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Gualala Arts
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Archive of past events: 2004 through 2014
The Gualala Arts Chamber Music Series is delighted to again present the Roy Bogas and Friends Ensemble for the eighth annual Summer Chamber Music Weekend, Saturday, July 10, 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, July 11, 4:00 p.m., at the Gualala Arts Center.
This year the ensemble has been expanded to include Jonathan Vinocour playing the viola, 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. Saturday evening's concert will include the Quintet in G Minor, K. 316, with two violas by W. A. Mozart, Baal Shem by Ernest Bloch, and the Piano Quintet in A Minor, Op.84 by Sir Edward Elgar. Sunday afternoon's concert will include Piano Quartet in G Minor, K. 478 by W. A. Mozart, Adagio and Allegro for Viola and Piano by Robert Schumann, and Quintet in G, Op.111, with two Violas by Johannes Brahms. Both performances will be beautiful, interesting, and very enjoyable. 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 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. 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.
Jonathan is an active solo performer having recently received First Prize in the Holland America Music Society Competition in Chicago. As a result of this award, he will be recording his first solo album this season. As Principal of the Saint Louis Symphony, he will be performing as soloist in the current season. An avid and passionate chamber musician, Jonathan has been a regular participant at the Marlboro Music Festival and has toured extensively with Musicians from Marlboro in past seasons. Other festival credits include the Steans Institute at the Ravinia Festival, Aspen Music Festival and Tanglewood Music Center where he was awarded the annual Henri Kohn Memorial Prize. Originally from Rochester, NY, Jonathan graduated magna cum lauda from Princeton University in 2001 with a degree in Chemistry and won the University's Sudler Prize in the Arts. Jonathan completed his Master's Degree at the New England Conservatory of Music in 2003, where he studied with Kim Kashkashian. With top performers like these, the Gualala Chamber Music Weekend of 2010 will be a very memorable, and likely sold-out, pair of concerts.
2010
The Gualala Arts Center, located at 46501 Old State Highway in Gualala, CA, |
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.
Violist Jonathan Vinocour is regarded as one of the most exciting and thoughtful violists of his generation. He was recently appointed Principal Viola of the Saint Louis Symphony, a position he will begin this Fall. This will be Jonathan's first full-time orchestral position although he has served as guest Principal of both the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig under Herbert Blomstedt and the Ensemble Kanazawa in Japan. He has also performed regularly with the Boston Symphony over the last four seasons.
