Preludes and Postludes January 2021

Greetings from the Benderly-Kendall Opera House to all of our friends- we have greatly missed you, our audience and SCFPA community, during this difficult time of the Covid-19 pandemic but we are hopeful for a brighter 2021!

Prior to the closing of the Benderly-Kendall Opera House in early March 2020, the SCFPA continued to have an active concert schedule during our 2019-2020 season with performances ranging from classical to jazz to Japanese koto and more. In response to the pandemic, SCFPA began livestreaming concerts in November 2020, continuing into 2021. All of the online performances and post-concert interviews are archived on our SCFPA website on the “Performances” page for additional viewing. Performances are recorded with the help of our webmaster Edgardo Muñoz and We Love Nogales, a local television station and Facebook Live show. We are also very grateful to the local businesses who generously supported our cause by sponsoring our concerts. Thank you: Wild Horse Restaurant, Lynne Weatherby Realty, La Cinderella stores, Long Realty Sonoita/Patagonia, Patagonia Trading Post, and Patagonia Area Resource Alliance for sponsoring our fall and winter concerts.

November 8, 2020 – Sky Islands Piano Trio: Emily Chao, violin; Juan David Mejia, cello; and Evan Kory, piano with guest artist violinist Grace Nakano

Our first online concert was a performance featuring Beethoven’s Duo in C Major WoO 27 and Dvorak’s Dumky Trio. Violinists Emily Chao and Grace Nakano are both members of the Tucson Symphony, cellist Juan Mejia recently completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Arizona, and Evan Kory is a pianist/harpsichordist based in Nogales. Grace and Juan opened the concert performing Beethoven’s vibrant C Major Duo, their performance shared the first musical sounds in months at the Opera House and it was a beautiful way to break the silence. Unable to rehearse due to the pandemic, for the second half of the program the Sky Islands Trio decided to bring back a piece they performed in 2018, Dvorak’s Dumky trio. Each movement of this trio is a dramatic Dumka- Slavic music that originated as a folk ballad or lament that contains beautiful melancholy melodies with contrasting lively sections. If you missed the opening concert we encourage you to visit our website where you can hear all of our archived concerts.

1 November 22, 2020

Monsoon Brass Trio Betsy Bright, trumpet; Tim McCarthy, trumpet; and David Morgan, tuba.

This performance, the first time brass instruments have been played in the Benderly-Kendall Opera House, presented a bright and cheerful start to the holiday season. The Monsoon Brass is a larger organization of brass players, all professional musicians based in Tucson, AZ. The Monsoon Brass Trio is an iteration of the larger organization, and this concert was their debut.

Many of the works performed in the concert were arrangements by Betsy Bright. The piece composed by Mozart was originally written for “basset” horns, a member of the clarinet family of musical instruments. Fortunately the work plays well on brass instruments. The trio is an incredibly virtuosic group, we highly recommend listening to the second to last piece “Carnival of Venice”, each musician shows the incredible range of each instrument- we promise you’ve never heard a tuba like this!

Program: J.S. Bach, arr. Bright: 3 Part Invention No. 8 Mozart, arr. Bright: Divertimento No. 3 KV 439b arr. Allan Dean: Glogauer liederbuch arr. Bright: Sailing Overture Bright: Western Suite arr. Bright: Scarborough Fair arr. Bright: Tumbalalaika J.B. Arban, arr. Bright: Carnival of Venice arr. Bright: That's a Plenty

December 6, 2020

Carla Fabris, harp; Juan David Mejia, cello

Carla Fabris put together the program for this concert, and last had a virtual performance in April 2020. She chose and had played the second movement of the French piece with a bassoonist previously, and chose a work newly composed by her brother as well. In the spring when everything began shutting down due to the pandemic, Carla’s brother Anteo was visiting. He ended up staying much longer than planned and the opportunity allowed for Carla and Juan to work closely with Anteo while he composed the piece. Juan David Mejia played a new cello, which he named Aurora, the first name of Sleeping Beauty in the children’s story.

Program: Féerie (Marcel Tournier), for solo harp Chants D'Arrière-Saison (Bernard Andrès) Risograph Diptych (Anteo Fabris) Song of the Birds (Pablo Casals) Café 1930 (Astor Piazzolla)

2

December 20, 2020

Maxi Larrea, tango guitarist

Originally from the Patagonia region of Argentina, Maxi Larrea made his Patagonia, Arizona debut on December 20. A new resident of Arizona, he and his wife made Tucson their home in January 2020. In addition to performing he is also a composer and focuses his work on tango and folk music for the guitar. In his home country of Argentina Maxi always performed with other tango musicians. When he first moved to the United States in 2014, he didn’t know many other musicians and it led him to compose for his solo guitar. He has been composing ever since. If you would like to hear more about Maxi’s story you can view a post-concert interview with Christina Wilhelm on our website. Maxi recently released a new cd of his alluring original music. For more information please visit his website: www.maximilianolarrea.com

Program: Original works by Maxi Larrea

January 1, 2021 New Year’s Day

Weiss/Soflin Duo: Michael Weiss, saxophone; Elizabeth Soflin, vibraphone with Alex Fleming, percussion

The last program of the SCFPA Holiday Series presented an eclectic mix of music composed for saxophone and percussion- a combination that is becoming more and popular for its unique sonority among composers. The performers Michael Weiss and Elizabeth Soflin came back to Patagonia for their third concert at the opera house. This livestream concert was Michael Weiss’s first performance since February 2020. A very special work on the program, movements from Maslanka’s songbook, was dedicated to University of Arizona Professor Emeritus Gregg Hanson in thanks for all he taught Michael and Elizabeth when they played in his wind ensemble and to honor him after his passing in November 2020.

Program: African Marketplace - Abdullah Ibrahim - arr. Kai Stensgaard Cactus Juice - Keeghan Fountain Jupiter - Gustav Holst – arr. Nathan Daughtery Vertical River - Blake Tyson Want It Need It Have It - Adam Silverman Songbook, Song for Davy #5 Summer Song - David Maslanka.

3

As we begin the new year 2021 we would like to acknowledge all who have contributed financially to SCFPA this past year 2020. During this time, when live music has become a casualty of the pandemic, your support has helped us find ways to continue bringing talented musicians to the Opera House - now a digital stage. Thank you everyone.

Friends of the Opera House Live Stream Donations Sustaining Members (Annual and Monthly)

James and Deborah Cassaday Gerry and Lynn Isaac David Christiana Jim and Lou Schatz Beck Forth Rick and Annie Waits Dora Joffroy Jude Weierman (in memory of Joe Montell) Michael Hitchcock

Chuck and Sarah Klingenstein Nancy Calhoun Deb Klosterman Yunghi Choi Renate Kloppinger Lane Coulston Kathleen Krause Chip Fears Irene Manzenedo Andy Gould Susan Mayer Jan Herron Helen Oppenheim Adrienne Halpert (in memory of Jill Babcock) Ryan and Judy Overbeek Phyllis Klosterman Anne Quirin Horst and Hedy Kniesel Pat Watrous Sarah Klingenstein Jude Weierman Renate Kloppinger Paula Wittner Evan Kory Kathleen Krause

Inge Maijer Sponsors for Livestream Concerts Louise Vista Michael

Jean Miller Wild Horse Restaurant Pat Watrous Lynne Weatherby Realty La Cinderella

Long Realty-Sonoita, Elgin, Patagonia Individual Contributors Patagonia Trading Post Patagonia Area Resource Alliance Samantha Carlson David Christiana (in memory of Paul Christiana) Virginia Hiker (in memory of Virginia van der Veer) Adriana Jel (in memory of Jane Leonard) Greg and Sandra Kory Benderly Spring Livestream Concert Series: Robert Kellock Marilyn Majolica February 14, 2021: Joseph Venegoni, hammered dulcimer Don Wenig Kathryn Schrag March 14, 2021: String Quartet works by Haydn and Golijov Binx Selby April 18, 2021: Emily Chao, violin & Yasmin Alami, piano Linda Shore May 16, 2021: String Quartet works by Haydn and Valborg Aulin Anne Quirin (in honor of Fred and Christina Wilhelm) Anne Townsend Nancy Webster

Follow us! @scfpa.operahouse 4