Comunidad Anqari performs music of the Kollao
Altiplano, a culturally rich region in the heart of the Andean
High Plateau (which touches modern day Argentina, Bolivia, Chile,
Peru and Ecuador). A group of musicians dedicated to the
performance of traditional music and dances, Comunidad Anqari is
named after the Aymara, deity of the wind. The name is reflective
on the repertoire which is played upon indigenous wind
instruments and corresponds to the seasons and festivals during
which they perform.
Program
Selections to be announced from the stage.
Free
This Shinkoskey Noon Concert is made possible with support
from the Joy S. Shinkoskey Series of Noon Concert Endowment and
the Al McNeil Fund for Non-Western Music.
Visiting Austrian composer Hannes Dufek will have his
work a black heart, the death of a friend and the end of
a place: some lessons in falling apart, premiered by
the Empyrean Ensemble on October 13. Ahead of this concert,
Hannes will speak about his music.
Free, limited seating available
This talk is made possible with support from the
Austrian Consul General of Los Angeles.
Empyrean Ensemble
Sam Nichols, director • Matilda Hofman, resident conductor
Musicians Playing
Stacey Pelinka, flute
Kyle Bruckmann, oboe
Peter Josheff, clarinet*
Jennifer Ellis, harp
Ben Prima, percussion
Terrie Baune, violin
Ellen Ruth Rose, viola*
Leighton Fong, cello*
*core member
Program
Hannes Dufek: a black heart, the death of a friend and the
end of a place: some lessons in falling apart WORLD
PREMIERE
Addie Camsuzou: WORLD PREMIERE
(Ph.D. music ‘23)
Hendel Almétus: WORLD PREMIERE
(Ph.D. music ‘14)
Martha Horst: Dickinson Fragments
(Ph.D., music ‘96)
Free, no tickets required
This concert is made possible with support from the
Austrian Consul General of Los Angeles.
“Ahead of their Time” is an inspirational story about Adelaide
Ristori, 19th century actress and entrepreneur, as told by
Italian actress Giulia Cailotto, intertwined with the music and
story of 19th-century pianist and composer Clara Schumann. The
stories of Adelaide Ristori and Clara Schumann were an
inspiration for women of their time and continues to be an
inspiration for women of all ages today.
Program
Robert Schumann: Quasi Variazioni Andantino de Clara
Wieck
Clara Schumann: Trio in G Minor, op. 17
and The story of Adelaide Ristori as told by Giulia
Cailotto
Free
This Shinkoskey Noon Concert is made possible with support
from the Joy S. Shinkoskey Series of Noon Concert Endowment.
The harpsichord and virginal were both popular keyboard
instruments of the 17th century, promoting the development of
soloistic keyboard works across Europe. Today, as the
popularity of the harpsichord enjoys a revival, it is still
rare to experience hearing the virginal in a concert
setting. This performance will explore the unique sounds
of both instruments and compare and contrast their distinctive
roles in history.
Sakurako Kanemitsu, piano
featuring paintings by Peter London
and music by Ryan Suleiman (Ph.D. music ‘20)
Program
Modest Mussorgsky: Selections from Pictures at an
Exhibition (1874)
Claude Debussy: L’isle Joyeuse (1904)
Franz Liszt: “Sposalizio” from Second Year of
Pilgrimage: Italy (1858)
Ryan Suleiman: Three London Etudes (2024) WORLD
PREMIERE Radiant
Floating Triptych
Electric Clouds
**commissioned by and in collaboration with artist Peter London
for Sakurako Kanemitsu, piano
This concert is guest conducted by Matilda Hofman, features
Guyanese American soprano Shawnette Sulker — acclaimed for her
“heart-breaking poignancy” by the San Francisco Chronicle
— and has on it three works that will demonstrate the UC
Davis Symphony Orchestra’s ability to present compelling music
by a variety of composers.
The program opens with Yu-Hui
Chang’s Pixelandia, a 2015 multi-movement work
inspired by the joy of first-wave 2D video games, “with graphics
so primitive that every scan line and pixel was visible.” Music
and video-game enthusiasts will be delighted to learn that the
third movement is where one meets the “Boss” and that the tempo
marking before the last movement is “Insert coin to continue.”
The other two pieces on the program are by twentieth-century
American composers Florence Price and Samuel Barber. Price’s
music didn’t enjoy the same successes as Barber’s did “on account
of [her] sex and race.” Her Third Symphony in C Minor was funded
by a Works Progress Administration (WPA) grant and was first
performed in 1940, Michigan. First Lady Eleanor
Roosevelt was in attendance, but the work remained
unperformed until 2001 when the Women’s Philharmonic in San
Francisco recorded it. The work interweaves mid-century modernist
music techniques with African dance rhythms and themes.
Barber’s Knoxville uses a poem by James Agee,
sung by soprano and orchestra. The work is a musical picture of a
summer’s day in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1915, in which a boy
lays in a field listening to the sounds around him. This
performance features Guyanese American soprano Shawnette Sulker,
acclaimed for her “heart-breaking poignancy” by the San Francisco
Chronicle. Knoxville was last performed at the
Mondavi Center by Christine Brewer and the UC Davis Symphony
Orchestra in 2009 for the Barbara K. Jackson Rising Stars of
Opera program.
Andy McKee is among the world’s finest acoustic guitarists. His
youthful energy and attention to song structure and
melodic content elevates him above the rest. He entertains
both the eye and the ear as he magically transforms the steel
string guitar into a full orchestra via his use of altered
tunings, tapping, partial capos, percussive hits and a
signature two-handed technique.
Program
To be announced from the stage.
Free
This Shinkoskey Noon Concert is made possible with support
from the Joy S. Shinkoskey Series of Noon Concert Endowment.
