BIO
This husband and wife team met at the New England Conservatory of
Music. Their interest in piano for four hands began with reading
transcriptions of Beethoven symphonies. They have performed a large
portion of the great works of Mozart, Schubert, Brahms, and Debussy, as
well as a more unusual repertoire that includes Andrew Imbrie’s Little
Concerto, Mel Powell’s Settings, and Yoshi Ichianagi’s Two Existence.
Duo appearances include Harvard University, Brandeis, the American
Academy of Arts & Sciences, Boston’s First Night, and a command
performance for the President of Iceland.
Leslie and Randall are artists in their own right. Leslie has
received an NEA soloist grant and has performed with the Boston Pops.
Her recording of Andrew Imbrie’s Short Story was selected for “Art of
the States,” an international radio broadcast. Randall earned the grand
prize at the International American Music Competition sponsored by the
Rockefeller Foundation and Carnegie Hall, and he gave the European
premiere of Duke Ellinton’s New Worl- a-Comin’ concerto.
Both teach at the New England Conservatory of Music and Longy School
of Music.
Named one of the Top Ten Jazz Acts in 2004 by jazz journalist Bill
Beuttler of The Boston Globe.
"Fox is one of a small handful of musicians who embody the promise of
jazz's
future."
-- Gary Giddins, jazz journalist
"Fox’s music is unlike that of anyone else, while at the same time it
evokes
McCoy Tyner, Art Tatum, the intensity of Coltrane and of the blues,
shades
of Bach and Cuban music."
-- Jean Szlamowicz, Jazz Hot, France
"Donal Fox has an extraordinary musical reach—Latin vamps, New Orleans
second-line marches, free-jazz explosions, Monk taken to the out-there
edges
of Schoenberg and Webern, a lyric take on Bach or Chopin or jazz trio.
He’s got the all-over power of McCoy Tyner and the superb keyboard
marksmanship of Ellington and Horowitz."
-- Jon Garelick, Boston Phoenix
"Fox is a brilliant technician and an exquisite magician at the
keyboard.”
-- Mittelbayrische Zeitung, Germany
"Master of Improvisation at the Piano: Donal Fox makes 'Bach swing.'"
-- Der neue Tag, Germany
BIO
Donal Fox is internationally acclaimed as composer, pianist, and
improviser
in both the jazz and classical fields. His numerous awards include a
1997
Guggenheim Fellowship in music composition, a 1998 Fellowship from the
Bogliasco Foundation (Italy), and 1999, 2001, 2003 nominations for a
CalArts/Alpert Award in the Arts.
Mr. Fox served as the first African American composer-in-residence with
the St. Louis Symphony from 1991 to 1992. In the l993-94 season, he was
a special guest artist at the Library of Congress in a program that was
recorded by National Public Radio, and was a visiting artist at Harvard
University where he received a Certificate of Recognition from the
President of Harvard College for his contribution to the arts. In the
1998-1999 season he was featured concert artist with the Richmond
Symphony (VA) where he gave the world premiere performance of Anthony
M. Kelley's piano concerto Africamerica. In the 2003-2004 season, he
was featured concert artist with the American Composer Orchestra
Improvise Festival! where he gave the New York premiere performance of
T.J. Anderson's piano concerto Boogie Woogie Concertante with the MSM
Jazz Philharmonic at LaGuardia Concert Hall.
Mr. Fox's exciting and innovative "Jazz Duet Series" has included
concerts,
recordings, and collaborations with Oliver Lake, John Stubblefield,
Billy
Pierce, David Murray, Elliott Sharp, Regina Carter, Stefon Harris, Al
Foster, Gary Burton, John Patitucci, and poet Quincy Troupe to name a
few.
He has recorded as composer and pianist for New World Records, Evidence
Records, Music & Arts, Passin’ Thru Records, Yamaha’s Original
Artist
Series, and Wergo Records.
In the 2003-2004 season, Mr. Fox held artist-in-residence posts at the
Tyrone Guthrie Center in Northern Ireland and the Oberpfälzer
Künstlerhaus
in Schwandorf, Germany. In the 2005-2006 season, Mr. Fox will embark on
an extensive European festival tour and premiere his "Monk and Bach"
project at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York.
--A Short Opening Set…
• Opening piece by Middleborough composer Erik Lindgren
“Erik Lindgren is a model of musical
schizophrenia; the type who’ll
play
Stravinsky and Louie Louie’ back-to-back, with one foot in the
conservatory
and the other in the garage.
—Brett Milano, The Boston Globe
• Followed by Vocalist Eva Kendrick of Dighton/Rehoboth presenting selections from her song cycle “Shining.”
“Fresh melodies.… We’ll no doubt be
hearing more from [Kendrick].”
—Providence Journal
“Seamlessly weds verse, biography and
song.
—Attleboro Sun Chronicle
"Shining" is a seven-song work is about a woman and her journey through life--from love to divorce, while discovering courage and peace as a single mother along the way. The cycle is written for multiple female voices, flute, bass clarinet, violin, cello, piano, and percussion. Soloists include Jacqueline Goldgorin and Shadi Ebrahimi.
The poems of "Shining" are taken from two collections of poetry by Kathleen Spivack, Spivack, a Boston native, is a Pulitzer Prize-nominated poet who has directed the Advanced Writing Workshop in Paris and Boston for twelve years.
The music of “Shining” is contemporary classical but reflects the character and emotion of each of the poems. The joyous “Shining” is a classic art song with colorful imagery celebrating nature and life. The comical “Insult Sonnet,” about the push and pull of a love-hate relationship, has broader theatrical influences. The more serious “The Way It Is,” about a marriage unraveling, has jazz undertones. In “I Want to Tell,” the poet tries to write a poem while raising her children alone. Themes from each of the songs weave in and out as she reflects on her life, trying to make sense of it all and find peace.
Erik Lindgren received his BA in Music from Tufts University in 1976 where he worked with T.J. Anderson. In 1974–1975 he spent his junior year abroad in London studying composition at the Guildhall School of Music with Alfred Nieman and piano with Birgette Wild. Lindgren received an MA in music composition and piano performance from The University of Iowa in 1977 where he studied with Donald Jenni, Richard Hervig and Peter Lewis.
As a contemporary classical composer, Lindgren has a catalog of over six dozen works, ranging from solo piano pieces to chamber music to orchestral works. In 1978, Lindgren established Sounds Interesting Productions, a commercial recording studio and music production company based in Cambridge, MA. In 1998, he relocated his facility to Middleborough, MA.
Since 1980, Lindgren has been a founding member of the new music ensemble Birdsongs of the Mesozoic that Billboard Magazine described as “cacophony meets classicism in a mesmerizing instrumental venture into the space age jungle.” The quartet has toured extensively throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe and held residencies at Dartmouth College, Emory University, Duke, UNCA and Massachusetts College of Art.
www.birdsongsofthemesozoic.org
www.arfarfrecords.com
Eva Kendrick, a Massachusetts native, is a composer of classical and theatrical works. Her song cycle “Shining,” based on the poems of poet Kathleen Spivack, premiered at Pickman Hall in July. Her chamber opera Emily, about the Amherst poetess Emily Dickinson, was performed in 2004 at the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow House in Cambridge as part of the National Park’s annual summer concert series. Emily has also been performed at the Pasadena Balcony Theatre, the Wilshire EBELL of Los Angeles, and the Music Mansion in Providence, RI. In 2003, the American Composers Forum awarded Kendrick a Subito grant for a staged production of her musical Le Bistro Café, which premiered in North Hollywood, CA. Songs from the musical were performed at last year’s Birth of a Musical Festival, produced by the New Opera and Musical Theatre Initiative (NOMTI) and the Turtle Lane Theatre’s Summer Shorts Festival. In 2004, she wrote the score for a short film, Realizing Glen, which won a National Film Challenge Award. She is currently studying with John Howell Morrison at the Longy School of Music, where she is a candidate for a Masters of Music Degree in Composition.
Soprano Jacqueline Goldgorin was a recipient of the Irene Ryan National Competition, NATS Young Artists Competition, and Musical Arts and Music Arts Associates competitions in California. She was an opera fellow at the University of Arkansas and the I Maletesta Lyric Opera in Rimini, Italy. German mezzo-soprano Carola Emrich-Fisher is an experienced recitalist who received a Richard-Wagner Foundation Scholarship (Bayreuth) and performed at the prestigious SONGFEST summer program in 2004. Soprano Shadi Ebrahimi, a native of Iran, is a graduate of the Bahai University and a Masters of Music student at the Longy School of Music, where she studies with Karyl Ryczek. She performs traditional Persian music with the Saba Ensemble and Balmus Ensemble, as well as Western classical music with Coro Polifonico.
Crossroad presents a capella vocals and some accompanied pieces in what is sure to be an out-of-the ordinary program entitled A Fresh Look, slated for the closing musical event on Sunday afternoon at Herring Run ArtsFest 2005. This entertaining and eclectic concert is a blend of favorites from two of the group’s popular programs--A Measured Passage, which featured original works and arrangements by ensemble member Richard Jensen, and songs from their inaugural program, The Roads Not Taken. The concert includes solos, trios, and full-ensemble numbers guaranteed to be both thought-provoking and entertaining.
Crossroads was founded with the belief that vocal music has the ability to create community. The quartet was created in 2001 by Caroline Chapin of Hingham who wanted to put together an ensemble that would focus on making a stronger emotional connection between the audience and the performers through its music.
Crossroads concerts are eclectic -- programs include American standards, adaptations of traditional choral works, and original pieces by ensemble member and choral arranger Richard Jensen. Concerts are often thematic. Their inaugural concert, The Roads Not Taken, on which their name is based, could be described as “thoughtful cabaret.” All of the songs in that original concert were focused on the theme of choice and decision-making.
Composers featured in a typical concert include contemporary writers such as Randy Newman, Jason Robert Brown, Michael LaChuisa, and Stephen Sondheim as well as Leonard Bernstein, Kurt Weill, Cole Porter and the McGarrigle sisters.
The musicians of Crossroads are Joan Gatturna, soprano; Caroline Chapin, mezzo soprano; Scott Ketchum, baritone; and Richard Jensen, bass. The pianist is Dawn MacGarvey who debuted at Herring Run ArtsFest in 2002 as the pianist for the classical group Aujourd’hui Ensemble.
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