Program for Feb 7 - we are sold out!

Program:

Cesar Franck (1822-1890)

Violin Sonata, A Major, 1 and 2nd movement

Ludmila Adzhemova - violin

Yulia Barsky - piano

Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915)

3 Preludes Op.11

Prelude and Nocturne for the left hand, Op.9

Impromptu No. 2, Op.12 in B flat minor

Pavel Petrov - piano

Philip Glass (b.1937)

Arias from "Akhnaten"
Act 2 Scene 2: Akhnaten and Nefertiti

Act 2 Scene 4: Hymn

Act 1 Scene 3: The Window of Appearance

by members of Long Beach Opera

Nandani Sinha - mezzo soprano, Heather Calvete - soprano, Oxana Senina - soprano

Andreas Mitisek - Artistic Director and piano

intermission

Franz Liszt (1811-1886)

Sonetto 123 del Petrarca

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)

Etude-Tableau, op. 33 no. 4

Ryan MacEvoy McCullough - piano

Richard Strauss (1864-1949)

Sonata for violin and piano E-flat

Radu Pieptea - violin, Bryan Pezzone - piano

Please stay after main program to enjoy spontaniuoty of classical music jamming / reading by Armen Ksajikian and Pepi Pilibosian.

Meet the artists:

Andreas Mitisek, Artistic and General Director of Long Beach Opera (LBO), conductor and concert artist, earned critical and popular acclaim for building the foremost contemporary opera companies.

Nandani Sinha, mezzo soprano, member of Long Beach Opera, has performed in Los Angeles, London, Germany, Austria, France and New York.

Soprano Heather Calvete, member of LBO, who earned critical acclaim as a singer with "sensitivity, considerable power and a most attractive sheen", has performed opera and concert works in the US and Europe. 

Oxana Senina, coloratura soprano who captivated audience with her recent CU performances, returns to CU as a member of Long Beach Opera. 

Radu Pieptea, a Julliard graduate and Fulbright Scholar, currently records in the studios for movies, television, and records and performs regularly with the LA Philharmonic,  LA Opera and Hollywood Bowl Orchestra.

Bryan Pezzone, has excelled in classical, contemporary, jazz, and experimental genres. His recent endeavor, Freedom Series, is a growing and thriving series of concerts that features his own music, improvisations, selected standard repertoire and spoken musings and feelings about life.

Pavel Petrov, CU regular, hailed for his "masterful performances, depth of tone, exquisite taste and artistic originality" is an extraordinary gifted musician, organist, chamber performer, and pedagogue.

 

Ludmila Adzhemova had taught at the Special Music School of the St. Petersburg Conservatory for 28 years.  Among her students are concertmasters of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Kirov Orchestra, and orchestra members of the Barcelona, Valencia, Rotterdam and Copenhagen Symphonies.

Pianist Ryan MacEvoy McCullough, making his mark as an artist of great versatility and musical fervor, has studied with John Perry at the Colburn Conservatory and Thornton School of Music, and has appeared with numerous orchestras throughout U.S.

Yuliya Barsky, a frequent CU performer who elects to collaborate with chamber musicians in groups of two to six when not teaching piano in her studio.





WE ARE SOLD OUT!

February Night this coming Monday, the 7th

Classical Underground Showcase:

JOVE WANG 

It is a distinct pleasure to introduce a long time friend and one of the most accomplished California figurative realist painters Jove Wang. 

A graduate of the prestigious China Academy of Fine Arts, a highly influential art training center in China, Jove studied under renowned master artist Guo Gang who in turn was trained by the leading artists of the Leningrad Academy of the Soviet Union in the 1950s.  The Russian Realism genesis of some of today's most exciting Chinese realist artists is a remarkable phenomenon in contemporary Chinese art and a vibrantly significant part in newly emerging Realist Movement of the contemporary American art. 

Bold and poetic all within the same confident and unsentimental brush stroke, Jove's work in all variety of subjects rides on the hieghtened sensibility and depth of his color harmonies and presents a rare sensation of exhilarating and refined force of paint.

 

       New Century, Old Century, oil on linen, 84" x 60"

As always - bring your spirits, food and drink for you and your friends to enjoy.  Please RSVP via Paypal. If you have problems with PayPal - don't wait - email us right away at  classicalunderground@yahoo.com!
P.S. We are SOLD OUT!

Dear friends, 

Our prelude to Valentine's Day is full of romance and opera, CU debuts, and old favorites. 

In a CU first, we are thrilled to welcome Andreas Mitisek, the Artistic Director of the Long Beach Opera, and  members of the Long Beach Opera performing arias from Philip Glass's Akhnaten, including a love duet between Akhnaten and his queen, Nefertiti.  The love connection was obvious, but we had no idea how timely the Egyptian connection would be!

                                                     

 
Making his CU debut, violinist Radu Pieptea with pianist Bryan Pezzone will perform the Violin Sonata of Richard Strauss, a passionate early work written under the spell of his soon-to-be wife Pauline, and full of hints at his future operatic style.

Another rising local star, pianist Ryan McCullough, makes his CU debut with Liszt and Rachmaninoff, and talented young CU regular Pavel Petrov turns up the flames on the Steinway with preludes and impromptus of Scriabin.

              

 Ludmila Adzhemova, noted teacher and Grand Dame of LA violin, will give us a taste of the most romantic violin sonata of all, the Franck... or as Martha Argerich calls it, Franckenstein -- it is a monster for the pianist, too! In this case, CU's own Yulya Barsky.              
                                     

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

CU news and beyond, new youtube videos from October event

Dear friends of Music and Art,

Last month Rex Lewis Clark, who in so many ways embodies the very Spirit of Music, performed at the home of Vice President Joe Biden.  Please, see the picture below where Vice President is holding Cathleen's heart-felt and inspiring book "Rex". We are so proud for you, Rex, the world most definitely has much to learn from you!   

    

  

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Wonderful sound engineer Noel Gould together with our tireless and brilliant videographer Julie Resh have made it possible to revisit the extraordinary CU experience of our most unique October 25th event.  Enjoy it on YouTube below!

Moni plays Chaconne

"...then came the first heart attack.  Moni Simeonov played the Chaconne from Bach's Partita #2 ...  The music grew and grew and grew and many in the audience began to weep... When he finished the response was so intense and heartfelt I thought some of Alexey's paintings would fall off the walls." - Lynda Adams, CU aficionado
 

Rossini Barber 6 hands

"...the famous "Figaro!, Figaro!, Figaro!" passage... brought down the house. This time the tears were of laughter and hilarity".  - Lynda Adams

"To cap off the evening, 6 hands and 30 flying fingers on one Steinway keyboard, one piano bench and a half, and pianists Pepi Pilibossian, Mikael Oganes and Harout Senekeremian, had the crowd going wild in a Rossini grand finale..."  - Laurence Vittes, Huffington Post
 

   

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Right after our December concert, Alissa Margulis and Jura Margulis went to Germany to record their new album.  We feel very special to get a live "sneak pick" of it!

  

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You can now support Classical Underground   by getting a cool Classical Underground hat or a t-shirt!  Inquire at classicalunderground@yahoo.com

    Our next event is coming soon!  Stay tuned!

                                                                                                        
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