From left: Raul Matas, Kyle Patterson, Colin Ramsey, Kristen Patterson rehearsing the fabulously funny "Don Pasquale" which opens Feb. 4.

February concerts are getting off to a rapid start in the Claremont-Pomona area with several concerts in March, as well.

Repertory Opera Company presents “Don Pasquale”

This weekend the Repertory Opera Company begins a four-performance schedule for Gaetano Donizetti’s fabulously funny opera, “Don Pasquale” at its regular venue, the First Christian Church, Pomona.
“Don Pasquale” will be presented by the Repertory Opera Company beginning at 2:00 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4 with repeat 2 p.m. performances on Feb. 4, Feb. 11 and Feb. 18. An 8:00 p.m. performance will be given on
Wednesday, Feb. 8.
Lead roles will be shared. Arthur Freeman and Colin Ramsey will alternate as Don Pasquale; Keiko Clark and Kristen N. Speck are Norina(s); Matt Dunn and Kyle Patterson, Ernesto(s); Raul Matas and Joey Buhler, Malatesta(s). Music Director and production pianist is Brian Farrell.
Bass-baritone Colin Ramsey, tenor Kyle Patterson, soprano Kristen N. Speck, and Joseph von Buhler, baritone are new to this opera company, but their singing experience is already impressive.
Ramsey is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, New York, in 2011 but has already won roles at Wolf Trap Opera, Opera Santa Barbara and an award winner at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in Los Angeles.
Patterson won a spot in the OperaWorks Emerging Artist Program in June, 2011 and currently studies voice privately at Chapman University.
Speck has been impressive in her workshop experience with Pasadena’s Intimate Opera. She has also participated in OperaWorks Advance Artist program. Speck holds a master’s degree in Vocal Performance from Azusa Pacific University.
Von Buhler, who regularly tours with Opera A La Carte presenting Gilbert and Sullivan works, holds a master’s degree from the University of Redlands.
Tickets are $30.
The First Christian Church is located at 1751 N. Park Ave., Pomona. Information: ((909) 230-4949.

Music of Messiaen and Crockett at Pomona College

A group of premiere musicians will gather at Bridges Hall of Music on the campus of Pomona College to present the music of Olivier Messiaen and Donald Crockett at 8:00 p.m. Saturday, March 3.
The music will be performed by Pomona College faculty artists and Southern California professionals Sarah Thornblade, violin; Roger Lebow, cello; Genevieve Feiwen Lee, piano; and Gary Bovyer, clarinet.
Music on the program will include Messiaen’s “Quartet for the End of Time” and newer works of Donald Crockett.
Admission is free.
Bridges Hall of Music is located at 150 E. 4th St., Claremont.

“Spirit of Ireland” at Candlelight Pavilion, Claremont

Michael Ryan, guitarist extraordinaire, brings his friends along to the stage of the Candlelight Pavilion Theater at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 14 for an evening of music, dance and songs of Ireland entitled “Spirit of Ireland”.
Ryan will be joined by Craic Haus Irish band and dancers from the Larson Academy of Irish Dance.
The program promises to be fun-filled with an “evening of mysterious celtic music and lively Irish pub songs.
Tickets are $25. This is a show-only performance.
Candlelight Pavilion Theater is located at 455 W. Foothill Blvd., Claremont. Information: (909) 626-3296, Ext. 1.

Proving that the group is truly a community effort of talented local musicians, Reinecke has invited violinist, Joyce Pan, a member of the orchestra since 2008, to perform Sergei Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in G-minor.

Pan brings to the concert stage a distinguished background in violin training, an academic career studded with honors at Stanford University and a current computer-tech job in the film industry. You might say she is a triple threat.
As a violinist, Pan began her studies as a youngster. Here talent was spotted by professionals, and that led to private studies with members of the St. Lawrence String Quartet. Notable solo performances have included appearances with the California Youth Symphony (she was concertmistress there for three years, as well), and the San Jose Symphony.

Her academic achievements include a B.A. and Masters Degree in Computer Science from Stanford University. In her senior year, Pan was named a Siebel Scholar receiving a $25,000 award during which she focused on computer graphics with a minor in Studio Art. The Siebel Foundation saw in Pan a remarkable woman Their scholarship award, they said, would offer her “the chance to combine the creativity of computer programming with the visual creativity of filmmaking and storytelling.”

She is currently employed as a Technical Director of lighting at DreamWorks Animation.

In addition to the Prokofiev Violin Concerto, the orchestra will perform Bedrich Smetana’s “Sarka” from the well-known “Ma Vlast”, or “My Country” and Mozart’s Symphony No. 39 in E-flat major.

Admission to the concert is free (donations are welcomed), as is parking.

The First Church of the Nazarene is located at 3700 E. Sierra Madre Blvd., Pasadena, one block west of Michillinda Ave.

Young, lithe, violinist Nigel Armstrong stole the hearts of the packed house at Alex Theatre in Glendale Saturday night with his taut performance of Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3 in G-major performed with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. The 21 year-old, recently graduated from the Colburn School of Performing Arts is now studying at The Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. He used his storehouse of bowing technique and ample musicality to give an appropriately vigorous and youthful version of the Mozart piece that Mozart composed at age 17.

The evening was dedicated, at least mostly, to the music of Mozart with the LACO principal cellist, Andrew Shulman, making his debut with the orchestra as conductor. Shulman began the evening performance with Mozart’s Symphony No. 29 in A-major and closed with William Walton’s Sonata for Strings, but the centerpiece was the Mozart Violin Concerto, serving also as Armstrong’s debut with this orchestra.

It was not Armstrong’s initial appearance in Southern California as a soloist, though: that distinction is held by the Burbank Philharmonic where he was awarded the Hennings-Fischer Young Artist Competition in 2010.

His latest accomplishment was receiving Fourth Prize in the 14th International Tchaikovsky Competition, a dramatic achievement for an American violinist, one that has been compared to bringing home an Olympic gold medal. Winning at competitions is not new for Armstrong. Since his debut as a soloist at age 10, he has been a consistent competition winner. That award-winning style was on view in Glendale as his flexible, nimble fingers and strong bowing guided his confident performance.

His burgeoning talent was seen particularly in the first-movement cadenza, written, or rather framed, by noted musicologist/composer/author Robert Levin. He nailed it, and he knew it. The cadenza, a kind of jazz invention on the Mozart crafted theme, was given a light-hearted, exhuberant reading. I would argue that his tone was a bit thin in the meatier parts. Never mind. There’s plenty of time.

Armstrong encored with John Corigliano’s “Stomp”, a modern work that brought laughter to the audience, and a second round of long-lasting applause, the same as occurred following his playing of the Mozart Violin Concerto.

Shulman’s conducting debut was less auspicious. The LACO ensemble was not unblemished in the Mozart Symphony No. 29 as lazy entrances and an over-enthusiastic bass section marred the performance. The Walton Sonata, heard after an intermission, and following the Armstrong debut, seemed uninteresting.

By Bill Peters

By Bill Peters

The Pacific Trio’s members are cellist John Walz, pianist Edith Orloff and violinist Roger Wilke. Walz performs in dozens of concerts each season with numerous groups, notably as principal cellist of the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra and the Long Beach Symphony. Orloff is a featured artist at many summer music festivals, and is a favorite at the San Luis Obispo Festival Mozaic; she frequently appears with Pacific Serenades at their concerts at the Neighborhood Church, Pasadena. Wilke is the concertmaster for the Long Beach Symphony; he appears regularly with the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and Pacific Serenades in addition to appearing as soloist with many local and regional orchestras.

As a trio, (which was founded in 1979) Walz, Orloff and Wilke have been seen in over 1,000 concerts throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. They serve as trio-in-residence at the Idyllwild Arts Summer Program.  Their latest CD is “American Composers”.

Pacific Trio's CD "American Composers" is available at Amazon.com and other online retailers.

For the Coleman Chamber Concert, Pacific Trio will perform Robert Muczynski’s Trio No. 1; Maurice Ravel’s Trio in A Minor; and Bedrick Smetana’s Trio in G-minor.

Ticket prices range from $24 to $45.

The Beckman Auditorium, on the Campus of the California Institute of Technology, is located south of Del Mar Blvd. on Michigan Ave., Pasadena. (Information: (888) 222-8324.

Grammy-winning Turtle Island Quartet fuses the classical quartet esthetic with contemporary musical styles.

Many string quartets are taking on new trends in chamber music. Turtle Island Quartet is one of them. Often arranging modern tunes for string quartet, (John Coltrane is one—but more about that later), their exacting, full-bodied musicianship produces an exciting performance. You can see Turtle Island Quartet in their Los Angeles appearance, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20 at Le Lycée Francais de Los Angeles in the Raymond Kabbaz Theatre, on West Pico Blvd., Los Angeles.
Members of the quartet are David Balakrishnan and Mads Tolling, violins; Jeremy Kittel, viola and Mark Summer, cello.
Balakrishnan founded Turtle Island Quartet in 1985 with the vision to take quartets on forays into folk, bluegrass, swing, be-bop, funk, R&B, new age, rock, hip-hop, the Latin American and India genres and still have time and space for ingenious arrangements and originals. Balakrishnan graduated from UCLA with a B.A. in music composition and holds a masters in composition from Antioch University West.
Cellist Summer is also a founding member of the group whose bio shows both a strong base in classical roots (as do all the members), and continues to expand the cello repertoire and even unique techniques in percussion and pizzicato that pervade modern music. Mads Tolling is from Denmark and has pursued jazz in the US, prominently at the Berklee College of Music from which he graduated summa cum laude.. Jeremy Kittel has recently joined the quartet. He graduated from the University of Michigan, is an award winning Scottish fiddler and Celtic fiddler in addition to his classical work as a soloist with several symphony orchestras.
One way to catch up with this string quartet is to hear their Telarc CD “A Love Supreme”, songs from the legacy of John Coltrane. It is not one of their later CDs having been released in 2006, but the 13 track album includes not only Coltrane’s “Round Midnight” and “My Favorite Things” but is embellished with some original material. It is a testament to modern music’s relevance to today. Turtle Island Quartet’s music mastery keeps the traditional string quartet in place.
Seeing this group live, though, should be a thrill to a wide number of musical generations.
They are at Theatre Raymond Kabbaz of the Le Lycée Francais de Los Angeles for this one night only. The venue isa 220-seat theater that is dedicated to the promotion of art and culture providing an open window to French and international cultures.
Tickets are $35.
The Theatre Raymond Kabbaz is located at 10361 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles. Information: (310) 286-0553.

See Turtle Island Quartet here:

Her stunning appearance at UCLA Opera West Coast in their production of “Flight” as the stewardess still has a lot of buzz. The Arizona State University grad, who won first place in the Central-Northern Arizona Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing in 2007, wowed the audience at Palm Springs Opera Guild’s Opera in the Park in several numbers at their March, 2011 event.

Music at Noon is a weekly presentation of the church and is designed to give a chance to hear selected talents perform on a relatively informal basis. The performance is under one hour and followed by lunch in the church courtyard—either your own brown-bag lunch or one provided for a $6 donation. Music at Noon series is free and open to the public.

The Pasadena Presbyterian Church is located at 585 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena.

Christopher Rountree leads Wildup LA Saturday at the Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena --photo by Muriel Jordan

Twenty-two musicians arrive in Southern California ready to take the place by storm. Well, some do, some don’t. But they are all well-trained and ready to play. A congregation of 22 of these younger musicians will tell you all about the music of today at 8:00 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 14 at Pasadena’s Armory for the Center of the Arts.

The group is Wildup LA and it is a happening presented by artistic director/conductor Christopher Rountree.
Music of today is their mission: “We make music. New music. Old Music. We’ll play it, as long as we love it. Wild Up is a modern music collective—a group of Los Angeles-based musicians committed to creating visceral thought-provoking happenings.” They go on. And on.

But, their commitment is catching. From Rountree (who claims a seven generation Pasadena history) to young, mostly recent graduates of top music conservatories and universities, they are out to show you a good time and make really good music at the same time. 

Eclectic seems to mild a term for this ensemble. Their program for Jan. 14 is based on birds, up to and including a young composer, Andrew Bird. OK, let’s get serious. “Ornithology” is the title of the program, listed as “A study of fluttering winged life. For centuries,” their promotional material reads, “artists have been obsessed with the study of birds, their sounds and the freedom which they move through the world.”

To them, this means the music of Olivier Messiaen, Joseph Haydn, and moderns like Brian Ferneyhough, Charlie Parker, Chris Kallmyer, and our local favorite, Cal Arts guy, Mark Menzies.  This is wild, that is, wild and wonderful.

Jessica Cameron is the vivacious percussionist with Wildup LA.

Members of Wildup LA are Matt Barbier, Joshua Bornfield, Jessica Cameron, Archie Carey, Ryan Darke, Maggie Hasspacher, Chris Kallmyer, Caitlin Kelley, Robin Kelleman, Joo Lee, Andrew McIntosh, Erin McKibben, Javier Orman, Melinda Rice, Derek Stein, Jeremy Swem, Andrew Tholl, Derek Tywoniuk, Richard Valitutto, Brian Walsh, and Eleanor Weigert.

Leader of the group, Christopher Rountree,

founded the group in 2010, locally appointed principal conductor of La Primavera Youth Orchestra in Orange County at age 22.

Tickets are $20.

The Armory Center for the Arts is located at 145 N. Raymond Ave., Pasadena.

Andrew Malloy, Pasadena Symphony Orchestra Committee Chair and principal trombonist with the orchestra.

People in the news…

The Pasadena Symphony and Pops orchestras and the musicians that serve in both orchestras have agreed to a four-year contract that provides a 5% increase in wages stretched over the term of the deal. In other words, the contract, which rolls back to October, 2011, will provide no increase for this season, a 2% increase next season and 3% the following season.

Paul Jan Zdunek, CEO at the Pasadena Symphony, is quoted by David Ng in a story appearing in the Los Angeles Times on Jan. 10, that the orchestra’s finances are now in order and that the orchestra has succsssfully paid down its back debt. Zdunek also told Ng that the Symphony Association has seen strong ticket sales and increasing support from sponsors.

Other press reports have indicated that the Symphony has seen a good spike in support as a result of Marvin Hamlich’s summer concerts of the Pasadena Pops and looking forward, ticket sales for the summer concerts at The Arboretum are already exceeding last year’s numbers.

The Pasadena Symphony’s season is underway with its next concert this Saturday, Jan. 14. The Pasadena Pops summer series at The Arboretum begins June 16.

Andrew Shulman

The San Gabriel Valley has always been welcoming to the British, so it is not unexpected that the Pasadena Symphony would kick off its 2012-2013 season with two of the Queen’s subjects, conductor David Lockington, and cellist Andrew Shulman and perform an almost-all United Kingdom program of English composers.

The opening concert will be held Saturday, Jan. 14 at Ambassador Auditorium, Pasadena, in two concerts, at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. The Symphony’s season stretches to April 28 and consists of four remaining concerts, each program with two performances.

The almost all-British program includes a snappy overture by Phillip Sawyer (b. 1951, London); a soulful Edward Elgar (b.1857, Broadheath) cello concerto performed by Pasadena Principal cellist, Andrew Shulman (b. 1960, London); and Felix Mendelssohn’s muted “Scottish” symphony (b. 1809, Hamburg, Germany, but spent about 2 years over time in England and was much revered there); all of it conducted by visiting conductor, David Lockington, (b. 1956, Dartford).

Elgar, best known in the US for his “Pomp and Circumstance” march (and should be remembered for his “Variations on an Original Theme, Enigma” for its repeated performances by Pasadena Symphony), has become heralded for his Cello Concerto in E-minor. Locally, patrons of the Los Angeles Philharmonic under its then Music Director, Zubin Mehta, were privileged to hear cellist Jacqueline Du Pré perform this piece in 1968. Her recording of the Cello Concerto is still considered one of the best.

Shulman recalled that Du Pré made the Elgar Concerto “very famous”. “I was fortunate enough to have lessons with her when I was a student. She was a great inspiration, and the wonderful piece has been in my repertoire ever since.”

Shulman is set musically to also render a fine interpretation of the Elgar work given his extensive musical training and performance record. The first British winner of the “Piatigorsky Artist Award”, he has performed concertos of A-list conductors and orchestras. Since Schulman is an LA resident, it is not surprising to hear that has been heard as a major player on dozens, if not hundreds, of movie soundtracks. In addition to Pasadena, Shulman also serves as principal cellist for the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.

David Lockington

Lockington has achieved a fine reputation as Music Director of the Grand Rapids (Mi.) Symphony Orchestra, Associate Conductor of the Denver (Co.) Symphony, and in his numerous engagements internationally. He began his career as a cellist, earning a Master’s degree in cello performance from Yale University.
He has conducted all of music on the Pasadena Symphony program in several of his conducting appearances, and, of course, performed the Elgar Cello Concerto.

This concert is a reunion of sorts for Shulman and Lockington as they were childhood friends. “Andrew and I met in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain when we were teenagers,” Lockington said.

Ticket prices begin at $35.

The Ambassador Auditorium is located at 131 St. John Ave., Pasadena. Information: (626) 793-7172 or onsite on the day of the concert.