Opera Gala IV - Valerie Nicolosi, mezzo soprano, Olga Rogach, pianist, Ray Bauwens, tenor, Diana McVey and Jane Shivick, sopranos, & Bryan McNeil, baritone

Since the presentation of the first Opera Gala at Tuckerman in 2004, this ultra-audience friendly program of favorite operatic selections, performed by six of Worcester’s favorite artists has become one of the most eagerly awaited events in the cultural life of the city. On Saturday evening, September 13, 2008, at 8:00PM, HUMANARTS will present Opera Gala IV at Tuckerman Hall, featuring Jane Shivick and Diana McVey, sopranos, Valerie Nicolosi, mezzo-soprano, Ray Bauwens, tenor, and Bryan McNeil, baritone, accompanied by pianist Olga Rogach. The program will include arias and ensembles from State Fair by Richard Rodgers, Carmen by Bizet, Tosca by Puccini, La Traviata by Verdi, The Tales of Hoffman by Offenbach, Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss, Ivanhoe by Arthur Sullivan, Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera, and Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. Dr. Frank Corbin, director of Assumption College’s world-class arts series, HUMANARTS, will provide his usual brand of concise and humorous commentary on the selections to be performed. There is no charge for admission.

PROGRAM

ACT I

It’s a Grand Night for Singing (State Fair) – ensemble…Rodgers & Hammerstein II

Barcarolle (The Tales of Hoffmann) - Jane & Valerie …Offenbach

Una voce poca fa (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) – Valerie…Rossini

Oh, patria mia (Aida) – Jane…Verdi

Je vais danser votre honneur (Carmen) – Valerie & Ray…Bizet

Non più andrai (Le Nozze di Figaro) – Bryan…Mozart

Oh! quante volte (I Capuleti e Montecchi) – Diana…Bellini

Dunque io son (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) – Valerie & Bryan…Rossini

Selections from Tosca…Puccini
Recondita armonia – Ray
Gente là dentro! – Ray, Bryan, & Jane
Mario! Mario! Mario! – Jane & Ray

Libiamo ne’ lieti calici (La Traviata) – ensemble…Verdi

ACT II

La ci darem la mano (Don Giovanni) – Diana & Bryan…Mozart

Soave sia il vento (Così fan tutte) – Jane, Valerie, & Bryan…Mozart

Golden Days (Student Prince) – Bryan & Ray…Romberg

The Prayer (Hänsel & Gretel) – Diana & Valerie…Humperdinck

Porgi amor (Le Nozze di Figaro) – Jane…Mozart

Ho! Jolly Jenkin - (Ivanhoe) - Bryan …Sullivan

Mir ist die Ehre widerfahren (Der Rosenkavalier) – Valerie & Diana…R. Strauss

Di tu se fedele (Un Ballo in Maschera) – Ray…Verdi

Tu che di gel (Turandot) – Diana…Puccini

Habanera (Carmen) – Valerie…Bizet

Champagne Chorus (Die Fledermaus) – ensemble…J. Strauss

Ahn Trio

www.ahntrio.com

Born in Seoul, Korea, and educated at Juilliard in New York City, the members of the Ahn Trio "sisters Maria, Lucia, and Angella" are redefining the art and architecture of chamber music, breathing new life into the standard piano-trio literature with commissioned works from visionary composers like Kenji Bunch, Maurice Jarre, Nikolai Kapustin and Michael Nyman. The trio's latest CD, Lullaby for My Favorite Insomniac (recorded by their own label, L.A.M.P), is a showcase of this vibrant and original music.

Lucia, Angella, and Maria thrive on dissolving the barriers between art forms. They have fused their work with that of dancers, pop singers, DJ's, painters, installation artists, photographers, lighting designers, ecologists, and even kite makers. Most recently, they performed live at the Czech Grammys with the Tata Bojs, and received critical acclaim for their collaborative project with the David Parsons Dance Company.

Possessing an enviable combination of talent and style, they have long been natural subjects for the international press. They made their magazine premiere very early on, in Time's cover story, "Asian American Whiz Kids". They have gone on to frequent fashion pages of the likes of Vogue and GQ. In 2003, they were named three of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People.

The Ahn Trio is in high demand, performing and leading master classes and workshops across the United States and around the world. Wherever the Ahns go, they share their innovative spirit and ever-evolving vision of music.

AHN TRIO
Lucia Ahn, Piano
Angella Ahn, Violin
Maria Ahn, Cello

Program - Sunday, October 26, 2008, 3:00pm - Assumption College Chapel

Divertissement for Violin, Cello and Piano (Moscow, 2005)* - Nikolai Kapustin [b. 1937]
Allegro
Adagio
Allegretto
Allegro vivace

Dies Irie - Kenji Bunch [b. 1973]

Song on the Land - RonnYedidia [b.1960]

Mr. Twitty's Chair - Katrina Wreede [b.1960]

Intermission

Yu Ryung - Pat Metheny [b.1954]

My Funny Valentine - Richard Rodgers**

Tremors - David Balakrishnan [b. 1954]

Skylife - David Balakrishnan

*Comminssioned by University of Florida
**Transcribed for Ahn Trio by Kenji Bunch

Program Subject to Change
No photos allowed during program

The AHN TRIO is managed by: JOANNE RILE ARTISTS MANAGEMENT, INC.
93 Old York Road, Jenkintown Commons Suite 222; Jenkintown, PA 19046-3925
Tel: 215-885-6400; Fax: 215-885-9929
Email: artists@rilearts.com Web: www.rile.com; www.ahntrio.com

Nikolai Kapustin (b:1937, Gorlovka, Ukraine) Divertissement for Piano Trio, Op.126. Program Notes: Although I have written quite a few chamber works, before this Divertissement there had been only one trio among them,and that with a flute instead of the traditional violin. The thing is, I felt I had no special liking for piano trio's sound. But this prejudice vanished when I was lucky to hear the Ahn Trio for the first time and so I decided to write something for them. The Divertissement in four movements was written in the summer of 2005. As is true of all my music, the Divertissement has no program and is in my usual fusion style with several quasi-improvisations, which in reality are written out. This opus may turn out rather difficult for some people ... but not for Ahn Trio! Although I was composing it with a great pleasure, I suspect it is the last trio in my life. Thus a suitable subtitle might be such: "The Suite for Trio" number one. The second won't be ever done.

Kenji Bunch: Dies Irie: One day in the spring of 2004, I was trying to write down the words Dies Irae, the Latin term for "Day of Wrath" used famously in the Requiem Mass.  I noticed later that I had inadvertently written instead "Dies Irie" which I found really amusing.  In the Jamaican Patois, Irie is a wonderful word that suggests a state of being perfectly content- of a certain peace with the universe- that is light years away from a day of wrath.  In a sense, I had stumbled upon a new term meaning "Day of Everything Being Just Right".  Because of the long tradition of musical settings of the Dies Irae, I immediately began to wonder what a Dies Irie would sound like, and ended up with this short, sweet work for piano trio.

Ronn Yedidia (b: 1960, Israel) Program Notes: ”Song on the Land” was composed within one day in 1996 for Israel Philharmonic Orchestra’s bassoonist Uzi Shalev who has been a long-time colleague of Ronn’s and the lyricist for many of his songs. Ronn absorbed much of his love for his motherland Israel from touring the country as a child-prodigy pianist. Those tours acquainted him with the gorgeous rural places of the land - which always inspired the music of Israeli composers and songwriters. The strong imprint of battle and war on those lands is also apparent in the sound of Israeli music - reflecting sadness, poise and beauty. It was transcribed for the Ahn Trio in December 2004. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and children.

Katrina Wreede - (b: 1960) Katrina Wreede writes, "Mr. Twitty's Chair" is a 18-bar blues number named for a crotchety old hermit who lived in a shack in the Santa Cruz mountains for 40 years. After living in his place for several years myself, I came back to civilization with his chair, rain gauge and his attitude. This piece is dedicated to sociopaths everywhere.” We (Ahns) heard the piece for the first time from a recording of the Turtle Island String Quartet. We loved the song immediately and wanted to program it for our concerts. It is arranged by Kenji Bunch for us.

Pat Metheny's "Yu Ryung" written for the Ahn Trio, World Premiere in Mexico, (Aug 9, 2008), USA premiere (NYC-Aug 14, 2008), Asia premiere in China (Nov.08) and Korea premiere (Dec.08).

I first became aware of the Ahn Trio from their recording of "This is Not America", a piece that I co-wrote with David Bowie. Their thoughtful, original and evocative take on that composition made me want to hear more and I have become a major fan of theirs.

I had the occasion to meet them for the first time recently at the Tria Gallery in New York where we were all attending an opening. In that conversation, they asked if I would write an original piece for them. My first reaction was that it would be a lot of fun to do and my second reaction went to thoughts of the great musical tradition that writing for their instrumentation evokes and that it might be something that I might be able to offer after five years or more of research into the subject. Much to my surprise, I went home and wrote this piece that night. I decided to sit down and just see what would happen. In our conversation that night, we also spoke a lot about Seoul - the Ahn's hometown and one of my favorite places to play in the world - and the fascinating culture and people of Korea.

Coincidentally, I had read an article that day about a recent phenomenon in Seoul where there is an entire fleet of drivers who pick up people late at night who have been drinking too much and take them home. There are now apparently thousands of these drivers called "dae-ri un-jun-sa". I decided to write from the point of view of one of those guys, who gets a brief window into the lives of all these strangers and yet has a life of his own where a job like that (which must be especially unpleasant) is something that he himself has to get through to get to the next stage in his own life.

The Korean word "Yu Ryung" (which translates roughly to "ghost figure",) evoked the image of these drivers to me, thus the name of the piece. It is rare that I actually create a narrative built on something from real life as an entry point into music. But in this case, a door flew open and the piece almost wrote itself. It was done in a matter of hours.

I would like to thank the Ahn Trio for this chance to write for such great musicians. When I heard them play the piece for the first time I was in awe of their amazing skills and their commitment to what they are doing. And their willingness to play new music at such a high level is an inspiring and exciting quality that will continue to define the unique spot that they are carving out for themselves in the music world.

David Balakrishnan- (b: 1954) – Program Notes: Tremors: “I wrote this piece a few days after the earthquake of '89 had hit the San Francisco Bay Area, hence the title. It is actually a very soft, whimsical bit of music, not much in keeping with such cataclysmic events. The swing element here is subtle, but nonetheless indispensable for a successful performance.” David says of his work, “Skylife” is a slow burning, heavy-metal grinding kind of number. If this were the 60’s, the comparison would be to Led Zeppelin…” It was arranged by Kenji Bunch for the Ahn Trio.

Sandip Burman, tabla player

www.sandipburman.com

Sandip Burman, a native of Durgapur, India, is an accomplished tabla player. His love and dedication for tabla began at the age of six when Pandit Shyamal Bose of Calcutta, one of India's distinguished tabla maestros, accepted him as his disciple. Sandip's performances are marked with spontaneous innovation and tonal purity even when he is delivering complex rhythmic patterns at dazzling speeds. His repertoire is vast...it includes both commonly and rarely played rhythms.

Foremost Indian Classical musicians such as Pt. Ravi Shankar, Pt. Jasraj, Mrs. Laxmi Shankar, Pt. Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Pt. Debu Chaudhuri , Pt. Rajeev Taranath, Pt. Budhadev Dasgupta, and Shri Chitresh Das have been gracious enough to let Sandip share the stage with them - an incredible honor for one so young. Performing with the above at such venues as the Ali Akbar Music College Festival, the Monterey World One Festival, the San Francisco Asian Museum of Art, the New Mexico Cultural Art Forum, the Chandham School of Dance, the International Bengali Conferences in L.A. and Philadelphia, and the AAPI Festival in Florida have enabled Sandip to achieve recognition for his playing.

Recently Sandip has been collaborating and touring with Bela Fleck. He is one of the guest artists on the Flecktone's new Grammy award-winning album Outbound. While exploring world music and jazz, Sandip has had the honor of playing with jazz legends Jack DeJohnette and Al DiMeola. in addition to Howard Levy, Paul McCandless (from the group Oregon), Andy Narell, Victor Wooten, and many others.

Some of his accomplishments include a concert at the Getty Museum in California, a solo performance at the Kennedy Center (Washington D.C.), Street Scene (San Diego), First Night Providence (Rhode Island), House of Blues Chicago, Nelson Atkins Museum (Kansas), Wolftrap (Washington, D.C.), Ravinia Festival (Chicago), Skirball Cultural Center (Los Angeles), Telluride Bluegrass Festival (Colorado), and the Sterngrove Festival (San Francisco).

His dazzling performances, combined with his rich and eloquent playing style, have enabled him to teach, perform, or do clinics at prestigious institutions such as CalArts, Arizona State, Texas Tech, Rotterdam Conservatory, San Francisco State University, Stanford University, Maharishi International University, UCSD, Brown University, Wichita State, Cleveland State University, DePaul University, Iowa State, Dartmouth, etc.

Always in search of new challenges, Sandip worked with Danny Elfman and contributed to the soundtrack of Tim Burton's film, Mars Attacks and an IBM commercial. Sandip has recorded with Dr. L. Subramaniam and is showcased on the album Global Fusion from Warner Brothers. He has been a visiting faculty member at the Rotterdam Conservatory in Holland. Sandip has toured and taught in the United States, Europe, Mexico, North Africa, Israel, and Canada.

Sandip recently completed an all-star tour titled "East Meets Jazz" with Victor Bailey (Weather Report), Randy Brecker (Brecker Brothers), Howard Levy (Flecktones), Jerry Goodman (Mahavishnu Orchestra), and several others.

To the discerning ear, Sandip's skills in accompaniment, combined with the intensity of his solo styling, demonstrate that he is a musician par excellence. His talent and creativity are clearly evident making his performances enjoyable and leaving his audiences in awe of the artist and his art form.

Bill Roorbach, nature writer

www.billroorbach.com

"Bill Roorbach is a brilliant guide to the natural world. Gracefully combining deep knowledge, lyrical description and wry humor, his writing draws you out of your chair and into a world of streams and meadows and trees and bugs and beavers. And it makes you want to stay there." --Carole Goldberg, Hartford Courant

Bill Roorbach lives in Western Maine, where he writes full time. He holds the Jenks Chair in Contemporary American Letters at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. His wife, Juliet Karelsen, is a painter. His daughter, Elysia, is five. Dog Desmond decided he was ready and passed away this winter at age 15. Old Wally is still going strong.

The Worcester Chamber Music Society

www.worcesterchambermusic.org

Hailed as a group with style, imagination and chops, the Worcester Chamber Music Society exploded onto the Worcester scene in 2006 to capacity audiences. WCMS is an ensemble of eleven of the area’s most outstanding and accomplished musicians performing masterpieces of chamber music literature and unusual repertoire in an intimate setting for an unforgettable concert experience.

WCMS invites guest artists chosen for their particular affinity for the works they perform to join its members in expanding the artistic possibilities to virtually all works in the chamber music repertoire.
WCMS is dedicated to expanding its audience through outreach programs in Worcester County’s public schools.

Our mission is to make the finest chamber music accessible to the Greater Worcester community.

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