Tag: Dvorak

What’s on the Program? Cape Ann Symphony this weekend!

Posted on by Catherine

Heidi Dallin shares a reminder about this weekend’s gorgeous concert program:

CAPE ANN SYMPHONY 71st SEASON

March 19, 2023 2:00 PM

Brahms, Dvorak

& featuring special guest soloist, Blaise Déjardin  – Boston Symphony Orchestra Principal Cellist

Cape Ann Symphony’s 71st Concert Season continues on Sunday, March 19 at 2 pm with Brahms, Dvorak & Déjardin featuring the CAS return of Boston Symphony Orchestra Principal Cellist Blaise Déjardin at the CAS performance venue, Manchester-Essex High School Auditorium on 36 Lincoln Street, Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA. For tickets or information, call 978-281-0543 or visit http://www.capeannsymphony.org

The orchestra opens the concert with Brahms’ powerful Symphony No. 1 in c minor, a piece which Brahms struggled with for years to complete. Cape Ann Symphony welcomes back Boston Symphony Orchestra Principal cellist Blaise Déjardin to close the concert with Dvorak’s stirring Cello Concerto. Déjardin made his CAS debut in March 2017 with his acclaimed performance of Saint-Saens’ elegant Cello Concerto.

“Our concert on March 19th will feature two great works and one amazing soloist,” points out CAS Music Director and Conductor Yoichi Udagawa.

“The Brahms Symphony No. 1 took almost 20 years for Brahms to write and is full of passion and struggle. It’s a fiery piece, and a perfect match for the passionate Cello Concerto by Dvorak. Dvorak wrote this concerto here in America and is full of gorgeous melodies – one after another. Our soloist, Blaise Déjardin is the principal cellist of the Boston Symphony, and he is an incredible musician. The musicians of the orchestra and I are really looking forward to presenting this concert to our wonderful audience!”

Yoichi Udagawa

About Blaise Déjardin

Born in Strasbourg, France, cellist Blaise Déjardin made his orchestra debut at age fourteen, performing Haydn’s C Major Concerto at the Corum of Montpellier, France. He was a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra and the Gustav Mahler Jugend Orchester, as well as a founding member of A Far Cry. A dedicated chamber musician, he spent two summers at Ravinia’s Steans Institute for Young Artists prior to joining the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 2008. That same year, he gave the US premiere of Les formes du vent for cello solo by French composer Edith Canat de Chizy.

In 2010, he founded the acclaimed Boston Cello Quartet with three of his colleagues from the BSO cello section. The Boston Cello Quartet’s diverse playlist and fresh style quickly drew an international following ranging from seasoned symphonic audiences to modern music lovers who had never attended a chamber music concert.

An accomplished and in demand arranger as well, he has written numerous pieces for cello ensembles, which led to three consecutive ASCAP Plus Awards. Commissions include Yo-Yo Ma, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and A Far Cry. In 2013 he launched Opus Cello, his online sheet music publishing company.

A prizewinner at numerous international competitions, including a First Prize at the Maurice Gendron International Cello Competition (2005), he has performed as soloist with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, the Kuopio Symphony Orchestra, the French Camerata, and many others.

In 2019 Déjardin released the album MOZART New Cello Duos with cellist Kee-Hyun Kim, featuring his own transcriptions. He also appears on both Boston Cello Quartet albums Pictures and The Latin Project. His first album as principal cello of the BSO, Ades Conducts Ades, was released by Deutsche Gramophone in 2020.

Mr. Déjardin holds a First Prize of Cello with highest honors from the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique of Paris, as well as a Master of Music Diploma and a Graduate Diploma from the New England Conservatory in Boston. His main teachers were Philippe Muller, Laurence Lesser and Bernard Greenhouse. He now teaches privately and is on the faculty of the New England Conservatory Preparatory School and the Tanglewood Music Center. He has served as Artistic Director of the Boston Cello Society since its creation in 2015.

About Cape Ann Symphony and Maestro Udagawa

Founded in Gloucester in 1951, the Cape Ann Symphony is a professional orchestra of over 70 players from throughout the New England area. They perform a subscription season of four concerts per year plus several Pops and youth concerts. The Symphony Board of Directors named Yoichi Udagawa the Music Director and Conductor of the Cape Ann Symphony in the summer of 2000 after a yearlong search. In addition to his leadership of Cape Ann Symphony, he is Music Director and Conductor of the Melrose Symphony Orchestra, and the Quincy Symphony Orchestra and a cover conductor at the Boston Pops Orchestra. Maestro. Udagawa is on the faculty of the Boston Conservatory where he teaches conducting. Frequently invited to guest conduct, Maestro Udagawa has worked with many different orchestras including the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, Nobeoka Philharmonic Orchestra, the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston, the University of Texas Symphony Orchestra, the Indian Hill Symphony, the Garden State Philharmonic, the Brown University Orchestra, the Syracuse Society for New Music, the Boston Conservatory Orchestra, the Midcoast Symphony Orchestra, the Newton Symphony, the Austin Civic Orchestra, and the Mid-Texas Symphony. Maestro Udagawa is at home in popular and contemporary music as well as the standard symphonic repertoire. He is known for his relaxed manner and ability to speak from the podium which has helped new audiences as well as enthusiasts gain a greater appreciation for symphonic music. His programs often include premieres of new works – some specially commissioned for the orchestra — as well as great orchestral works across the symphonic repertoire and lively Pops programs. He is also an integral part of the Cape Ann Symphony Youth Initiative.

Yoichi Udagawa, the son of a nuclear physicist father and singer/artist mother, was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1964. His family immigrated to the United States soon thereafter. He began playing the violin at age four and made his conducting debut at age fifteen. After receiving a music degree from the University of Texas at Austin, he continued advanced studies in conducting with Gunther Schuller, Seiji Ozawa, Morihiro Okabe, and Henry Charles Smith. A fan of many different styles of music, Mr. Udagawa also enjoys performing gospel music in addition to his conducting activities. He is an accomplished violinist and an avid fan of exercise and yoga.

The Cape Ann Symphony’s March concert: Brahms, Dvorak & Déjardin is Sunday, March 19, 2023 at 2:00 pm at the Manchester-Essex High School Auditorium on 36 Lincoln Street, Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA. Manchester-Essex High School Auditorium is handicapped accessible. Ticket prices are $45 for adults, $40 for senior citizens, $5 for Youth (12 years old and under). For information, call 978-281-0543 or visit www.capeannsymphony.org

Photos 1 :  BSO Principal Cellist Blaise Dejardin, Guest Artist for March 19 Concert; Courtesy Photo
Photo 2: CAS Music Director and Conductor Yoichi Udagawa   
Photo 3: BSO Principal Cellist Blaise Dejardin, Guest Artist for March 19 Concert; Photo Credit: Toby Oft

Grateful Dead, Dvorak, and more | selection of American classical Music by Cape Ann Symphony Musicians unleashed at the UU Church #GloucesterMA

Posted on by Catherine

NEXT WEEKEND! October 29, 2022

including local artists that are residents, too

And announcing…a new concertmaster!

Cape Ann Symphony Musicians Unleashed Concert Series
AMERICAN CLASSICAL MUSIC
Featuring works by The Grateful Dead, Florence Price, William Grant Still, Rachel Grimes, Dvorak & Cape Ann Symphony Concertmaster Scott Moore
at Gloucester’s Unitarian Universalist Church

The Cape Ann Symphony’s Musicians Unleashed programs were launched in 2019 and have become a wonderfully popular series with overwhelmingly enthusiastic audience response. Ticket prices for American Classical Music are $40 for Adults and $15 for Youth. Call Cape Ann Symphony at 978-281-0543 or go to www.capeannsymphony.org for tickets.

Read all about it from the Cape Ann Symphony press release:

Cape Ann Symphony proudly announces the return of the popular Musicians Unleashed Concert Series with American Classical Music at 3:00 pm on Saturday, October 29, 2022 at The Unitarian Universalist Church, 10 Church Street in Gloucester, MA. The ticket price for American Classical Music is $40 for Adults and $15 for Youth.  Call CAS at 978-281-0543 or go to www.capeannsymphony.org to purchase tickets.

The first Musicians Unleashed Concert of the 2022-2023 season, American Classical Music features music made in America.

“We wanted to put together a program of great music that reflects the vast and wide diversity of peoples and cultures that have made up and continue to make up our great country of America” says Cape Ann Symphony Music Director and Conductor Yoichi Udagawa.

The American Classical Music concert program includes a wide range of musical styles and composers from Dvorak to the Grateful Dead. The music from an eclectic slate of composers featuring Florence Price, Cape Ann Symphony’s recently appointed Concertmaster Scott Moore, William Grant Still, The Grateful Dead, Rachel Grimes, and Dvorak will be performed by four CAS musicians: violinist Scott Moore; violinist Erica Pisaturo; cellist Seth MacLeod; and violist Brandon White. 

“How exciting to hear such a unique mix of composers performed by these talented musicians …all musicians who are relatively new to our CAS audiences,” points out Maestro Udagawa, “This is a great opportunity for audiences to get to to know some of the newest members of the orchestra.”

The concert program includes: Florence Price’s Juba from String Quartet No. 2: Scott Moore and Erica Pisaturo, violins; Brandon White, viola; Seth MacLeod, cello; Scott Moore’s Duo selections: Scott Moore and Erica Pisaturo, violins; William Grant Still’s Danzas de Panama: Scott Moore and Erica Pisaturo, violins; Brandon White, viola; Seth MacLeod, cello; Grateful Dead’s Truckin’, arranged by Minsky: Seth MacLeod, cello; Rachel Grimes’ Egon and Gertie – Violin/Cello Version: Scott Moore, violin; Seth MacLeod, cello; Scott Moore’s Fiddle Tunes (solo): Scott Moore, violin; and Dvorak’s American Quartet, 1st Movement: Scott Moore and Erica Pisaturo, violins; Brandon White, viola; Seth MacLeod, cello.

Cape Ann Symphony’s new Concertmaster Scott Moore makes his MU debut as a violinist and a composer in American Classical Music. 

“Scott Moore is a fabulous violinist who plays at an incredibly high level in all kinds of styles from classical music to Kentucky Bluegrass. He’s also an unbelievable composer, arranger and all-around musician, say Udagawa, “We are thrilled that he is the new concertmaster of the Cape Ann Symphony, and I’m looking forward to our audiences getting to know him and his music making!”

Scott Moore was born and came of age in rural Kentucky. He began his career as a violinist and composer as a four-year-old in New York. He’s been a soloist with a number of orchestras, played Mozart for the Archduke of Austria, and given an impromptu recital in Carnegie Hall for an audience of ghosts. In 2018, he began performing, from memory, the complete Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin by J. S. Bach.

Mr. Moore has been an organic farmer and a professional driver, learned fiddle tunes from old-timers in the hills of eastern Kentucky, drunk bourbon with rock stars on a steam-powered riverboat, and played music on four continents. An enthusiastic collaborator on stage and in the recording studio, he has forged a reputation as a skillful and inventive musician unbound by genre equally at home as a soloist with the Louisville Orchestra, with bands at festivals, or in the recording studio with Jim James, Tyler Ramsey, Houndmouth, Dawn Landes, Rachel Grimes, and many more. 

A composer as well, he has composed six adventurous new scores for the Louisville Ballet, including As You Like It in August 2022. Recent seasons trace an exciting arc, with appearances running the gamut from contemporary classical to rock, jazz, bluegrass, and beyond. These include solo engagements with the Louisville Orchestra and extensive collaboration with LO music director Teddy Abrams. Ongoing work with pianist-composer Rachel Grimes includes several albums and performances like WNYC’s Soundcheck, NPR’s Performance Today, and two stints at Knoxville’s Big Ears Festival. As a longtime member of the 23 String Band, he has performed across the country as a crowd favorite at festivals like Rockygrass, Grey Fox, Forecastle, ROMP, Festival of the Bluegrass, and many more. He has also recorded two as-yet-unreleased albums with his own band, blurring the lines between acoustic and electric back porch folk and vintage rock-n-roll.

This native Kentuckian is now a resident of Gloucester. He and his wife violinist Erica Pisaturo, also a member of CAS, moved to New England in the fall of 2019. Moore is the 2022 Artist-in-Residence at the Annisquam Village Church, where he recently performed the complete Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin by J. S. Bach.

photo credit: June Stratton

Violinist Erica Pisaturo is a native of New England, where she began her violin studies at the age of four. After earning a BA in Music and Art History from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, she escaped the harsh winters to earn an MFA at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia.

While in the South, Ms. Pisaturo played violin in a number of professional symphony orchestras, including the Hilton Head Symphony and Savannah Philharmonic, both of which she also served as Orchestra Librarian. She has has toured and traveled the world extensively including studying architecture in Italy, making music on tour in China and Japan, and serendipitously meeting her husband, Scott Moore, CAS’s new Concertmaster. She and her husband moved to Gloucester in 2019 and Ms. Pisaturo now plays with the Cape Ann Symphony and Symphony By The Sea. Though she has left the South, she continues to perform in Georgia, South Carolina, and Kentucky when life allows. She recorded with Rachel Grimes and performed in the world premiere of The Way Forth (2019) with the Louisville Orchestra. Other recent performances include the Forecastle Festival and the Big Ears Festival.

Cellist Seth MacLeod earned his Bachelor of Music in cello performance from Boston University, where he studied with George Neikrug who dedicated to Seth a cadenza he composed for the Dvořák Cello Concerto. In September Mr. MacLeod joined the Cape Ann Symphony as Principal Cellist. He has performed as a soloist with the Wellesley Symphony, Lincoln-Sudbury Civic and the Metrowest Symphony Orchestras. Mr. MacLeod is also the principal cellist of the Wellesley Symphony Orchestra, and he is a member of Symphony By The Sea. He is a versatile chamber musician and string instructor at area schools. .  

Violist Brandon White made his CAS debut in March 2022’s Musicians Unleashed Concert, the Virtual Clarinet Quintet Concert. Originally from New York and now residing in the Boston area, Brandon White has enjoyed a varied career as a violist. A classically trained violist, Mr. White has been recognized as an analytical, and forward-thinking musician with a love of all viola music and new compositions. He holds degrees from The Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam where he studied under Shelly Tramposh and earned his BM in Viola Performance, as well as The Boston Conservatory at Berklee where he studied under Lila Brown and earned his MM in String Performance. He has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Jordan Hall, and Sanders Theater and played with the Orchestra of Northern New York, Hamptons Festival Orchestra and the Choral Society of the Hamptons. Mr. White currently performs in the Rivers Symphony Orchestra and is also a member of the contemporary viola duo Waterhouse Row alongside Emilie Catlett. He performs on a Hungarian Viola from 1968 made by Otto Erdesz.

Big CAS news at UU Oct 3rd| Cape Ann Symphony Musicians Unleashed: Autumn Awakening concert at #GloucesterMA Unitarian Universalist Church 

Posted on by Catherine

Heidi Dallin shares happy news:

Cape Ann Symphony Musicians Unleashed Concert Series Returns LIVE On Sunday, October 3, 2021

AUTUMN AWAKENING at The Gloucester Unitarian Universalist Church

Cape Ann Symphony proudly announces Autumn Awakening, a Musicians Unleashed Concert, at 3:00 pm on Sunday, October 3, 2021 at the Gloucester Unitarian Universalist Church, 10 Church Street, Gloucester, MA. Musicians Unleashed is a series of musical events featuring Cape Ann Symphony musicians performing in a variety of intimate settings on Cape Ann and beyond. CAS launched the popular series to an overwhelmingly enthusiastic audience response in 2019. The ticket price for Autumn Awakening is $40.  Call CAS at 978-281-0543 or go to www.capeannsymphony.org to purchase tickets. In accordance with the CAS Covid Safety Policy, all concert attendees will be required to show proof of Covid 19 vaccination or to present documentation of a negative test within 72 hours prior to the event and will be required to wear a mask during the performance.

Autumn Awakening is a chamber music concert featuring music written for flute, oboe, clarinet and strings in various combinations and performed by seven CAS musicians at the Gloucester Unitarian Universalist Church. An historic meetinghouse founded in 1779, the church was the first Universalist congregation in the United States. Built in 1806, the building was created in a perfect “shoe box” design which gives it ideal acoustics. CAS Music Director Yoichi Udagawa programmed a varied selection of music written by a mix of well known and lesser known composers from all over the world.  Maestro Udagawa and the musicians will introduce each piece of music to offer audiences insight and little known facts about the composers and their music.  

Maestro Udagawa looks forward to these intimate Musicians Unleashed concerts, “ The Cape Ann Symphony is made up of extraordinary musicians, and we are thrilled to be able to highlight them! This concert will feature our principal flute, oboe and clarinet as well as some of our outstanding string players. We tried to make this concert a mixture of different composers as well as combination of instruments, and I’m sure the audience will enjoy this concert very much.” The musicians performing in Autumn Awakening are Stephanie Stathos, flute; Izumi Sakamoto, oboe; Bill Kirkley, clarinet; Oksana Gorokhovskiy, violin; Olga Kradenova, violin; Anna Stromer, viola, and Johnny Mok, cello. The concert program includes Salem, MA  born and raised composer Arthur Foote’s Scherzo for Flute and String Quartet; British composer Malcolm Arnold’s Divertimento for Flute, Oboe and Clarinet; Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Oboe Quartet; German composer Johannes Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet, 1st Movement; and Czech composer Antonin Dvorak’s American String Quartet, 4th Movement.

Salem native composer Arthur Foote, known for his chamber music, art music and choral music, was also a musician and a teacher.  “When thinking about the program for the concert, we wanted to include music by a ”local”,” explains Udagawa, “and this charming piece by Arthur Foote fit the bill perfectly! We have an amazing tradition of musicians, writers and artists who worked right here in our area, and left great works for all of us to enjoy. And Gloucester’s Unitarian Universalist Church is a perfect venue for Foote’s music with his strong ties to the Unitarian Church.” Foote’s father, Caleb Foote, was the owner and editor of the Salem Gazette and his mother, Mary Wilder Foote, was a devout Unitarian. Arthur Foote began composing while studying harmony at the newly formed New England Conservatory in 1867. He then went on to study music at Harvard University where he received a Bachelor of Arts and the very first Master of Arts degree in Music awarded by an American university according to Foote’s Faculty Papers at New England Conservatory .

Arthur Foote was a leading member of a group of composers known as the Boston Six or the Second New England School. Together, the Six: John Knowles Paine, Horatio Parker, George Chadwick, Edward MacDowell, Amy Beach, and Arthur Foote wrote the first substantial body of “American” classical music. “In his time Foote was considered to be the ‘Dean of American Composers'” points out Maestro Udagawa.

 Arthur Foote was the organist and Choirmaster at the First Unitarian Church in Boston for 32 years, taught piano in his own studio for over 50 years and served on the faculty of New England Conservatory for 16 years, teaching piano and piano pedagogy. Foote helped edit Hymns of the Church Universal in 1890, and collaborated in the writing of Hymns for Church and Home, prepared for the American Unitarian Association in 1896 according to Unitarian Universalist History & Heritage Society

Ticket prices for Autumn Awakening are $40. Call Cape Ann Symphony at 978-281-0543 or go to www.capeannsymphony.org for tickets. In accordance with the CAS Covid Safety Policy, all concert attendees will be required to show proof of Covid 19 vaccination or to present documentation of a negative test within 72 hours prior to the event and will be required to wear a mask during the performance.

Courtesy photos attached: 
Photo 1: Bill Kirkley, Clarinet
Photo 2: Stephanie Stathos, Flute
Photo 3: Johnny Mok, Cello
Photo 4: Izumi Sakamoto, Oboe
Photo 5: Anna Stromer, Viola
Photo 6: Oksana Gorokhovskiy, Violin
Photo 7: Olga Kradenova, Violin
Photo 8: Salem’s Arthur Foote, Composer
Photo 9: CAS Music Director Yoichi Udagawa

CHARLES FLOYD’S WORLD PREMIERE PIANO CONCERTO AT CAPE ANN SYMPHONY ON SUNDAY MARCH 23

Posted on by Vickie & Peter

This just in from Heidi Dallin:

CharlesFloyd300
Guest Artist Composer and Pianist Charles Floyd

CHARLES FLOYD’S WORLD PREMIERE
PIANO CONCERTO AT CAPE ANN SYMPHONY ON SUNDAY MARCH 23

Cape Ann Symphony presents the world premiere Concerto for Piano and Orchestra by renowned pianist and composer Charles Floyd on Sunday, March 23 at 2:00 pm at the Cape Ann Symphony Performance Venue, Manchester-Essex High School Auditorium on 36 Lincoln Street in Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA. The March concert program also features the orchestra performing Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 “From the New World” and Brahms’ Tragic Overture. The Cape Ann Symphony concerts are held at the Manchester-Essex High School auditorium on 36 Lincoln Street in Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA. Manchester-Essex High School Auditorium is handicapped accessible. Ticket prices are $35 for adults, $30 for senior citizens, $20 for Young Adults (19-24 years old) and Free for children age 18 and under.

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Cape Ann Symphony Conductor and Music Director Yoichi Udagawa

Cape Ann Symphony’s Open Rehearsal of the concert is Saturday, March 22 at 7:30 pm. at the Manchester-Essex High School auditorium. The public is invited to the Open Rehearsal during which Conductor Udagawa, guest artist Charles Floyd and the orchestra is scheduled to work on the music in the Sunday afternoon concert. Conductor Udagawa will take questions from the audience following the Open Rehearsal. Admission to the Open Rehearsal is $10 for Adults and Free for Children 18 and under. For tickets and information about the concert or the open rehearsal, call 978-281-0543 or visit www.capeannsymphony.org

Continue reading “CHARLES FLOYD’S WORLD PREMIERE PIANO CONCERTO AT CAPE ANN SYMPHONY ON SUNDAY MARCH 23” →