Sunday, Novmeber 7, 2021 - 4pm
$15 youth, $20 Senior/Student, $25 general admission
Tickets available through Eventbrite.

“Ari” is a Korean word with multiple meanings: big river, wisdom and beauty. Ensemble Ari is a group of Korean American musicians in the Bay Area who wants to share this quality with the community.

Ensemble ARI's mission is to bridge Korea and other communities through western instruments while honoring Korean history and culture.

Ensemble ARI will be joined by noted soprano Candace Y. Johnson for this concert.

YOUR SAFETY IS PARAMOUNT TO OUR OFFERING THIS SHOW: Proof of full vaccination is required to attend, and a properly-worn mask is required at all times. Admission will be limited to 50% of capacity. All performers and staff are fully vaccinated.

Program

The program celebrates the work of female composers and female composers of color of the19th, 20th, and 21st centuries: Clara Schumann (late 19th century), Florence Price and Margaret Bonds, (20th century) with new works by local composers Jean Ahn and Laurie San Martin.

Artist Profiles

Director/Composer Jean Ahn: Born in Korea, Jean Ahn finished her B.A. and M.M. at Seoul National University and Ph.D. at UC Berkeley. Her creative output includes works ranging from solo instruments to full orchestra, as well as choral, dance and electroacoustic music. She teaches at UC Berkeley and also teaches special-needs student at CHIM Studio. Ms. Ahn's works have been performed by numerous orchestras and ensembles, including Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, Berkeley Symphony, Oakland Symphony, Memphis Symphony, Earplay, and Volti.

Candace Y. Johnson, Soprano: Praised by Opera Wire for her vocal clarity, dramatic presence, and expressive interpretation, soprano Candace Y. Johnson has concertized widely, including guest appearances at Carnegie Hall and The Manhattan Center, and with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra. Johnson is a versatile artist, equally comfortable in opera, musical theater, and jazz. She has performed lead roles in Le Nozze di Figaro, The Medium, Suor Angelica, Fame, and she defined the genre-bending role of Jackie in the world premiere of Howard’s End, America with RealOpera, San Francisco (2019).

In the Spring of 2021 at The Marsh Theater, Johnson premiered a solo musical performance series titled The Art Songs of Black Composers, wherein she uniquely integrated vocal performance, theatrical storytelling, and music analysis — all to champion the songs and lives of African American composers past and present. The first installment of this series centers on the song cycle Ventriloquist Acts of God by Adolphus Hailstork. Other composers to be featured in this special series include Undine Smith Moore, Margaret Bonds, and William Grant Still, to name a few.

On the voice faculty at the University of California-Berkeley since 2009, Johnson teaches applied voice classes and a musicology course she designed based on her research and performance of works by African-American composers. Prior to her current appointment, she was awarded a Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship in the music department. Johnson earned her doctorate in voice performance from the University of Michigan, where she studied with the late Shirley Verrett, as well as George Shirley and Willis Patterson.

Heeguen Song, Violin: A Native of South Korea, Heeguen Song is the associate Concertmaster of the SF Ballet Orchestra. Dr. Song is an active chamber musician and is a member of Beaubliss Quartet and Ensemble Ari. She has performed at Yale Chamber Music Society, Yellowbarn Music Festival, Taos Music Festival, and Banff Chamber Music Residency. Heeguen was invited to play at Osaka City Hall, Daejeon Chamber Music Festival, Beethoven institute at New School and City University of NY. Additionally, Heeguen gave a solo debut recital at Weil Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and had solo appearances with many orchestras such as SF Ballet Orchestra, Oberlin Orchestra, Rutgers Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble 212, and Camerata Academica de Merida. She was a prize winner at the Henryk Szeryng International Competition, Irving M Klein Competition, and Kingsville International Competition among others. Heeguen studied at Oberlin Conservatory, the Juilliard School, Yale School of music and Rutgers University under the direction of Almita Vamos, Masao Kawasaki, Peter Oundjian, and Arnold Steinhardt. https://www.sfballet.org/artist/heeguen-song/

Sarah Hong, Cello: Acclaimed by music critics as “free, warm and a very expressive” performer, cellist Sarah Hong was born in Seoul, Korea. She began studying cello at the age of six and was selected as most promising young cellist in the nation at the age of 16, with her performance broadcasted nationwide by KBS. She made her New York debut at Carnegie Hall as a winner of Artists International. Ms. Hong studied at the Juilliard School (B.M. & M.M.) and finished her artist certificate in chamber music at the SF Conservatory under the direction of Bonnie Hampton. Ms. Hong lives in Los Altos where she balances a busy career as a soloist, collaborative artist, and teacher. Currently, she is a cellist of Le Due Muse with pianist Makiko Ooka, Ensemble Ari, and San Francisco Cello Quartet. She teaches string orchestra at the King's Academy and cello sections at CYS and KAMSA youth orchestras. She has started the ‘Phos (φῶς)’ Benefit Concert Series to help support various non-profit organizations serving children all over the world in 2014. (www.cellistsarahhong.com)

Pianist Jeffrey Sykes: Acclaimed by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung as "a commanding solo player, the most supportive of accompanists, and a leader in chamber music," pianist Jeffrey Sykes has performed across four continents and collaborates regularly with leading instrumentalists and singers. In the fall of 2018 he gave a recital on Chicago’s prestigious Dame Myra Hess concert series, and he recently returned from a tour of France that culminated in performances of French solo and chamber music at the Musée des Impressionismes in Giverny, home of Claude Monet. Together with violinist Axel Strauss and cellist Jean-Michel Fonteneau, Sykes is a founding member of the San Francisco Piano Trio, an ensemble noted for its virtuosic interpretations of works ranging from the trios of Haydn and Beethoven to those of Leon Kirchner and Astor Piazzolla. He is the co-founder and artistic co-director of the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society of Wisconsin (www.bachdancing.org), a highly-acclaimed and innovative chamber music festival now in its thirty-first season. The festival is noted for integrating dance, drama, and visual art into the concert setting and creating an approach to chamber music that makes it more easily accessible to audiences. He is a regular guest artist with the Brooklyn Chamber Music Society; the Cactus Pear Music Festival and the Olmos Ensemble in San Antonio, Texas; and Music in the Vineyards in Napa Valley, California; and in 2007, he served as the guest artistic director of Music in the Vineyards. He has recorded for the Albany, CRI, Mandala, Centaur, and Cactus Pear record labels, and in spring of 2018 released the world premiere recording of Kevin Puts' song cycle In at the Eye on the Albany label. For eighteen years, Dr. Sykes served as the Music Director of Opera for the Young, a preeminent producer and presenter of opera for children that has introduced more than two million children to opera. He teaches piano, voice, and chamber music at the University of California at Berkeley and California State University, East Bay. He coaches regularly for CMNC and ACMP and coaches chamber music groups across the Bay Area. A recipient of the Fulbright and Jacob Javits Fellowships, he completed his doctorate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

This performance by Ensemble ARI is supported by a generous grant from Overseas Koreans Foundation.