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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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Vassily Primakov piano recital

Thursday, 6 June 2013
Odeion
19:30

Since the release of his recording of the Chopin Piano Concertos, Vassily Primakov has been hailed as a pianist of world class importance.  Deseret News (Salt Lake City) wrote: “…a pianist's pianist.  He is a giant of the keyboard.”  Gramophone wrote: “Primakov's empathy with Chopin's spirit could hardly be more complete”, and the American Record Guide stated: “This is a great Chopin pianist.  Primakov's timing is perfect.”  MusicWeb-International called the CD “one of the great Chopin recordings of recent times.  These are performances of extraordinary power and beauty”.  In 1999, as teenaged prizewinner of the Cleveland International Piano Competition, Primakov was praised by Donald Rosenberg of the Cleveland Plain Dealer: “How many pianists can make a line sing as the 19-year-old Moscow native did on this occasion?”

Vassily entered Moscow's Central Special Music School at the age of eleven as a pupil of Vera Gornostaeva.  He won first prize in the Rachmaninoff International Young Artist Competition.  At seventeen he pursued his studies at the Juilliard School with the noted pianist, Jerome Lowenthal.  At Juilliard he won the William Petschek Piano Recital Award, which presented his debut recital at Alice Trully Hall.  While he was a student there, Primakov was placed among the top two laureates of the Cleveland International Piano Competition, and won both the silver medal and the Audience Prize in the 2002 Gina Bachauer International Artists Piano Competition.  He won first prize in the 2002 Young Concert Artists (YCA) International Auditions.   In 2007 he was named the Classical Recording Foundation's Young Artist of the Year.  In 2009, Primakov’s Chopin Mazurkas recording was named “Best of the Year” by National Public Radio and that same year he began recording Mozart’s 27 piano concertos in Denmark.  BBC Music Magazine (November 2010) praised the first volume of Primakov’s Mozart Concertos: “The piano playing is of exceptional quality: refined, multi-coloured, elegant of phrase and immaculately balanced, both in itself and in relation to the effortlessly stylish orchestra…By almost every objective criterion, Vassily Primakov is a Mozartian to the manner born, fit to stand as a role model to a new generation.”

Vassily has released numerous recordings for Bridge Records which include works by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Chopin, Dvorak, Debussy, Tchaikovsky, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff, Phillip Glass, Arlene Sierra and Roul Ruders.

In 2011, Vassily, along with his duo partner, Natalia Lavrova, established a new and vibrant record company, L.P. Classics, Inc.  Their first release was Anton Arensky: Four Suites for Two Pianos. Most recently they released Primakov's Live in Concert Album that includes works by Medtner, Schumann, Brahms' Handel Variations and Ravel's La Valse.  

Programme:

Chopin: Polonaise in C-sharp minor, Op. 26, sNo.1
Chopin: 12 Selected Mazurkas 
Chopin: Polonaise in A-flat major, Op. 53 "Heroic"
Van Eeden: Sonata No. 5 in B-flat minor, BVE 74 (2013) 
Scriabin: Prelude for the left hand in C-sharp minor, Op. 9, No.1
Scriabin: Sonata No. 4 in F-sharp major, Op. 30
Rachmaninoff: Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 36 (revised version)

Admission:

R130 (adults), R90 (pensioners), R50 (students and learners), R50 (group booking of 10+)
Tickets available at Computicket.

Enquiries:       

Ninette Pretorius (tel. 051 401 2504)

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