Concert: “A Cello’s Birthday: Music for a Very Old Friend”
Alexandra Roedder, Baroque cello, and
Faythe Vollrath, keyboard and UC Davis lecturer in music
Program
Francesco Geminiani: Cello Sonata No. 2 in D Minor
Jean-Baptiste Barriere: Cello Sonata No. 6 in C Minor
Jean-Phillip Rameau: Les Cyclopes
Luigi Boccherini: Cello Sonata No. 6 in A Major
Free, a Shinkoskey Noon Concert
About the Artists
Alexandra Roedder, cello, holds degrees in music, early music, and musicology from UC Berkeley, UCLA, and the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. She plays in ensembles throughout California, including the Stockton Symphony, Sacramento Baroque Soloists, InConcert Sierra, Camerata California, the Sacramento Choral Society and Orchestra, and the Sacramento Philharmonic. Dr. Roedder serves as principal cello of several community orchestras and maintains a large teaching studio of ages 5 to 85.
Faythe Vollrath, harpsichordist, is actively heard as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States. Hailed by the Wall Street Journal for her “subtly varied tempo and rhythm that sounds like breathing,” her solo performances include venues such as MusicSources in Berkeley, California, Gotham Early Music in New York City, and Bruton Parish Church in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. Other unique experiences include a solo performance pairing Japanese harpsichord works with Japanese art at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, and performing in a columbarium as part of the Garden of Memory in Oakland. Enamored with the contrast of new music written for historic instruments, Faythe combines these new vs. old elements in many of her performances. Concerts dedicated specifically to this pursuit include the Festival of New American Music in Sacramento, and the Center for New Music in San Francisco. She has performed concerts of new music in both Serbia and France, introducing new American composers to the audience.
Faythe received first prize with an excellence nomination in the Vivaldi International Music Competition and was a semi-finalist in the Petrichor International Music Competition, both in 2022. Additional awards include first place in the Charleston International Music Competition in 2021, semi-finalist in the 2012 Jurow International Harpsichord Competition, and the 2009 Betchel award recipient presented by the Midwestern Historical Keyboard Society. Her duo, Zweikampf, was a finalist in Early Music America’s inaugural Baroque Performance Competition. They have been featured on public radio in both Michigan and Arizona and perform throughout the United States. Faythe received her doctoral degree from SUNY-Stony Brook under Arthur Haas, and an artist diploma from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign under Charlotte Mattax Moersch. She earned her bachelor’s of music degree in piano performance from CSU-Sacramento while studying piano with Richard Cionco.