Pacific Serenades Premieres Sharon Farber’s “Bridges of Love”

Pacific Serenades presents “Mixed Up World”, featuring the World Premiere of composer Sharon Farber’s “Bridges of Love”…plus works by Leonard Bernstein, Gabriel Faure, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Featured musicians include tenor Shawn Thuris; Gary Gray, clarinet; Roland Kato, viola; and Robert Thies, piano

Saturday, March 6; 8 p.m. at a private home in Tarzana
Sunday, March 7; 4 p.m. at the Neighborhood Church in Pasadena
Tuesday, March 9, at 8 p.m. at the UCLA Faculty Center in Westwood
CALENDAR SUMMARY FOLLOWS RELEASE

LOS ANGELES, Calif. When Mark Carlson, founder and Artistic Director of Pacific Serenades, asked composer Sharon Farber to write a new piece for the award-winning ensemble’s performances of “Mixed Up World” on March 6 at 8 p.m. at a private home in Tarzana, March 7 at 4 p.m. at the Neighborhood Church in Pasadena and Tuesday, March 9 at 8 p.m. at the UCLA Faculty Center in Los Angeles, the Israeli born composer didn’t hesitate to accept.

“I’ve been a fan of this wonderful organization for a long time and attended their concerts, so I was delighted when Mark Carlson called,” recalls Farber, whose music was featured in a concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall last June, performed by The Jewish Symphony Orchestra and a 100-piece Gospel choir. “It’s an honor.”

The work that resulted from Carlson’s inquiry, Bridges of Love, sets three poems – one from the Book of Ruth, another by Helen Keller, and the last by the Sufi poet Rumi – to music. “I was looking for the right text for a long time,” Farber confesses. “I wanted to set music to poems about love, which I hadn’t done before but I couldn’t find poems that I could really relate to, as I was looking for non-romantic love. Then, a day before I started writing, I was given a book of love poems and, within a few minutes, I had found all three.

“The poems speak about uncommon, unconditional love,” Farber continues. “Love that is almost against all odds. They’re individual yet universal in their meaning. And I believe that love, as music, can bridge the gaps of faith and religion and can heal us all.”

Performing Bridges of Love are clarinetist Gary Gray, violist Roland Kato, pianist Robert Thies and tenor Shawn Thuris. “When Mark approached me, he asked that I write for this specific combination,” says Farber, whose list of past commissions includes writing for choirs like the Los Angeles Master Chorale and song cycles for sopranos. “I’ve written a lot for sopranos and loved the opportunity to write for a man’s voice, especially one as beautiful as Shawn’s. He is one of the best artists around, as well as the other wonderful musicians who’ll be part of this work.”

Thuris will also perform selected songs for tenor and piano by Gabriel Faure, with pianist Robert Thies as accompanist. “Robert and I chose the songs,” the tenor explains. “We are building the set around ‘En sourdine’ and ‘Les matelots,’ the former being a favorite of ours and the latter connecting to the theme of the concert. It depicts the globe-spanning – and idealized – life of a sailor. The differing musical styles provide a nice contrast as well.”

Rounding out “Mixed Up World” on the program are the Sonata for clarinet and piano by Leonard Bernstein and the Trio in E flat major, K. 498 for clarinet, viola and piano by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

“This concert got as its title the theme of the whole season – Mixed Up World – because it seemed to encapsulate that idea even more so than the other programs,” says Carlson. “We have works by a 20th century American, a French composer who straddled the 19th and 20th centuries, an 18th century Austrian composer and an Israeli woman composer who has made her home in Los Angeles. ”

The program, Carlson adds, follows a plan Pacific Serenades has followed since its founding 24 years ago: a work from the pre-20th century standard repertoire; something from the 20th century; and, as always, a brand new piece, commissioned by the ensemble.

“Composing is a lonely profession,” concludes Sharon Farber. “We sit in our studios all day and create something out of nothing. But nothing can compare to hearing your music played live – to hear it come to life after weeks or months of constant work.”

Tickets for “Mixed Up World” are available online, at www.pacser.org, or by calling 213.534.3434. Tickets for Private Home concerts and the post concert reception are $55/person; for the Neighborhood Church and UCLA Faculty Center, $32/person. (Neighborhood Church and UCLA Faculty Center tickets are also interchangeable.) Full time students with valid identification can purchase tickets – at the door only – at the Neighborhood Church or UCLA Faculty Center for $5.

The Neighborhood Church is located at 301 N. Orange Grove Blvd. in Pasadena. The Gamble House museum, next door to the church, offers a discounted tour at $8/person to Pacific Serenades patrons on concert dates only. Tours begin promptly at 2 pm and at 2:40 pm and last approximately one hour. Reservations are required and must be made at least 48 hours in advance of the concert date by calling 626.793.3334, ext. 16.

The UCLA Faculty Center is located at 405 N. Hilgard Ave. on the UCLA campus in Westwood. Parking is available for $10 in Lot 2. In addition, prior to each concert, dinner at the UCLA Faculty Center is available for Pacific Serenades patrons. Reservations can be made by calling 310.825.0877.

Directions and additional information about private home concerts are mailed to ticket holders upon receipt of their order.

The mission of Pacific Serenades is to generate new chamber music by commissioning works and presenting them alongside standard repertoire in intimate concert settings, emphasizing Southern California musicians. For more information about Pacific Serenades, its upcoming season, musicians and composers, visit www.pacser.org or call 213.534.3434. Subscriptions are currently available.

ABOUT COMPOSER SHARON FARBER
Sharon Farber, originally from Israel, has received critical acclaim as a composer in the Concert world as well as that of Film and TV. She brings to her music influences from her Middle Eastern heritage as well as her extensive knowledge of Classical and Western music.

Sharon began her musical career at the age of seven, as a classical pianist. After graduating from Thelma -Yelin High School for the Arts, she served in the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) and later worked as a theater composer and musical director in Israel. She won the first prize in Colors in Dance in 1992 for her music for choreography. In 1994, she moved to Boston upon receiving a scholarship from Berklee College Of Music. During her studies, she won the first prize in the yearly Professional Writing Division Concert with her first string quartet. After graduating Summa Cum Laude in 1997 (majoring in both Classical Composition and Film Scoring) she moved to Los Angeles to begin her professional career. Miss Farber was the recipient of the prestigious Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Internship in Film Scoring, as well as the Mentorship program of the Society of Composers and Lyricists, on which she currently serves as a board member.

Ms. Farber, Composer In Residence of the 2009 Beverly Hills International Music Festival, has been writing concert and choir music in parallel to her film-scoring career, and has many international premieres and performances to her credit. To name a few: The Third Mother/Mothers’ Lament, in memory of slain reporter Daniel Pearl, which was world premiered by the distinguished Los Angeles Master Chorale, under the direction of Maestro Grant Gershon, and won her the First Prize in the Cincinnati Camerata Composition Competition in 2007 (published by Roger Dean Music publishing), ASHKINA, featuring Omar Faruk Tekbilek, premiered in New York, October 2004, and has had many performances since. Her commissioned piece, Translucent Rocks, was premiered by the prestigious Israeli Chamber Orchestra, October 2007 to rave reviews. Her work “My Beloved” for Women’s Choir and Ensemble was premiered in April by The Ithaca College Women’s Chorale with Janet Galván, conductor and will be featured at the ACDA this coming February. Her song cycle, “To Always Remember” was recently recorded for an album by acclaimed Soprano Sharon Rostorf- Zamir. Ms. Farber’s music was featured in a concert at The Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles June, 2009, performed by The Jewish Symphony Orchestra and a 100 piece Gospel choir. She has recently completed her Composer Residency at the 2009 Beverly Hills International Music Festival, where she curated two new concerts, and her film music has been featured time and again on “From Stage To Cinema” concert series. Her next commissions include the Laguna Beach Music festival and the prestigious MORAN choir from Israel.

In the Film and TV industry, Sharon has been working with such prestigious companies as NBC, CBS, Showtime and WB as well as writing music for features films and other projects. She won the Telly Award in 1998 for best score for the docu-drama series “California 2000” and her work can also be heard at the Museum of Sacramento, as part of the Museum’s permanent exhibition. Her orchestral score for “When Nietzsche Wept”, starring Aramand Assante and Ben cross (Millennium Films) was released October 20008, and she has recently completed the score for Folie a Deux for director Sean Martin (UK). In addition, she was commissioned to compose a new full CD for APM/SONOTON Music which is available on her website.

ABOUT THE MUSICIANS

Tenor Shawn Thuris
Tenor Shawn Thuris brings a spectrum of vocal colors and experience in seven languages to his performances in recital, with orchestra, and on the operatic stage. Roles he has portrayed include Siegmund in Die Walküre, Radamès in Aïda, Mario in Tosca, Luigi in Il tabarro, and Hoffmann in Les Contes d’Hoffmann. He has sung at Orange County Performing Arts Center, Redlands Bowl Festival, UNLV, and the Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center. Mr. Thuris has given many recitals of art song repertoire with pianists such as Kirill Gliadkovsky, Robert Thies, and Steven Vanhauwaert. He has been a soloist in oratorios of Bach, Handel, Lloyd Webber, and Mozart and has presented masterclasses at East Central University of Oklahoma. Mr. Thuris initially trained as a baritone with Marvin Hayes at Pomona College. He made the switch to tenor while studying with Gail Gordon at Santa Monica College, where he concluded his studies by performing a recital with orchestra in tribute to heldentenor Lauritz Melchior, with scenes from Die Meistersinger, Otello, Siegfried, and Tristan und Isolde. He has continued to refine his technique under the guidance of Dennis Parnell. In addition to these concerts with Pacific Serenades, highlights of the 2009-10 season include Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos with Brooklyn Repertory Opera, Don José in Carmen with New York Opera Forum, and a song recital at Pasadena City College. Mr. Thuris lives in New York with mezzo-soprano Monica Akemi Hershenson.

Gary Gray, Clarinet

Clarinetist Gary Gray enjoys a versatile career as a concert artist, studio musician, and professor of clarinet and chamber music at UCLA. He received his BM and MM degrees from Indiana University, where he studied clarinet with Henry Gulick and Robert McGinnis and chamber music with Janos Starker. The Los Angeles Times wrote of a recent concert, “Gray handled the clarinet solos with stunning ease and as mellow and gorgeous a sound as may be possible on his instrument.” Formerly Principal Clarinetist of LACO, comments such as “Gray astonished with his liquid clarinet solos” were frequent in the press. As a soloist, his concerto CD with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra was nominated for a Grammy Award, and his CD of music for clarinet and piano, recorded in London with Clifford Benson, has also been a best seller for Centaur Records.

His most recent recording for Centaur Records includes two Romantic masterworks for clarinet and chamber ensemble: the Brahms Quintet Op. 115 and Dohnanyi’s Sextet Op. 37. For this project Gray collaborated with the New Hollywood Quartet, pianist, Robert Thies, and french hornist, Richard Todd.

Gray is a founding member/performer of Pacific Serenades and was a Faculty Artist at the Aspen Music Festival, Chamber Music Northwest, the Sedona Chamber Music Festival, and the Aria Music Academy. The summer of 2005, he joined the Alexander Quartet to perform and teach at the CSU Summer Arts chamber ensemble workshop. Gray has been a member of the St. Louis Symphony and performed with the Aspen Festival Orchestra, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, and has been soloist with the San Francisco Symphony, the Indianapolis Symphony, and LACO, among others.

He has collaborated with Aaron Copland, Malcolm Arnold, Benjamin Britten, Pierre Boulez, and Igor Stravinsky, as well as recording film scores with John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, Henry Mancini, Thomas Newman, Bruce Broughton, and Don Davis, among many others.

Roland Kato, viola
Described by the Los Angeles Times as “a brilliant virtuoso, playing with the perfect combination of energy and eloquence,” Roland Kato, internationally acclaimed viola recitalist and soloist, has been a member of LACO since 1976 and was appointed Principal Violist by Iona Brown in 1987. He has also held the principal position in many orchestras including the Music Center Opera Orchestra, the Pasadena Symphony, the California Chamber Symphony, and the Pasadena Chamber Orchestra. Mr. Kato plays chamber music with the Santa Clarita Chamber Players, Pacific Serenades, and other popular series in Los Angeles. As a guest artist, he recently was invited to play with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and has appeared with the New York New Music Ensemble. He was honored to perform chamber music with Yo-Yo Ma in a concert benefiting cancer research. In November 2002, he and LACO Concertmaster Margaret Batjer gave the West Coast premiere of Benjamin Britten’s double concerto in b minor for violin and viola.
Mr. Kato has appeared as soloist/recitalist on both viola and viola d’amore throughout the US and abroad with LACO, Festival Casals in Puerto Rico, Grand Canyon Chamber Music Festival, Oregon Bach Festival, Festival Internacional de Musica (Costa Rica), among many other festivals.
Mr. Kato produced the award-winning premiere recording of Telemann’s Quatrieme Livre de Quatours, a collection of six chamber pieces on the Koch Classics International label performed by the period instrument ensemble American Baroque. This recording has just been re-released on the Music and Arts label. He has also recorded chamber music of Tania French released on the Centaur label, and composer Mark Carlson’s Piano Quartet. The Carlson recording (The Hall of Mirrors) was awarded the Chamber Music America/WQXR Record Awards for 2001. Other chamber music recordings include those with Ransom Wilson and Marni Nixon.
As a commissioned arranger of music Mr. Kato has had his pieces played worldwide. His transcription of Prokofiev’s Music for Children was recently given its New York premiere, and in Washington, D.C. his arrangement of Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite was premiered at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts by the New Hampshire-based Apple Hill Chamber Players. It was given its European premiere in Ireland and has consequently been performed throughout Europe and the US by various ensembles.

Robert Thies, piano

A pianist of “unerring, warm-toned refinement, revealing judicious glimmers of power,” [Los Angeles Times] Robert Edward Thies (pronounced “Theece”) is an artist renowned for his consummate musicianship and poetic temperament. He first captured worldwide attention in 1995 when he won the Gold Medal at the Second International Prokofiev Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia. With this victory, Thies became the only American pianist to win a Russian piano competition since Van Cliburn’s triumph in Moscow in 1958.

Thies enjoys a diverse career as an orchestral soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. He has already performed over 35 concertos with orchestras all over the world, including the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic, the Auckland Philharmonia (New Zealand), the Mexico City Philharmonic, Mexico’s National Symphony, the Fort Worth Symphony, the Pasadena Symphony, the Louisville Orchestra, and the Naples Philharmonic.

Thies worked closely with Henryk Górecki in the U.S. premiere of his Sonata for Piano. In Mexico he performed Schoenberg’s Piano Concerto on the fiftieth anniversary of the composer’s death. He has performed at the music festivals of Ravinia, Aspen, Sedona, Breckenridge, Savannah Onstage, Cape May, and Music Academy of the West.

A dedicated chamber musician, Thies continues to expand an already impressive repertoire and collaborates with many esteemed musicians. He has appeared with established ensembles such as the Angeles, Calder, and New Hollywood String Quartets, and has also performed on the chamber series of Camerata Pacifica, Mladi, Dilijan and Jacaranda. He also founded The Thies Consort, a unique ensemble using varying instrumentation and thematic programming.

Born in 1971, Thies resides in Los Angeles. His teachers have included Robert Turner and Daniel Pollack, protégés of the legendary Russian pedagogue Madame Rosina Lhevinne. Mr. Thies is a Steinway artist. For more information, visit: www.robertthies.org.

ABOUT PACIFIC SERENADES
The mission of Pacific Serenades is to generate new chamber music by commissioning works and presenting them alongside standard repertoire in intimate concert settings, emphasizing the talents of Southern California musicians.

Pacific Serenades has twice been awarded the prestigious Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, for our 2004-05 and 2002-03 seasons. The self-presenting ensemble has become one of the premier chamber music organizations in Southern California and one of the longest-performing on the West Coast since its first concert in 1982.

Now in its 24th full concert season, Pacific Serenades exists so that music lovers-listeners, performers, and composers alike-might experience chamber music as a living art-and to experience it in the intimate setting for which it is intended. The performers are among the best musicians of the Los Angeles area-indeed, of anywhere. Each of the four programs presents the premiere of a new work commissioned by Pacific Serenades along with standard repertoire, and each is performed in a private home, at the Neighborhood Church in Pasadena, and at the UCLA Faculty Center. By the end of its 24th season, Pacific Serenades will have presented the premieres of 98 new works-more than any other group of its kind in the country.

Representing 54 different composers, most of them from the Los Angeles area, many of these works have gone on to further performances by other ensembles throughout this country and in Europe and Canada, and many of them have already been published and recorded. The organization is beginning to publish its commissioned works in order to make them more available to other ensembles. Pacific Serenades gave its first New York concert, at Carnegie Recital Hall, in September of 1994, and its first San Francisco concert in January of 1998.

Pacific Serenades’s first CD, The Hall of Mirrors, was a winner of the 2001 Chamber Music America/WQXR Records Awards. Our newest CD, Border Crossings, features works we have premiered by Latin American-born composers (Miguel del Aguila and Enrique González-Medina) and other composers directly influenced by Latin American music (Robert Livingston Aldridge and Mark Carlson) was released in January 2008. A third, entitled War Scrap: that we may have peace, is in production and will include music by John Steinmetz, Larry Lipkis, and Mark Carlson.
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CALENDAR:
PACIFIC SERENADES – “Mixed Up World”
Sharon Farber: Bridges of Love
Leonard Bernstein: Sonata for clarinet and piano
Gabriel Faure: Selected Songs
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Trio in E flat major, K. 498
Saturday, March 6; 8 p.m.; private home in Tarzana
Sunday, March 7; 4 p.m.; Neighborhood Church
301 N. Orange Grove Blvd. in Pasadena
Tuesday, March 9; 8 p.m.; UCLA Faculty Center
405 N. Hilgard Ave. on the UCLA campus
Soloists:
Shawn Thuris, tenor
Gary Gray, clarinet
Roland Kato, viola
Robert Thies, piano
Tickets: $32 (Neighborhood Church and UCLA Faculty Center)
$55 (private home/reception)
$5 for students with valid id at the door only (Neighborhood Church and UCLA)
For more information, call 213.534.3434 or visit www.pacser.org.