Newsletter

Longy's Modern American Music Department will present a MAM Series concert on Saturday, Feb. 20, at 8pm in Longy's Pickman Hall. Works and performers include "Aubade: For The Continuation of Life" by William Bolcom, Esther Ning Yau, piano, Benjamin Fox, oboe. Domenick Argento: "To be Sung Upon the Water," with Synthia Sture, piano, Rachel Chagat, soprano, and Juan Jaramilo Ruiz, bass clarinet. The Tre Corda Ensemble (in photo), Tim Ray, piano, Eugene Friesen, cello, and Greg Hopkins, trumpet, will perform original improvised music. Admission: free.

 
Schubert's "Winterreise" Performed at Benefit Recital, Raising Scholarships Funds

"This is the way chamber music is supposed to be performed -- in a home," said Longy President Karen Zorn, greeting more than 50 guests at the Chestnut Hill home of David and Sandra Bakalar, Longy trustee (at center of photo). Together, guests enjoyed visiting faculty artist Thomas Meglioranza, baritone (right), and Reiko Uchida, pianist (left), perform "Winterreise," the "winter journey" composed by Franz Schubert, who set 24 spell-binding poems by Wilhelm Müller to glorious music. Speaking at the benefit recital was Conservatory student Kyle Siddons, baritone, studying for a Master of Music in Vocal Performance, from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, who said the day he got a scholarship to attend Longy was one of the best days of his life. Longy needs everyone's help in this important effort. To donate online, click here, or contact Noah Hulbert, Director of the Annual Fund, by e-mail or phone, 617.876.0956 x1620.

Sheri Greenawald, Famed Opera Director, Singer and Teacher, Coaches Longy Students

For an entire week, Jan. 25-29, Voice and Opera students at Longy had the opportunity to be coached by one of the best in the business, Sheri Greenawald, Director of the San Francisco Opera Center and Artistic Director of the Merola Opera Program (third from left), shown (photo above) with Donna Roll, Longy's Opera Director, Brian Moll, Chair of Collaborative Piano, and Karyl Ryczek, Chair of Voice. On the final day of this newly established Opera Artist Residency, funded by generous donors, students showcased their talent in a public master class, learning invaluable techniques from this master teacher. In photo (right) with Ms. Greenawald is Fred Van Ness, tenor, Graduate Performance Diploma in Opera, from Kinder, Louisiana.

Longy Sponsors Pre-concert Talk for the Rose Consort of Viols, Feb. 19

The internationally acclaimed Rose Consort of Viols will perform Friday, Feb. 19, at 8pm in Lindsay Chapel, First Congregational Church, 11 Garden St., Cambridge. The concert is titled "Composed after the Italian vaine," an exploration of Italian influences in English Renaissance consort music. Performers include Ibi Aziz, John Bryan, Alison Crum and Roy Marks. Longy is sponsoring a free pre-concert talk, "Songs Without Words," an approach to the performance of Elizabethan consort music, from 6:30-7:30pm by John Bryan, Professor of Music and Head of Music and Drama at the University of Huddersfield, UK. Longy's Early Music students and the public are invited to attend the talk, which will include demonstrations by the Rose Consort. Tickets for the concert at the door are $25, seniors $20, students $15 (Longy's Early Music students can attend for free). The Rose Consort of Viols takes its name from the celebrated family of viol makers, whose work spanned the growth and flowering of the English consort repertoire. For advance reservations, call 781.259.0379.

It's Time to Tango!
Music and Dance Programs, Feb. 28 and March 1 

Get ready for "Tango Nuevo," an exciting performance of Tango music and dance with Linda Cutting, piano, Cristi Catt, soprano, special guests Owen Young, Boston Symphony Orchestra cellist, John McDonald, Tufts University composer and pianist, and Argentinian Tango dancers Hernan Brizuela and Maria Ybarra, courtesy of the Tango Society of Boston: Sunday, Feb. 28, 7pm, in Longy's Pickman Hall. Works will include tango music by Astor Piazzolla, Kurt Weill, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Alberto Ginastera, and John McDonald's "Three Crueler Tangos" composed for chamber ensemble for this concert. Other performers include Takaaki Masuko, percussion, Longy students Elise Kopesky, clarinet, Sachiko Murata, oboe, and Longy alum, Greg Abrell, violin. Admission: Free. You also are invited to observe a one-hour Tango Workshop by the Argentinian tango dancers, Hernan Brizuela and Maria Ybarra, on Monday, March 1, 12:30pm, in Longy's Pickman Hall. Admission: free.

Alumnus Wins Composition Competition,
Premiere to be Performed March 8

Congratulations to Longy alumus Lewis Krauthamer, who has been selected the winner of the Sixth Annual String Composition Competition by Longy's String Department and Composition and Theory Department. A 2004 graduate, he won for his composition, Carmencitas. The annual competition, jointly sponsored by the two departments, seeks to foster the creation of new music playable by young musicians. Each year, the string faculty determines the instrumentation of a small ensemble and the focus for the piece. This year, pieces were written for intermediate string quartet. The winning composition will be performed at the String Generations Showcase, which celebrates the continuity of classical music as each generation passes on its traditions and the joy of music-making to the next, with teacher and student playing together. The premiere is scheduled for Monday, March 8, at 7pm in Longy's Pickman Hall.