Veretski Pass Klezmer Trio: 22 Years of Favorites!
$15 youth, $25 Senior/Student, $30 general admission
Tickets available through Eventbrite.
Veretski Pass is a trio of Jewish Music veterans who have been at the forefront of the klezmer revival for over 25 years. Their output spans the ultra-traditional to the Avant Garde. Taking their name from the mountain pass through which Magyar tribes crossed into the Carpathian basin to settle what later became the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Veretski Pass offers a unique and exciting combination of virtuosic musicianship and raw energy that has excited concertgoers across the world. The trio plays Old Country Music with origins in the Ottoman Empire, once fabled as the borderlands of the East and the West. In a true collage of Carpathian, Jewish, Rumanian and Ottoman styles, typical suites contain dances from Moldavia and Bessarabia; Jewish melodies from Poland and Rumania; Hutzul wedding music from Carpathian-Ruthenia; and haunting Rebetic aires from Smyrna, seamlessly integrated with original compositions. Their CDs have repeatedly been on the 10-best recording lists of journalists since 2002.
Many, many thanks to Alan Kaplan, our sponsor for this presentation of Veretski Pass! If you're inspired by Alan's generosity and would also like sponsor a concert, drop us a line :)
Artist Profiles:
Cookie Segelstein, violin and viola, received her Masters degree in Viola from The Yale School of Music in 1984. Until moving to California in 2010, she was principal violist in Orchestra New England and assistant principal in The New Haven Symphony, as well as on the music faculty at Southern Connecticut State University. She is the founder and director of Veretski Pass, a member of Budowitz, The Youngers of Zion with Henry Sapoznik, has performed with Kapelye, The Klezmatics, Frank London, Klezmer Fats and Swing with Pete Sokolow and the late Howie Leess, Margot Leverett and the Klezmer Mountain Boys, and The Klezmer Conservatory Band. Cookie has presented lecture demonstrations and workshops on klezmer fiddling all over the world, including at Yale University, University of Wisconsin in Madison, Marshall University in Huntington, West VA, University of Virginia in Charlottesville, University of Oregon in Eugene, Pacific University, SUNY-Cortland, and at Klezmerwochen in Weimar, Germany. She is a regular staff member at Living Traditions' KlezKamp, KlezKanada, KlezCalifornia, Klezmer Festival Fürth, Klezfest London, and has been a performing artist at Centrum's Festival of American Fiddle Tunes in Port Townsend, Wash.
She was featured on the ABC documentary, “A Sacred Noise,” heard on HBO’s “Sex and the City”, appears in the Miramax film, “Everybody’s Fine” starring Robert De Niro, and is heard on several recordings including Veretski Pass, Trafik and The Klezmer Shul, Budowitz Live, the Koch International label with Orchestra New England in The Orchestral Music of Charles Ives, Hazònes with Frank London, A Living Tradition with the late Moldovan clarinetist, German Goldenshteyn and Fleytmuzik with Adrianne Greenbaum.
She is also the publisher of "The Music of..." series of klezmer transcriptions. Active as a Holocaust educator and curriculum advisor, she has been a frequent lecturer at the Women’s Correctional Facility in Niantic, CT. She is on the boards of both the North California Viola Society, and the American String Teacher Association, Bay Area chapter. Cookie is also an Apple Certified Support Professional, and owns and operates The Macmama. Cookie lives in Berkeley, with her husband, Josh Horowitz, a dog and her occasionally visiting adult children.
Joshua Horowitz, 19th Century button accordion, Tsimbl (hammered dulcimer) received his Masters degree in Composition and Music Theory from the Academy of Music in Graz, Austria, where he taught Music Theory and served as Research Fellow and Director of the Yiddish Music Research Project for eight years. He was chosen as the co-curator and orchestrator by the San Francisco Symphony for its Jewish Installment of their “Currents” series
He is the founder and director of the ensemble Budowitz, a founding member of Veretski Pass and has performed and recorded with Itzhak Perlman, The Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Theodore Bikel, Ben Goldberg, Rubin and Horowitz, Brave Old World, Adrienne Cooper and Ruth Yaakov. His music was recently featured in the British film, “Some of my best friends are... Jewish / Muslim”, awarded the Sandford St. Martin Trust Religious Broadcasting Award and is also featured in the new film by Jes Benstock, "The Holocaust Tourist".
His recordings with Veretski Pass, Budowitz, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Rubin & Horowitz and Alicia Svigals, have achieved international recognition and he is the recipient of more than 40 awards for his work as both composer and performer.
He was one of the co-founders of the Austrian experimental composer collective, “Die Andere Saite” and received the Prize of Honor by the Austrian government for his orchestral composition, “Tenebrae.” Following his children’s Opera, “Der Wilde Man”, Joshua received The “Award for Outstanding Talent in Composition” from the City of Graz and was twice finalist in the National American ASCAP competition. While teaching at the Graz Academy of Music he was awarded both The David Herzog and Fritz Spielman Awards, and received ongoing support from Louise M. Davies for his dedication to music creativity and education.
In 2001, Joshua’s group, Budowitz was chosen by the Austrian government to represent the country in the International Celebration of World Culture’s held at the “House of the Cultures of The World” in Berlin.
Joshua taught Advanced Jazz Theory at Stanford University with the late saxophonist Stan Getz and is a regular teacher at KlezKamp, Klezkanada, KlezCalifornia and the Klezmer Festival Fürth. His musicological work is featured in four books, including The Sephardic Songbook with Aron Saltiel and The Ultimate Klezmer, and he has written numerous articles on the counterpoint of J.S. Bach. Josh lives in Berkeley with his wife Cookie.
Stuart Brotman, 3-String Bass, baraban, has been an accomplished performer, arranger and recording artist in the ethnic music field for over 50 years. A founding member of Los Angeles' Ellis Island Band, he has been a moving force in the klezmer revival since its beginning, and has defined klezmer bass (“It’s a large instrument that plays really low and has an accent.”)
He holds a B.A. in music with a concentration in Ethnomusicology from the University of California at Los Angeles, and has taught at KlezKamp, Buffalo on the Roof, the Balkan Music and Dance Workshops, Klezkanada, KlezCalifornia, and numerous European festivals and institutes, including Oxford University, Klezfest London, Yiddish Summer Weimar, Klezmer Festival Fürth, and the Krakow Jewish Festival.
Stu has been recording, touring, and teaching New Jewish Music with world class ensemble, Brave Old World since 1989, and is featured in the PBS Great Performances film and CD, “Itzhak Perlman, in the Fiddler’s House,” and in the 2010 documentary, “Song of the Lodz Ghetto, with the music of Brave Old World.”
Long admired as a versatile soloist and sensitive accompanist in traditional and pop music circles, he has toured and recorded with Canned Heat, Kaleidoscope, and Geoff and Maria Muldaur, and played cimbalom on Ry Cooder’s celebrated recording, “Jazz,” which premiered at Carnegie Hall.
Stu appeared in the Los Angeles production of Joshua Sobol’s “Ghetto,” the San Francisco production of “Shlemiel the First,” by Isaac Bashevis Singer, played cimbalom in “The Postman Always Rings Twice,” and contrabass balalaika in “Love Affair.”
He produced The Klezmorim's Grammy nominated album, "Metropolis," and has recorded with The Klezmorim, Kapelye, Andy Statman, the Klezmer Conservatory Band, Davka, The San Francisco Klezmer Experience, and Khevrisa. Stuart lives in Berkeley, California.
Winter Solstice & Holiday Sing-Along
$15 youth, $25 Senior/Student, $30 general admission
Tickets available through Eventbrite.
Sing-along holiday fun: treats, soloists, door prizes!
Last year's Winter Solstice/Hanukkah/Christmas singalong was such a hit, we just have to do it again! And this year, it's a co-production with St. Alban's. What does that mean? Even better treats! Even more music!
Because 'tis the season to sing along with your favorite holiday tunes, listen to some fabulous soloists, eat some cookies and chocolate, and drink some nog! Can you sing "well"? Fabulous - Sing out, Louise! Do you often wind up lip-synching to Happy Birthday (perhaps because some unkind person told you when you were ten that you can't carry a tune in bucket)? Who cares - sing out, Louise - we're here to have a good time - and we'll have song leaders to help keep you/us in tune :)!
Small, squirmy children? Bring 'em! Serious musician children? Come on down! Friends and family with accessibility issues? Our hall is fully accessible, and an inclusive and welcoming space. Bring your whole family along!
Ooh - and did we mention door prizes? Yes indeedy - there will be door prizes - tickets to Berkeley Symphony, tickets to Calliope, a private oboe lesson, an hour of Mac computer support with MacMama, CDs of fantastic local musicians - and more.....!!!!Be prepared to sing con spirito - we will have a blast!
Capacity limited to 80 attendees.
In our lovely Parish Hall - with the 1924 Steinway!
With pianist Leon Chou (Albany High, Cal, BCCO) as accompanist, song leaders Larry DiCostanzo, Kris Whitten, Amy Kessler and Christine Staples. Performances by Jesse Distiller, Judah Lampkin, Amy Kessler and more!
Here are some of our favorite tunes: In the Bleak Midwinter.... Hanukkah Rock of Ages.... Joy to the World..... Deck the Hall.... Dreidl, dreidl, dreidl..... Silent Night.... O come, o come, Immanuel.... What are your favorites?
COVID Safety Protocols:
Masking is encouraged as an individual choice; this protects everyone from the spread of viruses. Masks will be readily available to those who want one.
Up-to-date immunizations (including flu, COVID, pneumonia and RSV) are strongly encouraged.
Hand sanitizer will be available, and is encouraged.
Whenever weather permits, we will ventilate our spaces to the maximum degree possible, and employ the use of air purifiers.
If you have tested positive for COVID, or feel at all unwell, we urge you in the strongest possible way to stay home.
Alex Taite: Deep River - The Flow of Negro Spirituals Through Time
$15 youth, $25 Senior/Student, $30 general admission
Tickets available through Eventbrite.
Join Alex Taite – singer, composer, pianist, and Bay Area native – in a lecture/recital exploring the depths and beauty of the Negro Spiritual. He presents his own arrangements of some of his favorite spirituals, jazz standards, and other exclusively American selections, and interweaves a vivid historical narrative of American culture.
This presentation explores how American music owes much of its existence to the trauma of those first enslaved people who were just trying to pass the time in the fields or lend some comfort in a dark room. An art form blending the rhythmic and emotional core from Africa with the religious and harmonic structure of the European colonizers. Born from burdens. Tempered by tragedy.
From the muck of kidnapping, oppression, indoctrination, and torture sprang forth this bloom of rich, uplifting, hopeful music. Music that evolved as time trampled generations of humans. This lecture recital will deepen your connection to history, and to your fellow humans. Concludes with a Q & A with the artist.
Circadian String Quartet with Leslie Bonnett, Alto
$15 youth, $25 Senior/Student, $30 general admission
Tickets available through Eventbrite.
The Circadian String Quartet presents: Home, a concert that delves into what home means to us through music by Antonin Dvorak, Philip Glass, the Magnetic Zeros, and David Ryther. Dvorak wrote his “American” String Quartet pining for home from a Czech enclave in Spillville, Iowa. In his String Quartet no. 5, Philip Glass takes us on an epic journey that comes “back home.” Excerpts from David Ryther’s Opera, “Euridice’s Defiance” explore a story of migration, and our own rendition of the Magnetic Zero’s song Home confirms the old adage that “home” is where the heart is.
About the Circadian String Quartet:
Bay Area based Circadian String Quartet was founded in 2013 to perform classical and contemporary repertoire of folkloric or cultural significance.
Since then CSQ has become known for bold original programming ideas that break boundaries or reach across cultures, that is why CSQ loves working with composers. CSQ is proud to have given world and U.S. premieres of exciting new pieces of chamber music written by Sahba Aminikia, Ben Carson, Toronto-based Noam Lemish, and British composer Ian Venables. They first performed Sahba Aminikia’s One Day Tehranlive on air on KPFA’s radio show “Music of the World” with Joanna Manqueros in 2015. Then in 2016 they commissioned Aminikia to write a new piece for string quartet and Narrator. The result, a glowing kaleidoscopic mixture of text by Allen Ginsburg and Hafez called The Weight of the World was premiered in 2017 at the Piedmont Arts center.
CSQ has also become known for its original transcriptions and compositions. In 2017 and 2019 their original transcriptions of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and the Firebird premiered to enthusiastic crowds and critical acclaim. In 2016 CSQ collaborated with narrator and historian Nikolaus Hohmann to tell stories from World War Two. For this project CSQ created short original pieces of music and text called “Chiaroscuros”which helped give their programs a narrative arc. Now there is a growing body of these short works which are now a regular part of all CSQ concerts.
CSQ has been quartet in residence at the Music by the Mountain Festival in Mt. Shasta, featured in the April in Santa Cruz new music festival, and the members also serve as resident teaching artistists for the Villa Sinfonia’s Zephyr Point Chamber music workshop in South Lake Tahoe.
Some of CSQ’s recent projects include their collaboration with world class santour player Hamid Taghavi, and the upcoming premiere of “Eurydice’s Defiance” David Ryther’s new Opera written especially for Kitka Soprano, Lily Storm and CSQ. These projects highlight the breadth of CSQ’s repertoire as they continue to expand the string quartet’s possibilities.
Artist Profiles
Monika Gruber, Violin: Praised by critics for her "irresistibly melting tone, which she can also imbue with gripping fire", Monika Gruber is a versatile violinist, appearing in concerts throughout the United States and Europe. As violinist of the Eusebius Duo she was invited to perform in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, following the duo's success as first prize winners of the CMFONE International Chamber Music Competition. Throughout her years of study she was the recipient of numerous scholarships and awards, notably the Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship, which enabled her to continue her studies in the US.
Monika received her training at 'Hochschule für Musik' in Weimar, Germany, 'Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique´ in Lyon, France, and at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Ian Swensen. She is equally active as chamber and orchestra musician, performing lots of modern music in addition to the classical and romantic repertoire, as well as some branching out into baroque music. She has worked in public master classes with musicians such as Norbert Brainin (Amadeusquartett), Samuel Rhodes (Juilliard Quartet), Menahem Pressler (Beaux Arts Trio), and Petra Müllejans (Freiburger Barockorchester).
Always eager to share her passion for music in many ways, Monika was a teaching assistant in Weimar while receiving her Teaching Degree, and she continued to teach, instill and foster the love of music in people of all ages ever since. Upon completion of her Masters Degree in San Francisco she was offered a position as violin instructor at SFCM's Pre-College Division, where she is now also coaching chamber music. Her students are doing well in competitions, and they got accepted into the SF Youth Orchestra as well as into colleges, such as Rice University Shepherd School of Music, Cleveland Institute of Music, Vanderbilt University Blair School of Music, and UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music.
David Ryther, violin: David has brought his interpretive powers as a soloist to such festivals as the Darmstadt Summer Festival of New Music, the Banff Center, and the Green Umbrella Series at the Bing theater in Los Angeles. He has been featured playing new music with adventurous ensembles sfSoundGroup, Earplay, San Francisco Contemporary Players, the Berkeley New Music Ensemble, Sonor, and Octagon. An active violinist, he can be found playing in many of the orchestras and ensembles in the Bay Area including the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra. David graduated with highest honors in music from UC Santa Cruz and recently received his doctorate in contemporary violin performance from UC San Diego. A dedicated teacher and conductor, David is the conductor of Villa Sinfonia in San Francisco, teaches violin at the Crowden School, and has served as coach and interim conductor with the Berkeley Youth Orchestra. As a composer, David has had world premieres played by the Villa Sinfonia, an orchestra piece called "Friend" commissioned by the Croi Glan dance troupe in Cork Ireland, and has worked in residency with Kate Weare company in New York and Dandelion Dance Theater in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Omid Assadi, viola: a native of Iran, Omid Assadi holds a B.M. and M.M. from San Francisco Conservatory of Music where he studied with Jodie Levitz and Bettina Mussumeli. Mr. Assadi is an active ensemble player and soloist; he has concertized with many of the Bay Area’s orchestras and has appeared numerous times as soloist with Golden Gate Philharmonic, City College of San Francisco String Orchestra, Kensington Symphony Orchestra, and Villa Sinfonia. Omid’s love for chamber music has led him to study chamber music with the members of the Kronos String Quartet as well as the San Francisco Conservatory of Music faculty members. In addition, he has collaborated with Jennifer Culp, Jodi Levitz, Jorja Fleezanis, and with the Shams Ensemble.holds a B.M. and M.M. from San Francisco Conservatory of Music where he studied with Jodie Levitz and Bettina Mussumeli. Mr. Assadi is an active ensemble player and soloist; he has concertized with many of the Bay Area’s orchestras and has appeared numerous times as soloist with Golden Gate Philharmonic, City College of San Francisco String Orchestra, Kensington Symphony Orchestra, and Villa Sinfonia. Omid’s love for chamber music has led him to study chamber music with the members of the Kronos String Quartet as well as the San Francisco Conservatory of Music faculty members. In addition, he has collaborated with Jennifer Culp, Jodi Levitz, Jorja Fleezanis, and with the Shams Ensemble.
David Wishnia, cello: An active chamber musician, David Wishnia routinely concertizes with both the Circadian String Quartet and the Villa Piano Trio, and has taught at the Zephyr Point Chamber Music Camp and Sequoia Chamber Music Workshop. David has also appeared as a soloist with the Contra Costa Chamber Orchestra and Villa Sinfonia. He is currently a member of the Marin Symphony, and has performed in numerous Bay Area ensembles, including the Berkeley Symphony, Modesto Symphony, Sacramento Symphony, Russian Chamber Orchestra, and Marin Oratorio, among others. David received his Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music, where he studied with Aldo Parisot. He also studied with Jerome Carrington and Maurice Gendron, and received coaching from Paul Tortelier, Janos Starker, and Pierre Pasquier.
Leslie Bonnett, alto: Lisa's rich and varied musical journeys have traversed such realms as classical vocal studies at UC Santa Cruz where she earned a B.A. in music, opera workshops, opera choruses, the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, classical violin, and Scandinavian fiddle. Ultimately, she has found her home singing and playing traditional folk music of the Balkans, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, the Americas and beyond. She has performed with Bay Area groups such as Balkalicious Fire Drive, Sayat Nvaq Ensemble, Kitka Women’s Vocal Ensemble and True Life Trio. During her many years with Kitka, she toured the United States and Eastern Europe, worked and studied intensively with master folk artists, and engaged in a wide array of projects, including new music works, vocal theater productions and numerous recordings. Leslie is currently channeling her creative energies towards her work with True Life Trio and the upcoming Dahmkash project.
Teslim: Classical and Folk Music of Turkey, Greece and the Balkans
$15 youth, $25 Senior/Student, $30 general admission
Tickets available through Eventbrite.
Teslim is a quartet of composers/instrumentalists who perform traditional Turkish, Greek and Balkan music as well as new compositions inspired by these traditions.
In Turkish, the word teslim means both “commit” and “surrender.” In Turkish music, teslim means “theme” or main melody—a composition journeys away from and returns home to its teslim, which becomes like a beloved and familiar character. Committing and surrendering are two sides of the same coin. If we are all commitment--technical practice, diligent study--we may not allow the spirit of the music to animate those sounds; if we are all surrender, our skills are not honed and we are unable express that spirit in a worthy vessel.
Artist Profiles
Kaila Flexer, violin, tarhui
Kaila Flexer is a violinist, composer, music educator, teacher, producer, mother and plant lover. She has recorded CD’s with her groups Third Ear, Next Village as well as two CD’s with the ensemble Teslim. Between 1989 and 2013, Flexer founded and produced Jewish music events Klezmer Mania! and Pomegranates & Figs: A Feast of Jewish Music as well as many smaller concerts. Over the years, she has performed with various groups including Club Foot Orchestra and Kitka as well as with artists including Shira Kammen, Ross Daly, Kelly Thoma, Hamed Nikpay and Hollis Taylor. Kaila teaches and composes in her Oakland studio.
Gari Hegedus, oud, saz, mandocello, tarhu
Gari Hegedus plays violin and viola as well as a variety of lutes from Greece and Turkey including laouto, oud and saz. In addition to playing in Teslim, he also performs with world music group Stellamara as well as Bay Area groups such as Janam and The Helladelics. He has studied with oud master Naseer Shamma and has studied, recorded and performed with Ross Daly and Kelly Thoma. He has toured with the Mevlevi Dervish (Sufi) Order of America and continues to participate in Turkish ceremonial and devotional gatherings around the country. In addition to being a composer and performer, Gari is a talented luthier, repairing stringed instruments of every variety; coaxing sound from sazes, violins, rebabs, restoring lutes and lyras, making bows and finding ingenious ways to allow the true voice of an instrument to come forth. (www.garihegedus.com)
Elana Brutman, Cretan lyra with sympathetic strings
Elana has dedicated the last several years of her life to the intensive study of the lyra with sympathetic strings, an instrument which is based on the Cretan lyra and incorporates elements of Byzantine lyra and Indian sarangi. She has spent the last five summers traveling to Greece to study at Labyrinth, Ross Daly’s center for modal music instruction and practice, where she has studied with Kelly Thoma and many other master musicians from Greece, Turkey, and Iran.
Joshua Mellinger, frame drum, darabuka, tonbak
Josh graduated in Percussion Performance BFA at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in Valencia, California. He performs with many groups in the San Francisco Bay Area, teaches percussion, and studies tabla with Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri at the Ali Akbar College of Music in San Rafael.
Jazz, She Wrote: Laura Klein Trio with Mary Fettig
$15 youth, $25 Senior/Student, $30 general admission
Tickets available through Eventbrite.
All-star jazz quartet performs jazz treasures by female composers.
This all-star quartet of Bay Area jazz women originally came together to celebrate Marian McPartland's 100th birthday, and since then has appeared at Piedmont Piano, the California Jazz Conservatory, Livermore Jazz Society, and the Sacramento Jazz Coop. The group will perform a wide range of captivating music by of a host of brilliant composers, including Melba Liston, Emily Remler, Anat Cohen, Blossom Dearie, Renee Rosnes, Alice Coltrane, Laura Nyro, and more. Not to be missed!
With Laura Klein, piano; Mary Fettig, sax/flute; Ruth Davies, bass and Kelly Fasman, drums
Artist Profiles
Laura Klein, pianist/bandleader: Laura, a pianist, composer, recording artist and bandleader, has previously performed at Calliope with FivePlay Jazz Quintet and TonaLaura Jazz Duo, and is delighted to be returning with this very special quartet. Every one of the composers showcased in this concert has been an influence on Laura, both as a player and a composer. Laura has performed and recorded her own compositions with FivePlay Jazz Quintet, Triceratops, and her own duos and trios. She had a show of her compositions broadcast on KCSM's "In the Moment", and has appeared with her trio at SF Jazz. Laura has a busy free-lance career performing with numerous Bay Area luminaries, from vocalists and horn players to big bands. She also has a teaching practice as a Certified Teacher of the Alexander Technique. lauraklein.net
Mary Fettig, saxophone and flute: Mary, a Bay Area native, broke barriers at a young age when she was the first woman to join the Stan Kenton orchestra. Ever since, she has had a stellar career as a performer, teacher, and clinician. Within a year of their meeting in 1978, Marian McPartland invited Mary to perform at the world’s first Women’s Jazz Festival in Kansas City. After that, Marian and Mary did many concerts together, including festivals at Concord, Detroit, Chicago and Buffalo. They recorded on Marian’s At the Festival (with Jake Hanna and Brian Torff), and Mary’s In Good Company (with Peter Sprague, Ray Brown and Jeff Hamilton.) Mary has toured with Flora Purim and Airto, Tito Puente, Toninho Horta, and Joe Henderson, and has played with many jazz greats including Carla Bley, Tony Bennett, Mel Torme, and others. She has appeared at numerous jazz festivals, including Concord, San Francisco, Monterey, Playboy, Hollywood Bowl, Mt. Hood, Chicago, Detroit, Mobile, Buffalo, Montreux, and North Sea. Mary has played on many movie soundtracks and in Broadway pit orchestras. She continues to perform and teach widely, and is on the faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. maryfettig.com
Ruth Davies, bass: Ruth, an outstanding bassist on the SF Bay Area scene, has performed and/or recorded with many jazz and blues greats including Taj Mahal, Keb' Mo', Clark Terry, John Lee Hooker, Bonnie Raitt, Jay McShann, Van Morrison, Ernie Watts, Maria Muldaur, Junior Mance, Barbara Morrison, Etta Jones, Terry Gibbs, Jimmy Witherspoon, Jackie Ryan, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Toots Thielemans, and Little Jimmy Scott. She toured the world for ten years with the late Charles Brown, and continues to spend considerable time abroad, touring with Denise Jannah, Dmitri Matheny, European pianist/composer Amina Figarova, and Elvin Bishop. Ruth is deeply involved in music education and has taught in public schools, at the Stanford Jazz Workshop, and as part of San Francisco Symphony’s "Adventures in Music". In all, she's presented music programs to over one thousand school groups. ruthdavies.com
Kelly Fasman, drums: Kelly is dynamic drummer whose propulsive style adds excitement to any musical performance. She has performed with Kenny Loggins, The Moody Blues, Joan Baez, and Joan Rivers. She was the house drummer for The American Musical Theatre of San Jose, and worked with Teatro Zinzanni, Broadway By the Bay, and Theatreworks. Kelly is a highly in-demand drummer on the Bay Area scene, and a music educator.
Show Tunes Sing-Along
$15 youth, $25 Senior/Student, $30 general admission
Tickets available through Eventbrite.
Is there anything more fun than singing? No, right? And SHOW TUNES - oh, boy! We've been dreaming about this for a few years - right through lock-down and masking mandates, and at last, the time is here!
Have you been told you have a beautiful voice? Wonderful - sing out, Louise! Have you been shamed into lip-synching Happy Birthday? Sing out anyway, Louise! We'll have song leaders and many accomplished singers to help you find your pitch.
For this, our first-ever show tunes sing-along, we will have a wide selection of favorites from different eras, a fabulous accompanist, song leaders, sheet music, soloists, and of course tasty SNACKS! AND - we'll be inviting audience members to sing solos. Have a favorite song you'd like us to sing together? Please let us know in advance - we'll consider adding it to the roster. Have a song you're longing to sing solo? Let us know - we'll enter you in a lottery to be a featured singer.
Oh, boy - will this ever be fun!
COVID Safety Protocols:
Masking is encouraged as an individual choice; this protects everyone from the spread of viruses. Masks will be readily available to those who want one.
Up-to-date immunizations (including flu, COVID, pneumonia and RSV) are strongly encouraged.
Hand sanitizer will be available, and is encouraged.
Whenever weather permits, we will ventilate our spaces to the maximum degree possible, and employ the use of air purifiers.
If you have tested positive for COVID, or feel at all unwell, we urge you in the strongest possible way to stay home.
Duo Semaphore: Rachael Hutchings & Hukum Singh Khalsa, pianists
$15 youth, $25 Senior/Student, $30 general admission
Tickets available through Eventbrite.
DUO SEMAPHORE pianists Rachael Hutchings and Hukum Singh Khalsa bring the four-hand repertoire to life with joy and playfulness. Grounded in classical training, the Denver-based duo reinvents the tradition of the piano duet afresh.
The duo embraces the scope of literature from J.S. Bach to living composers, often programming works by women and other underrepresented composers and collaborating with community artists. This program includes a variety of works from the Romantic and contemporary periods, featuring original art by video producer Erin Preston. Duo Semaphore believes there is great power and intimacy in people experiencing music, drama, comedy, and creativity together.
Artist Profiles
Colorado pianist and composer Rachael Hutchings’s recent performances feature both standard classical repertoire and her own compositions. Rachael's compositional style is at once expressive, approachable, and innovative. Her settings of poetry by Rilke for voice and piano have been featured on CPR’s “Colorado Spotlight,” performed with her husband, tenor Daniel Hutchings. Before arriving in Colorado in 2010, she was an active performer and music teacher in San Francisco. Rachael served as an instructor at the San Francisco Community Music Center and adjunct professor of piano at the University of San Francisco.
She appears as a guest artist, visiting lecturer, and collaborative pianist. Rachael and her duet partner Hukum Singh Khalsa are DUO SEMAPHORE, performing throughout the Denver area and beyond. She has served as an adjudicator and administrator for various student music programs and competitions, and she teaches piano and composition privately. Composition students from her private studio have gone on to top college composition programs. Rachael is on the faculty at the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music, where she teaches piano repertoire.
She began studying piano in her hometown of Iowa City, Iowa and earned her B.M.A. in piano performance at the University of Michigan School of Music. She completed a Master of Music degree in composition and piano performance at the University of Denver's Lamont School of Music where she studied with Alice Rybak. In addition to music, Rachael is passionate about volunteering as a house manager at Sacred Heart House of Denver and as a math tutor at the Denver Women’s Correctional Facility.
Pianist Hukum Singh Khalsa, a Colorado native, received his formal education at the University of Colorado Boulder where he studied languages, early music, electronic music and earned a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance. The majority of his musical education was forged as a working musician and in the rehearsal space of conductors: choral and orchestral (David Zinman, Duain Wolfe, Marin Alsop, Adam Flatt), instrumental and voice teachers, choreographers, and theatre directors.
Teachers Mr. Khalsa has studied with include Larry Graham, Miyoko Lotto, Robert Spillman, and Rami Bar-Niv. He has been privileged to work privately with former University of Denver Lamont School of Music faculty member, Alice Rybak.
Mr. Khalsa has held positions as accompanist for Central City Opera, accompanist for the Colorado Symphony Chorus, accompanist for the Colorado Children’s Chorale, and staff accompanist at Metropolitan State University. He has performed all over the United States and Italy. He has also served as an opera coach and collaborative pianist for the students and faculty at Lamont School of Music at the University of Denver, taught voice and piano at Arapahoe Community College, and has run a private piano teaching studio for over twenty years. Hukum often collaborates with the Chamber Music Society of Greater Denver.
Mr. Khalsa is a passionate educator, a teacher and practitioner of Kundalini Yoga/meditation and Sat Nam Rasayan (a healing modality).
Nash Baroque: French Baroque Treasures with Soprano Bethany Hill
$15 youth, $25 Senior/Student, $30 general admission
Tickets available through Eventbrite.
For this much-anticipated event, the renowned ensemble Nash Baroque, with soprano Bethany Hill, bring to life tales of love, despair and triumph from 18th century France, with flute, violin, viola da gamba, theorbo and harpsichord, in a program entitled “Les Amours des Dieux”.
The cantatas of Michel Pignolet de Montéclair and Louis Nicolas Clérambault unfold as miniature dramas featuring mythological Greek gods and humans with all their passions, weaknesses and heartbreak. “Every myth is a drama in human form”, as Gaston Bachelard put it, and these intimate vocal works, together with richly evocative instrumental dance suites of Couperin, Phillidor and LeClair explore timeless themes of love, loss and metamorphosis that echo through the ages.
Artist Profiles
Bethany Hill is a versatile and critically acclaimed Australian soprano, now based in the United States. A specialist in 17th and 18th century music, she is also regularly involved in the development of new compositions. Comfortable on the stage and as a recitalist, Bethany has performed with State Opera of South Australia, Scottish Opera, Gertrude Opera, Juilliard 415, The Song Company, Adelaide Baroque, The Firm New Music, and the award-winning Adelaide Chamber Singers.
Operatic roles include Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) Dorabella (Cosi Fan Tutte), Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro), Sesto (La Clemenza di Tito), Lucy (The Telephone), Pitti-Sing (The Mikado), and Belinda (Dido & Aeneas). Most recently she performed Frau in Schönberg’s Erwartung.
In 2018 Bethany made her principal debut with State Opera of South Australia as Dido in Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas and also sang the role of Mercedes for Carmen in the Square in 2019.
Bethany has enjoyed performing in the Bay Area as a chamber musician and soloist. She is one half of the folk duo, Turas, who toured to Alaska for the first time in 2023.
Vicki Melin Baroque and Renaissance Flutes, has performed in early music groups throughout the U.S. and the Bay area such as the American Bach Soloists, with the ABS Academy in the San Francisco Bach Festival, Voices of Music, Musica Angelica (L.A.), Live Oak Baroque Orchestra, California Bach Society, Jubilate Orchestra, MUSA, and her ensemble, Nash Baroque. Ms Melin attended Boston University for her Masters of Music, studying with Christopher Krueger and The Royal Conservatory of Music in Den Hague, The Netherlands, where she received an Advanced Diploma in Performance, studying with Wilbert Hazelzet. She has performed with early music orchestras and chamber ensembles in the United States, The Netherlands, Italy, and is a frequent guest soloist with International Organ and Chamber Music Festivals in Poland. Ms. Melin lives in San Francisco and teaches baroque flute privately and at UC Berkeley. https://www.nashbaroque.org/founders
Originally from Paris, France, Pauline Kempf is now based in San Francisco where she studied baroque violin with Elizabeth Blumenstock at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. In June 2022 Pauline was selected to participate in EMA’s Emerging Artist Showcase and performed an all 17th century program during the Berkeley Festival and Exhibition. She was recently invited by the Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado and the Oregon Bach Festival to perform the “Spring” season by Vivaldi as a soloist. She is a co-founder of Ensemble Affect and frequently performs with several other period instrumental ensembles such as Third Coast Baroque, Haymarket Opera Company, Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado and Lumedia Musicworks. Pauline hold musical degrees from the Music Universities of Geneva and Vienna and received her Doctor of Music degree from Northwestern University.
Award winning historical plucked string specialist, Matthew Xie focuses on the repertoire of the theorbo,lute, baroque guitar and 19th century guitar. He has performed extensively throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Taiwan. Matthew has recently graduated magna cum laude with a Masters in Historical performance Lute/Theorbo degree at the Koninklijk Conservatorium, The Hague under the mentorship of Joachim Held and Mike Fentross. Matthew also holds graduate and bachelor degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and UC Irvine. Matthew is currently active in San Francisco Bay Area as a continuo player, chamber musician, soloist, instructor and clinician. https://www.sirplucksalot.com/
Farley Pearce is a performer on both the various sizes of viola da gamba and the baroque cello. As a cellist he has performed widely in the Southeastern region of the US, most notably with the Spoleto Festival, with whom he has also played in Italy. For five years he was a member of the Charleston Pro Musica, and he has performed as a recitalist in Brazil and Uruguay. Since moving to San Francisco Farley has been an active free-lance performer with many of California’s orchestras and chamber ensembles. In the Bay Area he has performed on viola da gamba, violone, and baroque cello with Magnificat, the Jubilate Baroque Orchestra, the Sex Chordæ Consort of Viols, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Airs and Graces, and many other period instrument groups.
Katherine Heater, early keyboards, plays locally with early music groups such as Voices of Music, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Musica Pacifica. She has performed throughout the United States, including with The Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Sun Valley Summer Symphony in Idaho and at the the Bloomington Early Music Festival, and the Tropical Baroque Festival of Miami. She received an Arts Bachelor from the University of California, Berkeley in music and a Masters of Music in historical performance from Oberlin Conservatory. At the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam Ms. Heater studied harpsichord with Bob van Asperen and fortepiano with Stanley Hoogland. Also an active teacher, Ms. Heater teaches harpsichord at UC Berkeley, the Crowden Center, as well as privately.
Thompsonia: Cajun, blues and old-time Americana - family style!
$15 youth, $25 Senior/Student, $30 general admission
Tickets available through Eventbrite.
Thompsonia: Cajun, blues and old-time Americana, family style!
Thompsonia combines Suzy & Eric Thompson’s deep devotion to old-time, Cajun, acoustic blues and bluegrass with daughter Allegra’s fresh perspective, creating feel-good music that ricochets between the rowdy and the sentimental, with an abundance of groove and a bit of a quirky edge. The band features the genetically-matched vocals of Suzy and Allegra (Geoff Muldaur has dubbed this “The Everly Sisters sound”) along with stellar lead playing from Eric on mandolin and guitar, Suzy’s red-hot fiddling and Allegra’s rock-steady upright bass.
About the members of Thompsonia: Eric and Suzy Thompson have performed and recorded in collaborations with David Grisman, David Nelson (New Riders), Jody Stecher & Kate Brislin, Geoff Muldaur, Jim Kweskin, Michael Doucet, Del Rey, Dave Alvin and Joel Savoy, to name just a few, and their bands have included Any Old Time, Black Mountain Boys, California Cajun Orchestra, Blue Flame String Band and many others. Allegra Thompson plays bass in the Cajun band the Midnite Ramblers and with Eric & Suzy in the Aux Cajunals. She is the host of the Pig in a Pen radio show on KPFA-FM, having been handpicked by Ray Edlund who started the show nearly 50 years ago. Pig in a Pen airs every other Sunday from 3:00 to 5:00 pm. Allegra is also a co-host of the "Bluegrass Signal" radio show, airing on KALW-FM, Saturdays from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m.
Photo Credit: Irene Young
Erika Oba Jazz Trio
$15 youth, $25 Senior/Student, $30 general admission
Tickets available through Eventbrite.
PLEASE NOTE THE 2 P.M. START TIME FOR THIS CONCERT While we usually present concerts at 4 p.m., the artists have a long-awaited, covid-postponed second commitment later in the day, and we do our best to put Artists in the center of our work!
Long time collaborators Erika Oba (piano) and Chris Bastian (bass) are joined by Jeremy Steinkoler (drums), performing original compositions and arranged works that cover a dynamic range of emotions and styles.
Drawing on influences ranging from Thelonious Monk to Okinawan folk music, the band deftly navigates from be-bop to classically influenced, through-composed pieces, captivating audiences with music coming from deep listening and a remarkably intuitive sense of comping and phrasing to support one another. The group’s last performance moved Back Room owner Sam Rudin to describe it as “One of the finest afternoons of music we’ve EVER had here."
Erika and her band recently released a new album - and they are excited to share the new works with you! Click here to sample the new recordings - and to buy a copy!
Artist Profiles
Chris Bastian is a multi-genre bass player who has lived and worked as a musician in New York, Santiago de Chile, and Quito, Ecuador.
Jeremy Steinkoler has been playing drums professionally for over 30 years and performs regularly with a wide array of musical projects, including his award-winning saxes-and-drums trio Mo’Fone.
Erika Oba is a composer, pianist/flutist, and educator. She is active in the Bay Area performing arts scene, and can regularly be seen performing in jazz and new music venues, as well as collaborating with dance and theater artists.
Alessandro Penezzi, guitar, and Berkeley Choro Ensemble
$15 youth, $25 Senior/Student, $30 general admission
Tickets available through Eventbrite.
Calliope is thrilled to host the return peformance of Alessandro Penezzi, considered one of the great Brazilian guitarists of his generation, as he joins his colleagues in the exemplary local Brazilian choro performing ensemble Berkeley Choro for a rousing celebration of beautiful music!
With Alessandro Penezzi, guitar; Jane Lenoir, flute; Harvey Wainapel, clarinet; Ricardo Peixoto, guitar and Brian Rice, pandeiro.
About Alessandro Penezzi: Considered one of the great Brazilian guitarists of his generation, composer, arranger and guitarist Alessandro Penezzi was born in Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil in February, 1974. He began his musical studies at seven years old. A multiinstrumentalist, Alessandro plays 7-string guitar, tenor guitar, cavaquinho, mandolin and flute. His teachers were Carlos Coimbra, Jair T. de Paula, Sérgio Belluco, and João Dias Carrasqueira. Alessandro has recorded over 20 CD's of music, and has performed with many of the great Brazilians musicians, including Yamandú Costa, Carlos Poyares, Toninho Ferragutti, Oswaldinho do Acordeon, Laércio de Freitas, Caíto Marcondes, Arismar do Espírito Santo, Maurício Carrilho, Pedro Amorim, Joel Nascimento, Conjunto Epoque de Ouro, Rogério Caetano, Caio Marcio, Alexandre Ribeiro and Nailor Proveta. He has taught at California Brazil Camp since 2010, and is building a following in the US as one of the great virtuosos and composers in the Brazilian Popular Music genre in the world today. He resides in São Paulo, and tours regularly to Europe and Africa.
About Berkeley Choro Ensemble: http://www.berkeleychoroensemble.com
“The Berkeley Choro Ensemble is one of the few groups playing outside Brazil that has the deepest understanding of what it means to play a ‘chorinho.’ Proof of this is all over their disc, with ten astounding pieces.”
–World Music Report, April, 2018
Choro, the first uniquely Brazilian popular music and the root of samba and bossa nova, has its origins in the late 1800s. The genre, a captivating blend of European salon and chamber music with Afro-Brazilian rhythmic energy and a touch of jazz, is still being renewed and updated, and is spreading internationally at a very healthy pace. The Berkeley Choro Ensemble, formed in 2010, has dedicated itself to the performance of modern choro compositions and collaborations with renowned Brazilian performers and composers. The new CD is a reflection of what is happening today in the world of choro. The Ensemble has been actively promoting the advancement of this great genre via performances, workshops, and the annual Berkeley Festival of Choro.
Artist Profiles:
From a family of professional musicians, Berkeley resident, flutist Jane Lenoir, grew up in Tampa, Florida, and left home at 15 as a scholarship student to the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan and then to Oberlin Conservatory of Music. A performer comfortable in many diverse styles, Jane appears regularly as a soloist, chamber player, orchestral musician, baroque flutist, and jazz performer. A founder of Berkeley Choro Ensemble and Berkeley Festival of Choro, Jane is particularly interested in Latin flute styles, which celebrate the instrument’s ancient, rich history , virtuosity, and lyrical sound. Her 2017 CD, Jane Lenoir plays Penezzi, celebrated the São Paulo guitarist/composer’s compositions to critical acclaim. As an educator, she is flute coach at Young People’s Symphony and teaches privately in Berkeley. She is a Powell Flutes Artist and presents workshops and classes on Brazilian choro frequently to local flute clubs, schools, and professional organizations.
Multi-instrumentalist and composer, Berkeley resident, Harvey Wainapel, has forged a well-earned reputation as one of the foremost artists in Brazilian styles in the US today. Trained as a jazz saxophonist and celebrated for his numerous recordings in the jazz idiom, Harvey has spent many years touring and studying in Brazil with the leading musicians of the day, including Airto and Flora Purim, ..... His 2006 CD, Amigos Brasileiros, received rave reviews as a testament to the history of Brazilian styles of music. With over 40 Brazilian musicians represented on the CD, it was a musical odyssey and labor of love. In 2014, Amigos Brasileiros Volume 2 came out to rave reviews. Harvey has done extensive arrangements for the group over the years, and in 2021 the group premiered an entirely new repertoire on contemporary Brazilian choro compositions. He wrote extensive program notes for our online festival during covid, A Celebration of Women in Brazilian Music.
Originally from Rio de Janeiro and based in the Bay Area, Oakland resident, guitarist/composer Ricardo Peixoto is among the top representatives of Brazilian guitar in the US, with a fluid melodic style and a keen compositional sense. His performances explore Brazil’s rich and diverse traditions, both in his original work as well as in arrangements of Brazilian classics. His approach is grounded both in the jazz and Brazilian music traditions, but always ventures well beyond their borders, combining rich melodies, sophisticated harmonies, and the unmistakable rhythms of Brazil.
Ricardo came to the US on a scholarship to the Berklee School of Music in Boston, and later continued his studies in classical guitar at the SF Conservatory of Music.He has recorded, performed, and collaborated with, among others, Claudia Villela, Flora Purim and Airto, saxophonist Bud Shank, percussionist Dom Um Romão, Toots Thielemans, Dori Caymmi, Guinga, guitarist Carlos Oliveira, Harvey Wainapel, Marcos Silva and Terra Sul. He has performed throughout the US, Europe, Canada, Japan and Brazil. He has taught an ongoing class in choro at CJC for several years now, educating a new audience to choro and Brazilian music.
Oakland resident percussionist Brian Rice graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy and Oberlin College Conservatory of Music with a B.M. in Percussion Performance and Ethnomusicology. A faculty member at UC Berkeley and UC Davis in latin percussion styles, Brian is a highly acclaimed performer, educator and recording artist adept at numerous musical styles ranging from classical and jazz, to Latin, Afro-Cuban, and Brazilian, to contemporary and experimental music. Brian's study of the Brazilian pandeiro began in 1986 when the Sao Paulo State University percussion ensemble visited Oberlin and percussionist/composer Carlos Stasi, then a student at SPSU, gave Brian a quick pandeiro lesson after the concert. Since then Brian's obsession with the pandeiro has led him to study with Guello, Marcos Suzano, Airto, Claudio Bueno and Clarice Magalhaes, and his prowess on the instrument has led him to perform with numerous Brazilian artists including, Jovino Santos Neto, Paulo Sergio Santos, Danilo Brito, Dudu Maia and Jorge Alabe. It was studies with Marcos Suzano that inspired Brian to expand his use of the pandeiro outside the Brazilian music world and apply it to Balkan, Celtic, Middle Eastern, Spanish, and Cuban music with great effect.
Christopher Oglesby, Tenor, in Recital
$15 youth, $25 Senior/Student, $30 general admission
Tickets available through Eventbrite.
Rising operatic tenor Christopher Oglesby explores the concept of “home” through time, place, heritage, and circumstance with the music of Ralph Vaughn Williams, Beethoven, Italian art songs, traditional Ukrainian pieces, Hoagy Carmichael, Cole Porter, and a selection of Appalachian folksongs. Truly, a feast for the soul! To access a copy of the written program, including texts and translations, please click this link.
For this program, he will be joined by noted pianist collaborator Kseniia Polstiankina Barrad; both Christopher and Keseniia are recent graduates of the San Francisco Opera Adler Fellowship program.
For the 2024 season, Christopher will be performing in numerous productions of San Francisco Opera, including in Puccini’s “La bohème”, Händel’s “Partenope”, Tamino in Mozart’s “The Magic Flute”, Bridegroom in Saariaho’s “Innocence”, Chief Magistrate in Verdi’s “Un ballo in maschera ” and Luke in Ruders’ & Bentley’s “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
Isaac Pastor-Chermak: Bach's Six Suites for Solo Cello
$35 Senior/Student, $45 general admission, $20 live-stream only/on-demand, $30 youth 5-12/Limited Income
Tickets available through Eventbrite.
Cellist Isaac Pastor-Chermak returns to Calliope for a very special performance of the complete Bach Cello Suites, celebrating the 10th anniversary of his first performance of the Six Suites at St. Alban's in July 2014. A biennial tradition in the community that is sure to sell out!
Artist Profile:
Cellist Isaac Pastor-Chermak enjoys a diverse and varied career in symphony and opera orchestras, chamber music, and solo and recording engagements, as well as engaging deeply with his community as a conductor, educator, and nonprofit board member. He is Principal Cellist of Vallejo Symphony, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony, and Eisenstadt (Austria) Classical Music Festival; Assistant Principal Cellist of Opera San Jose and Fresno Philharmonic; and a member of Berkeley Symphony, Santa Barbara Symphony, Monterey Symphony, and Reno Philharmonic. In 2023, he was guest principal cellist of the Britt Festival Orchestra. His CD catalog includes The Shadow Dancer with Auriga String Quartet, Backlash Bach with Red Cedar Chamber Music, and Preludes and Prologues with pianist Alison Lee. A limited edition vinyl LP, The Year 1948, is due out in May 2024, featuring cello sonatas by Prokofiev and Elliott Carter, recorded on Mr. Carter’s piano.
Pastor-Chermak is Adjunct Professor of Music History at San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where his course offerings include Beethoven’s String Quartets; the Second Viennese School; Haydn; and Leonard Bernstein. At home, he teaches an award-winning private cello studio. A ‘recovering conductor’, he is Founder and Music Director Emeritus of Solano Youth Chamber Orchestra. Isaac and his wife, pianist Alison Lee, live in a 104-year-old house in the Berkeley Hills with their cat, Waffle. Isaacpastorchermak.com
Matanda: Alternative World Music
$15 youth, $25 Senior/Student, $30 general admission
Tickets available through Eventbrite.
When Matanda, the extraordinary young percussionist and artist, performed for Calliope as part of the Remee Ashley Quartet in the summer of 2022 we knew we had to invite him back!
For this intriguing program, Matanda has created a theatrical tone poem expounding on world folk-music sonics.
Matanda will be joined by string musicians for this piece; the Oakland-raised multi-instrumentalist Cheflee on bass and electronics, along with Morgan Harrison on piano.
Saracens is the fictitious story of a boy caught in the middle of a holy war. Matanda, along with three other eclectic musicians, will present this tale as a tone poem, blending sounds of American folk, Afro-Peruvian percussion, orchestral bowing, and vocalization. The performance will present as an immersive experience akin to that of a speakeasy or work-song, with touches of movement borrowed from the theatrical stage.
Artist Profiles
Matanda - percussion/vocals: Oakland born, Brooklyn-based multimedia artist Matanda (formerly known as Matanda Keyes) is a jazz-trained percussionist whose work develops around sculpture. A graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, he is now blending folk, world music, and alt/indie rock sounds. Matanda's newborn multi-disciplinary project, Parsody, aims to explore the relationship between music and physical objects.
Recently, he designed jewelry for Madonna's worldwide "Celebration Tour", and he has been asked to supply pieces for Zayn Malik (formerly of One Direction).
Matanda breathes through sound, and his brand of such is personally coined, “Alternative World Music." You can learn more about this eclectic artist on his website.
Cheflee - bass/electronics: Cheflee is a multi instrumentalist from Oakland California that draws on inspiration from artists such as Egbert Gismonti, George Clinton, Radiohead and OutKast. He loves.
Morgan Harrison - piano: Morgan Harrison is a Pianist, Saxophonist, Singer, Composer, Arranger, and Bandleader from Sacramento, CA.
Currently studying in San Francisco, at the Conservatory of Music, Morgan is seeking to find new ways to blend old and new musics and put his spin on things, creating something that is unseen as of yet.
He takes inspiration from bands like The Chick Corea Elektric Band, Herbie Hancock, Weather Report, and others such as Earth Wind and Fire, Stevie Wonder, Daft Punk, Alice In Chains, Nirvana, Jaco Pastorius, and many more.
Jesse Distiller and Judah Lampkin in Recital
Presenting emerging young local talent is one of the great delights of running a community-based, community-led performing arts nonprofit! In addition to presenting young talent just as they launch their professional careers, we also keep our eyes open for gifted young people at the pre-professional stage.
Calliope leaders first encountered the young El Cerrito-based pianist Jesse Distiller when, at fourteen, he took part in a chamber music celebration organized by pianist Alison Lee as part of the East Bay Music Foundation’s programming. Now 16 years old and applying to conservatories for post-high school, Jesse is already demonstrating a riveting expressiveness in his playing. In addition to beautiful solo work, he is also a nuanced accompanist, and regularly delights the St. Alban’s congregation during worship services.
Judah Lampkin is similarly a marvel; until recently self-taught as a cellist, classical singer, composer, and arranger, he has begun formal training in singing and in cello. He currently studies voice with Susan Nance in her San Francisco studio. With a rich bass voice and extensive range, his vocal work can cause chills.
For this joint recital, a co-production with St. Alban's, Jesse and Judah will perform works by Warlock, Vaughan Williams, Haydn, Debussy, and Schumann, along with a world premiere of a piece commissioned from Judah by Calliope.
A co-presentation with St. Alban’s
Admission to this event is free of charge! However, capacity is limited to 80 in person guests; you must make a reservation to be assured of a seat! Please be sure to register for in-person attendance on Eventbrite. (As always, your donations in support of the presentation are very welcome!)
If you'd like to join us by live-stream, simply click this link to enjoy the concert from the comfort of your own home! Available live or "on-demand" - the recording will stay up after the concert for your continued enjoyment!
Artist Profiles
Judah Lampkin is a composer, cellist, vocalist, and vagabond of international notoriety. He hails from the American south, where he became acquainted with the proud traditions of navel-gazing and moonlighting. He subsequently attended Harvard University, where his areas of study expanded to include music, philosophy, astrophysics, religion, linguistics, and a variety of other subjects. Through his musical compositions, Judah seeks to explore dreamscapes, those subtle intimations that hover at the edge of conscious awareness. These dreamscapes are the gateways through which the individual must pass in order to acquire a wider awareness of all that is. He was the recipient of Harvard's 2023 George Arthur Knight Prize for compositional excellence, and was a semifinalist in the 2022 Petrichor International Music Competition.
Jesse Distiller is a 16 year old pianist in his junior year of high school. As a middle schooler attending the Crowden School, Jesse fell in love with classical music, and his favourite composers include Beethoven, Brahms, and Debussy. Some of his favourite pieces include: Shostakovich’s piano quintet and second piano trio, Debussy's "L'isle Joyeuse", Beethoven's sixth and seventh symphonies, and many of Brahms' works. He also finds Stephen Sondheim's work to be incredibly profound. He is deeply interested in composition as well as piano performance, and has composed several pieces as part of the John Adams Young Composers Program, as well as composing the entire score for his school play. In addition to performing solo, he loves playing chamber music. He attends the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Pre-College Program, where he studies with Sharon Mann.
Beneath a Tree: Baroque to Folk Duo
$15 youth, $25 Senior/Student, $30 general admission
Tickets available through Eventbrite.
Gorgeous harmonies and classical instruments chart the path from Baroque to traditional music
Beneath A Tree - Baroque To Folk (BAT) is a multi genre ensemble led by the core duo of Gail Hernández Rosa (violin, viola, vocals), and Daniel Turkos (contrabass, cittern/Irish bouzouki, vocals). BAT's roots were planted in 2017 in Philadelphia and the surrounding rural pubs of Chester County, PA. These rowdy performances included standard folk, celtic, bluegrass and jazz repertoire melded with music from the Baroque.
For this concert, they will perform a selection of Latin American baroque music, Vivaldi, Mozart, Celtic fiddle music, and more. PLUS: their own arrangement of the Grateful Dead tune Uncle John’s Band - a Baroque take on the original tune - as well as Bach Minuets and Gigue from the first Bach cello suite - with newly composed music to complement Bach’s original composition.
Founded on the mutual love of historical performance, collaborations with like-minded intrepid musicians explore the interrelationships found between composed and traditional folk music from the Baroque period and its continued relevance, creating a curious and exciting fusion that appeals to varied audiences. It is through a natural progression of musical curiosity BAT finds the kinship between genres and their roots in the Baroque.
In 2018 Beneath A Tree turned a new leaf and relocated to Northern CA. This period of growth has included performances, collaborations, and productions at the California Jazz Conservatory, San Francisco Conservatory of Music & Herbst Theatre as part the American Bach Soloists Festival, San Francisco Early Music Society, Chamber Music Society of SF, Mercury Soul, Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra, Luther Burbank Center for the Arts, Music Performance Trust Fund, Listen and Heal, Salon Era, Kennett Brewing Company, ASMALLWORLD, Fifth Street Farms and numerous house concerts throughout CA. BAT remains grounded by performing music meditations for various wellness facilities along the west coast.
Hernández Rosa recorded My Cup of Tea, in collaboration with Beneath A Tree, at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in 2020 with Paul Holmes Morton joining on theorbo, baroque guitar and vocals. BAT has since been featured in Early Music America’s 2021 Emerging Artist Showcase, Boston Early Music Fringe festival and the American Bach Soloists Festival.
With: Gail Hernández Rosa - Baroque Violin, Viola & vocals, Daniel Turkos - Contrabass, Octave Mandolin & Vocals
Ting Luo Piano Recital: From Classical Favorites to New Works
$15 youth, $25 Senior/Student, $30 general admission
Tickets available through Eventbrite.
From Classical to New Works
For this exciting recital, pianist Ting Luo will present a repertoire spanning the classical era, with compositions from Schubert and Bach, as well as several pieces from contemporary and new piano music, featuring works by Phillip Glass, Terry Riley, and Ingrid Stölzel.
A special highlight will be the inclusion of prepared piano classics by John Cage. Additionally, Ting Luo will showcase selected compositions from the New Arts Collaboration 2023 season, including pieces by Xuesi Xu, Dylan Findley, and Cole Reyes.
The New Arts Collaboration proudly offers innovative programming, bringing together multimedia piano works by living composers and artists from diverse fields, resulting in a groundbreaking mixed-media experience.
“The music offered a wide variety of different technical and rhetorical approaches to composition, and the variations in media design were just as extensive.” from the review by The Rehearsal Studio.
The Dashti Trio: Melodic Middle Eastern Music
$15 youth, $25 Senior/Student, $30 general admission
Tickets available through Eventbrite.
Middle Eastern delights with oud, clarinet, percussion and song
Featuring artists whose backgrounds include Israel (Asaf Ophir), Lebanon and Syria (Faisal Zedan) and Iran (Sirvan Manhoobi), the Dashti Trio brings a unique musical and cultural blend to the concert stage.
The Dashti Trio began with a peace concert in 2017, bringing together musicians from different parts of the Middle East to share their cultures. Each coming from a unique background and with his own independent career, they continued to collaborate on numerous projects and finally decided to form a dedicated trio. With a mixture of voice, clarinet, flutes, oud, and percussion, they bring the beauty of each individual culture as well as a few refreshing combinations that may never have existed before. Come and hear avaz with a scent of spices, hijaz with a flourish, and klezmer with a twist!
With: Asaf Ophir - woodwinds, vocals; Sirvan Manhoobi - oud, vocals and Faisal Zedan - percussion, vocals
Quinteto Latino: Music of Latin America for Winds
$15 youth, $25 Senior/Student, $30 general admission
Tickets available through Eventbrite.
Outstanding woodwind quintet performs Latin American music both old and new
Since 2004, Quinteto Latino has performed music of Latino and Latin-American composers and used the performances to educate audiences around racial equity and cultural issues in the classical music field. Sharing the wonderful music of Latino composers and supporting them in their creation of new works and wider recognition are Quinteto Latino’s goals for every performance. Our program includes a piece recently commissioned by us: Mitos by Gabriela Lena Frank, as well as a tribute to the late composer Paul Desenne: El Recreo, La Cumbia, Los Vikingos, y Otras Miniaturas. We’re excited to perform these new pieces alongside a folk song and a well-known tango… old and new Latin American music!
With Armando Castellano, French horn; Leslie Tagorda, clarinet; Diane Grubbe, flute; Kyle Bruckmann, oboe and Jamael Smith , bassoon.
No "Dots" - No Problem! Jam Workshop for Musicians with Cookie Segelstein
Tickets are $20 - $30 at Eventbrite
No "Dots" - No Problem!Want to learn how to jam? This Jam Session Workshop "Beyond the dots” will show you how!
Oftentimes musicians are divided into two categories, those who can play by ear and those who need “dots” - music notes. This workshop is especially for those who have not explored learning music by ear, as well as for musicians who play by ear, but just want to learn some new tunes! Through the use of simple European melodies (Polish, Ukrainian, Romanian), Cookie will guide participants to feeling comfortable in a jam session - even if this is your first time jamming! After learning the melodies, we start to apply the stylistic elements, ornaments, trills, frills and thrills. Some of the melodies will stem from the music in her childhood home, a mixture of Jewish, Ukrainian, and Polish.This class is best suited for intermediate players and above and open to all acoustic instruments.
Winter Solstice Holiday Carols Sing-a-Long
$15 youth/Live Stream, $25 Senior/Student, $30 general admission
Tickets available through Eventbrite.
Veretski Pass
$15 youth, $25 Senior/Student, $30 general admission
Tickets available through Eventbrite.
For this special event, Veretski Pass presents a program of formerly lost melodies of pre-Holocaust traditional, Ukrainian-Jewish music, as well as dances from Ukraine.
PLUS: Join us at 3:00 p.m. for a 30 minute scholarly talk with violinist/violist, scholar and teacher Cookie Segelstein - Veretski Pass: UNDER THE HOOD: Using Jewish Archival Materials to Create New Music and Arrangements, at no extra cost; the talk is free to concert ticket-holders. Thank you, Klez California, for the grant covering this talk!
In this short talk, Cookie will explore ways that musicians can balance old-school research and learning with digital resources. How does Veretski Pass use Jewish archival collection materials to compose and arrange new music? This presentation shows their creative process, from gathering materials, to the treatment of the smallest melodic fragments, to using whole melodies. Cookie will show elements of this, including music sources, tempo and key treatments, melodic and rhythmic variations.
Concert Program: This new program combines traditional folk resources from Ukraine with Veretski Pass' own new compositions. With both traditional and contemporary folk gestures, in concert with the traditional style of improvisation, this collection draws on sources of Ukrainian Jewish music that are in peril, being housed in the Vernadsky National Library in Kiev, Ukraine, and being digitized by volunteers from the Kiselgof-Makonovetsky Digital manuscript Project (KMDMP), which includes members of Veretski Pass.
Left Coast Chamber Ensemble: Voices for Change California Art Song Recital
$15 youth, $25 Senior/Student, $30 general admission
Tickets available through Eventbrite.
Voices for Change: ART SONG AND KEYBOARD MUSIC OF CALIFORNIA - part of the statewide California Festival
Left Coast explores the voices of women composers of California in song, both historical and contemporary, ranging from Carrie Jacobs Bond and Elinor Remick Warren to Vivian Fung and Gabriela Lena Frank. Piano works by Gabriella Smith and Henry Cowell complement the program.
Featuring lyric coloratura Nikki Einfeld and pianist Allegra Chapman.
This concert is presented as part of The California Festival - a Celebration of New Music
Jaeger & Reid: Bringing you Harmony
$15 youth, $25 Senior/Student, $30 general admission
Tickets available through Eventbrite.
Rich harmonies and intimate music with beloved East Bay singer-songwriters
Jaeger & Reid, a duo from the San Francisco East Bay, combines Judi’s Canadian background, striking vocals and intelligent songs with Bob’s California upbringing and his own engaging original tunes. Their artful blending of guitars, ukulele and rich harmonies delivers an intimate evening of deeply meaningful music. Be prepared to be moved.
Art Exhibition Opening! Love, Loss, Hope, Repeat: Creativity in a Covid World
FREE EVENT - OPEN TO THE PUBLIC!
Please join us for the opening of Calliope’s first juried group art exhibition!
The unprecedented COVID-19 Pandemic will have long ranging effects on all of us. Surrounding this experience is a collective grief we are only beginning to grasp. This exhibition will explore the COVID experience as seen through the art and writings of our own community with the goal of acknowledging, honoring and learning from all that we have experienced, lost and gained, TOGETHER.
TC4: Classical Saxophone Quartet
$15 youth, $25 Senior/Student, $30 general admission
Tickets available through Eventbrite.
We welcome you to join us for a special treat: not just one, but FOUR extraordinary classical saxophonists who will take us on a musical ride around the world.
TC4's eclectic program begins with Atom Hearts Club Quartet by Takashi Yoshimatsu, which blends his unique approach to classical music with rock icons Pink Floyd, The Beatles, and Emerson, Lake & Palmer.
We then travel to major port cities in South America, and explore the combination of American Rags, Blues, and Jazz, with Brazilian Choro and Dominican Merengue in Saxteto by Victor Marquez Barrios.
We end in France, where we explore the diverging styles of late French Romanticism and the ever popular Impressionism, with Nuages by Eugene Bozza and a fresh setting of Claude Debussy's famous String Quartet.
FivePlay with Strings: Jazz Quintet Meets String Quartet!
$15 youth, $25 Senior/Student, $30 general admission
Tickets available through Eventbrite.
This is music you won’t hear anywhere else! This program consists entirely of original compositions, combining a jazz quintet with string quartet.
Typically, in a jazz setting, strings are either relegated to the role of “sweetener” or, in small jazz groups they function much like another horn. Here, you hear a musical partnership, with the string quartet integrated into the music, lending its agility and plush sonority to balance and contrast with the slash and burn of the jazz quintet. These arrangements have been a long time in the making, and we are thrilled to be able to share them with you!
Isaac Pastor-Chermak & Alison Lee: Sonatas for Friends
$15 youth, $25 Senior/Student, $30 general admission
Tickets available through Eventbrite.
Piano and cello masterworks - with a world premiere by composer Jean Ahn
Join Berkeley's own Isaac Pastor-Chermak and Alison Lee for an afternoon of greatest hits and brand-new music for cello and piano. Isaac and Alison will perform sonatas and showpieces by Beethoven and Brahms, and the world premiere of a newly commissioned work by Jean Ahn. One of the Bay Area's most prominent musical "power couples", Isaac and Alison have collaborated musically since 2016, including several performances of the complete Beethoven and complete Brahms sonatas and appearances at Calliope and St. Alban's individually and as a duo. Jean Ahn is a music faculty member at UC Berkeley and director of Ensemble ARI, which performed on Calliope's 2021-22 season.
Each of the three pieces on their program represents the friendship and collaboration between composers and performers: Beethoven with Jean-Louis Duport, Brahms with Robert Hausmann, and Jean Ahn with the performers directly, for a world-premiere commissioned work.
Will Cayanan, Arthur Omura & Heeguen Song: a Celebration of Local Artists
A celebration of extraordinary local musicians, performing Baroque treasures.
Erica and Friends: Songs of the British Isles and Ireland
Traditional and modern folk music of the British Isles and Ireland
Joy-Leilani Garbutt: Organ Music
A celebration of female organ composers of the early 20th century
Quartet San Francisco
String Quartet - classical music - with a crossover, world music groove!
Ensemble Dulce Amar
Soul-wrenching ballads, high-energy wedding dances and village-style tunes from Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and the Middle East.
CANCELED: The Bay Bones: Classical Trombone Quartet
Vibrant young trombonists perform Debussy, Bruckner, Grieg and more!
Ensemble for These Times: Mosaic - Music by Women and Nonbinary Composers
Troubled Water: Music by Women Composers with world premieres
Laura Andriani and il Pomo d'Oro Quartet
Angel or Demon: Extraordinary international string quartet celebrates Paganini and Schubert
Baymele Klezmer Trio
Celebrate Hanukkah with new works and rediscovered gems of klezmer, Romanian and Polish traditional music.