Associates of Brand Library Music Series Glendale Central Library Saturday April 20, 2013 2:00 PM

Home , Alan Silvestri, Danny Elfman, James Newton Howard, John Debney, Randy Newman

Armen Anassian, violin Mark Robson, piano

PROGRAM

Violin Sonata (1887-1888) Richard Strauss (1864-1949) I. Allegro ma non troppo II. Andante cantabile III. Andante-Allegro

Preludes op.34 (1932-1933) Dmitri Shostakovich arr. Dmitri Tziganov (1906-1975)

I. Moderato non troppo II. Allegretto III. Andantino IV. Allegretto scherzoso

Casi-Habanera del Deseo Inquieto (2009) Mark Robson (b. 1957)

INTERMISSION

Violin Sonata (1917) Claude Debussy (1862-1918) I. Allegro Vivo II. Fantasque et léger III. Très animé

Thème et Variations (1932) Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992)

Sonatine Exotique (1997) Daniel Schnyder (b. 1961) I. Ardito II. Lento/Rubato III. Agile

This concert is supported by the Associates of Brand Library. If you are interested in supporting the art, music and dance events at Brand Library membership forms are available at the back table. Donations are also accepted.

Biographies

Armen Anassian

Armen Anassian holds Master's Degrees in Instrumental Conducting and Violin Performance, and studied in the United States, Armenia, and Germany. His teachers include Rainer Kussmaul, Sidney Weiss, Dorothy DeLay, and conductor Michael Zearott. Mr. Anassian has held Conducting and/or Concertmaster positions with such noted groups as the Hoboken Chamber Orchestra, Freiburg Chamber Orchestra, Heidelberg Chamber Orchestra and the Zelt Musik Festival Orchestra. In Los Angeles he has been Concertmaster/Guest Concertmaster with Pacific Symphony, Santa Barbara Symphony, California Philharmonic, Pasadena Pops, Burbank Symphony, Riverside Philharmonic, Inland Empire Symphony, Long Beach Symphony, Glendale Symphony, Symphony in the Glen and the Los Angeles Opera.

Mr. Anassian has performed hundreds of concerts in France, England, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, China, India, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Australia, Canada, Mexico, and all over the United States. He was invited to perform the Khachaturian Violin Concerto in Armenia with the Armenian National Philharmonic. Locally, Mr. Anassian has been featured as soloist with the California Philharmonic, Glendale Symphony, Pasadena Pops, Riverside Philharmonic, Burbank Symphony, Antelope Valley Symphony, Pacific Palisades Symphony and Santa Clarita Symphony in Concertos by Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Khachaturian, Prokofiev (1&2), Shostakovich (1&2), Piazzolla, etc. In the summer of 2009, Mr. Anassian was a featured soloist at Disney Hall performing the Korngold Violin Concerto.

Currently, Mr. Anassian is a violinist with the Los Angeles Opera where he has also served as guest Concertmaster under the direction of James Conlon. He has collaborated with notable musicians such as Placido Domingo, Esa Pekka Salonen, Luciano Pavarotti and Valery Gergiev. He is also a busy recording artist in the recording and film industries and records regularly with composers such as John Williams, James Horner, Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard, Alan Silvestri, Randy Newman, Danny Elfman, John Debney, Lalo Schifrin, Howard Shore, Alexandre Desplat and many others.

Mr. Anassian lives with his wife and 5 children in Los Angeles, where he enjoys running and training for Marathons. He has run over 100 Marathons.

Mr. Anassian performs on a 1769 Guido Notoni of Parma generously loaned to him by the "Prosciutti per Tutti" Foundation. Mark Robson

Mark Robson has been lauded by the Los Angeles Times on numerous occasions, singled out as a pianist with “one of the great techniques” and “an inquiring mind”. His career has included performance as a keyboard soloist, chamber artist, composer, conductor and vocal coach. He was a regular member of the music staff of the Los Angeles Opera from 1991 to 2005 as an assistant conductor and has worked as a musical assistant at the Salzburg and Spoleto (Italy) festivals. Mr. Robson has been on the faculties of USC, Chapman University, Cal State Fullerton and Cal Arts in the capacity of vocal coach and piano teacher. His music has been performed widely, including orchestral works premiered by the Brentwood-Westwood Symphony Orchestra and the Idyllwild Orchestra.

Soprano Patricia Prunty has recorded his song cycle A Child of Air, which has been performed at the winter Ravinia Festival. Other compositions include a set of twenty-four preludes for the left hand, a bassoon trio and Dances and Dirges for piano, clarinet and cello. Mr. Robson has received degrees from the University of Southern California and Oberlin College; several years of study in Paris embellished his musical training. His teachers have included Lydia Frumkin, Yvonne Loriod, Alain Motard, John Perry and James Bonn. Two of his large-scale music projects have been the performance of the complete Beethoven sonatas and multiple performances of Messiaen’s great piano cycle Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus. In March 2012 he graduated from the Bang Studio School for comedy improvisation.