2 1 0 2 ARTISTS g n i Concer t & Lecture Series r p S distinguished • 1 1 0 2 l l a F f a a h c S r e t e P y b o t o n h p o i t Sara Davis Buechner, pianist a d n u o F y PIANIST SOHEIL NASSERI t i n 26th Season u FILM DIRECTOR & PIANIST ANTONIO ITURRIOZ m m HAMBER RCHESTRA REMLIN o C O K C s PIANIST SARA DAVIS BUECHNER o t p A CADENZA CHAMBER ORCHESTRA HomeSpace — Your favorite furniture store in Santa Cruz! 2701 41st Avenue Across from Best Buy 831-475-3200 Monday - Saturday 11 - 6 Closed Sunday A PT OS C OM MUNI T Y FOUN DAT I ON ARTISTS Concer t & Lecture Series Executive & Artistic distinguished Director John Orlando Graphics Yasmine Nadel Dear Friend of the Distinguished Artists Concert & Lecture Series, Board of Directors Now in its 26th year, the Distinguished Artists Concert & Lecture Rick Alloy Series is proud to offer another outstanding season of musical variety and Susan Bruckner excellence for the whole family to enjoy. Maydene Fisher Sincerely, Winnie Johnsen Aptos Community Foundation John Orlando Executive & Artistic Director President John Orlando www.distinguishedartists.org Season Sponsor Yamaha Peninsula Music Center & Yamaha Corporation of America DISTINGUISHED ARTISTS CONCERT & LECTURE SERIES 3 A R T I S T B I O G R A P H Y Proclaimed as “one of New York’s most prolific recitalists by the New York Times, since the fall of 2001, Soheil Nasseri gave twenty completely dif- ferent solo recital programs in New York, all without repeating a single piece. These concerts included 25 premières of contemporary works in addition to 28 of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas, a part of Mr. Nasseri’s pledge to perform all of Beethoven’s works involving piano by the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth in 2020. Mr. Nasseri made his European recital debut in May 2004 at Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Sicily. Since then, he has per- formed in some of the world’s most presti- gious concert halls: in addition to his reg- ular New York concerts, he has recently performed solo recitals or concerti in Washington, Berlin, London, Florence, Canada, Bucharest, Tehran (Iran), and Kerman (Iran). As concerto soloist Mr. Nasseri has appeared with conductors Fabio del Cioppo, Justus Frantz, David LaMarche, John Lopez, Edward Polochick, and Ormsby Wilkins. In May and June 2010 he joined the American Ballet Theatre for eight sold-out all-Chopin performances at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, playing an integral role onstage as a pianist—both acting and perform- ing for one hour—in the John Neumeier ballet Lady of the Camellias. Additionally, Mr. Nasseri performed a 10-minute solo-piano excerpt of this ballet at the ABT season-opening Gala at the Metropolitan Opera, joining star dancers Julie Kent and Roberto Bolle. One of Soheil Nasseri’s foremost interests has been his inner-city public school music education program. Mr. Nasseri has given concerts at more than 60 public schools in the U.S. since 2003, with a combined audience of about 25,000 students. Mr. Nasseri is also passionately committed to pro- moting new music of young classical composers and indeed many com- posers have written pieces specifically for him, including Richard Danielpour, Avner Dorman, Hormoz Farhat, Martin Kennedy, Samir Odeh- Tamimi, Haskell Small, Ronn Yedidia, Lev ‘Ljova’' Zhurbin, and Samuel Zyman. As a recording artist he has 6 solo discs on the Naxos Centaur, Mahoor, and 21st Century Classical labels. Born to Iranian parents in Santa Monica, California, Soheil Nasseri began studying the piano at the age of five and at the age of twenty moved to New York to study intensively with the late Karl Ulrich Schnabel (1909–2001). Following the death of Mr. Schnabel, Mr. Nasseri became a protégé of Jerome Lowenthal who remains Mr. Nasseri’s mentor today, along with Claude Frank. Soheil Nasseri divides his time between residences in New York and Berlin. 4 APTOS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF ERNEST T. (BUD) KRETSCHMER Program 1 Sunday, October 9, 3 PM Cabrillo College Music Recital Hall, VAPA 5001 Soheil Nasseri Iranian Pianist HORMOZ FARHAT SONATA NO. 2 (2011) WEST COAST PREMIERE 1929 - I. ALLEGRETTO - VIVACE - MODERATO - VIVACE II. LARGO CON MOLTO ESPRESSIONE E FLESSIBILITA III. MOLTO ANIMATO ROBERT SCHUMANN 3 NOVELLETTES FROM OP. 21 (1838) 1810-1856 NO. 1 IN F MAJOR: MARKIERT UND KRÄFTIG NO. 4 IN D MAJOR: BALLMÄßIG. SEHR MUNTER NO. 6 IN A MAJOR: SEHR LEBHAFT MIT VIELEM HUMOR FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN FANTASY IN F MINOR, OP. 49 (1841) 1810-1849 Intermission LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN SONATA NO. 29 IN B-FLAT MAJOR, OP. 106 1770-1827 “GROßE SONATE FÜR DAS HAMMER-KLAVIER” (1817-18) I. ALLEGRO II. SCHERZO: ASSAI VIVACE III. ADAGIO SOSTENUTO IV. ALLEGRO RISOLUTO JOHN BAUER, PIANO TECHNICIAN DISTINGUISHED ARTISTS CONCERT & LECTURE SERIES 5 R T E T N A E C M N O I 1650 R S MANSFIELD I L STREET A L O Santa Cruz C C 464-0338 ACROSS THE STREET FROM STAPLES 6 APTOS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION 740 Front Street Ste. 100 831 458-1212 www.cafemare.com Full Bar • Weekend Brunch • Open Daily • Plenty of Parking Rehearsal and Wedding Dinners DISTINGUISHED ARTISTS CONCERT & LECTURE SERIES 7 Bay Federal Credit Union 445 Summit Road Watsonville, CA 95076 408.846.4064 www.mountmadonna.org/cabrillo Program 2 Saturday, November 5, 7:30 PM Cabrillo College Erica Schilling Forum (450) Antonio Iturrioz Film Director The Buddha of the Piano: A DOCUMENTARY FILM ON THE LIFE OF THE LEGENDARY PIANIST LEOPOLD GODOWSKY Antonio Iturrioz bio see Page 10 103 LOCUST STREET, SANTA CRUZ 831 425 2222 DISTINGUISHED ARTISTS CONCERT & LECTURE SERIES 9 A R T I S T B I O G R A P H Y Antonio Iturrioz was born in Cuba and came to the United States when he was 7 years old. He played his first concert at age 9 and made his orchestral debut at age 15 playing the Liszt First Piano Concerto. His teachers include his father, Pablo Iturrioz, Francisco De Hoyos (a pupil of Gyorgi Sandor), Bernardo Segall who studied with Alexander Siloti who was a pupil of Liszt, Aube Tzerko and Julian White. In 1971 he took several master classes from Byron Janis. In 1972 he attended and played at the Aspen Music Festival. In 1973 he was one of ten young pianists selected nationwide by Andre Watts to participate in the Andre Watts Piano Seminars at Tanglewood. He is a recipient of the Los Angeles Young Musicians Foundation Scholarship. Iturrioz has produced two one of a kind musi- cal documentaries: The first is called The Art of the Left Hand: A Brief History of Left Hand Piano Music, which appeared in 2006 to critical acclaim and has been shown on PBS. Pianist Jon Nakamatsu called the film, “great for musi- cians and non-musicians alike.“ A second film followed in 2010, the inspi- ration coming from the central figure of the Left Hand film – Leopold Godowsky. The Buddha of the Piano: Leopold Godowsky is the first and only film about Godowsky and has been shown on PBS and at the Portland International Piano Festival in Oregon. Pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin said of this film: “Antonio Iturrioz has performed a wonderful service to music lovers in general and pianophiles in particular…”. Concert pianist-filmmaker, Mr. Iturrioz continues to play recitals and show his films in the U. S. and in Europe. He lives with his wife in the Russian River area of Sonoma County, California, and teaches privately in Sonoma and Napa Counties. For more information please visit his website: www.theartofthelefthand.com. 10 APTOS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION Program 3 Sunday, November 6, 3 PM Cabrillo College Music Recital Hall, VAPA 5001 Antonio Iturrioz Cuban Pianist J.S. Bach 1685-1750 ARIA FROM VIOLIN PARTITA NO. 3 ARRANGED BY LEOPOLD GODOWSKY ROBERT SCHUMANN 1810-1856 SONG, “A FLOWER TO ME THOU SEEMEST” ARRANGED BY GODOWSKY FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN 1810-1849 ETUDE, OP. 25, NO. 1, AEOLIAN HARP FRANZ LISZT LEGEND NO. 2, ST. FRANCIS OF PAUL 1811-1886 WALKING ON THE WAVES FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN 1810-1849 ETUDE, OP. 25, NO. 7 JOHANN STRAUSS 1825-1899 SYMPHONIC METAMORPHOSES ON THE ARRANGED BY Leopold GODOWSKY ARTIST’S LIFE WALTZES Intermission Alexander Scriabin NOCTURNE FOR THE LEFT HAND ALONE 1872-1915 CHARLES SEPOS TANGO BLUE SONOMA COUNTY COMPOSER ROBERT SCHUMANN SCENES FROM CHILDHOOD, OP. 15 1810-1856 L. M. GOTTSCHALK EL COCOYE 1829-1869 JOHN BAUER, PIANO TECHNICIAN DISTINGUISHED ARTISTS CONCERT & LECTURE SERIES 11 A R T I S T B I O G R A P H I E S Misha Rachlevsky’s lifetime affinity for chamber music and chamber orchestra repertoire began at the College of the Moscow Conservatory and the Gnessin Academy of Music. Born in Moscow, his violin studies began at the age of five and continued through the well-traveled path of the Russian school of string play- ing. After leaving the Soviet Union in 1973, he lived and worked in different countries on three continents, and in 1976 settled in the United States, becoming active in the field of chamber music. Mr. Rachlevsky founded the New American Chamber Orchestra (NACO) in 1984, and led it to international prominence, completing nine European tours in four years. In 1989, Rachlevsky accepted an offer from the city of Granada, Spain—a two-year project under which NACO became the resident orchestra of Granada while, concurrently, Rachlevsky founded and led Granada's own cham- ber orchestra.