Programme Notes - October 25

By popular demand we are sharing our exciting program with you as it formed by now.  Tonight will be a night of astounding piano virtuosity and a lovely new chamber opera, plus Bach, Spanish guitar, Italian clarinet, and Russian cello favorites with introductions by Comrade Laurence Vittes.

In a Classical Underground first, we present selections from a new opera, "A Dream Play" by local composer S.J. Pettersson (who will be present), in a chamber orchestration for a unique array of instruments and voice.

Marc Andre-Hamelin is considered today's greatest piano super-virtuoso, specializing in the most entertainingly difficult works of the 19th century, but did you know he is also a brilliant composer? Inspired by the style of 19th-century piano greats like Alkan and Thalberg, these hyper-difficult, hyper-beautiful etudes require a hyper-virtuoso to bring them off, and we have one in Harout Senekeremian!

The piano fun continues with Michael Oganes' (Oganesyan) own brilliant transcription of Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain.

Our CU favorite, Moni Simeonov, is bringing this time the beautiful and virtuoso Bach's Chaconne. We are also getting ready for a surprise performance. The rumours say that Natalia Margulis (principal cello at the Madrid Royal Opera) and Armen Ksajikian (principal of Los Angeles Chamber) were rehearsing few pieces for two celli today. Stay tuned for their late-night appearance!

And to cap off our evening of virtuosity and opera, 6 hands and 30 flying fingers on one Steinway keyboard in a Rossini grand finale!

and the weather? ....not record high, not record low, and no rain in the evening!

 

Thank you everyone for being patient while dealing with the paypal issues!

alexey steele presents

CLASSICAL UNDERGROUND

October 25, 2010

Music and Art Series

Special thanks to Steinway Piano Gallery – West Hollywood for their wonderful Steinway D!

Introductions by Laurence Vittes

PROGRAMME

Francisco Tarrega: Zarzuela on Themes from Arrieta's "Marina,"

Francisco Tarrega: Sueno (tremolo)

Iren Arutyunyan - guitar

Johann Sebastian Bach: Chaconne from Partita 2 in D

Moni Simeonov - violin

"Carnival of Venice" variations by Paul Jeanjean, Domenico Mirco and Luigi Bassi

Ben Lulich – clarinet, Pepi Pilibossian - piano

Modest Mussorgsky: Night at a Bald Mountain (Piano Solo Transcription by M. Oganes)

Mikael Oganes - piano

S. J. Pettersson - from chamber opera A Dream Play

1. Postlude (We actually should call it Prelude just because it comes first)

2. The Officer and Victoria

3. The Green Fishing Net

4. The Star Quilt

5. The Ballerina

6. From My Lips By Yours (world premiere performance)

Oxana Senina - soprano, Yakov Birman – piano, Moni Simeonov - violin, Eugene Lifschitz - cello, Cosima Luther - violin, Ben Lulich - clarinet, Gee Rabe - accordion, Jack Verga - glockenspiel

Marc-Andre Hamelin: Etude No. 6 “Omaggio a Domenico Scarlatti”

Marc-Andre Hamelin: Etude No.7 “Lullaby” for the left hand after Tchaikovsky

Marc-Andre Hamelin: Etude 5 “Toccata Grottesca”

Harout Senekeremian - piano

Piazzolla arranged for 6 hands by M. Oganes
Gioachino Rossini: Barber of Seville Fantasie

arranged for 6 hands By D. Krug

Pepi Pilibossian, Mikael Oganes, Harout Senekeremian

CU Showcase: 

Focus on Design in Painting: The Three Compadres

Glenn Dean, Logan Hagege, Eric Merrell

One of the key elements of the human interpretation of "real" is our sense of "design" which is aimed at making personal choices of importance and priorities within the chosen subject through the arrangement of main compositional forms - something no techno gadget is capable of making regardless of a price tag. Great friends who shared many travel adventures together, Glen, Logan and Eric are some of today's leading young artists investigating in their enormously effective and aesthetically satisfying work the visual force of "design."

October 25th invitation

Dear friends,

We have a great program for our October evening studded with wonderful musical talents and exciting works, spanning from the immortal classics to the music of our day.  Let's celebrate together the ever-present and ever-burning spirit of art and the beginning of the holiday season at our Classical Underground.

As always - bring your spirits, food and drink for you and your friends to enjoy.  Please RSVP via Paypal.

Again we are most grateful to our supportive friends at Steinway Piano Gallery West Hollywood for graciously providing us with their incomparable instrument.

In the program:
Iren Arutyunyan (guitar), Yakov Birman (piano), Eugene Lifschitz (cello), Ben Lulich (clarinet), Cosima Luther (violin), Mikael Oganes (piano), Pepi Pilibossian (piano), Gee Rabe (accordion), Harout Senekeremian (piano), Oxana Senina (soprano), Moni Simeonov (violin), Jack Verga 

Iren Arutyunyan, classical guitar, garnered many awards since she was 13, including first prize at the Aron Green/ASTA Classical Guitar Competition.

Eugene Lifschitz, currently at Colburn Scool of Music is a laureate of the International Schlern Music Competition and has just returned to the US after two years study at the Moscow Conservatory under famed cello teacher Natalia Gutman.

Gee Rabe, LA's accordion diva, has won major awards for her performance, including the Accordion Federation of North America's virtuoso (Western classical) and virtuoso jazz competitions in 1984 and 1985 respectively. She is currently finishing a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Yakov Birman, pianist, graduated from St. Petersburg Conservatory, is active performing and teaching.  Dr. Yakov Birman has experience in music from the Baroque era to our own time.

Mikhail Korzhev, pianist, is equally active as a solo recitalist, a chamber musician and has appeared as soloist with orchestras to high critical acclaim from American and European press.  Korzhev recorded a CD of Krenek’s piano music released by Phoenix Records.

S.J. Pettersson, composer.  A handpicked ensemble of Classical Underground favorites and newcomers will be performing selected pieces from S.J. Pettersson's 2010 chamber opera "A Dream Play" plus a world premiere performance of his new piece for cello and piano.

Mikael Oganes, pianist - CU favorite, who in addition to his virtuoso performances, continuously surprises and dazzles with his incredible piano transcriptions of major symphonic works.

Pepi Pilibossian, an incredible collaborative pianist, our CU regular, performing rare authentic music.

Harout Senekeremian, pianist, is an eager participant in the performance of new music. Senekeremian continues to concertize in both solo and chamber concerts in Southern California as well as maintaining an active piano studio.

Cosima Luther (MM, University of Southern California, BA, Pepperdine University) has been playing violin since the age of five and is currently a freelance teacher and performer in the Los Angeles area.

Oxana Senina, coloratura soprano, holds two Bachelor of Music degrees in both voice and cello from Chonkushov University and a Master's degree in voice from the Gnessino Academy in Moscow.

Moni Simeonov, CU favorite, dynamic virtuoso of romantic Bulgarian violin, concertmaster of Reno Philharmonic.

Ben Lulich, principal clarinet of the Pacific Symphony since May 2007, will be debuting at CU.

Jack Verga has had a long successful career as a jazz drummer, orchestral percussionist and teacher in the Los Angeles area.

Noel Gould, rare to find a fantastic engineer who is also a pianist; over the past 28 years he has recorded everyone from Leon Fleisher, the Tokyo String Quartet, The New York Woodwind Ensemble, Leonard Rose, The Vermeer String Quartet, Rufus Choi and our own Yana Reznik!

 Classical Underground Showcase:

 Focus on Design in Painting: The Three Compadres

Glenn Dean, Logan Hegege, Eric Merrell

As the newest stage of contemporary realism, which I came to call NOVOREALISM, is gaining steam with great new generation of young American talent, it is showing itself in a diverse variety of existing and distinct forms.

"Realism" in painting is often thought of as something that "looks just like a photograph," which in fact cannot be further from its actual substance. "Photorealism" is a respected and established part of a modernist expression, which is aimed at recreating a technological effect of a photograph. "Realism" is based solely on the laws and principles of a human perception of a visual world. Even when "realist" painters use photographs (even though when they do, it is most often as a very secondary reference) it is done entirely based on their long-developed ability to interpret visual reality "live."

One of the key elements of this human interpretation of "real" is our sense of "design" which is aimed at making personal choices of importance and priorities within the chosen subject through the arrangement of main compositional forms - something no techno gadget is capable of making regardless of a price tag.

Great friends who shared many travel adventures together, Glen, Logan and Eric are some of today's leading young artists investigating in their enormously effective and aesthetically satisfying work the visual force of "design."

Glenn Dean "Evening in the Foothills" 16x20 oil Logan Hagege "Shadows On the Mountain" oil 30x40 Eric Merrell "Spaceship Landing (The Salton Sea)" Oil  30" x 30"

In ART we trust!