Santa Barbara Music Club Free Concert

**Events may have been canceled or postponed. Please contact the venue to confirm the event.

Date & Time

Sat, Feb 08 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Address (map)

305 E. Anaapamu Street at Garden, Santa Barbara

Venue (website)

First United Methodist Church

The Santa Barbara Music Club celebrates the life of Emma Lou Diemer—doyenne of Santa Barbara composers and inspiration to so many music lovers—with a program of her instrumental and choral music for piano, violin, solo voice and chorus on Saturday, February 8, at 3:00 PM at First United Methodist Church, 305 E. Anapamu St., Santa Barbara. This admission free concert will feature a variety of works by Emma Lou Diemer. 

The program:

 

Two pieces, Norteamexispanicumsake and Variations for piano, four hands: Homage to Ravel, Schönberg and May Aufderheide, will be performed by Tachell Gerbert and Bradley Gregory, pianists. 

 

Norteamexispanicumsake, a celebratory work, was written in 1995 for Gilbert and Gregory, students of Emma Lou Diemer. According to the composer, “It is a slightly shorter version of a work written for the Santa Barbara Symphony early in 1995 and titled ‘Santa Barbara Overture.’” The two-piano version retains most of the ideas found in the overture, and it is in the same jovial mood.  As the title suggests, there are many elements at work in the music, everything from musical puns on Spanish and Mexican music, suggestions of ragtime filtered through a honky-tonk piano, pentatonic scale figures and much more.

Variations for Piano, Four Hands (Homage to Ravel, Schoenberg, and May Aufderheide) was written for Marjorie and Wendell Nelson in 1987. The work is an evocation of some of the sonorities and techniques possible with two performers at one keyboard. The composers in the subtitle are not imitated in any literal sense and were acknowledged after the music was written, as it brought to mind certain of their qualities and contributions to the spirit of piano writing. One finds echoes of Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloe in the blurred, broken-chord texture and melody fragments of the opening and closing sections of Variations.  A 12-tone row (the theory courtesy of Schoenberg) serves as the basis of the entire piece in the form of a series of 12 chords, each of which lasts for several measures, and a series of pitches derived from the roots of those chords. May Aufderheide was a composer of rags in the early 1900’s, and her style contributes joviality and syncopation to the atmosphere.

Emma Lou Diemer wrote many songs, and this set features poetry by James Joyce, William Shakespeare, and Dorothy Parker.

Shall I compare thee to a Summer’s Day

      text by William Shakespeare

      from A Miscellany of Love Songs (No. 2)

 

Strings in the Earth and Air

         text by James Joyce

      from A Miscellany of Love Songs (No. 1)

 

One Perfect Rose

         text by Dorothy Parker

         from Four Songs (No, 3)

 Comment (1996)

         text by Dorothy Parker

    from Four Songs (No. 4)

These four songs will be sung by Kate Unger, soprano, accompanied by pianist John Ballerino.    

Before Spring was written in 1997 for violinist Stanley Hoffman and pianist Eddy Kronengold.  The two movement works reflect some of the suspense and anticipation of the full flowering of spring in Southern California.  It premiered in New York City during American Music Week in November of 1997. This piece will be performed by Nicole McKenzie, violin, and Erin Bonski, piano.   

Three Madrigals for SATB and piano  will be performed by the UCSB Chamber Choir, directed by Brent Wilson and accompanied by John Ballerino. 

Composed in 1962 on texts by William Shakespeare, they differ from traditional madrigals in the use of the piano as accompaniment. The composer underscores the text in a slightly different way in each of the three movements, with contrasting tempos and textures.  The texts are much loved passages from Twelfth Night, Measure for Measure, and Much Ado About Nothing. Three Madrigals

The composer: 

Emma Lou Diemer was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on November 24, 1927, and died in Santa Barbara, California, on June 2, 2024.  Emma Lou played the piano and composed at a very early age and became organist in her church at age 13. Her great interest in composing music continued through College High School in Warrensburg, MO, and she majored in composition at the Yale Music School (BM, 1949; MM, 1950) and at the Eastman School of Music (Ph.D, 1960). She studied in Brussels, Belgium, on a Fulbright Scholarship and spent two summers of composition study at the Berkshire Music Center.

She taught in several colleges and was organist at several churches in the Kansas City area during the 1950’s. From 1959-61 she was composer-in-residence in the Arlington, VA schools under the Ford Foundation Young Composers Project, and composed many choral and instrumental works for the schools, a number of which are still in publication. She was consultant for the MENC Contemporary Music Project before joining the faculty of the University of Maryland where she taught composition and theory from 1965-70. In 1971 she moved from the East Coast to teach composition and theory at the University of California, Santa Barbara.  At UCSB she was instrumental in founding the electronic/computer music program. In 1991 she retired and  became Professor Emeritus at UCSB 

Through the years she fulfilled many commissions (orchestral, chamber ensemble, keyboard, choral, vocal) from schools, churches, and professional organizations. Most of her works are published. She received awards from Yale University (Certificate of Merit), The Eastman School of Music (Edward Benjamin Award), the National Endowment for the Arts (electronic music project), Mu Phi Epsilon (Certificate of Merit), the Kennedy Center Friedheim Awards (for piano concerto), the American Guild of Organists (Composer of the Year), the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers/ASCAP (annually since 1962 for performances and publications), the Santa Barbara Symphony (composer-in-residence, 1990-92), the University of Central Missouri (honorary doctorate), and many others.

She was an active keyboard performer (piano, organ, harpsichord, synthesizer), and has given concerts of her own music at Washington National Cathedral, St. Mary’s Cathedral and Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, and elsewhere.

The performers:

Dr. John Ballerino, pianist, grew up in Guadalajara, Mexico, and is fluent in Spanish. He holds a DMA in Collaborative Arts from the University of Southern California, where he also studied Spanish and Latin American literature as part of his doctoral program.  His principal teachers include Gwendolyn Koldofsky, Brooks Smith, Alan Smith, George Katz, and Frank Wiens. He is a five-time winner of the Koldofsky Graduate Fellowship in Accompanying, and twice was the winner of the Hans Schiff Memorial Scholarship for excellence in chamber music (USC). He has also twice received scholarships to the Music Academy of the West (Santa Barbara). Master classes and private coaching have enabled him to work with Martin Katz, Giorgio Tozzi, Evelyn Lear, William Parker, Martial Singher, Dalton Baldwin, Roger Vignoles, Elly Ameling, Marilyn Horne, and Martin Isepp.

An accomplished speaker and performer of Spanish and Latin American music, Dr. Ballerino lectures and performs throughout the United States and the Caribbean. Since 1999, he has been the principal coach and Assistant Music Director for ten different Zarzuela productions at the Jarvis Conservatory in Napa, California. He has also served as a Spanish diction coach for productions by the Los Angeles Opera and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. In 2007, John was on staff at Los Angeles Opera as diction coach and pianist for the Zarzuela Luisa Fernanda, featuring Plácido Domingo in the lead role. In 2010 John was the assistant conductor and Spanish coach for Rio de Sangre, a world premier opera by Don Davis that was produced by the Florentine Opera (Milwaukee).

Dr. Ballerino is a Continuing Lecturer of Collaborative Arts at the University of California, Santa Barbara. There he teaches Spanish Diction as well as Song and Operatic Literature. He is the former Chorus Master, Principal Pianist, and Assistant Conductor for Opera Santa Barbara and has frequently been on the music staffs of the Los Angeles, Florentine (Milwaukee) Utah Festival, Fresno, and Sarasota Opera Companies as an Assistant Conductor and Repetiteur. Dr. Ballerino is currently a Guest Lecturer of Spanish Opera at the University of California, Los Angeles.

 Erin Bonski, pianist, began her musical journey in Pennsylvania, where  she studied with Dr. Tim Shafer at Penn State University while in high  school, and became the youngest participant in the Pennsylvania  Governor’s School for the Arts. Erin went on to earn her B.M. and M.M.  degrees from Bowling Green State University in Ohio, and pursued  doctoral studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. 

A versatile artist, Erin has served as staff continuo player at the Oberlin  Baroque Performance Institute, collaborative pianist at the Interlochen  Center for the Arts, and as chorusmaster and repetiteur for Toledo Opera. Since moving to Santa Barbara, she has collaborated regularly with local arts organizations, including the Santa Barbara Symphony,  Opera Santa Barbara, and Ensemble Theatre Company, and has  performed internationally, including appearances with the Grammy winning ensemble Forever Tango. Her academic career includes positions at Santa Barbara City College, the University of California, Santa Barbara, Westmont College and Bowling Green State University, where she has taught piano pedagogy, opera coaching, and piano  literature. 

She has published works on ensemble playing and sight-reading in  American Music Teacher Magazine, and she has recorded the works of  Dr. Earl Louis Stewart. Ms. Bonski has also worked as a church musician throughout most of her career, leading a vibrant music ministry for the  last decade at First Presbyterian Church of Santa Barbara. She is eager to give back to her community as Secretary on the Board for the Performing Arts  Scholarship Foundation. Currently, she serves as adjunct faculty and  collaborative pianist at Westmont College while maintaining a private  piano studio and consulting with arts organizations across Southern California. 

Tachell Gerbert and Bradley Gregory, duo pianists, have reputations as both concert performers and teachers, and established their piano teaching studio in Thousand Oaks in 1986. Prizewinners in the Performing Arts Scholarship Foundation Competition, they are active members of the Music Teachers’ Association of California (MTAC). They each received BM Degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory and MM Degrees from UCSB, with emphasis in piano ensemble. While studying at UCSB with Dr. Wendell Nelson they were introduced to the music of Emma Lou Diemer, as the Variations: Homage to Ravel, Schönberg, and May Aufderheide was written for Dr. Nelson and his wife Marjorie. Tachell and Bradley have performed this work in Italy and Japan as well as in the U.S., and in 1996 gave the premiere performance of Diemer’s duo piano work, Norteamexispanicumsake, which was composed for them.

 Nicole McKenzie, violinist, has performed widely as soloist and chamber musician. The Santa Barbara Independent declared, “McKenzie made a splash… she performed with gorgeous musicality.” Winner of the Sutton Chamber Music Award, she graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy, earned a BM degree from Oberlin Conservatory, an MM degree from Florida State University, and studied with Gary Kosloski at the Music Academy of the West. She has studied improvisation with Christian Howes. Ms. McKenzie is concertmaster of the Santa Barbara Folk Orchestra, and performs in the accordion/violin duo Continental Cafe. She played electric violin in M.O.B. Jazz Ensemble, and regularly concertized with renowned pianist, Betty Oberacker. She has taught music to students of all ages, and is currently the elementary music teacher for the Carpinteria School District. She has worked at UC Santa Barbara as a lecturer and as a music director and music performer in the Theater and Dance Department. She has created a collaborative dance and music improvisation group and has performed in various music styles including classical, jazz, folk, klezmer, and musical theater. She performs on a violin created for her by Michel Eggimann of Rome, Italy.

The UCSB Chamber Choir is the flagship choral ensemble at UCSB, representing excellence in vocal talent, musicianship, and professionalism. This SATB ensemble focuses on innovative programming including premieres and commissions to inspire a concert experience of exploration and intention. The Chamber Choir enjoys collaborations with professional music organizations throughout the area and goes on annual tours. This ensemble is led by Director of Choral Studies, Brent Wilson

Kate Unger, soprano, is a third year computer science student at UCSB.  She began singing when she joined the Davis Children’s Choir in first grade, continuing through junior high school. At age 9, she began playing viola, culminating in three years with the Davis High Baroque Ensemble. In addition, she sang with the Davis High School Madrigal Choir where she toured New York, England, and Scotland. She also had the privilege of being in regional and national American Choral Director Association (ACDA) Honor Choirs including in Texas, California, Utah, and Missouri.  Currently, Ms. Unger takes lessons from UCSB Professor of Voice Benjamin Brecher and vocal coaching from Dr. John Ballerino.  

Brent Wilson is a Los Angeles-based tenor, conductor and stage director, and is the Department Chair of Performing Arts and Director of Voice, Choirs, Opera and Musical Theatre at Ventura College, resident guest director at Viterbo University, and director of choral studies at University of California, Santa Barbara. Locally as a conductor, Wilson served as Assistant Conductor and Chorus Master of Opera Santa Barbara for over twenty productions and conducted productions of The Consul and Don Pasquale. He has appeared as conductor for the UCSB Orchestra and Opera, receiving top prizes for collegiate opera production from the National Opera Association for the production of Twelfth Night

 Wilson has worked with choral groups such as the Grammy-nominated ensemble Boston Baroque, Handel and Haydn Society, Handel Oratorio Society(Chicago), Long Beach Camerata, and Santa Barbara Master Chorale, and opera ensembles including Boston Lyric Opera, Maine Grand Opera, Opera Santa Barbara, Granite State Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Opera Theatre Saint Louis.

Additionally, he has been on faculty at the Tanglewood Institute through Boston University, Augustana College, and Viterbo University where the National Opera Association awarded his production of Trouble in Tahiti a third prize in Division I collegiate productions. He is a member of the National Opera Association, American Choral Directors Association, National Association of Teachers of Singing, and champions the training of young singers and has students in the Broadway tours of School of Rock, Rock of Ages, and Hamilton. He has recently embarked on a project to rediscover and remount works by Gian Carlo Menotti that have been lost since their debuts on NBC and CBS in the ’60’s and ’70’s. Wilson received voice performance degrees from Augustana College (B.A.) and Boston University School of Music (M.M.) and also holds degrees in Computer Science/Mathematics from Augustana. In his free time, Wilson likes to compete in marathons and other endurance sports and has completed five Ironman competitions, fourteen marathons, and most recently ran across the Italian Dolomites Alta Via I  75 mile trail in a weekend.  .  .  .   

This and all concerts offered by the Santa Barbara Music Club are open to the public with free admission.

For more information about this concert as well as future and past concerts, see our website www.SBMusicClub.org

 The mission of the Santa Barbara Music Club is to contribute to the musical life of our community through the following:

  1. Presentation of an annual series of concerts, free to the public,     featuring outstanding performances by Performing Members   and invited guests;
  1. Presentation of community outreach activities, including bringing great music to residents of area retirement homes;
  1. Aiding and encouraging musical education by the  disbursement of scholarships to talented music student whose permanent address is in Santa Barbara County.

For more information about programs, to join, or to donate, please visit our website,  http://sbmusicclub.org.

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