Gualala Arts Chamber Music Series presents: David McCarroll, Mary Elliott, and Roy Bogas Sunday, January 6, 2008 at 4:00 p.m. at the Gualala Arts Center

Violinist David McCarroll and cellist Mary Elliott, two rising young musical stars, will join Gualala's favorite pianist, Roy Bogas, in a concert at the Arts Center on Sunday afternoon, January 6, at 4:00 p.m. The program will include Mendelssohn's Cello Sonata No.1 in B-flat Major, Beethoven's Violin Sonata No. 7 in C-minor, and Brahms' Piano Trio No. 1 in B-Major. This promises to be an absolutely beautiful performance.

This will be a return engagement for David McCarroll and Mary Elliott, who gave an exquisite performance in Gualala as a duo in September, 2006. Being joined by master pianist Roy Bogas for the January concert is a wonderful bonus.

David McCarroll exemplifies the classic local-boy-makes-good success story. Born in Santa Rosa in 1986, he grew up in the Starcross Community in nearby Annapolis, where he was adopted at birth by Sister Marti and Brother Toby. At age four, he started studying violin with the late Helen Payne Sloat. When he was eight, he began studying with the late Anne Crowden at the Crowden school in Berkeley.

At thirteen, David was invited to join an international group of sixty young music students at the Yehudi Menuhin School outside London. There, he studied with Simon Fischer, a former student of Dorothy Delay, and Professor of Violin at the Guildhall School of Music. In 2004, David received a full scholarship to join violinist Donald Weilerstein's celebrated studio at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where he will complete his studies this year.

David has appeared as a soloist and chamber music performer in many venues in the U.K. and the U. S., as well as in Switzerland, Tunisia, and Thailand. He has performed as soloist with the renowned London Mozart Players. In 2006, his performance of Prokofief's Violin Concerto No. 1 with the Santa Rosa Symphony was awarded high acclaim. In 2007, David took second place in the prestigious Klein International Competition in San Francisco, which included performers on all string instruments.

In 2007 he performed the Brahms Concerto with the Marin Symphony, and the Korngold Concerto with the North State Symphony in Chico and Redding. In recent summers he has participated in the prestigious Yellow Barn Chamber Music Festival, where he received the Dorothy Richard Starling Foundation Scholarship.

From Starcross to Stardom, David McCarroll is on his way.

Mary Elliott was born in South Wales in 1985, where she began learning the cello at the age of three. In 1999 she performed her first recital. It was in aid of the Kosovo Crisis Appeal. Later that year, she took a place at the Yehudi Menuhin School, where she studied with Louise Hopkins, and where she also became acquainted with David McCarroll.

She made her concerto debut in 2003 when she played Elgar's Cello Concerto with the Jupiter Symphony Orchestra. Later that year she performed Faure's Elegy with the Guilford Symphony Orchestra.

As a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player, she has performed in many venues in the U.K. and the U.S., as well as Switzerland, France, Tunisia, and Thailand, where in 2004, her former piano trio toured in aid of several Thai charities.

Mary is currently completing her undergraduate studies at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England. In 2005 she was awarded the Amy Lindley Prize for outstanding cello playing. That same year, she and two other members of the college formed the Tanera Trio, which won first prize in the Hirsch Piano Competition, and has gone on to perform all over the U.K.

Roy Bogas needs no introduction to Gualala music lovers. Founder and director of the popular annual Gualala Arts Summer Chamber Music Weekend with Roy Bogas and Friends, he is well known as Gualala's favorite pianist. In addition to the Summer Weekend performances, he has often appeared here as soloist or with other musicians, always to great acclaim. His most recent appearance here, in October, 2007, was a solo piano performance in which he played, among other selections, Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, a fascinating piece of music which Roy explained in interesting detail and performed brilliantly.

Roy is Principal Solo Pianist for the San Francisco Ballet and founder of the MasterGuild Series of chamber music at Holy Names University in Oakland, where he is also professor of Music. He has performed as soloist with almost every orchestra in California, and has appeared in many venues in the U.S. and overseas.

Roy will return to Gualala in July, 2008 for the next annual Roy Bogas and Friends Summer Chamber Music Weekend, and again in November for a performance with cellist Peter Wyrick. We are honored that Roy, a musician of extraordinary talent and international reputation, visits us as often as he does.

Tickets are $20 for advance purchases, or $25 on the day of the concert (buy your tickets early!). Children and young people ages 7 through 17 are admitted free. Advance tickets are available at the Gualala Arts Center or at the Dolphin Gallery in Gualala. For advance credit card purchases by telephone, call the Arts Center at 707-884-1138. For further information visit our website, GualalaArts.org. Those unable to furnish their own transportation may call the Arts Center to request rides to the concert.

The Gualala Arts Center, located at 46501 Old State Highway in Gualala, CA,
is open weekdays 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and weekends from noon to 4:00 p.m.
Please call (707) 884-1138 for more information, or email info@gualalaarts.org.