Guitar Series Goes 'Beyond Six Strings'

The Grace Goudy Distinguished Artists Series will present a series of three guitar performances in April in Hudson Hall at Willamette University.

The series, "Beyond Six Strings," features some of the world's leading performers who are exploring the guitar in unique ways. The guitar is one of society's most popular instruments, yet its history and evolution often are overlooked and narrowly interpreted to only include six-string guitars. This series will include performances that explore significant trends in the instrument's development.

The series begins Friday, April 4, at 8 p.m. with Grammy Award nominee Paul Galbraith, who will perform on the eight-string Brahms guitar of his own invention, which is held upright like a cello. The program will include original transcriptions of works that typically have been considered unplayable on the guitar, by composers that include Mozart, Schubert, Bach, Lennox Berkeley and William Byrd.

The second concert in the series is Sunday, April 13, at 7 p.m. featuring Emmy Award nominee John Doan, associate professor of guitar at Willamette. Doan will perform original works on the 20-string harp guitar as well as forgotten works by Fernando Sor, father of the classical guitar, on a rare 1829 three-necked harpolyre.

The series concludes Friday, April 18, at 8 p.m. with Ronn McFarlane, considered one of the world's leading performers of the 13-course (18-string) lute. He will perform works by John Dowland and Francesco da Milano, as well as contemporary original pieces.

Tickets for each performance are $15 for adults and $10 for students and seniors, with a series price for all three concerts of $40 for adults and $25 for students and seniors. They are available at the Pentacle Theatre Ticket Office in Salem at 145 Liberty St. NE, Suite 102, or they can be charged by phone at (503) 485-4300. Tickets are subject to a service charge. For more information, call the Willamette University Music Department at (503) 370-6255.

Staff and Students

Individual Prices:
$10 WU Faculty/Staff, $3 WU Students

Series Price:
$25 WU Faculty/Staff, $8 WU Students

The Willamette community may purchase tickets at the Music Department in the Rogers Music Center or charge by phone, x6255.

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Piano Duo to Perform for Goudy Distinguished Artists Series

The Grace Goudy Distinguished Artists Series presents the Nyaho/Garcia Duo on piano Tuesday, March 11, at 7:30 p.m. in Hudson Hall at Willamette University.

The artists are Susanna Garcia, a South Texas native who has performed both solo and chamber recitals throughout North America and Europe, and William Chapman Nyaho, a Ghanaian-American who currently is visiting artist-in-residence at Willamette.

Garcia and Nyaho began their musical collaboration in the early 1990s while both were teaching at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Praised for their energetic and compelling performances, the pianists bring their rich cultural backgrounds to their repertoire, exploring the music of African, Hispanic and women composers. The duo’s first CD of the complete transcriptions of the works of Aaron Copland for two pianos was lauded by Classical Magazine: “[They] form a perfect match in their style of playing, their tone and their genuine feeling and understanding of the Copland pieces.”

Garcia, coordinator of keyboard at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, has toured Mexico giving recitals and workshops through the government’s Cultural Enrichment Program. Her work has appeared in the journals 19th Century Music, Interdisciplinary Humanities and Piano Pedagogy Forum.

Nyaho’s work has been lauded by The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, Gramophone magazine and poet Maya Angelou. He is a faculty member of the Interlochen Summer Arts Camp in Michigan, and his five-volume anthology, “Piano Music by Composers of Africa and the Diaspora,” was published in 2007 by Oxford University Press.

Tickets are $20 for adults and $12 for students and seniors, and are available at the Pentacle Theatre Ticket Office in Salem at 145 Liberty St. NE, Suite 102. Tickets also can be charged by phone at (503) 485-4300, and are subject to a service charge. For more information, call the Willamette University Music Department at (503) 370-6255.

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St. Lawrence String Quartet Opens Artists Series

SALEM, Ore. — The Grace Goudy Distinguished Artists Series will present the St. Lawrence String Quartet with clarinetist Todd Palmer on Monday, Nov. 5, at 7:30 p.m. in Hudson Hall at Willamette University.

The concert will feature Beethoven’s “String Quartet in B flat, Op. 130, with Grosse Fuge, Op.133” and Osvaldo Golijov’s spectacular work for string quartet and klezmer clarinet, “Dreams and Prayers of Issac the Blind.”

The quartet has inspired audiences across the globe with recent tours of North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Their recordings have garnered critical acclaim, drawing Grammy nominations and winning Canada’s Juno Award and Germany’s Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik. The Boston Globe praised the quartet, writing, “The St. Lawrence String Quartet plays with imagination, sensitivity, sensational physical abandon, and a complete lack of emotional inhibition.” The Washington Post called the group “fearless musicians” who probe “music’s imaginative limits.” While not neglecting standard repertoire, the quartet is passionately committed to championing the work of contemporary composers. The St. Lawrence String Quartet is ensemble-in-residence at Stanford University.

Internationally acclaimed clarinetist Todd Palmer is winner of the Young Concert Artists International Auditions and the Concorso Internazionale di Musica in Italy. Palmer’s diverse artistic accomplishments include winning a grant from the National Foundation of Jewish Culture to make the Grammy-nominated recording of Golijov’s chamber music works. His playing has been praised by Fanfare and the American Record Guide as “extraordinary in its range and emotional depth.”

Composer Golijov is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and has been composer-in-residence at the Spoleto USA Festival, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Music Alive Series, Marlboro Music, Ravinia, the Chicago Symphony and the 2007 Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center.

The quartet will present a master class for strings Tuesday, Nov. 6, from 11:30–2:30 p.m. and Palmer will offer a master class for woodwinds Sunday, Nov. 4, from 7–9 p.m. Both classes are free and will be in Hudson Hall on the Willamette campus.

Tickets are $20 for adults and $12 for students and seniors, and are available at the Pentacle Theatre Ticket Office in Salem at 145 Liberty Street NE, Suite 102. Tickets can be charged over the phone by calling (503) 485-4300, and are subject to a service charge. For information call the Willamette University Music Department at (503) 370-6255.

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World-Renowned Cello Octet to Perform

The Grace Goudy Distinguished Artists Series will present Cello Octet Conjunto Ibérico Monday, Feb. 12, at 7:30 p.m. in Hudson Hall at Willamette University. The octet will perform with conductor Elias Arizcuren and soprano Pilar Jurado.

Based in Amsterdam, Conjunto Ibérico is the only full-time cello octet in the world. The group of cellists has performed Spanish and South American music around the world and has inspired top composers like Philip Glass to write for them, resulting in 60 premieres and 13 CDs.

Soprano Jurado has performed worldwide, drawing praise for her vibrant, charismatic voice and winning international awards, including the 1998 Ojo Crítico Prize, given to the most promising artist of her generation. An award-winning composer, Jurado has written for Conjunto Ibérico.

The eclectic program will feature pieces by Heitor Villa-Lobos, Philip Glass and others, and combine musical elements from American jazz, Brazilian folk songs, Turkish dances and European classical music. Many works, such as Cristóbal Halffter’s “Fandango” for eight cellos, are pieces of stunning instrumental complexity.

“Irresistible sensuality and obsessive rhythm merge into a grand unity; classical and Brazilian influences are perfectly in balance,” wrote Amsterdam’s Luister magazine. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma said, “This ensemble is a treasure indeed. Elias Arizcuren is a true visionary, who has achieved something absolutely unique with his group.” Gramophone magazine wrote, “The group is a model not only of sublime musicality, but of bravery in their choice of repertoire.”

When Arizcuren’s cello students approached him in 1989 with the idea of starting a cello octet, he thought the idea was preposterous. Too respectful to laugh at his enthusiastic students, the bearded Spaniard asked where they would find music for eight cellos. The fledging group began performances with a handful of formal pieces. Today the group has a repertoire of more than 150 pieces, including 65 original works written for them by leading composers, many from Latin America. Arizcuren would like to elevate Spanish and Latin American composers to the same level of audience familiarity as European classical composers.

Concert tickets are $20 for adults and $12 for students and seniors, and are available at the Pentacle Theatre Ticket Office, 145 Liberty St. NE, at (503) 485-4300. There is a service charge. Tickets are also available at the door. For more information contact the Department of Music at (503) 370-6255.

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Pianist to Perform Music with Roots in Africa

The Grace Goudy Distinguished Artist Series will feature pianist William Chapman Nyaho Monday, Oct.16, at 7:30 p.m. in Hudson Hall at the Mary Stuart Rogers Music Center at Willamette University.

Nyaho, a West African native who often performs in traditional Ghana dress, will perform music by composers of African descent from Ghana, Nigeria, Cuba, Jamaica, Egypt, Great Britain and the United States. The compositions are influenced by African tribal music, European classical music and American jazz, blues and spirituals.

“Nyaho’s playing is delicate and exuberant,” said Anita King, Goudy Distinguished Artists Series director. “He treats the piano as an orchestra, and the compositions he plays, although new to most listeners, are masterpieces.”

“Many African compositions have tribal influence but are not primitive in the sense of being ‘simple’ pieces,” Nyaho said. “The harmonies and rhythms are highly intricate.” Many rhythms are written in unusual time signatures, such as 19/8. And unlike Western music, which typically has a destination or climax, African music is often not supposed to go anywhere, but to be in the present moment.

Nyaho has performed in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and North America. The Oxford University–trained musician has been featured on National Public Radio and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. His CD, “Senku: Piano Music by Composers of African Descent,” was named one of the Best of the Year by the Cleveland Plain Dealer, which called it “altogether enthralling.” A Gramophone Magazine reviewer said, “The humanity of the music and Nyaho’s gripping performances kept my ears glued to this disc.”

Nyaho will offer a master class Sunday, Oct. 15, at 7 p.m. in Hudson Hall. The class is free and open to the public.

Concert tickets are $20 for adults and $12 for students and seniors, and are available at the door or at the Pentacle Theatre Ticket Office, 145 Liberty St. NE, 503-485-4300. There is a service charge added. Discounted tickets are available on campus for Willamette students and staff. For more information contact the Department of Music at 503-370-6255.

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Acclaimed String Quartet Plays Salem

The Grace Goudy Distinguished Artists Series will feature the Cuarteto Casals Wednesday, Feb. 8, at 7:30 p.m. in Hudson Hall at the Mary Stuart Rogers Music Center at Willamette University.

Since its founding in Madrid in 1997, the Cuarteto Casals has become recognized as one of Europe’s most talented young string quartets. The Spanish quartet has garnered extensive critical acclaim and has won top prizes at many international competitions. They have performed in Europe, the United States, Japan and South America.

“Its sound [is] simultaneously powerful and sensitive... [The quartet] impressed the audience with its technical sovereignty and passionate joy of playing,” said a Die Welt review.

The New York Times also praised the quartet. “One string quartet may play with more or less warmth or unity than another, but comparatively few produce the kind of distinctive tone that sets an ensemble apart. The Cuarteto Casals ... has a vivid sonic signature.”

The concert will feature pieces by Mozart, Ligeti and Brahms.

Tickets are $20 for adults and $12 for students and seniors, and are available at all Safeway TicketsWest outlets or by calling 1-800-992-8499. Willamette staff, faculty and students can purchase tickets at the Music Department. Faculty and staff tickets are $12; student tickets are $3. Call 503-370-6255 for more information.

Two master classes will be offered, one with the University Chamber Orchestra Tuesday, Feb. 7, at 5 p.m. and one with student chamber groups Wednesday, Feb. 8, at 10:20 a.m. Both will be in Hudson Hall at the Mary Stuart Rogers Music Center. They are free and open to the public.

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Jazz Festival Concert at Willamette Feb. 11

Tenor saxophonist Jimmy Heath will be featured at the 25th Annual Willamette University Jazz Festival concert Saturday, Feb. 11, in Smith Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. Tickets at the music department are $12 for adults and $6 for students and seniors. If available, patrons may purchase tickets at the Smith Auditorium box office one hour prior to the performance. For more information, call 503-370-6255, or visit www.willamette.edu/go/jazzfestival.

The annual festival welcomes 24 outstanding high school bands from Oregon and Washington. One of these bands will be invited to join Heath and the Willamette Jazz Ensemble on stage during the concert.

Heath will also offer a free clinic Saturday, Feb. 11, at noon in Smith Auditorium. Registration is not required.

The festival is sponsored by the Grace Goudy Distinguished Artists Series at Willamette.

Heath has long been recognized as a brilliant instrumentalist, composer and arranger. He has performed with nearly all the jazz greats of the last 50 years, including Howard McGhee, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Wynton Marsalis.

In 1948 at the age of 21, he performed in the First International Jazz Festival in Paris with McGhee, sharing the stage with Coleman Hawkins, Slam Stewart, and Erroll Garner. One of Heath’s earliest big bands (1947-1948) in Philadelphia included John Coltrane, Benny Golson, Specs Wright, Cal Massey, Johnny Coles, Ray Bryant, and Nelson Boyd.

During his career, Heath has performed on more than 100 record albums and has written more than 125 compositions, many of which have been recorded by other artists including Art Farmer, Cannonball Adderley, Clark Terry, Chet Baker, Miles Davis, James Moody, Milt Jackson, Ahmad Jamal, Ray Charles, Dizzy Gillespie, J.J Johnson and Dexter Gordon.

After having just concluded 11years as professor of music at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, Heath maintains an extensive performance schedule and continues to conduct workshops and clinics throughout the United States, Europe, and Canada.

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Ensemble Kaboul Brings Afghan Music to Salem

Note: Willamette staff, faculty and students can purchase tickets at the Music Department. Faculty and staff tickets are $12; student tickets are $3. Community members may purchase tickets at all Safeway TicketsWest outlets or by calling 1-800-992-8499. (There may be a service charge.) Tickets are $20 for adults and $12 for students and seniors. (11 October 2005)

The Grace Goudy Distinguished Artist Series will feature Ensemble Kaboul, with special guest Ustad Farida Mahwash, Monday, Nov. 21, at 7:30 p.m. in the Mary Stuart Rogers Music Center at Willamette University.

Ensemble Kaboul combines the talents of six exiled Afghan musicians, weaving together traditional Indian, Persian, Arabic and tribal traditions to form rich, multi-textured music. Their performances blend poetic love songs, folk tunes and raga-like classical music, and feature hand percussion and flute-like and stringed instruments.

The group was recognized by BBC Radio with a World Music Award in 2003.

“No nation in recent history has suffered as greatly as Afghanistan,” said the BBC’s Garth Cartwright. “And amongst the many tribulations that nation’s citizens had to endure was the banning of all music—both making and playing—by the Taliban.” The post 9/11 removal of the Taliban led to a surge of interest in Afghan arts, Cartwright said. “Mahwash and Ensemble Kaboul are the best exemplars of Afghanistan’s traditional musical aesthetic.”

The Salem performance features Ustad Farida Mahwash, a powerhouse singer who was given the honorary title, “Ustad,” meaning “master.” No woman in the history of Afghanistan had been called “Ustad,” until Mahwash came along. She got her unexpected start while working as a typist at a radio station. When the radio director broadcast her songs during the 1960s and ’70s, her popularity led to a loosening of laws banning public performances by women.

“It’s an honor to represent Afghan women, whose voices have been suffocated,” Mahwash said.

Music making was also disrupted by the Afghan-Soviet conflict that began in 1979 and ended 20 years later.

“Afghanistan has suffered 23 years of war,” said Ensemble Kaboul leader Khaled Arman. “Most of the musicians have not survived. I don’t mean they died in combat. I mean they suffered psychological trauma. They couldn’t stand the weight of war and emigration. Now some of our instruments are disappearing because nobody is able to play them.”

The troupe’s exiled musicians have yet to play in Kaboul.

“Ensemble Kaboul not only brings rich, beautiful music to international audiences, but it is preserving one of the oldest musical traditions in the world,” said Pam Moro, anthropology professor at Willamette.

Tickets are $20 for adults and $12 for students and seniors and can be purchased at the Music Department at Willamette. People may also contact TicketsWest at 1-800-992-8499 or www.ticketswest.com. (There may be a service charge.) Call Moro at 503-370-6645 for more information.

The public is invited to a free lecture Thursday, Nov. 10, at 12:45 p.m. in the Hatfield Room at the Hatfield Library at the University. Moro will introduce the audience to Afghani music, and will discuss the impact of politics on performance in Afghanistan as well as broader issues related to music and censorship.

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Distinguished Artist Series Features Cellist and Pianist April 22

Cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han will appear in concert Friday, April 22, at 8 p.m. in Hudson Hall in the Mary Stuart Rogers Music Center at Willamette University to conclude the Grace Goudy Distinguished Artists Series for the academic year.

The program includes works by Schubert, Strauss, Rachmaninov and Chopin.

Tickets are $20 for adults and $12 for students and seniors at all Safeway TicketsWest outlets or by calling 1-800-992-8499.

A master class, free and open to the public, is scheduled for Saturday, April 23, from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Rogers Rehearsal Hall in the Rogers Music Center.

Finckel and Han rank among the most esteemed and influential classical musicians in the world today. Their concerts place them in some of the most prestigious venues in the United States, including San Francisco Performances, New York’s 92nd Street Y, Washington’s Kennedy Center and Dumbarton Oaks, Wisconsin’s Union Theater, Milwaukee’s Pabst Theater, UCLA’s Performing Arts Series, Atlanta’s Spivey Hall, and the University of Chicago’s Mandel Hall, Boston’s Gardner Museum, Princeton University Concerts, New Orleans Friends of Chamber Music, Santa Barbara’s UCSB Arts and Letters, and Aspen’s Harris Concert Hall.

The duo has also toured Mexico, Canada, the Far East, Scandinavia and continental Europe to critical acclaim. Highlights from recent seasons include their debuts in Germany, and at Finland’s Kuhmo Festival, as well as their presentation of the complete Beethoven cycle in Tokyo, and their signature all-Russian program at London’s Wigmore Hall.

In recent years, Finckel and Han have become widely recognized for their initiatives in expanding audiences for classical music, and for guiding the careers of countless young musicians. In August 2003, Finckel and Han launched Music@Menlo (www.musicatmenlo.org), a new chamber music festival in Silicon Valley that has attracted widespread attention and international acclaim.

Prior to launching Music@Menlo, they served for three seasons as artistic directors of SummerFest La Jolla, establishing that venue as one of the nation’s leading summer music destinations. In June 2004, having firmly established a reputation as great musical innovators both on and off stage, they were named artistic directors of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

The duo is regularly featured in the country’s leading music festivals. Recent highlights include performances at the Aspen Music Festival, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and Chamber Music Northwest, where they performed all five Beethoven sonatas in a single, sold-out marathon event. They have also appeared at festivals in Maine, Mexico and Finland.

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University Concert April 29

The Willamette University Grace Goudy Distinguished Artists Series presents cellist Fred Sherry, with pianist and Willamette professor of music Anita King, Thursday, April 29, at 8 p.m. at Hudson Hall, Mary Stuart Rogers Music Center, Willamette University.

Tickets are $20 for adults and $12 for students/seniors at all Safeway TicketsWest outlets, or by calling 1-800-992-8499. Tickets will also be sold at the door.

The program includes works by Beethoven, Brahms, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Carter and FaurÇ.

A master class for cellists is scheduled for Monday, April 26, from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Rogers Rehearsal Hall, Mary Stuart Rogers Music Center. It is free and open to the public.

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Distinguished Artist Series Opens at Willamette

Willamette University and the Grace Goudy Distinguished Artists Series present in concert the Zéphyros Wind Quintet Sunday, Oct. 19, at 7:30 p.m. in Hudson Hall, Mary Stuart Rogers Music Center. Tickets are $20 for adults and $12 for students and seniors at all Safeway TicketsWest outlets. Call 1-800-992-8499 for details.

Praised by audiences and critics alike for its brilliant virtuosity and expressive depth, the Zéphyros Quintet has established itself as one of the nation’s leading chamber ensembles.

In 1995, one year after its formation, the group became the only wind quintet to win both the First and Grand Prizes at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.

Following its 1997 New York debut in Merkin Concert Hall, Zéphyros began touring the United States with appearances at major venues, including Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, The Library of Congress, New York’s Mostly Mozart Festival, Wolf Trap, Chautauqua, and Lincoln Center. They appeared with renowned pianist and chamber musician Charles Wadsworth, and have performed as guests of the New York Woodwind Quintet at Alice Tully Hall and at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival.

Radio broadcasts include “Performance Today” for National Public Radio, Public Radio International’s “Music from Chautauqua,” and on WNYC’s “Around New York.”

Appearing with the Quintet will be Willamette University music faculty member pianist Anita King in a performance of Mozart's Quintet for Piano and Winds. The Zéphyros Quintet includes Jennifer Grim, flutist, James Roe, oboist, Douglas Quint, bassoonist, Patrick A. Pridemore, French hornist, and Michael Aaron Bepko, clarinetist.

Hailed by the New York Times as “a deft, smooth flute soloist,” Grim has performed across the United States as an active solo and chamber musician of both the classic literature and contemporary music. A recent first-prize winner in both the Carmel and Coleman Chamber Music Competitions, Grim has performed with such groups as the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the New York Chamber Soloists. Other notable performances include appearances with the Vermont Mozart Festival, with the Jupiter Symphony, and at Chautauqua and the Norfolk Chamber Music Festivals.

Grim earned two bachelor of arts degrees from Stanford University and her master of music and master of musical arts degrees from The Yale School of Music.

Oboist James Roe performs with many of New York City’s most important orchestras, including the American Symphony Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the New York City Ballet Orchestra, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. He makes frequent appearances at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center

In the popular music world, he has performed with James Taylor, Tony Bennett, Metallica, Vanessa Williams, and Audra McDonald. He has performed on Saturday Night Live, and appears in a music video of Shania Twain. He is a member of the orchestra for the Tony and Grammy winning Broadway musical, Aida, with music by Sir Elton John.

Roe holds degrees from The Julliard School and Michigan State University.

Clarinetist Michael Aaron Bepko earned his bachelor of music degree at The Juilliard School in 1999 and is currently enrolled at Juilliard in the master of music degree program.

He has performed with the Orchestras of The Curtis Institute and The Juilliard School, and served as co-principal clarinet on the Juilliard Orchestra’s tour of Japan and Korea. In 1997, Bepko was principal clarinetist for a live broadcast production of “Hansel and Gretel” on public television’s Live from Lincoln Center series.

Bepko has studied at the Tanglewood Music Center where in 1996 he was named recipient of the George B. Cioffi prize, given to the Center’s most outstanding woodwind player. He has also performed with The Houston Symphony, The Houston Civic Symphony, and with The Texas Music Festival Orchestra under the baton of Maxim Shostakovich.

Bassoonist Douglas Quint has performed with many of the finest ensembles in the New York City area, including the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of Saint Luke’s, the Brooklyn Philharmonic and the New York City Opera Orchestra. He has also performed and recorded with the American Composer’s Orchestra, the Riverside Symphony, and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, and has toured with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra.

Quint holds a bachelor of music degree from the Manhattan School of Music and a master’s degree from The Juilliard School.

He has performed at several prestigious summer festivals, including the Pacific Music Festival, the National Orchestral Institute and the Tanglewood Music Center. At Tanglewood he was heard on two live simulcasts carried on both National Public Radio and BBC radio. Quint has also worked with pop music icons including Michael Kamen, Bryan Adams, Bono and Quincy Jones.

French hornist Patrick Pridemore has performed with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. An accomplished and highly sought-after chamber musician, Pridemore is a member of the Marlboro Music Festival, and has performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Boston Chamber Music Society, the American Chamber Players of Washington, D.C., and is a founding member of the Zéphyros Quintet.

He was heard as the principal horn of the Juilliard Opera Center production of “Hansel and Gretel,” which was seen nationally on public television’s Live from Lincoln Center series.

Pridemore attended The Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School.

Other events with the Quintet include a session of rehearsing and recording works by Willamette student composers Friday, Oct. 17, from 1 to 2:30 p.m., and a master class for woodwind and brass students, Saturday, Oct 18, from 1 to 3 p.m. All events are in Hudson Hall at Willamette University.

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Jon Nakamatsu to Perform At Willamette University April 2

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Distinguished Artist At Willamette University

The Grace Goudy Distinguished Artists Series presents clarinetist David Shifrin with Anita King, pianist, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2003, at 8 p.m. in the Mary Stuart Rogers Music Center at Willamette University.

Tickets are $20 for adults and $12 for students and seniors at all Safeway FASTIXX outlets. Call 1-800-992-8499 for more information.

A free master class is also scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 26, at 10 a.m. in Hudson Hall in the Rogers Music Center.

The program, which marks the 20th anniversary season of the Distinguished Artist Series, includes works by Poulenc, Stravinsky, Debussy, Schumann and Brahms.

Much in demand as an orchestral soloist, David Shifrin has appeared with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Milwaukee, Dallas, Houston, Denver, Calgary and Honolulu symphonies, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the New York Chamber Symphony.

During the 1991-92 season, a new work for clarinet by Stephen Albert was premiered by Shifrin with the Philadelphia Orchestra. A frequent guest at the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center, his recording of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto on the basset clarinet with the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra received a 1987 Stereo Review Record of the Year Award.

Shifrin’s solo recitals include appearances at Lincoln Center and the 92nd Street “Y” in New York and at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. A highly acclaimed chamber musician, he is the artistic director of the Chamber Society at Lincoln Center and collaborates frequently with the world’s leading chamber ensembles. He also serves as music director of Chamber Music Northwest in Portland, Ore., and is a professor of music at Yale University.

In 1987, Shifrin received the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, an award given to outstanding American artists. His most recent recording was the Copland Clarinet concerto on Angel/EMI, which received a Grammy nomination.

Pianist Anita King has appeared as soloist with orchestras nationwide and as chamber musician collaborating with such renowned artists as clarinetist David Shifrin, cellist Fred Sherry, the Ridge String Quartet and pianist Charles Wadsworth.

As winners of the U.S. Information Agency “Artistic Ambassador” competition, King, with her colleagues Daniel Rouslin and Bruce McIntosh in Trio Northwest, performed a 23-concert tour in South America in 1989.

King has performed at the Oregon Coast Music Festival, on the Second City Chamber Series in Tacoma, and was piano soloist in the Berg Chamber Concerto with the Contemporary Music Ensemble at Pacific Lutheran University.

She has collaborated with numerous singers, including Barbara Pearson, Susan Narucki, Nancy Zylstra and Kym Amps with whom she performed a recital and radio broadcast from the Los Angeles County Museum in 1998. King is on the faculty of Willamette University.

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Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center At Willamette University Next Month

The Willamette University Grace Goudy Distinguished Artists Series presents The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Wednesday, Nov. 20, at 8 p.m. in Hudson Hall in the Mary Stuart Rogers Music Center on campus.

Featured artists include David Shifrin, clarinet; Ani Kavafian, violin; Ida Kavafian, violin; Paul Neubauer, viola; Fred Sherry, cello; and Anne-Marie McDermott, piano.

The program will include works by Mozart, Copland and Brahms.

Ticket are $20 for adults and $12 for students and seniors at all Safeway FASTIXX outlets or by calling 1-800-992-8499.

The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS) is the resident company at Lincoln Center devoted to the performance and creation of chamber music. Directed by David Shifrin, its pioneering structure, a core of distinguished artist members augmented by invited guests, allows for a repertoire of the widest instrumental and stylistic range.

The Chamber’s wide-ranging activities include concerts at Lincoln Center, national and international tours, nationally televised broadcasts on "Live from Lincoln Center," and regular features on both National Public Radio's "Performance Today" and Public Radio International's "Chamber Music New York."

As the nation's premier repertory company for chamber music, CMS strives to bring audiences the finest performances of repertoire dating as far back as the Renaissance and continuing through the centuries to include the finest music of our time. In addition, CMS has commissioned more than 110 new works from an impressive array of composers. In Alice Tully Hall, its home at Lincoln Center, CMS presents a subscription series from October to May, as well as other series dedicated solely to contemporary music and student and family audiences.

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Waverly Consort at Willamette University

The Waverly Consort, a 13-member ensemble of singers and musicians recognized around the world for its mastery of Middle Ages and Renaissance music, will present “Iberia” Monday, March 25, at 8 p.m. in Hudson Hall, Mary Stuart Rogers Music Center, at Willamette University. The event concludes the Grace Goudy Distinguished Artists Series for 2001-02.

“Iberia” is described as a musical evocation of Spain and Portugal at the height of their glory and influence in the 16th and 17th centuries. The program includes songs from plays of the great masters of the stage, vibrant dance rhythms and mystical church music.

The Consort, now in its 38th year, has performed throughout North and South America, Britain and the Far East. Most recently the ensemble has appeared on CBS Sunday Morning and National Public Radio Performance Today. Its numerous recordings include the best selling CBS Masterworks A Renaissance Christmas Celebration with the Waverly Consort, and the Angel-EMI Classics recording for the Columbian Quincentenary entitled 1492: Music from the Age of Discovery, listed on Billboard’s classical chart of bestsellers for 17 weeks.

Tickets are $20 for adults and $12 for students and seniors at all Safeway FASTIXX outlets. In Portland, call 503-224-TIXX. Outside Portland, call 1-800-992-TIXX.Tickets for Willamette University students, faculty and staff are available through the music department.

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Baroque Concert at Willamette University

The Willamette University Department of Music and the Grace Goudy Distinguished Artists Series presents Terrell Stone, a premiere performer and scholar of the baroque lute, Friday, March 8, 2002, at 8 p.m. in Jerry Hudson Hall.

The performance will feature music by two of the most famous composer/performers of the baroque era - Johann Sebastian Bach and Silvius Leopold Weiss. Tickets are $10 for general admission and $5 for children under 12. For more information, call 503-370-6255. The concert is free to Willamette University students, faculty and staff.

A lecture and performance workshop are scheduled for March 7th and 8th at Willamette. For details, call the Music Department at 503-370-6255 or John Doan at 503-370-6174 for times and locations.

Terrell Stone has performed as a soloist and has participated in music festivals in North and South America and in Europe. Appearing on television and radio, he has more than 30 recordings to his credit.

Stone has taught lute at conservatories in Rome and Bari, Italy, and is now professor of lute at the Conservatory Pedrollo in Vicenza, Italy. He has edited several modern editions of music for lute and has written scholarly articles about the life and music of Silvius Leopold Weiss.

Although he studied in Switzerland, France and Italy, Terrell grew up in Oregon and was a student of music at Willamette University.

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Pianist Ilya Itin to Perform In Concert

Pianist Ilya Itin, winner of the 1996 Leeds Competition, will perform in concert Tuesday, Dec. 11, at 8 p.m. in Hudson Hall, Mary Stuart Rogers Music Center, Willamette University, Salem. Itin introduces the Grace Goudy Distinguished Artists Series for 2001.

The Russian-born Itin studied at the Sverdlovsk Music School for gifted children with Natalia Litvinova before he entered the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. With Lev Naumov as his teacher, Itin graduated with Highest Honors from the Conservatory. He has been living in New York since 1990.

A pianist who has earned the admiration of conductors, colleagues and the international press, he has performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, the National Symphony in Washington, D.C., the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra in the Royal Festival Hall in London, the Tokyo Philharmonic, and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic in the Great Hall in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Itin has appeared with the Philharmonic Orchestra under both Mikhail Pletnev and Neeme Jarvi, and made his Vienna debut while on tour with Sir Simon Rattle and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. He has toured extensively in England, giving his BBC Proms debut with the BBC Philharmonic and Vassily Sinaisky at the Royal Albert Hall.

Of his debut at the Bath festival, the Daily Telegraph wrote, “Poised, pure and ravishing in its range of colour, Itin’s playing is a prime example of a superb technique put at the service of an inquiring and imaginative mind.”

Itin has played in Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Severance Hall (Cleveland), Salle Pleyel and the Chatelet Theatre (Paris). His concert tours have included engagements in China, South America and Israel.

Tickets are $20 for adults, $12 for area students, seniors and Willamette University faculty and staff, and $3 for Willamette students at Mid-Valley Arts Council, Safeway Fastixx outlets and the Willamette Music Department.

For more information, contact Anita King, 503-370-6452.

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Willamette's Distinguished Artist Series to Bring Two World-Renowned Groups

Willamette University's 2000-2001 Grace Goudy Distinguished Artist Series will present two world-renowned performance groups—Chanticleer, the only full-time classical vocal ensemble in the United States, and the Tokyo String Quartet.

San Francisco-based Chanticleer has developed a reputation over its 22-year history for an angelic interpretation of vocal literature, including renaissance, jazz and gospel. Prior to the main performance, Chanticleer will conduct a master class with the Willamette University Chamber Choir on Friday, Oct. 13, 2000, at 4 p.m. in Hudson Hall in the Mary Stuart Rogers Music Center. The master class is free and open to the public. The 12 male voices that form Chanticleer will perform Saturday, Oct. 14, 2000, at 8 p.m. in Smith Auditorium on Willamette's campus.

The Tokyo String Quartet, one of the world's leading quartets, has graced stages around the world for 33 years. The Tokyo quartet, made up of two violins, a viola and a cello, is known for its homogeneity of sound and precision. The Tokyo String Quartet will perform in Willamette's Smith Auditorium on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2001, at 8 p.m.

Tickets to the Chanticleer and Tokyo String Quartet performances are available through Mid-Valley Arts Council, 503-370-7469, and through all Fred Meyer FASTIXX outlets. Ticket prices are $20 for adults and $12 for students and seniors.

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