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Pianist Yuja Wang performs at the 2nd Annual Chefs’ Gala
Ensemble Profile: Imani Winds
Audio version of Sweeney Todd wins 3 Audies

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Pianist Yuja Wang kicks off 2008 season with performance at the 2nd Annual Chefs’ Gala

One of the classical music world’s rising stars, pianist Yuja Wang helps to kick of the Festival’s season for the second time in as many years. On July 17, at the Festival’s opening gala at the Scottish Rite Center, Ms. Wang will give a recital featuring Chopin’s Barcarolle for piano in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 60, Liszt’s La Campanella, Mendelssohn- Bartholdy’s Scherzo from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Ginastera’s Ruvido ed ostinato from Sonata No. 1, Op. 22, Balakirev’s The Lark (Zhavoronok) (transcribed); Liszt’s Danse macabre, (transcribed), and Kapustin’s Variations for piano, Op. 41.

At 21, Ms. Wang has firmly established herself as one of the most significant pianists of her generation. She first came to international recognition in February 2005 when, on one days notice, she replaced Radu Lupu with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Pinchas Zukerman conducting, and performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4. The success was immediate with the Canada press reporting “a star is born.” Ms. Wang was immediately reengaged to perform Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 that June and has been invited back every season since. In March 2007, her career received a major advancement when she replaced Martha Argrich playing the Tchaikovsky Concerto with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Dutoit conducting.

Ms. Wang has performed with such renowned US orchestras as the New York Philharmonic, the Boston, Chicago, Houston, San Francisco and Kansas City symphonies, and abroad with the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Tonhalle Orchestra (Switzerland), Nagoya Philharmonic (Japan), the China Philharmonic (Beijing) and the Guangzhou Symphony, to name a few.

Highlights of Ms. Wang’s 2007-08 season included her debut in Lisbon, Portugal where she replaced Evgeny Kissin, performing both Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3; closing the 2007 St. Petersburg Winter Arts Festival at the invitation of Mo. Temirkanov, and replacing Yefim Bronfman on one days notice to perform Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with Swedish Radio Orchestra.

Born in Beijing, China in 1987, Yuja Wang was drawn to the piano at the age of six when she began studying with Professors Ling Yuan and Zhou Guangren at Beijing’s Central Conservatory of Music. She moved to the United States at age 15 to attend Philadelphia’s prestigious Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied under Gary Graffman. She has also studied with John Perry at the Aspen Music Festival (2002 and 2003 summers), at the Mount Royal College Conservatory Academy Program for Gifted Youth with teachers Hung Kuan Chen and Tema Blackstone (2001-2002) and at three Morningside Music summer programs (1999-2001) at Calgary’s Mount Royal College. Before moving to the United States, Ms. Wang was a prizewinner in many regional competitions within China, as well as competitions in Spain and Germany. In 2001 she won first prize in the Junior Group of the Seiler International Piano Competition, and was the third prize-winner and recipient of the Special Jury Award at the First Japan Sendai International Music Competition. In 2002, Ms. Wang won the Aspen Music Festival’s concerto competition, and in 2006 she received the Gilmore Young Artist Award

Yuja Wang can be heard in five performances throughout week one of the 2008 Festival season, including a solo piano recital on July 22 featuring works by Chopin, Scriabin, Albeniz and Beethoven.

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Ensemble Profile: Imani Winds

Since 1997, the Grammy nominated Imani Winds have been enriching the traditional wind quintet repertoire with European, American, African and Latin American traditions. As their Swahili name Imani (”faith”) denotes, the five adventurous musicians (Valerie Coleman, flutist and composer; Toyin Spellman-Diaz, oboe; Mariam Adam, clarinet; Jeff Scott, horn; Monica Ellis, bassoon) have followed their mission closely, carving out a distinct presence in the classical music world with their dynamic playing, culturally poignant programming, and inspirational outreach programs.

The ensemble celebrates their 10-year anniversary with an ambitious commissioning initiative aptly entitled the Legacy Commissioning Project, to extend over five years and to include 10 composers from different musical disciplines. The project kicks off in 2008 with world premieres by Alvin Singleton and Roberto Sierra commissioned by Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Chamber Music Northwest, and Stanford Lively Arts.

Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival audiences have the opportunity to hear the Imani Winds in performance in four concerts at the beginning of the season: on July 26 in a concert featuring Mongo Santamaria’s Afro Blue (arranged by Valerie Coleman); Paquita D’Riviera’s Kites Over Havana; Astor Piazzolla’s Fuga Y Misterio (arranged by Jeff Scott); Julio Medaglia’s Suite Popular Brasiliera; Valerie Coleman’s Portaits of Josephine Baker and Astor Piazzolla’s Libertango (arranged by Jeff Scott) on July 27 and 28 as one half of the group performing the world premiere of Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival’s 2008co-commission with Chamber Music Northwest of Roberto Sierra’s Concierto de Camara (the nonet is performed by the Imani Winds and Miami String Quartet), and in a youth concert on the morning of July 28.

Through commissions and performance the quintet regularly collaborates with other artists. Josephine Baker: A Life of Le Jazz Hot, a collaboration with chanteuse René Marie and choreographer Christopher Huggins, has been performed in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, among other cities, to great acclaim. Imani Winds performed the world premiere of Terra Incognita, the first-ever commission for classical artists by jazz composer, performer and legend Wayne Shorter, and have shared the stage with Yo-Yo Ma for a rousing performance of Jeff Scott’s arrangement of Libertango. In 2007 the ensemble collaborated with bassist/trombonist Chris Brubeck of the famed Brubeck family for a performance and recording of music written especially for wind quintet and jazz quartet (to be released by Koch in 2008). The group’s Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center residency culminated in a recital in New York’s Alice Tully Hall with renowned clarinetist/saxophonist/composer Paquito D’Rivera. The ensemble has also worked with luminaries such as bandoneonist Daniel Binelli, saxophonist Steve Coleman, clarinetist David Shifrin, and pianists Gilbert Kalish and Shai Wosner. Future collaborations include Stefon Harris and David Krakauer.

The Imani Winds have been recognized with numerous awards, including the 2007 ASCAP Award, 2002 CMA/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, and the CMA/WQXR Award for their debut and self-released CD Umoja. At the 2001 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, Imani Winds was selected as the first-ever Educational Residency Ensemble, in recognition of their tremendous musical abilities and innovative programming.

The Imani Winds have three releases on Koch International Classics, including their 2006 Grammy Award nominated recording, The Classical Underground.

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First audio version of Sweeney Todd music directed by Steven Ovitsky wins 3 Audies

In the February 2008 issue of SFCMF newsletter, we included a piece on Steven Ovitsky and his recent musical venture, music director for Blackstone Audio’s “SWEENEY TODD AND THE STRING OF PEARLS,” which had been nominated by The Audio Publishers Association for three Audies in the categories of Achievement in Production, Audio Drama and Original Work categories.On May 30, 2008 at the 2007 The Audies® gala celebration in Los Angeles, California, the two-CD set won all three categories it was nominated in -for best audio drama, best original script and best production.

Available in book stores and online, “SWEENEY TODD AND THE STRING OF PEARLS” is based on the 1846 penny dreadful, “The String of Pearls, A Romance,” attributed to Thomas Prest.The popular gaudy, serialized Victorian novel about the cut-throat barber of Fleet Street has had numerous stage, literary and screen versions of the tale, including the Sondheim musical and recently released movie starring Johnny Depp.

This enthralling, first audio version two-CD set of the original tale, commissioned from the award-winning Hollywood Theater of the Ear by Blackstone Audio, is written, produced and directed by Yuri Rasovsky.

CAST:

Mrs. Lovett / Johanna Rosalind Ayres
Col. Jeffery Thornhil Robertson Dean
Narrator / Oakley Martin Jarvis
Tobias / Arabella Moira Quirk
Moorsfield / Tailor/ Mundel Phil Proctor
Captain /Skinner / Wrankley / Inventor Burt Ross
Sweeney Todd W. Morgan Sheppard
Jonas Simon Templeman

Co-producer John Baker
Singers John Roberts & Tony Barrand
Music Director Steven Ovitsky
Sound Effects Richard Fairbanks, Alan Avenel
Associate Producer Suzanne Schmidtke

Artist’s Corner

Do you have a favorite past performance at the Festival?

“I really enjoyed the performance of Frankenstein by Gruber from last summer, and I got to stretch my horn skills to the limit with Esa Pekka Solonen’s Concert Etude for Horn that I performed two years ago. That by far was the most challenging piece for horn that I have ever played.”

What do you feel it is about the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival that makes it unique?

“The Festival has that Santa Fe relaxation vibe going for it; everyone is friendly, laid back and happy when they get here, and playing in the St. Francis Chapel or the Lensic is always fun. The well educated and appreciative audiences are always good to play for as well.”

William Barnewitz, horn player

Mr. Barnewitz can be heard at the Lensic on August 18 performing Beethoven’s Quintet for Winds and on August 20 performing Dvorak’s Serenade in D Minor, Op. 44. Check the season schedule at http://santafechambermusic.com for complete details on the concert programs.

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