March Night Music & Art + potluck party this coming Monday, the 25th @ 8 p.m.

Dear friends,       

OK, LA is not Siberia...but after an unusually chilly winter, Classical Underground is ready to celebrate the arrival of Spring with an eclectic program of interesting new repertoire and classical and romantic favorites.

 

Anton Smirnov

A star was born at our last concert when young pianist Anton Smirnoff made his CU debut with a rollicking rendition of Stravinsky's Petrushka.  Anyone who was there will be thrilled that this highly impressive Colburn student is returning to play works of Rachmaninoff, Liszt, and Prokofiev, before he heads off to the Queen Elizabeth Competition in Brussels.

Eduardo Delgado

Our dear friend Eduardo Delgado is renowned for the Argentinian piano repertoire, but it is really Bach and the romantic composers that are closest to his heart. He will perform one of Bach's sunniest works, the Italian Concerto, as well as Mendelssohn's Variations Serieuses.

 

Moni Simeonov                                     Pepron Pilibossian 

CU favorite Moni Simeonov occasionally favors us with rarely-heard (here, anyway!) gems of Bulgarian composers, and he continues that exploration with the great Pancho Vladigerov's Chant and Vardar, accompanied by fellow CU regular Pepi Pilibossian on piano.

Evgeny Tonkha                                          Anna Drubich

Another duo quickly becoming CU faves are cellist Evgeny Tonkha and pianist/composer Anna Drubich.  They will perform works of Granados, De Falla, Piazzolla, Popper, and one of Anna's own compositions, "Night Song."

 

Ben Lulich

Continuing on that note, because Spring is time to celebrate LIVING music, Pepi returns with Ben Lulich, the wonderful clarinetist of the Pacific Symphony, to perform the Sonata for Clarinet and Piano of Easley Blackwood, a still living, still teaching composer at the University of Chicago.  

Although the weather is expected to be warm, the nights are still cool, so please dress warmly! 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 is proud to showcase a new painting by Christopher Pugliese

"Mother Earth" oil on canvas 80" X 76"  

        

         

  "Mother Earth" 80" x 76" oil on canvas   

   

A New York painter, Christopher Pugliese is one of the leading masters of a newly emerging movement in Contemporary American Art that I call NOVOREALISM. Uniting a group of young figurative painters, it reflects a collective artistic search at the end of post-modernism toward a different expressive language -- marked by a command of classical form, highly developed tonality and realist life-like colors as a vehicle of expressing the current state of sensibility and attitude towards dramatic shifts in our society. Christopher is a rarity among contemporary representational figurative painters, capable of conceiving and successfully executing a large-scale thematic composition combining multiple plastically-connected figures filled with movement -- a task similar in its overriding complexity of artistic and technical challenges to climbing Mount Everest, and requiring uncompromising life-long dedication.

Christopher recently had the honor of a retrospective solo exhibition at the New Britain Museum of American Art and is a subject of its accompanying catalog.

"Mother Earth" represents Christopher's most recent find on this exciting, continuous high road, and I am particularly excited welcoming such an extraordinary contemporary artist and brother-in-ART.

  

In ART we trust!    

Feb 4th - Music and Art with Szymanowski Quartet and more!

Music & Art + potluck party

this coming Monday , the 4th @ 8 p.m.   

                           

After a holiday and frosty winter break, we are ready to heat things up again at Classical Underground with an outstanding program!

 

We are very fortunate to be able to present the internationally renowned Szymanowski Quartet, stopping by CU for a preview before their Feb. 6 Orange County concert at the Samueli Theater at the OCPAC. This young Warsaw-based quartet has been featured at prestigious festivals and concert halls around the world.  Their recent CD on the Hyperion label has received rave reviews for their performances of rarely-heard but wonderful 19th century Polish composers Zarebski and Zelenski.  For CU, The Szymanowski Quartet will perform their namesake Szymanowski's Nocturne and Tarantella, and Schubert's iconic Death and the Maiden Quartet. 

   

  

Juan Colomer

  

 
 

                                 Anna Sarkisova          Ambroise Aubrun                       

We also have a local composer making his CU debut on the program:   "Downtown Bagatelle" by LA-based Spanish composer Juan J. Colomer -- a busy film composer and arranger who has worked with Placido Domingo and James Levine -- will be performed by violinist Ambroise Aubrun and pianist Anna Sarkisova   Anna will also play a solo Spanish piece, "Evocation" by Isaac Albeniz, from the Iberia Suite.    

  

    

  Anton Smirnov

                                         

Although he is still studying at Colburn, young pianist Anton Smirnov has performed with distinction across Russia and the US.  Making his CU debut, he will perform Stravinsky's diabolical piano transcription from his ballet Petrushka.  

Although the weather is expected to warm up by next week, the nights are still chilly, so please dress warmly! 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:    

   

Alexey Steele "The Dawn"

Oil on linen 77" x 187"       

            

  "The Dawn" 77" x 187" oil on canvas     

I am enormously happy and privileged to share with our Classical Underground family my most recent work, which just returned from being a Special Presentation of the LA Art Show. A "mini Classical Underground" was a decisive hit with Evgeny Tonkha's Bach cello Suites, Victor Wilde's post-contemporary fashion and my drawing demonstration in front of "The Dawn" together producing a unique collaborative experience of "classical performanceART."

 

Now you can feel the mutually empowering musical and visual imagery in its full strength at Classical Underground proper.

The Dawn, is a culmination of 15 years in my artistic search. It is a particularly meaningful work for me - both stylistically and personally.

The work came about after a long quest to find the most powerful and convincing way of expressing the type of Imagery that affects our imagination deeply and expresses truth about our current condition. It is a look at our reality and the unseen forces behind it; a style that I call NOVOREALISM.

 

I think Los Angeles is "the Paris of the 21st century," and that the brooding under the radar of mainstream dramatic artistic changes in the creatively combustive City of Angels closely repeats what was happening exactly one hundred years ago in the City of Lights.

The Dawn is conceived as an epic saga spanning the wide range of visual themes that engage our senses. The magic, majesty and the promise of a fleeting moment just before the sun breaks through a dark horizon and when the world is filled with the glow of ever-expanding and imminently rising light. The lone modern-day Madonna invokes the singular sanctity of motherhood and of a blissful paradise, an island of love. In the midst of a dark infinite expanse are forces much beyond our control that threaten us where we do not see, but feel their presence.

The status quo of the world is crumbling all around us, yet the force of life is inextinguishable and the mystery of a new life holds the future in its hands, in fact being more powerful than all the forces of the world.

The many anxieties about the future of our world serve as a perfect symbol signifying the vastly transformative nature of our times. The world will go on; it is up to us to chart its future course, but for this to happen we need a revolution that inspires an elevated consciousness...as we greet "The Dawn" and the new beginning. 

  

In ART we trust!    

Our November night - this coming Monday - the 5th!

November Night
Music & Art + potluck party
this coming Monday , the 5th @ 8 p.m.   

Dear friends,

ART is always a good vote!

  

On Election Eve, Monday 5th, escape all the chatter of pundits, all the political posturing and jockeying to contemplate our turbulent times and the importance of your choice.  Let timeless ART in Music and Image touch your heart and mind and giv'em strength to make that good vote.

Eduardo Delgado 

Fresh from performing with the great Martha Argerich in Argentina, our dear friend Eduardo Delgado will play Mozart's Piano Sonata in A minor, K.310.

  

Elicia Silverstein

Violinist Elicia Silverstein made her CU debut back in April with a Mozart Trio.  She returns this evening  to perform solo: the Bach Sonata #1 in G minor for solo violin.

  

 

                  Kirill Gliadkovsky                     Anna Nizhegorodtseva         

Appearing at CU for the first time are two Russian pianists performing Russian repertoire. Kirill Gliadkovsky comes to CU by way of the prestigious Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow and our own USC, and playing around the world with important conductors and orchestras. He will be performing Taneyev, Medtner, and Rachmaninoff.  Rising young talent Anna Nizhegorodtseva will perform an excerpt from Prokofiev's intensely virtuosic Piano Sonata #7. 

                           
             Victor de Almeida                                Harout Senekeremian

 

Returning to CU, but for the first time as a duo, violist Victor de Almeida and pianist Harout Senekeremian will perform Concertpiece by Georges Enesco. 

 

              Courtney D. Jones                                 Pepi Pilibossian  

Finally, trumpet virtuoso Courtney D. Jones, who never fails to bring down the house, will perform his arrangement of Purcell and Gershwin (there's an eclectic pair!) with CU and YouTube sensation Pepi Pilibossian on piano.

  

Whether it's a wrath of nature or a wrath of politicking, let's celebrate the eternal   

life - force of humanity that overcomes it all!

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!  

Sold out!

 
   

We are most grateful to our supportive friends at

Steinway Piano Gallery West Hollywood 

for graciously providing us with their incomparable instrument. 
On November 5th we will have CD213 -
their newest C&A piano to the group of concert pianos.

            

  

Classical Underground Showcase:    

   

Adam  Miller     

         

  "Among The Ruins" 79" x 57" oil on canvas   

   

We are privileged to welcome for November's CU showcase one of our East Coast "brothers," a wonderful New York artist Adam Miller.  

It is so exciting to see how the young generation of some of the most promising American artists is resolutely making Realism grounded in a classical tradition the language of choice in expressing our modern thoughts, views and feelings. With strong influences of Baroque and Mannerist masters, Adam's classically inspired imagery carries a strong sense of unabashed Romanticism.

Today, as we experience dramatic change in the flow of global events, and rapid shifts in the ways society used to function through the last century, the Romantic notion of the liberating of the Personal is once again destined to shift the course of cultural history through the work of this great new generation.

Adam's intriguing works will be presented by Copro Gallery in Bergamot Station in the exhibition titled "Among The Ruins".

Opening Reception: Saturday, November 10, 8:00 - 11:30 p.m.

  exhibit runs November 10 - December 1 , 2012

"Among the Ruins looks at different family's existing in a post industrial world looking back at what appears to be the remnants of a time of great expansion and strength from a distance after the machinery of state has collapsed. The new hope represented by their children exists against the darkness of the scattered corpse like remnants of their world. But as the darkest day of winter is also the beginning of the suns return these families are the first to begin rebuilding their society and planting new crops" - describes the gallery Adam's work.   

 

           

As Bob Schieffer's Mom said "Go Vote, it makes you feel big and strong"     

  

In ART we trust!