It's News to Me

Janos Gereben on February 9, 2016

A Three-Peat of Trios at Kohl Mansion

The Boreal Trio will serenade Kohl Mansion on Valentine's Day
The Boreal Trio will serenade Kohl Mansion on Valentine's Day

Music at Kohl Mansion, a haven for chamber music, is scheduling a sequence of trios — three of them within five weeks: Boreal Trio, on Feb. 14; Aurio Trio, on March 2; and Lysander Piano Trio, on March 20.

(After going with the ever-so-slightly-larger Israeli Chamber Project and the Harlem Quartet, a trio will close the season on May 1, one with the fun name of Trio Con Brio Copenhagen.)

Kohl Executive Director Patricia Kristof Moy — French-Hungarian herself — points out the Canadian Boreal Trio's international mix and triumphs in winning individually the Geneva International Competition, the Brahms International Competition, and the World Piano Competition. Moy adds:

We're delighted to offer the Music at Kohl debut of the Canadian Boreal Trio on Valentine's Day. The trio is the dream-come-true of long-time high school friends violist Juan-Miguel Hernandez and clarinetist Uriel Vanchestein, who teamed up just two years ago with fellow Montreal resident, pianist Wonny Song. While he is bringing his trio to Kohl Mansion for the first time, Hernandez is no stranger to our stage: he appeared in April 2011 as founding violist of the Harlem Quartet, and in October 2013 soon after becoming the violist of the venerable Fine Arts Quartet. The Boreal Trio has cooked up a compelling Valentine's Day program for us on the biggest date night of the year. As usual, the concert will be followed by a delectable buffet reception with wine and chocolates... all included in the ticket price.

The program includes Mozart (the "Kegelstatt" Trio, K. 498); Schumann's Märchenerzählungen (Fairy tales); eight pieces for clarinet, viola, and piano by Max Bruch; a Jean Françaix Trio; and Uriel Vanchestein's Moment musical. Clarinetist-composer Vanchestein is a founding member of the Boreal.

The Aurio Trio — Karen Hutchinson, keyboards; Zachariah Spellman, principal tuba of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra; and Rufus Olivier, principal bassoonist of the San Francisco Opera and Ballet orchestras — will give three morning concerts for children and families on March 2, beginning at 9:15, 10:25, and 11:35 a.m. The three virtuoso musicians are known for their entertaining, funny approach to introducing elementary and pre-school-aged students to music. Specially priced at $6, the Aurio Trio concerts can also be combined with a tour of Kohl Mansion for $10. Aurio will also perform a free concert at 3 p.m. on March 10 in the San Mateo Public Library.

This season's Music at Kohl Discovery Artist, New York-based Lysander Piano Trio, is the winner of multiple awards and honors including the 2012 Concert Artists Guild Competition, Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, Coleman Ensemble Competition, and the JC Arriaga Chamber Music Competition. The Trio will perform works by Beethoven, Fauré, Liszt, and Ives.


Stuart Canin 70 years ago, with the Big Three at Potsdam
Stuart Canin 70 years ago, with the Big Three at Potsdam


Stuart Canin and The Rifleman's Violin

Among his many distictions, just locally, Stuart Canin was concertmaster for the San Francisco and Berkeley symphonies, and New Century Chamber Orchestra. Otherwise, he has had a dazzling career in Los Angeles and around the world — and now, at age 90 (and active and feisty as ever), Canin is back in the news.

On Monday, Canin appeared on KQED-FM's "Forum," interviewed by Michael Krasny about Samuel Ball's documentary film, The Rifleman's Violin, about Canin as a 19-year old U.S. Army rifleman in World War II, playing for Harry Truman, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin at the historic Potsdam summit in 1945. The program will be repeated Monday evening at 10 p.m. on 88.5 FM, and may be subsequently available as a podcast, check the KQED radio website.

Among Canin's stories is how Stalin's bodyguard nearly tackled him when he opened his violin case. Canin says he has never been as nervous in front of an audience as he was on that day, realizing the event's importance in shaping the post-war world. Watch a preview of The Rifleman's Violin, and listen to the NPR "Deceptive Cadence" program, The Rifleman Who Fiddled For Truman, Churchill, and Stalin.


Beijing's Forbidden City Chamber Orchestra to make its Bay Area debut
Beijing's Forbidden City Chamber Orchestra to make its Bay Area debut


Celebrating Asian Music at Stanford

"We are fortunate to live in the Bay Area where we have such diverse cultures and are able to experience all different kinds of music and arts from around the world, especially Asia,” says Professor Jindong Cai of Stanford's Center for East Asian Studies.

Cai is founder and artistic director of the Stanford Pan-Asian Music Festival, the 12th edition hosted this year by Stanford Global Studies, Feb. 19-20, in Bing Concert Hall.

The festival will feature the Bay Area debut of the Forbidden City Chamber Orchestra from Beijing, created by some of the greatest masters of traditional Chinese music. The orchestra will showcase both traditional classics as well as adventurous new works and will perform at all three programs. This will include a special appearance at the beginning of the festival for collaboration with top Bay Area musicians from other Asian countries including Azerbaijan, Iran, Japan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. During their stay, ensemble members also will give master classes to students in the Stanford Chinese Music Ensemble.

Participating artists include Pezhham Akhavass, an Iranian percussionist and master of Tombak, director of the San Francisco World Music Festival for Iran; Imamyar Hassanov, Azerbaijani-American kamancha virtuoso and director of the San Francisco World Music Festival for Azerbaijan; Abbos Kosimov, Uzbeki percussionist and doya specialist; Vân-Ánh Võ, Emmy award-winning Vietnamese musician; Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto-Wong, Japanese-American koto master and filmmaker; Brian Mitsuhiro Wong, Japanese-Chinese-American koto player and winner of Sawai Soukyokuin Koto Conservatory's Grand Prix award; Shoko Hikage, Japanese koto player and member of the Natto Quartet; Karl Young, shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute) player; Reiko Iwanaga, odori performer and lead choreographer of the San Jose Obon Odori; the Stanford Chinese Music Ensemble; and California Youth Chinese Symphony.

The film screening and discussion, "Hidden Legacy: Japanese Traditional Performing Arts in the WWII Internment Camps," a documentary about the persistence of traditional Japanese cultural practice among Japanese Americans interned during World War II, will take place at 12:30 p.m. on Feb. 19.


First Prize and Other Honors for Pleasanton's Annie Wu

Annie Wu (Photo by Ryan Brandenburg)

Now 20, flutist Annie Wu has been on the SF Classical Voice radar for some time. Her latest accomplishment is winning first prize in the 2016 James Papoustakis Flute Competition in Boston. The Presidental Scholar in both academics and the arts, Wu won the final round in Longy School of Music's Pickman Concert Hall by performing Carl Nielsen's Flute Concerto, and Pierre Sancan's Flute Sonata.

The competition, with a cash prize and performance opportunities, is named after James Papoustakis (1911-1979), who was a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and a professor of flute at the New England School of Music, Boston University School of Fine Arts, the Boston Conservatory of Music, and Bard College.

Wu, who is enrolled in a five-year dual program at Harvard University and the New England Conservatory of Music, also won the national auditions of Astral Artists in Philadelphia last year, and she is now on the roster of Astral Artists Concert Management. During 2015, she performed Lukas Foss' "Renaissance" Flute Concerto with the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra; and François Devienne's Flute Concerto No. 7 with the Livermore Symphony. She also played principal flute in the Orchestra of the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara.

While in high school, Wu was a member of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra for four years, often occupying the first chair in the flute section, most prominently during performances of Ravel's Daphis et Chloe, Debussy's Prélude à l'Après-midi d'un faune, and Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf.

On top of all that, Wu has served as principal flute in the National Youth Orchestra of the USA for two years, touring Europe and Russia under the baton of Valery Gergiev, and touring the U.S. under the baton of David Robertson. She has been invited to join Michael Tilson Thomas' New World Symphony in Miami next summer.


Dudley Named Next Music Director of S.F. Conservatory Orchestra

Eric Dudley
Eric Dudley

Eric Dudley, 36, has been named music director of the S.F. Conservatory Orchestra for the 2016-17 academic year. He will succeed Scott Sandmeier, who after three years with the SFCM Orchestra, will resume his European conducting and teaching activities beginning in the fall.

Dudley is a Grammy-winning musician with a busy conducting career. He served as assistant conductor for both the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Princeton Symphony, and appeared recently as principal conductor for the 2015 Bendigo Festival of Exploratory Music in Australia. Career highlights include guest conducting engagements with the National Symphony Orchestra (Washington, D.C.), Hartford Symphony Orchestra (Connecticut), TENET Vocal Ensemble and Signal Ensemble (New York City), International Contemporary Ensemble at the Ojai Music Festival (California), and the Melbourne International Arts Festival (Australia).

Dudley currently teaches at Mannes School of Music in New York, where he is the music director of the Mannes Prep Philharmonic and the New School Chorus. He is a member of the cutting-edge vocal ensemble, Roomful of Teeth. The ensemble won its first Grammy in 2014, and is currently nominated for "Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance" for the album Render, which includes one of Dudley's compositions.

"Our orchestral program is thriving thanks to Scott Sandmeier's leadership. We are grateful to Scott for his extraordinary contributions over the past three years, and we look forward to welcoming him back as a guest conductor in upcoming seasons," said SFCM Provost and Dean Kate Sheeran.

Back in 2008, Dudley made news the hard way. He was the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra's assistant conductor when conductor Stephane Deneve and pianist Boris Berezovsky both cancelled their appearances. Norwegian conductor Eiving Gullberg Jensen was engaged to lead the concert, but the day before the event, he fell ill and canceled. To the rescue came Dudley, who conducted with great success, as reported in Mary Ellyn Hutton's review in Music in Cincinnati:

Dudley stepped in without missing a beat, kind of like Fred Astaire joining Ginger Rogers, and without changing the program. He’s had practice at the last-minute thing, having subbed for ailing William Eddins with the CSO on one day’s notice in 2006.

Dudley even led the CSO premiere of Norwegian composer Knut Vaage’s Tjat (“Chatter”).  But then Dudley is a composer himself, in addition to being a pianist, pre-concert lecturer, all-around music expert, and one of the best-liked musicians in town. (Overheard as patrons were leaving after the concert: “You know what I liked about this concert?  He was smiling all the time.”)