Pianist Virginia Eskin is a perfomer AND a character! Her audience-pleasing programs often highlight the work of traditionally overlooked women composers from throughout the centuries.
On Friday night, virtuoso Virginia Eskin will perform a sparkling program of solo piano music which will focus on women composers, vibrant classical repertoire, and Ragtime. The program "Classical to Rags to Jazz" begins with well-known favorites from Chopin, Liszt, and MacDowell, then moves on to Ragtime selections, including women composers and an origiinal rag by Middleboro composer erik Lingren. Then it presents two modern composers, Schuller and Albright and rounds up with a jazz medley of Gershwin pieces that he arranged for piano himself. Boston Globe music critic Richard Dyer wrote "the harder the music, the better Eskin plays...she's not just a pianist but a communicator." It is indeed an honor to have someone of Eskin's stature at this years festival and her show is not to be missed!
Pianist Virginia Eskin has performed as a soloist throughout the US and Europe. Her concerto appearances include the Buffalo, New Hampshire, San Francisco, and Utah Symphony Orchestras, The Israel Sinfonietta, plus the the Boston Pops. Boston Globe critic Richard Dyer wrote "the harder the music, the better Eskin plays...she's not just a pianist but a communicator." Virginia Eskin has nearly twenty recordings to her credit including works by American composers and is widely known for her 1999 "Ragtime project" Fluffy-Ruffle Girls. She is a pre-concert lecturer for the FleetBoston Celebrity Series and has served as a guest on NPR's "All Things Considered." Ms Eskin is on the music faculty at Northeastern University where she is currently developing an Internet classical music program called "Music Matters."
Virginia Eskin, piano
From Classics to Rags to Jazz
Fantasy Impromptu Chopin
Libestraume Liszt
To A Wild Rose MacDowell
Polonaise MacDowell
Sandpoint Rag Schuller
Fluffy Ruffle Rag Davis
American Beauty Rag Lamb
Rag In F Lindgren
Behemoth Rag Albright
Medley: Gershwin
I Got Rhythm
Sweet 'n Low-down
Fascinatin' Rhythm
Walkin' The Dog
Prelude No. 1
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On Saturday, Birdsongs of the Mesozoic will perform their unique brand of music which is an unusual mix of classical, rock, minimalism, jazz, and free-form sound. For 20 years, this Boston-based new music ensemble has been described as "the world's hardest rocking chamber music quartet" and includes such pieces as Stravinsky's "Rite Of Spring," Brian Eno's "Somber Reptiles," and the theme from the Simpsons in their eclectic repertoire. The group features Middleborough composer Erik Lindgren, who recently received a grant to do contemporary arrangements of three African American Spirituals which will be premiered at the concert.
Founded in 1980, Birdsongs of the Mesozoic is a four-piece electric new-music ensemble exploring and expanding the boundaries of contemporary music. The group has earned wide critical praise for its innovative music, an unusual mix of classical, rock, minimalism, jazz, and free-form sound. The Boston Globe has called Birdsongs "the world's hardest rocking chamber music ensemble" while Billboard describes their sound as "a mesmerizing venture into the space age jungle."
Instrumentation consists of piano, synthesizers, guitar, and saxophone, with electronic and acoustic percussion. The group has toured internationally and held workshops at Dartmouth College, Emory University, Duke University, and Mass College of Art. Birdsongs has recorded material for the Rykodisc, Cuneiform, and Ace of Hearts labels and is currently working on their tenth release.
www.birdsongsofthemesozoic.com
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This classical chamber music quartet is especially assembled for a one-time-only performance at Herring Run ArtsFest 2002. Group members are virtuoso's, each in their own right, playing music for soprano voice, flute, oboe, and piano. On Sunday, audiences are in for a thrilling performance of Bach arias, Debussy, Saint-Saens, and Ravel, as well as a taste of early 20th century French composers Jacques Ibert and Albert Roussel. The quality of the afternoon will rival the quality of a Symphony Hall event!
Carol Cybulska, soprano, received her vocal training at the Music Conservatory in Cologne, Germany and the Schola Cantorum in Basle, Switzerland. She has performed throughout Europe, Australia and the U.S. as a concert and recording artist, both as a soloist and as a member of various early music ensembles, including Sequentia and the Huelgas Ensemble and more recently with the Cambridge Bach Ensemble.
Michael Tabak, flute, studied at the Juilliard School of Music Preparatory Division, where his classmates included Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zuckerman, and Garrick Ohlsson. He was first flute with the National High School Symphony Orchestra at Interlochen, and then with the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra. Mr. Tabak has also been first flute with a number of orchestras in New York, including the Lynbrook Philharmonic, the Philharmonic Symphony of Westchester, and the Fine Arts Symphony. His extensive chamber music experience includes being a founding member of the Long Island Wind Quintet and of the Weston Wind Quintet, which performed on National Public Radio. Mr. Tabak is a Federal prosecutor in New York, where he has successfully investigated and prosecuted terrorists, mobsters, corrupt public officials, and others, as a result of which he has received several awards at the Justice Department for outstanding performance. Previously, he was Deputy Chief Counsel to the Ward Commission in Massachusetts.
Carl Schlaikjer, oboe and English horn, is currently principal oboe of the Melrose Symphony Orchestra, and is a founding member of the Windhammer Chamber Players, who performed last season at the Arts Festival. He has been principal oboe with the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, the MIT Symphony, and was for nearly 20 years the principal oboe of the Newton Symphony Orchestra. He studied with Louis Speyer (Boston Symphony), Ray Still (Chicago symphony) at Aspen, and Ralph Gomberg (Boston Symphony). He is Chief Scientist with Electrochem Canton, formerly Battery Engineering, Inc., in Canton, Massachusetts.
Dawn MacGarvey, piano, graduated from Old Dominion University with a B.S. degree in piano performance. She taught there, as well as at Virginia Wesleyan College and the Marsh School of Music, The South Shore Conservatory and at her private studio. Currently she is rehearsal accompanist for the Fine Arts Chorale and enjoys performing in chamber concerts.
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