Event Date
Program
Marimba—
- Japanese Traditionals (arr. Seiji Yokoyama): Sakura and Oedo Nihonbashi
Chris Froh and Sarah Siu - Guang Yang: Wooden Skeleton’s Whimsical
Chris Froh and Megan Shieh (B.A., music '08) - Eric Whitacre (arr. Joby Burgess): Sleep
Chris Froh, Megan Shieh, Sarah Siu and Lily Zheng
Piano—
- Amy Beach: Dreaming
featuring music major Angelina Melis - Johannes Brahms: Piano Trio No. 1 in B Major, op. 8
Igor Veligan, violin • Mike Dahlberg, Cello • Natsuki Fukasawa, piano
Free, a Shinkoskey Noon Concert
About the Artists
Steinway Artist Natsuki Fukasawa’s music career has taken her throughout U.S. cities as well as to Europe, Scandinavia, Israel, Australia, Brazil, Japan, and China, performing at such venues as Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, and Copenhagen’s Tivoli Concert Hall. Fukasawa has won many accolades and international prizes, including rave reviews in Strad and Fanfare magazines and the Best Chamber Music Recording of the Year from the Danish Music Awards. She is the pianist for the soundtrack of the recently released film We Had to Go – Remembering Internment, and three compact discs, including a live solo CD, Year in Prague, one with violinist Igor Veligan titled Voices from Eastern Europe, and another with bassoonist Scott Pool titled Vocalise. Most recently she was featured in the documentary film by La Casa Films & Arts titled 36 Views of Mount Fuji.
Percussionist Christopher Froh specializes in promoting and influencing the creation of new music through critically acclaimed performances and dynamic lectures. To date, he has premiered over 150 chamber and solo works by composers from 17 countries. His collaborations include some of the most significant composers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, including Chaya Czernowin, David Lang, Steve Mackey, John Adams, George Crumb, Liza Lim, Matthias Pintcher, and Keiko Abe. Froh has also worked extensively realizing percussion scores of player piano and fixed-media pieces by Conlon Nancarrow, a project that culminated in a solo recital at the Whitney Museum in New York City and featured solo performances with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in 2015. Froh’s performances have garnered exceptional critical praise. The New York Times heralded his interpretations of modern repertoire as “entrancing,” “alluring,” and “vividly wrought.” The Chicago Tribune has praised his “unfailing virtuosity,” while the San Francisco Chronicle described his performances as “tremendous” and “fierce and uncompromising.” The San Francisco Classical Voice writes of his playing, “percussionist Christopher Froh has been an invaluable presence in the Bay Area for over a decade, enlivening the contemporary music scene with performances of exceptional musicality and virtuosity.”
Strongly committed to developing diverse and under-represented voices in the performing arts, Froh has created visionary outreach programs targeting underserved communities. His workshops, lectures, and classes have shared the immediacy and relevance of music with homeless and housing-insecure populations, children of migrant farm workers, and at-risk youth. Froh is a faculty member at the University of California at Davis where he teaches percussion and chamber music.