Liszt Bicentennial Celebration Concert, Sunday October 16 at 3PM

Eva Lisa Kovalik, piano

Johana Arnold, soprano and Kim Paterson, piano

A concert featuring the music of Hungarian composer Franz Liszt in celebration of the bicentennial of his birth continues the 25^th Anniversary Season of Friends of Music at 3PM on Sunday, October 16^th at the Cyr Center in Stamford. The first half of the program includes solo piano works performed by Friends of Music founder Eva Lisa Kovalik. The second half consists of lieder (songs) sung by soprano Johana Arnold with piano accompaniment by Kim Paterson.

During his lifetime Liszt was renowned as a virtuosic pianist; as a conductor, teacher, benefactor and a prolific composer he is widely acknowledged as among the most important and influential people in the modern development of classical music. Given his legendary popularity as a performer, Liszt might be called one of the first “superstars.” His dramatic personal life and unusually successful career make for fascinating reading.



We perhaps know Liszt best as a composer of original works for piano, and Mrs. Kovalik’s performance will remind us of why this is so. He also composed about six dozen songs with piano accompaniment which today are seldom heard; on October 16 we will have the rare opportunity to hear a lovely selection performed by Ms. Arnold and Mr. Paterson.

The program for October 16 will be [Author's Note: first half updated 10/12/11 as per Lisa Kovalik. The exact sequence cannot be confirmed.]:

Franz Liszt Bicentennial Celebration

Eva Lisa Kovalik, piano

and

Johana Arnold, soprano and Kim Paterson, piano

All works composed by Franz Liszt (October 22, 1811 – July 31, 1886)

The first half of the program will be performed by Eva Lisa Kovalik and her student Julie Lee

I.   Widmung (“Dedication”) (Op. 25, No. 1), S.566, R.249 after Robert Schumann, published 1848. Performed by Julie Lee.

II.   Les jeux d’eau à la Villa d’Este (“The Fountains of the Villa d’Este”)  (1877)

From Années de pèlerinage (“Years of Pilgrimage,” 3 Suites for solo piano);

Troisième année (“Third Year”) published 1883

III.  Liebesträume (Notturni, “Dreams of Love”) [probably No. 3] published 1850

IV.  Tarantella  (1859)

From Venezia e Napoli (“Venice and Naples”) supplement to the “Second Year” published 1861

Intermission

The second half of the program will be performed by Johana Arnold and Kim Paterson

Im Rhein, im schoenen Strome  (1841)                       Heinrich Heine

Die Lorelei  (1841)                                                   Heine

Es muss ein Wunderbares sein  (1839?)                     Oskar von Redwitz

Der Fischerknabe  (1835 or 1845)                             Friedrich von Schiller

S’il est un charmant gazon  (1841-42)                        Victor Hugo

Oh! Quand je dors  (1841-42)                                    Hugo

Die drei Zigeuner  (1860)                                          Nikolaus Lenau

In Liebeslust   (1857)                                                Hoffmann von Fallersleben

Wanderers Nachtlied  (1848)                                     Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Der du von dem Himmel bist  (1844)                         Goethe

Eva Lisa Kovalik, pianist, was born in Budapest, Hungary. Her musical studies began at the age of six at the Franz Liszt Academy, first in the junior department, later as a student in the famed class of Lajos Hernadi. During her studies she won many awards and scholarships and received her Artist Diploma in 1956.

The same year she immigrated to the West, continuing her studies at McGill University in Montreal, receiving a B.M. Degree. While at McGill she performed extensively throughout Canada and had a performing contract with the Canadian Broadcasting Company. In 1964 she received a dual scholarship for Post Graduate Studies from the British and Canada Councils to study in England, focusing on 16^th Century English keyboard music, while studying with Lili Kraus. That year she performed in Holland, Sweden and England.

Back in North America, she became a graduate student and teaching fellow at the Juilliard School of Music while working at Columbia University on her Master’s Degree, receiving it in 1974. Her teaching fellowship at Juilliard led to an appointment to the faculty of the Evening Division, where she continues to teach today.

In 1997, Mrs. Kovalik was invited to Warsaw, Poland for lecture recitals on the music of Béla Bartók. While there, she was asked to write a book on teaching and performing the Mikrokosmos. She plans to return to Poland for the presentation of her work and further lecture-recitals.

Mrs. Kovalik regularly gives solo and chamber music recitals. She has twice been featured soloist with the Catskill Symphony Orchestra in Oneonta. In the mid-1980’s, she was the catalyst for the birth of Friends of Music, which incorporated in 1986. We are pleased and honored to hear her performance today, and thank her for her vision which has brought such wonderful music to us here in Stamford for all these years.

Johana Arnold, soprano, enjoys a versatile career in recital, chamber music, opera, oratorio and theater.  A former member of the Ensemble for Early Music and Western Wind Vocal Ensemble, she has sung with Steve Reich and Musicians, the Phillip Glass Ensemble, Meredith Monk, St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble and the Mark Morris Dance Ensemble.  Venues include Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall and BAM in New York, and the Kennedy Center, National Cathedral, and Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. where Ms Arnold is a frequent guest artist with Hesperus and the Folger Consort.  Oratorio experience spans works by Bach, Beethoven, Haydn, Brahms, Mozart, Rossini, Gounod, Rutter and Tom Johnson. 

Ms Arnold is an artist-in-residence at Hartwick College, and appears frequently with the Catskill Choral Society and the Catskill Symphony Orchestra.  She is a veteran of Orpheus Theater and has appeared in several productions with the Franklin Stage Company.  She has recorded for Musical Heritage, Nonesuch, Bard and Western Wind.  Johana is currently working on recording the songs of Charles Ives. This past summer she took the part of the Nurse in Seneca's Trojan Women. Johana Arnold and Kim Paterson met at Tanglewood. They are married and live in the Catskill area.

Kim Paterson is an adjunct instructor of piano at both Hartwick College and at SUNY Oneonta, and has often been music director for stage shows at both schools, most recently the SUNY Oneonta  production of Batboy in the spring of 2010. Mr Paterson has also been music director for Orpheus Theater, Catskill Theater Works, the West Kortright Center Shakespeare program and the Franklin Stage Company.

Mr Paterson is a graduate of SUNY Purchase, and spent three summers as a Tanglewood fellow. He moved to this area to grow mushrooms, and from 1983-1992 he ran a company called Kemp Hill Mushrooms, which produced oyster mushrooms and other exotic produce for restaurants in New York City. However, beginning in 1992, music gradually took over his life, and he now only hunts for wild mushrooms as avocation. He is very busy as a collaborative pianist in the Oneonta area. He also plays with the Catskill Symphony, and is organist at First Presbyterian Church, Oneonta.

Please join us at the Cyr Center in Stamford on October 16th for this fabulous performance and commemorate the birth of a great composer, performer and teacher of classical music. As always, we thank all of our donors and especially the Robinson-Broadhurst Foundation for making these concerts possible.

CONFIRMED! Jazz at the Cyr Center 3:00 PM today, September 18th

In case someone is looking here for any last-minute updates, the musicians are on their way and we have a secure route for them. It's a bit longer than the usual route and these hard-working young men have at least a 12-hour work day today. I hope we'll have a great turnout to show our appreciation!

One note: given our cold temperatures the last two nights, and since the Cyr Center is no longer occupied by business tenants, I think it may be a bit chilly in the building today. We do not have control of the thermostat, so I suggest you bring a sweater or a jacket, just in case. They've been working this week on replacing the windows, those lovely - but leaky - old windows. I'm not sure if it's just the ones in the ballroom or if it was the entire building. We'll find out this afternoon. It just cost me $700 to fill up my oil tank, and I can only imagine (shudder! Gasp!) what it costs to heat the Cyr Center.

See you soon...

Jazz from Juilliard at the Cyr Center on Sunday September 18th

 Blues, Ballads and Bossas

 

     Clovis Nicolas, upright bass                   David Lantz, piano                       Lucas Pino, Saxophone





Carmen Intorre, drums

 Mother Nature has been stirring things up big time around here lately (to put it mildly), and with all the contemplation recently about the horrific events of 10 years ago it seems nothing will ever be the same again. Perhaps we can move beyond the tragedies of past and present and explore some opportunities for positive change. This concert for Friends of Music is exactly that: for the very first time in our 25-year history, we will hear a Jazz performance by some amazingly talented young men through the auspices of the Juilliard School in New York City.

This is not a turning away from the classical chamber music we have heard at the Cyr Center for the past quarter century, but rather an aknowledgment of our changing demographics and of the longevity and the influence of American Jazz -- now a tradition in its own right -- in music worldwide. In consideration of this being our initiation into the more contemporary music scene, the theme of this concert will be "Blues, Ballads and Bossas:"  nothing too radical for our classically-attuned ears.

Lucas Pino, saxophone, started his life in music at the age of 10, selecting the alto saxophone as his instrument. Immediately inspired by the music of John Coltrane, Lucas spent his formative years relentlessly listening to records, and switched to tenor saxophone at age 12. After being selected for numerous honors during high school, including a DownBeat Magazine award as “Best Instrumental soloist” (2005), Lucas attended the Brubeck Institute as one of five fellows. This ensemble regularly performed in venues across the United States and abroad, studied with jazz masters and spent time learning and performing with Dave Brubeck. 

In 2007, Mr. Pino moved to New York City to complete his undergraduate degree at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. During his time at the New School, Lucas studied privately with Chris Cheek, graduating with “Academic Honors.” In 2009 Lucas attended the Juilliard School and was awarded the Irene Diamond Graduate Fellowship. He studied saxophone with Ron Blake during his tenure at the Juilliard School and completed his Masters in Music in 2011. Lucas Pino continues to live in New York City and although he has a rigorous touring schedule, can be seen performing around the city with various groups.

David Lantz, piano, of Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, started music lessons at the age of 4. A multi-instrumentalist, he has studied piano, sax, guitar and violin. Since the age of 9, David studied with a number of jazz musicians including David Liebman and Phil Markowitz who live in the Stroudsburg area. For 4 years as a member of a select area high school jazz band that plays at the COTA (Celebration of the Arts) Jazz Festival in Delaware Water Gap, Mr. Lantz played guitar and piano, and as a senior he composed and arranged a big band chart. David played his first gig at age 14 and has since been a regular feature at the Deer Head Inn in Delaware Water Gap, playing with George Young, David Liebman and Phil Woods. As a senior in high school, David was selected to play piano at the Pennsylvania Governor’s Awards for the Arts where Phil Woods was an honoree.       

Mr. Lantz has played in the COTA Jazz Festival and the Scranton Jazz Festival with his own group as well as in many other venues. For 2 years, David was selected as the Pennsylvania All-State jazz band pianist and has won two ASCAP Young Jazz Composer’s awards. In addition he won a Down Beat student music award for jazz performance. As a graduating high school senior, he was awarded the Louis Armstrong Award and COTA scholarship. David Lantz is currently a student at The Juilliard School where he is a jazz studies major, piano being his instrument.

After learning piano as a child, Clovis Nicolas, upright bass, dedicated himself to music when he first picked up the upright bass as a teenager. He went on to study at the Conservatoire of Avignon (France) with Mr. Joseph Fabre, one of the most notable instructors in France. He soon gained a solid reputation for his precise and tasteful bass playing and started working in his early twenties with artists like Peter King, Ted Curson and Laurent de Wilde.

After graduating from Conservatoire of Marseilles in 1996, Clovis moved to Paris where he established himself as a first call musician. During this time, he performed and recorded alongside artists such as Belmondo, Baptiste Trotignon, Brad Mehldau, Michelle Hendricks, Stefano Di Battista, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Aldo Romano. He participated in more than fifteen critically acclaimed recordings, including Belmondo's Hymne au Soleil which won three Jazz Grammy Awards in 2004 and Baptiste Trotignon's Sightseeing which received Best Album of the Year 2001 from Jazzman Magazine.

Mr. Nicolas moved to New York in 2002 and has since shared the stage in numerous venues (Jazz Standard, Smalls, 55 Bar, Kennedy Center, Smoke, Jazz Gallery) with some of today's most prominent jazz musicians, including Grant Stewart, Harry Allen, Benny Powell, Curtis Fuller, Branford Marsalis, James Williams, Peter Bernstein, Joe Magnarelli, Sacha Perry, Sachal Vasandani, Simon Shaheen and Dan Nimmer. He is featured on Josh Brown’s recording The Feeling of Jazz, as well as on new alto sensation Dmitry Baevsky’s Some Other Spring featuring legendary guitarist Joe Cohn. He is currently studying with jazz master Ron Carter at the Juilliard School in New York.

Born in Buffalo, NY, Carmen Intorre, drums, developed an early interest in music and began playing drums at age five.  A graduate of the Institute for Jazz Studies at The Juilliard School, he has performed and recorded with numerous musicians such as George Benson, Monty Alexander, Benny Golson, George Coleman, Bucky Piazzarelli, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Lew Tabackin, Larry Coryell, Bobby Watson, and many others.  Carmen co-produced and recorded on Joey DeFrancesco's latest CD, Never Can Say Goodbye: The Music of Michael Jackson, which received a 2011 Grammy Nomination in category of Best Contemporary Jazz Album of the Year.

Currently, Mr. Intorre performs with vocalist Hilary Kole, vibraphonist Joe Locke, and organist Pat Bianchi.  Carmen just completed recording his debut CD as a leader on Random Act Records.  The CD will feature performances by Joey DeFrancesco, John Hart, Pat Bianchi, Jon Irabagon, and Bob Belden, and is scheduled for release in August 2011.

Friends of Music of Stamford NY

presents

Blues, Ballads and Bossas

Jazz Artists from the Juilliard School

Lucas Pino, saxophone

David Lantz, piano

Clovis Nicolas, upright bass

Carmen Intorre, drums

-Now's The Time

-Parker's Mood

-SKJ

-Misty

-In a Sentimental Mood

-Chelsea Bridge

-Star Eyes

-How Insensitive

-Triste

Please join us at 3PM on Sunday, September 18th at the Cyr Center in Stamford for our first ever Jazz concert!