2005, ’07, ‘09) (members have included: Marianna Humetska, piano; Rachel Mercer, cello; Lori Freedman, clarinet; Joseph Macerollo, accordion; and Katarzyna Sadej, mezzo-soprano), as well as performs numerous duo recitals with Ukrainian Canadian pianist Marianna Humetska. Lynn has also formed exciting performance collaborations with cellist Winona Zelenka as well as Vancouver guitarist/composer, John Oliver, (violin/guitar duo, Duo Vita). 2010-11 collaborations include performance projects with Canadian accordionist Joseph Petric, a NAXOS CD recording of Nino Rota music with pianist Mary Kenedi, two European tours as head of the Les AMIS Ensemble (Ukraine, Serbia, Romania, Croatia), and a multimedia collaboration with artistic coalition AOR Presents of St. John’s.
Maintaining a busy performance schedule, Lynn serves as both Assistant and Guest 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, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and Via Salzburg Chamber Orchestra.
Lynn has also served as a guest artist, teacher, and lecturer at Canadian universities and is also a doctoral candidate in the University of Toronto’s Doctoral of Musical Arts program, for which her dissertation research is “Holistic Health and its Role in the Prevention of Musculoskeletal Disorders in Musicians.”
Updated 04/28/10
Pianist Marianna Humetska is a winner of numerous prizes and diplomas in international competitions, among which include the Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians and Diaghilev Competition in Moscow, “Virtuosos of the Year 2000” Competition in St. Petersburg, Dvarionas Competition in Vilnius, and the Honens Competition in Calgary. Ms. Humetska is also a winner of the “Galaxie” Rising Stars Award of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the “Debut” Young Artists Auditions, and the Marusia Yaworska Award from the University of Ottawa.
Born in Lviv, Ukraine, Ms. Humetska holds a Diploma with Honours from the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, an Artist Diploma from the Glenn Gould School of Music in Toronto, and a Masters Degree from the Lviv Music Academy.
Marianna Humetska regularly concertizes in some of the world’s prestigious music festivals, which have included the Kuhmo Festival (Finland), Rheingau Festival (Germany), Tibor Varga Festival (Switzerland), Music at the Institute in New York (USA), Music Biennale Zagreb (Croatia), Niagara International Music Festival (Canada), Szymanowski Quartet and Friends, Kyiv Music Fest, Festival of Contemporary Music “Contrasts”, “Virtuosos”, Chamber Music Sessions, and Bach-Fest (Ukraine).
Ms. Humetska has also performed in some of the world’s most celebrated concert halls: the Great Hall and Rachmaninov Hall of Moscow Conservatory, Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, Steinway Hall and St. Martin-in-the-Field Church in London, Kasinosaal in Wiesbaden, George Enescu Hall in Bucharest, Kolarac Hall in Belgrade, Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto, Chapelle Historique in Montreal, Ukrainian Institute in New York and Chicago.
Her performances with orchestras have included concerts with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, London Soloists, Russian National Orchestra, Festival Orchestra of the Banff Art Center, Orchestra of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto (Canada), Banatul Filarmonica Timisoara (Romania), Geminiani Orchestra (Italy), Lviv Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Lugansk Philharmonic Orchestra (Ukraine).
In addition to her solo and orchestra performances, Ms. Humetska is also very much in demand as a chamber musician and collaborative artist. Marianna Humetska has collaborated with artists such as Victoria Loukianetz, Jovan Kolundjia, Jeffrey Solow, Thomas Sanderling, Gary Kulesha, Volodymyr Sirenko, Simon Streatfield, Shauna Rolston, Lynn Kuo, Rachel Mercer, Lori Freedman, Martin Owen, Joseph Macerollo, Miriam Konzen, Joaquin Valdepenas, Mark Skazinetsky, Aviv String Quartet, Tokai String Quartet, and Penderecki Quartet, among others.
“The real, expressive interpreter”: “Intense expressiveness is characteristic of the artist’s masterly performance.”
– Lauterbacher Anzeiger, Germany
“Her playing is distinguished by perfect technique, sound colors, vivacity and generosity in conveyance of feelings. Marianna Humetska startled everyone by her virtuosity, depth and temper of the performance. The viewers got a powerful charge of active energy from her art.”
- Panorama, Ukraine.
“…startled by not only confident pianism, which excluded any randomness, but also by the deepness of philosophical comprehension of music, harmony of the performer’s concept and preciseness of its implementation. She did not have a single sound, which was not filled with an idea, warmed by a feeling.”.
- On performance of Beethoven Piano Concerto #3, Music Life Magazine, Russia
