For Details, Contact: Cal Poly Pomona Music Department Teresa Kelly, Music Department Publicist 3801 W. Temple Avenue, Pomona, CA 91768 Email: [email protected] Phone: 909-869-3554 Fax: 909-869-4145 Phone: 909-869-3554 Website: http://www.cpp.edu/~class/music/ For Immediate Release: January 22, 2018 Cal Poly Pomona Department of Music Piano Events Sparkle with Renowned Guest Artists, Page 1 of 4 New Compositions, and Premier Performances The Cal Poly Pomona Department of Music’s Winter 2018 series of events includes five piano events that feature renowned guest artists, new compositions, and the premiere performance of the CPP Piano Ensemble. Martin Chalifour, violinist and principal concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, will perform with Nadia Shpachenko on Monday, February 5th at 8:00pm. The program is titled “Italian and French Romantic Music” and features works by Antonio Vivaldi, Camille Saint-Saëns, Ottorino Respighi, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, and Arvo Pärt with guest artist Cristina Basili, cello (performing Vivaldi). A bonus performance of Gernot Wolfgang’s “Windows” with Edgar Lopez, clarinet and Judith Farmer, bassoon will begin the performance at 8:00pm in the music recital hall. Nadia Shpachenko will present works from her upcoming CD on Wednesday, February 21st at 8:00pm in a special pre- release concert. The recital will feature works from Shpachenko’s new World Premieres CD “Quotations and Homages,” to be released by Reference Recordings in April 2018. The new homages by Adam Borecki, Daniel Felsenfeld, Tom Flaherty, Vera Ivanova, Missy Mazzoli, Nick Norton, and Peter Yates were inspired by a variety of earlier composers and pieces, from Mozart to Brahms to Stravinsky to Messiaen to Carter to Gubaidulina to The Velvet Underground. In a program both serious and lighthearted, the new works will be performed by Shpachenko together with some of the original inspirations by Brahms, Debussy, Prokofiev, Satie and Stravinsky. The Cal Poly Pomona Piano Ensemble will present their premiere performance on Wednesday, February 28th at 8:00pm. Works planned will include new compositions as well as classical piano pieces. The concert will present the West Coast Premiere of “Arebati” for 2 toy pianos, 2 pianos, celesta, marimba, vibraphone and electronics, written specifically for the ensemble by composer Jack Van Zandt (premiered by the Cal Poly Pomona Piano Ensemble at their Florida International Toy Piano Festival tour in early January), as well as works by Antonín Dvořák, Tom Flaherty, Jerome Kitzke, Thomas Kotcheff, Tristan Perich, Samara Rice, and Franz Schubert. The ensemble is directed by Nadia Shpachenko, who will perform with the ensemble. Complimenting the performance events, violinist Martin Chalifour will present a free Chamber Music Master Class on Monday, February 5th at 4:00pm and composer Jack Van Zandt will present a free Performance/Composition Master Class on February 22nd at 1:00pm. Both clincians will advise music students who will perform a variety of works for the master clinicians. All events will be in the music recital hall. Tickets may be purchased online at csupomona.tix.com or at the Dr. Andrew G. Chong Box Office, weekdays from 12-1pm and one hour prior to concert time. Event Schedule: February 5th @ 4pm - Chamber Music Master Class with Martin Chalifour February 5th @ 8pm - Italian and French Romantic Music concert with Martin Chalifour & Nadia Shpachenko February 21st @ 8pm - Quotations & Homages CD pre-release concert with Nadia Shpachenko February 22nd @ 1pm - Performance/Composition Master Class with Jack Van Zandt February 28th @ 8pm - Cal Poly Pomona Piano Ensemble Concert Cal Poly Pomona Department of Music Piano Events Sparkle with Renowned Guest Artists, Page 2 of 4 New Compositions, and Premier Performances ABOUT THE PERFORMERS MARTIN CHALIFOUR began his tenure as Principal Concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1995. The recipient of various grants and awards in his native Canada, he graduated with honors from the Montreal Conservatory at the age of 18 and then moved to Philadelphia to pursue studies at the Curtis Institute of Music. Chalifour received a Certificate of Honor at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, and is also a laureate of the Montreal International Competition.Apart from his LA Phil duties he maintains an active solo career, playing a diverse repertoire of more than 60 concertos. Chalifour has appeared as soloist with conductors Pierre Boulez, Gustavo Dudamel, Charles Dutoit, Christoph Eschenbach, Sir Neville Marriner, and Esa-Pekka Salonen. Outside the U.S., he has played solos with the Auckland Philharmonia, the Montreal Symphony, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the National Orchestra of Taiwan, and the Malaysian Philharmonic, among others. Chalifour began his orchestral career with the late Robert Shaw and the Atlanta Symphony, playing as Associate Concertmaster for six years. Subsequently he occupied the same position for five years in the Cleveland Orchestra, where he also served as Acting Concertmaster under Christoph von Dohnányi. While in Cleveland, Chalifour taught at the Cleveland Institute of Music and was a founding member of the Cleveland Orchestra Piano Trio. Chalifour is a frequent guest at several summer music festivals, including the Sarasota Festival, the Mainly Mozart Festival, and the Reno Chamber Music Festival. In December 2014 at the same Nevada festival, Chalifour was featured with his friend and colleague Noah Bendix-Balgley in a special program entitled “The Concertmasters of the Berlin Phil and the LA Phil.” Maintaining close ties with his native country, he has returned there often to teach and perform as soloist with various Canadian orchestras, most recently with the Vancouver Symphony and Bramwell Tovey. He will be featured in the Tchaikovsky concerto in the opening week of the Hamilton Symphony 2017/2018 season. Martin Chalifour has recorded solo and chamber music for the Telarc, Northstar, and Yarlung labels. He teaches at the University of Southern California and Caltech. CRISTINA BASILI (1993) has studied the cello in Europe with Vladimir Malinovsky (Vienna) David Grigorian (Munich) and Antonio Meneses (Switzerland). Currently she is continuing her graduate studies at the University of Southern California, in the studio of renowned cellist Ralph Kirshbaum. She has worked with distinguished musicians Natalia Gutman, Frans Helmerson, David Geringas, Alban Gerhardt, Benjamin Zander, Paavo Järvi, Belcea Quartet and Hagen Quartet. She is a prize winner of national and international competitions “Prima La Musica”, Austria, International Cello Competition Liezen, Lions Austria Music Competition, Brahms International Cello Competition. She was a scholarship student of the Onassis Foundation, Karajan Stiftung Vienna, Accademia Chigiana di Siena, Rahn Foundation Zurich. As a soloist and chamber musician Cristina has performed at Konzerthaus Vienna, Tonhalle Zürich, Gasteig Munich, Megaron Athens, Thessaloniki Concert Hall, Odessa Philharmonic Hall, Pärnu Music Festival, Estonia, Riva Music Festival, Italy, the International Enescu Festival in Sinaia, Romania. The young cellist is playing on an instrument made by Antonio Gibertini in 1844. Cal Poly Pomona Department of Music Piano Events Sparkle with Renowned Guest Artists, Page 3 of 4 New Compositions, and Premier Performances GRAMMY Award-nominated JUDITH FARMER enjoys a rich and varied career as a chamber musician, orchestra musician, soloist and teacher. She received her education at Indiana University and at the Hochschule fuer Musik in Vienna. From 1984-1996 she was principal bassoonist of the Austrian Radio Symphony Orchestra, performed and toured regularly with the Camerata Academica Salzburg under Sandor Vegh and with numerous chamber music ensembles in Vienna. Ms. Farmer has appeared as a soloist in the U.S. and in Europe, including the Salzburg Festival, and has participated in chamber music festivals in Prussia Cove (UK), Martha’s Vineyard (MA), Salem (NY), La Jolla (CA), Oaxaca (Mexico), Beverly Hills (CA) and Garth Newel (VA). For the 1995-96 season she held the position of visiting professor at the Hochschule fuer Musik in Graz, Austria. She has also taught at the International Mozart Academy in Prague, the Chautauqua Music Festival and the Henry Mancini Institute. In 1996 Ms. Farmer moved to Los Angeles and since then has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, including as guest associate principal in spring of 2009. She has played on the scores of over 200 major motion pictures and recorded with such artists as Daft Punk, Josh Groban, Billy Childs, Barbra Streisand and Neil Young. She is currently principal bassoonist of the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, a member of the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra and the Long Beach Symphony. She is an avid chamber musician, who enjoys collaborating with composers on new works and has had numerous works written and dedicated to her. Her recordings as a soloist and chamber musician are available on Albany, Centaur, Ex-House and Orfeo Records. Critics have described Farmer’s playing as “impeccable” (American Record Guide), “masterly” (Fanfare Magazine) and “brilliant” (Kronenzeitung, Austria). Barnaby Rayfield also noted in the July/August 2011 issue of Fanfare Magazine, “The playing on [composer Gernot Wolfgang’s CD Short Stories] is uniformly excellent, especially from Judith Farmer on bassoon, finding expressive extremes of that instrument I didn’t think possible.” Farmer’s playing on clarinetist Gary Gray’s