Years
2019 2018
Douglas Masek Saxophone Recital
2018-07-31

with Neal Stulberg (piano)

31 July 2018

Odeion

19:30

The Los Angeles-based duo, in the country for the SANNSS, is touring the major South African cities. Both Masek and Stulberg, leaders in their respective fields, are internationally acclaimed soloists. The duo performs rarely heard selections from the concert saxophone repertoire in major cities around the country. Their program includes music by well-known composers such as Astor Piazzolla, David Heath, and even the South African composer, Allan Stephenson.

Internationally renowned saxophonist DOUGLAS MASEK, whose performances emphasize his versatility in a wide range of musical styles, from classical and contemporary to jazz, has consistently garnered critical acclaim. : The Los Angeles Times writes, (Masek’s) “...playing is smooth, sinuous, stunning, stylish, dazzling, and glowing with the requisite rich color.” In South Africa, The Argus describes “Masek’s tone: beautiful and pure” and the Cape Times adds “dynamic and magical.” With extensive concert touring in the United States, Europe, Asia, South Africa, and South America, he has also performed as a soloist at numerous festivals. He has performed with notable conductors, including Esa-Pekka Salonen, Kent Nagano, Placido Domingo, John Mauceri, Andre Previn, Michael-Tilson Thomas, James Conlan, Gustavo Dudamel, Valery Gergiev, Giselle Ben-Dor, Rachael Worby, JoAnn Falletta, Arthur Rubinstein, Grant Gershon, Carlo Franci, Hubert Soudant, Paul Freeman, Allan Stephenson and Bernhard Gueller. He has also worked on motion picture sounds tracks for John Williams, Randy Newman, David Newman and others, for Sony, Warner, Paramount, Universal, Disney and 20th Century, along with television and radio broadcasts. Masek's discography includes seven solo CD collections; Distant Memories, Windwood, Recrudescence, Saxvoir Faire, Saxtronic Soundscape, Saxophone Alternative, and EclectSax. He has recorded for Centaur, Albany, Cambria, Atlantic, Navona, Koch International, Stereophile, Summit and Philips Classics recording companies. Masek completed his academic education with a D.M.A. from the University of Southern California. Currently Professor of Saxophone at UCLA, Douglas is also a Vandoren Elite Artist and Conn-Selmer Artist.

www.dougmasek.com

Although an acclaimed pianist in his own right, it is as an orchestral conductor that NEAL STULBERG has been heralded by the Los Angeles Times as "…a shining example of podium authority and musical enlightenment," Stulberg has garnered consistent international acclaim for performances of clarity, insight, and conviction. Since 2005, he has served as Director of Orchestral Studies at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music and currently serves as both Professor and Chair of the UCLA Department of Music. Stulberg has already led numerous North American orchestras, and international engagements have included the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Taipei Symphony Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic, Korea Philharmonic (KBS), Queensland, Adelaide and West Australian Symphonies, to name but a few. Behind the keyboard, Stulberg appears as recitalist, chamber musician and with major orchestras and at international festivals as pianist/conductor. His performances of Mozart concertos conducted from the keyboard are uniformly praised for their buoyant virtuosity and interpretive vigour. He has recorded for West German Radio, Donemus, Yarlung Records, Sono Luminus and the Composers Voice label. Stulberg is a graduate of Harvard College, the University of Michigan and the Juilliard School. He studied conducting with Franco Ferrara at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (Rome), piano with Leonard Shure, Theodore Lettvin, William Masselos and Mischa Kottler, and viola with Ara Zerounia.

PROGRAMME:

  • Melvin Solomon (b.1947): ‘a la Mozart’
  • Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992): Café 1930 (arr. Isoda/Sugawa)
  • Maria Grenfell (b.1969): Time Transfixed
  • Allan Stephenson (b.1949): Introduction and Allegro
  • Maria Newman (b.1962): Parens (Ancestors)
  • Bill Cunliffe (b.1956): Bechet
  • David Heath (b. 1956): Coltrane (solo saxophone)
  • Pedro Iturralde (b.1929): Suite Hellenique
  • John Boswell (b.1960): Waterfall
  • John Boswell: Kindred Spirits

ADMISSION

  • R140 (adults)
  • *R100 (pensioners)
  • *R80 (UFS staff)
  • *R60 (students, learners and block bookings of 10+)

Tickets available at Computicket or online at http://online.computicket.com/web/

*Please note that tickets for pensioners, students, learners and UFS staff can only be purchased at a Computicket outlet (Shoprite Checkers) or at the doors since a valid card or ID has to be presented to qualify for the above-mentioned discount.

ENQUIRIES

Ninette Pretorius (tel. 051 401 2504)


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Die Huis van Maria Malan (A)

Playwright: Nico Luwes
Director: Nico Luwes
Venue: Wynand Mouton Theatre

Dates and times:


21 March 2012 19h30
22 March 2012 19h30
23 March 2012 19h30

R30 for adults
R25 for pensioners
R20 for scholars and students
R15 for Theatre Club Members

Bookings: Computicket (Mimosa Mall and Checkers)
Bookings for block bookings of 10 or more people can be done with Thys Heydenrych (072 235 3191)

Die Huis van Maria Malan is an Afrikaans adaptation of House of Bernarda Alba, Federico Garcia Lorca's and is his last play, written the year he was killed at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. The play, along with Blood Wedding and Yerma, forms a trilogy expressing what Lorca saw as the tragic life of Spanish women. These late works Dennis Klein in Blood Wedding, Yerma, and The House of Bernardo Alba called "the most accomplished and mature efforts of the finest Spanish playwright of the twentieth century." If Blood Wedding is a nuptial tragedy and Yerma the tragedy of barren women, The House of Bemarda Alba might be seen as the tragedy of virginity, of rural Spanish women who will never have the opportunity to choose a husband. It is also a play expressing the costs of repressing the freedom of others.

The House of Bemarda Alba finally had its stage premiere nearly a decade after Lorca's death. The play was produced in Buenos Aries in 1945, and was published the same year, in Argentina. Given the repression of artistic expression in Spain during Franco's regime, it was not until 1964 that Lorca's last play was finally produced in his native country, at Madrid's Goya Theatre. Its setting is specific to the values and customs of a rural Spanish people, but the play's appeal is universal rather than national.

In this adaptation the play is set in a conservative South African context during 1910-1915. The play is perfect for 3rd year students as all the characters roles are played by women in a complicated plot with interesting interpersonal relationships. The contrast in values between the workers and the daughters of the strict matriarch, Maria Malan, creates new impetus to and meaning in the play within the South African context.

All the daughters are in love with Hermanus van Wyk, the smartest and most attractive young man of the region. He will probably marry the oldest and ugliest daughter for the money she inherited from her late father. According to tradition, the young girls are forced to mourn the loss of their father for a long time and may not leave the house. At night we can hear the stud of Hermanus galloping around the house. What is he up to? Does he perhaps visit someone at her window? Soon the suffocating house of Maria Malan become bees nest of suppressed emotions, conspiracies and mistrust. The matriarch soon stands helpless against the laws of nature and the tragedy that looms on the horizon.

Nico Luwes is responsible for the adaptation and direction. 12 third year students play the main roles and the rest of the class take up the roles of women of the town. The play is performed from 21 to 23 March in die Wynand Mouton Theatre at 19:30.

Book at Computicket.
 

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