March Night This Coming Monday, the 21st - Sold out!

                          

Dear friends, 

Our March Classical Underground program will journey from the 17^th century to the 21^st,through geography from Argentina to Armenia and the Spain of yesterday and today, with musical styles from Bach to Khachaturian to Navarro. 

 

We are very fortunate to have the finest interpreter of Argentine piano music living right here in LA, CU favorite Eduardo Delgado, who will play the rhythmically riveting first piano sonata of his compatriot Alberto Ginastera.

You may have seen him profiled on 60 Minutes and on KABC news the last time he played at CU, though most of us were probably not invited to hear his recent performance at Vice President's Joe Biden's house.  But it is always a very special occasion when Rex Lewis Clark shares his great love of music with us. Rex will play a Chopin Nocturne and his own arrangement of a Schubert Impromptu.

                                          

 

Bach's eternal works with their universal musical material have thrived as transcriptions for many instruments, and when his chorale preludes are played by virtuoso bassoonist John Steinmetz, you might believe that's what Johann Sebastian had in mind all along. What better way to celebrate one of mankind's greatest geniuses on his birthday, which is March 21^st!

The timeless Armenian spirit brilliantly shines through the vibrant and lush themes of this nation's iconic composer Aram Khachaturian, and will be brought to life at CU by the wonderful musicians of Armenian heritage Aroussiak Baltaian, violin and Pepi Pilibossian, piano.  The duo will send us dancing into the night with some Gypsy violin by way of Spain, with Sarasate's Zigeunerweisen.  For a historic teaser, check out Pablo Sarasate himself way back in 1904:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABm7nMVyNh4

                                                     

 Some of the most intensely romantic themes that Rachmaninoff ever wrote are packed into his cello sonata, more rightly called a sonata for cello and piano as the romantic splendor and virtuosic demands are shared equally... in this case between cellist Peter Myers, making his CU debut, and Ryan McCullough, who made a great impression at our last CU gathering.

Composer Oscar Navarro, who flew from Spain to be with us, will present his Jumper Clarinet arranged for French Horn and Piano, performed by Pablo Ortiz De Urbina and Harout Senekeremian. And finally, Harout will finish the evening with the super-virtuoso Sonatine by Charles-Valentin Alkan.        

              

  

                                                                             
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!   The full program and the list of musicians is in the post below. 

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

          

 

                          

Classical Underground Showcase:

VADIM ZANGINIAN   

A student of my beloved "Russian School" in painting from Erevan, Armenia, Vadim Zanginian is an art teacher and artist for whom interactions with classical music are just as important, from the standpoint of artistic execution or "form", as the subject matter or "content" in his work.

 

Aram Khachaturian, oil on canvas, 18" x 24"  

   

 In ART we trust!


We are sold out!

March 21 Programme Notes

Rex Lewis Clack, musical savant, profiled on 60 Minutes and on KABC news the last time he played at CU.  It is always a very special occasion when Rex shares his great love of music with us.

Eduardo Delgado, CU favorite, renowned performer of romantic and Argentinian piano repertoire, Prof. at CSUF. "Virtuosity, clean sound, and passion... the best" La Capital of Argentina.

John Steinmetz is a freelance bassoonist in L.A. who also composes, writes, and teaches at UCLA.









Eric Neufeld is a recovering bassoonist who has traded the irritation of working with recalcitrant reeds for the annoyance of piano intonation 
 




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


 
 

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.


 

 
Aroussiak Baltaian violin, has gained international attention through her extensive appearances as a prominent recitalist, soloist, chamber musician and recording artist.  She is a member of the Pasadena Symphony Orchestra and performs regularly with the LA Phil.  She also serves on the faculty of the Music Department at the Master’s College.




 

Cellist Peter Myers is becoming known as a chamber musician of great lyricism, imagination, and color. He has performed abroad in Germany, Japan, Laos, and Mongolia.




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.

Pablo Ortiz de Urbina at age 17 joined San Diego Youth Symphony as Associate Principal French horn.  Urbina is a member of American Youth Symphony and regularly plays with many different ensembles. He combines his playing career with work in the fields of conducting, composing and event managing. 

programme

J.S. Bach (1685-1750)

Aria, “Beglückte Herde” (Blessed Shepherd) from Cantata 104;

Three Chorale Preludes (transcribed by Pierre Fournier)

Nun komm’ der Heiden Heiland , BWV 659 (Now Come, Savior of the Heathens); Herzlich tut mich velangen, BWV 727 (I Yearn from My Heart);

Wenn wir in Hochsten Nöthen sein, BWV 641 (When We Are in Deepest Need)

John Steinmetz, bassoon, Eric Neufeld, piano

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 - 1943)

Sonata for Cello and Piano in G minor Op.19
3.Andante (E flat major)

4.Allegro mosso (G major)

Peter Myers, cello, Ryan MacEvoy McCullough, piano

Frédéric François Chopin (1810 – 1849)

Nocturne in C Minor;

Franz Peter Schubert (1797 – 1828)

Impromptu in A Flat Minor no. 4

Rex Lewis Clack, piano

Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983)

Sonata No.1 op. 22

Allegro marcato

Presto misterioso

Adagio molto appassionato

Ruvido ed ostinato
Eduardo Delgado, piano

Pablo de Sarasate (1844 – 1908)

 Zigeunerweisen, op 20

Aram Khachaturian (1903 – 1978)

Nocturne from MASQUERADE-Suite

Aroussiak Baltaian, violin, Pepi Pilibossian piano

Oscar Navarro (1981- present)

Jumper Clarinet arranged for French Horn and Piano

Pablo Ortiz De Urbina, french horn, Harout Senekeremian, piano

Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813 – 1888)

Sonatine op.61

Allegro Vivace

Allegramente

Scherzo-Minuet

Coda. Tempo giusto

Harout Senekeremian, piano

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CLASSICAL UNDERGROUND SHOWCASE

VADIM ZANGINIAN

A student of my beloved "Russian School" in painting from Erevan, Armenia, Vadim Zanginian, is an art teacher and artist for whom interactions with classical music are just as important, from the standpoint of artistic execution or "form," as the subject matter or "content" in his work.

Aram Khachaturian, oil on canvas, 18" x 24" 

LA today is a unique global cultural crossroads. With remarkable talent from every creative field coming from all over the world, we are enormously fortunate to participate in and benefit from an intangible yet remarkably consequential and famous phenomenon called "knowledge spillover".


Paris roughly 100 years ago was justly famous for it, when Picasso and Braque were charting the course of 20th century ART out of her creative juices.

James Panero just wrote a fabulous article on it.

In some ways Classical Underground is an exercise in such a "knowledge spillover" when music and art as forms of Classical vision "cross-pollinate" each other.

The fusion of various schools of thinking is particularly evident within the newly and excitedly emerging current day realism, where thirst for knowledge in classical visual form is truly inspiring. While most established academic institutions fail to address the need for a thorough realist "fine art" -- not "illustrationist" education, the grass roots "underground" effort is tenaciously filling the void with the growing popularity of live drawing and painting classes along with the sharpened interest in its guiding principles and practices.

This substantially raises the importance of an "underground," "un-approved" by the reigning art establishment teachers, and highlights the inherently communal nature of culture based on sharing of "forbidden" knowledge, and which in turn contributes greatly to a volatile mix inside of LA's creative pressure cooker.

One of the wonderful art thinkers, teachers and artists in this phenomenal and deeply "insurgent" movement within our community is our good friend, Vadim Zanginian.