RiverArts® Presents: Legends, Legacy & Longevity – a concert celebrating 200 years of great women composers, commemorating International Women’s Day

Ardsley, NY: On Sunday March 5^th at 4pm, RiverArts will present the 2^nd concert in its three-concert chamber music series at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Ardsley.

With its presentation of Legends, Legacy & Longevity, RiverArts explores the groundbreaking genius of women composers throughout the ages and the beauty their music has imprinted in our hearts and souls to commemorate International Women’s Day.  The program spans a wide repertory, beginning in the mid 19^thcentury and extending to the present day. It will include works of Clara Schumann, Nadia Boulanger (famed as a composition teacher but lesser known as a composer) her sister Lili Boulanger, and brilliant lieder composer Amy Beach.

This afternoon of musical power, elegance, whimsy and love will continue into the 20^th century with several seminal works written by the notable living composers Hilary Tann, Kim D. Sherman and Thea Musgrave. Both Tann and Sherman will honor RiverArts with their presence at the concert.

Doug Coe, Producer of the Chamber Music Series stated, “A special feature of this concert is tracing some of the history of women composers down through the years. Clara Schumann was looked up to by all subsequent women composers. The Boulanger sisters made a huge impact, both as composers and Nadia as a teacher of composition. Thea Musgrave studied with Boulanger; Kim Sherman studied with Musgrave. So, we will get to hear three generations along a continuing strand of pedagogic continuity!”

Concert Details:

Sunday March 5th, 4pm

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church

2 Revolutionary Road

Ardsley, NY 10502 

Approximate concert time: 90 minutes including a short intermission

Tickets: $40/ea *reduced-price tickets available; see below for details on how to access discount code.

For more information and to purchase tickets visit: https://riverarts.org/event/legends-legacy-longevity/

Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Series, Peter Seidenberg effused, “This selection of music embraces the passion, creativity, and innovation representative of the greatest music of the 19th, 20th and 21st century. It’s a beautiful journey to experience the great works of these genius composers.”

Allison Charney, featured singer for the concert noted, “That these composers all happen to be women is incidental to the genius and beauty of the music – but deeply inspiring to me personally – and hopefully to all young composers who are lucky enough to be influenced by them.”

This program will feature Allison Charney (voice), April Johnson (violin), Craig Ketter (piano), Peter Seidenberg (cello), and Tomoko Uchino (piano).

* Reduced-price tickets – Part of RiverArts’ mission is to make the arts affordable for everyone as well as to grow its network of chamber music fans in the communities it serves. Thanks to the support of Michael Tremonte, RiverArts is offering reduced-cost tickets to those either in financial need or attending a RiverArts chamber music concert for the first time. To access this discount code before purchasing tickets, email info@riverarts.org and title your message: “RIVERARTS CHAMBER DISCOUNT.”

About the Artists

Allison Charney (voice) – Ms. Charney’s operatic career includes singing major roles including Mimi, Butterfly, Traviata, Pamina, and tour-de-force portrayals of all three heroines in Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffman among many others in opera companies throughout the country including New York City Opera, Atlanta Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Utah Opera, and Nashville Opera. Concert highlights include performances at Alice Tully Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, as a featured soloist with the esteemed Philadelphia Orchestra and with the Boston Pops under the baton of Alan Gilbert. For her full bio please visit: https://www.randsman.com/allison-charney

April Johnson (violin) – April Johnson has performed throughout the US with the Oracle Trio and the New York Chamber Soloists. She is a former Concertmaster for the Jupiter Symphony, Canton Ohio Symphony, Galatea Ensemble, Queens Oratorio; and Associate Concertmaster for the Norwalk Symphony. Having performed in Europe and Asia, she has also recorded on Dorian and Lyrichord. A member of the Hoff-Barthelson Music School who also teaches Suzuki Violin, she earned a BM from Oberlin College and Advanced Studies at Brooklyn College Conservatory.

Craig Ketter (piano) – Critically acclaimed for “transporting the listeners to extraordinary heights”, pianist Craig Ketter has performed nationally and internationally as a soloist and with orchestras including Grant Park Symphony Orchestra, North Carolina Symphony, Sacramento Philharmonic, Raleigh Symphony and the Garden State Philharmonic. Venues include NPR’s Performance Today series, CBS Sunday Morning, Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Tanglewood Music Festival and The Marilyn Horne Foundation. He has collaborated with many esteemed musicians including violinists Kelly Hall-Tomkins and Paul Huang and singers Renee Fleming, Debra Voigt, Samuel Ramey, Nathan Gunn and Ben Heppner.He received his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees from the Eastman School of Music. For his full bio please visit: http://harwood-management.com/ketter.html

Peter Seidenberg (cello) – “Totally enchanting, inspired performances, brimming with natural, spontaneous musicianship”, raves Gramophone Magazine about cellist Peter Seidenberg. Mr. Seidenberg has played in major halls throughout the US, Europe and Asia, and served as principal cellist with the Century Orchestra of Osaka.  He was a founding member of the critically acclaimed Elements Quartet which created groundbreaking commissioning projects of 30 composers. He has collaborated with members of the Cleveland, Tokyo, Juilliard and Emerson Quartets and participated in the Marlboro, Aspen, Caramoor, and Casals festivals. He is the cellist for the Oracle Trio, the Queen’s Chamber Band, and the New York Chamber Soloists. For his full bio please visit: https://www.peterseidenberg.com

Tomoko Uchino (piano) – Tomoko began her musical studies at the age of 3. She has received numerous prizes and awards at national and international competitions such as the Ettlingen International Piano Competition for Young Pianists in Germany and the Takahiro Sonoda Piano Award International Competition in Japan. She has performed as a soloist and collaborative musician throughout the United States, Germany, France, Czech Republic, Japan and Thailand. Having enjoyed performing as a collaborative musician led her to various concert appearances at major concert halls such as Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Herbst Theater in San Francisco and Hamarikyu Hall in Tokyo, Japan. As a chamber musician, she was also invited to participate in Yellow Barn Chamber Music Festival and Sarasota Music Festival. She has been a member of Solace Ensemble, THUD and Jang/Uchino Violin-Piano Duo. She earned her Bachelor of Music degree with high honor from the University of Michigan, Masters of Music from Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University, Doctoral of Musical Arts from the University of Arizona and a graduate diploma from the Juilliard School. For her full bio please visit: http://www.tomokouchino.com/bio/

About the Attending Composers

Thea Musgrave – Born in Barnton, Edinburgh, Thea Musgrave studied at the University of Edinburgh and in Paris as a pupil of Nadia Boulanger. In 1970 she became Guest Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, a position which confirmed her increasing involvement with the musical life of the United States, where she has lived since 1972. She has received the Koussevitsky Award (1974) as well as two Guggenheim Fellowships (1974/5 and 1982/3). From 1987 to 2002 she was Distinguished Professor at Queen’s College, City University of New York. She holds honorary degrees from Old Dominion University (Virginia), Glasgow University, Smith College and the New England Conservatoire in Boston. In 2002 she was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours List.

For her full bio please visit: https://www.theamusgrave.com

Kimberly Sherman – Embracing a wide spectrum of genres, Kim Sherman’s mission as a composer is to tell stories through music. Recent new works include ADA, an opera about Ada Lovelace, SUMMER 1976 a song cycle for tenor and string quartet and THE LAODAMIAD a suite for solo cello. GRAVESIDE, her a cappella choral work, was recorded by Musica Sacra, has been performed throughout the world, and most recently by the renowned Cerddorion Vocal Ensemble in NYC. Other works include A PRAIRIE DIARY (song cycle,) THE HAPPIEST AND UNHAPPIEST OF MEN (chorus and orchestra, commissioned by The Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia,) KARNER BLUE (flute and piano, commissioned by The Pappoutsakis Foundation,) THE VISION (guitar and oboe,) and several musicals, among them: O PIONEERS!, HONOR SONG FOR CRAZY HORSE, HEARTLAND and THE TWO ORPHANS. She wrote incidental music for I HATE HAMLET on Broadway. In 2014, she scored the short film POLICY OF TRUTH. She has been awarded residencies at The MacDowell Colony and The Banff Centre.
After receiving a Bachelor of Music at Lawrence University, she studied composition and orchestration with composer Thea Musgrave. Her career started in Minneapolis, where she was awarded two Kudos Awards for her work in the theatre. A New Yorker since 1983, she is a regular volunteer composer and mentor for The 52nd Street Project. For her full bio, please visit: http://www.kdsherman.com

Hilary Tann – Welsh-born composer, Hilary Tann, lives in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate New York where she is the John Howard Payne Professor of Music Emerita at Union College, Schenectady. Her compositions have been widely performed and recorded by ensembles such as the European Women’s Orchestra, Tenebrae, Lontano, Marsyas Trio, Thai Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Composer-residencies include the 2011 Eastman School of Music Women in Music Festival, 2013 Women Composers Festival of Hartford, and 2015 Welsh Music Center. Praised for its lyricism (“beautiful, lyrical work” – Classical Music Web) and formal balance (“In the formal balance of this music, there is great beauty …” – Welsh Music), her music is influenced by a strong identification with the natural world. She is a published haiku poet and a deep interest in the traditional music of Japan has led to private study of the shakuhachi and guest visits to Japan, Korea, and China. A recent review of her string quartet, And The Snow Did Lie, states “Tann’s music is shimmering and weightless, effective and moving … it reinforces the grounded spiritual ecstasy that is Tann’s distinctive musical outlook” (J. Dalton, Albany Times Union, 5/24/20). Website: hilarytann.com.

About the RiverArts Chamber Music Series

Founded in 2016, the RiverArts Chamber Music Series under the Artistic Direction of Peter Seidenberg and producer Doug Coe, is devoted to bringing the finest Chamber Music, both classical and contemporary, to the Rivertowns. Seasons usually consist of three concerts, one being a gala hosted by The Newington-Cropsey Foundation. Our next chamber concert [March 3, 2023] will celebrate National Woman’s Day with works by Clara Schumann, Nadia Boulanger, Thea Musgrave, Kim Sherman, and Hilary Tann. The season’s final concert [April 22, 2023] will feature a complete performance of Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat along with Rachmaninov’s great Cello Sonata. Please join us for both these concerts.

About RiverArts

RiverArts inspires Hudson River communities in lower Westchester County to come together through art. RiverArts’ year-round season of events and programming includes our two signature free, multi-village artists’ Studio Tour and Music Tour; an annual dance concert; a three-part Chamber Music series; theater performances; and smaller community events such as Drink & Draw, Salon Sundays, Swing Dance night, artist conversations and pop-up concerts; plus Music Education and its SummerArts camp for kids of all ages.

For over half a century, RiverArts has been the catalyst that connects performers, musicians, and art-makers with Rivertowns audiences. We believe in the power of art to express, transform, and bring joy to our lives and our community.

Please visit RiverArts on-line to read more about its mission, core values and programming calendar.

https://www.riverarts.org