The Russians are Coming - November Night This Coming Monday, the 7th

We are sold out!

Dear friends,

The Russians are coming to Classical Underground, by way of the San Francisco Symphony, the LA Philharmonic, CSU Northridge, and yes, even all the way from Russia!  It's an all Russian musician program, featuring some of our oldest and dearest CU friends and some welcome newcomers, and one of the greatest Russian realist painters in our Artist Showcase.

Serge Oskotsky, our own wonderful cellist with the LA Phil, and David Chernyavsky, erstwhile CU and LA Phil violinist now with the SF Symphony, will be joined for the first time by esteemed CSU Northridge piano professor Dmitry Rachmanov to perform Rachmaninoff's Trio Elegiaque #1.  Dmitry Rachmanov will also perform solo with a selection of Schubert's Moment Musicaux and song transcriptions by Liszt.

Returning to CU from Moscow is the always exciting cellist Boris Andrianov, who will perform with the Russian pianist and composer Aleksander Pokidchenko.  Take a look at this thrilling performance by Boris from a previous visit to CU: http://youtu.be/Hc3r2rKNRwg.  Making his first appearance here, Aleksander will also play Scriabin on the glorious Steinway Hamburg CD-386 from Steinway...

May we suggest bringing vodka and blini, pirogi, piroshki, pelmini, caviar to share in Russian style?  It's going to be a spirited night of great music and art!   

Boris Andrianov

                                     Serge Oskotsky                    David Chernyavsky 

Dmitry Rachmanov          Aleksander Pokidchenko

  

And the Russians will be joined by a Chinese - CU regular - Mary Au!

As always - bring your spirits, food and drink for you and your friends to enjoy.  We are sold out!

  

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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 Celebrates:

LEONID STEELE

the Living Legacy of the art of the Soviet Union

It is a great honor and pleasure to salute a great Russian Master - my father Leonid Steele -- and to wish him a very HAPPY 90TH BIRTHDAY!

Leonid Steele "Ivan Susanin" 48" X 72" oil on canvas 1952

Leonid Steele is an important Russian Artist of the Socialist Realism School, known as "Socrealizm". A graduate of the much venerated Leningrad Repin Art Institute, former Russian Imperial Academy of Arts, and an heir to the Russian Academic Tradition, he became one of the masters of what is now known in the West as Soviet Impressionism of the 1950s - early 1960s, and one of the pioneers and leading masters of the Severe Style of the 1960s.

He is part of a remarkable group of the best artists of his era, who under the pressures of totalitarian society were able to expand its restraints and to appeal directly to the core of human emotions, contributing to the universal images of humanity.

Alexey Steele "My Father Leonid Steele" 48" X 60" oil on canvas

His ART is filled with deep empathy toward the common man, conveys a uniquely personal sense of the historic Soviet Era, and yet stands alone in its unequivocal and uncompromising search for artistic truth. He is the only artist of his historic stature with a career spanning the entire time frame of this important school of  post WWII art, who now resides in the United States.

His substantial oeuvre and life story, with its aesthetic and cultural importance as a vibrant thread that contributed to contemporary multi-cultural pattern, already belongs to history.

Drawing and painting since age four every day to this very moment - tenaciously, joyfully and vibrantly -- his remarkable life in ART stands as testimony to the powers of brilliant and restless, ever-young Creative Spirit.

Alexey 

    

In ART we trust!   

Season's Opening - This coming Monday, September 12 @ 8 p.m.

Dear friends,

Welcome back to CU for the opening of our 5th season with a program celebrating the 200th birthday year of Franz Liszt, along with music of fellow pianist-composers Rachmaninoff, Ravel, Scriabin and Franck... plus lots of cello, and a Klezmer finale to get us in the mood for the upcoming holidays! 

Joining us will be Eduardo Delgado (piano), Pavel Petrov (piano), Harout Senekeremian (piano), Armen Ksajikian (cello), Indira Rachmatulla (cello), Pepron Pilibossian (piano), Leo Chelyapov (clarinet) and Jordan Charnofsky (guitar).   

                    

As always - bring your spirits, food and drink for you and your friends to enjoy.  Please RSVP via Paypal (the button is below).  If you have problems with PayPal - don't wait - email us right away! 

Classical Underground Showcase:

  

 

An illustrious group of some of the top realist figure painters in the nation today gathered once again in the Classical Underground stronghold of Alexey's "Grand Atelier" to welcome the towering figure of the movement - legendary painter Richard Schmid. To say that we had fun would be an unforgivable understatement, as two full days of continuous celebration of our beloved art form armed with paints and brushes, food and booze, ideas and conversation were what the spirit of ART is all about. 

On the second day in a smaller group we got to paint a wonderful musician -- one of Classical Underground favorites, soprano Oxana Senina -- with her staggering beauty perfectly reflecting the beauty of her singing, as anyone who visited CU's summer excursion to Levitt Pavilion would attest.  

Music and Painting in their inseparable unity make ART rule in our turbulent world - this is what I call NOVOREALISM.

In ART we trust!     

Please use this button to make the reservations:

About the performers for Sept 12

Eduardo Delgado, CU favorite, renowned performer of romantic and Argentinian piano repertoire, Prof. at CSUF.  Just came back from performing internationally.




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.

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

Pepi Pilibossian, an incredible collaborative pianist, our CU regular, along with classical core repertoire performing rare authentic music. 

Armen Ksajikian, has performed as principal or soloist with the Los Angeles Chamber, Opus Chamber and Hollywood Bowl orchestras, among others.

Indira Rahmatulla, a graduate of Colburn Conservatory, has achieved success in international competitions, including the Aram Khachaturian Cello Competition, and the Torrance Symphony's Young Artist Competition. Her concert engagements include solo and chamber music performances throughout Turkey, Europe, and US. Indira is Principal Cellist of the American Youth Symphony.

 Leo Chelyapov, clarinetist, multi-instrumentalist, composer and arranger, is a graduate of the Moscow College of Musical Arts. As an avid Klezmer musician, Leo was commissioned to arrange "Klezmer Dances" for the LA Guitar Quartet, and recorded it for Sony Classical. Leo's commercial work includes soundtrack for "Private Parts," with The Red Hot Chili Peppers, performances on MTV, Late Night with David Letterman, and Madison Square Garden.

Jordan Charnofsky holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from USC Thornton School of Music in classical guitar performance. He has served regularly as principal guitarist for the L.A. Opera Orchestra, and has accompanied opera superstars Juan Diego Florez Bryn Terfel, and Luciano Pavarotti.

Special! CU at the Levitt Pavilion of Pasadena - June 25th, Saturday

Classical Underground goes above the ground!

Special program at the Levitt Pavilion of Pasadena

June 25, Saturday at 8 p.m.

admission is FREE

bring your own food and your own chair!

85 E. Holly St., Pasadena, CA 91103 - the concert is in the Memorial Park

Program:

Antonio Vivaldi: Concerto for Two Trumpets in C Major

Courtney Jones - trumpet

Ilya Sergienko - trumpet

Mikael Oganes - piano

Alexander Scriabin: Etude Op. 8 No. 12 (Heroic)

Nikolai Rakow: Humoresque

Anton Rubenstein: Melody

Ilya Sergienko – trumpet

Mikael Oganes - piano

Sergei Rachmaninoff: “Oh, Cease thy Singing, maiden fair"

Sergei Rachmaninoff: " How fair this spot!"

Vincenzo Bellini: " Oh, quante volte!” from I Capuleti e i Montecchi

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov: "The Snow Maiden"

Oxana Senina – soprano

Diane Ketchie - piano

Niccolo Paganini: Variations on a theme by Rossini

David Popper: Polonaise de concert

Laszlo Mezo – cello

Steven Vanhauwaert - piano

Witold Lutoslawski: Variations on theme by Paganini for piano and percussion transcription by M. Oganes and J. Astaire

Leonard Bernstein: Symphonic Dances from Westside Story transcription by M. Oganes and J. Astaire

Mikael Oganes – piano

John Astaire - percussion

More info about the Levitt Pavilion of Pasadena

http://www.levittpavilionpasadena.org/

About the performers for June 25th

Courtney Jones, trumpet, an instant hit at CU, who frequently plays with the Golden State pops Orchestra, Southeast Symphony, MET LA Theater. Courtney completed his Doctorate of Musical Arts in Trumpet Performance and Pedagogy at UCLA.

Laszlo Mezo, cello, is winner of several International competitions, and is a member of the Pacific Symphony.  László has forged a career as a soloist, recitalist, master teacher and chamber musician. He performs extensively in Europe, Asia and America, appearing in countries such as Hungary, Romania, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, France, Brazil and Japan.

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

John Astaire earned his Doctor of Music degree in percussion and is currently active as a teacher and performer. His primary teachers included Gerald Carlyss and Kenneth Watson, under whom he also studied the Hungarian cimbalom. John has been a guest with several musical ensembles across the U.S., as well as a performer at the Cimbalom World Association's 2003 World Congress. 


Soprano Oxana Senina recently performed the role of Queen Tye in the Long Beach Opera production of AKHNATEN. Not only an accomplished singer but a fine cellist as well, Ms. Senina earned undergraduate music degrees in both cello and vocal performance at the Chonkushov University as well as a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from the Music Academy in Moscow.

Diane Ketchie is not only a concert pianist but is also an accomplished singer. Of her dual talents as displayed in the opera, Orpheus In Love, Bernard Holland of THE NEW YORK TIMES said, “I can think of no one in the popular, Broadway or classical world who could do all the things Diane Ketchie does and do them so well." In the past few years Diane has appeared in concert in over forty states. Ms. Ketchie is proud to serve on both the Vocal Arts and Keyboard faculty at CSU Northridge.

Ilya Sergienko, is a professional music performer, composer, arranger and producer, who loves to explore new artistic opportunities. Ilya’s bright talent and stage presence make both his solo and group trumpet performances memorable. Ilya’s repertoire and knowledge of styles is extensive.

Steven Vanhauwaert, piano. Hailed by the Los Angeles Times for his "impressive clarity, sense of structure and monster technique", Steven Vanhauwaert has garnered a wide array of accolades, amongst which the Maurice Lefranc award, the Rotary Prize, the Galiot Prize and the USC Concerto Competition. Steven performs frequently throughout Europe, the US and last year China, both solo and in chamber music groups. His performances are broadcast regularly on K-MZT, K-CSN, K-USC, WHKB, W-UOT, K-UAT and KLARA.

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! 

 

******

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:

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!