8:00 PM
ADMISSION: $15, $10 Seniors/Students; $25 Both Concerts Pass

Either/Or
SPRING FESTIVAL

Native speaker/instructors help advanced and beginner students master the Japanese language in small, multi-media classes. Our unique teaching method, developed over the last 40 years at the prestigious Tenri University employs traditional instruction with audio-visual aids to immerse students in the Japanese language. In order to address the individual needs of our students, even our most popular classes have a class size limit of 13. Most of our classes average 3 to 5 students.

8:00 PM
ADMISSION: $15, $10 Seniors/Students

Vortex of Pleasure
ASTORIA MUSIC SOCIETY presents LOST DOG NEW MUSIC ENSEMBLE

Phillips: Rain Dance
Sunderland: Vortex of Pleasure (world premiere)
Bodin: New Work TBA
Chambers: Come Down Heavy

3:00 PM
ADMISSION: $20, $15 Seniors/Students

Sweet Suites: J.S. Bach

Byron Sean – Partita No 1 in B-Flat Major BWV 825
Jose Ramon Mendez – Partita No 2 in C Minor BWV 826
Amy Elizabeth Gustafson – Partita No 4 in D Major BWV 828

Pianist Byron Sean has performed extensively across North America and Europe since age ten in Ohio. He holds degrees and diplomas from the Royal Academy of Music (London), and the Mannes College of Music in New York City and the University of Michigan, graduating Magna Cum Laude as a scholarship student of Anton Nel. He has also received coaching from acclaimed pianists such as Sergei Babayan, Christopher Elton, Peter Eicher, Roy Howat, Narcis Bonet, and Abbey Simon.

Byron has performed in solo and chamber music concerts at the Hot Springs Music Festival, Centre d'Arts Orford, the International Keyboard Festival in New York City, and the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris as part of the European American Musical Alliance. As an accompanist, he has collaborated with critically acclaimed vocalists such as Suzanna Guzman, Alvi Powell, Patricia Prunty, Robert Sims, and Angela M. Brown.

Mr. Sean has been featured on several CD recordings and radio broadcast, including CBC in Canada and a live broadcast performing Beethoven's Choral Fantasy on National Public Radio. Currently he is a member of Classics Abroad and will be featured once again at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris this season.

Hailed as "…the Spanish pianist of his generation" by Hoja del Lunes-Madrid, José Ramón Méndez is one of the most exciting young artists on the concert scene today. He has won top prizes in several international competitions including Pilar Bayona International Piano Competition, Hilton Head Island International Piano Competition, Hermanos Guerrero International Piano Competition, Frederick Chopin Piano Competition in New York, among others. Méndez has performed in numerous music festivals which have including Caramoor, Barge Music Series, Festival Internacional de Piano de las Islas Canarias, Quincena Musical de San Sebastian and the Santander International Music Festival to name a few.

Mr. Méndez received his B.M., M.M. Professional Studies Certificate and D.M.A. from Manhattan School of Music after already earning the highest degree, "Superior Professor de Piano" in his native Spain. His major teachers have been Miyoko Nakaya Lotto, Byron Janis, Solomon Mikowsky Jesus Gonzalez, Agustin Fuster and his father Ramón Méndez, his first teacher. He has also profited from the advices of Joaquin Achucarro, Dmitri Bashkirov, Janina Fialkowska, Eugene Istomin, Vitaly Margulis, Lev Naumov, Menahem Pressler, Piere Reach, Andras Shiff and especially Krystian Zimerman.

He is on the faculty of the University of Austin, Texas and former the assistant to Miyoko Nakaya Lotto at Manhattan School of Music and at the Itzhak Perlman Summer Music Program. He has also been a guest professor at the Truan Music School and has taught several master classes at the Lugo Conservatory in Spain. Upcoming concerts include solo performances and recitals in Europe and the United States.

American pianist Amy Elizabeth Gustafson has performed across the United States and in both Western and Eastern Europe. She had won prizes in numerous piano competitions, including the prestigious Baldwin Competition.  Recently she has participated in the Hilton Head, Johanna Hodge, National Chopin and Gina Bachauer competitions.

Born into musical family, her talent was evident at an early age, and she received some of her beginning piano instruction from her grandmother. By the age of 15, Her success led her to move to New York City, where she continued her studies at Manhattan School of Music, earning the Bachelor of Music degree under the tutelage of Constance Keene and Master of Music degree at New York University, where she is a scholarship student of Miyoko Nakaya Lotto.  Currently she is a Doctor of Musical Arts candidate at the University of Austin Texas studying with Anton Nel.

Currently she enjoys a busy schedule of performing and teaching in New York and Austin, Texas. Her most recent performances included recitals at Steinway Hall, the Tenri Cultural Institute and the Kosciusko Foundation.
 

Opening reception April 20 (Fri.) 6-8pm

Bodo Korsig
I CAN'T STOP

Vaguely suggestive of natural motifs Bodo Korsig’s forms peregrinate, advance, recede, spread, shift, migrate, flow, or change gears but are always developing. In the constant growth and movement of his forms there is definitely a reference to the show’s title I Can’t Stop that in itself causes nebulous shifting readings both according to his works’ physical and conceptual contexts. Whether creating woodcuts, linocuts, oils on canvas or relief sculptures Korsig’s identifiable hand is a constant presence in that he allows the small organic uneven areas to become part of the work rather than erasing them in an effort to produce perfection.

Korsig’s artistic virtuosity distinguishes itself both through his working process and the artist’s monumental conceptual framework. Such works as I Can’t Stop, 2007 (oil on canvas, 35x35”) is a triptych containing motifs that can be read in variable ways such as DNA sequences, poppy pods, worms, blood corpuscles, or as other organic forms that because of their uneven construction look hand made. When observing such shapes the viewer begins to question his personal reading because of the lacking similarity to any specific existing forms. However, simultaneously with the reader’s rising frustration at the confounding of his reading, there comes an increasing interest all because of it.

Korsig’s monumental forms are situated very low on the gallery’s walls to interact with the viewer who finds the artist’s familiar but puzzling forms compelling. His sculptures are always black in shade whether he’s made them in wood, metal or clay, causing a play between positive/negative, void/solid, and linear painterly. So that he maintains the tension within his forms and his backgrounds causing a push/pull relationship.

Korsig has enjoyed upward of 12 international solo exhibitions and a much larger number of group shows as well as having been chosen for such prestigious artist residencies as Art Omi, and the International Studio Program both located in New York. He has won the 4th Grand Prize at the  International Triennale in Prague as well as holding many other globally recognized prizes. Korsig is a master printmaker and sculptor/painter but also works with the artist book medium. He maintains studios both in Trier, Germany and New York City.

 

8:00 PM
ADMISSION: $15, $8 Students

American Contemporary Music Ensemble
PERFORMS MUSIC OF JACOB DRUCKMAN

The young and dynamic ensemble honors composer Jacob Druckman (1928-1996) with a concert that includes his Reflections on the Nature of Water (1986), String Quartet No. 2 (1966), and Come Round (1992).
 
One of the most prominent of contemporary American composers, Jacob Druckman was born in Philadelphia in 1928. After early training in violin and piano, he enrolled in the Juilliard Schoolin 1949, studying composition with Bernard Wagenaar, Vincent Persichetti, and Peter Mennin. In 1949 and 1950 he studied with Aaron Copland at Tanglewood; later, he continued his studies at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris (1954-55). Druckman produced a substantial list of works embracing orchestral, chamber, and vocal media, and did considerable work with electronic music.  The Village Voice reported, "Jacob Druckman became the most important proclaimer of a new romanticism, and practiced what he proclaimed...[His] conjured-up images, the sensitive treatment of the singing voice, the swirling lights and shadows in the orchestral pieces--they added up to a fresher (and yes, newer) romanticism..."  In 1972, Jacob Druckman was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Windows, his first work for large orchestra, which he wrote at age 33. Among his other numerous grants and awards were a Fulbright Grant in 1954, a Thorne Foundation award in 1972, Guggenheim Grants in 1957 and 1968, and the Publication Award from the Society for the Publication of American Music in 1967.
 
ACME promotes contemporary music as part of mainstream society by performing informal but virtuosic concerts in galleries and other non-traditional spaces.  Its members excel as chamber musicians and soloists, and are enthusiastic advocates for new music.  ACME’s flexible instrumentation is based on the music programmed for each concert, and includes violin, viola, cello, bass, flute, clarinet, piano, percussion, and voice. ACME members for the April 28 concert are Miranda Cuckson, violin; Keats Dieffenbach, violin; Nadia Sirota, viola; Clarice Jensen, cello and artistic director; Alexandra Sopp, flute; Gilad Harel, clarinet; Eric Huebner, piano; Christopher Thompson, percussion; and Jared Soldiviero, conductor.  ACME’s next concert is on Sunday, August 12, 2007, as part of the Music in the Garden series at the Noguchi Museum in Long Island City.
 
Since its founding in August 2004 by cellist Clarice Jensen and manager Christina Jensen, ACME has performed works by John Adams, John Cage, Elliott Carter, George Crumb, Jacob Druckman, Charles Ives, Donald Martino, Olivier Messiaen, Nico Muhly, Maurice Ravel, Steve Reich, Frederic Rzewski, Ryan Streber, Edgar Varese, Kevin Volans, and Charles Wuorinen.

Jacob Druckman taught at the Juilliard School, Bard College, and Tanglewood; in addition he was director of the Electronic Music Studio and Professor of Composition at Brooklyn College. He was also associated with the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center in New York City.  His composition students over the years included Aaron Jay Kernis, David Lang, and Michael Torke.  In the spring of 1982, Druckman was Resident-In-Music at the American Academy in Rome; in April of that year, he was appointed composer-in-residence with the New York Philharmonic, where he served two two-year terms and was Artistic Director of the HORIZONS music festival. He used the festivals to raise public awareness of the emerging "new romanticism," in which the dry rigor of academic serialism was giving way to "the Dionysian qualities: sensuality, ecstasy, transcendency."  Druckman’s programming, which encompassed figures as diverse as John Adams, Luciano Berio, Morton Feldman, Toru Takemitsu, and David Del Tredici, was highly controversial at a time when “contemporary music” denoted a rigorous, often forbidding academic12-tone idiom.  The stylistic shift that Druckman noted then has since become a fact of musical life. In the last years of his life, Druckman was Professor of Composition at the School of Music at Yale University. Jacob Druckman is published by Boosey & Hawkes. 

3:00 PM
ADMISSION: $20, $15 Seniors/Students

Sweet Suites: J.S. Bach

Hsia Jung Chang – Partita No 3 in A Minor BWV 827
Gila Goldstein – Partita No 5 in G Major BWV 829
Dmitry Rachmanov – Partita No 6 in E Minor BWV 830 

A native of Taiwan, pianist Hsia-Jung Chang has premiered and commissioned numerous works by composers in the United States and Scandinavia. She has been featured soloist on KUHT television, KAMU radio, Danish National radio, Taiwan radio and TV. Her recent concerts feature the bulk of Frédéric Chopin's piano solo works, including the complete sets of Ballades, Impromptus, Etudes, Preludes, and Scherzi. Chang's CD of Chopin’s Impromptus, Ballades, Berceuse was showcased on the Piano Bench hour on KPBX radio, and on Call of the Mountain of WNYE. Her new CD of the Complete Préludes of Chopin was showcased on Reflections from the Keyboard with David Dubal on WQXR.  UK-based New Classics web critic wrote: Hsia-Jung Chang performs the works with great delicacy and refinement, allowing a wide spectrum of colour and moods to emerge in a way that appears effortless.

In addition to giving solo and chamber music concerts, Chang has been guest lecturer/performer at the Manhattan School of Music, Friends University, the Shengyang Music Conservatory, and Dong Bei University of China. She also performed with the Metropolitan Opera Guild Outreach, which introduced opera to children in schools of the greater New York area. Chang received her Bachelors and Masters degree in Piano Performance from the University of Houston and her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Manhattan School of Music. Her piano teachers include Mary Toy, Nelita True, Ruth Tomfohrde, Abbey Simon and Constance Keene.

Pianist Gila Goldstein has captivated audiences around the world with her unique artistry and soulful interpretations. Her playing has often been described as profound, electrifying and sensual. Known as a versatile musician she performed as a solo artist and collaborative pianist throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe and Israel. Among her most notable engagements were performances at the Konzerthaus in Berlin, Musée de Louvre in Paris, the Purcell Room at the South Bank Center in London, Pallacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, Henry Crown Hall in Jerusalem and the Tel Aviv Museum, Kennedy Center in Washington DC, the Dame Myra Hess and Ravinia "Rising Stars" Series in Chicago and Steinway and Merkin Concert Halls in New York City.

A champion of the music of Israel's leading composer Paul Ben-Haim (1897-1984), she has performer and recording almost the composer’s complete works for piano and chamber music.  Two volumes of these works have been released world wide on Centaur label: Volume 1; Piano Works of Paul Ben-Haim, and Volume 2: Piano and Chamber Works. They mark a significant addition to the few recordings of Israeli classical music. American Record Guide praised these works recorded as being performed “… with great flair, delicate nuances, fluid tempi and brilliance".

Ms Goldstein holds a Master of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music where she studied with Nina Svetlanova and a Bachelor of Music degree from the Tel-Aviv University's Academy of Music, where her teacher was Victor Derevianko. 

Dmitry Rachmanov has concertised across continents to great acclaim, appearing at venues such as London's Barbican and South Bank Centres, Washington DC's Kennedy Center and New York's Carnegie Hall. Hailed as an "indisputable musician" by the Brussels' Le Soir and "suave and gifted pianist" by the New York Times, his probing intellect and insightful musicianship have led him to explore large plateaus of repertoire such as the Beethoven, Schubert or Scriabin sonatas cycles, as well as presenting recital series on original fortepianos. A proponent of the Russian repertoire, his all-Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and Scriabin albums for Vista Vera and Master Musician's labels, along with his Omniclassic Beethoven CD, received critical praise. Rachmanov's recital "The Art of the 19th Century Russian Character Piece" was noted by the New York Times for "considerable color and focus" he brought to each work, and he gave the US premiere of Boris Pasternak's Piano Sonata, broadcast nationwide by the NPR.

Rachmanov's festivals include Banff in Canada, Prussia Cove in England, Moulin d'And in France, Spoleto USA, Bard and the IKIF in New York. Among his honors are the George Schick Award for Outstanding Musicianship, the three-year Fellowship from the American Pianists Association, the ArtsLink grant for touring his native Russia, and the first prize at the Frinna Awerbuch International Piano Competition.

Dr. Rachmanov began his studies at Moscow's Gnesins School of Music, earning his BM and MM degrees from The Juilliard School and the DMA from Manhattan School of Music. His teachers include Nadia Reisenberg, Arkady Aronov and Alexander Eydelman. A sought-after educator and master class clinician, he has served on the faculties of Manhattan School of Music and Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University.