RSVP now for October 3rd - Opening Night. 9th Season!

Online reservations are now closed.  

October Night  - Season's Opening! 

this coming Monday, the 3rd @ 8 p.m. 

Music & Arts in the Studio  

@ Alexey Steele Grand Atelier

 

October 3 marks not only the start of our ninth season, but we'll also celebrate the birthday of our dear amigo Eduardo Delgado (just returned from playing in Italy and Argentina and about to leave for concerts in China and Thailand), who will be bringing us gifts of Ravel and Granados. Join us in wishing "Feliz cumpleaños querido Eduardo"!

At our last concert in June, we witnessed the birth of a thrilling new partnership with Anton Smirnov on piano, Evgeny Tonkha on cello, and Dmitry Olevsky on violin playing an all-too-brief, luscious movement of the Mendelssohn Trio in D minor, and leaving everyone hungry for more.  We're in luck because they are back to serve up the whole ravishing thing.

Evgeny and Dmitry will be joined by Erik Boulanger for a special presentation of "newborn" instruments made by celebrated Ojai-based luthier Brian Lisus.

The exceedingly fine Russian pianist Alex Slobodyanik, now a Los Angeles native, returns to CU with a selection of Chopin works including the Scherzo in B-flat Major and 4 etudes.

And for the first time in CU history, we will present a piano CONCERTO! Well, not with an actual orchestra, but with a second piano playing a reduction of the orchestral score, as pianists traditionally do when readying for an orchestral performance (or anytime there isn't an orchestra handy).  CU's very own audio recording genius Noel Gould will play the first movement of Mozart's Piano Concerto in D minor K. 466, accompanied on second piano by Naomi Sumitami, winner of the USC Concerto Competition.  Noel is preparing for the Moments of Music Foundation Piano Concerto Competition for Amateurs & Teachers at Steinway Piano Gallery in Beverly Hills on October 9.  The winner will play with an orchestra for real at Zipper Hall on Nov. 5.  Go Noel!

   

     

 As always - bring your spirits, food and drink for you and your friends to enjoy.   

 

Please RSVP via Paypal through our website by clicking on the button above.

   

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We are most grateful to our supportive friends at

 STEINWAY PIANO GALLERY LOS ANGELES 

for graciously providing us with their incomparable instrument
Model CD-706.

 

 

We are grateful for a continuous support     

of our founding patron
RAND RESOURCES, LLC

 

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Classical Underground Showcase  

We will have a very special showcase at the opening night!  

Please watch for a separate email with details! 

    

in ART we trust!

 *******

20795 Main St. Carson, Ca 90745
Doors open at 7 p.m. No assigned seats - first come-first served. Potluck. Entrance from the parking lot.  Free parking.    

9th Season - Save The Date!

  

Opening Season 

Music & Art + potluck party

We are happy to announce our new
9th season!  

Save the date!

 

Monday, October 3rd, 2016  

Look for the email invitation next week,  

or check back our website at that time 

www.classicalunderground.com 

                           

Please also check your bulk folder, as many of you reported that you are not getting our emails.  We email everyone on the list!

June 6th Season's Finale - RSVP now!

Online RSVP is now closed.   

June Night  - Season's Finale! 

this coming Monday, the 6th
@ 8 p.m. 

Music & Arts in the Studio  

@ Alexey Steele Grand Atelier 

It has become an annual tradition to close out the Classical Underground season with a rousing appearance by our mega-virtuoso friend Jura Margulis while he is in town, this time bringing a fantastic program including Schumann's beloved Kreisleriana, the Sonata Reminiscenza Op. 38 of Nikolai Medtner, and the stunning Islamey by Balakirev - a piece that separates the piano mortals from the superhumans in highly entertaining fashion.

 

Christopher Elchico made a memorable CU debut as part of the Los Angeles Saxophone Quartet.  We welcome him back to play solo in a piece called "Ku Ku" by Barry Cockcroft, plus the saxophone transcription of Saint-Saens' lovely Oboe Sonata, with Huyen Khanh Do on piano.

The Mendelssohn Trio #2 will be in excellent CU veteran hands with Anton Smirnov on piano, Evgeny Tonkha on cello, and CU newcomer (by way of UCSB) Dimitry Olevsky on violin.

Cuban-American pianist Antonio Iturrioz is in town to  perform at the Liszt festival this week at CS Northridge. Antonio became a noted specialist of the left-hand piano repertoire after injuring his right hand in a fall. Happily he has long fully recovered, but he still loves the repertoire and will perform left-hand works by Godowsky and Scriabin, in addition to good ol' two-handed Rachmaninoff preludes.

      

     

 As always - bring your spirits, food and drink for you and your friends to enjoy.   

 

Please RSVP via Paypal through our website by clicking on the button on the top of this invitation.

  

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We are most grateful to our supportive friends at

 Steinway Piano Gallery Los Angeles  

for graciously providing us with their incomparable instrument
Model D.

  

 

   

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Classical Underground Showcase  

  ERIC MERRELL  

The resurgent representational movement is a stylistically wide-ranging field, marked by a diversity of visual  approaches and far from any single look.  There are various artistic branches that make it an exciting creative territory within contemporary art.

Our good friend Eric Merrell represents a fascinating branch that is rooted  in the venerated California Plein Air school, yet he is taking it in his own exciting direction. Following in the footsteps of a great California Plein Air painter and CU friend Daniel W. Pinkham, Eric approaches his canvases as poetry in compositional  organization of color masses. Eric is condensing his contemplative subjects -- be they nature's  vast expanses or intimate still lifes -- to their core overall forms, while delivering them in moment-specific color harmonies.

The key to this ability is Eric's rigorous plein air observation and the practice of a hardcore field painter with sharpened aesthetics.

In his compositional designs and arrangements Eric explores command of mood through skillful color harmonization and application of textures, making a significant step from plein air landscape and into a category of independent visual language.

It's a joy to observe the development of this exciting, dedicated and authentic young talent who proves himself time and again within the direction of his own artistic path.

   

in ART we trust!

   

*******

20795 Main St. Carson, Ca 90745
Doors open at 7 p.m. No assigned seats - first come-first served. Potluck. Free Parking. Entrance from Torrance Blvd. gate - from the parking lot.   

405 South to the Harbor 110 South towards San Pedro; Exit Torrance Blvd., Turn Left at the Stop sign; Turn Left on Torrance Blvd /next light/; Continue pass Figueroa Ave, pass Carson Town Center North; 200 yards before next light /which is Main street/ make Left into a driveway to a large parking lot  and proceed to your right. Please note that the gate next to CU will be closed for safety.  The entrance is from the parking lot. The building is on the corer of Main and Torrance. 20795 Main St. Carson, Ca 90745

Extra: May 23rd special event - not to be missed!

online reservations are now closed. 

May Night  - Extra! 

this coming Monday, the 23rd @ 8 p.m. 

Music & Arts in the Studio  

@ Alexey Steele Grand Atelier 

   

   

May is "Cello Mania" month in LA with the Piatigorsky Festival bringing many of the world's greatest cello performers and teachers together in concerts, recitals and master classes centered around the instrument. With this abundance of great artistry in town,  Classical Underground is seizing the opportunity to  present a special bonus concert this Monday in celebration of the cello. 

We are honored to once again welcome the great international cellist David Geringas, returning to CU along with our dear friend and former Geringas student Evgeny Tonkha, the superb LA-based Hungarian cellist Laszlo Mezo, and more to be announced.

 

They will perform original works and arrangements for cello solo, duo, trio and quartet by  Bach, Handel, Couperin, Rossini, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, and Corigliano, plus a show-stopping 4 cello arrangement of Pirates of the Caribbean. 

It will be a night of soul-stirring introspection and exuberant virtuosity, not to be missed!

      

     

 As always - bring your spirits, food and drink for you and your friends to enjoy.   

 

Please RSVP via Paypal through our website by clicking on the button on top. 

  

******

We are most grateful to our supportive friends at

 Steinway Piano Gallery Los Angeles  

for graciously providing us with their incomparable instrument
Model D.

  

 

   

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Classical Underground Showcase
DAVID LEFFEL 

   

David A. Leffel, Portrait of David Kramer, 1977, oil on canvas, 30 x 25, collection of Cindy Kramer McSweeney 

Classical Underground is exceptionally proud to showcase the legend of American representational realism David Leffel with a preview of the groundbreaking retrospective exhibition of his work at the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art.

David Leffel is one of the lonely few great pillars that preserved the bridge of the representational tradition in the United States in the second half of the 20th century. David is certainly one of the most important influences for the entire powerful generational resurgence of realism in  contemporary American art at the beginning of 21st century.

"Leffel's powerful realism arises from his commitment to understanding and capturing the flow of light.  He does not paint things, but light falling and flowing over objects.  By treating light as a vital force, he gives his paintings the feeling that they are infused with life" said Michael Zakian, Director of the Weisman Museum.

The exhibition is the first major retrospective for the 84-year-old artist, who in the 1960s broke with mainstream abstraction by reviving the art of the Old Masters. Approximately 50 paintings from the past 50 years will be featured - showcasing portraiture, still lifes, and landscapes of this revered artist, author and teacher.

"I planned the David Leffel retrospective to follow immediately after an exhibition of work by Andy Warhol," said  Zakian.  "The parallels are fascinating.  They were born only a few years apart and both worked as commercial illustrators in New York in the 1950s.  The difference is that Warhol went on to reuse images from advertising to create Pop Art.  Leffel wanted an art of greater depth and substance and chose to dedicate himself to revive forgotten techniques and learn to paint like the Old Masters."

David A. Leffel: The Mastery of Light - A Retrospective

May 14 - August 7, 2016

Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art

Pepperdine University

24255 Pacific Coast Highway

Malibu, Calif. 90263

  

in ART we trust!

*******

20795 Main St. Carson, Ca 90745
Doors open at 7 p.m. No assigned seats - first come-first served. 

Save the date - CU EXTRA - May 23

May Night - EXTRA!  

                          

Music & Art + potluck party

Save the date!  

 

Monday, May 23rd, 2016

with surprise performers! 

Look for the email invitation next week,  

or check back our website at that time 

www.classicalunderground.com 

    

Please also check your bulk folder, as many of you reported that you are not getting our emails.  We email everyone on the list!

 

 

in ART we trust!

May 9th Music and the Art in the Studio

Online reservations are now closed.

May Night  

this coming Monday, the 9th @ 8 p.m. 

Music & Arts in the Studio  

@ Alexey Steele Grand Atelier 

     

For our May Program we welcome the return of the City of Angels Saxophone Quartet, with an exquisite example of what makes this combination so special: the ethereal Lux Aeterna by Latvian composer Rihards Dubra.

Dmitry Rachmanov, our pianist and professor friend from up North (Cal State Northridge, that is), brings a selection of seductive miniatures by Tchaikovsky, Liadov, Liszt, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff and Anton Rubinstein.

 

We also have a new friend from the South (Cal State Fullerton), Ukrainian violinist Mira Khomik, who makes her CU debut performing Debussy's sonata for violin and piano with Anna Sarkisova.  In addition to being on the CSF faculty, Mira is working on her PhD at UCLA.

 

From the East (USC!) comes pianist Hung-Tao Lin, who will make his solo CU debut with two of Liszt's Sonetti del Petrarca.

Clarinetist James Hodges arrives from the West (Santa Monica!) with the lively and witty Poulenc Sonata, along with Jasper Jimenez on piano.

And finally, while all roads may lead to Classical Underground, happily our "resident" virtuoso Harout Senekeremian has long been right here with us, this time playing some of the devilishly difficult Fairy Tales for piano by Nikolai Medtner.

     

 As always - bring your spirits, food and drink for you and your friends to enjoy.   

 

Please RSVP via Paypal through our website by clicking on the paypal button on top of the page 

  

******

We are most grateful to our supportive friends at

 Steinway Piano Gallery Los Angeles  

for graciously providing us with their incomparable instrument
Model D.

  

 

   

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Classical Underground Showcase 

   Joseph Todorovitch 

   

Joseph Todorovitch is one of the bright figures of the new representational expression in contemporary Art.

The body of Joseph's new work shows off the current state of his continuous drive to develop his impressive technical abilities. Exploring the new expressive possibilities in presenting the human figure and expanding its visual language is part of a wider movement of taking the tradition-based approach to the next step.

The technically fluid, expressive tools merging tonality, color and shape - reflecting the perceptional and cognitive developments of our generation - is an inherently contemporary expression of contemporary visual cognition.

We see the emergence of a new stage in developing tools for expression of reality, why I call it Novorealism - a specific stylistic search within our period of visual expression that is only beginning to unfold.

In Joseph's work you have a rare opportunity to glimpse the inner workings of this super-advanced visual lab.  

in ART we trust!

The doors open at 7 p.m. and music starts at 8 p.m.  Unassigned seating.  Potluck.  Directions and address are below:

405 South to the Harbor 110 South towards San Pedro; Exit Torrance Blvd., Turn Left at the Stop sign; Turn Left on Torrance Blvd /next light/; Continue pass Figueroa Ave, pass Carson Town Center North; 200 yards before next light /which is Main street/ make Left into a driveway to a large parking lot  and proceed to your right. Please note that the gate next to CU will be closed for safety.  The entrance is from the parking lot. The building is on the corer of Main and Torrance. 20795 Main St. Carson, Ca 90745  

April 4th Music and the Art in the Studio

Online reservations are now closed.  We will sell a few tickets at the door - cash only.

April Night  

this coming Monday, the 4th @ 8 p.m. 

Music & Arts in the Studio  

@ Alexey Steele Grand Atelier  
We are excited to present once again the sensational soprano Delaram Kamareh in a program of Baroque splendor, featuring gorgeous arias by Alessandro Scarlatti, Bach and Handel - including "Let the Bright Seraphim," which royal watchers will indelibly remember from the wedding of Charles and Diana.  A highlight of each of these works is the virtuosic trumpet part, performed here by Jonah Levy in his CU debut, with the impeccable Georgi Slavchev providing the continuo on piano. Delaram is rescheduled from October, when her second CU appearance unfortunately conflicted with her demanding and highly praised role in the acclaimed opera "Hopscotch," in which Jonah also performed. Delaram will reprise her stratospheric soloist role in Tan Dun's Water Passion with the LA Master Chorale at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago in June, while Jonah will soon be leaving LA to join the Auckland Philharmonia as Associate Principal Trumpet...but we are delighted to have them here with us now!  

From Delaram's CU debut:

Delaram Kamareh

Making her Classical Underground debut, the Moscow-based violin virtuoso Asya Sorshneva will perform the rarely heard Schumann Fantasy op. 131 - only slightly more familiar in its original orchestral form, but here performed with no less than LA piano hero Steven Vanhauwaert, who will also play some solo Schumann for us.  Together they will also play a movement from John Adams' Road Movies, which Adams describes as "an easy drive through an imagined landscape."

James Hodges returns with Pepi Pilibossian on piano to perform Carl Maria von Weber's Concertino for Clarinet, one of the earliest works for the instrument that pushes a wide virtuosic range and proceeds to a rollicking finish.

And returning after their fun four-hand piano debut in November, USC's Hung-Tao Lin and Daniel Linder will perform the Barcarolle, Scherzo, Theme russe, and Valse from Rachmaninov's Six four hand pieces, Op. 11.

   

As always - bring your spirits, food and drink for you and your friends to enjoy. 

    

Please RSVP via Paypal through our website by clicking on the button below.  www.classicalunderground.com 

  

******

We are most grateful to our supportive friends at

 Steinway Piano Gallery Los Angeles  

for graciously providing us with their incomparable instrument
Model D.

  

 

   

******                   

   

Classical Underground Showcase 

Alicia Ponzio and Justin Hess        

   

   

Classical Underground is happy to welcome two formidable emissaries of the rich contemporary representational talent of San Francisco.

Alicia Ponzio, returning to Classical Underground, is one of my absolute favorite visual artists of our time. True sculptors are as rare as rare gets and Alicia's works are exquisite. Her extraordinarily manifested, real and raw Form Sense combined with authentically expressive gesture gives the use of the human figure as visual language its true soul.  It represents  everything I prize the most across all classical visual platforms - painting, drawing or sculpture. Like in any serious Art, her viscerally modeled material does not imitate life, but re-creates it in her given medium. Her every new work only reinforces my opinion, fully satisfying the sense and thought  and makes us crave to see more. A true High Art indeed. We are extremely fortunate that Alicia is bringing to Classical Underground the debut of two figures from her most recent work, The Echo Chamber. Enjoy and study it!

 

"Moonlight Sonata, Portrait of the Artist's Father", Oil on Linen, 52" x 60"

Justin Hess, making his first CU showcase, is following in the footsteps of the Classical Realism School of the Florence Academy of Art in Italy, where he studied for six years. In San Francisco he operates a popular private teaching atelier, JHess Studio, and shows at the prestigious John Pence Gallery. Justin brings his love and knowledge of the classicist techniques and methods into a group of paintings depicting the introspective moments of music making. One of the works adeptly captures his father in the intimate setting of music reading with his guitar.  Love of Music and Art is what unites us all and makes our vivacious friend a natural Undergrounder. Paintings, sculpture, music - can't get much better than that!

   

in ART we trust!

   The doors open at 7 p.m. and music starts at 8 p.m.  Unassigned seating.  Potluck.  Directions and address are below:

405 South to the Harbor 110 South towards San Pedro; Exit Torrance Blvd., Turn Left at the Stop sign; Turn Left on Torrance Blvd /next light/; Continue pass Figueroa Ave, pass Carson Town Center North; 200 yards before next light /which is Main street/ make Left into a driveway to a large parking lot  and proceed to your right. Please note that the gate next to CU will be closed for safety.  The entrance is from the parking lot. The building is on the corer of Main and Torrance. 20795 Main St. Carson, Ca 90745