The Musical Club season begins on September 29, 10:00 a.m. at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 2080 Boulevard, West Hartford, with an Open House featuring free admission and followed by a reception. Members are encouraged to invite a friend to this season&#39;s inaugural concert. As always, the general public is warmly welcomed.Our opening program begins with a piece that flows throughout with peace and reverence. Prayers and Blessings, by Gwyneth Walker, will be performed by David Kennedy, baritone, Herbert Walker, cello, and guest Thomas Buckley, organ.&nbsp;The Lost Chord, by Arthur Sullivan, was composed prior to the composer&rsquo;s association with Mr. Gilbert and is based on a poem by Adelaide Anne Procter. &nbsp;It was one of the most popular songs of the 1870&rsquo;s and 1880&rsquo;s. This song will be performed by David Kennedy, baritone, and guest Thomas Buckley, piano.Liana Paniyeva will play Sonata No. 23, Op. 57 (&quot;Appassionata&quot;) by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), the Allegro Assai movement, and also the Scherzo from Mendelssohn&rsquo;s &quot;A Midsummer Night&#39;s Dream,&rdquo; transcribed for piano by Sergei Rachmaninoff. Liana is one of the Musical Club Storrs Scholars, a group of college-age advanced-level piano students who are selected by audition to receive the Evelyn Bonar Storrs scholarships. You may have heard her perform in previous Storrs Scholars Recitals at Musical Club.Lastly on the program, we&rsquo;ll hear String Trio No. 2 in D minor, &nbsp;Op. 141b, by Max Reger, with Margaret Walker, violin, Dr. Edward Gray*, viola, and Herbert Walker, cello.

Music by Members - Sep 29, 2016

A Study in Contrasts: Music by Brahms, Duruflé, Rossini, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, and more.The second Musical Club program of the season will take place on October 6, 2016 at 10 a.m., Westminster Presbyterian Church in West Hartford. This program will have the theme &ldquo;A Study in Contrasts.&rdquo; Each performance will offer the audience the experience of contrasting styles, moods or energy.The concert will begin with the Brahms Piano Trio, No. 1, Opus 8, Allegro con Brio, performed by Lisa Kugelman, violin, Karen Benjamin, cello, and Linda MacGougan, piano. The movement evokes both tenderness and stormy intensity. Written in 1854, after a wonderful visit with Robert and Clara Schumann and shortly before Schumann&rsquo;s first suicide attempt, the Brahms Opus 8 Piano Trio was his first piece of published chamber music. Brahms, ever the perfectionist, revised the work in 1889 and this is the version commonly performed and recorded.Next, two vocal contributions by tenor, Mark Child, accompanied on organ and piano by Connie Hegarty, from Duruflé&rsquo;s Requiem (Pie Jesu) and Rossini&rsquo;s Stabat Mater (Cujus Animam), display distinctly unique expressions of anger, sorrow and peace in their settings of sacred texts.Third on the program to be performed by Benita Rose, Frederic Chopin&rsquo;s Fantaisie in F Minor, Op. 49, a challenging work freely moving from triumphant to somber moods. It is commonly thought that Chopin chose this title in order to indicate that his composition was free from convention.Fourth, duet pianists Maryjane Peluso and Allison Platt, will present two salon pieces differing delightfully in style in Rachmaninoff&rsquo;s Morceaux, Op. 11. The piece was first published in 1893 when Rachmaninoff was 20 years old and dedicated to Arensky, one of his Conservatory professors. The year before, Tchaikovsky had urged, in a newspaper interview, that younger composers, naming Glazunov, Arensky and Rachmaninoff, should be recognized, and Rachmaninoff is said to have written the last movement of the Morceaux in an enthusiastic response.Rounding out the experience of &lsquo;A Study in Contrasts&rdquo; will be Brahms&rsquo; Sonata for Clarinet and Piano in Eb Major, Op. 120, No. 2 and selections from Four Hebraic Pictures in the Klezmer Tradition, arranged by Simeon Bellison. Carolyn Bernstein, clarinet, and Lynn Woodard, piano, will perform. Originally, &ldquo;klezmer&rdquo; was simply a Yiddish word for musician, but, overtime its meaning evolved to represent a style of music used mainly for joyful occasions. Stemming from Eastern European and Russian harmonies and folk traditions Klezmer also incorporates gypsy influences.This concert is the second in the Musical Club&rsquo;s 2016-2017 season and takes place on October 6, 2016 at 10:00 a.m. at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 2080 Boulevard, West Hartford. Admission is free for members of the Musical Club and $5 for members of the general public who are warmly welcome.The Musical Club of Hartford&rsquo;s mission is to develop the musical talent of its members and to encourage the study and appreciation of music through programs, lectures and concerts. In addition, the Club gives financial assistance to promising young artists and aid to musical projects in the community.&nbsp;Brief biographies of the musicians who are performing in the concert Include:Lisa Kugelman, violinist, West hartford, studied with Bernard Lurie, Roman Totenberg, and Syoko Aki, and performs regularly with the Hartford Symphony, the Worthington Trio, and the Arensky Trio. Karen Benjamin, cello, has played in Cambridge, Jerusalem, and Hartford for the past 30 years. Linda MacGougan, pianist, lives, performs as a soloist, accompanist and chamber musician and teaches in West Hartford and throughout the State. She is a member of and serves as an adjudicator for the Connecticut State Music Teachers Association.Constance Hegarty began work as Music Director/Organist at age 15; she did her graduate study in organ with Alessandro Esposito in Florence, Italy, on full scholarship. She studied piano with Donald Rankin at University of Rhode Island and, in the last 15 years, has performed numerous duo-piano concerts in Florida and Maine.Benita Rose, pianist, has performed on three continents. She, with her husband, Tony Gibbs , were 2008 top prize winners in the professional division of the International Chamber Music Ensemble Competition. Her performance of Gershwin&#39;s Concerto in F as soloist with the U.S. Coast Guard Band was broadcast on NPR&#39;s &quot;Performance Today&quot; with Martin Goldsmith. She is a church and concert organist, currently serving Bethany Lutheran Church in West Hartford.Maryjane Peluso , NCTM, has music degrees in piano performance and pedagogy from the Crane School of Music, SUNY at Potsdam, and the Hartt School, University of Hartford. She performs locally as piano soloist, in chamber music, and as choral accompanist. Allison K. Platt has a Bachelor&rsquo;s of Music in piano from the Hartt School , where she studied with Luiz deMoura Castro.Carolyn Woodard received a Bachelor of Music Degree from The Philadelphia Conservatory of Music and a Master of Music Degree from the Hartt School of Music. She studied with William Harms, Edward Steuermann, and Raymond Hanson . She was a founding member of the Camerata Ensemble and has also performed with the Connecticut String Orchestra, the Hartford Symphony and the New World Ensemble.Carolyn Bernstein has performed with numerous area orchestras since moving to CT in 1981.&nbsp; From 2013 to 2015 she played in The Senior Orchestra Society of New York, a highlight of her musical career as a teacher and musician.&nbsp; She attended Boston University and Hofstra University, earning a B.S. in Music Education. and an M.S. in Special Education . She served on the faculties&nbsp; of the Hartt Community Division and the Camerata School of Music, and also taught music to children with multiple&nbsp; disabilities.

Music by Members - Oct 6, 2016

Member program, featuring music composed by Nino Rota, Claude Debussy, and Heinrich von Herzogenberg; as well as some &quot;Gypsy&quot; music.Performed first on the program will be a twentieth century piece The Trio for Flute, Violin, and Piano&nbsp;(1958), by Nino Rota (1911 &ndash;1979). Mother and son,&nbsp;Michelle Davis, flute, Elliott Davis, violin, will play the piece with&nbsp;Bridget de Moura Castro, piano. In style, the outer movements are neoclassic, reminiscent of Rota&rsquo;s contemporary Stravinsky, but the heart of the work is the melancholy second movement. Rota, an Italian composer, pianist, conductor and academic is best known for his film scores. He composed the music for two of Franco Zeffirelli&#39;s Shakespeare films, and for the first two films of Francis Ford Coppola&#39;s Godfather trilogy, receiving the Academy Award for Best Original Score for The Godfather Part II (1974) (Wikipedia)Next, Susan Mardinly, soprano, accompanied by pianist&nbsp;Stacy Cahoon, will perform a series of songs with Gypsy influences from nineteenth century Europe: two songs from Johannes Brahms&rsquo;s Zigeunerlieder (&quot;He, Zigeuner&quot; and &quot;Brauner Bursche führt zum Tanze&quot;), one by&nbsp;Franz Liszt, &quot;Im Liebeslust,&quot; and&nbsp;Dvořák&rsquo;s &quot;Rings ist der Wald so stumm und still&quot; and &quot;Als die alte Mutter.&quot; &nbsp;Brahms learned Hungarian Gypsy music from accompanying the violinist Reményi on a concert tour. All of his&nbsp;Gypsy Songs&nbsp;have rhythmic styles found in original Gypsy melodies. In 19th century Hungary, Gypsy music was in fashion, and Liszt embraced the vibrant rhythms. &nbsp;Czech composer,&nbsp;Dvořák,&nbsp;was determined to save these traditions, a part of the doctrine of his musical personality. &nbsp;All these songs reflect themes from the gypsy cycles of life: birth, coming of age, the wisdom of the elders, and death.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Third, Diane Day, piano, will perform &ldquo;Clair de Lune&rdquo; from&nbsp;Suite Bergamasque&nbsp;and&nbsp;L&#39;Isle Joyeuse, both by Claude Debussy. Most of Debussy&rsquo;s music captures moods and colors, usually soothing through the use of tonal chords and scales, touch and pedaling.&nbsp;L&#39;Isle Joyeuse&nbsp;is often more forceful and driving in its approach, yet with underlying melodies and gentleness.&nbsp;The concert program ends with Piano Quartet No. 1 in E minor, Op. 75, by Heinrich von Herzogenberg (1843 &ndash; 1900) performed by&nbsp;Virginia Allen, violin,&nbsp;Margaret Walker, viola,&nbsp;Herbert Walker, cello, and&nbsp;Michelle Duffy, piano. &nbsp;A contemporary and admirer of Brahms, Herzogenberg composed this work during and after the final illness of his beloved wife, Elisabet von Stockhausen, who had been a piano pupil of Brahms. This concert is the third in the Musical Club&rsquo;s 2016-2017 season and takes place on October 20, 2016 at 10:00 a.m. at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 2080 Boulevard, West Hartford. Admission is free for members of the Musical Club and $5 for members of the general public who are warmly welcome.The Musical Club of Hartford&rsquo;s mission is to develop the musical talent of its members and to encourage the study and appreciation of music through programs, lectures and concerts. In addition, the Club gives financial assistance to promising young artists and aid to musical projects in the community.&nbsp;Brief biographies of the musicians who are performing in the concert Include:Michelle Davis (Avon) - Michelle Davis is a graduate of The New England Conservatory where she studied with Fenwick Smith. She is a member of The West Hartford Symphony Orchestra and performs frequently with Bridget de Moura Castro and others on solo and chamber music program, as well as with Tony Rauche at Avon Memorial United Methodist Church. She has taught all ages of flute students and has directed children&rsquo;s choirs for almost thirty years. Her son, Elliott, will perform with her at the Musical Club concert on October 20th.<img src="/files/michelle_davis_0.jpg"/>le Duffy (West Hartford) - While in high school, Michelle Duffy studied piano with Miklos Schwab at the New England Conservatory. She received her BA with a major in music from Mount Holyoke College, studying with Ronald Hodges and Alexander Fiorillo. After receiving her M.S.L.S. from Florida State University in 1969, she embarked on a career as a librarian, which lasted 28 years. While working at Colby College in the mid-1970&rsquo;s, she studied piano with William Wallace, but did not seriously play the piano again until discovering the Musical Club of Hartford in 2000.Margaret Walker (Bloomfield) and Herbert Walker (Bloomfield) are co-founders of Con Brio, a chamber music ensemble active in the Greater Hartford area since 1988.

Music by Members - Oct 20, 2016

Jolidon Concert Series: Fader Gendron Haas Trio with Melody Fader, piano; Emilie-Anne Gendron, violin; Michael Haas, cello. This trio comprises three of Musical Club&rsquo;s former High School Competition winners, now all professional musicians. They met when Melody was invited to play with the Momenta Quartet, of which Emilie-Anne and Michael have been members since 2009, and have continued to perform together since discovering their Musical Club connection.Admission $10.<img height="389" src="http://musicalclubhartford.org/sites/default/files/fader_trio_2016.jpg" width="259" />The Musical Club of Hartford enthusiastically welcomes back to Hartford three winners of past Musical Club competitions who have come together years later in their professional careers to form a new piano trio: the Fader Gendron Haas Trio.&nbsp; Funding for the concert on October 27th in West Hartford is provided by the Jolidon endowment, a legacy to the Musical Club of Hartford from the estate of Majorie Jolidon, a former president of the club.The Fader Gendron Haas Trio was conceived in 2015 when Melody Fader, pianist, was invited to play with the Momenta Quartet, of which Emilie-Anne Gendron, violinist, and Michael Haas, cellist, had been members since 2009. During the rehearsals for Melody&rsquo;s first performance with Momenta, the talk turned to the musicians&rsquo; backgrounds, and they learned that Melody, Emilie-Anne and Michael were all Hartford-area natives and all recipients of awards from the Musical Club&rsquo;s competitions.Melody Fader (originally from Bloomfield) won First Place in the Musical Club&#39;s Piano Competition in 1993.&nbsp; Emilie-Anne Gendron (originally from Glastonbury) won First Place in Strings in 2001.&nbsp; Michael Haas (originally from Windsor), as a high school freshman, received an honorable mention in 1998 in Strings..&nbsp; They began planning how to return home for a concert and are delighted now to have the opportunity to perform together for the Musical Club on October 27th. Today they are accomplished professional musicians with impressive careers living in New York City and performing throughout the country and beyond.The concert will consist of Mozart&rsquo;s Piano Trio in B-flat Major, K.502, Maurice Ravel&rsquo;s Sonata for Violin and Piano, and the Ravel Piano Trio.&nbsp; Composed between 1923 and 1927 when American jazz music and dance could be experienced in Paris, the sonata is known for its jazz influences, especially in the second movement entitled &ldquo;Blues.&rdquo;&nbsp; The Piano Trio which has Basque influences due to Ravel&rsquo;s heritage was written rapidly for completion before the composer could enter the French army in 1914 as a nurse&rsquo;s assistant.Their bios follow:Pianist Melody Fader is a soloist, chamber musician, vocal accompanist, and interdisciplinary collaborative artist in New York City and around the United States, performing as a soloist and chamber musician in such New York venues as Alice Tully Hall, The Joyce Theater, The New York Times Center, and Carnegie&rsquo;s Weill Recital Hall. Her performances in those venues have been well reviewed, including by The New York Times, which has called her work &ldquo;sumptuous&rdquo; and &ldquo;stirring&rdquo; and commented that she &ldquo;plays with elegance.&rdquo;Her newest project, &ldquo;Melody and Company Chamber Series,&rdquo; began in 2015 with three chamber music concerts at Spectrum, in New York City&rsquo;s Lower East Side, as well as a sold-out international performance in Sainte-Ode, Belgium.Miss Fader is a resident musician with the New Chamber Ballet, which performs regularly at New York&rsquo;s City Center Studios. She has performed as a concerto soloist with the Farmington Valley Symphony Orchestra as well as the Aspen Conductor&rsquo;s Orchestra. Miss Fader has also collaborated and toured with Dance Theatre of Harlem, as well as played with the Buglisi Dance Theater and the Dankmeyer Dance Company, performing at The Joyce Theater and St. Mark&rsquo;s Church. Other performances include a U.S. embassy-sponsored recital tour of Chile with Soprano Elisa Cordova and chamber music concerts presented by the Chopin Foundation in Florida. Miss Fader was recently commissioned by playwright Richard Curtis to record music for his play &ldquo;The Tutu Trilogy,&rdquo; performed at Manhattan Repertory Theater in 2015.Miss Fader is a Coleman Chamber Ensemble competition prizewinner, and an Aspen Concerto competition prizewinner. She has performed internationally in Chile, Italy, Belgium, England, Spain, Canada, Korea, and Israel, as well as at the Spoleto Festival in Italy, Aspen Music Festival, Chautauqua, International Festival Institute at Round Top, and the Scotia Festival of Music.While earning her Bachelor&rsquo;s in Music in piano performance from the Eastman School of Music, Miss Fader performed concertos with student orchestras, played solo recitals, and appeared numerous times on Buffalo Public Radio&rsquo;s &ldquo;Opus Classics Live&rdquo; broadcast series.&nbsp; Miss Fader earned her Master&rsquo;s in Music in Collaborative Piano at the Juilliard School, where she studied with Margo Garrett. She has been selected to perform numerous times in Alice Tully Hall&rsquo;s &ldquo;Wednesdays at 1&rdquo;, and &ldquo;Evening of Chamber Music&rdquo; series, as well as the Juilliard Vocal Honors recital. Miss Fader performed at the International Musician&rsquo;s Seminar in Prussia Cove, England. Before working on her Master&rsquo;s, Miss Fader was a resident artist at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada.Violinist Emilie-Anne Gendron, lauded by The New York Times as a &ldquo;brilliant soloist&quot; and by France&rsquo;s ClassiqueInfo for her &ldquo;excellent technical mastery&rdquo; and &ldquo;undeniable sensitivity,&rdquo; enjoys a dynamic freelance career based in New York. A deeply committed chamber musician, Ms. Gendron is a member of the Momenta Quartet, two-time recipient of the prestigious Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation commission grant; the Toomai String Quintet, specializing in innovative educational outreach and community engagement; and the G-Sharp Duo with pianist Yelena Grinberg. She regularly joins the rosters of the Marlboro Music Festival and the touring Musicians From Marlboro, as well as the Gamut Bach Ensemble, Argento Chamber Ensemble, IRIS Orchestra, A Far Cry, New York Chamber Soloists, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Talea Ensemble, Ensemble Échappé, and the conductor-less Sejong Soloists, with whom she recently recorded the Mendelssohn Octet with Gil Shaham.Recent performances include collaborations with artists such as Richard Goode, Leon Fleisher, and members of the Guarneri, Juilliard, Pro Arte, and Johannes Quartets; and under the auspices of such venues as the Louvre, Guggenheim Museum, Freer Gallery, Cadogan Hall, Salle Gaveau, Library of Congress, Seoul Arts Center, Avery Fisher Hall, Kennedy Center, and the Mariinsky Theater. Ms. Gendron&rsquo;s performances have been broadcast over radio and television in the U.S., U.K., Switzerland, New Zealand, Canada, Denmark, Japan, and South Korea. Especially notable is her solo performance with Sejong Soloists on the popular KBS-TV arts program &ldquo;Classical Odyssey,&quot; which aired across South Korea. She is a past winner of the Stulberg String Competition and took 2nd Prize and the Audience Prize at the Sion-Valais International Violin Competition.Ms. Gendron was trained at the Juilliard School where her principal teachers were Won-Bin Yim, Dorothy DeLay, David Chan, and Hyo Kang. Ms. Gendron holds the distinction of being the first person in Juilliard&rsquo;s history to be accepted simultaneously to its two most selective courses of study, both the Doctor of Musical Arts and the Artist Diploma. She holds a B.A. in Classics, magna cum laude and with Phi Beta Kappa honors, from Columbia University as a graduate of the Columbia-Juilliard joint-degree program, and a Master of Music degree and the coveted Artist Diploma from Juilliard.Cellist Michael Haas performs in New York City and around the world. In a recent performance his playing was noted as &quot;refined and attractive&quot; by The New York Times. Leading a varied musical life, Michael is equally at home performing chamber music and orchestral repertoire both old and new. He has recently appeared performing at Symphony Space, the New York Live Arts Theater, Le Poisson Rouge, as well as for Tertulia, a new series bringing chamber music to intimate settings around New York City. In addition to his work with the Momenta Quartet, Michael has been a member of the New Haven Symphony since 2008. He regularly performs with the Princeton Symphony and in New York with the Orchestra of St. Luke&rsquo;s. Michael holds degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School studying with David Soyer, Peter Wiley, Joel Krosnick, and Darrett Adkins.. He is a member of the&nbsp; Momenta Quartet: the plural of momentum &ndash; four individuals in motion towards a common goal. This is the idea behind the Momenta Quartet, whose eclectic vision encompasses contemporary music of all aesthetic backgrounds alongside great music from the recent and distant past.&nbsp; The New York City-based quartet has premiered over 100 works, collaborated with over 120 living composers and was praised by The New York Times for its &ldquo;diligence, curiosity and excellence.&rdquo; In the words of The New Yorker&rsquo;s Alex Ross, &ldquo;few American players assume Haydn&rsquo;s idiom with such ease.&rdquo;Marjorie Jolidon was Musical Club president from 1995 to 1997.&nbsp; She received music degrees from New York University and taught music at the elementary and high school levels for 38 years in Suffield and Bloomfield.&nbsp; She also served as organist at numerous Baptist churches in the area.&nbsp; With no children and no family members remaining, Marjorie left her residual estate to a number of music organizations, including the Musical Club of Hartford, which has designated her gift to support the Jolidon Concerts, Musical Club concerts that feature guest artists.This concert is the fourth in the Musical Club&rsquo;s 2016-2017 season and takes place on October 27, 2016 at 10:00 a.m. at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 2080 Boulevard, West Hartford.&nbsp; Admission is free for members of the Musical Club and $10 for members of the general public who are warmly welcome.The Musical Club of Hartford&rsquo;s mission is to develop the musical talent of its members and to encourage the study and appreciation of music through programs, lectures and concerts.&nbsp; In addition, the Club gives financial assistance to promising young artists and aid to musical projects in the community.

Fader Gendron Haas Trio - Oct 27, 2016

The Musical Club of Hartford will present its fifth concert of the season on November 3rd at the Westminster Presbyterian Church at 10 a.m.&nbsp; The first piece on the program will be the Flute Sonata in E Minor by Joseph Bodin de Boismortier written in 1742.&nbsp; A French Baroque composer of instrumental and vocal music, Boismortier was one of the first composers to have no patrons.&nbsp; Instead he made enormous sums of money by publishing his music for sale to the public because he was one of the first to obtain a royal license for engraving music.&nbsp; Susan Allen is the flutist accompanied by Anne Mayo, harpsichord and Laura Mazza-Dixon, viola de gamba. Next on the program is a piano piece by the 20th century French composer, Francis Poulenc.&nbsp; Commissioned in 1935 to write incidental music for a play about Margaret of Valois, wife of the future King Henry IV of France, Poulenc used a Renaissance suite by Claude Gervaise; originally scored for oboes, bassoons, trumpets, trombones, percussion and harpsichord; Poulenc arranged the 20th century version for solo piano.&nbsp; Linda MacGougan performs the piece. &nbsp; The third section of the program will be performed by the ensemble Deborah Robin, recorder; Anne Mayo, harpsichord and Laura Mazza-Dixon, viola de gamba. They will play one of the Concerts Royaux written in 1722 by François Couperin, a member of a family dynasty of organists at the church of St. Gervais in Paris and one of the most celebrated composers and musicians of the Baroque period. Couperin&rsquo;s Concerts Royaux (Royal Concerts) are four suites composed for the French court of Louis XIV between 1714 and 1715 and intended for listening more than dancing &nbsp; Next on the program are three pieces for flute and piano from the 21st and 20th centuries, performed by Bridget Gilchrist, flute, and Linda MacGougan, piano. They will play the first movement of Sonata No.1 by Eric Ewazen composed in 2011, a virtuosic, lyrical piece in the 19th century Romantic tradition.&nbsp; Next they will play the second movement of a Sonata for Flute and Piano by Francis Poulenc written in 1957 and, then, the third movement of the Sonata for Flute and Piano by Robert Mols, written in 1949. A member of the music faculty at the University of Buffalo, Mols died three years ago, leaving a lifetime of musical achievements.&nbsp; He was a composer, teacher, and wrote the UB fight song. &nbsp; Finally, Karen de Bergh Robinson, soprano, and Diane Day, piano, perform songs by Debussy, Reynaldo Hahn, and Kurt Weill. Claude Debussy, most well known for his works for piano solo, wrote 55 songs for voice and piano throughout his career.&nbsp; His first published work at the age of 18 is the song to be performed at this concert, Nuit d&#39;étoiles (Starry Night), written to the text of a poem by Théodore de Banville, a 19th century French poet. Next, they will perform Le Rossignol des lilas by the French composer, Reynaldo Hahn (1874 &ndash; 1947), a popular writer of songs, who was close to and admired by major poets and writers, including Verlaine, Daudet, Mallarmé, and Marcel Proust. The duo will end with a song by Kurt Weill from the musical, Marie Gallante, &ldquo;Je ne t&rsquo;aime.&rdquo;&nbsp; Marie Gallante was staged first in 1934 in Paris but not until 2008 did it make its New York debut. The play is a melodramatic tale of a woman forced into prostitution in order to survive. The song is a quintessentially bittersweet Weill piece. &nbsp; This concert is the fifth in the Musical Club&rsquo;s 2016-2017 season and takes place on November 3, 2016 at 10:00 a.m. at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 2080 Boulevard, West Hartford.&nbsp; Admission is free for members of the Musical Club and $5 for members of the general public who are warmly welcome. The Musical Club of Hartford&rsquo;s mission is to develop the musical talent of its members and to encourage the study and appreciation of music through programs, lectures and concerts.&nbsp; In addition, the Club gives financial assistance to promising young artists and aid to musical projects in the community.<h4> &nbsp; Biographies of the Performers</h4>Susan Allen was born into a family of musicians and music teachers. She studied with Lou Soloway, and then with Paula Robison at the New England Conservatory in Boston. A flute instructor and ensemble director at Trinity College, Susan&rsquo;s busy flute studio in Glastonbury has produced a number of advanced students who have won scholarships and important regional awards.Diane Day holds an artist&rsquo;s diploma in Piano from Hartford Conservatory.&nbsp; She performs chamber music, accompanies soloists and groups, including dance, and has performed many solo concerts over her career.&nbsp; She has studied with Juan Nazarian, Maria Luisa Faini, and Howard Parsons.Karen de Bergh Robinson received her undergraduate degree from Sarah Lawrence and has performed In New York City with several modern dance companies, as well as playing the soprano leads in numerous Gilbert and Sullivan productions, including the role of Princess Ida with the Village Light Opera Company.&nbsp; She sang for 15 years with the CT Opera Company as a member of their AGMA chorus, has been a soloist in Hartford area churches, and performed in numerous duo concert performances with the pianist Paul Bisaccia at the Wadsworth Atheneum, the Wood Memorial Library and other venues.Bridget Gilchrist has been an educator, in schools and a private flute instructor, for most of her life.&nbsp;&nbsp; She presently enjoys conducting, composing and coaching flute ensembles and master classes in several school systems in Ct.&nbsp; She has performed with numerous Bands and Symphonies, and Chamber Ensemble groups, as well as the Ariel Flute Choir, which she founded 22 years ago.&nbsp; She is also active in the Connecticut Music Educators Assoc., having been head flute judge for All State Festival and many Regions for over 30 years. Linda MacGougan, pianist, lives, performs as a soloist, accompanist and chamber musician and teaches in West Hartford and throughout the State.&nbsp; She is a member of and serves as an adjudicator for the Connecticut State Music Teachers Association. In the 1970s, Anne Mayo and her husband, Walter, constructed a harpsichord from a Zuckermann kit, igniting a decades-long study of solo and chamber repertoire for that instrument. She and her husband, are past Co-Presidents of The Musical Club of Hartford, long-time members the Hartford Chorale,&nbsp; and currently sing with the Madsingers, a madrigal group. Laura Mazza-Dixon teaches classical guitar and viola da gamba at the Windy Hill Guitar Studio in Granby, CT. With a degree in classical guitar from Penn State University and an MFA in Early Music from Sarah Lawrence College, she has also performed and directed concerts of Renaissance, Baroque and traditional folk music. Deborah Robin studied recorder with Ilse Schaler, Bernard Krainis, and Frans Brueggen. She can be heard on the Smithsonian Institution&rsquo;s 1978 recording of the Bach Brandenburg Concerto #4 as second recorder soloist with Bernard Krainis and Stanley Ritchie.&nbsp; Deborah has a BA in art from Yale and an MBA from UCLA. Her business &ndash; Robin Research Group &ndash; designs and conducts qualitative research for clients in many different industries.

Music by Members - Nov 3, 2016

Musical Exploration: Music from Monticello, presented by the <a href="http://www.barbarahopkins.com/Rosewood.htm" target="_blank">Rosewood Chamber Ensemble</a> (Barbara Hopkins, flute; Judy Handler, guitar).<h2>Music from Monticello</h2>Presented by the <a href="http://www.barbarahopkins.com/Rosewood.htm" target="_blank">Rosewood Chamber Ensemble</a>: Historical Programs on Period Instruments<img src="/files/rosewood_300dpi_0.jpg"/>ldi, two opera arias, two songs by Francis Hopkinson, a popular march, Irish and Scottish music as well as Jefferson&rsquo;s campaign song. This is a special opportunity to hear this music played on period American instruments, including flutes made in Connecticut and a Martin guitar from Pennsylvania, as well as reproductions of European instruments from the 1800s. Comments about the instruments and stories about Jefferson create an interesting framework for the music.&nbsp;Music from Monticello &nbsp;Tunes from Riley&rsquo;s Flute Melodies by Edward Riley (1769-1829), arranged by Leo Welch<ul><li>Bonny Charlie</li><li>March in 40 Thieves</li><li>L&rsquo;ete</li><li>Cupid God of Soft Persuasion (arranged by Judy Handler)</li></ul>The Plain Gold Ring by Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826), period arrangement by Sarah CorcoranDuke of York&rsquo;s March by Christopher Frederick Eley, arranged by Judy HandlerSonata Opus 5, No. 8 by Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713), arranged by Erwin Schaller/Handler<ul><li>Preludio</li><li>Allemanda</li><li>Sarabanda</li><li>Giga</li></ul>Beneath a Weeping Willow&rsquo;s Shade by Francis Hopkinson (1737-1791), arranged by Judy HandlerRondo: My Generous Heart Disdains, from Seven SongsFisher&rsquo;s Hornpipe (Anonymous)Coming Through the Rye )Anonymous), Lyrics by Robert BurnsJefferson and Liberty (Anonymous)1800 Campaign SongHome Sweet Home by H.R. Bishop (1786-1855), period arrangement by C.M. SolaSonata Opus 2, No. 11 Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741), arranged by Rudolf Buttmann<ul><li>Preludio</li><li>Fantasia</li><li>Gavotta</li></ul>Batti, Batti, from Don Giovanni Wolfgang Mozart (1756-1791), period arrangement by Fernando Sor&nbsp;The <a href="http://www.barbarahopkins.com/Rosewood.htm" target="_blank">Rosewood Chamber Ensemble</a> is in its ninth season of entertaining audiences with their programs based on the music and people of the early United States. The Greater Boston Flute Association wrote about their Boston concert, &quot;The pieces were played with great style and joy, resulting in a captivating performance.&quot; An appealing element of every concert is the background stories they tell about the periods, historical figures, music, and instruments they use. Barbara plays these concerts on historical flutes, including wooden Asa Hopkins flutes, made in Litchfield, CT circa 1830. Judy enjoys performing on her nineteenth century Martin parlor guitar as well as a reproduction of a Panormo guitar from the 1830s.Barbara and Judy have taken their unique blend of musicality, humor, and scholarship to many notable venues including the Adams National Historical Park, Yale Collection of Musical Instruments, Litchfield Historical Society, and the National Flute Association Convention in New York and Washington D.C. The high quality of their programs has earned them five grants from the Evelyn Preston Memorial Trust Fund to present concerts and a grant from the University of Connecticut School of Fine Arts in 2013 to support their recording project, Songs &amp; Dances of Early America. Their repertoire ranges from familiar Stephen Foster songs and lively dances of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to the classical European music enjoyed in the U.S. in the 1800s.Award winning flutist Barbara Hopkins is a cousin of the early American woodwind maker Asa Hopkins, who lived and worked in Litchfield, Connecticut. She moved to Hartford in1990 to play in the Hartford Symphony, having no idea that Asa Hopkins existed, or that her ancestors were from Hartford. She has &quot;come home&quot; in a way she never dreamed of. Barbara received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Stony Brook University, where she studied with Samuel Baron. She earned her Master of Music from The Mannes College of Music under Thomas Nyfenger, and her Bachelor of Music at The Hartt School with John Wion. She currently serves as Assistant Principal Flute with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, and teaches at The Hartt School Community Division of the University of Hartford and Manchester Community College. She has released three CDs including&nbsp;Telemann Methodical Sonatas, Vol. 1,&nbsp;Short Concert Pieces for Flute and Piano&nbsp;and&nbsp;Andersen Etudes, opus 15.&nbsp;Flute Talk&nbsp;magazine recommends her Andersen CD, writing, &ldquo;Hopkins plays these virtuoso etudes with taste and a technical ease that many students work for years to never achieve.&rdquo;&nbsp;The Flute Network&nbsp;praised her Telemann recording as, &ldquo;full, rich, and highly musical,&rdquo; and the best selling&nbsp;Short Concert Pieces&nbsp;disc was partly funded by a grant from The Hartt School Community Division. Barbara has been a top prize winner in the National Flute Association Competition and the New York Flute Club Young Artist Competition, and was awarded a fellowship to Tanglewood Music Center, where she had the honor of playing principal flute under Leonard Bernstein.Judy Handler has presented concerts and workshops at numerous venues throughout the United States including the University of Arizona, Commons Theater in Chicago, the Boston Classical Guitar Society and the Guitar Salon in New York. As co-founder of the Connecticut Classical Guitar Society, Judy helped develop one of the largest groups of its kind in the United States. She performs nationally with her husband, guitarist/mandolinist Mark Levesque. They have received critical acclaim for their CDs, Passion, Two Guitars Live! and Acoustic Blend and are also featured on five CDs produced by the Connecticut Classical Guitar Society. Judy is a founding member of the New American Mandolin Ensemble that performed in Germany &amp; the Netherlands in 2014 and Portugal and Spain in 2016 as well as presenting concerts in the U.S. She studied under internationally renowned performer and teacher Oscar Ghiglia at The Hartt School, where she received her Master of Music degree, and at the Aspen Music Festival. Judy&rsquo;s B.M. degree is from the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati. She has also studied abroad, earning a Certificate from the Vila-Seca Salou Conservatory in Spain and a Diploma of Merit from the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Italy. Judy teaches and runs performance classes at a private studio in Vernon, CT.<div>&nbsp;</div>

Rosewood Chamber Ensemble: Music from Monticello - Nov 17, 2016

Musical Club to Present Concert Featuring Schumann and Vocal MusicThe Musical Club of Hartford will present its final concert of 2016 at the Westminster Presbyterian Church 2080 Boulevard, West Hartford on Dec. 8 at 10 a.m.&nbsp; The winter and spring concerts will continue in the first four months of 2017.First on the program, the Musical Club&rsquo;s Vocal Ensemble will present works by C.E. Miller, Gustav Holst, Gabriel Faure, Isadore Freed, Edvard Grieg, and Michael Martin. The program of the Musical Club Vocal Ensemble is a celebration of music sung over seven decades. The copyright of the first song is 1916 and of the last number is 2003.&nbsp; Members of the Vocal Ensemble are Jane Bugbee, Carol Carlson, Sandra Ann Craig, Sharon Girard, Carol Hunt, Marjorie Hutensky, Miriam Kennedy, Ellen Ma, Josephine Mangiafico, Anne Mayo, Carol Sexton, Susanne Shrader, Lean-Cheng Tan, Vilma Walton, Janet Wilson, and Eugenia Zessos. Accompaniment is provided on the piano by Elizabeth Carabillo. Rita Henderson conducts.Next, will be the romantic and popular Piano Trio No.1 in D Minor by Robert Schumann. This captivating trio is one of the most definitive romantic trios and is imbued with Schumann&rsquo;s strong personal style.&nbsp; Schumann (1810-1856) wrote this piece in 1847. Lisa Kugelman, violin, Fran Bard, cello, and Stacy Cahoon, piano will perform.<img src="/files/bard_cahoon_kugelman.jpg"/>margin-left:0px;">&nbsp;Cellist Fran Bard has played with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra for many years. She also performs with the Hop River Chamber Players in Andover,CT&nbsp; .Ms. Bard taught Elementary Strings in the Windsor Public Schools for most of her teaching career and finished&nbsp; in the Glastonbury Public Schools. Originally from Chicago, she received her B.M.&nbsp; from the Chicago Musical College and her M.M and Music Educators Certification from the University of Connecticut. Her cello training was under the tutelage of Channing Robbins, Aldo Parisot, Raya Garbousova, Karl Fruh and Mary Lou Rylands.&nbsp;Stacy Cahoon (West Hartford) holds performance degrees from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, and a Master of Music Degree from the Hartt School of Music in Accompanying. She is an active accompanist in the area working with singers and instrumentalists. In addition, she is the accompanist for the Travelers Chorale and the CitiSingers of Hartford.&nbsp; As a composer, she has had vocal compositions premiered at Bushnell Hall, and the Women Composers Festival of Hartford.&nbsp;Lisa Kugelman, violinist, West hartford, studied with Bernard Lurie, Roman Totenberg, and Syoko Aki, and performs regularly with the Hartford Symphony, the Worthington Trio, and the Arensky Trio.&nbsp;Patrice Fitzgerald, mezzo-soprano, received a graduate degree in Vocal Performance from Hartt in 2008.&nbsp; She has performed in musicals and operas throughout the region, appearing with Berkshire Opera, Connecticut Opera, Warner Theatre, Greater Hartford Opera Ensemble, Simsbury Light Opera Company, and West Hartford Community Theater, and has toured Brazil, Spain, Argentina, Scotland and Ireland as a choir member and section leader.&nbsp; Patrice performs regularly in classical, Broadway and jazz concerts with her husband Richard Leslie.&nbsp;Alice Matteson, soprano, was born and raised in Orlando, Florida. Alice graduated magna cum laude from The Hartt School in 2008 with a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance. During her time at Hartt, she performed the role of Eurydice in Offenbach&#39;s Orpheus in the Underworld, and partial roles of Ginevra in Händel&#39;s Ariodante, and First Witch in Purcell&#39;s Dido and Aeneas. She was also a featured soloist with the Hartt Baroque Collegium. Concert works have included soprano soloist in Mozart&#39;s Requiem, Fauré&#39;s Requiem, Vivaldi&#39;s Gloria, and Benjamin Britten&#39;s Missa Brevis and Ceremony of Carols.&nbsp; Chamber works have included soprano soloist in Heinrich Schütz&#39;s Müsikalische Exequien, J.S. Bach&#39;s Wedding Canata (BWV 202), J.S. Bach&rsquo;s Jesu, meine Freude (BWV 227) and Giacomo Carissimi&#39;s Jonas. Alice has a special interest in early music, and sings with the up-and-coming vocal chamber ensemble Voce Concitato, based in Hartford, CT.&nbsp;Alice is also very dedicated to music ministry in the church. She has been a member of the Schola Cantorum at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford, CT since 2008, and directs the Archdiocesan Youth Choir, which is in residence at the Cathedral. She also serves as a cantor for the Catholic Communities of East Hartford North and St. John Fisher Church in Marlborough, CT. Alice is an active voice and piano instructor. She is on faculty at Summit Studios Performing Arts Center, located in Manchester, CT, and maintains an active private studio in her home in Bloomfield, CT.&nbsp;David Garrido-Cid, piano, started his musical studies in Caracas, Venezuela. His education continued in Spain, first in his hometown, Ourense, then at the Real Conservatorio de Música de Madrid. He holds a Masters from The Hartt School, and an Artist Diploma from the Yale School of Music. His major teachers included Anselmo de la Campa, Luiz de Moura Castro and Boris Berman. He has worked with other prominent musicians: Peter Frankl, Claude Frank, Paul Badura Skoda, Joaquin Achúcarro. He was recipient of various scholarships: Donald Johnston (Yale); the Evelyn Bonar Storrs (Musical Club of Hartford); and Fundación Pedro Barrié de la Maza (Coruña, Spain).&nbsp;Some of his international awards include: First Prize on the Van Rooy Competition for Musical Excellence, and winner of the Emerson String Quartet Competition, both at The Hartt School. David&rsquo;s performances have taken him through Spain, Italy, Brazil and USA, having shared stage with the Emmerson String Quartet, Humbert Lucarelli, and Robert Black.&nbsp;David is currently the Director of Music Ministries at St. Thomas the Apostle church in West Hartford, CT. He is actively involved in the choral conducting scene. He is, together with Gabriel Löfvall and Rodrigo Queiroz, co-founder and co-director of Vallis Musicæ - a traveling Connecticut Community Choral project. Born in 2006 in the Farmington Valley area, the group has toured Brazil (2007), Spain (2008) and Argentina (2010), and Ireland (2013). David performs often around Connecticut and Massachusetts, enjoying both solo appearances as well as with his wife, Alice Matteson (soprano).

Music by Members - Dec 8, 2016

The Musical Club of Hartford will present its first concert of 2017 on Thursday at 10 a.m., January 12th at the Westminster Presbyterian Church, 2080 Boulevard, West Hartford. Admission is free for members of the Musical Club and $5 for members of the general public who are warmly welcome. The concert features 19th and 20th Century works, as well as music for the hmmered dulcimer and for the alto saxophone.First on the program will be pieces for the hammered dulcimer and guitar, played by Ami Monstream and Laura Mazza-Dixon respectively:<ul><li>&ldquo;Hole In The Wall,&rdquo; by Henry Purcell&nbsp;(1659 -1695), one of the most famous English composers who incorporated Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, at the same time as writing in a uniquely English Baroque form;</li><li>&ldquo;Pieces For A Musical Clock,&rdquo; by George Frideric&nbsp;Handel&nbsp;(1685&nbsp;&ndash;1759), a German, later British&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroque_music">Baroque</a>&nbsp;composer who spent the bulk of his career in London, and;</li><li>&ldquo;Romanza,&rdquo; by an anonymous Spanish composer from the 19th century.</li></ul>The second performance will be the Brahms Sonata in F Minor, Op. 120, No.1 which was originally composed in 1894 for clarinet and is often heard as a viola transcription. At this concert, the audience will hear Eugene Pousseau&rsquo;s transcription for alto saxophone performed by Tony Gibbs, alto saxophone and Benita Rose, piano.Next, three pianists Colette Switaj, Lean-Cheng Tan, and Gail Tanguay, will perform on the same piano (6 hands) &ldquo;Valse&rdquo; and &ldquo;Romance&rdquo; by Sergei Rachmaninoff. These two pieces were written in 1890 and 1891 when Rachmaninoff was just a teenager, but they are solidly representative of Rachmaninoff&rsquo;s romantic and thoroughly pianistic style.Next on the program soprano Christine Fote Macaluso (a guest to the Musical Club), accompanied on piano by Gail Tanguay, will perform the following:<ul><li>&ldquo;Si mes vers avaient des ailes,&rdquo; by Reynaldo Hahn (poem by Victor Hugo), Reynaldo Hahn&nbsp;(1874 &ndash;1947) was a&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venezuela">Venezuelan</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturalization">naturalised</a>&nbsp;French, composer,&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conducting">conductor</a>,&nbsp;&ldquo;Hymne.&rdquo;</li><li>&ldquo;Lia&rsquo;s Recitative and Aria&rdquo; from L&rsquo;enfant prodigue (1884), by Claude Debussy L&#39;enfant prodigue&nbsp;(The Prodigal Son) is a&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantata">cantata</a>&nbsp;in one act by&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Debussy">Claude Debussy</a>&nbsp;with a text by Édouard Guinand.<a href="#cite_note-1">[1]</a>&nbsp;The cantata premiered in&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris">Paris</a>&nbsp;on June 27, 1884,&nbsp;as part of the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prix_de_Rome">Prix de Rome</a>&nbsp;for composition competition which was awarded to Debussy with this piece The prize win garnered Debussy a scholarship to the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acad%C3%A9mie_des_Beaux-Arts">Académie des Beaux-Arts</a>, which included a four-year residence at the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Medici">Villa Medici</a>, the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Academy_in_Rome">French Academy in Rome</a>, to further his studies (1885-1887).</li><li>Hermit Songs (excerpts) by Samuel Barber. Written in 1953, it is based on a collection of&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_work">anonymous</a>&nbsp;poems written by&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ireland">Irish</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monk">monks</a>&nbsp;and scholars from the 8th to the 13th centuries, in translations by&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._H._Auden">W. H. Auden</a>,&nbsp;amd other poets. Hermit Songs&nbsp;was first performed in 1953 at the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Congress">Library of Congress</a>, with soprano&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leontyne_Price">Leontyne Price</a>&nbsp;and Barber himself as pianist.</li></ul>Finally, two works by Francis Poulenc (1899-1963). will be played by Annette Shapiro, piano:<ul><li>Intermezzo No. 3 in A-Flat Major - About the Three Intermezzi: The first two were composed in 1934, the last, in A-Flat Major, in 1943. As described by Marina and Victor Ladin, in Piano Music Volume I: &ldquo;Poulenc once declared music to be his portrait, and nowhere is this more true than in the Intermezzi&hellip;The music simply seems to roll off the pages, each sound following another in such an honest and natural way with elegance and unmistakable Frenchness</li><li>&ldquo;Hymne&rdquo; from Trois Pièces . Trois Pieces, based on an earlier work by Poulenc, was presented in 1928. &ldquo;Hymne&rdquo; is the second movement and reflects Poulenc&rsquo;s acclaimed Concert Champêtre (Pastoral Concerto) of 1927-28, for Harpsichord and Orchestra, inspired by Wanda Landowska, one of the great harpsichordists of the first part of the twentieth century. It was one of Poulenc&rsquo;s earliest neo-Classical works, showing the influence of seventeenth and eighteenth century style, coupled with his own unique harmonic and rhythmic language.<a href="#sdendnote1sym" name="sdendnote1anc">i</a></li></ul><a name="_GoBack"></a> ###<div id="sdendnote1"><a href="#sdendnote1anc" name="sdendnote1sym">i</a> Much of the information in this press release, unless otherwise noted, was taken from Wikipedia.</div>

Music by Members - Jan 12, 2017

Performance by the Winners of the 41st High School Competitions in Piano, Strings, and Winds.Each year in early January, the Musical Club of Hartford holds a scholarship competition for high school students living or studying music in Connecticut. This is the 41st year of the competition. On Sunday, January 22, 2017 at 2 pm at the Westminster Presbyterian Church, 2080 Boulevard, West Hartford, CT 06107, a concert presenting the winners of this competition will take place. The concert is free and open to the public, but concert-goers are urged to arrive early as seating may be limited.The first, second and third place winners in the categories of Piano, Strings, and Winds will receive the prizes at the concert. Scholarship prizes for brass/woodwind and strings are awarded by the Musical Club Gifts and Scholarships Fund, which also supports many other musical activities in the Hartford area. The Piano Competition is funded by the Musical Club&#39;s Evelyn Bonar Storrs Fund, established with a bequest from Mrs. Storrs for support for talented and advanced students of piano.Winners of the Piano Division of the 2017 Musical Club of Hartford Competition:<ul><li>Julius Shieh (1st Place) performing Sonata in E minor, Hob.XVI:34: I. Presto by Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), is a ninth grade student at Avon High School and a student of Stanford Online High School. Since 2016 he has studied piano with Margreet Francis at the Hartt School Community Division, selected there to perform in the Piano Department&rsquo;s Honors Recital. Awarded the Watson Morrison Scholarship at Hartt, he was a 2016 winner of the Virtuoso Pianists Competition, The Hartford Music Teachers Alliance. &nbsp;</li><li>Saomai Nguyen (second place), performing Danzas Argentinas by Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983), is a junior at Hall High School in West Hartford. Saomai is both a pianist and clarinetist. She has studied piano with Tamila Azadaliyeva at the Hartt School Community Division (HCD) since the third grade and clarinet with Dawn Matthews since fifth grade. Last year she also joined Curt Blood&rsquo;s clarinet studio. Saomai has placed multiple times in the CSMTA Select Student and Audrey Thayer piano competitions. &nbsp;She has also performed in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. With clarinet, Saomai has been active in honors ensembles such as the CMEA northern Regional and All-State bands and orchestras. This year she will participate in the NAFME All-Eastern festival.</li><li>Rachel Li (third place), performing&nbsp;Sonata in E-flat Major, Op. 31, No. 3, Allegro by Ludwig van Beethoven, (1770-1827), is a sophomore at Brookfield High School. Rachel started piano lessons with Felicia Zhang, then became a pupil of Margarita Nuller in 2013. &nbsp;By age 12, Rachel passed the Royal Conservatory Achievement Program level 7 and 8 for both piano performance and music theory with Excellence Awards. In 2014, she won 1st Place in the 7th grade section of the 35th Audrey Thayer Piano Competition, and in 2015, Rachel was awarded 1st Place in the Elementary/Middle School section of the 38th Renee Fisher Piano Competition. She also attended the MNTA junior piano competition and was awarded 3rd place in the Connecticut state competition. &nbsp;</li><li>Honorable Mentions&nbsp;were awarded to Caroline Ma, Miss Porter&rsquo;s School, Farmington, CT, Grade 10, (Teacher: Margreet Francis, Hartt Community Division) and to Noah Yoon, Loomis Chaffee School, Windsor, CT, Grade 11, (Teacher: Malgosia Lis, Hartt Community Division)&nbsp;</li></ul>Winners of the Strings Division of the 2017 Musical Club of Hartford Competition:<ul><li>Kayla Bryan (First Place: violin), Grade 11, will perform Partita No. 3 in E Major, 3rd Movement (Gavotte en Rondeau) by J. S. Bach (1685-1750) and Bael Schen: II Nigun, Adagio non Troppo by Ernest Bloch (1880-1959). Kayla Bryan is a junior at Guilford High School and a violin student of Donna Agai at the Hartt School Community Division. She is a member of the Connecticut Youth Symphony where she won the 2016 Concerto Competition. She was also the recipient of awards in the Hamden Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition and the David Einfeldt Chamber Music Seminar Concerto Competition. She attended the Preludio program at Ithaca College in 2015 and the Greenwood Chamber Music Camp this past summer. Kayla took part in the Hartt Honors Recitals from 2012-2016, receiving the Senior Honors Recital Underclassman Award in 2016.</li><li>Matthew Hill (Second Place: violin), will be performing Praeludium and Allegro in the Style of Pagnani by Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962) and Partita No. 3 in E Major (Preludio) by J. S. Bach (1685-1750) accompanies by Frank Viola. Matthew Hill is a freshman at Conard High School in West Hartford. He studies violin with Teri Einfeldt at the Hartt School Community Division, is Concertmaster of the Opus 89 Orchestra, and an active chamber musician. He is a member of I Giovanni Solisti string orchestra in the West Hartford Public Schools, and was the featured soloist with Northwinds Symphonic Band on Long Island in November 2016. He performed in the Junior Honors Recital at Hartt for the past three years, was Concertmaster of the 2016 Northern Regional Middle School Orchestra, and will be a member of the Northern Regional High School Orchestra in 2017.</li><li>Abigail Sunde (Third Place: violin), will be performing Sonata No. 1in G minor by J. S. Bach (1685-1750) and Praeludium and Allegro in the Style of Pagnani by Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962) accompanied by Frank Viola. Abigail Sunde is a ninth grader at Miss Porter&#39;s School in Farmington. She studies violin with Teri Einfeldt and has studied piano with Malgosia Lis since age 4 at the Hartt School Community Division. She participates in chamber music, orchestra, and currently the Connecticut Youth Orchestra. Since age 9, she has performed in the international biennial orchestra and masterclasses for violin and piano through the Suzuki Association Americas. Abigail participated in middle school regional competitions, and was a Connecticut representative for the Music Teachers National Association Junior Strings Division.</li></ul>Honorable Mention was awarded to Sofia Gilchenok (viola), Grade 9, from Columbia; Lillian Yim (cello), Grade 9, from Unionville; and Elliott Davis (violin), Grade 10, from Avon, CTWinners of the Winds Division of the 2017 Musical Club of Hartford Competition<ul><li>Hazel Wang (First Place, flute) performing Sonata for Flute and Piano by Pierre Sancan (1946), accompanied by Gaylien Chun. Hazel is a sophomore at the Ethel Walker School, in Simsbury, Ct. In China, Hazel studied with Daming Zhang, Bile Zhang, Jeffrey Khaner. In Connecticuty she studied with Gonzalo Cortes, and currently studies with Minta White. In her native China, she has won the CCTV National Talent Competition twice, won 2nd prize in the China Flute Association Competitions twice, and won first prize in the International Orchestra Competition in Singapore. She also participated in master classes with the principal flutists of the Singapore Symphony, as well as the China National Symphony. Here in Connecticut, Hazel has been accepted by audition into the Northern Region Orchestra for the past 3 years, as well as being principal flute in CT All State Band last year.</li><li>Seohyun Hong (Second Place, flute) performing Sonatina for Flute and Piano (second and third Movments) by Eldin Burton (1948), accompanied by Adrienne Greenbaum, is a junior at Staples High School in Westport, CT. She studies with Adrienne Greenbaum. In the past two years, she has been accepted into the CT Western Region Band and Orchestra and CT All State Band. Seohyun won the American Chamber Orchestra&rsquo;s Concerto competition in 2016, and performed with them as soloist. She has been performing with the Norwalk Youth Symphony Orchestra for 8 years, being Principal flute in 2013, Assistant 2nd Flute and Piccolo, 2014/15, and 2nd Principal Flute in 2016.</li><li>Yoseph Kim (Third Place, clarinet) performing Solo de Concours by A. Messager, (1899), accompanied by Gaylien Chun, is a senior at the Hopkins School in New Haven. He studies with Julie Levine at the Neighborhood School. Joseph has participated in the Hopkins School Orchestra for the past 5 years, and has been Principal clarinet for 3 years. He has also participated in the Neighborhood Music Youth School Orchestra, as well as the NMS Wind Quartet for the past 4 years. Joseph was selected by audition for the Southern Region Orchestra for 4 years, and participated in CT All State in 2011, and in 2010 as Principal Clarinet of the Band.</li></ul>Honorable Mention was awarded to Saomai Nguyen, a junior at Hall High School in West Hartford, CT who studies with Dawn Matthews and Curt Blood and who was also the 2nd Prize Winner in the Musical Club&rsquo;s Piano Competition.Free Admission.

Competition Winners Performance - Jan 22, 2017

Performance by the Winners of the First Jazz Soloist Competition, accompanied by a professional jazz trio in a cabaret setting. Performance takes place at the Universalist Church, 433 Fern St., West Hartford. Free Admission.CANCELLED - no winner this year.

Jazz Competition Performance - Jan 29, 2017

Mid-Year Meeting and Reception. Music in Our Lives: Past, Present and Future.Come early for refreshments at 10:00 a.m. and then find a seat at one of the round tables which will be set up in the Fireside Room. We will warm up with Music Trivia Questions, and prizes will be given to the winners at each table.We will then participate in discussions within each table group of how we were individually drawn to music. Table discussion leaders will give two-sentence reports to everyone at the end of the discussions.Following this will be a fun presentation by club members on electronic services and devices available for listening to music (Spotify, Pandora, YouTube, Amazon; TV&rsquo;s, tablets, mobile phones, etc.).Finally, the Pursuit of Music, Volume 4 will be launched! No boring reports &ndash; just an enjoyable and interesting morning with the opportunity to get to know better your fellow club members.

Mid-Year Meeting - Feb 2, 2017

This member program, entitled &ldquo;Love, Passion, Portraits,&rdquo; will consist of several interesting collaborations with musical selections centered on this concept. Accompanied by David Schonfeld on baroque oboe, Laura Mazza-Dixon on viola da gamba, and Eric Hansen* on archlute, soprano Alice Matteson will perform four love-themed songs by Henry Purcell: Fairest Isle, If Love&rsquo;s a Sweet Passion, I Attempt from Love&rsquo;s Sickness to Fly, and When I Have Often Heard Young Maids Complaining.Susanne Shrader, violin, and Alan Lurie, piano, will bring us passion with Manuel de Falla&rsquo;s Siete Canciones Populares Españolas. Lillie Gardner, piano, will present several depictions of people through music, including the Third Movement &ldquo;The Alcotts&rdquo; from Charles Ives&rsquo;s Piano Sonata No.2, and three selections from Portraits by Virgil Thomson: &ldquo;Connecticut Waltz (Harold Lewis Cook),&rdquo; &ldquo;Insistences (Louise Crane),&rdquo; and &ldquo;Persistently Pastoral (Aaron Copland).&rdquo;Alice Matteson will sing two songs from Schumann&rsquo;s Frauenliebe und -leben (A Woman&rsquo;s Life and Love) assisted by her husband, pianist David Garrido Cid. Finally, we will hear several movements from the four-hands piano arrangement of Liebeslieder Waltzer, Op. 52 by Brahms, performed by Musical Club member David Garrido Cid and guest, Miguel Campinho*. &nbsp;

Music by Members - Feb 16, 2017

The Musical Club of Hartford will present a concert of some of the great classical repertoire ending with a selection of music for guitar and mandolin from Ireland and Brazil. The concert will take place on March 2, 2017 at 10:00 am Westminster Presbyterian Church, 2080 Boulevard, West Hartford., CT.&nbsp;Mo Tian will be playing five of the six Liszt Consolations. The source of the title Consolations may have been Alphonse de Lamartine&rsquo;s poem Une larme, ou Consolation from the poetry collection Poetic and Religious Harmonies. These six little piano pieces are among Liszt&#39;s best-known works and are comparatively accessible &ndash; a rarity amongst the composer&#39;s often eccentric and virtuosic works. In 1844 Liszt had already begun work on the cycle that was published in 1850.Next, Fran Bard, cello, and Carolyn Woodard, piano, will perform two movements of Frederic Chopin&rsquo;s Sonata in G Minor, Op. 65.&nbsp; This is a piece full of lovely thematic material and, true to Chopin&#39;s style, replete with many fast, fluid passages.&nbsp; Written in 1846, this piece was one of only nine for instruments other than solo piano. It was dedicated to cellist Augusta Franchomme, who performed with Chopin at the Salle Pleyel on February 16th, 1848.Following the Chopin, two singers, &nbsp;Adriana Dal Pra-Chichester, soprano, and Anne Filion, mezzo-soprano, will sing love duets by Handel: &quot;Caro! Bella!&quot; from the opera Giulio Cesare (soprano is Cleopatra and mezzo is Cesare) and &ldquo;Io t&#39;abbraccio&quot; from the opera Rodelinda (soprano is Rodelinda and mezzo is Bertarido). &nbsp;In many operas, mezzo-sopranos have played the role of young men in love, with the beautiful young woman of their affection sung by a soprano.Finally, Judith Handler and Mark Levesque will perform their own arrangements of international music for guitar and mandolin as well as some pieces composed for this combination.Included in this section of the concert will be<ul><li>Carolan&#39;s Concerto&nbsp; and Sheebeg Sheemore by Turlough O&#39;Carolan &nbsp;(1670-1738). &nbsp;Turlough O&#39;Carolan, was a blind Irish harper, composer and singer whose fame is due to his gift for melodic composition.</li><li>Noites Cariocas by Jacob Bettincourt (1918-1969). Jacob do Bandolim, born Jacob Pick Bittencourt, (1918&ndash;1969) was a Brazilian composer and musician. Born in Rio de Janeiro, his stage name means &quot;Mandolin Jacob&quot;, after the instrument he played. In addition to his virtuoso playing, he is famous for his many choro compositions, more than 103 tunes. He also researched and attempted to preserve the older choro tradition, as well as that of other Brazilian music styles.</li><li>Pedacinhos do Ceu and Brasileirinho&nbsp; by Valdir Azevedo &nbsp;(1923-1980) who was a choro conductor and performer, considered to be the most successful musician of this genre, Brasileirinho (Little Brazilian) composed in 1947 is considered one of the most successful and influential choros of all time.</li></ul>

Music by Members - Mar 2, 2017

Hartford, CT: Eight advanced piano students at area colleges will perform at the annual Evelyn Bonar Storrs scholarship winners recital on Thursday, March 23, 2017 at the Westminster Presbyterian Church in West Hartford, CT. The concert takes places at 10 am. Admission is free to all and the general public is warmly welcomed. The mission of the Musical Club of Hartford is to develop the musical talent of its members and to encourage the study and appreciation of music through programs, lectures and concerts. In addition, the Club gives financial assistance to promising young artists and aid to musical projects in the community.The 2017 competition winners--Anchie Donn, Sirakanjana Seradi, Lillie Gardner, Victor Nigri e Silva Santos, Anna Grudskaya, Augustin Muriago, Liana Paniyeva, and Henry Kramer--represent a broad international spectrum, including Taiwan, Thailand, Brazil, Uzbekistan, Argentina, the Ukraine and the United States. They will be performing works ranging from J.S. Bach to Amy Beach and Alberto Ginastera. Of this group, six are from undergraduate and advanced degree programs at the Hartt School, University of Hartford, one is from the doctoral program at the University of Connecticut and one is from the doctoral program at Yale University.The achievements of the winners of this year&rsquo;s MCH Evelyn Bonar Storrs competition are numerous. Programs and brief biographies follow:Anchie DonnGoldberg Variations BWV 988,&nbsp;Aria and variations 1-5 by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)Taiwanese-American pianist Anchie Donn has performed in major cities across Southeast Asia, Europe and the United States. As a member of The Heron Trio, she has been featured on National Public Radio. Anchie has participated in festivals such as Aspen Music Festival, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Chautauqua Music Festival, and Baroque Performance Institute. She is completing her Doctor of Musical Arts in piano performance at The Hartt School, where she is also a teaching fellow. Past degrees include a Master of Music from Boston University and a Bachelor of Music with highest honors from University of Michigan. Her teachers include Paul Rutman, Jonathan Bass, Christopher Harding, and Arthur Greene.===Sirakanjana SeradiIntermezzos Op. 119, No.&nbsp;1 in B minor and No. 2 in E minor by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)Sirakanjana Seradi is a Thai pianist, currently doing her 3rd year of Bachelor of Music at the Hartt School, University of Hartford, Connecticut studying with Paul Rutman. Before she came to the United States, she had studied with Eri Nakagawa at College of Music, Mahidol University for the pre-college program where she received an Excellent Student Award in the graduation ceremony. She recently gave a piano recital in Thailand at Collage of Music, Payap University in January 2017.Sirakanjana Seradi is a Thai pianist, currently doing her 3rd year of Bachelor of Music at the Hartt School===Lillie GardnerPrelude #4, Book 2: Les fees sont d&rsquo;exquises danseuses by Claude Debussy (1862-1918)&ldquo;A Hermit Thrush at Eve&rdquo; Op.92, No. 1 by Amy Beach (1867-1944)Originally from St. Paul, Minnesota, Lillie Gardner has performed in the &quot;Chopin 200&quot; Festival at the World Financial Center, the &ldquo;Tutte le Corde: Piano Music After 1950&rdquo; series in Greenwich Village, and at venues such as Bellevue Hospital, Teatro de Casa Italiana, Southampton Cultural Center, Frederick Loewe Theater, Provincetown Playhouse, the Tenri Cultural Institute of New York, and the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Asturias in Spain. Most recently, she performed solo recitals at von der Mehden Recital Hall and was selected alternate in the University of Connecticut&rsquo;s 2015 Aria and Concerto Competition. At New York University, Lillie received her Bachelor and Master of Musicdegrees as a student of Miyoko Lotto and Dr. Jose Ramon Mendez.Currently she is pursuing her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at UConn where she has studied with Irma Vallecillo and currently studies with Dr. Angelina Gadeliya. Lillie&rsquo;s final degree recital, American Literature in Recital, will be at UConn in April of 2017, and will consist of solo piano, chamber, and vocal music inspired by works of American literature.===Victor Nigri e Silva SantosCiclo Nordestino No. 4 (Northeastern Cycle No. 4):&nbsp;Caboclinhos,&nbsp;Cantilena, and Frevo by Marlos Nobre (b. 1939)Victor Nigri is a Graduate Professional Diploma candidate in piano performance at The University of Hartford&#39;s The Hartt School, where he is the recipient of a music talent scholarship, studying under the guidance of Professor Luiz de Moura Castro. Nigri is also a piano faculty member of the Hartt Community Division.He has performed in both solo and chamber music recitals throughout Brazil, the United States, and Portugal. He recently took part in the Campos do Jordão International Winter Festival, Brazil, and Óbidos International Piano Festival, Portugal.In 2014 he graduated from Minas Gerais State University with a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance as a student of Professor Heron Alvim. In addition to being distinguished with a Honorable Prize of Best Performance of Brazilian Music at the VII Maestro Spartacco Rossi Piano Competition, Nigri was also a top prizewinner at the XXII Souza Lima Piano Competition and the IX Cora Pavan Capparelli Piano Competition.===Anna GrudskayaLe Vent dans le Plaine and&nbsp;Des Pas sur la Neige by Claude Debussy (1862-1918)Anna Grudskaya was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan to a family of musicians and artists and began piano studies at the age of four. Winner of the Concerto/Aria Competition at Santa Clara University and Van Waynen Piano Competition, Ms. Grudskaya has performed in concert halls in the United States and abroad. She has performed in festivals including the International Keyboard Institute and Festival, Aspen Music Festival and School, Beijing International Music Festival and Academy, New Orleans Piano Institute,&nbsp;NYU Summer Piano Intensive, and Adamant Music School, working with distinguished artists such as Menahem Pressler, Nelita True,&nbsp;Boris Berman, Ann Schein, Alan Chow,&nbsp;and Alessio Bax. Anna Grudskaya earned Bachelor Degrees in Music and Psychology from Santa Clara University in the studio of Hans Boepple, a Master of Music Degree from Mannes College of Music in the studio of Pavlina Dokovska, and an Advanced Certificate in Music Education at NYU&rsquo;s Steinhardt School in the studio of Eteri Andjaparidze. She is currently pursuing her Doctor&nbsp;of Musical Arts degree at The Hartt School under the tutelage of David Westfall.&nbsp;===Agustin MuriagoCuyana, from Tres Piezas, Op. 6 by Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983)Etude-tableaux Op. 39, No. 5 by Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)Agustin Muriago is a Doctor of Musical Arts candidate in piano performance at The Hartt School in Connecticut. He has performed throughout the United States, Spain, and his native Argentina in venues such as Steinway Hall in New York City and the &ldquo;Teatro Opera&rdquo; in Buenos Aires. His repertoire ranges from traditional piano literature to contemporary music premieres, with an emphasis on Spanish and Argentinean piano music. Major teachers include José Ramón Méndez, David Westfall, Veda Zuponcic, Aldo Antognazzi, and Marcela Fiorillo. As a prizewinner of the 2008 &ldquo;Teachers del Norte Pianists del Sur&rdquo; directed by Mirian Conti, he continued his studies in the United States, earning a Bachelor&rsquo;s degree from Rowan University and a Master&rsquo;s degree from New York University.He has held the position of piano instructor at NYU, offered masterclasses, and served as adjudicator at piano festivals in New York and Connecticut. He is currently on the faculty at The Hartt School Community Division&nbsp;&nbsp;===Liana PaniyevaKlavierstücke, Op 76: No. 1 Capriccio. Un poco agitato; No.&nbsp;4 Intermezzo. Allegretto grazioso; and No. 8 Capriccio. Grazioso ed un poco vivace by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)Liana Paniyeva began winning prizes in piano competitions in Ukraine in 2002 when she earned Third Prize at the International Competitions in Memory of E. Gilels, First Prize at the International Competition in Memory of Prokofiev, and Second Prize at the International Competition in Memory of A. Karamanov.&nbsp; Her accomplishments in 2008 included First Prize at the &ldquo;Music World&rdquo; International Competition in Italy, and she was the winner of &ldquo;The Voice of Music&rdquo; Piano Competition in Israel. In the United States in 2012, Ms. Paniyeva was the winner of the American Protégé International Competition of Romantic Music; recipient of the Grand Prize at the Metropolitan International Piano Competition; and the winner of the AFAF Golden Era of Romantic Music International Competition.&nbsp; In 2013~2015, Ms. Paniyeva was awarded the E.B. Storrs Piano Scholarship from the Musical Club of Hartford. Ms. Paniyeva was also awarded a prize in the 2014 Scottish International Piano Competition in Glasgow, and won 6th&nbsp;place at the Iowa International Piano Competition in 2015.She has performed at international festivals in Norway, Hungary, Syria, Italy, and Israel; and during the 2012-2013 season, she performed three times at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Liana graduated from the Donetsk Music Academy in Ukraine in 2007, and went on to earn her Professional Studies Certificate from the Manhattan School of Music in 2011.&nbsp; Her career continues with recitals in Hungary, Israel, Ukraine, USA, England, Syria and Norway. Currently Liana is pursuing a Master&rsquo;s Degree at The Hartt===Henry KramerIberia, Book I:&nbsp;Evocación by Isaac Albeniz (1860-1909)Sonata in D Major K. 96, L. 465 byDomenico Scarlatti 1665-1757Morningsong and Mist by Aaron Jay Kernis (b. 1960)Attars by Judith Lang Zaimont (b. 1945)Music Competition (Sendai The winner of the 2015 William Petschek Recital Debut Award from The Juilliard School, pianist Henry Kramer is establishing himself as one of the most exciting young pianists on the concert stage today. His performances have been praised by critics as &ldquo;triumphant&rdquo; and &ldquo;thrilling&rdquo; (The New York Times), and &ldquo;technically effortless&rdquo; (La Presse, Montreal). A Maine native, Mr. Kramer has earned top prizes in the 2015 Honens International Piano Competition, the 2011 Montreal International Music Competition,&nbsp;and the 6th China Shanghai International Piano Competition. He was also a prizewinner in the 8th National Chopin Competition in Miami and received the 2014 Harvard Musical Association Arthur Foote Award. He is a winner of Astral&rsquo;s 2014 National Auditions.&nbsp;He was awarded the silver medal in 2016 at the Queen Elisabeth International Piano Competition in Brussels.In the 2015-2016 season, Mr. Kramer is featured at Portland Piano International (Oregon), The Cliburn Foundation, Symphony in C,&nbsp;and the Portland (Maine) International Chamber Music Festival.&nbsp;He recently appeared as soloist with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra under Yan Pascal Tortelier, and has also appeared with the Shanghai Philharmonic,&nbsp;the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra in Ankara, Turkey, the Portland (Maine) Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Métropolitain du Montreal, and the Yale Philharmonia. In recent seasons, he performed Rachmaninov&rsquo;s Concerto No. 2 with the Eastern Connecticut Symphony and Toshi Shimada, as well as Beethoven&rsquo;s Chorale Fantasy with Robert Moody and the Portland Symphony Orchestra.In the spring of 2012, Mr. Kramer made his European debut in a solo recital at Amsterdam&rsquo;s Concertgebouw. An engaging chamber musician, he has been featured in performances at Lincoln Center, and has participated in the Steans Institute at the Ravinia Festival and La Jolla Music Society&rsquo;s Summerfest. Recently, he appeared on Ravinia&rsquo;s Steans Music Institute tour,&nbsp;which included performances at Boston&rsquo;s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and New York&rsquo;s Morgan Library, as well as an unprecedented appearance in Havana, Cuba, as a cultural ambassador. At the Verbier Festival Academy, he was awarded the Tabor Prize in Piano.Mr. Kramer holds both a Master&rsquo;s and a Bachelor&rsquo;s degree from The Juilliard School and an Artist Diploma from the Yale School of Music, where he received the Charles S. Miller Prize for the most outstanding first-year pianist. He currently pursues doctoral studies at the Yale School of Music, and was recently appointed as the Iva Dee Hiatt Visiting Artist in Piano at Smith College===

Storrs Scholars Piano Recital - Mar 23, 2017

On Sunday, March 26, 2017, the Musical Club of Hartford will offer its annual Piano Ensemble Day at the University of Hartford&rsquo;s Lincoln Theater at 3 p.m. Admission is free!Four teams will be presenting musical gems from the repertoire crafted for four and eight hands.&nbsp;Dorothy Bognar and Connie Hegarty will play Victor Babin&rsquo;s transcription of Alexander Borodin&rsquo;s Polovetsian Dances. These dances appear at the end of Act II of the opera Prince Igor, written between 1869 and Borodin&rsquo;s death in 1887.&nbsp; Unfinished at the time of his death, the opera was completed by Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov for its first performance in 1890. They are an exotic set of uniquely Russian dances, and many of its themes have been adapted for everything from the 1953 musical Kismet (&ldquo;Stranger in Paradise&rdquo;) to commercials, Olympic music, video games, hip-hop and heavy metal.&nbsp; Victor Babin, a well-respected duo pianist, prepared this adaptation for two pianos in 1954.Jane Bugbee and Linda Pezzullo are performing the first movement from Johannes Brahms&rsquo; Sonata in F Minor, Op. 34-bis for two pianos; Brahms himself prepared this version of his Piano Quintet, Op.34, both of which date from 1864, at the urging of his wife Clara Schumann.&nbsp; The work upon which both of these versions are based, a string quintet, was destroyed by Brahms.Diane Day and Stacy Cahoon will present Astor Piazzolla&rsquo;s iconic masterpiece Le Grand Tango which the composer apparently prepared for two pianos at the same time he published the version for cello and piano.&nbsp; Because the first publication for cello and piano in 1982 was French, the original French title has been retained for all other versions.&nbsp; Piazzolla dedicated his work to Mstislav Rostropovich, but Rostropovich did not perform it until 1990 or record it until 1996.&nbsp; The work has been a true success once it reached the public.&nbsp; It is an example of Piazzolla&rsquo;s nuevo tango, a blend of traditional tango rhythms with jazz-inspired idioms and occasional quasi-Baroque style.&nbsp;Finally, our eight-hand team which includes Elizabeth Carabillo, Colette Switaj, Susan Hunt, and Lean-Cheng Tan, will play three lively works:&nbsp; 1. Waltz (from Faust), originally by Charles Gounod in 1859 and arranged by Renaud de Vilback, 2. Novelette, Op. 99, No.9, the original for solo piano dating from between 1836 and 1849 by Robert Schumann and later arranged by F. Brissler, and 3. Dance of the Buffoons, from the opera The Snow Maiden by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov and premiered in 1880, arranged for 2-pianos, 8 hands by Miriam Fox Withrow.&nbsp;All performers are veterans of the annual piano ensemble day presented by The Musical Club of Hartford.&nbsp; One is the current President of the Musical Club and one is a former President.&nbsp; Several have served on the Musical Club Board.&nbsp;The mission of the Musical Club of Hartford is to develop the musical talent of its members and to encourage the study and appreciation of music through programs, lectures and concerts.&nbsp; In addition, the Club gives financial assistance to promising young artists and aid to musical projects in the community.

Piano Ensemble Program Mar 26, 2017

The American String Quartet with pianist, David Westfall, will perform in concert at 3:00 pm on Sunday, April 2 at Millard Auditorium, University of Hartford.This concert is FREE, BUT TICKETS ARE REQUIRED. &nbsp;You may order tickets: 1. At the University of Hartford Box Office located at Lincoln Theater (Office hours are Tuesday &ndash; Friday, 10:00 am. To 5:00 pm). 2. By calling the University of Hartford Box Office at (860) 768-4228 or 800-274-8587 (see Office hours above). 3. Online by copying into your web browser or clicking on the following link: <a href="https://app.arts-people.com/index.php?show=71566" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://app.arts-people.com/index.php?show=71566</a> 4. At the ticket counter at Millard Auditorium the day of the concert, beginning one hour before the concert. Attendees are encouraged to obtain tickets before the concert to avoid potential lines at the ticket counter at Millard.The concert is being sponsored and presented by the Musical Club of Hartford, Inc. as part of its Jolidon Concert series in partnership with The Hartt School and the Hartt Community Division. The public is welcome and encouraged to attend. Admission is free but a goodwill offering will be accepted to benefit the Hartt Community Division&rsquo;s Arthur and Betty Winograd Chamber Music Scholarship Fund. Quartet members Peter Winograd, violin, and Wolfram Koessel, cello will also be conducting a master class for chamber music ensembles on Saturday, April 1, 3:00 pm &ndash; 5:00 pm, at Millard. The Hartt School Community Division and the The Hartt School Instrumental Studies Division are sponsoring the master class. It is free and open to the public.&nbsp;<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" height="197" width="430"><caption>American String Quartet and David Westfall</caption><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://americanstringquartet.com/" target="_blank"><img src="/files/amer_str_qt_1.jpg"/>p> Internationally recognized as one of the world&rsquo;s foremost quartets, the American String Quartet celebrates its 41st season in 2016&ndash;2017. Critics and colleagues hold the Quartet in high esteem and many of today&rsquo;s leading artists and composers seek out the Quartet for collaborations. The quartet is known for its performances of the complete quartets of Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, Bartok, and other composers and for championing American and contemporary composers. The complete Mozart string quartets on a matched set of Stradivarius instruments are widely held to set the standard for this repertoire. Pianist David Westfall maintains an active career as concert pianist, collaborative artist, and teacher. He has concertized and given master classes throughout the United States, Canada, Spain, Brazil, Germany, and Serbia. He is an avid chamber musician, and has performed with internationally acclaimed string quartets such as the American, Chiara, and Jupiter. Dr. Westfall is currently Associate Professor of Piano and Director of the Instrumental Studies Division at The Hartt School. The Arthur and Betty Winograd Fund at the Hartt Community Division supports scholarships and financial aid to encourage, nurture, and develop chamber music playing in pre-college musicians. Arthur Winograd&rsquo;s extensive career began in 1946 as the original cellist of the world renowned Juilliard String Quartet. He left the Juilliard Quartet in 1956 to pursue a career in conducting. From 1964 to 1985, he was conductor and music director of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. Upon his retirement from the symphony, he joined the chamber music faculty at The Hartt School. Betty Winograd, an accomplished pianist in her own right and graduate of Juilliard, served for years on the piano faculty of The Hartt School and The Hartt School Community Division. Betty was also a long time member of the Musical Club of Hartford. Peter Winograd, son of Arthur and Betty, is the first violinist of the American String Quartet and an alumnus of the Hartt Community Division. The Musical Club of Hartford is a non-profit organization well into its second century of existence. Membership is open to all those who share a love of music, including performers, listeners, and composers, providing a valuable network for musicians in the Greater Hartford area. Each year the Club presents 12 member-performed concerts, two professional concerts, two musical exploration programs, a concert by recipients of the Club&rsquo;s Evelyn Bonar Storrs Piano Scholarships Fund, and a concert by the winners&rsquo; of the Club&rsquo;s four high school competitions.&nbsp;<h4>PROGRAM</h4>String Quartet&nbsp; in F minor, Op. 95 &ldquo;Serioso&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; I.&nbsp;&nbsp; Allegro con brio&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; II.&nbsp; Allegretto ma non troppo III. Allegro assai vivace ma serioso IV. Larghetto espressivo; Allegretto agitato; AllegroString Quartet No. 3 in F Major&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) I.&nbsp;&nbsp; Allegretto&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; II.&nbsp; Moderato con moto III. Allegro non troppo IV. Adagio&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&mdash; V.&nbsp; ModeratoINTERMISSIONPiano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) I.&nbsp;&nbsp; Allegro non troppo&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; II.&nbsp; Andante, un poco adagio III. Scherzo: Allegro&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; IV. Finale: Poco sostenuto - Allegro non troppo - Presto<h4> QUARTET BIOGRAPHY</h4> Internationally recognized as one of the world&rsquo;s foremost quartets, the American String Quartet celebrates its 41st season in 2016&ndash;2017. Critics and colleagues hold the Quartet in high esteem and many of today&rsquo;s leading artists and composers seek out the Quartet for collaborations. The Quartet is also known for its performances of the complete quartets of Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, Schoenberg, Bartók, Mendelssohn, and Mozart, as well as all the string quintets of Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Brahms. The Quartet&rsquo;s recordings of the complete Mozart string quartets on a matched set of Stradivarius instruments are widely held to set the standard for this repertoire. To celebrate its 35th anniversary, the Quartet recorded an ambitious CD, Schubert&rsquo;s Echo, released by NSS Music. The program invites the listener to appreciate the influence of Schubert on two masterworks of early 20th-century Vienna, Berg&rsquo;s dramatic, atonal Quartet Op. 3, and Webern&rsquo;s visionary Fünf Sätze (Five Movements), Op. 5. In addition to quartets by European masters, the American naturally performs quartets by American composers such as George Whitefield Chadwick, Henry Cowell, Arthur William Foote, Charles Ives, Walter Piston, and others. The American also champions contemporary music. The Quartet has commissioned and premiered works by distinguished American composers Claus Adam, Richard Danielpour, Kenneth Fuchs, Tobias Picker, George Tsontakis, and Robert Sirota. The Quartet has recorded on the Albany, CRI, MusicMasters, Musical Heritage Society, Nonesuch, and RCA labels. The Quartet&rsquo;s discography includes works by Adam, Corigliano, Danielpour, Dvořák, Fuchs, Prokofiev, Schoenberg, and Tsontakis. The Quartet&rsquo;s innovative programming and creative approach to education has resulted in notable residencies throughout the country. The Quartet continues as quartet in residence at the Manhattan School of Music (1984&ndash;present) and the Aspen Music Festival (1974&ndash;present). The ASQ taught in Beijing, China, from 2005 to 2014, and travels widely abroad. Formed in 1974 when its original members were students at The Juilliard School, the American String Quartet was launched by winning both the Coleman Competition and the Naumburg Chamber Music Award the same year.<h4> QUARTET MEMBERS&rsquo; BIOGRAPHIES</h4> Peter Winograd joined the American String Quartet in 1990. He gave his first solo public performance at the age of 11, and at age 17 he was accepted as a scholarship student of Dorothy DeLay at The Juilliard School. Recognized early as an exceptionally promising young artist, Winograd was a top prize winner in the 1988 Naumburg International Violin Competition. He then made his New York debut to critical acclaim and has since appeared as a guest soloist with numerous orchestras and in recital across the country and abroad, including annual collaborative performances with cellist Andrés Díaz at the Florida Arts Chamber Music Festival. In 2002 Winograd performed the Sibelius Violin Concerto with the Hartford Symphony; his father, Arthur Winograd, was the featured guest conductor. Winograd has been a member of the violin and chamber music faculties of the Manhattan School of Music and the Aspen Music School (where the American is Quartet-in-Residence) since 1990. Born into a gifted musical family, Winograd began his studies with his parents. His mother was a professional pianist, and his father was the founding cellist of the Juilliard Quartet and a conductor of the Hartford Symphony in Hartford, Connecticut, where Winograd grew up. He holds bachelor&rsquo;s and master&rsquo;s degrees from Juilliard. His wife, violinist Caterina Szepes, is a regular participant in the Marlboro Festival and a member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. His violin is by Giovanni Maria del Bussetto (Cremona, 1675). A founding member of the American String Quartet, Laurie Carney holds the distinction of performing quartets longer than any other woman in this elite field. The ASQ began concertizing while she was still an undergraduate at Juilliard. Apart from the Quartet, she has performed trios with her husband, cellist William Grubb, and pianist Anton Nel; duos with violist Michael Tree; and as an ensemble partner to such artists as Isaac Stern, Pinchas Zukerman, Salvatore Accardo, Cho-Liang Lin, Joshua Bell, Yefim Bronfman, Misha Dichter, Ralph Kirshbaum, Alain Meunier, and Frederica von Stade. Carney&#39;s concerto appearances include performing Mozart&#39;s Sinfonia Concertante with the Bournemouth Symphony, Basque National Orchestra, and the Welsh National Orchestra. She gave the premiere of Gianpaolo Bracali&rsquo;s Fantasia for violin and piano. Most recently, Robert Sirota composed his Violin Sonata No. 2 for her, and in addition to performing the premiere last spring, she will record the work later this season. A faculty artist at the Aspen Music Festival and School since 1974 and the Manhattan School of Music since 1984, Carney has held teaching positions at the Mannes College of Music, Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, University of Nebraska, University of Michigan, Shepherd School at Rice University, and the Taos School of Music. Her dedication to the development of young players brings frequent invitations to offer master classes, most recently in California, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, and New Mexico. Carney is a member of a prodigious musical family: her father was a trumpeter and educator, her mother a concert pianist, and all three siblings are professional violinists. Her violin is by Carlo Tononi (Venice, 1720). The Strad magazine hailed violist Daniel Avshalomov as &ldquo;one of the finest occupants of that chair, both instrumentally and musically, of any quartet now active.&rdquo; Avshalomov performs in recitals and collaborations and as a featured performer and concerto soloist at festivals across the country. Before joining the Quartet, Avshalomov served as principal violist for the Aspen, Tanglewood, and Spoleto festival orchestras, as well as for the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Opera Orchestra of New York, and American Composers Orchestra. He also was a founding member of the Orpheus Chamber Ensemble. A frequent guest artist with the Guarneri Quartet, he has performed with such groups as the Da Camera Society, Marin Music Fest, and La Musica di Asolo. He has shared the stage with Norbert Brainin (first violinist of the Amadeus Quartet), Misha Dichter, Bruno Giuranna (a founding member of I Musici), Maureen Forrester, the Juilliard and Tokyo quartets, and the Bolshoi Ballet (as solo violist). Avshalomov&rsquo;s articles appear in Notes and Strings; he has edited several viola works for publication and contributed to ASTA&rsquo;s Playing and Teaching the Viola. He has been the subject of two articles in The Strad magazine and one in Classical Pulse. Avshalomov developed a lecture-demonstration, &ldquo;Inside Passages,&rdquo; first presented to the New York Viola Society in 2000. He performed the world premiere of Giampaolo Bracali&rsquo;s Concerto per Viola, which RAI has broadcast in Europe, and the American premiere of Alessandro Rolla&rsquo;s Esercizio 3. On his CD, Three Generations Avshalomov, with pianists Robert McDonald and Pamela Pyle, Avshalomov performs works for viola and piano composed by his grandfather, father and brother. The CD was featured on NPR&rsquo;s All Things Considered. Avshalomov has been on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music since 1984 and at the Aspen School since 1976. His viola is by Andrea Amati (Cremona, 1568). Since his Carnegie Hall debut in 1994, cellist Wolfram Koessel has performed as a chamber musician, recitalist and soloist throughout the world. The Strad magazine praised his &ldquo;exceptionally attractive cello playing.&rdquo; As a soloist he has performed concertos throughout the United States as well as with Japan&rsquo;s Osaka Symphony Orchestra and orchestras in Germany and South America. He also has appeared often with the New York Metamorphoses Orchestra, which he cofounded in 1994. His collaborations include performances with legendary tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain, distinguished dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov, and cellist Yo Yo Ma, among many others. Koessel also appears with a wide range of ensembles, including the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and Trio+ (a group he formed with violinist Yosuke Kawasaki and pianist Vadim Serebryani), which performs creative and collaborative concerts throughout Japan, the United States, and Canada. Koessel served as music director of the Mark Morris Dance Group from 2004 to 2008 and has toured extensively with the company both nationally and internationally, performing in several world premieres. In the fall of 2009, he was the featured performer in a new dance work, performing Beethoven&rsquo;s Cello Sonata in C. He resides with his wife, pianist and writer J. Mae Barizo, and his daughter in Manhattan. His cello is by Giovanni Cavani (Modena, 1917). Pianist David Westfall maintains an active career as concert pianist, collaborative artist, and teacher. He has concertized and given masterclasses throughout the United States, Canada, Spain, Brazil, Germany, and Serbia. He is an avid chamber musician, and has performed with internationally acclaimed string quartets such as the Jupiter, Chiara, and American. He frequently performs and lectures for music conferences throughout the United States, and has performed for the past three years for the European Piano Teachers Association conference held in Novi Sad. He has served on the juries of international competitions, including the Ricard Viñes International Piano Festival in Lleida, Spain, and the Isidor Bajic Piano Memorial Competition in Novi Sad, Serbia. He has also served for a number of years on the National Fulbright Screening Committee in New York. He has also given masterclasses for the World Piano Pedagogy Conference and the Music Teachers National Association (USA). He has recently given classes the Royal Conservatory in Toronto, the Royal College of Music in London, Mannheim University of Music and the Performing Arts, and the University of Texas. He is in residence every summer at the Three Bridges International Chamber Music Festival where he performs and coaches piano and string ensembles, and also gives classes in piano pedagogy that focus on teaching gifted young piano students, addressing concepts of movement, sound, and musical style. Dr. Westfall is a graduate of Texas Christian University, Indiana University and the Juilliard School of Music. He received his Doctorate in Musical Arts from the Hartt School of Music, University of Hartford, where he is currently Co-chair of the Keyboard Department and Chair of Accompanying. He has studied with renowned concert pianists Abbey Simon, Gyorgy Sebok, Luiz de Moura Castro, and and later with Murray Perahia at the Dartington Festival in England. He also serves as Artistic Director and resident pianist of the South Church Chamber Music Society in New Britain, Connecticut. He recently toured South Korea where he taught and performed at major music schools, including Sejong University, Sook Myung Women&rsquo;s University, Seoul National University, Sungshin Women&rsquo;s University, and Seoul Arts High School.The Arthur and Betty Winograd Fund at the Hartt Community Division supports scholarships and financial aid to encourage, nurture, and develop chamber music playing in pre-college musicians.&nbsp; Arthur Winograd&rsquo;s extensive career began in 1946 as the original cellist of the world renowned Juilliard String Quartet.&nbsp; He left the Juilliard Quartet in 1956 to pursue a career in conducting.&nbsp; From 1964 to 1985, he was conductor and music director of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra.&nbsp; Upon his retirement from the symphony, he joined the chamber music faculty at The Hartt School.&nbsp; Betty Winograd, an accomplished pianist in her own right and graduate of Juilliard, served for years on the piano faculty of The Hartt School and The Hartt School Community Division.&nbsp; Betty was also a long time member of the Musical Club of Hartford. The Musical Club of Hartford is a non-profit organization well into its second century of existence. Membership is open to all those who share a love of music, including performers, listeners, and composers, providing a valuable network for musicians in the Greater Hartford area. Each year the Club presents 12 member-performed concerts, two professional concerts, two musical exploration programs, a concert by recipients of the Club&rsquo;s Evelyn Bonar Storrs Piano Scholarships Fund, and a concert by the winners&rsquo; of the Club&rsquo;s four high school competitions. &nbsp;

American String Quartet with David Westfall, Apr 2, 2017

(Make-up of event previously scheduled for February 9.)Please join us as <a href="http://jeannefreemanmusic.com/" target="_blank">fiddler Jeanne Freeman</a> presents a program on traditional Irish music. Jeanne founded the Connecticut Academy of Irish Music, where she teaches fiddle and serves as the Director. She was a featured soloist with the Hartford Symphony, has appeared on Connecticut Public Television, and has performed at many venues, including the Greater Hartford Irish Festival. Jeanne will present a musical overview of traditional Irish music, interwoven with history and stories, offering insights into the unique role of music in Irish culture.<a href="http://jeannefreemanmusic.com/" target="_blank"><img src="/files/jeanne_freeman.jpg"/>inues to thrive as an established presence for traditional Irish music in central CT.Jeanne has performed as the Irish fiddle soloist for the Hartford Symphony Orchestra&rsquo;s Saint Patrick&#39;s Day Celebration at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, where she played to a capacity crowd. In 2013,&nbsp;she was also featured on Connecticut Public Television, in a program called &ldquo;An Evening of Irish Music with Ringrose, Freeman &amp; Friends&rdquo; with singer Dan Ringrose (with whom she performs regularly as &ldquo;Ringrose &amp; Freeman&rdquo;) and other musical friends and dancers. Other television and radio appearances include WFSB&rsquo;s &ldquo;Better Connecticut&rdquo;, FoxCT Morning News, and WTIC Radio Mornings with Ray Dunaway. She has appeared as a soloist at the Greater Hartford Irish Music Festival, and has performed there often, as well as at many other festivals and venues large and small through the years. In 2015, she was honored to represent her hometown of Wethersfield as Town Marshall in the Greater Hartford Saint Patrick&rsquo;s Day Parade. She has taught fiddle workshops in schools and also teaches privately and enjoys working with players of all ages.Jeanne appears on a number of recordings, including her debut solo CD, &quot;The Fiddler You Are,&quot; produced by 7-time All Ireland Champion John Whelan. &nbsp;

Jeanne Freeman, Irish Fiddler - Apr 13, 2017

Member program. Dan Fine, Walter Gwardyak, Chris Jeffers, Walter Mayo, Mohamed Shams.1. Mohammed Shams, former Storrs Scholar, will perform several of Earl Wild&#39;s etudes based on George Gershwin songs: The Man I Love Fascinatin&#39; Rhythm I Got Rhythm (Encore TBA)2. Bridget Gilchrist (flute) Dan Fine (piano) and Walter Mayo (string bass) will play:&quot;Baroque and Blue&quot; a movement from Suite for Flute and Piano by Claude Bolling Love Theme from &quot;Spartacus&quot; by Josef Lateef The Nearness of You by Hoagy Carmichael St. Thomas by Sonny Rollins3. Guests Joe Deugenio and Jack Pott will discuss and perform music from &quot;Letter From Italy&quot;, an oratorio to be performed by Greater Middletown Chorale, Hartford Chorale and Hartford Symphony Orchestra on May 4, 2017 at the Bushnell.4. Walter Gwardyak (piano) Andrew Mayo (electric guitar) and Walter Mayo (string bass) will play: The Way You Look Tonight by Jerome Kern My Funny Valentine by Rogers and Hart Night and Day by Cole Porter C Jam Blues - Duke Ellington

Music by Members - Apr 20, 2017

The Musical Club of Hartford Concert on April 27 will feature Baroque Music for Recorder and Bassoon, as well as a Twentieth-Century piece for Clarinet Violin and Piano, songs for Mezzo-soprano by Richard Strauss, and the Bach Goldberg Variations.The final concert of the Musical Club&rsquo;s season will take place on April 27, 2017 at 10:00 am at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 2080 Boulevard, in West Hartford, and will feature a Sonata by Telemann for recorder, Violin, Viola da gamba and Harpsichord, as well as a Vivaldi Concerto for Bassoon with String Orchestra, songs by Richard Strauss, a Milhaud Trio for Clarinet, Violin and Piano and the Aria and five of the Goldberg Variations by J. S. Bach.The first selection on this program will be Telemann&rsquo;s Trio Sonata in G minor TWV 42:G9, performed by Deborah Robin, recorder, Monika Kinstler, violin, Laura Mazza-Dixon, viola da gamba, and Nancy Curran, harpsichord. This piece presents interesting dissonances and rollicking tempi, with an especially haunting bird-like call in the third movement.Next, Antonio Vivaldi&rsquo;s Bassoon Concerto in F Major, RV485 will be performed by Fred Fenn, bassoon, Monika Kinstler, violin, Carolyn Jean Webb, violin, Robert Lindauer, viola, Laura Mazza-Dixon, viola da gamba, and Mattie Banzhaf, harpsichord.<img alt="Fred Fenn, bassoon" src="http://musicalclubhartford.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/fred_fenn.jpg?itok=4ZN-plQD" typeof="foaf:Image" />BIOFred Fenn is a retired special education teacher who has studied bassoon since his freshman year in high school. Fenn continued his music studies while at Lyndon State College in Lyndonville, Vermont where he earned a BA in Behavioral Sciences. He has played with several orchestras, including the Vermont Philharmonic, the Torrington Symphony, and the Litchfield Chamber Orchestra and is presently performing with the Laudate Orchestra. He is also a member of the Nutmeg Woodwind Quintet and the Simsbury Band. His lives with his wife Anne in Barkhamsted.VIVALDI PROGRAM NOTE [From composer and trombonist Aaron Rabushka] This concerto&#39;s opening Allegro non molto begins with a stately tutti section. The bassoon maintains this atmosphere in a discourse of greater prolixity, occasionally sliding into a more playful tone. Stateliness is in the air again for the tutti at the beginning of the ensuing Andante, and the bassoon explores some light shades of sadness. The concluding Allegro molto starts with a tutti that expresses some concerns at first, then shades into a more joyous mood. The bassoon holds forth with some high-spirited solo work that takes some unpredictable turns. Tutti passages alternate between concern and joy throughout.Carolyn Bernstein, Lisa Kugelman, and Linda MacGougan will play Suite for Violin, Clarinet and Piano, Op. 57b, by Milhaud, whose compositions are influenced by jazz and Brazilian music and make extensive use of polytonality.Milhaud program note: Darius Milhaud was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He was a member of Les Six - also known as The Group of Six - and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions are influenced by jazz and Brazilian music and make extensive use of polytonality. Milhaud is considered one of the key modernist composers. (Wikipedia)Following the clarinet trio, Betty Knorr, mezzo-soprano, with Nancy Robbins, piano, will sing four songs by Richard Strauss: Nacht, Op. 10, No. 3; Allerseelen, Op. 10, No. 8; All&rsquo;mein Gedanken, Op. 21, No. 1; and Zueignung, Op. 10, No. 1. The Opus 10 pieces were composed by Strauss when he was only 20 years old and are based on poems by Hermann von Gilm. The source of the Op. 21 song, composed a few years later, is a work by Felix Dahn.BIOBetty Knorr, mezzo-soprano, majored in Music Education at the University of Texas at El Paso, and is a violinist as well as a singer. She is a founding member of CONCORA (Connecticut Choral Artists). She has been a soloist and section leader in several churches in the Hartford area. Betty has been a soloist with the Hartford, Manchester, and New Britain Chorales. She has sung in concerts in England, Israel, and Paris. Currently she sings with CONCORA and the Hartford Chorale and plays violin in the Connecticut Valley Symphony Orchestra. She lives in Berlin, CT.Lastly, Anchie Donn, piano, will perform &ldquo;Variations 25-30&rdquo; and &ldquo;Aria&rdquo; from Bach&rsquo;s Goldberg Variations, BWV 988. In the Goldberg Variations, the 32-bar bass-line of the opening Aria forms the basis of the thirty variations that ensue. The Aria is repeated note for note at the end. The movements comprise various Baroque dance genres, virtuosic etudes, and canons at increasing intervals. Anchie Donn is one of the recipients of the Evelyn Bonar Storrs scholarship.<img alt="Anchie Donn, piano" src="http://musicalclubhartford.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/anchie_donn.jpeg?itok=qqb0qsPf" typeof="foaf:Image" />BIOStorrs Scholar Anchie Donn holds a Master of Music from Boston University College of Fine Arts and a Bachelor of Music with highest honors from University of Michigan. Currently, she studies with Paul Rutman at The Hartt School, where she is a teaching fellow and doctoral candidate in piano performance.PROGRAM NOTE J.S. Bach&rsquo;s Aria mit verschiedenen Veraenderungen&nbsp;(Aria with Diverse Variations), published in 1741, is undoubtedly one of the most monumental works ever written for keyboard. The variations received their famous nickname from Johann Forkel, Bach&rsquo;s first biographer, who wrote in 1802: &quot;The count [Hermann Carl von Keyserlingk] once remarked to Bach that he would like to have a few keyboard pieces for his musician Goldberg, pieces so gentle and somewhat merry that the count could be a bit cheered up by them during his sleepless nights ... He could not get enough of them, and for a long time, whenever sleepless nights came, he would say, &#39;Dear Goldberg, do play me one of my variations.&#39;&quot;Many Bach scholars have since proved Forkel&rsquo;s whimsical account unlikely, but the popular moniker remains. The 32-bar bass-line of the opening Aria forms the basis of the thirty variations that ensue. The movements comprise various Baroque dance genres, virtuosic etudes, and canons at increasing intervals. The Variations culminate in a profound and exhilarating ending with the final six variations, performed today.&nbsp;Note: Pearl Rourke, harp, originally scheduled on this program, had to withdraw because of a class schedule conflict. A senior in high school, Pearl has been accepted early admission at Trinity College (alma mater for both her parents). She intends to follow a double major in music and political science, and has promised to come back and play for us next year. Congratulations to Pearl from us all.&nbsp;

Music by Members - Apr 27, 2017

Sign up at the April meetings at Westminster Presbyterian Church, or reserve by mail: Reservations Co-Chair Michelle Duffy, 22 Kirkwood Rd., West Hartford CT 06117 (cost will be announced in the Spring Bulletin).

Annual Business Meeting and Luncheon - May 4, 2017

Most (but not all) Musical Club of Hartford events take place at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 2080 Boulevard, West Hartford, CT (between Ridgewood and Mountain Roads). Location information is given at the bottom of each event description.​<a target="_blank" href="http://musicalclubhartford.org/files/performance_index_2022.pdf" alt="Current Performance Index" class="on">Current Performance Index</a>​

Musical Club of Hartford

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