Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Baroque Bassoon Duo Bios

Our Concert III, "Three Centuries of Endangered Sounds," is coming up this Saturday, April 2. It features 3 ensembles: a renaissance flute consort, a baroque bassoon duo, and a trio with classical baryton. Here is some more information on our baroque bassoon duo, Anna Marsh and Yueh Chou:
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Yueh Chou is known for her work on Modern and Historical Bassoons. She holds a Certificate Diploma (2007) on both Baroque and Classical Bassoons at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in Den Haag, the Netherlands; a Bachelors degree in Music from the Juilliard School and has obtained both Masters and Doctorate (2000) degrees in Music (with minors in Baroque Bassoon and Music Education) from the University of Southern California. Yueh has extensive performance and teaching experience, including teaching Master Classes at Fu-Jen University in Taiwan. She has taught Bassoon and Chamber Music at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Preparatory Division since 2001, and Chabot College in Hayward since 2009. Besides her love of modern and historical instruments, she also enjoys contemporary music. She premiered the solo Bassoon pieces: "Under the Open Sky" by Veronika Krausas in Los Angeles and "Group on a Row the Same" by Lou Harrison in Santa Cruz in. She has performed in Den Haag, Amsterdam (Muziekgebouw aan't IJ) in the Netherlands, Geel and Chimay (Theatre du Chateau) in Belgium; Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center in the United States, and the National Concert Hall in Taiwan. She plays on a modern by Heckel; a baroque after Prudent (c.1770) by Peter de Koningh, and a classical after Granser (c. 1800) also by Peter de Koningh.

Anna Marsh owns five bassoons and likes to play them. She has appeared with Tafelmusik, Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, Opera Atelier, Seattle Baroque, The National Cathedral, Opera Lafayette, Washington Bach Consort, Ensemble Voltaire, Apollo's Fire, Foundling, Americantiga, Chicago Opera Theater, the Hollywood Bowl, Banff Centre for the Arts, Musica nel Chiostro, the Bloomington Early Music Festival, Boston and Berkley Fringe Festivals, Sante Fe Pro Musica, Aradia Ensemble, Indianapolis Museum of Art and others. Anna has also taught at the Amherst Early Music Festival, the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, the Los Angeles Music and Art School, The Albuquerque Double Reed Workshop and teaches privately. She co-directs the group Ensemble Lipzodes which toured Brazil in July 2008 and has recorded two cds. She also enjoys playing with Circa 1800, a classical woodwind quintet and with From the Depths, a group devoted to music and literature. Their latest project included Chaucer's Canterbury Tales with the respective music of the time. Anna has been a concerto soloist with the Foundling Orchestra, Americantiga orchestra, the USC Early Music Ensemble and the Indiana University Baroque Orchestra. Anna has also worked in the library and/or administration at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Washington National Gallery of Art, Museum of the City of New York and the Weyerhauser Technology Center. Anna has recorded for Centaur, Avie, Naxos, the Super Bowl and Musica Omnia Record Labels.
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More information at http://www.scbaroque.org/concerts.html
We hope you can make it!
~ Alissa

Concert III takes place on Saturday, April 2, at Holy Cross Church (Santa Cruz), beginning at 7:30 pm. Tickets can be purchased through the UCSC Ticket Office (www.santacruztickets.com, 831-459-2159), the Civic Center Box Office, and the SC Baroque Festival (www.scbaroque.org, 831-457-9693). Admission: $23 general, $17 senior, $6 college student, $3 K-12. 3-Ticket Flex Pass: $57 general, $42 senior, $16 student.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Impressive Line-up at our 2011 Youth Competition

The lineup of chamber music competitors for the Santa Cruz Baroque Festival's
Youth Chamber Music Competition is very impressive. The contest, now in its 9th year, annually attracts the best and most devoted young players of chamber music from our region. The range of entries is remarkable is that it spans from the Middle Ages to the present, from the 13th Century Court of Alfonso X through Baroque masters such as Giulio Caccini and Alessandro Scarlatti in the 17th C and Telemann, Albinoni and Vivaldi in the 18th, through the Romantic composers such as Schumann and Borodin, and even a 20th century composer of 'Baroque' music, Kirt Mosier. The range of instruments and groups is similarly broad, including string and mixed orchestras from Monte Vista Christian School (Shari McQueen, director), and smaller chamber groups representing students of artist-teachers representing numerous studios in Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties. ~ Linda Burman-Hall (Artistic Director)

This competition is judged by Linda-Burman Hall, along with SC Sentinel music critic Phyllis Rosenblum and musician members of the Baroque Festival's Board of Directors. For updates on this year's contestants, check our Website (information on this year's contestants and winners forthcoming by the end of March).