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Gualala Arts
Promoting public interest and participation in the arts since 1961.
Archive of past events: 2004 through 2014
The Gualala Chamber Music Series is delighted to present again the Roy Bogas and Friends Ensemble for the seventh annual Summer Chamber Music Weekend, Saturday, July 11th, 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, July 12th, 4:00 p.m., at the Gualala Arts Center. This traditional weekend of superb performances by pianist Bogas and outstanding musicians from the San Francisco Symphony is the biggest musical event of our concert season. Music lovers are invited to hear either one or both performances, for a fulfilling weekend of superb music performed by top artists. This year the ensemble has been expanded to include contrabass player Mark Wright, who will play along with the other exciting musicians who have previously performed in Gualala: violinist Axel Strauss, violinist Amy Hiraga, violist Nancy Ellis, cellist Peter Wyrick, and, of course, pianist Roy Bogas.
Pianist Roy Bogas received his training in New York and at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He made his debut with the San Francisco Symphony at age 14, and at age 19 he became the accompanist to the famous violinist Yehudi Menuhin, playing over a hundred concerts with him throughout North and South America. He has also played with Joseph Szigeti and many other well-known artists. In 1962 he was a prizewinner at the second Tchaikovski Competition in Moscow. He has performed as soloist with virtually every orchestra in Northern California and with many other orchestras in this country and abroad. Mr. Bogas is Professor of Music at Holy Names University in Oakland, and is also Principal Solo Pianist for the San Francisco Ballet. An active chamber musician, he is the founder and director of the MasterGuild Series of chamber music concerts at Holy Names. He has led the Gualala July Chamber Music Weekends since 2003. Roy Bogas is, without a doubt, Gualala's favorite classical musician.
Violinist Amy Hiraga was a member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra from 1991 to 1999. She is currently a permanent member of the San Francisco Symphony. She also studied with Dorothy DeLay at Juilliard and Emanuel Zeitlin in Seattle. She has performed and appeared as soloist with many symphonies and chamber orchestras in the United States, and has also performed in many music festivals. She and her husband, cellist Peter Wyrick, live in Mill Valley with their two daughters, Mayumi and Mariko. Violist Nancy Ellis received her training at the Interlochen Arts Academy, Oberlin College, and Mills College, where she studied with Nathan Rubin. She has toured with Music from Marlboro and also as part of a quartet in support of rock singer Van Morrison. She has been a member of the San Francisco Symphony since 1975, and has also performed for the past thirty years with the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players. Ms. Ellis is an experienced chamber music player and has been heard in this capacity in many venues, including Davies Symphony Hall. Peter Wyrick, Associate Principal Cellist of the San Francisco Symphony, was one of the last students of Leonard Rose at Juilliard. He has previously served as Principal Cellist of the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra at Lincoln Center, and as Associate Principal Cellist of the New York City Opera Orchestra. He was a member of the acclaimed Ridge String Quartet, whose recording of the Dvorak Piano Quintets with pianist Rudolf Firkusny won the French Diapason d'Or and was nominated for the 1993 Grammy Award for the Best Chamber Music Performance. He has performed as soloist with the San Francisco Symphony and as chamber musician and soloist with renowned chamber ensembles and orchestras throughout the world. Contrabass player Mark Wright was born in Texas and raised in Emporia, Kansas. Coming from a very musical family, he began playing the suzuki violin at the age of four and switched to bass at age thirteen. His father teaches trombone at Emporia State University, his mother teaches suzuki violin, and his brother received his bachelors degree in violin performance at Oberlin Conservatory. As a teenager, Mark accompanied his parents to the National Music Camp in Interlochen, Michigan for four summers where his father was an instructor. He continued with studies on his own at Interlochen, where he would meet his future bass teacher Larry Hurst. During his last summer at Interlochen, he was a winner in the University Division Concerto Competition, and performed with the University Orchestra. Mr. Wright then continued studying with Larry Hurst into his undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan. While at Michigan, he served as Principal Bass with the Colorado Philharmonic in the summer of 1985, substituted in the Detroit Symphony, and before graduation began taking auditions with major orchestras, when he was offered a position with the San Francisco Symphony in 1986. During the 1990-91 season, he took a leave of absence to play with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. He is an active member in several bay area ensembles and is also a member of the San Francisco Symphony Bass Quartet. With top performers like these, the Gualala Chamber Music Weekend of 2009 will be a very memorable, and likely sold-out, pair of concerts. Tickets are $25 per concert for advance purchases, or $5 more on the day of the concert. Youth 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 Brown Paper Tickets at 800-838-3006 or purchase online.
Tickets are $25 in advance for each day; $5 more on the day of the concert.
For advance purchase, go to
Brown Paper Tickets
or call them at 800-838-3006.
The Gualala Arts Center, located at 46501 Old State Highway in Gualala, CA, |
Saturday evening's concert will include the Sonata for Violin and Piano by Robert Schumann, the String Trio for Violin, Viola, and Cello in D by Franz Schubert, and The Four Temperaments by Paul Hindemith. Sunday afternoon's concert will follow with the Quartet for Piano and Strings called "The Trout" by Schubert, and the Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saëns, with verses by Ogden Nash. Both performances will be beautiful, interesting and very enjoyable.
Violinist Axel Strauss, acclaimed for his virtuosity and his musical sensitivity, has been heard on concert stages throughout Europe since his recital debut in Hamburg at the age of sixteen. One year after his debut he won the silver medal at the Enescu Competition in Romania. In 1998, he became the first German artist ever to win the Naumburg Violin Award. Mr. Strauss has been recognized with many other awards, including top prizes in the Bach, Wieniawski and Kocian competitions. After violin studies in Germany, he began working with the legendary Dorothy DeLay at The Juilliard School and became her teaching assistant in 1998. Mr. Strauss made his American debut at the Library of Congress in Washington DC, and his first of many New York concerts was presented at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall. He has given recitals in major US cities and has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras in the U.S. and throughout the world. He frequently performs at music festivals in the States and abroad. He maintains a busy performance schedule, and serves as Professor of Violin at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Mr. Strauss performs on an outstanding violin by J.F. Pressenda, Turin 1845, on extended loan through the generous efforts of the Stradivari Society in Chicago.