May Night this coming Monday, the 16th - with LA Phil Piano Trio! - SOLD OUT!

WE ARE SOLD OUT!
Dear friends, we are thrilled to have an astonishingly impressive power trio making their CU debut this month, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Piano Trio:  Martin Chalifour, esteemed concertmaster and frequent solo violinist of the LA Philharmonic, Peter Stumpf, principal cellist of the LA Philharmonic and devoted chamber player, and Joanne Pearce Martin, principal keyboard master of the LA Philharmonic, will perform the magnificent Brahms Piano Trio #2 -- a preview of their upcoming concert at Disney Hall.

  

                                                   

The Angeles Saxophone Quartet makes a delightfully convincing musical argument for their instruments' place in the classical world.  Their playing of romantic and contemporary sax quartets will blow away thoughts of John Coltrane and Charlie Parker and leave you wondering why we don't hear more classical sax!

 

Also making his CU debut, international concert pianist and Naxos recording artist Markus Pawlik will perform Beethoven's Appassionata Sonata.

 

Most people who hear the name "Davidov" think of the Stradivarius cello now played by Yo-Yo Ma that famously used to belong to Jacqueline DuPre.  It got that name because it also used to belong to the Russian Karl Davidov, the greatest cellist of his day. A contemporary of Tchaikovsky, Davidov was an occasional composer and we will hear one of his rarely performed gems, the Concert Allegro, played by our young virtuoso Xian Zhuo, with Mary Au on piano.

For all the greedy pianists who wanted the drop-dead gorgeous melody from Rachmaninoff's cello sonata all to themselves without having to share it with a pesky cellist, the super-virtuoso pianist Arkady Volodos created a solo transcription which our own super-virtuoso, Harout Senekeremian, will very generously share with us. 

                                                  

                                      

  

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! 

 

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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.  

        

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Classical Underground Showcase:

JEREMY LIPKING 

An Unveiling of a new paining by Jeremy Lipking

 

We are enormously excited to showcase the newest work of a diehard "undergrounder" and one of the "official" CU painters in our notorious LA Art gang, our great friend Jeremy Lipking.    

  

   

"Flor de Muertos" 40" x 70" oil on canvas   

Jeremy is one of the leading forces in today's "Post Post-Modern" stage in contemporary American Art, the movement I call NOVOREALISM. One of the most successful and influential painters of his generation, his greatest strength perhaps is in declining to simply repeat what worked before, but to constantly explore and to expand his visual language.

Jeremy's new work is a formidable example of that search. Combining sophisticated tonal range with a delicately harmonized yet strong color rendition brings a visceral sense of glow to his austere compositional shapes, punctuated by a confidently rendered and moody figure with the edge of her black scarf emphasizing the features of the obscured sorrowful face. The energetic and fresh impasto foreground is anchored both visually and emotionally by the two empty bottles.

Jeremy's "Flor de Muertos" is a great testimony to the broad possibilities of true realism applied to seriously conceived thematic figure work, something that I think of as the most exciting frontier in our great contemporary movement.

in ART we trust!

WE ARE SOLD OUT!

May 16th programme notes

About the musicians in the program:

Enjoying her 10th season as the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Keyboardist, Joanne Pearce Martin performs with the orchestra on multiple keyboard instruments including the celesta, various synthesizers, and occasionally a Mac computer, in addition to the ubiquitous piano. Martin performs all over the world as soloist, chamber musician, and recording artist. Her playing has been described by the Los Angeles Times as possessing “unusual fervor and fluency” and “stirring virtuosity.”

Martin Chalifour began his tenure as Principal Concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1995. He has appeared as soloist with conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Charles Dutoit, Christoph Eschenbach, Sir Neville Marriner, and Esa-Pekka Salonen. Chalifour and two of his Philharmonic colleagues, Joanne Pearce Martin and Peter Stumpf, met in 1981 while all three were studying at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia; they have joined forces to form the Los Angeles Philharmonic Piano Trio.

After serving 12 years as the Associate Principal Cellist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Peter Stumpf became the Principal Cellist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the start of the 2002/03 season. A dedicated chamber music musician, he is a member of the Johannes String Quartet and has appeared on chamber music series at Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Walt Disney Concert Hall, as well as with the Boston Celebrity Series and the Da Camera Society in Los Angeles.

 








Xian Zhuo (卓賢) is an extraordinarily talented young international artist known for his stunning technique, sensitivity and superb artistry.  He has performed on three continents and shared stage with Mstislav Rostropovich and Seiji Ozawa.

German pianist Markus Pawlik has been performing in public throughout Europe, North America and Asia since age 7.  As well as playing for the first time at CU, new challenges for Markus this year include a debut with the Dallas Symphony, an upcoming post-earthquake tour of Japan, performing the Beethoven Hammerklavier Sonata for the first time and preparing for a new recording of chamber music works by Arthur Schnabel. 

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. He is a regular performer at CU.

Hong Kong born pianist Mary Au is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music and the USC. Her collaboration with many renowned artists, including appearances in Columbia Artists Management Community Concerts, has been enthusiastically received. As a former executive of the GRAMMY Awards, Mary Au continues to dedicate herself to cross cultural boundaries and share her musical fabric with audiences worldwide.

The Angeles Saxophone Quartet, all music students from UCLA, has won a prestigious Gold Medal in the  2010 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, and recently won the Prize for Winds in the 2011 Coleman Chamber Music Competition in Pasadena, CA.

Christopher Elchico, soprano saxophone; Ryan Weston, alto saxophone; Umut Dursun, tenor saxophone; Andrew Barnhart, baritone saxophone

We are completely sold out!