2nd Season, 2017-18

Sunday, October 1, 2017   El Mundo - music of Spain and Latin America

Rich Savino, guitars and lutes, Jennifer Ellis Kampani, soprano, Andres Vera, cello.

Dedicated to the chamber music of sixteenth- through nineteenth-cenury Spain and Latin America, El Mundo explores the vibrant, sensuous, earthy sounds of the Latin old and new worlds, from zarzuelas to villancicos. Rich Savino, internationally acclaimed virtuoso of the guitar, vihuela, and theorbo, is a recipient of the Diapason d'Or for his solo playing, and of a Grammy in 2010 for his collaboration with Ars Lyrica, Houston. Jennifer Ellis Kampani is hailed as one of today's most exciting early music singers, singing with "sumptuous tones and iridescent waves of musical color. (Opera Today, March 2015).  

El Mundo's  program on October 1 is drawn from their Grammy-nominated 2011 recording "The Kingdoms of Castille", featuring music by Jose Marin, Juan Hidalgo, Sebastian Duron, Santiago deMurcia, Fernando Sor, Mauro Giuliani.

Sunday, November 19, 2017   Vinifera Trio

Rachel Patrick, violin, Matthew Boyles, clarinet, Ian Scarfe, piano

Program highlights  will include Mozart's "Kegelstatt" Trio, Schumann's Fantasiestücke, Bartok's "Contrasts", Jennifer Higdon, DASH, Schoenberg Phantasy Op.49.

Taking its name from the Old World wine producing grape (Vitis Vinifera), this trio hails from California’s New World wine country in the San Francisco Bay Area. With training at some of the top music programs in the world, the trio has as its rootstock the classical repertoire – from the elegance of Mozart and Schumann to the more gnarled works of Bartok and Stravinsky. These healthy and reliable roots, along with the groups' musical passions and talents, have allowed the trio to successfully graft other varietals of music into their programs.: the wild energy of Klezmer, the snappy rhythms of jazz, and the mournful rhetoric of many folk traditions. Expert arrangers themselves, Vinifera also offers new blends of old favorites by composers such as Gershwin, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky, and Ligeti. But not all of their musical offerings are well-aged and barreled – they are strong advocates of contemporary music and have commissioned and performed new works from a handful of composers. They have performed at venues and concert series across California and Oregon, and are regularly ensemble in residence at the Trinity Alps Chamber Music Festival, and are founders of the Napa Valley Forum for New Music.

Sunday, March 11, 2018   Thalea String Quartet

Luis Bellorin, Titlayo Ayangade, Christopher Whitley, Kumiko Sakamoto

This exciting young quartet has been praised for their “vibrant performance” and “sincere expressivity” (SF Classical Voice). Thalea has performed recitals in Italy, the United States and Canada and recently completed their tenure as the first quartet-in-residence at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. They were named one of the “Top 10 Bay Area Quartets You Should Know” by Culture Trip.com, and were the recipients of the 2016 Barbara Fritz Chamber Music Award from the Berkeley Piano Club. They made their debut at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC in early 2016, and were invited to participate in the 2017 KRONOS Festival, where they performed works from the Kronos Quartet's "50 for the Future" project. 

The program for March 11 includes Joseph Haydn, String Quartet in D major, Op.76 No.5, Garth Knox Satellites, Dimitri Shostakovich, String Quartet No.3, Op.73

thaleastringquartet.com

Sunday, April 29, 2018   The Complete Suites for Violincello by J.S. Bach

Isaac Pastor-Chermak, cello

" ...intense sound, unerring technique....dramatic force" - Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier, February 13, 2018

The six suites for solo cello by J.S. Bach are among the most intimately expressive and sublimely beautiful works of music from any epoch. We are fortunate to welcome Isaac Pastor-Chermak back to the series this season, and thrilled to offer this rare opportunity to hear all six suites (including the sixth suite on a five-stringed cello) - truly a life-changing experience.

Isaac Pastor-Chermak is principal cellist of Portland Opera and Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony, as well as an active chamber musician in the San Francisco Bay Area. In the summers he is an orchestra member at the Eisenstadt Classical Music Festival in Austria. Known to music lovers and students in the Vaca Valley, Isaac is the Beelard Artist-in-Residence at the YACM, and director of the Solano Junior Strings.

isaacpastorchermak.com